X-99 Deluxe/U3.1 + 2way sli GTX 970 Strix + Thunderbolt EX/II Not Working

[alfredomova]

Hi! so, this is my build:

 

Asus X-99 Deluxe/u3.1  -  https://www.asus.com/mx/Motherboards/X99DELUXEU31/

i7 5930k - 40 lane

Kingston HyperX Predator DDR4 2800MHz (4gbx8))

GTX 970 Strix (x2)

Kingston 240GB HyperX Predator M.2

Corsair H100i

Corsair AX860

ASUS ThunderboltEX II

Easy-fit 10Gb/s USB 3.1 Type-A Card (Dual)

 

Currently I'm only using 1 gtx  b'cos when i put the second the system won't POST it just loops and restart, the last QCODE I can see is 79, and acording to some table is "CSM Initialization", and the VGA_LED turns on red 'till it restart,

 

The cards are instaled in this order:

 

PCIEX16_1  -- FIRST GTX 970

PCIEX4_1   -- Nothing and disabled in the bios/uefi

PCIEX16_2 -- Asus USB 3.1 card

PCIEX16_3 -- SECOND GTX 970 ******

PCIEX16_4 -- nothing

PCIEX16_5 -- ThunderboltEX

 

in the manual it make some reference about the PCIEX16_5 sharing "port" with the on-board M.2, but i haven't found any problem with it, actualy I'm using a thunderbolt display and Win 8.1 in the M.2, no other HDD/SSD is present in the system.

 

Ha! and i tested each GTX one by one and both work! so it is just some configuration I suspect,

BIOS/UEFI is updated to the last version 1801.

 

please any help is welcomed! Saludos desde México!

[ManOfGold93]

What did you use to paint your SLI Bridge?

Paul's Hardware just painted his and mentioned potentially paint building up on the connectors under the black ports or conductivity of paint- 

maybe something like that...

[DXMember]

Does the second card work alone?

 

Scroll trough the manual and look for correct multi GPU setup

Try populating PCIE_1 and PCIE_2 with GPUs

[alfredomova]

jeje ManOfGold93 it's not paint, is a vinil, just a stiker, and even  if I don't put the SLI bridge in the system the result is the same

[DXMember]

jeje ManOfGold93 is not paint, is a vinil, just a stiker, and even  if I don't put the SLI bridge in the system the result is the same

[Vitalius]

@alfredomova

Have you flipped the Motherboard's onboard switch to 2-way Crossfire/SLI mode?

[alfredomova]

DXMember as the manual explains, the slots you should use in SLI/CFX 2-way are PCIEX16_1 and PCIEX16_3, on board there's a switch that turns on a light in those.

[DXMember]

DXMember as the manual explains, the slots you should use is SLI/CFX 2-way are PCIEX16_1 and PCIEX16_3, on board there's a switch that turns on a light in those.

Yes, is did you use the switch?

 

Try opening a ticket on Asus support or reach for JJ @PCDIY

[alfredomova]

DXMember yes that switch! Vitalius yeap

[ManOfGold93]

DXMember yes that switch! Vitalius yeap

Im sorry im a little confused, did that solve it?

Or just agreeing that you had it turned on correctly..

[alfredomova]

ManOfGold93 not solved, just agreeing the switch (i think) just turn the leds

[NumLock21]

The CFX/SLI switch doesn't really set the motherboard ot 2 or 3 way graphic setup. All it does it make the LED on those slots light up so you'll know where to plug in your cards. This feature is only useful for 40pcie lane CPUs. 5820K cannot use it, because according to the manual, the 2nd card will need to plug into a different slot.

CSM, compatiblity support module. Don't know if fastboot is enabled. By default I think it should be enabled? Use 1 card and disable fastboot? Make sure CSM is enabled. Those settings are in the bios. Try your 2nd card into the 3rd x16 slot (like 3-way Sli) and see if the 3rd set of sli connectors work or not.

[alfredomova]

The CFX/SLI switch doesn't really set the motherboard ot 2 or 3 way graphic setup. All it does it make the LED on those slots light up so you'll know where to plug in your cards. This feature is only useful for 40pcie lane CPUs. 5820K cannot use it, because according to the manual, the 2nd card will need to plug into a different slot.

CSM, compatiblity support module. Don't know if fastboot is enabled. By default I think it should be enabled? Use 1 card and disable fastboot? Make sure CSM is enabled. Those settings are in the bios. Try your 2nd card into the 3rd x16 slot (like 3-way Sli) and see if the 3rd set of sli connectors work or not.

 

i tried that and same result, fast-boot was enable and I disable it, and the CSM config was enable and as follow:

 

 

I uploaded a short video showing how it "try" to boot and restart inmediatly, (it may be still being processed by youtube, but wait for it)

 

 

thank you!

[NumLock21]

Those LEDS are VGA, GPU, and RAM. I'm guessing somehow they're having a communication error between each other and the board?

Try this, unplug everything from the back of your PC, except power and monitor. Then remove any add in PCIe cards that you have, including your M.2 SSD. Leave your 2 GPUs installed, and just use 2 sticks of ram. See if you still get the same problem.

[alfredomova]

Those LEDS are VGA, GPU, and RAM. I'm guessing somehow they're having a communication error between each other and the board?

Try this, unplug everything from the back of your PC, except power and monitor. Then remove any add in PCIe cards that you have, including your M.2 SSD. Leave your 2 GPUs installed, and just use 2 sticks of ram. See if you still get the same problem.

 

uff not an easy task let me try, what I tried yesterday was to remove the thunderbolt and usb 3.1 cards and just leaving the 2 gtx but same

 

by the way, I changed the "Launch CSM" from "Enabled" to "Auto" and ended without video output or something like that wierd... had to clear_cmos...

