Can't get SLI 970's to work (Help me)

[The Pizza Thief]

Hi guys, It's been a while since I've been active around here. I'm having a lot of troubles with Nvidia drivers for my two Gigabyte G1 970's I used to be able to update graphics drivers using Nvidia geforce experience, one day it stopped working and it won't work anymore no matter what I do. I tried downloading only the newest full version driver and installing it either in express install and custom install modes and neither of them worked. I unplugged the bottom card and installed the driver only on the top card using windows device manager and selecting the downloaded driver and it worked! But the moment I connect the second GPU it won't install the driver by itself. I opened Device manager and it shows the little warning icon next to the new gpu so I clicked update driver and it won't complete the installation on that card. 

 

I need help, it's been a long time with this issues, I was using a really old driver because of it but it was getting buggy as hell lately so I tried updating it to the newest today, now I don't have a driver at all.

 

 

 

[Necrodead]

Use an older driver, like the one before the newest one, there are known issues with the newest one and SLI. (among other things)

[Belgarathian]

You could try using DDU  (Display Driver Uninstaller - From Guru3D) in safe mode to remove the drivers completely and then reinstall. I'd also recommend testing each GPU for functionality as there are known issues with Gigabyte G1 cards. 

[The Pizza Thief]

4 minutes ago, Necrodead said:

Use an older driver, like the one before the newest one, there are known issues with the newest one and SLI. (among other things)

I will try with a different driver, should I use windows device manager to install them or use the nvidia tool ? Also, would it work to install the driver on each card separately ?

4 minutes ago, Belgarathian said:

You could try using DDU  (Display Driver Uninstaller - From Guru3D) in safe mode to remove the drivers completely and then reinstall. I'd also recommend testing each GPU for functionality as there are known issues with Gigabyte G1 cards. 

I do that every single time I try changing drivers. No luck.

[Belgarathian]

1 minute ago, Brynjar said:

I will try with a different driver, should I use windows device manager to install them or use the nvidia tool ? Also, would it work to install the driver on each card separately ?

I do that every single time I try changing drivers. No luck.

You do which recommendation, testing the cards individually in different PCIe slots, or uninstalling drivers with DDU?

[Necrodead]

2 minutes ago, Brynjar said:

I will try with a different driver, should I use windows device manager to install them or use the nvidia tool ? Also, would it work to install the driver on each card separately ?

I do that every single time I try changing drivers. No luck.

Don't install with the nvidia tool, just download the 2nd to last driver and do a normal install. (wipe old ones first, ofc) you should be fine doing them together as it is known that it is a fault in the newest driver. I don't even own nvidia cards, I've just been reading about it super often the last few days.

[The Pizza Thief]

6 hours ago, Belgarathian said:

You do which recommendation, testing the cards individually in different PCIe slots, or uninstalling drivers with DDU?

 

6 hours ago, Necrodead said:

Don't install with the nvidia tool, just download the 2nd to last driver and do a normal install. (wipe old ones first, ofc) you should be fine doing them together as it is known that it is a fault in the newest driver. I don't even own nvidia cards, I've just been reading about it super often the last few days.

 

 

I just tried installing the drivers on either card at a time using the top pci slot and they both worked, I tried them on the second pci slot and they didn't work, I can't install the driver on the card at the bottom, it was working just fine, nothing is damaged. What could the problem be? 

[Chirag Borawake]

3 hours ago, Brynjar said:

 

 

 

I just tried installing the drivers on either card at a time using the top pci slot and they both worked, I tried them on the second pci slot and they didn't work, I can't install the driver on the card at the bottom, it was working just fine, nothing is damaged. What could the problem be? 

What is the rest of your system? and PSU?

Is your card getting detected in device manager when it is in the second slot?

Can be a problem with your SLI bridge too.

[Belgarathian]

4 hours ago, Brynjar said:

 

 

 

I just tried installing the drivers on either card at a time using the top pci slot and they both worked, I tried them on the second pci slot and they didn't work, I can't install the driver on the card at the bottom, it was working just fine, nothing is damaged. What could the problem be? 

Sounds like the 2nd slot in your MB is faulty. RMA your MB?

[The Pizza Thief]

15 hours ago, Chirag Borawake said:

What is the rest of your system? and PSU?

Is your card getting detected in device manager when it is in the second slot?

Can be a problem with your SLI bridge too.

Full build here: http://pcpartpicker.com/b/r6tJ7P 
Yes, it is being detected on device manager but the drivers won't install for some weird reason, I've tried several combinations and ways to do it but it won't work. I know it must be something simple that I'm missing out.

14 hours ago, Belgarathian said:

Sounds like the 2nd slot in your MB is faulty. RMA your MB?

It is not I promise, the mobo is new, and device manager is actually picking the second gpu, also when I go to the bios it also shows me that I have a GPU installed on the second pcie slot.

[Belgarathian]

13 minutes ago, Brynjar said:

Full build here: http://pcpartpicker.com/b/r6tJ7P 
Yes, it is being detected on device manager but the drivers won't install for some weird reason, I've tried several combinations and ways to do it but it won't work. I know it must be something simple that I'm missing out.

It is not I promise, the mobo is new, and device manager is actually picking the second gpu, also when I go to the bios it also shows me that I have a GPU installed on the second pcie slot.

It doesn't mean that the MB isn't faulty because it's new, or because device manager will identify there is a card in the 2nd PCIe slot. 

 

The fact the top slot works flawlessly with both cards, but neither work in the second tells me that it's a MB issue.