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General discussion (archive)Couple of Computer Build Questions(199 posts)(199 posts)
(199 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted May 27, 2012
Don't know if it's been mentioned before, but don't just use the drivers from the CD that came with the hardware. Get yourself on the manufacturers websites and download the latest versions... Or failing that use Windows Update to look for them...

You may well find that the problems you are having are resolved in a more recent driver revision...
Post edited May 27, 2012 by Crispy78
Posted May 27, 2012
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JMich: Ok, continue the "I shall not be denied" mantra, seems to be working ;).
On to the next obstacle then.
Best way to check what drivers are missing is to use the "Device Manager". Right click on "Computer" and select "Manage". On the screen that opens, go to "Device Manager" and see if you have any "Unknown" hardware, or anything with a yellow question mark. If you do, right click on it, select properties, then choose the tab "Details". It should have a dropdown list and a box below it. From the dropdown select "Hardware Ids", which is the identification of your hardware, so you can search for it.
If on the other hand there isn't anything wrong in the Device Manager, you can always go to the BIOS and see what devices it recognizes (SSD, Normal HDD, and the 3 optical). It is possible for the BIOS to not recognize something while the OS does, or vice versa, but you shouldn't encounter any such thing with your configuration.
Waiting for an update, and as soon as you are satisfied with this part, we can move on to the graphic cards.
Well, what I did was, I put the motherboard DVD in again, and just had it install all of them over again, and this time it worked apparently, because I got the message "device driver installed successfully" and no more of that pop up box when I get into Windows.

NOW, I put the graphics cards in and...................

no more signal. No signal through the onboard, no signal through the graphics card. Tried both graphics cards in the different slots, tried both cables (HDMI and DVI) in both graphics cards, and nothing.

I couldn't even see BIOS so I could go into setup and tell it to disable onboard graphics.

But apparently, all graphics are disabled anyway. Nothing. Nothing at all. from any sources now.
Posted May 27, 2012
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OldFatGuy: I couldn't even see BIOS so I could go into setup and tell it to disable onboard graphics.

But apparently, all graphics are disabled anyway. Nothing. Nothing at all. from any sources now.
Does removing the graphic card restore the signal?
Posted May 27, 2012
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OldFatGuy: I couldn't even see BIOS so I could go into setup and tell it to disable onboard graphics.

But apparently, all graphics are disabled anyway. Nothing. Nothing at all. from any sources now.
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JMich: Does removing the graphic card restore the signal?
Yes, I removed them and now I get the signal again on the onboard outputs.
Posted May 27, 2012
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OldFatGuy: NOW, I put the graphics cards in and...................

no more signal. No signal through the onboard,
No signal through the onboard means that the switch to discrete GPU works. Logical enough since the PCI slots are populated

No signal through the cards means your SLI doesn't work. Try with one single card , one then the other, one at a time, using the same slot. If one workd and the other doesn't , you know you have a defective card. If none work, try the same in another slot.
Posted May 27, 2012
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OldFatGuy: Yes, I removed them and now I get the signal again on the onboard outputs.
Going from the manuals for the motherboard found here, there are 2 things I would suggest you try.
1) Enable from the BIOS the multi-monitor support (page 47 in the printed, 53 in the pdf) and keep the cable connected to the onboard graphics card.
2) Install (or Uninstall the VIRTU MVP) and try again. I am not sure whether you have this one installed or not, I think it should be on the motherboards cd along with a few other stuff.
Also, it seems that the manual on the last pages has a list of the LED codes, and A0 to A3 is the IDE initialization sequence.
Posted May 27, 2012
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OldFatGuy: NOW, I put the graphics cards in and...................

no more signal. No signal through the onboard,
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Phc7006: No signal through the onboard means that the switch to discrete GPU works. Logical enough since the PCI slots are populated

No signal through the cards means your SLI doesn't work. Try with one single card , one then the other, one at a time, using the same slot. If one workd and the other doesn't , you know you have a defective card. If none work, try the same in another slot.
You know, I just remembered this last time I forgot to put the SLI bridge in there.

Could that explain it.

Anyway, trying now with a single GP....

AND IT JUST CAME UP!!!

OK, I'VE GOT GRAPHICS on ONE video card.

Before I install drivers, should I try installing the other one and the bridge to see if I still get signal?

