Unable to enable SLI

[shogan191]

DFI SLI DR Expert/Opty165/2x512 Geil/2x150 Raptors/PCP&C 510SLI/2x7800(512) EVGA

Checked all connectors on board 24/8/4

Checked both 6pin connectors on cards

Tried with bridge and without bridge

Enabled Dual onboard NV...

Auto SLI broadcast ...

Tried drivers 81.95/83.40/81.98/Driver on Motherboard disk.

Switched cards more than a couple of times.

 

Message where SLI should show enabled is.. You must remove any grapchics cards that are not compatable with Nvidia Scalable link interface before enabling SLI.

So does this mother board not recognize the EVGA 7800 (512) cards? They were recognized fine on the AsusA8N32 SLI and also the DFI SLI DR.

 

Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

[gr8golf]

Search for the threads started by myself and others on this topic. Some have resolved the issue - I never did. I like the fact that you are starting with two damn certain video cards, having used them on 2 other mobos.

 

Be sure to post your results back - regardless of the outcome.

[MikeMK]

I have 2 512 GTX's running just fine on my Expert, so its not that. You need to make sure that the bios is set to 8x-N.C.-4x-8x lane configuration in bios and NOT 16x-1x-1x-2x

[shogan191]

Ah, I saw that but wasn't sure what the setting should be. I'll change it and see if it makes any difference. Thanks MikeMK

 

Yep, gr8golf it does make things easier when you've got hardware that you know is already proven. Except like when I just spent 51/2 hours trying to install windows knowing it couldn't be the memory because it worked with those other systems. Wrong! Put in some old GEIL that I hadn't used in two years and it booted and installed fine. I'll be back, hopefully in SLI mode. Thanks guys.

 

Ok, went back and changed the setting to 8-4-NC-8 reboot, puts up the windows flash screen, starts into windows and no display, just black. I can hear windows booting but no pic. Shut down. Remove one card. Windows boots with changed resolution. I think what I'll do is insall a driver to this single card with all the settings like they are and see what happens.

 

Hey gr8, one of the guys in your previous thread mentioned twice about a jumper on the board. I didn't think the Expert board had a SLI jumper. Is he maybe thinking of another earlier board? Back shorthly. Nope no jumber on this board.

 

Got It! Like I said above once it booted to the display using a single card I just went to Control Panel and removed the driver, rebooted, installed driver 83.40 to the single card, rebooted, saw the driver installed and set my resolution. Shut down, installed 2nd card and SLI bridge, booted let it find the card which it did. I went to display properties and for the first time saw the Enable SLI Option. Enabled it and Bingo. Thanks for the help guys. I'll go back up top and include the part about the lane configuration so it's all in one spot. Thanks again.

[gr8golf]

I'm trying to decide whether or not to give SLI another try or just go with an x1900xt. If I KNEW it would work this time around I'd lean in that direction.

 

As far as your RAM experience goes - same thing happened to me with my Expert install. RAM that worked in my Ultra-D wouldn't in my Expert. Wasted HOURS before I figured that out. I spent more time getting my Expert running than any other system I've ever built and all of that would have been eliminated if I'd had the right component combination the first time.

[shogan191]

I had a good experience with my DFI SLI DR and also a great experience with the Asus A8N32 SLI Deluxe. I'm glad I had both those boards before I had the Expert. I'd rate the Expert at a distant 3rd.

[RGone]

There may be shortcuts and there may be other ways but I quit worrying about shortcuts and what if's and went with something that worked every time.

 

Compiled 1/29/06.

 

How I enabled SLi mode on DFI NF4 SLI-DR “Expert” board every time without any problems at all when moving from a single card, be it ATI or Nvidia. Did it this way upwards of 40 times over the course of 2 days and each time if was with Windows pre-installed and using a single video card.

 

1. In pre-existing windows installation I used device manager to uninstall the previous video driver and said NO to reboot and ran driver cleaner to remove the current video driver also.

 

2. Then I chose shutdown of windows and computer turned off and I put the second video card in and put the SLI bridge on with A/c power off to computer.

 

3. Then I re-connected A/c power to the computer and booted to bios. I ignored flashing Leds and as soon as they settled down it booted to bios while holding down the DEL key.

 

4. In Genie bios I enabled SLI lane transfer to 8x and 8x and 4x and rebooted to bios again and made sure the lane change was showing to function. It was.

 

5. Saved and exited bios and used the F8 key during boot to enter SAFE MODE and installed the 81.95 or 81.98 drivers that were previously unzipped on the hard drive in their respective folders.

 

6. After driver installation in SAFE MODE, I was asked did I want to reboot and I answered yes and booted straight to windows and entered the video card setup menu and enabled SLI and was asked to shutdown programs which amounted to a complete reboot and SLI was enabled thusly every time I tried it. Zero failures to enable SLI on the DFI NF4 SLI-DR “expert” board.

 

A couple of informational notes:

 

1. Testing done with bios 11/25/05 and 12/07/05

 

2. Used windows XP 32 bit w/SP2, with Nvidia 6.70 chipset drivers installed using 2x36 gig raptors in raid 0 with one dual layer DVD burner and one back up PATA 200 gig drive hooked up and all powered by a Sunbeam 550 watt SLi power supply.

