nvidia-smi mig unable to create GPU instance requested profile is incompatible

The requested MIG profile does not fit alongside the instances already configured. MIG placements are constrained to fixed slot positions, so a set of profiles that sums to the right memory can still be unplaceable. This entry explains how to confirm the cause, apply the fix, and separate it from adjacent mig-vgpu failures.

Symptom

nvidia-smi mig unable to create GPU instance requested profile is incompatible

Root cause

The requested MIG profile does not fit alongside the instances already configured. MIG placements are constrained to fixed slot positions, so a set of profiles that sums to the right memory can still be unplaceable. The decisive evidence is the first log line that precedes "nvidia-smi mig unable to create GPU instance requested profile is incompatible" and differs from a healthy run.

Recommended fix

list what exists and what can still be placed, nvidia-smi mig -lgi (existing instances) and nvidia-smi mig -lgip (profiles with their available placements).

How Denpex helps

Denpex investigates nvidia-smi mig unable to create GPU instance requested profile is incompatible using the evidence you provide or your connected workload collects. Earlier rank, host or application evidence is needed to distinguish an initiating failure from a downstream report.

The literal signature is "nvidia-smi mig unable to create GPU instance requested profile is incompatible". It is a infrastructure failure associated with NVIDIA MIG, vGPU, and partition scheduling. The line identifies the failing operation or subsystem, while the surrounding evidence decides whether it is the initiating fault or a downstream symptom.

The requested MIG profile does not fit alongside the instances already configured. MIG placements are constrained to fixed slot positions, so a set of profiles that sums to the right memory can still be unplaceable. The failure becomes visible at this call site because the operation first requires the missing resource, valid state, healthy peer, or correct result. Earlier log lines and a known-good control carry more causal value than the final wrapper exception.

• The workload stops or loses forward progress after emitting "nvidia-smi mig unable to create GPU instance requested profile is incompatible".
• A retry on the same configuration reproduces the failure because the causal state has not changed.
• The outer framework exception can hide the rank, node, allocation, or dependency that failed first.
• Increasing timeouts or reducing workload size can suppress the symptom without correcting the cause.

• NVIDIA MIG, vGPU, and partition scheduling
• production-shaped multi-accelerator workloads
• containerized and bare-metal deployments of the same stack

Use this checklist to test the hypothesis against a small reproduction. No single line proves the root cause, so preserve the preceding events and compare one variable at a time.

• ✓Find the first occurrence of "nvidia-smi mig unable to create GPU instance requested profile is incompatible" and preserve at least 100 lines before it.
• ✓Identify which rank, node, device, or process emitted the first related warning.
• ✓the total is not the constraint; the placement is. A 3g.40gb needs a contiguous slot that may already be fragmented by two 1g instances. Destroying and recreating the whole layout in one operation usually succeeds where an incremental add fails.
• ✓Repeat the same input after the targeted change and require the signature to disappear.
• ✓Resume from job start, after the MIG layout is reconfigured only after the control passes.

• The requested MIG profile does not fit alongside the instances already configured. MIG placements are constrained to fixed slot positions, so a set of profiles that sums to the right memory can still be unplaceable.
• The decisive evidence is the first log line that precedes "nvidia-smi mig unable to create GPU instance requested profile is incompatible" and differs from a healthy run.
• A nearby failure remains a competing hypothesis until a control separates configuration, capacity, transport, and hardware causes.

nvidia-smi mig unable to create GPU instance requested profile is incompatible

Use this text as a lookup key in logs and upstream issue trackers. It is not presented as a captured customer log. Confirm the cause from your own preceding events, versions, configuration and the cited references.

list what exists and what can still be placed, nvidia-smi mig -lgi (existing instances) and nvidia-smi mig -lgip (profiles with their available placements). This changes the condition in the causal diagnosis instead of hiding the outer exception. The repeated control proves ownership before recovery from job start, after the MIG layout is reconfigured.

# Preserve evidence before restarting
kubectl describe pod <pod>
kubectl get events --sort-by=.lastTimestamp
kubectl logs <pod> --all-containers

# Find the exact signature in the complete log
rg -n -F -- "nvidia-smi mig unable to create GPU instance requested profile is incompatible" <log-file>

Adapt the snippet to your framework. The same pattern holds for PyTorch Lightning, Hugging Face Trainer, DeepSpeed, Megatron-LM, and vLLM training wrappers. Where the wrapper exposes a config flag (for examplelr_scheduler_type in Trainer), prefer the flag over the imperative API to keep the schedule declarative and reproducible.

Select the traceback or open the failed terminal, then run Denpex locally to see the initiating rank, collateral failures, exact fix, and verification command without uploading the log.