spark-training-gotchas
Preflight and diagnose the ten known failure modes for ML training on NVIDIA DGX Spark. Use when a training run on DGX Spark fails to start, OOMs below the 128GB limit, slows down mid-run, or before any multi-hour training job on GB10.
Install
npx skills add https://github.com/wshobson/agents/tree/main/plugins/dgx-spark-ops/skills/spark-training-gotchas
claude plugin marketplace add https://llmmart.ai/marketplace.json && claude plugin install wshobson-agents@llmmart
git clone https://github.com/wshobson/agents.git
The skills CLI installs just this skill, for any of its supported agents. Claude Code installs the whole wshobson/agents collection as a plugin from our marketplace. Git is the plain clone.
Skill manifest
Spark Training Gotchas
DGX Spark's GB10 chip (Grace Blackwell, SM121, 128GB unified memory, aarch64) has ten recurring failure modes across launch, memory, thermals, bandwidth, and precision. Each is named G1–G10 so it can be checked by number — the numbering is load-bearing for tooling that runs these checks. Read this before a long run, not after hour six.
When to Use This Skill
- A training run fails to start, with an import error or a segfault that doesn't point at the real cause.
- A run OOMs while
nvidia-smistill shows headroom. - Throughput degrades partway through a run that started fine.
- Before any multi-hour or multi-epoch job on GB10.
- Wiring two Sparks together, before picking a parallelism strategy.
- Choosing between FP8 and NVFP4 for a Spark-hosted run.
Common Issues Quick Reference
| # | Symptom | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| G1 | undefined symbol / segfault | cu130 wheel or container |
| G2 | flash-attn wrong backend used | skip pip build; monkeypatch on NGC |
| G3 | OOM despite headroom | drop page cache |
| G4 | throughput drop / reboot | expect ~100W sustained cap |
| G5 | memory-bound step slow | budget 180–192 GB/s |
| G6 | cache evicted mid-run | one GPU server at a time |
| G7 | NVFP4 slower than FP8 | stay FP8 unless sm_121a |
| G8 | playbook fails outright | check upstream issues |
| G9 | env breaks after install | use a container |
| G10 | 2-Spark TP hangs | DDP/FSDP only, never TP |
The Ten Gotchas
G1: CUDA 12/13 ABI Mismatch
- SYMPTOM:
ImportError: undefined symbolnaming a CUDA function, or a segfault on the first.cuda()call. - CAUSE: most PyPI wheels link
libcudart.so.12; Spark ships CUDA 13. pip never checks CUDA ABI, so it surfaces only at import or first kernel launch. - CHECK:
references/gotcha-checks.mdG1 — the wheel's CUDA build tag. - FIX: reinstall from
download.pytorch.org/whl/cu130or use a matched container.
G2: flash-attn — Skip the pip Build, Watch Unsloth's Auto-Detect
- SYMPTOM:
pip install flash-attnstill fails/hangs. Unsloth may also silently train flash-attn over an explicitly requested SDPA. - CAUSE: no aarch64/sm_121 wheel for bare pip — but NGC
containers ship a working SM121 flash-attn, and Unsloth
auto-prefers it, dropping
attn_implementation="sdpa". - CHECK:
references/gotcha-checks.mdG2 — is flash-attn already present and working. - FIX: bare pip — skip flash-attn, use SDPA (unchanged). On
NGC — the only reliable override is the monkeypatch in
references/gotcha-checks.mdG2.
G3: UMA OOM Below 128GB
- SYMPTOM: OOM during model load/training while
nvidia-smistill reports free memory under the 128GB cap — or, on some setups,[N/A]outright instead of a number. - CAUSE: mmap and the CUDA allocator double-count pages during safetensors load; QLoRA can OOM earlier than bf16 since dequantization adds transient allocs.
- CHECK:
references/gotcha-checks.mdG3 — readfree -gand/proc/meminfo, notnvidia-smi. - FIX: drop the page cache with
sync; echo 3 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches— needs root, a between-run reset, not a mid-training step.
G4: Thermal Throttling
- SYMPTOM: throughput drops partway through a multi-hour run, or the box spontaneously reboots under sustained load.
