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]

OK only one card.

Do you have a spare SLi bridge? I wonder if the bridge is working?

Look in your system device manager and see if the PCIe lane is reporting a second GPU.


However until such time as you follow the list to the letter we will just go round in circles.

[LuukvanKoppenha]

I don't have a spare bridge, nor is the card listed under graphics adapters (Or uncategorised ****) in device manager.

I'll be trying out the stuff you listed right now.

[LuukvanKoppenha]

I've installed both cards properly and am now able to boot into windows.

I've set the date/time in the bios, saved and exited with a successful reboot into windows, however I only have 1 monitor hooked up to the onboard hdmi port, because when connecting a monitor to either of the GTX 570s I get a black screen. This indicates that both cards aren't detected.

The cards aren't listed under the graphics bit in the bios, nor are they recognized by Windows 7 x64's device manager. GPUz doesn't see anything but the Intel Graphics 4000 (Which is the onboard video).

[HiVizMan]

So going back to the sequence of events I posted.

Where in that process did you get up to before things fell apart?

[LuukvanKoppenha]

Everything works fine with Card 1 or 2 in slot 1. I have checked slot 2 with an ATI Radeon 3870 and it has confirmed the fact the slot is still functional. The card ran at x4 native in slot 2.

[HiVizMan]

Right lets try this please.

Remove the bridge from your graphic cards.

Have your vga connected to a monitor, not a TV please.

In BIOS set your PCIe as the first graphic device.

(in other words disable the on board graphics)

Boot into OS.

Your card is picked up.

Now reset.

Swap the VGA cable to the second card.

Boot to OS your card is picked up?

[LuukvanKoppenha]

This is all done with 2 cards installed?

[HiVizMan]

Yes two cards installed but no SLi bridge.

[LuukvanKoppenha]

This is unsuccessful. Tried with both the bridge connected and disconnected, but I am only presented a black screen on the monitor.

[LuukvanKoppenha]

Hmmm, I noticed something in GPUz that seems rather odd to me.



What's stated is that my GTX570 is running on a PCIe version 1.1 x16 slot, at an x8 speed.

Shouldn't it be PCIe version 2.0 x16 slot @ x16 speed?

This is with only 1 card installed.