I think that's what I'm going to do.
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OldFatGuy: Yes, I removed them and now I get the signal again on the onboard outputs.
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JMich: Going from the manuals for the motherboard found here, there are 2 things I would suggest you try.
1) Enable from the BIOS the multi-monitor support (page 47 in the printed, 53 in the pdf) and keep the cable connected to the onboard graphics card.
2) Install (or Uninstall the VIRTU MVP) and try again. I am not sure whether you have this one installed or not, I think it should be on the motherboards cd along with a few other stuff.
Also, it seems that the manual on the last pages has a list of the LED codes, and A0 to A3 is the IDE initialization sequence.
I swear to you, I'm holding the manual (both of them, though one is for the Virtu MVP) and there are no codes. None. Not in this copy. I gave it my nephew, and his friend, and there are no codes in there. We've gone through the thing one page at a time. I'm telling you there are no codes in my manual.
My manual is only 80 numbered pages, and that one is 88.

Fuckers gave me an outdated manual.

Assholes.
Post edited May 27, 2012 by OldFatGuy
Posted May 27, 2012
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OldFatGuy: I swear to you, I'm holding the manual (both of them, though one is for the Virtu MVP) and there are no codes. None. Not in this copy. I gave it my nephew, and his friend, and there are no codes in there. We've gone through the thing one page at a time. I'm telling you there are no codes in my manual.
I know, a few references for the motherboard I found complained about the same thing. Assuming that the manuals are indeed for the board you have (skim through them when you find the time), it would be best to download a copy of them, not to mention printing the last pages and storing them with the physical manual.
Posted May 27, 2012
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OldFatGuy: I swear to you, I'm holding the manual (both of them, though one is for the Virtu MVP) and there are no codes. None. Not in this copy. I gave it my nephew, and his friend, and there are no codes in there. We've gone through the thing one page at a time. I'm telling you there are no codes in my manual.
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JMich: I know, a few references for the motherboard I found complained about the same thing. Assuming that the manuals are indeed for the board you have (skim through them when you find the time), it would be best to download a copy of them, not to mention printing the last pages and storing them with the physical manual.
Yep, gonna do that. THANK YOU very much for the info.
Okay, I THINK I've got a bad graphics card. Here's what I did.

1)Put GPU#1 in SLOT#1 ALONE-Got good signal.

2)Put GPU#1 in SLOT#2 ALONE-Got good signal.

3)Put GPU#1 in SLOT#1 & GPU#2 in SLOT#2- NO SIGNAL

4)Put GPU#2 in SLOT#1 ALONE- NO SIGNAL

5) Put GPU#2 in SLOT #2 ALONE - NO SIGNAL

6) Put GPU#1 in SLOT#2 & GPU#2 in SLOT #1- Got good signal.

But, with both cards in, and good signal, I look under system devices and one of the two cards is showing an exclamation point and clicking on it reveals:

This device cannot start. (Code 10).

I'm guessing GPU#2 is bad, but I don't know what Code 10 is. Gonna do a google search to see if it helps.

MMM, google tells me code 10 error is almost always driver error. Maybe not a bad GPU??? Why would one GPU work and not the other??

Well, anywho, what I'm going to do now is go ahead and install Nvidia drivers to see if that helps. Still think I've got a bad GPU though.
Post edited May 27, 2012 by OldFatGuy
Posted May 27, 2012
Well, now I've got Nvidia drivers installed, screen comes up in beautiful 1920X1080p resolution, and I go to devices this time and....

Both video cards showing up,, both video cards showing up as working properly, but....

I can't turn on SLI in my Nvidia options. It will let me designate the second one as a PHYSX processor, but not in SLI mode. Bad bridge maybe???

I've got like 3 bridges here so that's my only other thought, otherwise, that other card must be bad, right???

Turned off, changed bridge, restarted, still no SLI option.

Turned off, changed bridge, restarted, still no SLI option.

I think something is wrong with that second card
Post edited May 27, 2012 by OldFatGuy
Posted May 27, 2012
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OldFatGuy: I've got like 3 bridges here so that's my only other thought, otherwise, that other card must be bad, right???
Quite possible, and easy to check since you have a few extras.
Unfortunately, I've no experience with SLI setups, since I never had any, so I can't give any other advice.
Do check though the Virtu MVP manual to see if that offers any other solutions or bypasses, since the quick reading I did seems to indicate that it overrides NVIDIA's control panel.
Posted May 27, 2012
The fact that one of your GPUs doesn't work on its own (while the other one does) indicates a problem with that GPU. I'd recommend you RMA the defective card ASAP. In the meantime just get the rest of your system set up using the single functional card.
Posted May 27, 2012
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DarrkPhoenix: The fact that one of your GPUs doesn't work on its own (while the other one does) indicates a problem with that GPU. I'd recommend you RMA the defective card ASAP. In the meantime just get the rest of your system set up using the single functional card.
Yeah, I just double checked it again, and alone, I get no signal from that card.

I've already got my RMA number. It's going back.

The only major thing I have left is to connect my second hard drive. I left it unconnected on the recommendation of the newegg video tutorial because it said Windows will sometimes try to write the operating system to the second hard drive when the first one is an SSD. So, now I get that up and confirmed running, then it's just a matter of upgrading drivers I think.