- CAUSE: sustained power draw caps around 100W versus the 240W rated figure; long runs push into that ceiling and throttle or, sometimes, reboot.
- CHECK:
references/gotcha-checks.mdG4 — samplenvidia-smi --query-gpu=temperature.gpu,power.draw. - FIX: if power plateaus under 240W while temperature climbs, treat throttling as the cause; improve cooling or cap run length.
G5: Bandwidth Ceiling
- SYMPTOM: memory-bound workloads, decode-heavy RL loops especially, plateau well below expected throughput.
- CAUSE: 273 GB/s is a spec ceiling, not sustained; measured bandwidth runs 180–192 GB/s.
- CHECK:
references/gotcha-checks.mdG5 — observed step time vs. the measured range, not spec. - FIX: budget throughput from 180–192 GB/s; revise a plan built on the 273 GB/s figure.
G6: Global UMA Resource Contention
- SYMPTOM: a process's KV cache/weights get evicted mid-run silently, no OOM in its own logs.
- CAUSE: unified memory is
one global pool; an uncapped
or near-capacity process
competes with anything else
and can evict it. A small,
bounded workload doesn't — a
<4GB LoRA coexists fine
alongside vLLM capped at
gpu-memory-utilization<=0.5. - CHECK:
references/gotcha-checks.mdG6 — other GPU-resident processes and whether capped. - FIX: the one-heavy-job rule applies to uncapped or near-capacity workloads — cap or stop unrelated servers first. A small, capped workload need not stop.
G7: NVFP4 Slower Than FP8 on SM121
- SYMPTOM: switching an inference workload from FP8 to NVFP4 on Spark makes it slower, not faster.
- CAUSE: SM121 lacks
cvt.e2m1x2unless kernels targetsm_121a; NVFP4 runs ~32% slower without it. - CHECK:
references/gotcha-checks.mdG7 — capability reports(12, 1); does the build targetsm_121a? - FIX: stay on FP8 unless the build targets
sm_121a.
G8: Stale Official Playbooks
- SYMPTOM: following an official DGX Spark playbook still fails, with no local misconfiguration explaining it.
- CAUSE: official playbooks have shipped broken before; the stack moves faster than the docs.
- CHECK:
references/gotcha-checks.mdG8 — the playbook repo's recent issues. - FIX: check
github.com/NVIDIA/dgx-spark-playbooksissues before trusting a recipe for an expensive run.
G9: Container-First, Not Bare Pip
- SYMPTOM: a bare-pip environment that worked yesterday
breaks after an unrelated
pip install, or two "identical" environments behave differently. - CAUSE: bare pip lets Triton, xformers, and transformers drift independently; nothing pins them to GB10's SM121 target.
- CHECK:
references/gotcha-checks.mdG9 — container or bare pip? - FIX: prefer an NGC container (see
spark-environment-setupfor tag guidance) or Unsloth's container. If bare pip is unavoidable, follow the NVIDIA install order, including--no-depson Unsloth.
G10: Dual-Spark Is DDP/FSDP Only
- SYMPTOM: a tensor-parallel launch across two Sparks hangs, runs far slower than single-Spark, or errors out.
- CAUSE: ConnectX-7 is fast enough for gradient/parameter sync (DDP, FSDP) but too thin for TP's fine-grained traffic.
- CHECK:
references/gotcha-checks.mdG10 — the configured parallelism strategy. - FIX: on a two-Spark setup, choose DDP or FSDP, never tensor parallelism — TP is single-node only here.
Fast Triage
The cheapest checks to run before anything else:
python3 -c "import torch; print(torch.version.cuda)" # expect 13.x (G1); NGC builds have no +cu130 tag — that's not a failure
import torch; print(torch.cuda.get_device_capability()) # expect (12, 1) (G7)
{ [ -f /.dockerenv -o -f /run/.containerenv ] || grep -qE 'docker|containerd' /proc/1/cgroup; } 2>/dev/null && echo container || echo unknown # G9
assets/preflight.sh runs G1, G3, G4, G7, G9 and produces one
output line per gotcha in a fixed format: G-number first, then
PASS/FAIL/WARN where automatable, SKIP when unavailable, or
INFO: for a raw reading (G3, G4). Full commands:
references/gotcha-checks.md. See also
spark-environment-setup for the environment assumed working.
