Dual 8800gt on P35 based board Problems

Hello.

Basically i am having a buttload of problems trying to make two BFG 8800gt OC 512mb run on a single board, the gigabyte EP35-DS3P.

One card will run fine while the other will get a code 43 (Windows has stopped this device because it has reported problems. (Code 43))

So yeah. basically i want this to work - rather, i NEED it to work, or else i wont be able to fold and will have wasted 90$ on a second card.

what i have tried thus far:
Latest nvidia drivers, no drivers (windows drives will give a code 10) New bios and old bios, swapping cards places, PEG1 and PEG2 Boot.

i am out of ideas.

Any help?

Q6600 @3.0 ghz
8 gigs of OCZ ram
BFG 8800 GT OC @ 691/1728/990
Gigabyte EP35-DS3P
OCZ Vertex 60gb SSD
4x750gb In Raid-5

i even backed down the rig to stock clocks.

oh yeah and 8800gt+ 8600gt setup worked, so did 3870+ 3870 and 4870+3870

Don't panic. You're just struggling with the latest Nvidia WHQL driver releases like thousands of others. This is a well-known problem. Thank Nvidia & Microsoft. When those two software giants combine their powers, the results are ecstatic. And you are experiencing that - with high intensity - simple as that.

First of all, you did not tell us your operating system - but I am going to assume that you are running Windows Vista (or Win 7, for that matter), and, thus, therein lies the root of your problem. The latest two Nvidia WHQL driver releases for Vista are screwed up. The tech support guys over Nvidia forums have promised to fix this by the end of March, but here we are now - and they apparently did not.

As far as I know, it everything started since 181.20. Or should we say, 180.84 [beta]. That was the first one to spark countless of error code 43's regardless of the video card (anything from GeForce 6 series up to the latest). All of the latest WHQL drivers are working fine on Windows XP on the other hand. However, the another big issue is that lots of people are realizing that this is a driver issue and then they try updating and/or rolling back), going backwards, and trying older drivers without truly deleting the traces of their current drivers (meaning the ones that were causing the problem). And here the major cause is also due to Physix. So yes - delete PhysX, completely, from the folder and everything, and by all means -- use a Driver Cleaner, Sweeper, and so forth.

Now let me tell you also something interesting. People are reporting that 182.47 have fixed their issues. However, this driver is not downloadable from the well-known places. And Nvidia released yet another set of official drivers, meaning the 182.50, but this one also throws lots of Error Code 43's. So I'd first try going back to pre 182.2x drivers. Grab some really old driver like 178.24 or something like that. Or, you could experiment with the "hidden" driver pack of 182.47 which supposedly works for most people. You can find these here from Nvidia.

The solution, therefore, is really get rid of your current drivers. They are bad, really bad. The devil has moved into your 'puter. Use driver cleaners. Get rid of every trace of your drivers. If you want to - reinstall the entire OS. But that is not necessary. Once you are clean and you have dumped everything on which WHQL is written - then it's time to go old-school. Grab one of those older drivers. Forget about new WHQLs and Microsoft's recommendations. Or try those experimentary 182.47's. During the process, don't forget - smile, because you aren't alone. But right now - you do know the solution, when others are still RMA'ing their cards (and yes, many did, and lots are still doing that!).

References & More Reading

link, link, link, link, link, link, and link.

Be happy - you are not alone.

I seem to remember reading in the Folding Forum where people have had to use dummy plugs on the second (third, fourth) card to get it to work, basically making the card think it had a monitor hooked up. The only other advice I can give is to make sure SLI is turned off.

Someone else may have better suggestions. (as I see mad just posted)

Ben N1NP

yeah.. t does seem like a nvdia driver issue. i've never loved nvidia drivers.

But i liked physx...i was running on the latest non whql certified stuff and it was working fine with the 800gt + 8600gt setup.

so yeah. i did not have much time before so i did not elaborate too much.

Vista ultimate X64. XP is not an option.

the drivers i was and have been using are the 185.66. Physx was enabled, i even played physx titles with physx enabled.

so yeah.

in the list of drivers i already own i have:
174.55
177.35
177.84
180.60
181.20
185.66

since which driver are 8800gt suppoted?

i tried those drivers and the problem still persists.

i guess my description isnt thorough enough.

One card will run just fine, there will be no problem. the other card will get a code 43. If i set the card PEG1 to boot in the bios, that will be fine, peg 2 will get a code 43. if i set peg2, then the second card will be fine and peg 1 will get a code 43.

without drivers, the card that is not set to boot, will have the "nvidia 512mb ram" screen at bios stuck with it. with both cards in, the message will pop up. this message did not pop up in my 8800gt + 8600gt mix.

You may want to put a DVI to VGA dongle on the 2nd card and try again - is my bet!!

Both cards run a 24 inch lcd scren each. the card that the motherboard is not set to boot off gives the memory test screen. So that is not the problem.

the major difference i see though is the p35 chipset as opposed to an nvidia chipset with sli support.

Are you running vista or XP?

XP SP3 here on both rigs
triple 8800GT's in one
and dual 260GTX's in the other
both on 780i Nvidia boards
1 XFX and 1 EVGA

Intel P35's may not support dual cards of the same generation if I recall correctly - I could be wrong though.
I guess your P35 chipset was seeing the 8600GT as a physx card only and didn't have a problem with both cards in that 8800x8600 config

just for the heck of ir, i ordered, received and tested these two cards on a gigabyte EP45-UD3p. and it actually works. not on the EP35-DS3P

and this is with the same windows image too.

Can only conclude that it is a board + video card compatibility issue on the EP35-DS3P.