Sli Problems

[bone450]

If you do test both cards by themselves make sure to check the bios version of each card. That will put one idea to rest.

 

On a side note I remember when I got my 2nd 6600gt and had to clear the cmos and also couldn't load the cmos reloaded settings before I could get everything working properly. I had to resetup all the cmos reloaded settings before thoughs would work right.

[Reinvented]

Wow. Have your blinders on? This board is not fine. There are some serious issues with it, just use your search function on this forum and several others from around the net. If I was the only person that had to RMA it because it didn't work correctly, than you might be OK, but come on! I'm soo very tired of hearing how it must be operator error with this board. What was the 12/07 bios for then? Is it operator error when poeple who are not overclocking just happen to lose cpu's? No. It must be the user's fault. It must be XFX's faults. But, gee, it could never be DFI's fault, could it? Wake up and research this issue a little bit. This board had major problems.

Again, I'll ask. What Forceware revision are you attempting to use to enable SLI?

 

Have a stick up your butt? Your integrating two DIFFERENT issues into it then. If you don't like the board, simply return it and stop your bitching. It's not needed. YOU really need to wake up and search a bit. If you ever see the amount of CPU's lost, it's a very very small number. Since a LOT of people have this board. We're talking about over 400 people probably have this board, and 99% of them probably have no issues whatsoever! He should contact XFX...not DFI! DFI doesn't manufacture cards now, do they?

[verncat05]

No, they don't. But it is their board that has the SLI slots, now isn't it? Plus all the wire traces and the bios functions that controls the SLI function, but maybe I'm way off here. 99% of people are satisfied? Well, you need to check your math and do another search as well. You are saying, and I do understand that you are estimating, that "about over 400" people have this board. So only 4 people have issues? Holy ., you are way off! Check out this thread: http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=82319

There are 21 people there that have had issues with this board, not counting myself. I voted too early when i thought things were ok. Bitching? No, just trying to help out someone who is having issues and letting him know that it could possibly be something other than his video cards. Sorry if that offends you, but it is a possibility.

Oh, btw, I have searched around, which is why I am able to post this with facts, not some made-up numbers. 99% satisified? Very funny and very untrue. Get your facts straight, I did.

And no, I don't have a stick up my butt, just sick of people who refuse to see the remote possibility that a DFI board may actual be faulty.

[mdzcpa]

My 2 cents:

 

There is nothing inherently wrong with the Expert and its SLI support. I have 2 Expert boards running SLI just fine. One with a pair of 7800GTs and another with a pair of 7800GTX 512s.

 

I'd also have to agree that given the number of actual CPU deaths and other related problems, it doesn't really appear that the board has a higher number of issues than any other new board. And that doesn't even get into the user error issue...which tends to be higher on a board like this with so many extreme overclockers buying the board.

 

all that said, i'd boot each card seperately and see how they are working. next, I'd doube check those BIOS settings noted above. Also, make sure you are connecting the cable to the top card, and to the primary monitor connection.

 

Last, go through the drivers. make sure you do a full uninstall of the video drivers and chipset drivers. Reinstall the 6.70 chipset drivers, then the 81.95 video drivers.

[dave24]

Hi,i had the same problem until i removed the monitor lead and plugged it into the bottom graphics card and everything was ok

 

Dave

[davidk21770]

I was just having a problem with getting SLI to work on my Expert MB. I tried lots of things and what I think finally worked was to reinstall the video drivers from safe mode.

 

I noticed that NVidia claims that antivirus software may keep the driver from configuring properly. I wonder if that was the issue here? Or, it could be my firewall -- ZoneAlarm -- which has become very intrusive with it's new program control features. IMO, it's an alpha release (I can't recommend them until they get it working more smoothly / transparently).

[uhaulball]

how do i enable SLI in the bios on an expert board. under the genie bios i enaled dual 6600gt but my single card in the the 2nd slot still says its running under x2 not x8..

[davidk21770]

how do i enable SLI in the bios on an expert board. under the genie bios i enaled dual 6600gt but my single card in the the 2nd slot still says its running under x2 not x8..

 

Set the SLI bus to 8-NC-4-8. You have it set for 16-1-1-2.

