SLI from hell
Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2007 8:50 pm
Just read what I sent to the "Vista Quality Assurance" dept. at nVidia to get a summary of my problem...
Regardless of whether I have a clean install of Vista or one that has been around for (gasp!) a week, I can't seem to make this work. I installed chipset drivers, video drivers and audio drivers in that order. No matter what, I am faced with at least one of the following problems:
1. The "SLI Strobe" - Installation of all drivers goes smoothly, and there is no static from my speakers. However, after enabling SLI and rebooting (to simulate having shut down the system when I go to bed and then turning it on again) I get a lovely little strobe light after my Vista loading screen. The screen is black, then flashes white, black, white continue ad nauseum. The audio works during this process as I hear the Vista startup sound.
2. Static from Hell - I install drivers (chipset, video, audio) and reboot for the last time after the last install. I enable SLI and then do the reboot for the reason mentioned under "1." I then get a nasty, endless burst of static from my speakers, even though I am presented with a Vista logon screen. The computer makes no sound other than a POST beep until the static begins at the logon screen.
I have used many drivers, 158.18, 158.45, 160.xx, 162.11, 162.22, 163.11, 163.18...sorry if I got some numbers wrong but you get the idea (I hope). I have also tried both 15.00 (the drivers that were stable when my system worked) and 15.01 chipset drivers. With all of these, I get either problem "1" or "2" as mentioned above. I am _forced to rely on a single card_ which is _completely unacceptable_ as I paid $1000 for two then top-of-the-line 7900GTX cards in May of 2006. The lack of driver support has me vowing to never use SLI technology again (which surprised my friends because I was always the "SLI whore" who insisted that "SLI owns all").
I doubt I will get a personal response from nVidia as I did not get one last time. Yes there is a bit of a rant in here. Why? Because I, as a consumer of NVIDIA products, feel ripped off. Rest assured that I have tried posting in many forums to try to see what I was doing wrong before I began using your Bug Report System, but failing that I am sending this report (and my previous report) to you in hopes of a solution.
This whole situation is personally offensive to me and I have serious doubts about purchasing nVidia products in the future, nor will I recommend them to friends either should they require serious dual-GPU action to drive 24", 27" and 30" displays (where SLI is supposed to shine).
Regardless of whether I have a clean install of Vista or one that has been around for (gasp!) a week, I can't seem to make this work. I installed chipset drivers, video drivers and audio drivers in that order. No matter what, I am faced with at least one of the following problems:
1. The "SLI Strobe" - Installation of all drivers goes smoothly, and there is no static from my speakers. However, after enabling SLI and rebooting (to simulate having shut down the system when I go to bed and then turning it on again) I get a lovely little strobe light after my Vista loading screen. The screen is black, then flashes white, black, white continue ad nauseum. The audio works during this process as I hear the Vista startup sound.
2. Static from Hell - I install drivers (chipset, video, audio) and reboot for the last time after the last install. I enable SLI and then do the reboot for the reason mentioned under "1." I then get a nasty, endless burst of static from my speakers, even though I am presented with a Vista logon screen. The computer makes no sound other than a POST beep until the static begins at the logon screen.
I have used many drivers, 158.18, 158.45, 160.xx, 162.11, 162.22, 163.11, 163.18...sorry if I got some numbers wrong but you get the idea (I hope). I have also tried both 15.00 (the drivers that were stable when my system worked) and 15.01 chipset drivers. With all of these, I get either problem "1" or "2" as mentioned above. I am _forced to rely on a single card_ which is _completely unacceptable_ as I paid $1000 for two then top-of-the-line 7900GTX cards in May of 2006. The lack of driver support has me vowing to never use SLI technology again (which surprised my friends because I was always the "SLI whore" who insisted that "SLI owns all").
I doubt I will get a personal response from nVidia as I did not get one last time. Yes there is a bit of a rant in here. Why? Because I, as a consumer of NVIDIA products, feel ripped off. Rest assured that I have tried posting in many forums to try to see what I was doing wrong before I began using your Bug Report System, but failing that I am sending this report (and my previous report) to you in hopes of a solution.
This whole situation is personally offensive to me and I have serious doubts about purchasing nVidia products in the future, nor will I recommend them to friends either should they require serious dual-GPU action to drive 24", 27" and 30" displays (where SLI is supposed to shine).