[alfredomova]

another thing...

I just don't understand this table

 

[NumLock21]

single GPU: Can run in either slot 1 or 3, speed is x16

dual gpus: runs on slots 1 and 3, speed of both cards x16 by x16

triple gpus: setup 1: runs in slots 1, 3, and 5, speed on all cards x16 by x16 by x8

setup 2: run in slots 1, 2, and 4, gpus will run at speeds of x8 by x8 by x8, which is the same for a 28 lane cpu.

PCIe slot 5 shares lanes with M.2 so if that slot is set to X8 mode, then M.2 will get disabled. In order to run a M.2 then PCIe slot 5 must be set to X4 mode. SLI cannot work on a slot running at x4 mode, so if you're running on triple SLI along with a M.2 drive, you'll need to plug in the gpus into slots according to that chart, which is slots 1, 2, and 4.

[alfredomova]

single GPU: Can run in either slot 1 or 3, speed is x16

dual gpus: runs on slots 1 and 3, speed of both cards x16 by x16

triple gpus: setup 1: runs in slots 1, 3, and 5, speed on all cards x16 by x16 by x8

setup 2: run in slots 1, 2, and 4, gpus will run at speeds of x8 by x8 by x8, which is the same for a 28 lane cpu.

PCIe slot 5 shares lanes with M.2 so if that slot is set to X8 mode, then M.2 will get disabled. In order to run a M.2 then PCIe slot 5 must be set to X4 mode. SLI cannot work on a slot running at x4 mode, so if you're running on triple SLI along with a M.2 drive, you'll need to plug in the gpus into slots according to that chart, which is slots 1, 2, and 4.

 

Partial success... and it sucks...

 

I remove the usb 3.1 and thunderbolt cards, put the second gtx back in, hit the clear_cmos button, on the next boot enter to bios/uefi and reboot... TADAAA!! it POSTs and enter windows, enable SLI in the Nvidia control panel and it's working nice and easy...

 

So now... not only i don't  have usb 3.1 (actually i don't care a lot about that) but I don't have thunderbolt nether.... and that IS the real problem b'cos my main monitor is my old Apple Thunderbolt display...

 

i'll have to try putting the ThunderboltEX II in other port or with other configuration but I'm pretty sure it's not gonna work :angry: :mellow:

 

shame on you asus.... shame on you...

 

[NumLock21]

Is that TB card just for your Apple display? Well if you connect your monitor to the TB card, then you're probably not even using your gpus, so SLI is a total waste? What you need is to get yourself a DisplayPort to Thunderbolt adapter so that way, your monitor is plugged into the gpu.

http://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters%C2%AE-DisplayPort-Thunderbolt-Compatible/dp/B004CAGDUA

http://superuser.com/questions/333442/can-i-connect-a-displayport-monitor-to-the-thunderbolt-port-on-a-mac-and-vice-v

http://forums.macrumors.com/threads/thunderbolt-to-displayport.1504827/

 

Try this out, go into bios and set PCIe slot5 to x4 mode. Then plug in your TB card and see what happens.

[ASUSTECHMKT]

As noted by another user I would use a DP to mini DP cable for your Thunderbolt display. This configuration may have an issue with the firmware for each device. I will check with our HQ team. The GPUs are designed for non CSM ( native UEFI positing ) along with the board. Some add in card devices can cause an issue I do not suspect it is the USB 3.1 card as this has passed recent validation but the TBII requires more complex initialization. As such it may be where the issue lies. I will reach out to our team and see if we can confirm on this specific configuration.

 

Stay tuned and thanks for your support and consideration.

[alfredomova]

As noted by another user I would use a DP to mini DP cable for your Thunderbolt display. This configuraiton may have an issue with the firmware for each device. I will check with our HQ team. The GPUs are designed for non CSM ( native UEFI positing ) along with the board. Some add in card devices can cause an issue I do not suspect it is the USB 3.1 card as this has passed recent validation but the TBII requires more complex initialization. As such it may be where the issue lies. I will reach out to our team and see if we can confirm on this specific configuration.

 

Stay tuned and thanks for your support and consideration.

 

Thank you very much! i'll be hitting F5 'till it brokes   jejeje

[William5849]

This board is strange. I just put a build together using a 5820k. Apparently when a graphics card is in a slot, the one above it is automatically disabled. That's where most of the problem came into play.

[alfredomova]

damn it!

 

so... i put the thunderbolt ex/II between the 2 gtx as follow:

 

PCIEX16_1  -- FIRST GTX 970

PCIEX4_1   -- Nothing and disabled in the bios/uefi (hidden under the gtx)

PCIEX16_2 -- ThunderboltEX

PCIEX16_3 -- SECOND GTX 970

PCIEX16_4 -- nothing (hidden under the gtx)

PCIEX16_5 -- nothing

 

Ho! and didn't change ANYTIHNG in the BIOS/UEFI...

 

and it's working... so... it has to be something with the shared port PCIEX16_5 with thw on.board M.2 OR the 3.1 USB card.... anyway...

 

** NOTE THIS **

 

the USB ports, the Ethernet and the iSight in the Apple Thunderbolt Display are NOT working!!! the asus thunderbolt/EX II card it's working as a pass-throw video-only... no data... the speakers in the thunderbolt display are working at least...

 

 

 

Edited July 12, 2015 by alfredomova

[alfredomova]

ASUSTECHMKT I was reading about SATA Express and, correct me if I'm wrong, but SATA 3.1 uses PCI lanes right? could this cause the conflict? or it is the on-board m.2?

 

 

 

[ClownFace1511]

Apparently a lot of people are having issues with this board. Im sure something is a bit dodge with the BIOS.