Files (agents)
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assets
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preflight.sh 2.4 KB
#!/usr/bin/env bash # Fast, automatable subset of the G1-G10 checks in SKILL.md. # Output contract: every result line starts with its G-number. # G1/G9 emit PASS/FAIL/WARN verdicts; G3/G4 emit INFO lines # (raw readings needing judgment — see SKILL.md G3/G4). G7 emits # PASS/WARN for hardware capability only — it does NOT verify # the kernel target arch (sm_121a), which stays a manual step, # see gotcha-checks.md G7. # Non-automatable gotchas (G2 flash-attn presence/Unsloth # override check, G6 process survey, G8 upstream-issue lookup, # G10 config review) are not covered here — see # references/gotcha-checks.md for those. # Usage: bash preflight.sh set -uo pipefail echo "== G1: CUDA 12/13 ABI ==" g1_cuda_ver=$(python3 -c "import torch; print(torch.version.cuda or '')" 2>/dev/null) if [ -z "$g1_cuda_ver" ]; then echo "G1 SKIP: torch not importable" elif [[ "$g1_cuda_ver" == 13* ]]; then echo "G1 PASS: torch built against CUDA $g1_cuda_ver" else echo "G1 FAIL: torch built against CUDA $g1_cuda_ver (need 13.x — see gotcha G1)" fi echo "== G3: UMA headroom (raw reading) ==" free -g | awk 'NR==2 {print "G3 INFO: free/used (GB):", $4, $3}' echo "== G4: thermal snapshot (raw reading) ==" nvidia-smi --query-gpu=temperature.gpu,power.draw --format=csv,noheader 2>/dev/null \ | sed 's/^/G4 INFO: /' || echo "G4 SKIP: nvidia-smi not available" echo "== G7: SM121 capability (kernel target arch NOT checked here) ==" python3 -c " import torch cap = torch.cuda.get_device_capability() print('G7 PASS: SM121 hardware capability confirmed (partial — verify the kernel target arch (sm_121a) manually, see gotcha-checks.md G7)' if cap == (12, 1) else f'G7 WARN: unexpected capability {cap}') " 2>/dev/null || echo "G7 SKIP: torch not importable" echo "== G9: container vs bare pip ==" if [ -f /.dockerenv ] || [ -f /run/.containerenv ]; then echo "G9 PASS: running inside a container (Docker/Podman marker file present)" elif grep -qE '(docker|containerd|kubepods)' /proc/1/cgroup 2>/dev/null; then echo "G9 PASS: running inside a container (cgroup marker present)" elif [ -r /proc/1/cgroup ]; then echo "G9 UNKNOWN: no container marker matched — this does not prove a bare host (cgroup v2 and some runtimes hide the marker); verify manually before assuming bare-host, prefer an NGC or Unsloth container if unsure" else echo "G9 SKIP: /proc/1/cgroup not readable" fi echo "Full details and remaining gotchas: references/gotcha-checks.md"
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references
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gotcha-checks.md 9.4 KB
Last verified: 2026-07-14 — refresh when CUDA, PyTorch, or the DGX Spark stack ships a new major version. Runnable check commands for each gotcha in `SKILL.md`, keyed by G-number. Run the check before assuming the gotcha is the cause; each command is safe to run read-only unless noted. ## G1: CUDA 12/13 ABI Mismatch ```bash python3 -c "import torch; print(torch.version.cuda)" python -c "import ctypes; ctypes.CDLL('libcudart.so.13')" ldconfig -p | grep libcudart ``` `torch.version.cuda` is the authoritative signal: it should report `13.x`. Don't rely on `pip show torch | grep cu130` — NGC container builds (e.g. `nvcr.io/nvidia/pytorch:25.11-py3`) build torch internally against CUDA 13 with no `+cu130` wheel tag, so the absence of a `cu130` tag in `pip show` output is NOT a failure by itself on those containers. The `ctypes` load confirms `libcudart.so.13` is actually present on the system; if it raises `OSError`, the driver/runtime install is the problem, not the wheel. `ldconfig -p` lists every CUDA runtime version currently registered — a `libcudart.so.12` entry alongside `libcudart.so.13` is a common leftover from an earlier install and a likely ABI-mismatch source. ## G2: flash-attn — Presence Check and the Unsloth Override ```bash python -c "import flash_attn; print(flash_attn.