Maximus IV Gene-Z/GEN3 SLI Troubleshooting

[LuukvanKoppenha]

Hello,

First off, i'd like to apologize if this thread is in the wrong place (I'm new to this forum).

Ok, I'll jump right into it. I've had a working setup (As described below) for a month or so now, and have recently added a 2nd identical graphics card.

ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z/GEN3 (BIOS Version 3305)
Intel i7-3770k Ivy Bridge
Corsair XMS (4x4GB=16GB) @ 1600 MHz
EVGA GTX 570 Superclocked (Recently bought the 2nd, identical card)
Corsair Force 3 240GB SSD
Corsair 1050W HX Power Supply

3x LG Flatron IPS235 Monitors (2 monitors functional with 1 GPU)

So I had this working for a while, but when I installed the 2nd graphics card in the 2nd PCIe slot using 2x 6+2 PEG connectors and the SLI bridge, I only got black screens during the boot.

Things I've tried:
Place card 1 in slot 1 - System works
Place card 2 in slot 1 - System works
Place card 1 in slot 2 - Black screen, not even a bios screen
Place card 2 in slot 2 - Black screen, not even a bios screen
Updated the nVidia control panel software to the latest version, however I'm somehow unable to open this control panel anymore.
Updated the Intel chipset driver to the latest version.
Switched around all the cables (8 pin from psu to motherboard, all PCIe power cables changed independantly) - Cables are ok.
Switched around all monitors independantly, they all worked fine. (GPU was in slot 1)

What am I doing wrong?

Kind regards,
Luuk

P.S: Weird thing is that my system will sometimes boot when both GPUs are installed properly, however they aren't detected in either the bios or device manager.

[HiVizMan]

Hello and welcome.

Right section as far as I am concerned so all good.

Here is what I would do.

Put both cards in the motherboard.

Make sure the bridge is correctly seated and that the power cables are also correctly fitted.

First go into your BIOS and save what ever overclock or BIOS settings you have currently as an profile.

Then once you have done that F5 and enter to reset your bios to default.

F10 and enter to save and exit.

Power down.

Clear CMOS to reset your board to factory defaults.

Power up and with only one monitor connected.

Go to OS.

Open GPUz and see if both cards are detected correctly.

If yes the power down.

Add an additional monitor to your graphic card.

Power up and see if the second monitor is picked.

If yes repeat and connect the third to the second VGA.

Power up and report back what happens.

Once all is good you can go back to the BIOS and load your OC profile that you saved. If suddenly stuff does not work again, you then know you have a bios setting that is causing this problem. And simply follow the first couple of steps and manually reconfigure your overclock.

[LuukvanKoppenha]

Hey, thanks for the quick reply.

If I were to clear the CMOS and set the board to it's factory state, that'd mean my cpu wouldn't be supported anymore (Had to have it flashed to make it support ivy bridge)

When both cards are installed, I normally can't enter my OS.

I've tried your suggestion to no success ;<

[HiVizMan]

Why do you think if you cleared your CMOS your bios version would revert back?

Please do follow each step in the order and sequence as I have listed. 🙂

I need to know at which step it fails.

[LuukvanKoppenha]

Stupid of me, I'm pretty sure clear cmos doesn't revert the bios...

However, I've now booted into OS WITHOUT clearing CMOS.

Both cards are powered on and connected with the bridge, however the 2nd is still not detected in the bios.

[LuukvanKoppenha]

By the way, where can I get GPUz? It's not on the software dvd i've gotten with the motherboard.

[HiVizMan]

Ah good that is progress.

Now power down and if you would please, follow each of the steps as per the list. 🙂

Forgive me for being so pedantic, but there is purpose behind my request I can assure you.

I might only be able to carry on with this in the morning as it has been a very long day for me. So if I do not respond immediately it is because I have retired to sleep.

[LuukvanKoppenha]

If you could give me a link to the GPUz software that'd be amazing. My disc offers CPUz, but that's not what we need right now ;p.

I shall carry on with these steps tomorrow afternoon/evening.

[HiVizMan]

http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/SysInfo/GPU-Z/

At the bottom there is a drop down menu, open that to see if your second card is picked up. But the control panel of the graphic driver should pick it up too.

And until tomorrow ...

[LuukvanKoppenha]

This is what GPUz gave me after restoring system defaults in the bios, but before clearing CMOS