[MenionLeah]

I had the exact same problem when I first put together my computer (last weekend) and this is how I fixed it:

 

First, restart your computer and enter Windows Safe Mode. Then uninstall the nVidia graphics driver. This can be done in Start->Settings->Control Panel->Add/Remove Programs under "nVidia Drivers." Once the Forceware drivers have been uninstalled, restart your computer and enter the BIOS. You will need to go to Genie BIOS and change the PCI Express Configuration to 8-4-NC-8. Then go to Advanced Chipset Options and change the SLI Aperature to Enabled. Save and Exit BIOS, restart into Windows normally and reinstall the Forceware drivers. Once they have been installed and your computer restarted, right click on the desktop, go to Properties->Settings tab->Advanced button->GeForce 7800 tab->SLI multi-GPU in the expanded window and you should see the options Enable SLI multi-GPU and Show GPU load balancing. Check the SLI multi-GPU box and hit OK and you should be all set.

 

Hope that helps.

[uhaulball]

I had the exact same problem when I first put together my computer (last weekend) and this is how I fixed it:

 

First, restart your computer and enter Windows Safe Mode. Then uninstall the nVidia graphics driver. This can be done in Start->Settings->Control Panel->Add/Remove Programs under "nVidia Drivers." Once the Forceware drivers have been uninstalled, restart your computer and enter the BIOS. You will need to go to Genie BIOS and change the PCI Express Configuration to 8-4-NC-8. Then go to Advanced Chipset Options and change the SLI Aperature to Enabled. Save and Exit BIOS, restart into Windows normally and reinstall the Forceware drivers. Once they have been installed and your computer restarted, right click on the desktop, go to Properties->Settings tab->Advanced button->GeForce 7800 tab->SLI multi-GPU in the expanded window and you should see the options Enable SLI multi-GPU and Show GPU load balancing. Check the SLI multi-GPU box and hit OK and you should be all set.

 

Hope that helps.

thanks a lot. i finally figured it out myself yesterday before the post, i saw the 8-NC-4-8 and i was like "this must be it" and then i changed the SLI aperature to enabled as well. I didn't however, uninstall/reinstall drivers. It still works fine for me. I only have 1 eVGA 7800gtx. I wanted SLI enabled because i had the card in the 2nd drive. Would u recommend i change it back to 16-1-1-2 and put the card in the first slot?

 

edit: also, i notice u have the 9500. although u dont have the new stock amd hsf, how do u like that zalman, i was thinking of either that or a ninja. On the expert, they can creat a windtunnel, but then again a ninja could do that too.

[MenionLeah]

Yeah, you're probably better off with a single video card being in the first slot, closest to the CPU and changing the BIOS options back to normal. Might not impact performance any but could clear up some airflow to the video card and the motherboard chipset depending on the setup of fans in your case and additional PCI cards.

 

I love the CNPS9500 LED. Its huge, and can be loud at its highest settings though there is a silent option. I had my X2 3800+ overclocked to 2.7GHz for a while with a vcore of ~1.6 and CPU temperature never got above 42C in a 13 hour period of two Prime95's running, one for each core. Of course, I have 2 80mm fans blowing directly on the Zalman from the side and two more 80mm fans blowing out of the case directly behind it, and the temperature of the room my computer is in never climbs above 17C in the winter all probably have something to do with it. Even so, I've been impressed so far. When I first was putting together my computer, I noticed that the Zalman would spin up for 10 seconds and then spin back down for 30 seconds and repeat, over and over and over. Finally figured out that the CPU temp would climb to 35C which is when the motherboard BIOS would turn the CPU fan on full power, which would drop the CPU temp down under 25C in seconds, at which point the BIOS would turn the fan back off which would cause it to slowly climb back up to 35C. Had to overclock just so that the CPU temperature would stay above the shutdown threshold (and maybe a few other reasons, heh).

[davidk21770]

how do i enable SLI in the bios on an expert board. under the genie bios i enaled dual 6600gt but my single card in the the 2nd slot still says its running under x2 not x8..

 

I may be answering the same question in 2 forums, but set the SLI bus for 8-NC-4-8. You have it set for 16-1-1-2.

 

After you do that, boot to safe mode, uninstall the video driver. Reboot back into safe mode and reinstall the drivers. I then rebooted back into safe mode again, for the drivers to fully install -- but I'm not sure this last one is necessary. If you're not in safe mode, the drivers don't seem to recognize both video cards properly.