# Error using system CUDA in CUDA.jl

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/error-using-system-cuda-in-cuda-jl/77423>\
**Category:** GPU\
**Created:** [March 4, 2022, 8:40pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/error-using-system-cuda-in-cuda-jl/77423 "2022-03-04T20:40:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![RonRahaman](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/ronrahaman/32/34216_2.png) [@RonRahaman](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/RonRahaman)\
**Post date:** [March 4, 2022, 8:40pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/error-using-system-cuda-in-cuda-jl/77423/1 "2022-03-04T20:40:31Z")

</div>

Hi all, I’m trying to install CUDA.jl using my system’s CUDA toolkit. The installation completes, but I get errors when I try to test it by running `CUDA.version()`.

I set `JULIA_CUDA_USE_BINARYBUILDER=false` and ensured that `CUDA_ROOT` is set properly. When I run `CUDA.version()`, I get the following. Actually, the stacktrace is really huge, but this message was repeated several times.

I am using CUDA.jl v3.8.3 with a local installation of CUDA 10.1

```julia
┌ Debug: Could not use forward compatibility package
│ exception =
│ CUDA error: system has unsupported display driver / cuda driver combination (code 803, ERROR_SYSTEM_DRIVER_MISMATCH)
│ Stacktrace:
│ [1] throw_api_error(res::CUDA.cudaError_enum)
│ @ CUDA /usr/local/pace-apps/manual/packages/julia/1.7.2/gcc-8.3.0/pace/packages/CUDA/Axzxe/lib/cudadrv/error.jl:91
│ [2] macro expansion
│ @ /usr/local/pace-apps/manual/packages/julia/1.7.2/gcc-8.3.0/pace/packages/CUDA/Axzxe/lib/cudadrv/error.jl:101 [inlined]
│ [3] (::CUDA.var"#do_init#3")(driver::String)
│ @ CUDA /usr/local/pace-apps/manual/packages/julia/1.7.2/gcc-8.3.0/pace/packages/CUDA/Axzxe/lib/cudadrv/CUDAdrv.jl:88
│ [4] find_libcuda()
│ @ CUDA /usr/local/pace-apps/manual/packages/julia/1.7.2/gcc-8.3.0/pace/packages/CUDA/Axzxe/lib/cudadrv/CUDAdrv.jl:116
│ [5] libcuda()
│ @ CUDA /usr/local/pace-apps/manual/packages/julia/1.7.2/gcc-8.3.0/pace/packages/CUDA/Axzxe/lib/cudadrv/CUDAdrv.jl:141
│ [6] macro expansion
│ @ /usr/local/pace-apps/manual/packages/julia/1.7.2/gcc-8.3.0/pace/packages/CUDA/Axzxe/lib/cudadrv/libcuda.jl:5 [inlined]
│ [7] macro expansion
│ @ /usr/local/pace-apps/manual/packages/julia/1.7.2/gcc-8.3.0/pace/packages/CUDA/Axzxe/lib/cudadrv/error.jl:97 [inlined]
│ [8] cuGetErrorString
│ @ /usr/local/pace-apps/manual/packages/julia/1.7.2/gcc-8.3.0/pace/packages/CUDA/Axzxe/lib/utils/call.jl:26 [inlined]
│ [9] description
│ @ /usr/local/pace-apps/manual/packages/julia/1.7.2/gcc-8.3.0/pace/packages/CUDA/Axzxe/lib/cudadrv/error.jl:53 [inlined]
│ [10] showerror(io::IOContext{IOBuffer}, err::CUDA.CuError)
│ @ CUDA /usr/local/pace-apps/manual/packages/julia/1.7.2/gcc-8.3.0/pace/packages/CUDA/Axzxe/lib/cudadrv/error.jl:60
│ [11] showerror(io::IOContext{IOBuffer}, ex::CUDA.CuError, bt::Vector{Union{Ptr{Nothing}, Base.InterpreterIP}}; backtrace::Bool)
│ @ Base ./errorshow.jl:88
│ [12] showvalue(io::IOContext{IOBuffer}, e::Tuple{CUDA.CuError, Vector{Union{Ptr{Nothing}, Base.InterpreterIP}}})
│ @ Logging /storage/coda-apps/test/manual/packages/julia/1.7.2/gcc-8.3.0/share/julia/stdlib/v1.7/Logging/src/ConsoleLogger.jl:56
│ [13] handle_message(logger::Logging.ConsoleLogger, level::Base.CoreLogging.LogLevel, message::Any, _module::Any, group::Any, id::Any, filepath::Any, line::Any; kwargs::Base.Pairs{Symbol, V, Tuple{Vararg{Symbol, N}}, NamedTuple{names, T}} where {V, N, names, T<:Tuple{Vararg{Any, N}}})
│ @ Logging /storage/coda-apps/test/manual/packages/julia/1.7.2/gcc-8.3.0/share/julia/stdlib/v1.7/Logging/src/ConsoleLogger.jl:134
│ [14] macro expansion
│ @ ./logging.jl:365 [inlined]
│ [15] find_libcuda()
│ @ CUDA /usr/local/pace-apps/manual/packages/julia/1.7.2/gcc-8.3.0/pace/packages/CUDA/Axzxe/lib/cudadrv/CUDAdrv.jl:119
│ --- the last 11 lines are repeated 1604 more times ---
│ [17660] libcuda()
│ @ CUDA /usr/local/pace-apps/manual/packages/julia/1.7.2/gcc-8.3.0/pace/packages/CUDA/Axzxe/lib/cudadrv/CUDAdrv.jl:141
│ [17661] macro expansion
│ @ /usr/local/pace-apps/manual/packages/julia/1.7.2/gcc-8.3.0/pace/packages/CUDA/Axzxe/lib/cudadrv/libcuda.jl:23 [inlined]
│ [17662] macro expansion
│ @ /usr/local/pace-apps/manual/packages/julia/1.7.2/gcc-8.3.0/pace/packages/CUDA/Axzxe/lib/cudadrv/error.jl:97 [inlined]
│ [17663] cuDriverGetVersion
│ @ /usr/local/pace-apps/manual/packages/julia/1.7.2/gcc-8.3.0/pace/packages/CUDA/Axzxe/lib/utils/call.jl:26 [inlined]
│ [17664] version()
│ @ CUDA /usr/local/pace-apps/manual/packages/julia/1.7.2/gcc-8.3.0/pace/packages/CUDA/Axzxe/lib/cudadrv/version.jl:24
│ [17665] top-level scope
│ @ REPL[2]:1
│ [17666] top-level scope
│ @ /usr/local/pace-apps/manual/packages/julia/1.7.2/gcc-8.3.0/pace/packages/CUDA/Axzxe/src/initialization.jl:52
│ [17667] eval
│ @ ./boot.jl:373 [inlined]
│ [17668] eval_user_input(ast::Any, backend::REPL.REPLBackend)
│ @ REPL /storage/coda-apps/test/manual/packages/julia/1.7.2/gcc-8.3.0/share/julia/stdlib/v1.7/REPL/src/REPL.jl:150
│ [17669] repl_backend_loop(backend::REPL.REPLBackend)
│ @ REPL /storage/coda-apps/test/manual/packages/julia/1.7.2/gcc-8.3.0/share/julia/stdlib/v1.7/REPL/src/REPL.jl:246
│ [17670] start_repl_backend(backend::REPL.REPLBackend, consumer::Any)
│ @ REPL /storage/coda-apps/test/manual/packages/julia/1.7.2/gcc-8.3.0/share/julia/stdlib/v1.7/REPL/src/REPL.jl:231
│ [17671] run_repl(repl::REPL.AbstractREPL, consumer::Any; backend_on_current_task::Bool)
│ @ REPL /storage/coda-apps/test/manual/packages/julia/1.7.2/gcc-8.3.0/share/julia/stdlib/v1.7/REPL/src/REPL.jl:364
│ [17672] run_repl(repl::REPL.AbstractREPL, consumer::Any)
│ @ REPL /storage/coda-apps/test/manual/packages/julia/1.7.2/gcc-8.3.0/share/julia/stdlib/v1.7/REPL/src/REPL.jl:351
│ [17673] (::Base.var"#930#932"{Bool, Bool, Bool})(REPL::Module)
│ @ Base ./client.jl:394
│ [17674] #invokelatest#2
│ @ ./essentials.jl:716 [inlined]
│ [17675] invokelatest
│ @ ./essentials.jl:714 [inlined]
│ [17676] run_main_repl(interactive::Bool, quiet::Bool, banner::Bool, history_file::Bool, color_set::Bool)
│ @ Base ./client.jl:379
│ [17677] exec_options(opts::Base.JLOptions)
│ @ Base ./client.jl:

```

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![lawless-m](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/lawless-m/32/30869_2.png) [@lawless-m](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/lawless-m)\
**Post date:** [March 6, 2022, 8:28am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/error-using-system-cuda-in-cuda-jl/77423/2 "2022-03-06T08:28:12Z")

</div>

> [@RonRahaman](#):
>
> ```julia
> │ CUDA error: system has unsupported display driver / cuda driver combination (code 803, ERROR_SYSTEM_DRIVER_
> 
> ```

The 803 is generated outside Julia by the CUDA subsystem

> **[CUDA Compatibility :: NVIDIA Data Center GPU Driver Documentation](https://docs.nvidia.com/deploy/cuda-compatibility/index.html#check-for-compatibility-support)**
>
> CUDA Compatibility document describes the use of new CUDA toolkit components on systems with older base installations.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![maleadt](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/maleadt/32/10097_2.png) [@maleadt](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/maleadt)\
**Post date:** [March 7, 2022, 4:25am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/error-using-system-cuda-in-cuda-jl/77423/3 "2022-03-07T04:25:45Z")

</div>

The warning that CUDA.jl isn’t able to load the forward compatibility driver is a warning, nothing more. It isn’t causing any errors. If you have other issues, look for another exception being thrown. You can also try the master branch of CUDA.jl, where error messages have been slightly improved.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![RonRahaman](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/ronrahaman/32/34216_2.png) [@RonRahaman](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/RonRahaman)\
**Post date:** [March 7, 2022, 4:19pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/error-using-system-cuda-in-cuda-jl/77423/4 "2022-03-07T16:19:17Z")

</div>

I just went ahead and let Julia install its own CUDA drivers (which were 11.5 for me), and now it’s working great. I don’t imagine there’s much benefit to using my system’s CUDA 10.5 installation if it’s not compatible.