__version__)" 2>&1 | tail -5 python -c "import torch; print(torch.backends.cuda.flash_sdp_enabled())" ``` Don't assume this import fails — it depends on the environment. On a **bare-pip** install it's expected to fail (no aarch64/ sm_121 wheel exists), confirming no training code path silently depends on flash-attn. On an **NGC PyTorch container** (confirmed on `nvcr.io/nvidia/pytorch:25.09-py3`), flash-attn 2.7.4.post1 ships pre-bundled and a live `flash_attn_func` kernel call on GB10 (capability `(12, 1)`) executes successfully with correct output shape — the "no sm_121 kernels" framing only applies to building it yourself, not to what these containers already carry. **The actual trap on a container with flash-attn present:** Unsloth's import-time patch banner reports `FA2 = True` and auto-prefers flash-attn over SDPA — including when the caller explicitly requested `attn_implementation="sdpa"`. Unsloth's loader (`unsloth/models/llama.py`, 2026.7.2) calls its internal `resolve_attention_implementation(...)` without forwarding the caller's `attn_implementation` as that function's `requested_attn_implementation` parameter, then pops the kwarg outright with a `# No need since we auto call it` comment — silently discarding whatever was requested. Confirmed via a live load: `attn_implementation="sdpa"` passed explicitly still resolved to `model.config._attn_implementation == "flash_attention_2"`. **The only working override** on this Unsloth version, for any model routed through Unsloth's llama-architecture loader (`unsloth/models/llama.py` — this covers more than one base model family; see `finetuning-method-selection`'s model catalog for which) when flash-attn is importable, is a monkeypatch before calling `from_pretrained`: ```python import unsloth.models._utils as _unsloth_utils _unsloth_utils.HAS_FLASH_ATTENTION = False ``` This forces `resolve_attention_implementation`'s auto-resolution down its `elif supports_sdpa:` branch instead of the flash-attn branch — confirmed working (`config._attn_implementation == "sdpa"` after the monkeypatch). On plain TRL/PEFT (bypassing Unsloth entirely — see `lora-qlora-recipes`' `references/unsloth-trl-mapping.md` escape hatch), `attn_implementation="sdpa"` passed to `AutoModelForCausalLM.from_pretrained` **is** honored correctly; this gap is Unsloth-specific, not a general TRL/transformers issue. ## G3: UMA OOM Below 128GB ```bash free -g cat /proc/meminfo | grep -i huge ``` Read real memory pressure from `free -g`, not `nvidia-smi` — unified memory means CUDA allocations and host RAM share one pool, and `nvidia-smi` only reports the CUDA side. On some driver/setup combinations, `nvidia-smi --query-gpu=memory.used, memory.total --format=csv` doesn't just undercount — it returns `[N/A], [N/A]` for the whole-GPU memory query outright. A script that greps for a numeric value there gets nothing, not a misleading number; don't build a headroom check on that query on this hardware. If `free -g` shows most of the 128GB consumed while a load is failing, reclaim it: ```bash sync echo 3 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches ``` This needs root and flushes the page cache system-wide — every process on the box loses cached file reads, not just the training job. Run it between runs when memory looks pinned by stale mmap'd pages, not as a routine step during training. ## G4: Thermal Throttling ```bash nvidia-smi --query-gpu=temperature.gpu,power.draw --format=csv -l 5 ``` Sampling loop (`-l 5` = every 5 seconds); let it run for at least 10–15 minutes on a representative workload before judging. Rated power is 240W; if draw plateaus around 100W while temperature keeps climbing or has already plateaued high, the box is throttling. A rising temperature with power still near peak is not yet a throttle event — keep watching. Interrupt with Ctrl-C when done; this does not need root. ## G5: Bandwidth Ceiling **Intrusive, unlike the other checks in this file — do not run against an active workload.