Fix cudaErrorHardwareStackError: GPU Stack Overflow

Overview

cudaErrorHardwareStackError indicates the kernel's call stack exceeded available space, usually from deep recursion.

Error Messages

CUDA error: hardware stack error
cudaErrorHardwareStackError

Common Causes

• •Deep recursion
• •Large local arrays
• •Many nested function calls

Solutions

cudaDeviceSetLimit(cudaLimitStackSize, 8192);  // 8KB per thread

// Replace recursion with explicit stack in shared memory

Prevention Tips

• ✓Prefer iterative algorithms
• ✓Minimize local arrays
• ✓Check stack usage

Code Examples

Before (Problematic)

Recursive, stack overflow risk.

__device__ int deep_recurse(int n) {
    return n > 0 ? deep_recurse(n-1) + 1 : 0;
}

After (Fixed)

No recursion.

__device__ int iterative(int n) {
    int sum = 0;
    while (n-- > 0) sum++;
    return sum;
}

Frequently Asked Questions

Related Errors

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