Can't get dual video cards to work in Vista (3 monitors)

[Mellman]

I recently acquired a 3rd large LCD to place next to my 2 2407's. I picked up an nvidia 8400GS pci graphics card to give me a 3rd PCI slot. my 2nd PCIE slot is being used for a raid card...

In any case. i cannot get vista to boot with the 2nd card installed. my primary card is an 8800GTS. It starts the bootup, displays the progress bar, it goes away and about 15 seconds later reboots. It boots into safe mode fine, and the device manager shows i've got two cards installed, and the drivers are fine, no issues. But will not boot into windows. My buddy has a modern ATI card (forget the model) and this nvidia card running triple monitors just fine in vista, am I missing something obvious here?

Thanks!

 

[Billb2]

Windows can not load two different Nvidia drivers at the same time.
Safe mode works because the same (default) Windows driver loads for all three cards.

You either have to run all three cards off of the same driver (yes, installed separately for each card), or get a different brand (ATi, 3DFX, S3, etc) of video card for the third monitor.

 

[Arkaign]

Sounds like something odd going on there. Windows XP made it a bit easier to deal with multiple monitor, FWIW. But it still seems like the system should at least boot with the extra card in there. That's worrisome that it doesn't.

I would try :

(1)- Uninstall the Nvidia driver.
(2)- Plug in 8400GS, reboot.
(3)- Windows should look for new drivers for 8800GTS AND 8400GS, have the latest from Nvidia ready to feed Vista.
(4)- Reboot, cross fingers?

 

[Mellman]

tried that arkaign, uninstalled and rebooted and it just fails to boot into vista. Even tried going into safe mode and removing the drivers that way. It doesnt make sense because they should use the same driver anyways being 8xxx series cards.

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: Billb2
Windows can not load two different Nvidia drivers at the same time.
Safe mode works because the same (default) Windows driver loads for all three cards.

You either have to run all three cards off of the same driver (yes, installed separately for each card), or get a different brand (ATi, 3DFX, S3, etc) of video card for the third monitor.

Is this correct? I was under the impression that Vista would only load a single graphics driver, period (same or different vendor). I know this was one of the issues with trying to use an ATI card for graphics output with a NVIDIA card for PhysX.

 

[Arkaign]

Originally posted by: Mellman
tried that arkaign, uninstalled and rebooted and it just fails to boot into vista. Even tried going into safe mode and removing the drivers that way. It doesnt make sense because they should use the same driver anyways being 8xxx series cards.

Ouch. So one is PCI-E and one is PCI? If you can still return it, and have an open PCI-E x1 slot, you can get one of those mini cards and try that. IDK to be honest, when I run into a problem as weird as that, I just start trying crazy things until something works. It sounds like for whatever reason, Vista doesn't want to cooperate with that combo of cards.

 

[Mellman]

Originally posted by: nitromullet

Originally posted by: Billb2
Windows can not load two different Nvidia drivers at the same time.
Safe mode works because the same (default) Windows driver loads for all three cards.

You either have to run all three cards off of the same driver (yes, installed separately for each card), or get a different brand (ATi, 3DFX, S3, etc) of video card for the third monitor.

Is this correct? I was under the impression that Vista would only load a single graphics driver, period (same or different vendor). I know this was one of the issues with trying to use an ATI card for graphics output with a NVIDIA card for PhysX.

well, my buddy has an ati card as his primary, and this nvidia 8400 gs as his secondary card. So i know that works. he could not get his ati primary card to work with a very very old ati card as a secondary.

I still can't figure out how to get vista to use the same driver for both cards...

 

[Mellman]

Originally posted by: Arkaign

Originally posted by: Mellman
tried that arkaign, uninstalled and rebooted and it just fails to boot into vista. Even tried going into safe mode and removing the drivers that way. It doesnt make sense because they should use the same driver anyways being 8xxx series cards.

Ouch. So one is PCI-E and one is PCI? If you can still return it, and have an open PCI-E x1 slot, you can get one of those mini cards and try that. IDK to be honest, when I run into a problem as weird as that, I just start trying crazy things until something works. It sounds like for whatever reason, Vista doesn't want to cooperate with that combo of cards.