I've been told to run Prime 95 to test the processor, and Memtest to test the memory, so I'm gonna do that but I've got only a couple of final questions.

1) According to BIOS my memory is running at 1333MHz. This is so frustrating, is this same thing happened on my last new rig even though the memory is 1600Mhz and motherboard specifically says it supports 1600Mhz. However, in the other rig, I figured out to fix it in BIOS (That was a GIGABYTE MB). With this elite group bios, I can't for the life of me find how to increase memory speed. Damn this frustrating when you pay for something and then have to work like hell to get what you paid for.

2) My only other concern would be how can I tell if my devices are working REALLY properly. What I mean by that, a hard drive could be working, but if it's working at SATA 1 speeds and it's a SATA 2 or 3 HD, then I'm losing performance. Same with all devices. How does one confirm that??? Please don't tell me that's in BIOS too because I'm telling you this ECS BIOS SUCKS ASS. It is NOT user friendly at ALL. For that alone I think I would recommend GIGABYTE boards in the future. This is AWFUL.
Post edited May 27, 2012 by OldFatGuy
Posted May 27, 2012
Regarding your memory, it may be due to the BIOS automatically setting the operating frequency to optimize performance. It varies by system, but for certain setups you want the memory frequency to match the FSB frequency; this can get somewhat complicated due to the various base frequencies and multipliers involved (I have a hard time unraveling it all myself), but most motherboard BIOSes these days will automatically use what it considers the best settings. These settings can often be improved on if you really know what you're doing, but an amateur tinkering around with things is likely to just screw things up.

As for your hard-drive data transfer rates, there are a few utilities out there that can test that, but none I have first-hand experience with. Personally I think you're really overthinking things here and causing yourself far more anxiety than is necessary. Unless you see any clear errors (not small things just not looking how you think they should look) then stop tinkering around with the hardware and start getting your software set up. Start using the system the way you planned to use it, and put some stress on it with demanding games. This is one of the best ways to shake loose any problems that might be there (which can otherwise be very difficult to find, and which can also result in you chasing shadows for weeks if it turns out everything is actually working properly). If you run into any problems while using the computer (errors messages, programs or the system crashing, etc) then you can use those problems to run down possible hardware problems.

Finally, some people enjoy tinkering with and optimizing hardware- doing this is an end in itself for such people. But for most people the hardware is just there to enable them to do whatever they actually want to do with the computer. Figure out whether you're the former or the latter type of person, and if you're the latter then stop worrying about the hardware so much and just start using it to do what you want to do.
Posted May 27, 2012
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DarrkPhoenix: Regarding your memory, it may be due to the BIOS automatically setting the operating frequency to optimize performance. It varies by system, but for certain setups you want the memory frequency to match the FSB frequency; this can get somewhat complicated due to the various base frequencies and multipliers involved (I have a hard time unraveling it all myself), but most motherboard BIOSes these days will automatically use what it considers the best settings. These settings can often be improved on if you really know what you're doing, but an amateur tinkering around with things is likely to just screw things up.

As for your hard-drive data transfer rates, there are a few utilities out there that can test that, but none I have first-hand experience with. Personally I think you're really overthinking things here and causing yourself far more anxiety than is necessary. Unless you see any clear errors (not small things just not looking how you think they should look) then stop tinkering around with the hardware and start getting your software set up. Start using the system the way you planned to use it, and put some stress on it with demanding games. This is one of the best ways to shake loose any problems that might be there (which can otherwise be very difficult to find, and which can also result in you chasing shadows for weeks if it turns out everything is actually working properly). If you run into any problems while using the computer (errors messages, programs or the system crashing, etc) then you can use those problems to run down possible hardware problems.

Finally, some people enjoy tinkering with and optimizing hardware- doing this is an end in itself for such people. But for most people the hardware is just there to enable them to do whatever they actually want to do with the computer. Figure out whether you're the former or the latter type of person, and if you're the latter then stop worrying about the hardware so much and just start using it to do what you want to do.
Okay, thank you

Regarding the memory though, I could've saved money if all it was going to run was 1333. I could've purchased 1333 memory sticks. Thats why it's frustrating.

But I've got a bigger issue now. I swear I'm not lying. I tried both cards before and only one was giving me a signal.

BUT, I wasn't sure which was which, so I put them in to see which one wouldn't give a signal so I could box it up......

And now they BOTH come up perfectly. WTF???

I know I'm stupid but dammit I'm not crazy. One of those cards would not work before. Now they both do??? Yet I still can't SLI???? WTF???

Ugh, getting frustrated now. This shit should be easier. lol
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This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussion (archive)Couple of Computer Build Questions(199 posts)(199 posts)
(199 posts)