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Problems with SLI conifg
- Thread starter jarablue
- Start date
Ok
Asus A8N-SLI with Nforce4 chipset
Amd X2 4200 cpu
running latest bios
6 case fans
1 dvd burner
1 sound card
1.5 gigs memory 4 sticks
2 7900GT OC BFG cards
10k rpm raptor 75 gig
120 gig seagate drive
1 logitech 3d controller
All of that powered off of a 500 watt Antec True power PS. I am running the latest chipset drivers for my board from nV. Also I have tried the lastest forceware for xp and now am running the 91.47. It is wierd it will let me enable it and I can reboot forever. But when it shuts down by itself then does it prompt that message.
Asus A8N-SLI with Nforce4 chipset
Amd X2 4200 cpu
running latest bios
6 case fans
1 dvd burner
1 sound card
1.5 gigs memory 4 sticks
2 7900GT OC BFG cards
10k rpm raptor 75 gig
120 gig seagate drive
1 logitech 3d controller
All of that powered off of a 500 watt Antec True power PS. I am running the latest chipset drivers for my board from nV. Also I have tried the lastest forceware for xp and now am running the 91.47. It is wierd it will let me enable it and I can reboot forever. But when it shuts down by itself then does it prompt that message.
Well I am not going to buy a 150 psu and a 200 old video card. For 350 plus 1 or 2 more I can get the latest and greatest. I am sending this card back and will keep the 7900 till the 8x series refresh. Maybe even till the 9 series. Thanks for the help.
First off, you need to enable SLI in the BIOS and flip the SLI selection card around. It's not a matter of it just being seated properly. You also need to have the SLI bridge installed.
BTW don't hold your breath for a G80 refresh. We just had one last month. Around November I'd expect to see the 9 series.
BTW don't hold your breath for a G80 refresh. We just had one last month. Around November I'd expect to see the 9 series.
You've re-installed your drivers after running driver cleaner? Are the cards the same? Same brand, clock speed etc? Have you flashed the BIOS of each card making sure they are the same? There is another BIOS setting having to do with SLI that I can't remember exactly. You might mess with that as well.
In any case, I wasn't advocating spending anymore money. Anyone wanting to spend $250 or more needs to spend a few extra bucks and get an 8800GTS 320MB or 640MB. Both are fantastic cards. I'm very pleased with the 320MB I put in my woman's machine.
yes I have run xdc driver cleaner in safe mode after removing drivers. then booting into normal mode and running latest xp32 bit drivers from nv.com
Yes I have tried everything. both cards are 7900GT OC's from BFG. I didn't try flashing the BIOS for both cards. The only option for sli in my bios is the PEG link mode. Unless I am missing something. I have switched my dimm sli card to dual cards and have used the sli bridge connector for both my cards. It is either bad PCI-E slot, need a beefier power supply, the new card is bad or somehow the dimm pci card wasn't put in all the way. I dont know what else to do. but if I am going to spend 350+ I am getting a new card.
please help. I would like to get this sli going. can you guys/gals rec steps for me to take?
Yes I have tried everything. both cards are 7900GT OC's from BFG. I didn't try flashing the BIOS for both cards. The only option for sli in my bios is the PEG link mode. Unless I am missing something. I have switched my dimm sli card to dual cards and have used the sli bridge connector for both my cards. It is either bad PCI-E slot, need a beefier power supply, the new card is bad or somehow the dimm pci card wasn't put in all the way. I dont know what else to do. but if I am going to spend 350+ I am getting a new card.
please help. I would like to get this sli going. can you guys/gals rec steps for me to take?
Let's have all your specifications for your box and we'll take it from there.
Ok here goes. Before the SLI I had 1 exhaust fan and 1 fan over the 7900GF OC BFG. Now right before putting in the 2nd card I put in 4 case fans and took out the heatpipe I had on the chipset and put back the factory chipset fan. Kinda put a tad too much paste if I may say so on the chipset. I got my 2nd card. I took the dimm sli card and switched it to DUAL and slotted it back in. Then I put the bridge connector on the top of the 2 cards. Making sure J1 was the first card. Then I booted into windows and removed the drivers. Then I booted back into safe mode used xdc and removed leftover files, then back into XP. By the way I have Vista 64 bit on my internal D: drive as a dual boot system. Didn't know if that meant anything. Ok system specs:
Motherboard: Asus A8N-SLI (regular. no deluxe or anything just plain) with latest beta BIOS.
Video: 2 PCI Express BFG 7900 GT OC (one bought last March of 06 and one bought 3 days ago. Maybe both need same bios? Doubful but maybe?)
Ram: 2x256megs Corsair XMS DDR500 2x512 same sutff. (All 4 slots are filled. Also I recently bumped it up from 333 to 400. The motherboard timing that is.)
Hard Drives: 10k raptor75 gig system drive. 7200rpm seagate 120 gig Vista 64bit on it
Sound Card: Audigy 4
DVD Burner: Pioneer 108 w/latest firmware
Power Supply: Antec True power 500 watt
Recently added:which has no power supply and uses the Antec: Logitech Extreme3d usb Flight Joystick
Now this is the thing. I just took out the 2nd card and removed the drivers and put it back into single card mode. The fucking thing rebooted after 4 hours. So now I am thinking this:
Maybe reseat the chipset heatsink with the right amount of paste. Remove the Logitech. Set the ram back to 333 from the now 400. Maybe too many fans? I now know it's not the video card. I really think my PSU is not beefy enough at only 500WATT. But please. Help. What should I do? Thanks a lot!
Motherboard: Asus A8N-SLI (regular. no deluxe or anything just plain) with latest beta BIOS.
