Help Enabling SLI on Vista x64 (Kozi?)

Hi all,

It is a fresh install of Vista x64. I'm having difficulties enabling SLI on Vista x64. Whatever driver I try, Sager Beta Driver, LaptopVideo2Go 169.01, 169.02 whatever the NVIDIA Control Panel does not show me the pane to activate SLI (can't find the 169.04 for Vista x64, the driver on laptopvideo2go is 169.02 altought the thread is called 169.05:

http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showforum=72

I have NVIDIA 2x8700GT.

I don't know what to do anymore. I know Kozi had a similar problem, maybe he can help me. Also another user had the same problem and it seamed that the solution was to upgrade the video card firmware.

I had Vista x32 before and could not enable it either.

I know I have two card (BIOS shows me a Parent and a Doughter card). I also installed the 169.01 on XP and no problems.

Please help.

Trance
PS: I disabled UAC and driver integrity check using bcdedit too.

 

Hi Trance,

I always had the SLI option in the nVidia control panel -- however it didn't have any effect. The 3DMark06 scores were always 5500+ which is the score for a single GPU.

I got SLI to work with the Sager driver only if I enabled the "advanced" options in the nVidia Control Panel and manually forced "alternate rendering mode 2" for second video card mode. When I did this I would get SLI but it was VERY poor (Scoring 7400 in 3DMark06).

Finally I went to laptopvideo2go.com and obtained the 169.04 driver. Make sure you do the following to install the driver:

1. Boot into safe mode
2. Uninstall your current video driver using the Control Panel -> Programs and Features
3. Reboot into normal mode
4. Run the setup.exe program in the video driver folder for 169.04 (make sure you've already pasted in the modified .inf file from laptopvideo2go.com). Your computer will be looking for new video card drivers at the same time -- you can cancel this or just let it go. I can't remember what I did there but I don't think it matters.
5. Reboot after driver installation (you'll be prompted)
6. Enable SLI after reboot using the nVidia control panel.

After step 6 you shouldn't have to reboot (previous drivers made you do that, but not the 169.04 driver).

Also you should be able to see that you have the correct driver installed in a few ways:

1. From the device manager you should be able to see the driver version for each video card. Make sure it's the 169.04 version.
2. From RivaTuner you can see the driver files on the Main tab. All files should show 169.04 version.

I'm using RivaTuner 2.05.

I noticed the following things after installing 169.04:

1. SLI started working
2. My 3DMark06 score jumped to 8800 (give or take)
3. I could apply overclocking settings using RivaTuner or nTune

I did not have to disabled UAC. I did not disable the driver integrity check.

I haven't updated drivers since 169.04 since everything is working so well. With stock clocks I get 60 FPS (vsync max) consistantly in Oblivion. My temps peak at 70C without the max-fans. With max-fans they peak at 62C.

I can also OC the crap out of the 8700's. I'm not running with them OC'd because the games all run great without OCing. I will OC later when games start to bog down my 8700s.

I'm also running at max settings and native resolution (1920x1200).

I'm pleased as pie with my 9261. I wish I could OC the Q6600. If I can't do that then I'll probably upgrade CPUs in a few years when the extreme quad is cheaper.

 

Can you post a link to the driver you have downloaded? I can just find the 169.02

Also I wen to the device manager and found two cards on Bus 3 and 4 respectively. The one in Bus 4 is fine, but the one is Bus here is the message:

"This device cannot find enough free resources that it can use. (Code 12)

If you want to use this device, you will need to disable one of the other devices on this system.

Click 'Check for solutions' to send data about this device to Microsoft and to see if there is a solution available."

I have a TV Tunner is that the source of the problem. On XP everything runs fine.

Anyone has any ideas?

Trance

 

Ah well that's probably the root of the problem. No SLI until you can fix that issue with the second card and free resources. I've never seen that type of message before, but I'm new to Vista. If you disable the TV tuner and reboot does the second card start working?