 

3. Single to SLI mode swapping was done by removing a pre-existing ATI X800 card; a single 6600GT by Leadtek and a single xFx 7800GTX video card.

 

4. I moved to SLI using two Leadtek 6600GTs or two xFx 7800GTXs and enabled SLi as above.

 

5. Noted that the 81.98 drivers are a little slower in benches than the 81.95’s but the 81.98’s have the 3kmark2006 bench as a menu choice for global driver setup.

 

6. Previous to the 81.xx drivers it had seemed to me, there had been no real issue for enabling SLi for me, but with the release of 81.xx there was some minor problems. So I just went thru the steps above time after time with zero problems and settled on this as the easiest method for enabling SLi for me.

 

By Robert aKa RGone…2006

[MikeMK]

Ah, I saw that but wasn't sure what the setting should be. I'll change it and see if it makes any difference. Thanks MikeMK

 

 

Got It! Like I said above once it booted to the display using a single card I just went to Control Panel and removed the driver, rebooted, installed driver 83.40 to the single card, rebooted, saw the driver installed and set my resolution. Shut down, installed 2nd card and SLI bridge, booted let it find the card which it did. I went to display properties and for the first time saw the Enable SLI Option. Enabled it and Bingo. Thanks for the help guys. I'll go back up top and include the part about the lane configuration so it's all in one spot. Thanks again.

 

Glad it worked for ya mate! How are those 512's treating ya now?

[Likwid]

There may be shortcuts and there may be other ways but I quit worrying about shortcuts and what if's and went with something that worked every time.

 

Compiled 1/29/06.

 

How I enabled SLi mode on DFI NF4 SLI-DR “Expert” board every time without any problems at all when moving from a single card, be it ATI or Nvidia. Did it this way upwards of 40 times over the course of 2 days and each time if was with Windows pre-installed and using a single video card.

 

1. In pre-existing windows installation I used device manager to uninstall the previous video driver and said NO to reboot and ran driver cleaner to remove the current video driver also.

 

2. Then I chose shutdown of windows and computer turned off and I put the second video card in and put the SLI bridge on with A/c power off to computer.

 

3. Then I re-connected A/c power to the computer and booted to bios. I ignored flashing Leds and as soon as they settled down it booted to bios while holding down the DEL key.

 

4. In Genie bios I enabled SLI lane transfer to 8x and 8x and 4x and rebooted to bios again and made sure the lane change was showing to function. It was.

 

5. Saved and exited bios and used the F8 key during boot to enter SAFE MODE and installed the 81.95 or 81.98 drivers that were previously unzipped on the hard drive in their respective folders.

 

6. After driver installation in SAFE MODE, I was asked did I want to reboot and I answered yes and booted straight to windows and entered the video card setup menu and enabled SLI and was asked to shutdown programs which amounted to a complete reboot and SLI was enabled thusly every time I tried it. Zero failures to enable SLI on the DFI NF4 SLI-DR “expert” board.

 

A couple of informational notes:

 

1. Testing done with bios 11/25/05 and 12/07/05

 

2. Used windows XP 32 bit w/SP2, with Nvidia 6.70 chipset drivers installed using 2x36 gig raptors in raid 0 with one dual layer DVD burner and one back up PATA 200 gig drive hooked up and all powered by a Sunbeam 550 watt SLi power supply.

 

3. Single to SLI mode swapping was done by removing a pre-existing ATI X800 card; a single 6600GT by Leadtek and a single xFx 7800GTX video card.

 

4. I moved to SLI using two Leadtek 6600GTs or two xFx 7800GTXs and enabled SLi as above.

 

5. Noted that the 81.98 drivers are a little slower in benches than the 81.95’s but the 81.98’s have the 3kmark2006 bench as a menu choice for global driver setup.

 

6. Previous to the 81.xx drivers it had seemed to me, there had been no real issue for enabling SLi for me, but with the release of 81.xx there was some minor problems. So I just went thru the steps above time after time with zero problems and settled on this as the easiest method for enabling SLi for me.

 

By Robert aKa RGone…2006

OK, I have followed your advice and got SLI to work on my system - with the exception of (maybe) a low 3dMark 05 score - 11,442 - for two 7800 GT's.

 

So, my question is, are there any other BOIS settings to enable/set to optimize SLI? Specifically, "SLI Broadcast Aperture" to Auto from Disable under Advanced Chipset Features or "Init Display First" to PCIEx from PCI Slot?

 

Thanks for your post above, it was a big help.

[palehorse]

set all of those things you mentioned, and then do a search on the various OC forums out there for threads on how to optimize your cards for benchmarking...

 

Also, under your display properties, note the High Performance -> High Quality slider bar...

[Likwid]

Thanks, pale - got 40 more 3d marks. However, when I try to OC my video cards using coolbits or NVTweak, I crash and burn when booting into Windows!?

 

Has anyone else had this problem? Any other ideas on OC'ing my video cards?

[palehorse]

Thanks, pale - got 40 more 3d marks. However, when I try to OC my video cards using coolbits or NVTweak, I crash and burn when booting into Windows!?

 

Has anyone else had this problem? Any other ideas on OC'ing my video cards?

how exactly are you overclocking them? manually? detecting optimized? are you applying the settings and testing them with benchmarks BEFORE rebooting?...