Video: 2 PCI Express BFG 7900 GT OC (one bought last March of 06 and one bought 3 days ago. Maybe both need same bios? Doubful but maybe?)
Ram: 2x256megs Corsair XMS DDR500 2x512 same sutff. (All 4 slots are filled. Also I recently bumped it up from 333 to 400. The motherboard timing that is.)
Hard Drives: 10k raptor75 gig system drive. 7200rpm seagate 120 gig Vista 64bit on it
Sound Card: Audigy 4
DVD Burner: Pioneer 108 w/latest firmware
Power Supply: Antec True power 500 watt
Recently added:which has no power supply and uses the Antec: Logitech Extreme3d usb Flight Joystick
Now this is the thing. I just took out the 2nd card and removed the drivers and put it back into single card mode. The fucking thing rebooted after 4 hours. So now I am thinking this:
Maybe reseat the chipset heatsink with the right amount of paste. Remove the Logitech. Set the ram back to 333 from the now 400. Maybe too many fans? I now know it's not the video card. I really think my PSU is not beefy enough at only 500WATT. But please. Help. What should I do? Thanks a lot!
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- May 7, 2007
- Messages
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jarablue: I got your message. Wow, our setups are very similar with only a few differences. 
Anyways, your PSU should be strong enough for both of the video cards. I'm thinking that it's the RAM, not the PSU. My 7900's are on an ASUS A8N-SLI Premium board, and with 4 memory slots being used (in dual channel) the max speed I can run the RAM at is 333MHz, and the same goes for the machine I am on now (in my specs). Setting the RAM speeds too high with four slots can cause the latency to mess up with the socket 939 boards. Also, if you can, try to set the timings just slightly higher than their previous settings (just to test).
Also, what is the 12 volt rail amp rating on your PSU? For dual 7900GT's in SLI, I wouldn't go below 28~30 amps, minimum, just to be safe.
Let me know or message me again. Good luck.
Edit: I might have to agree with Triz08. If the RAM is not the problem, the SLI configuration card could be the culprit. Make sure the card is in the correct postion and make sure it is connected securely (maybe a slight vibration of the case is causing it to come loose a little?). My Premium motherboard (and the one in my sig) does not have the configuration card, but I set up a comp for my cousin which used the ASUS A8N-Deluxe with the card. I don't see how it could come loose though, perhaps it is just faulty?
If this problem only resurfaces when you restart, then perhaps it has something to do with the PSU? RAWR! I dun like it. I'll help as much as I can. PM me if anything new occurs.
Anyways, your PSU should be strong enough for both of the video cards. I'm thinking that it's the RAM, not the PSU. My 7900's are on an ASUS A8N-SLI Premium board, and with 4 memory slots being used (in dual channel) the max speed I can run the RAM at is 333MHz, and the same goes for the machine I am on now (in my specs). Setting the RAM speeds too high with four slots can cause the latency to mess up with the socket 939 boards. Also, if you can, try to set the timings just slightly higher than their previous settings (just to test).
Also, what is the 12 volt rail amp rating on your PSU? For dual 7900GT's in SLI, I wouldn't go below 28~30 amps, minimum, just to be safe.
Let me know or message me again. Good luck.
Edit: I might have to agree with Triz08. If the RAM is not the problem, the SLI configuration card could be the culprit. Make sure the card is in the correct postion and make sure it is connected securely (maybe a slight vibration of the case is causing it to come loose a little?). My Premium motherboard (and the one in my sig) does not have the configuration card, but I set up a comp for my cousin which used the ASUS A8N-Deluxe with the card. I don't see how it could come loose though, perhaps it is just faulty?
If this problem only resurfaces when you restart, then perhaps it has something to do with the PSU? RAWR! I dun like it. I'll help as much as I can. PM me if anything new occurs.
These are the specs of my PS
http://www.antec.com/specs/SP500_spe.html
I think for both 12vrails it is 36a. Combined. I don't know though. Is that ok?
http://www.antec.com/specs/SP500_spe.html
I think for both 12vrails it is 36a. Combined. I don't know though. Is that ok?
- Joined
- May 7, 2007
- Messages
- 13,444
Yes, it's more than enough for two 7900GT's. My PSU has a 12v rail combination of 38 amps, so your fine in the PSU department. I'm going to have to associate your problem with either the RAM (either speed, timings, or both) or the SLI configuration card (possibly coming loose or is just faulty).
Try what I said in my above post about the RAM. Hopefully this will help.
Try what I said in my above post about the RAM. Hopefully this will help.
Well I put the RAM speed back to SPD timings and am using the MB default setting of 333mhz. I don't think my SLI config card is bad. This time I made sure the fucker was in tight and correct. If it was faulty I don't think it would let me enable SLI at all. I took out my Logitech flight joystick and also rearranged the video cards. I did notice I had a exhause fan in my cpu jumper fan socket on the MB and my cpu fan in the case fan jumpter socked. So I set that straight. Did a scandisk 4 times /f and defragged. My shit is so tight, if it were coal I'd have a diamond mine. Well I will let this thing run all day see what happens. Thanks for the help. I really appreciate it.
The Antec PSU has enough wattage, but that doesn't mean that it's outputting correctly. I stand by my volt meter testing recommendation. If you have one, or can pick one up for $10 or $15 you'll know for certain if that's the issue.
Also, just to explore the software angle, if you have a spare hard drive laying around, install Windows and everything fresh on that and see if you still have the problems.
Also, just to explore the software angle, if you have a spare hard drive laying around, install Windows and everything fresh on that and see if you still have the problems.