NPU Driver and Firmware Installation

Installation Description

• Initial installation: In scenarios where no driver is installed on a hardware device before delivery, or the installed driver and firmware on the hardware device have been uninstalled, you need to install the driver and then firmware.
• Overwrite installation: In scenarios where the driver and firmware have been installed on a hardware device and you need to install them again, install the firmware and then driver.
  You can run the following command to check whether the driver is installed in the current environment. If the driver information is displayed, the driver has been installed.

  1	npu-smi info

Driver and Firmware Installation

1. Log in to the installation environment as the root user and upload the driver and firmware packages to any directory on the server, for example, /home.
2. Install the dependencies required by the driver.
   1. Run the following command to check whether the source is available.
      Debian series (including Ubuntu, Debian, UOS20, and UOS20 SP1):

      1	apt-get update

      If an error is reported during command execution or the waiting time is too long, check whether the network is connected or modify the /etc/apt/sources.list file to an available source. Take Huawei mirrored source as an example, for details, see Huawei Open-Source Mirror Site.

      openEuler series (including openEuler, CentOS, Kylin, BCLinux, BC-Linux-for-Euler, UOS20 1050e, UOS20 1020e, UOSV20, AntOS, CTyunOS, CULinux, and Tlinux, Euler):

      1	yum makecache

      If an error is reported during command execution or the waiting time is too long, check whether the network is connected or modify the /etc/yum.repos.d/xxxx.repo file to an available source. Take Huawei mirrored source as an example, for details, see Huawei Open-Source Mirror Site.

   2. Run the following command to install dependencies.
      Debian OSs:

      1	apt-get install -y dkms gcc linux-headers-$(uname -r)

      openEuler series:

      1	yum install -y make dkms gcc kernel-headers-$(uname -r) kernel-devel-$(uname -r)

      If an error is reported or the dependency does not exist, see Installing Dependencies Required for Compiling Driver Source Code.

3. Go to the directory where the software package is stored and run the following commands to add the execute permission and verify the consistency and integrity of the software package:

   1 2 3 4

   chmod +x Ascend-hdk-<chip_type>-npu-driver_<version>_linux-<arch>.run chmod +x Ascend-hdk-<chip_type>-npu-firmware_<version>.run ./Ascend-hdk-<chip_type>-npu-driver_<version>_linux-<arch>.run --check ./Ascend-hdk-<chip_type>-npu-firmware_<version>.run --check

   If the following information is displayed, the software package verification is successful:

   1	Verifying archive integrity... 100% SHA256 checksums are OK. All good.

4. Install the driver and firmware. The default installation path is /usr/local/Ascend.
   • Run the following command to install the driver:

     1	./Ascend-hdk-<chip_type>-npu-driver_<version>_linux-<arch>.run --full --install-for-all

     If the following information is displayed, the driver is successfully installed:

     1	Driver package installed successfully!

     If some Linux tools are missing after you run the preceding commands, install them based on the command output. If an error such as DKMS and lack of dependency is reported, rectify the fault by referring to An Error Is Reported During Driver Installation.

   • Run the following commands to install the firmware.

     1	./Ascend-hdk-<chip_type>-npu-firmware_<version>.run --full

     If the following information is displayed, the firmware is successfully installed:

     1	Firmware package installed successfully! Reboot now or after driver installation for the installation/upgrade to take effect

   

   If the driver and firmware running user and user group are not HwHiAiUser, you must specify the running user and user group when installing the driver and firmware packages. The following is an example command:

   1	./Ascend-hdk-<chip_type>-npu-driver_<version>_linux-<arch>.run --full --install-username=<username> --install-usergroup=<usergroup>

5. Determine whether to restart the system as prompted. If the system needs to be restarted, run the following command. Otherwise, skip this step.

   1

   reboot

6. Run the following command to check whether the driver is successfully loaded:

   1	npu-smi info

   If the driver information is displayed, the driver is successfully loaded. Otherwise, the loading fails. In this case, visit Support to seek help or submit a technical service ticket.