The driver link seems to be replaced at laptopvideo2go.com. Here's the original 169.04 forum topic:

http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=15832

If you click the Vista 64 link it takes you to the 169.02 driver which is strange. Try downloading it from nVidia.com instead. The driver should be identical anyway. It's the modified .INF file that unlocks it for our laptops.

Get the .INF from laptopvideo2go and the driver from nVidia. Then you should be all set. Here's the link to the 169.04 modified .INF file:

http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/infs/165series/16904_vista/nv_disp.inf

Here's the link to the driver:

http://us.download.nvidia.com/Windows/169.04/169.04_forceware_winvista_64bit_english_beta.exe

EDIT: Added nVidia driver link

 

Yes I guess the problem is some kind of conflict. I ran everest to check if anything else was actually using that bus but nothing:

Here is what I get:


PCI Devices:
Bus 13, Device 1, Function 1 Harmonics (Conexant) CX2388x TV Card
Bus 13, Device 1, Function 2 Harmonics (Conexant) CX2388x TV Card
Bus 13, Device 1, Function 0 Harmonics (Conexant) CX2388x Video Capture (MK3)
Bus 9, Device 0, Function 0 Intel 4965AGN PRO/Wireless Network Adapter
Bus 0, Device 30, Function 0 Intel 82801HB I/O Controller Hub 8 (ICH8) [B-0]
Bus 0, Device 27, Function 0 Intel 82801HB ICH8 - High Definition Audio Controller [B-0]
Bus 0, Device 31, Function 0 Intel 82801HB ICH8 - LPC Bridge [B-0]
Bus 0, Device 28, Function 0 Intel 82801HB ICH8 - PCI Express Root Port 1 [B-0]
Bus 0, Device 28, Function 1 Intel 82801HB ICH8 - PCI Express Root Port 2 [B-0]
Bus 0, Device 28, Function 2 Intel 82801HB ICH8 - PCI Express Root Port 3 [B-0]
Bus 0, Device 28, Function 3 Intel 82801HB ICH8 - PCI Express Root Port 4 [B-0]
Bus 0, Device 31, Function 2 Intel 82801HB ICH8 - SATA RAID Controller [B-0]
Bus 0, Device 31, Function 3 Intel 82801HB ICH8 - SMBus Controller [B-0]
Bus 0, Device 26, Function 0 Intel 82801HB ICH8 - USB Universal Host Controller [B-0]
Bus 0, Device 26, Function 1 Intel 82801HB ICH8 - USB Universal Host Controller [B-0]
Bus 0, Device 29, Function 0 Intel 82801HB ICH8 - USB Universal Host Controller [B-0]
Bus 0, Device 29, Function 1 Intel 82801HB ICH8 - USB Universal Host Controller [B-0]
Bus 0, Device 29, Function 2 Intel 82801HB ICH8 - USB Universal Host Controller [B-0]
Bus 0, Device 26, Function 7 Intel 82801HB ICH8 - USB2 Enhanced Host Controller [B-0]
Bus 0, Device 29, Function 7 Intel 82801HB ICH8 - USB2 Enhanced Host Controller [B-0]
Bus 0, Device 0, Function 0 Intel G965/P965 Chipset - Memory Controller Hub [C-2]
Bus 0, Device 1, Function 0 Intel G965/P965 Chipset - PCI Express Root Port [C-2]
Bus 3, Device 0, Function 0 NVIDIA GeForce 8700M GT [10DE-0409] [NoDB]
Bus 4, Device 0, Function 0 NVIDIA GeForce 8700M GT [10DE-0409] [NoDB]
Bus 1, Device 0, Function 0 nVIDIA PCI Express Root Port
Bus 2, Device 0, Function 0 nVIDIA PCI Express Root Port
Bus 2, Device 1, Function 0 nVIDIA PCI Express Root Port
Bus 7, Device 0, Function 0 Realtek RTL8168/8111 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Adapter
Bus 11, Device 0, Function 0 Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller [197B-2368] [NoDB]
Bus 13, Device 7, Function 1 Texas Instruments OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller
Bus 13, Device 7, Function 0 Texas Instruments PCIxx12 CardBus Controller
Bus 13, Device 7, Function 2 Texas Instruments PCIxx12 Integrated FlashMedia Controller
Bus 13, Device 7, Function 3 Texas Instruments Secure Digital Host Controller

If anyone has any ideas please post.

