Windows 7 not detecting second GTX 560 ti

[tggood1]

Hey everyone, first time poster here. I recently built my first PC, everything went well until I tried to SLI two EVGA GTX 560 ti's. I set up the system with only one 560; everything was going great until I tried to install a second 560. The card is seated fine as far as I can tell, both 6-pins are connected to each card along with the SLI bridge. When in Windows 7 however, the second card is not detected, and the nVidia control panel doesn't have the "PhysX and SLI" option like it should.

So far I've tried reinstalling the current drivers, rolling back to older drivers, and using Driver Sweeper to do a true reinstallation of the drivers with no luck. I tried using Driver sweeper, installing the drivers with only one card in, and then installing the second card w/ yet another reinstallation of the drivers. I also tested out the new card in the primary slot to make sure I didn't get it DOA, but it ran fine.

I have the first card in PCIe slot 1 and the second in slot 3 just as the mobo's manual instructed. The fans on the non-detected card are both running as well, so I don't think the PCIe slot is dead (although I must admit I have no idea if the fans are even an indicator of this).

Anyway I've scoured the net with no luck on my particular issue, and I've tried everything short of throwing Norse runes at the thing. Any suggestions?

Basic specs:

GIGABYTE GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 Motherboard
Intel Core i5-2500K
Two EVGA DS SuperClocked 01G-P3-1567-AR GeForce GTX 560 Ti
Cooler Master GX Series 750W

Thanks in advance!

 

[phishy714]

Did you also install the SLI bridge to connect the two cards? regardless, though, your system should still be able to recognize the two cards.

That's a weird one for sure

 

[cats_Paw]

PSU has sufficient power? (If you overclocked and have some extras like a few hdds, etc, you might be pushing it).

Have you tried installing the drivers that came with your particular gpu? (the cd with drivers, many times its the most stable version untill a few years pass).

In my case when my Crossfire or SLI configurations failed it was becouse i didnt plug in the 6 pin or something like that (check it again just in case). Another thing, is it possible your motherboard has a damaged second PCI-E connector? maybe test that pci-e with only one gpu.

 

[waxy_27]

try putting the other in the first PCIe slot, and just check if it works. Maybe it's just broken

 

[blade061188]

Hi tggood,

It sounds like either your PCIe slot or your second 560 is dead. The spinning fans only mean the fan connector is getting power, which doesn't necessarily mean the PCIe slot is working.

First, try your second card in your PCIe 1 slot by itself to see if it is detected. If it is not, your second 560 is the problem. If it is detected, shut down again, and try running one of your cards in PCIe 3 by itself to see if it is detected.

If you discover that both your PCI slots are working with one card, and both your 560s are working, I will try to think of something else.

Good luck!

 

[tggood1]

Thanks for the quick replies everyone, this community is awesome.

I've already tested the second card in my primary PCIe slot and it ran fine, so I at least know it's not either of the GPU's.

I haven't tried installing the original drivers from the EVGA CD yet, so I'll give that a go during my lunch break. I'll also try a single GPU in the PCIe slot 3 to make sure the slot itself isn't damage.

I'll let you guys know as soon as I do, and thanks again!

 

[tggood1]

Alright, so I tried using a single GPU in the 3rd PCIe slot to no avail, as I didn't get any display.

After this I placed the GPU's in the 1 and 2 slots rather than 1 and 3 like the manual instructed, and amazingly windows finally detects both cards!

Unfortunately, the nVidia control panel is still not showing the "SLI and PhysX" option as it should, which I guess means I now have a whole new problem. I tried installing the latest drivers but had no luck.

Any suggestions for this particular problem?

On a side note, will there be any side effects of installing the GPU's in slots 1 & 2 rather than 1 & 3? Besides the fact that air flow won't be as effective due to the cards being closer together.

 

[blade061188]

Are you able to see both cards in the nvidia control panel, or just in windows?

Also, what are the specs of your mobo? The 2nd slot might have a lower pcie multiplier like x4 vs x8 or x16

 

[gnomio]

Remove the driver completely. Use a driver sweeper then reinstall it.

 

[tggood1]

Alright, so the PCIe slot the 2nd GPU is indeed x4 like you said Blade. Does this mean SLI is impossible using this slot?

 

[phishy714]

It doesn't mean its impossible, it just means that the card will be slightly bottlenecked in performance compared to the other one. All in all though, there won't be a big difference in performance between x4 and x8.

SLI is still very much possible, but now it looks like a driver problem instead of a hardware problem which is good!

 

[tggood1]

Alright, well that's good news indeed. So I guess my next question is... any suggestions on how to get the SLI option to show up?

I've tried doing legit clean driver installs using driver sweeper, but no luck so far. I saw on another thread that for some bizarre reason, rolling back Realtek's network has worked for several people with similar issues.

Unfortunately, as this is a new rig, I have no previous driver to roll back to. I checked Realtek's site, but they only have the current driver available, which is the one I'm using. Does anyone know where I can score an older driver? Under device manager, it's listed as "Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller" if that helps.