| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Cluster Assistant cannot finish its checks | One or both Sparks or their ConnectX-7 link needs attention | Return to Connect Multiple DGX Sparks and complete its checks before running the recipe. |
docker reports permission denied on either Spark | The device user cannot access Docker | Follow the Docker access check in the single-device instructions. |
| Model download reports an authentication error | Hugging Face CLI access is missing or invalid on a Spark | Check hf auth whoami on both devices and authenticate as described in the Hugging Face guide. |
| The API does not respond on the head Spark | The recipe may still be loading or launch may have failed | Check the output in the launch terminal before retrying the /health request. |
The cluster recipe and manual launcher have separate setup steps. Use the commands from one path consistently; see Intermediate for the recipe or Advanced for explicit launch settings.