Fix cudaErrorSystemNotReady: CUDA System Not Initialized

Overview

cudaErrorSystemNotReady indicates the CUDA system hasn't finished initializing. Often occurs with driver issues or system startup.

Error Messages

CUDA error: system not ready
cudaErrorSystemNotReady

Common Causes

• •Calling CUDA before driver ready
• •Driver in recovery state
• •System just booted
• •nvidia-persistenced not running

Solutions

for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
    if (cudaInit(0) == cudaSuccess) break;
    sleep(1);
}

sudo systemctl start nvidia-persistenced

Prevention Tips

• ✓Enable nvidia-persistenced
• ✓Add retry logic at startup
• ✓Check driver status with nvidia-smi

Code Examples

Before (Problematic)

No retry logic.

int main() {
    cudaMalloc(...);  // May fail at boot

After (Fixed)

Retry with delay.

bool initialized = false;
for (int i = 0; i < 5 && !initialized; i++) {
    initialized = (cudaSetDevice(0) == cudaSuccess);
    if (!initialized) sleep(1);
}

Frequently Asked Questions

Related Errors

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