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Internal self-test errors

Andreas Dumont
Posted 4 years ago

I keep running into internal self-test errors, e.g. if I use Free-form input and type "= caffeine molecule" and then click on the + to show all results. The scrollbar starts vibrating and the notebook is completely stuck. Sometimes it throws an internal self-test error with the file DXScreenGraphics.cpp. I'm running Mathematica 12.3 on Windows 10.

error messages
POSTED BY: Andreas Dumont
12 Replies
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I am having this exact same problem, self-test error and unresponsive kernel. I have Mathematica version 12.3.0.0 and Windows 10 for Workstations with a Intel Xenon processor and Nvidia GPUs. I do not have any Intel GPUs installed on my machine.

The problem mostly arises whenever I use dynamic functions such as Manipulate or ListAnimate. I was occasionally able to get around the bug by first unchecking "Dynamic Updating", then evaluating all of the cells in my notebook, and then finally turning the dynamic updating back on. Having to do this really slowed my work progress down to a crawl and is totally unacceptable to me. Furthermore, it only worked about 25% of the time at best. I usually have to shut Mathematica down using the Windows Task Manager and start all over again.

Wolfram tech support also told me that there was some sort of nebulous issue with Intel GPUs which does not apply to my machine. The person who responded to my tech support request told me to run this line of code which did not resolve my troubles:

CurrentValue[$FrontEnd, {RenderingOptions, "PreferredGPU"}] = "Software"

I checked my user portal and the only version of Mathematica available is still 12.3.0. How did you get version 12.3.1? It's not listed in my download portal at this time.

Regards
POSTED BY: Kerry Litvin

UPDATE:

I just tried modifying the suggested code (see my first response above) to the following:

CurrentValue[$FrontEnd, {RenderingOptions, "PreferredGPU"}] = "GPU"

This WORKED! I think the software didn't know how to render the graphics until I specifically told it to use the GPU (as opposed to the software).

The default setting is "Automatic" You can check this by just evaluating: 

CurrentValue[$FrontEnd, {RenderingOptions, "PreferredGPU"}]

When I set it equal to "GPU", on a hunch, it worked. Incidentally, all of my graphics /plots now work/render much better as well. I had issues scrolling past a large graphic plot with many hundreds of thousands of points but this simple fix seems to have resolved this issue as well. Of course, you need to have a Nvidia GPU installed on you computer for this to work.

Regards
POSTED BY: Kerry Litvin

Thanks, Kerry, for the good info. The symptoms you described were exactly those I observed on two platforms (see my posts above).

My portal had ver. 12.3.1 for download. If my copy would work for you and it's permitted in the license, I can create a link to it for you.

Like you, tech support told me to run the CurrentValue function, which changed the option. The option you found successful to prefer GPU is not obvious to me in the options inspector. Can you suggest which of the following I should use: "Automatic," "Software," "Integrated," "Discrete," or "External"?

Since you still have 12.3.0 installed. It might be informative to see if eliminating any corruption in the preferenes file would solve the problem. That's what tech support said is usually the culprit. Because I installed 12.3.1 before resetting my preferences, I still don't know whether it was the version change or simply the full install of a new version that solved the problem in my case.

Jay
POSTED BY: Jay Gourley
POSTED BY: Kerry Litvin

Jay & Others,

I did a clean restart by resetting Mathematica to its default conditions as per the instructions in this link:

http://support.wolfram.com/kb/12464

but to no avail. The problems persist. So I believe that Wolfram must have fixed a real bug in version 12.3.1 as per Jay's comments above.

I will wait for Wolfram Tech support to make version 12.3.1 available to me on my user portal (i.e. I will call them first thing on Monday morning EDT).

Regards.
POSTED BY: Kerry Litvin

The problem disappeared when I replaced ver. 12.3.0 with 12.3.1. What I would like to know is whether the version change corrected the problem or whether any full reinstall would have corrected it.

Wolfram tech support says most of the self-test errors are caused by corrupt preferences. During the three weeks I was back and forth with tech support, there was no awareness that a version change might be involved.

In my case, I had the same problem on two Windows-10 platforms. On the surface that might suggest that a preferences corruption was implausible. But both platforms were accessing the same notebooks. So as far as I know, it's possible a notebook error corrupted preference files on both computers in similar ways that caused the problem.
POSTED BY: Jay Gourley
Andreas Dumont
Andreas Dumont
Posted 4 years ago

Thank you for the information. But how do I get Mathematica 12.3.1? I can't find it on the Wolfram website...
POSTED BY: Andreas Dumont
Hans Milton
Hans Milton
Posted 4 years ago

Check if the download is available in your User Portal
POSTED BY: Hans Milton
Hans Milton
Hans Milton
Posted 4 years ago

This seems to have been fixed in version 12.3.1
POSTED BY: Hans Milton

Thanks, Hans Milton.

I just saw your post today about ver. 12.3.1. I hope you're right.

The INTERNAL SELF-TEST DXScreenGraphics|ccp|174 and collateral Mathematica lock-ups have wrecked my workflow since early August. I saw your post today. It's the first reference I've seen to a solution or to a Mathematica update.

But how do I install the newer version? My user portal has a download link for 12.3.1. I can download it fine (2.038MB) It runs as expected. It finishes with a confirmation that the installation was successful. But Mathematica help>about still says 12.3.0. When the download executed, it returned the message saying installation was successful in about one second, which seemed a too fast.

I have not tried completely uninistalling Mathematica. Is that necessary?

Another puzzler: I've been back and forth with Wolfram tech support since 8/16/21. Last contact was yesterday, 8/31/21. Tech support acknowledged early on that the bug was known. It was blamed on an Intel GPU. But no one has said anything about a new version or a solution to the problem.
POSTED BY: Jay Gourley
Hans Milton
Hans Milton
Posted 4 years ago

Jay, I upgraded from 12.3.0 to 12.3.1 in the beginning of July. Did not uninstall 12.3.0 before upgrading.

As I recall the "Express Download" was not available at that time, so I used the "Full Download". Both the download and the following installation took quite some time but went without any problems.

enter image description here
POSTED BY: Hans Milton
Hans Milton
Hans Milton
Posted 4 years ago

I am on Windows 10 as well and also have this problem on Mathematica 12.3 with Free-form Input / Show all results

enter image description here

Unlike you Andreas I don't get any Internal self-test errors. But as you say the front end becomes stuck. Cannot abort evaluation, close the notebook, start a new cell or do any other action. Only way out is to kill Mathematica through the Task Manager.

There is no problem on Mathematica 12.2
POSTED BY: Hans Milton
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