Hmm that sounds like an expensive shot in the dark...I don't see why a pci-e x1 slot card would work any different from the pci card...

 

[Arkaign]

Originally posted by: Mellman

Originally posted by: Arkaign

Originally posted by: Mellman
tried that arkaign, uninstalled and rebooted and it just fails to boot into vista. Even tried going into safe mode and removing the drivers that way. It doesnt make sense because they should use the same driver anyways being 8xxx series cards.

Ouch. So one is PCI-E and one is PCI? If you can still return it, and have an open PCI-E x1 slot, you can get one of those mini cards and try that. IDK to be honest, when I run into a problem as weird as that, I just start trying crazy things until something works. It sounds like for whatever reason, Vista doesn't want to cooperate with that combo of cards.

Hmm that sounds like an expensive shot in the dark...I don't see why a pci-e x1 slot card would work any different from the pci card...

It's crazy, but I had to do that when I upgraded our CFO from her old X2-4800 Asus NF4-SLI system (two Nvidia 6800 256MB vanillas, different brands, not using SLI) to her current XFI 680i / 6750 setup. For whatever bizarre reason, Vista Business SP1 + those 6800s wouldn't work together, though it was different that what you're describing. We got hard freezes during boot. We got it working with this card :

http://www.techonweb.com/produ....aspx?id=A00L25&src=NT

But I got it at first saturday for like $30 or so with a bunch of other assorted junk.

Do you have any other PCI cards laying around to mess with?

Another interesting option would be to toss XP onto a spare HDD, and see if it will cooperate.

 

[lifeblood]

I concur you should try this under XP. I used an Nvidia 6600 GT PCIe with a 5200 FX PCI to drive three monitors and it worked perfectly under XP. I never had a graphics related crash so I know it can be done. Unless you have some motherboard bug then it has to be Vista. That would surprise me as Vista is supposed to work better with multiple monitors.

 

[Mellman]

yeah I think i'll try it under XP, i've done this before under XP (not with these cards) but figured since i have vista it should work great...

Time to wait for windows 7 i suppose!

 

[aka1nas]

Ok, let me try to dispel some confusion...

1) You can only run a single WDDM driver on Vista. Full stop. If you somehow were mixing brands, than you probably installed a(n) XPDM driver(s) for the cards, which will make you lose Aero and most of the other advantages of Vista(user-mode video drivers for one).

2) There should be no problem mixing PCI-E and PCI 8000 series cards. They use the same driver. If Vista is auto-installing the wrong driver for the second card and BSODing you, make sure to remove all existing video drivers first, then use Driver Cleaner. Then, boot up with the second card installed and install Forceware.

 

[Mellman]

I just did a clean install of vista, and installed the video drivers. I have not yet rebooted but I don't think it's going to work. I get a: "This device is not working properly because Windows cannot load the drivers required for this device. (Code 31)" When I look at the 8400GS in the device manager. going to try to reboot now but am expecting to have to install xp...

EDIT:

reboot the pc, comes up fine...but now i no longer see the 8400 in the device manager. Before it was showing fine in the device manager just with the error above. Did a scan for hardware changes...nothing. Guess i'll try XP while my machine is down. I have seen posts where people have gotten this to work with an 8800GTS as a primary and the 8400GS as a physx card so i'm wondering if this card is flaked?

EDIT #2:

Installed XP, doesn't even show up in device manager...must be a flaked card. Time to Return to Newegg while i still can -- so should I get an ATI card? or a different Nvidia PCI card?

 

[lifeblood]

ATI card will NOT work with an Nvidia card, the drivers are different. They cards need to use the same driver. Since you already have an Nvidia card you need to get another Nvidia card.

Nvidia (and ATI) both make good cards. Sounds like you just got a flake.

You may want to try different versions of the Nvidia driver. Those are slightly older cards so a slightly older driver may actually work. But, since XP isn't seeing both cards at once I tend to agree with the flake verdict.

 

[Mellman]

Got the EVGA 8400GS in the mail today, and plugged it in and booted up and automagically installed the proper drivers etc. Under vista. So now i have all three working flawlessly! WOOT WOOT!

Last card must've been a flake!