How do I enable SLI?

C

Captain Rehab

Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 29, 2004
Messages
279
Under tab for "sli multi-gpu" my options are greyed out: "graphics cards that do not support scalable link interface (sli) technology must be removed before sli can be enabled"

WTF?

Any suggestions? I'm using bios 13 and latest FW drivers.
 
What MOBO and what cards??? Sorry, looked in your sig....how does your SLI link up???hardware or software???? Check the jumpers however they are enabled. Do both cards have the drivers installed??? and are they the same.(drivers that is.) :D I screwed that up with my ASUS A8N, I put the second 7800 in the second slot and tried to run sli without first loading the drivers for the second card.
 
Before people start asking what your board is, i will put it in red text.



HES MOTHERBOARD IS A "AN8 SLI"

HES VIDEO CARDS ARE BFG 7800GTXOC x2


I was too late. :(
 
magoo said:
What MOBO and what cards??? Sorry, looked in your sig....how does your SLI link up???hardware or software???? Check the jumpers however they are enabled. Do both cards have the drivers installed??? and are they the same.(drivers that is.) :D I screwed that up with my ASUS A8N, I put the second 7800 in the second slot and tried to run sli without first loading the drivers for the second card.
Click to expand...



How do I specify which card is recieving the drivers? :confused:

Shouldn't one set of drivers do the trick? /pulls clump of hair out/

I installed both cards and then installed the drivers on a clean xp install - just like I would a normal card setup. I figured I'd be able to configure sli through settings.

If there is a specific process I need to take, could somebody please take the time to explain it to me? Abit's manual is nonspecific regarding anything beyond the physical hw install. A fool - I thought this would be a cakewalk. Certainly it was portrayed that way presale.
 
Go into display properties --> settings tab --> advanced --> GeForce 7800GTX tab --> SLI Multi-GPU tab on the left --> check your settings there. Let us know what it says.
 
DejaWiz said:
Go into display properties --> settings tab --> advanced --> GeForce 7800GTX tab --> SLI Multi-GPU tab on the left --> check your settings there. Let us know what it says.
Click to expand...


Thanks for your quick response. Following the directions above, I get the message in my first post - "graphics cards that do not support scalable link interface (sli) technology must be removed before sli can be enabled" And a link to "slizone" at Nvidia - a completely useless link, imho. All options besides "ok" are greyed out.

Sli link is enabled as shown in the abit manual. Sli selector card is installed as instructed.

-Cap'n
 
Captain Rehab said:
Thanks for your quick response. Following the directions above, I get the message in my first post - "graphics cards that do not support scalable link interface (sli) technology must be removed before sli can be enabled" And a link to "slizone" at Nvidia - a completely useless link, imho. All options besides "ok" are greyed out.

Sli link is enabled as shown in the abit manual. Sli selector card is installed as instructed.

-Cap'n
Click to expand...
Damn. My bad for not realizing that you were stating just that in your first post. :rolleyes:

Hmmm. You have the SLI selector set properly on the motherboard, you have both cards connected with the SLI bridge across the top, made sure everything is getting juice, and still nothing. Quite a perplexing problem you have there....

Have you tried reseating the graphics cards, or maybe swapping pci-e slots between them to see if that makes a difference with the drivers?
 
DejaWiz said:
Damn. My bad for not realizing that you were stating just that in your first post. :rolleyes:

Hmmm. You have the SLI selector set properly on the motherboard, you have both cards connected with the SLI bridge across the top, made sure everything is getting juice, and still nothing. Quite a perplexing problem you have there....

Have you tried reseating the graphics cards, or maybe swapping pci-e slots between them to see if that makes a difference with the drivers?
Click to expand...


I will try that tonight. I guess I should check to see that both pci-express slots are indeed functional and that both cards work in each slot. If I install a single card in slot 2 should it work as advertised?

NE1 know how I can see in software the bus speed for each pci-express slot? I'm thinking that if they both show x8 then the sli selector card is engaged properly.
 
You could also try deleting the two video devices within Device Manager and then when you reboot make sure you point to the exact same folder for the drivers when they want to re-install.
 
Sounds like a bios mis-match issue...maybe. if the machine thinks one of the card is not SLi capable... anyways, reseat the cards and make sure the SLi selector card (between the pci-e-slots - unless you have the 'premium' ver) is firmly planted in it's socket, also make sure the bridge is on nice and snug when you put it all back together... if it's still not working, try the driver removal and re-adding trick... if it's still not working, then grab the bios off GPU0 and write it to GPU1 so they are the same. That should do it. You'll need a boot disk or USB drive and nvflash.

www.bootdisk.com
http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=972

Use nvflash to grab the bios from the primary card (gpu0), then name it something like gpu0.bin and use that to write to gpu1. if you run nvflash with no options it will give you the command list for help with exact verbiage. DO NOT do this until you have exhausted all your other options. ok? Flash bioses as a method of last resort generally.

let us know how it goes. :)
 
revenant said:
Sounds like a bios mis-match issue...maybe. if the machine thinks one of the card is not SLi capable... anyways, reseat the cards and make sure the SLi selector card (between the pci-e-slots - unless you have the 'premium' ver) is firmly planted in it's socket, also make sure the bridge is on nice and snug when you put it all back together... if it's still not working, try the driver removal and re-adding trick... if it's still not working, then grab the bios off GPU0 and write it to GPU1 so they are the same. That should do it. You'll need a boot disk or USB drive and nvflash.

www.bootdisk.com
http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=972

Use nvflash to grab the bios from the primary card (gpu0), then name it something like gpu0.bin and use that to write to gpu1. if you run nvflash with no options it will give you the command list for help with exact verbiage. DO NOT do this until you have exhausted all your other options. ok? Flash bioses as a method of last resort generally.

let us know how it goes. :)
Click to expand...