** It allocates ~4GB on a UMA system where GPU and host memory share one pool, and repeatedly clones that tensor. Run only on an idle host; a box with another job already using most of its 128GB headroom can OOM that job. ```bash python -c " import torch, time x = torch.randn(1_000_000_000, device='cuda', dtype=torch.float32) torch.cuda.synchronize() t0 = time.time() for _ in range(20): y = x.clone() torch.cuda.synchronize() dt = time.time() - t0 gbps = (x.numel() * 4 * 2 * 20) / dt / 1e9 print(f'{gbps:.1f} GB/s') del x, y torch.cuda.empty_cache() " ``` Expect roughly 180–192 GB/s, not the 273 GB/s spec figure. If a throughput plan assumed the spec number, revise it against this measured range before committing to a schedule. ## G6: Global UMA Resource Contention ```bash nvidia-smi ps aux | grep -E "vllm|ollama|python.*train" | grep -v grep ``` List every GPU-resident process before starting a long run. `nvidia-smi` shows per-process memory; the `ps` filter catches inference servers (vLLM, Ollama) that may not show up clearly in `nvidia-smi` output on unified memory. The one-heavy-job rule applies to **uncapped or near-capacity** workloads — stop unrelated servers before a run that needs the full 128GB pool, or that runs alongside another process without an explicit memory cap. It does not apply to small, memory-capped coexistence: a <4GB LoRA fine-tune has been observed running cleanly alongside a vLLM server started with `--gpu-memory-utilization 0.5` (or lower) on the same box — check the other process's own memory cap, not just its presence, before deciding whether it needs to be stopped. ## G7: NVFP4 Slower Than FP8 on SM121 ```bash python -c "import torch; print(torch.cuda.get_device_capability())" ``` Expect `(12, 1)` on GB10 — this confirms SM121. SM121 lacks a native `cvt.e2m1x2` conversion path, so NVFP4 kernels not compiled for the `sm_121a` target fall back to a slower path, roughly 32% behind FP8. Check the kernel build's target arch (often `TORCH_CUDA_ARCH_LIST` or a similar build flag) before assuming NVFP4 is the faster choice on this hardware. ## G8: Stale Official Playbooks ```bash gh issue list --repo NVIDIA/dgx-spark-playbooks --state open --limit 20 ``` Requires the `gh` CLI authenticated, or substitute a browser visit to the same URL. Scan open issues for the specific playbook and command being followed before trusting it verbatim for a long or expensive run. ## G9: Container-First, Not Bare Pip ```bash if [ -f /.dockerenv ] || [ -f /run/.containerenv ]; then echo "in container (marker file)" elif grep -qE '(docker|containerd|kubepods)' /proc/1/cgroup 2>/dev/null; then echo "in container (cgroup marker)" else echo "unknown — no container marker matched, this does not prove a bare host" fi pip list 2>/dev/null | grep -E "^(torch|triton|xformers|transformers) " ``` The first block checks Docker's `/.dockerenv` and Podman's `/run/.containerenv` marker files, then falls back to a cgroup-string check — a single `grep docker /proc/1/cgroup` alone is not reliable: cgroup v2 layouts and some runtimes/namespaces hide the runtime name, so a failed match is "unknown," never proof of a bare host. The second command lists the versions actually installed — compare against the pinned set in an NGC or Unsloth image if running bare pip, to catch drift early rather than at import time. ## G10: Dual-Spark Is DDP/FSDP Only ```bash python -c " import os print('WORLD_SIZE:', os.environ.get('WORLD_SIZE')) print('parallelism strategy check: confirm config uses DDP or FSDP, not TP/tensor_parallel') " rg -l --iglob '*.yaml' --iglob '*.yml' -e 'tensor_parallel|tp_size|tensor-parallel' . \ || grep -rlE "tensor_parallel|tp_size|tensor-parallel" --include='*.yaml' --include='*.yml' . ``` Search recursively, not just the current directory — a non-recursive `*.yaml *.yml` glob misses nested configs, and a redirected/suppressed error there reads as "no TP configuration" when it may just be "wrong directory." If the workload's config path is already known, pass it explicitly instead of searching. Any match on a two-Spark job is a configuration error — switch to DDP or FSDP before launching; TP is not viable across the ConnectX-7 link on this hardware.
