So I built a new computer finally and decided i'd finally jump on SLI and with my luck apparently crashed head first into a brick wall.
I narrowed it down to SLI being the problem, however, I don't know how to further narrow it down to determine if it is motherboard, SLI bridge, or something else.
Symptoms:
When I first built the system, got all the drivers up and had everything installed. It seemed just fine. Installed a game (World of Warcraft, go ahead and laugh), played for about 2 hours without a single problem. Performance was wonderful (but then again it's WoW). No hitches. I go to bed, and that's when the problems started. Next day, I turn on the computer, try to log into Windows, doesn't work, get the dreaded nvlddmkm BSOD. Reboot into safemode, uninstall drivers, figure since i'm on the new beta 270s i'd go back to the most recent 266 WHQLs. I try to install them, computer says no and BSOD me midway through the driver install (0000003b system service exception on the ntoskernel).
I rage. And then I panic. And then I settle down, go through standard diagnostics. Figure maybe bad ram. Run 2 hours of passes of memtest. No problems. Run Western Digital's HD diags, no problems. Ran sfc /scannow, no problems.
So I go back in, successfully install the 266 drivers still uncertain as to why that 0000003b happened (though most google results come up as generally driver problems so I figure hey, video card drivers are bad so i'm tryin to fix it right here).
266 drivers are installed. Everything seems okay. Get Dragon Age 2 installed play that for a few hours, no problems. Play WoW again (I raid, sue me). No problems. Shut down my computer to get some food. Turn it back on a couple hours later. PROBLEMS, DEAR GOD WHY.
My mouse becomes unresponsive. Attempts to move it are completely laggy and jerky, it's basically unusable. So I shut down again. Figure since major issues are stemming from video cards, I take out the second one. Boot up, viola. System starts up without issue, no mouse problems. Everything seems perfect.
Do some googling. Some suggestion say maybe i'm an idiot and put the SLI bridge the wrong way (though most people seem to suggest it doesn't matter which way and there doesn't seem to be any indication in the manual that there's directionality) so on two separate boot ups I try the SLI bridge both ways. Same issue, my mouse is unusable. So more searching says that I could try running SLI without the SLI bridge.
Apparently not, trying to SLI without the bridge results in my system starting up in basic VGA mode with Windows telling me that there was a problem with both video cards so it disabled them both.
Individually, I can verify that both cards are functional. I don't know if it matters, but I popped in a PCI-X sound card into the PCI-X slot the 2nd video card occupied for the time being. Figured it would at least do some very minor testing (?) maybe. The sound card seems to be functioning.
What can I do to further determine exactly the root of the problem? Is it a bad SLI bridge? Is it a bad mobo? Is it something else?
System specs:
i5-2500k
Asus P8P67 WS Revolution
8GB DDR3-1600 ram
2x 64GB SSDs (1 boot, 1 apps)
1x 1TB HDD
Theoretically 2x GTX 460 1GB (currently on 1)
X-Fi Titanium HD (occupying the slot)
Windows 7 Pro 64 (non SP1 since tech sites are recommending not installing)
Corsair TX 750W
I narrowed it down to SLI being the problem, however, I don't know how to further narrow it down to determine if it is motherboard, SLI bridge, or something else.
Symptoms:
When I first built the system, got all the drivers up and had everything installed. It seemed just fine. Installed a game (World of Warcraft, go ahead and laugh), played for about 2 hours without a single problem. Performance was wonderful (but then again it's WoW). No hitches. I go to bed, and that's when the problems started. Next day, I turn on the computer, try to log into Windows, doesn't work, get the dreaded nvlddmkm BSOD. Reboot into safemode, uninstall drivers, figure since i'm on the new beta 270s i'd go back to the most recent 266 WHQLs. I try to install them, computer says no and BSOD me midway through the driver install (0000003b system service exception on the ntoskernel).
I rage. And then I panic. And then I settle down, go through standard diagnostics. Figure maybe bad ram. Run 2 hours of passes of memtest. No problems. Run Western Digital's HD diags, no problems. Ran sfc /scannow, no problems.
So I go back in, successfully install the 266 drivers still uncertain as to why that 0000003b happened (though most google results come up as generally driver problems so I figure hey, video card drivers are bad so i'm tryin to fix it right here).
266 drivers are installed. Everything seems okay. Get Dragon Age 2 installed play that for a few hours, no problems. Play WoW again (I raid, sue me). No problems. Shut down my computer to get some food. Turn it back on a couple hours later. PROBLEMS, DEAR GOD WHY.
My mouse becomes unresponsive. Attempts to move it are completely laggy and jerky, it's basically unusable. So I shut down again. Figure since major issues are stemming from video cards, I take out the second one. Boot up, viola. System starts up without issue, no mouse problems. Everything seems perfect.
Do some googling. Some suggestion say maybe i'm an idiot and put the SLI bridge the wrong way (though most people seem to suggest it doesn't matter which way and there doesn't seem to be any indication in the manual that there's directionality) so on two separate boot ups I try the SLI bridge both ways. Same issue, my mouse is unusable. So more searching says that I could try running SLI without the SLI bridge.
Apparently not, trying to SLI without the bridge results in my system starting up in basic VGA mode with Windows telling me that there was a problem with both video cards so it disabled them both.
Individually, I can verify that both cards are functional. I don't know if it matters, but I popped in a PCI-X sound card into the PCI-X slot the 2nd video card occupied for the time being. Figured it would at least do some very minor testing (?) maybe. The sound card seems to be functioning.
What can I do to further determine exactly the root of the problem? Is it a bad SLI bridge? Is it a bad mobo? Is it something else?
System specs:
i5-2500k
Asus P8P67 WS Revolution
8GB DDR3-1600 ram
2x 64GB SSDs (1 boot, 1 apps)
1x 1TB HDD
Theoretically 2x GTX 460 1GB (currently on 1)
X-Fi Titanium HD (occupying the slot)
Windows 7 Pro 64 (non SP1 since tech sites are recommending not installing)
Corsair TX 750W