Thanks for your reply - Y'all are wonderful.

How can I be sure the system sees the two slots as pci express x8? After I set up the selector card, there dosen't seem to be any way to verify that both slots are working as they should....
 
That's a good question. I'm only running 1 card in my SLI board, but in BIOS and can choose either PCIe slot 0 or 1 for the primary video card (kind of like selecting PCI or AGP on the older motherboards). Not sure what kind of difference that would make, though.
 
DejaWiz said:
That's a good question. I'm only running 1 card in my SLI board, but in BIOS and can choose either PCIe slot 0 or 1 for the primary video card (minf of like PCI or AGP on the older motherboards). Not sure what kind of difference that would make, though.
Click to expand...
If the top card gets in the way of something.

I believe only one slot will run 16x or if it is SLi they will run dual 8x.
 
As to my previous reply, if you select card GPU-1 or GPU-2 in the device manager, each card will be listed individually. It will list whether the card has the driver installed. Are you on "auto" detect in the bios so the system detects SLI???? Under whatever your board lists as SLI??? Im not sure a card will work alone in the slave PCI-e slot??? but that is a good idea. Id probably just put each card in the master PCI-e slot and first make sure each works. Your second card may be a dud, i hate to say. If the system gives you a message like you have listed it sure may be a card bios deal, I cant help with that. What brand are your cards???? I would also double check your SLI jumper or card connector on the board, it may not be seated. Im assuming that you gave power to the card via its 6 pin as well??? (I know that's insulting but I forgot to do it the first time I connected SLI and just about shit when it wouldnt work. Trust me if somebody could fuck up an SLI connection its me.) :D
 
magoo said:
As to my previous reply, if you select card GPU-1 or GPU-2 in the device manager, each card will be listed individually. It will list whether the card has the driver installed. Are you on "auto" detect in the bios so the system detects SLI???? Under whatever your board lists as SLI??? Im not sure a card will work alone in the slave PCI-e slot??? but that is a good idea. Id probably just put each card in the master PCI-e slot and first make sure each works. Your second card may be a dud, i hate to say. If the system gives you a message like you have listed it sure may be a card bios deal, I cant help with that. What brand are your cards???? I would also double check your SLI jumper or card connector on the board, it may not be seated. Im assuming that you gave power to the card via its 6 pin as well??? (I know that's insulting but I forgot to do it the first time I connected SLI and just about shit when it wouldnt work. Trust me if somebody could fuck up an SLI connection its me.) :D
Click to expand...


I think that's going to be the plan - test the individual cards, then the individual slots. If they both check out then it's bound to be a software fix or driver conflict... I guess we'll find out. Mentally I'm already preparing to shell out for another fuckin' mobo.
 
Well, if you do....I love my ASUS A8N-Deluxe. Even an idiot like me found a way to make the SLI work. Actually the manual was very good and it was very easy once I overcame my own stupidity(see prior posts)
 
Thanks everybody for all your help... I appreciate it. Please chime in if you can think of anything at all to try.


-Cap'n
 
Hey - always here to help a fellow enthusiast. :) I think you have a lot to work with now, so test the cards by them selves, then check them back together, making sure the SLi selector is in firmly and properly...that's caused some people to have problems some times. re-check all the drivers... and settings, then we'll wait to hear what happens. good luck!! :D
 
revenant said:
Hey - always here to help a fellow enthusiast. :) I think you have a lot to work with now, so test the cards by them selves, then check them back together, making sure the SLi selector is in firmly and properly...that's caused some people to have problems some times. re-check all the drivers... and settings, then we'll wait to hear what happens. good luck!! :D
Click to expand...


Ding ding ding - revenant gets the prize. Mismatched bios. BFG has it on the way. Not that we're home yet, but that was definitely a show stopper.

-Cap'n
 
Did you fix your problem???? (oops, sometimes I forget to read!!!) Aint BFG sweet....They really were good to me with my SLI problems....even tho the guy on the other end was probably thinking to himself...."what a DOOFUS!" Also can you share with me how you fixed the bios???that would be neat.
 
BFG sent me the new bios today. One of my cards had the .11 bios, the other the most recent .25 bios. You change the file extension of the file they send to .exe and create a boot disk, then boot the machine with the disk and follow the instructions. Insert second card and bridge and that's it - a message tells you you are capable of sli and asks if you'd like to enable it. After selecting yes the machine reboots and you're in.

Anyway I want to thank everybody again for their help - I appreciate it a lot. It seems whenever I get into trouble [H] is there to help me out.

Good call, revenant.

-C
 
hey - that's great news.. Go enjoy that beast of a machine. heh. :D
 
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