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SKILL.md 7.8 KB
--- name: spark-training-gotchas description: Preflight and diagnose the ten known failure modes for ML training on NVIDIA DGX Spark. Use when a training run on DGX Spark fails to start, OOMs below the 128GB limit, slows down mid-run, or before any multi-hour training job on GB10. --- # Spark Training Gotchas DGX Spark's GB10 chip (Grace Blackwell, SM121, 128GB unified memory, aarch64) has ten recurring failure modes across launch, memory, thermals, bandwidth, and precision. Each is named G1–G10 so it can be checked by number — the numbering is load-bearing for tooling that runs these checks. Read this before a long run, not after hour six. ## When to Use This Skill - A training run fails to start, with an import error or a segfault that doesn't point at the real cause. - A run OOMs while `nvidia-smi` still shows headroom. - Throughput degrades partway through a run that started fine. - Before any multi-hour or multi-epoch job on GB10. - Wiring two Sparks together, before picking a parallelism strategy. - Choosing between FP8 and NVFP4 for a Spark-hosted run. ## Common Issues Quick Reference | # | Symptom | Fix | |---|---|---| | G1 | undefined symbol / segfault | cu130 wheel or container | | G2 | flash-attn wrong backend used | skip pip build; monkeypatch on NGC | | G3 | OOM despite headroom | drop page cache | | G4 | throughput drop / reboot | expect ~100W sustained cap | | G5 | memory-bound step slow | budget 180–192 GB/s | | G6 | cache evicted mid-run | one GPU server at a time | | G7 | NVFP4 slower than FP8 | stay FP8 unless `sm_121a` | | G8 | playbook fails outright | check upstream issues | | G9 | env breaks after install | use a container | | G10 | 2-Spark TP hangs | DDP/FSDP only, never TP | ## The Ten Gotchas ### G1: CUDA 12/13 ABI Mismatch - **SYMPTOM:** `ImportError: undefined symbol` naming a CUDA function, or a segfault on the first `.cuda()` call. - **CAUSE:** most PyPI wheels link `libcudart.so.12`; Spark ships CUDA 13. pip never checks CUDA ABI, so it surfaces only at import or first kernel launch. - **CHECK:** `references/gotcha-checks.md` G1 — the wheel's CUDA build tag. - **FIX:** reinstall from `download.pytorch.org/whl/cu130` or use a matched container. ### G2: flash-attn — Skip the pip Build, Watch Unsloth's Auto-Detect - **SYMPTOM:** `pip install flash-attn` still fails/hangs. Unsloth may also silently train flash-attn over an explicitly requested SDPA. - **CAUSE:** no aarch64/sm_121 wheel for bare pip — but NGC containers ship a working SM121 flash-attn, and Unsloth auto-prefers it, dropping `attn_implementation="sdpa"`. - **CHECK:** `references/gotcha-checks.md` G2 — is flash-attn already present and working. - **FIX:** bare pip — skip flash-attn, use SDPA (unchanged). On NGC — the only reliable override is the monkeypatch in `references/gotcha-checks.md` G2. ### G3: UMA OOM Below 128GB - **SYMPTOM:** OOM during model load/training while `nvidia-smi` still reports free memory under the 128GB cap — or, on some setups, `[N/A]` outright instead of a number. - **CAUSE:** mmap and the CUDA allocator double-count pages during safetensors load; QLoRA can OOM *earlier* than bf16 since dequantization adds transient allocs. - **CHECK:** `references/gotcha-checks.md` G3 — read `free -g` and `/proc/meminfo`, not `nvidia-smi`. - **FIX:** drop the page cache with `sync; echo 3 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches` — needs root, a between-run reset, not a mid-training step. ### G4: Thermal Throttling - **SYMPTOM:** throughput drops partway through a multi-hour run, or the box spontaneously reboots under sustained load. - **CAUSE:** sustained power draw caps around 100W versus the 240W rated figure; long runs push into that ceiling and throttle or, sometimes, reboot. - **CHECK:** `references/gotcha-checks.md` G4 — sample `nvidia-smi --query-gpu=temperature.gpu,power.draw`. - **FIX:** if