TDRs and no SLI

M

mufcfan

Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 23, 2005
Messages
266
Hi,

I've been trying to get my two MSI Cyclone 460GTX 768 OC cards working together, but I ran out of ideas.
If I use one card in either of the PCIe x16 slots they work fine, but if there's two of them the nVidia driver has seroius issues. TDRs every now and then and besides that no SLI option in the control panel. I tried 258.96 and the two 260 series drivers, but I get exactly the same.

This is a new build, but as I said it works perfectly with one videocard. Tested with Mafia II benchmark and got the same results even if I put either card in the secondary PCIe x16 slot. Also they would be stabile after few hours.

I even got a Corsair TX950W so power is not the issue. The other specs:
Asus P8P67 Evo (BIOS 1253),
Intel i5 2500k no oc, just stock,
Corsair 4x2GB XMS3 1600 CL9 @ 1333 CL9,
Corsair F60 SSD,
3x Segate ST31000528AS HDDs, no RAID,
Cooler Master HAF 912 Plus case, with 1x20cm and 4x12cm fans, (20 (front) and 1x12 (side) in, 3x12 (back and top) out),
Razer Krait, Logitech Wave and Logitech Rumblepad II USB HIDs,
Benq V2420H display and Genius SW HF 5.1 6000 soundsystem.
All integrated peripherials disabled but Realtek HD Audio and Atheros Bluetooth. EPU and TPU disabled.

I've reinstalled win7, then MS Security Essentials, then Intel INF and Management Engine Interface drivers, then nVidia drivers, then windows updates.

Two final ideas: will check if my SLI bridge is broken, with a multimeter and try the latest MSI display drivers.

Gary_Key from ASUS is very helpful but he couldn't recreate my issue with the new motherboards and a lot of different cards in SLI.

EDIT: I've tried memtest but I wouldn't run properly:
Testing with 2 sticks only.
The + sign keeps flashing, so it's not frozen. Is it normal that there's only 2030MB detected on the picture? In windows I get 8174MB only.

I really hope someone can help!
 
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This isn't a repeat of that Realtek NIC issue on p55/x58, is it? Try disabling Realtek NICs if you have them or rolling back the drivers to some 2008 version, then reinstall video card drivers.
 
Thanks, both NIC are disabled, along with the serial port, USB 3.0, JMB and Marvell SATA controllers. Only the Realtek HD Audio and the Bluetooth are active. (need sound and can't turn off the other).

I will commence removing the nVidia drivers, safe mode driversweep and install of the MSI drivers.

EDIT: Still no SLI option with the MSI drivers, will have to wait on stability. I tested the "pins" of the SLI bridge and all checked out. What the hell can I do now???
 
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So strange. Go to the closest BB/Fry's and borrow a 460 and a new PSU see what happens. Some shit you just can't do anything about without trial and error testing with different parts.

As for the Memtest issue you're having...IIRC Memtest limitation for RAM was 2GB, so that might be why it's not working.
 
Well, no can't do on the first as I live in Hungary. I used a Cooler Master M620 before and I got the SLI option but only once and after restart both cards were showing code 43 in the device manager.

Thankfully, with the MSI drivers, the system is now stabile. Even ran the Mafia II benchmark with everything at maximum, even Physx (set to card 2) and scored 30fps avg.

Could it be that the BIOS (and the clocks as well) different on the two cards? One of them has 0B, the other 1B. But both are exactly the same model. But I guess then I wouldn't have got the SLI option that one time. Anyways, the GPU-z screens:
ccs.png
dvf.png


Why can't there be a software with a checklist, where it would show you why can't you have SLI?

I still hope someone can help!
 
I've got some updates and I hope this will simplify the remaining troubleshooting.

I followed Gary_Key's advice and did a CMOS reset, switched the cards and reinstalled the newest nVidia driver without the 3D drivers.
Now, when I restarted the computer right from the beginning the screen was full of, mostly horizontally aligned, artifacts. Where there was change on the screen it cleared up for a second or so. I logged in and saw that the card now installed in the first slot had Code 43 in device manager. The other one was fine.
I restarted and everything went back to the way it was. Everything looks fine but no SLI.

So, the question now: the slots and the mobo, the card or the memory is at fault?

The card was tried and tested with the Mafia II benchmark in both slots and performed just like the other one.
I can't test the memory, as I have earlier mentioned, with memtest. Maybe stick by stick but I don't think that's efficient or would lead to proper conclusions.

Does anybody have any suggestions on how to test for memory and mobo issues? (Or why I'm completely wrong? :))

Thanks in advance!
 
What happens if you only use one stick of memory? Rotate those four sticks of memory, one at a time, to see if any one stick is perhaps preventing activation of SLI. Can't imagine why it would, but the normal options have already been pursued.

If that does nothing, it is possible that the motherboard is defective in its electrical slots or traces somewhere. I have never had a code 43 on a working device, but obviously both your cards work fine independently, so the cards are not at issue, and it's not like Windows can differentiate between a defective slot/motherboard and defective video card.
 
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Finally!!!

I managed to get everything working and I know what was wrong. I didn't want to mess up my windows 7 activation and I didn't want to use my serial until the coast was totally clear. So I used a loader and it loaded a bad SLIC and that's why I got artifacts and Code 43, etc. Now, original SLIC and it works like a charm.

Thanks for all your help! Now my PC kicks some major ass and won't land on it's back while doing so! :)
 
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