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460 SLi crash issue, please help!

OCPete

OCPete

OCPete

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Joined
22 Sep 2010
Posts
1,188
Location
Newbury, England
Newbie here, so please be gentle.:)

This has been making me scratch my head for a few weeks now. I've googled all i can and searched on here and a few other forums to no avail.

I'm struggling for stability with new MSI GTX 460 Cyclone 1GB's in SLi on my gaming rig. The cards are stock clocked for now!

Its worth noting the system was 100% stable previously with an older single nvidia gfx card.

I get random system "hangs" in Windows in various programmes (Internet explorer for example, but not just in IE). The PC will not respond to any keyboard / mouse input (but keyboard lights are responsive). I have to hard reset the system. This happens sometimes immediately after booting or sometimes after some time. However its seems to be stable in BC2 and STALKER CoP. I can play either for a few hours without issue.

I can't see this as power related as the cards idle at low power, and gaming is much more stable, but would draw more power. Its not temp related for the same reason, and i have run the case open, and under performance testing temps are reasonable.

Different drivers do seem to impact stability and i have tried various drivers all of which show different crashes. I am currently running on the 259.XX drivers that came with the cards, but i have tried the latest drivers on the Nvidia website and even the latest beta drivers. The symptoms above are for the 259.XX drivers that came with the cards (not the latest drivers).

I run a driver cleaner after crashes and re-install drivers. This is necessary as sometimes the crash screws up the drivers and the PC will not reboot cleanly.

Each card on its own appears to be 100% stable and runs all programs in my rig with no issue (IE included and games).

If i remove all drivers the generic basic Win drivers are 100% stable.

I have seen the PC crash with 2 cards installed (with Sli bridge), and enabled in Windows but with SLi disabled in the Nvidia control panel.

My system is usually o/c'ed, but running at stock clocks has no impact.

My money is on a driver issue / windows bug but i'm stumped as to else to do and what the solution is.

Anyone else had similar issues?

HELP!

Cheers:)
 
Maybe a faulty Psu ,a damaged wire ? check the sli bridges try reseating your memory

after all it couldn,t possibly be the nvidia drivers :D /sarcasm
 
i had the same thing with with 1 palit 460gtx sonic it would randomly hang on start up and in ie and some times not start at all but when it did start i could also play games ..i sent the card back and they replaced with a new one after testing so it must have been faulty as the new one works great
 
OCPete

It would seem from the testing you have done that your PSU is letting the side down.

If it was driver related then eveyone with SLI 460's would be affected.
SLI 460's running in an X58 GB are used by many people myself included.

You have tried the cards singularly, they both behave so you dont have a faulty one.

You have run your PC at stock to rule out CPU stability issues.
Trusting that you actually did this without a broken OS as a result of a previous lockup.

One other thing to check is the temp of the top card.
When they are sandwiched together the top one can get very warm.

The TX 650 is a good PSU but it is borderline for running 2 460's in an i7 rig.
 
Thanks for all the replies.:)

I think i may try a complete reinstall of windows as a precaution.:(

I'll check and reseat the SLi bridge as well.

I'll reseat the memory too, even though its not been touched recently.

What about memory timings? I have defaulted all i can see in the Bios when i removed the o/c. Any ideas?

Could it really be heat / power? How come games work fine? They use far more power for the CPU and GPUs?:confused: I have also been running with the PC case open whilst testing and monitored the temps as fine. It has crashed sometimes straight from boot. All components are effectively not much above room temp.:confused: After booting with the CPU doing almost nothing and the GPU's clocked back under idle the power draw is very low.

Any other suggestions?

Anyone else running a similar spec in Win 7, what drivers do you use?

Cheers
 
Interesting.....

Was looking into this last night and saw some comments online about conflicts with Realtek NIC drivers. Tried to update my (Realtek) NIC drivers in Win 7 and now "the device cannot start Code10":confused:

Tried driver cleaner (all drivers), then full mobo driver install from CD, and full gfx drivers from CD. No effect, same error.:confused:

Definately something wrong. Looks like a new Windows install.:rolleyes:

Question. Been looking at the gfx cards properties in windows. Should both cards have the same IRQ?:confused: If not how can i change it? Its all plug and play?:confused:

Cheers
 
Freddie1980 said:
Don't know but just write the settings down on a notepad so you can input the values afterwards if you need to.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestion. Sounds like a good plan, but which settings? I'm a noob on overclocking hence buying the kit for OcUK.;)
 
Complete new Win 7 install, latest mobo drivers from GB website, GFX drivers from MSI CD and left the PC for 5 mins at it crashes. :-(

Now i am looking at BIOS flashing but my USB stick (which works fine in other devices) isn't being recognised in any USB port :confused:

Update:
Disabled and Re-endabled USB in the BIOS and USB is back. Looks like it BIOS flashing time.:eek:
 
Last edited:
Well BIOS is flashed (and it all works fine) so i guess i just wait for it to crash.... or not!:rolleyes:

Fingers crossed!:D
 
OCPete said:
Interesting.....

Was looking into this last night and saw some comments online about conflicts with Realtek NIC drivers. Tried to update my (Realtek) NIC drivers in Win 7 and now "the device cannot start Code10":confused:
Click to expand...

I had the same issue with the realtek WHQL signed drivers from M$, how they passed WHQL I have no idea. :mad:
This was on 64bit vista, so your win7 drivers should have been a different set (different versions of NDIS)
 
Last edited:
Seems stable so far.

BC2 is definately stable, and windows seems so as well!:cool::cool::cool:

Fingers still crossed, but it looks good!:)
 
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