power plateaus under 240W while temperature climbs, treat throttling as the cause; improve cooling or cap run length. ### G5: Bandwidth Ceiling - **SYMPTOM:** memory-bound workloads, decode-heavy RL loops especially, plateau well below expected throughput. - **CAUSE:** 273 GB/s is a spec ceiling, not sustained; measured bandwidth runs 180–192 GB/s. - **CHECK:** `references/gotcha-checks.md` G5 — observed step time vs. the measured range, not spec. - **FIX:** budget throughput from 180–192 GB/s; revise a plan built on the 273 GB/s figure. ### G6: Global UMA Resource Contention - **SYMPTOM:** a process's KV cache/weights get evicted mid-run silently, no OOM in its own logs. - **CAUSE:** unified memory is one global pool; an uncapped or near-capacity process competes with anything else and can evict it. A small, bounded workload doesn't — a <4GB LoRA coexists fine alongside vLLM capped at `gpu-memory-utilization<=0.5`. - **CHECK:** `references/gotcha-checks.md` G6 — other GPU-resident processes and whether capped. - **FIX:** the one-heavy-job rule applies to **uncapped or near-capacity** workloads — cap or stop unrelated servers first. A small, capped workload need not stop. ### G7: NVFP4 Slower Than FP8 on SM121 - **SYMPTOM:** switching an inference workload from FP8 to NVFP4 on Spark makes it slower, not faster. - **CAUSE:** SM121 lacks `cvt.e2m1x2` unless kernels target `sm_121a`; NVFP4 runs ~32% slower without it. - **CHECK:** `references/gotcha-checks.md` G7 — capability reports `(12, 1)`; does the build target `sm_121a`? - **FIX:** stay on FP8 unless the build targets `sm_121a`. ### G8: Stale Official Playbooks - **SYMPTOM:** following an official DGX Spark playbook still fails, with no local misconfiguration explaining it. - **CAUSE:** official playbooks have shipped broken before; the stack moves faster than the docs. - **CHECK:** `references/gotcha-checks.md` G8 — the playbook repo's recent issues. - **FIX:** check `github.com/NVIDIA/dgx-spark-playbooks` issues before trusting a recipe for an expensive run. ### G9: Container-First, Not Bare Pip - **SYMPTOM:** a bare-pip environment that worked yesterday breaks after an unrelated `pip install`, or two "identical" environments behave differently. - **CAUSE:** bare pip lets Triton, xformers, and transformers drift independently; nothing pins them to GB10's SM121 target. - **CHECK:** `references/gotcha-checks.md` G9 — container or bare pip? - **FIX:** prefer an NGC container (see `spark-environment-setup` for tag guidance) or Unsloth's container. If bare pip is unavoidable, follow the NVIDIA install order, including `--no-deps` on Unsloth. ### G10: Dual-Spark Is DDP/FSDP Only - **SYMPTOM:** a tensor-parallel launch across two Sparks hangs, runs far slower than single-Spark, or errors out. - **CAUSE:** ConnectX-7 is fast enough for gradient/parameter sync (DDP, FSDP) but too thin for TP's fine-grained traffic. - **CHECK:** `references/gotcha-checks.md` G10 — the configured parallelism strategy. - **FIX:** on a two-Spark setup, choose DDP or FSDP, never tensor parallelism — TP is single-node only here. ## Fast Triage The cheapest checks to run before anything else: ```bash python3 -c "import torch; print(torch.version.cuda)" # expect 13.x (G1); NGC builds have no +cu130 tag — that's not a failure ``` ```python import torch; print(torch.cuda.get_device_capability()) # expect (12, 1) (G7) ``` ```bash { [ -f /.dockerenv -o -f /run/.containerenv ] || grep -qE 'docker|containerd' /proc/1/cgroup; } 2>/dev/null && echo container || echo unknown # G9 ``` `assets/preflight.sh` runs G1, G3, G4, G7, G9 and produces one output line per gotcha in a fixed format: G-number first, then PASS/FAIL/WARN where automatable, SKIP when unavailable, or `INFO:` for a raw reading (G3, G4). Full commands: `references/gotcha-checks.md`. See also `spark-environment-setup` for the environment assumed working.
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