Graphics GTX280 SLI headache [BAKED]

[Burnout21]

OK i recieved a 2nd GTX280 this morning (yes old school but they still work) and not long installed it to create a SLI setup.

However upon installation Win7 seems to think its a GTX295..

Hardware spec is my GAME in the sig.

I've tried stripping the driver with driversweeper and used the lastest driver avaible from nvidia, however it's now taken to BSOD if SLI is enabled, or the driver just crashes.

I think this Win7 install is fragged as i jumped from a Q6600 plateform to a I7 930 without reinstalling, and now this. Its been running a bag of sh*t for a long time but facing the idea of reinstalling frankly makes me walk away to my ubuntu installs else where.

Any ideas

[noizdaemon666]

If you jumped from 775 to 1366 without a reinstall, I would hazard a guess at that being the cause for your issues. I'm certain someone on here will be able to tell you numerous things to do to make it work, but it sounds like a reinstall would be the easiest option.

This post was meant to be helpful, honestly, it was lol

[The_Crapman]

i did this recently going from an intel to nvidia mobo and i ended up doing a new install. You can prep windows with the appropriate drivers and then switch over, but not the other way round. i'm amazed you can get into windows!

[Williz]

Re-install.

[Taniniver]

What happens if you run ONLY the new card, does the system still think it's a 295?

Also, and please don't take offence at the question, are you sure it isn't a 295? You could have been sent the wrong card by mistake or something. Trying to set a 295 with a 280 would troublesome I'd think.

I don't know why people treat re-installing as such a hassle - if you install from a USB pen to a SSD you can have it up and running in under 10 minutes.

[Burnout21]

Originally Posted by Taniniver

What happens if you run ONLY the new card, does the system still think it's a 295?

Also, and please don't take offence at the question, are you sure it isn't a 295? You could have been sent the wrong card by mistake or something. Trying to set a 295 with a 280 would troublesome I'd think.

I don't know why people treat re-installing as such a hassle - if you install from a USB pen to a SSD you can have it up and running in under 10 minutes.

The 295 and 280 look completly different and the fact that it has GTX280 on the side helps.

It also boots fine, so something dodgy is going on.

Its not the case of simply zapping windows back on the drive, its all the other crap that you actually do on the computer.

Its 3 years of tweaks and app installs, believe it or not life doesn't just involve a Steam account. Porting my VM's won't be the end of the world.

Seems like an evening of pain and misery, the wretchedness of suffering Microsofts operating system. Oh well.

[IvanIvanovich]

Looks like it was possible to flash 295 bios onto 280, perhaps the previous owner did so? Try booting up with NVflash or something and have a look, fix if so.

[The_Crapman]

you might be able to do a repair rather than re-install, which should leave most things untouched.

[Burnout21]

Originally Posted by lysol

Looks like it was possible to flash 295 bios onto 280, perhaps the previous owner did so? Try booting up with NVflash or something and have a look, fix if so.

Could I have the link with that info please

[.//TuNdRa]

The newest version of NVflash is a pinch to use, installed into system32; it'll let you flash from within windows, so you can do that and test the card before rebooting to check. I've flashed both my 550's from within windows and it didn't seem to give a damn about it.

The older tutorials about booting into MSdos on a USB stick are more-or-less outdated, the commands are the same, but you can cut out the MSdos bit, which is nice, because MSDos never worked on my machine, regardless of the version.

[Burnout21]

I sense something isn't right about this new card,

I've not long finished installing Win7 to be greeted by a BSOD on the 2nd boot, joy. Then found that the card is listed as a GTX295 or 3D video adapter under the device manager. Since pulling the card out the fresh install feels nippy and responsive without a care in the world.


So i've contacted the seller to find out if anything has been done to it.

EDIT:

So i've tested the new card on its own, artifacts a few times, but when it made it into windows after a few minutes the screen just went blank.

The only thing that it might be is the 850W psu, but its a antec quattro 850W which i serious doubt is the issue considering the new card isn't stable on its own let alone two cards.

[Blogins]

My friend had the exact same issue as you on this motherboard, the GA-X58. However he had GTX 260 SLI reported as GTX 295! Try the latest Motherboard BIOS and contact Gigabyte about the problem.

[Burnout21]

Originally Posted by Blogins

My friend had the exact same issue as you on this motherboard, the GA-X58. However he had GTX 260 SLI reported as GTX 295! Try the latest Motherboard BIOS and contact Gigabyte about the problem.

Oh thats very interesting, thank you!!!

[Blogins]

Originally Posted by Burnout21

Oh thats very interesting, thank you!!!

No problem. At around the same time one of his GTX 260 cards began to fail. So unfortunately it might not exclusively be a motherboard problem. Could be a combination of both the GPU faltering and motherboard mis-reporting.

[Burnout21]

So about an hour ago i flashed the 'new' card with a Bios i know is fine, the machine booted and after a few minutes in windows artifacts appeared like crazy then i lost signal to the monitor.

So....

Card was pulled, stripped and BAKED! currently cooling

[damien c]

I had a issue when I tried running 2 GTX 280's in SLI.

I could run each card on there own with no problem, and could also run windows with no problem but as soon as I stressed the cards with a game or something the pc would, either crash with no display but a stuttering sound in the back ground or it would bsod.

I then found out that it was a power issue as I had a 850w OCZ power supply at the time, and from looking around on the net when I tried to run them I found that the card's needed a high amp psu.

I ended up swapping the 850w OCZ out for a Coolermaster 1kw modular psu and that solved all the issues completely, then after a few week's I got some danger den tieton waterblocks and fitted them to the card's and they worked flawlessly for me, then when I upgraded I put them on the shelf and my dad used them after abit for himself.

I just recently sold them on here with the blocks, and they are still working from what the buyer said.

Cracking card's and I hope you get yours sorted.

[Burnout21]

hmm may have failed, still no improvement. no video out from the card, and when booting with both cards in a live linux boot its reporting that the 2nd card is a GT200b which is killing me.

[.//TuNdRa]

Technically; It is a GT200b, that's the core-chip design. What it doesn't seem to be able to do is recognize which GT200b based chip it is.

http://www.gpureview.com/nvidia-gt200b-chip-161.html

[Burnout21]

Originally Posted by .//TuNdRa

Technically; It is a GT200b, that's the core-chip design. What it doesn't seem to be able to do is recognize which GT200b based chip it is.

http://www.gpureview.com/nvidia-gt200b-chip-161.html

Well if you take a look in that link it was used for 4 cards apparently, one of which is a GTX285.

I've just pulled the card apart to check the die



G200-300-A2 is definitely a GTX280 and this one is very dead. I shall bake it again as i've got nothing to lose, only baked for 6min so lets try the full 10min and laugh!

Joy! (possible outcome, I sell my working GTX280 and block and buy something more contemporary)

[Williz]

If it's within 2 weeks you could always return it to the seller? Though I wouldn't mention baking it as I seriously doubt they would take it back then.