Issue with 970 SLI

[c_marriott]

My friend bought a PC off someone locally and installed two GTX 970's himself with SLI. It worked at first but after a few weeks it stopped. During that period it did get knocked over but he isn't sure when it stopped working.

 

Could it be the bridge is damaged from the drop? Or the motherboard? the MOBo is Gigabyte z97 UD4H.

 

He's swapped the cards around, cleaned them out. He's also saying they're running quite hot.

 

Any ideas?

 

Thanks

[HPWebcamAble]

By 'it stopped' does that mean the cards work individually but aren't recognized as SLI?

[c_marriott]

1 minute ago, HPWebcamAble said:

By 'it stopped' does that mean the cards work individually but aren't recognized as SLI?

Yeah, they work on their own

[Senzelian]

What exactly stopped working?

Is he not able to enable SLI?
Does the driver crash or the PC shutdown if SLI is enabled?
Does the problem only happen while the graphics cards are under load?

[c_marriott]

3 minutes ago, Senzelian said:

What exactly stopped working?

Is he not able to enable SLI?
Does the driver crash or the PC shutdown if SLI is enabled?
Does the problem only happen while the graphics cards are under load?

Only one works when they're both in

[Senzelian]

4 minutes ago, c_marriott said:

Only one works when they're both in

I recommend to uninstall drivers by using the Display Driver Uninstaller (http://www.guru3d.com/files-details/display-driver-uninstaller-download.html).

Then he should download and install the latest drivers from NVidia (http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx)

Make sure SLI is enabled in die NVidia control panel (Right click on desktop -> Nvidia Control Panel -> SLI, Sorround, PhysX)
Also make sure the SLI bridge is fitted correctly before turning the system on.

If all of that doesn't help, then there might be a problem with his motherboard or graphics cards. I could be a problem with his PSU, but I don't think that this is the case.
 

[c_marriott]

Just now, Senzelian said:

I recommend to uninstall drivers by using the Display Driver Uninstaller (http://www.guru3d.com/files-details/display-driver-uninstaller-download.html).

Then he should download and install the latest drivers from NVidia (http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx)

Make sure SLI is enabled in die NVidia control panel (Right click on desktop -> Nvidia Control Panel -> SLI, Sorround, PhysX)
Also make sure the SLI bridge is fitted correctly before turning the system on.

If all of that doesn't help, then there might be a problem with his motherboard or graphics cards. I could be a problem with his PSU, but I don't think that this is the case.
 

Okay, will get him to try this, thank you

[manikyath]

some troubleshooting steps:

- one card in the first x16 slot (test both cards)

- one card in the second x16 slot (test both cards again)

- both cards in place without sli bridge (test if both cards output to a monitor)

- drop sli bridge in (test if both output again)

- test enabling SLI in the drivers

- DDU/reinstall drivers and repeat.

[Senzelian]

3 minutes ago, manikyath said:

some troubleshooting steps:

- one card in the first x16 slot (test both cards)

- one card in the second x16 slot (test both cards again)

- both cards in place without sli bridge (test if both cards output to a monitor)

- drop sli bridge in (test if both output again)

- test enabling SLI in the drivers

- DDU/reinstall drivers and repeat.

The fun of troubleshooting...

[manikyath]

Just now, Senzelian said:

The fun of troubleshooting...

jeea, trust me, i know. i'm 3 weeks in troubleshooting my main monitor reacting to differences in its surrounding.

- temperature/aitrflow

- gpu temp

- wall power variations

[Senzelian]

Just now, manikyath said:

jeea, trust me, i know. i'm 3 weeks in troubleshooting my main monitor reacting to differences in its surrounding.

- temperature/aitrflow

- gpu temp

- wall power variations

Must be a Samsung then.
Sorry, I'm a LG fanboy

[manikyath]

Just now, Senzelian said:

Must be a Samsung then.
Sorry, I'm a LG fanboy

both my samsungs are fine, its a dell ultrasharp 4K i got on the cheap.

[Senzelian]

Just now, manikyath said:

both my samsungs are fine, its a dell ultrasharp 4K i got on the cheap.

A Dell?
That's probably the last I would expect to have such problems.

[manikyath]

Just now, Senzelian said:

A Dell?
That's probably the last I would expect to have such problems.

well, its doing perfect, until the voltmeter plugged into my wall permanently (for..reasons...) starts jolting around agressively.

[c_marriott]

He's tried them both in the second slot now and neither work in there. Assuming that slot is broken.

 

Will this mobo be a fine replacement?

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/msi-motherboard-z97sslikraitedition

[Senzelian]

Just now, c_marriott said:

He's tried them both in the second slot now and neither work in there. Assuming that slot is broken.

 

Will this mobo be a fine replacement?

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/msi-motherboard-z97sslikraitedition

Well, that was faster than I expected.
The MSI Krait boards are pretty solid. I bought one for a friend of mine and we got is 4790K to 4.7 Ghz stable. So I can only recommend it

[c_marriott]

Just now, Senzelian said:

Well, that was faster than I expected.
The MSI Krait boards are pretty solid. I bought one for a friend of mine and we got is 4790K to 4.7 Ghz stable. So I can only recommend it

Yeah, didn't realise he hadn't tried that so got him straight on it. He's ordering the new one now. Hopefully that'll solve the problem

 

[Senzelian]

7 minutes ago, c_marriott said:

Yeah, didn't realise he hadn't tried that so got him straight on it. He's ordering the new one now. Hopefully that'll solve the problem

 

I hope so, too.
It's really annoying when SLI isn't working. I know that myself all too well.

He should try out if it works outside of his case, before he puts everything together. Imagine he assembles the whole thing and at the end it doesn't work.