Question 34
UnclassifiedWhat does 'nvidia-smi -pm 1' do and why is it important for troubleshooting?
Correct answer: B
Explanation
"nvidia-smi -pm 1" enables persistence mode, which keeps the NVIDIA driver loaded instead of unloading between uses. That matters for troubleshooting because it provides "consistent behavior" by reducing startup delays and state changes that can make GPU issues harder to reproduce.
Why each option is right or wrong
A. Sets power mode to maximum
B. Enables persistence mode - keeps driver loaded for consistent behavior
The command `nvidia-smi -pm 1` sets the GPU’s persistence mode to enabled, which prevents the NVIDIA kernel driver from unloading when no CUDA or graphics clients are active. In practice, that keeps the device initialized across runs, avoiding the repeated load/unload cycle that can add several seconds of startup latency and introduce state changes that obscure intermittent faults during diagnosis.
C. Enables performance monitoring
D. Sets GPU to maintenance mode