New PC will not boot when SLI Bridge/SLI engaged

[JohnnyyT]

Hello all,

I recently purchased a PC from CyberPowerPC. I saw some bad reviews for it but decided to go ahead and purchase it anyway being that I am not 100% comfortable with building my own PC. And upon receipt of the computer, low and behold it would not boot windows properly.

I cleaned the hard disk and did a fresh install of windows as I thought this might be the issue(it wasn't). After reinstalling all the drivers setting the PC up etc... when I shut it down, Windows would not reboot. It just keep bringing up the Blue Windows Logo, then the screen would go black, and after a while the system would reboot.

I called tech support and performed a few tests to find the issue. When I disconnected the SLI Bridge the Computer booted up fine. I tested both Graphics Cards in PCI slot 1 and 2 individually, and then together and Windows successfully booted everytime. The tech said that this shows that it is most likely the fault of the SLI Bridge then and that they would ship me out a new one.

Does this sound correct? Could a faulty SLI Bridge with a PC set up in SLI mode cause Windows to not boot?

Looking forward to hearing what you guys have to say.

The PC Build is as follows

BLUETOOTH: None
CABLE: None
CARE1: Ultra Enhanced Packaging Solution - Protect Your Dream System During Transit [+19]
CARE2: Professional Wiring for All WIRING Inside The System Chassis - Minimize Cable Exposure, Maximize Airflow in Your System [+19]
CAS: AZZA GT1 Full Tower Gaming Case w/ Easy Swap HDD2.5 & 3.5, support 480mm Radiator & front USB 3.0
CASUPGRADE: None
CD: LG 14X Internal Blu-ray Burner, BD-RE, 3D Playback DVD+RW Combo Drive (Black Color)
CD2: None
COOLANT: Standard Coolant
CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-4790K 4.0 GHz 8MB Intel Smart Cache LGA1150 (All Venom OC Certified)
CS_FAN: Default case fans
DOCKINGSTATION: None
ENGRAVING: None
FA_HDD: None
FAN: Asetek 550LC 120mm Liquid Cooling CPU Cooler - Extreme Cooling Performance (Single Standard 120MM Fan)
FLASHMEDIA: None
FREEBIE_TB: None
HD_M2SATA: None
HDD: 1TB SATA-III 6.0Gb/s 32MB Cache 7200RPM HDD (Single Drive)
HDD2: None
HEADSET: None
HS_HANGER: None
IUSB: Built-in USB 2.0 Ports
KEYBOARD: AZZA Delta Gaming Keyboard w/ Anti-Ghosting & red backlight
MB_SRT: None
MEMORY: 16GB (8GBx2) DDR3/1600MHz Dual Channel Memory [+100] (Corsair or Major Brand)
MONITOR: None
MOPAD: None
MOTHERBOARD: * GIGABYTE Z97X-SLI ATX w/ Intel GbLAN, 2 PCIe x16, 3 PCIe x1, 2 PCI, 1 x M.2, 1 x SATA Express, or 6x SATA 6Gb/s (Extreme OC Certified)
MOUSE: AZZA Alpha 1600 DPI Gaming Mouse
NETWORK: Onboard Gigabit LAN Network
NFC: None
OS: Windows 8.1
OVERCLOCK: No Overclocking
POWERSUPPLY: 600 Watts - Standard 80 Plus Certified Power Supply - SLI/CrossFireX Ready
RUSH: RUSH!!! READY TO SHIP IN 5 BUSINESS DAYS [+49]
SERVICE: STANDARD WARRANTY: 3-YEAR [3 Year Labor, 1 Year Parts] LIMITED WARRANTY PLUS LIFE-TIME TECHNICAL SUPPORT
SOUND: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO
SPEAKERS: None
TEMP: None
TUNING: None
TVRC: None
USBFLASH: None
USBHD: None
USBX: None
VIDEO: EVGA Superclocked ACX 2.0 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 4GB GDDR5 PCIe 3.0 x16 (Maxwell) [-73] (Dual Card (SLI) [+104])
WNC: GIGABYTE GC-WB867D-I 802.11AC Wi-Fi up to 867 Mbps + Bluetooth 4.0 Combo w/ Dual Antenna PCI-E Adapter
WTV: None



Thank you in advance,
John

 

[Dee Kay]

You are barely meeting the minimum PSU requirements for SLI with your set up. Depending on brand of PSU you may not be getting the full voltage needed. Here is the power draws for different cards with and without SLI or crossfire. If a new bridge doesn't work I would be questioning the PSU.
http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page362.htm

 

[JohnnyyT]

You are barely meeting the minimum PSU requirements for SLI with your set up. Depending on brand of PSU you may not be getting the full voltage needed. Here is the power draws for different cards with and without SLI or crossfire. If a new bridge doesn't work I would be questioning the PSU.
http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page362.htm

Got you. The website has a tool that calculates your recommended PSU and when I build it(which I just tested again) it comes up as 510W recommended for all component. This is wrong I suppose. If the connector does work I will ask support about upgrading to a bigger PSU.

Also, I am not sure if this is something that matters, but I have both the GPUs plugged in currently(without SLI Bridge) and the computer does boot up fine and recognizes both GPUs. Wouldn't this mean that they are both drawing and meeting power requirements? Or is SLI higher power requirements than 2 cards connected without the bridge

Thanks again

 

[Dee Kay]

Your PSU may be fine. I just wanted to give you a heads up on the recommended sizes as a possibility in case a new cable doesn't help. The bridge is merely a short cable that moves voltage moves across so if any possible loss due to wire resistance would be minimal if at all. The draw on your current setup is probably just using the single card though you have them both installed. That may be why it seems to be working while testing may show it isn't really doing much, or anything at all.

This site shows an even higher recommended size but it depends on whether your PSU is a name brand with verified outputs or a no name with questionable outputs. I just wanted to give you a heads up of possibilities, not an absolute cause.
http://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/geforce-gtx-980-sli-review,4.html

 

[azzazel_99]

Without the sli bridge windows or nvidia control panel cannot enable sli therefor workload is only being put on 1 gpu. You can assign physX to the second gpu but te actual workload and purpose of sli won't be shared between the two gpu's unless you are using a sli bridge. I suppose a bad sli bridge could be shorting out and causing issues. Wait and see when the new one comes in