Trance

 

I go to CPUZ to check what the BIOS version I have and is said Version 6.0.

What is yours BIOS version Kosi?

Trance

 

The version 6 is something like the Pheonix version -- not the same as the actual BIOS version loaded by Clevo.

The actual BIOS version can be seen at power-up. Mine is 1.00.07. Supposedly 1.00.07 fixes a lockup when Vista enters standby mode.

Did you try removing or disabling the TV Tuner?

 

I tried disabling the TV Tuner in the device manager, nothing changed. Maybe I have to reinstall the drivers (anyway even before installing the tuner drivers the same problem occurred both on x32 and x64. I'll try removing the tuner once I get the time. I suppose it is below the Keyboard.

By the way in order of appearance I get on Vista Index:

Processor: 5.9
RAM: 5.8
Graphics: 5.9
Gaming Graphics: 5.6
Data Transfer Rate: 5.9

Overall 5.6

After I get the video card drivers fixed I'll test other things.

Trance

 

I get 5.9 on everything except the RAM which scores 5.7. I thought that was low for 800MHz RAM so I may test again. I might have been doing something else in the background.

 

Hi,

I've found that the BIOS version of both my NVIDIA cards is 60.84.5b.00.11.

What is yours? You can find in Control Panel, "System Information" just below the list of tasks.

Thank so much you for your time and effort.

Trance.

 

I can get the VIOS version for one of my cards. It's:

60.84.5B.00.B2

I get it out out of the RivaTuner information panel.

I don't have a System Information link in my control panel. Is it an icon a text link?

I can launch the "system information" tool from the "about" menu in the MS Office tools, but I don't see anything in there for Video BIOS info. Toss me another clue and I'll see what I can find.

 

In NVIDIA Control Panel, on the left panel there is a list of tasks. Just below the is a link "System Information".

Thanks once again.

Trace
PS: It seams your versions is newer. If those values are in HEX, B2 is greater then 11.

 

Got it!

Primary card is:

60.84.5B.00.11

Secondary card is:

60.84.5B.00.B2

 

Kozi,

I am getting a 5.9 on the stickies I got from Sagernotebook.

 

Hi all,

Problem fixed. Had to flash both my video cards. The issue was the same as in:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=2618193#post2618193

My supplier WebServInfor as been very very helpfull and nice. If you live in Europe I strongly recommend these guys.

Thank you for all the help

Trance

 

Awesome news!

Glad to see it's fixed. What driver did you settle in with? 169.04?

 

I settled with 169.04. I see no need to go 169.09 (verly little difference for SLI systems). New ones are coming this week with the crysis patch that supposedly it will increase SLI performance by 50%.


Stay cool,

Trance

 

I can't get sli to work under the 169.09 drivers. One video card doesn't do any work under those drivers. Split screen shows half the screen black and the AFR modes has a lot of flickering.

 

Read through the thread that DFTrance posted. If I remember right (read thread) it was recomnded that you cycle through all of the options for SLI and then restart with in single card mode. You might also have to do the bios thing as well. You might also have to boot into safe mode and clean the drivers as well. Then re-install them, there is some more information in the release notes with the drivers that might help. Just down load them from Nidia's site.

 

Before assuming that SLI is not working I would enable SLI OSD first and check if both bars are moving while playing. You can do it throught NHancer inspite of not being availble in the Control Panel

Stay cool,

Trance

 

got SLi to work under 169.09...but it takes a few extra steps. Usually I would just uninstall, use driver cleaner in safe mode and install the new drivers. With these drivers, I have to uninstall, driver cleaner in safe...and then install the sager issued drivers....uninstall...rinse repeat...and then install the new drivers to get SLi to work properly.

 

Any score improvement?

Joe