Asus A8n-sli 6600GT won't run at PCI express x16, MB problem ?

[TheNiceGuy]

perhaps the problem is kjackson09's haircut related.
"Medival serf" mean anything?

 

[aldvraa]

I have the same problem with a ATI x850 XT.

Works fine in 8x mode.

Wont post with system failed VGA test in 16x mode.

Currently I have the bios set to 'normal' and Card set to SLI.
I don't have power in the EZ plug.

My benchmarks are inline with anand's tests from the HL2 cpu roundup so
I'm not sure if I'll live with running 8x or bother with the RMA on the board.
Also, I'm not sure if the ATI drivers list the bus speed, I'll check tonite.

I tried clearing the cmos & different bios versions as well. I'm currently using 1002 so my
DM 10 200G drive shows up.

 

[sxr7171]

While I'd like to see a solution to this problem also, I believe that today's graphics cards don't need more than slightly more than 2x PCI-E bandwidth.

 

[Hilandertheone]

aldvraa- please post if you resolve your problems i wanted to lnow if the ATI will work "well" with the nforce chipset

 

[quattro1]

You dont happpen to have a picture of your setup do you? Curious myself... Have you tried it the other way? Maybe it got labeled wrong.

Actually replying to this:
"Dude!
please read what I wrote.. the sli paddle card / ez-selector card / whatever you want to call it is set to "single gpu".

 

[seattledesi]

i've tried flipping the ez-selector to "dual video card", and even totally removing it.. with combinations of supplying power to the ez-plug..

in all cases, i do only 8x.

With so many asus sli owners out here in AT, i'm kinda surprised no one has confirmed that their board reports 16x.

Anyone?

 

[quattro1]

What BIOS are you using?

 

[GuitarDaddy]

I never noticed it, but you are correct seattledesi! Mine shows 8x also and I,m running a single card with the selector in the single position. I even tried changing the SLI setting in bios from AUTO to normal and it still shows 8x?

Very interesting find. I wonder if its really 8x or if windows is just displaying it incorrectly?
I guess it doesn't really matter, as was posted earlier current cards don't come close to using 8x

 

[seattledesi]

finally!
GuitarDaddy u rule! You're right about the 8x being no biggie to speed.. i'm doing 65fps on Halo's timedemo, very similar to Anand's benchies.

To the dude with the bios question, ive tried 1003.8, 1003 final, and 1004.1.

Now I'm assuming you asked because your mobo reports 16x ?!?! What bios are you using?

Anyone else out there who's mobo reports 16x, and would like to tell me to read the manual on how to flip the selector card?

 

[coyrls]

If you're still waiting for confirmation, I'm an A8N-SLI (Non-Deluxe) owner with a single 6600GT Graphics card and my Properties read: "Bus: PCI Express x16". I'm using the 1002-003 Beta Bios (the latest for the non-Deluxe version..... I think Asus forgot about the non-Deluxe boards :-( ). But just to balance things up I don't have any problems.

 

[quattro1]

Originally posted by: seattledesi
finally!
GuitarDaddy u rule! You're right about the 8x being no biggie to speed.. i'm doing 65fps on Halo's timedemo, very similar to Anand's benchies.

To the dude with the bios question, ive tried 1003.8, 1003 final, and 1004.1.

Now I'm assuming you asked because your mobo reports 16x ?!?! What bios are you using?

Anyone else out there who's mobo reports 16x, and would like to tell me to read the manual on how to flip the selector card?

I am using 1002 BIOS and it reports PCI Express x16. Are you POSITIVE your SLI selector thing is on single GPU? Have have tried it the other way to check? Can post a pic of your motherboard to see where its at?

But yes, you wont see much difference at x8 and x16 with current games, yet.

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Originally posted by: quattro1

Originally posted by: seattledesi
finally!
GuitarDaddy u rule! You're right about the 8x being no biggie to speed.. i'm doing 65fps on Halo's timedemo, very similar to Anand's benchies.

To the dude with the bios question, ive tried 1003.8, 1003 final, and 1004.1.

Now I'm assuming you asked because your mobo reports 16x ?!?! What bios are you using?

Anyone else out there who's mobo reports 16x, and would like to tell me to read the manual on how to flip the selector card?

I am using 1002 BIOS and it reports PCI Express x16. Are you POSITIVE your SLI selector thing is on single GPU? Have have tried it the other way to check? Can post a pic of your motherboard to see where its at?

But yes, you wont see much difference at x8 and x16 with current games, yet.

I'm absolutely sure, mine is in the single position. I have used a single card and dual cards and have swithed the selector many times. So I'm quite familiar with it, and I opened the case and double checked right before my last post.

It may have to do with the forceware for the graphics cards, I know I updated to the latest forceware to enable SLI before one of my cards died. I'm now running 1 card in the primary(blue) slot.

 

[rileychris]

I just upgraded from a 5200 pci video card to a BFG 6600GT PCIe on my ASUS A8n-SLI DLX . I believe I have the selector in the right position. My system posts fine but only has the bus listed as PCI x8. It showed this under drivers 66.93 and now with 71.20 as well.

Is there somethign wrong with my mobo and/or slot. Some games seem to play fine, but for some reason WarCraft3 TFT locks up whenever I try to load a game. I have tried reinstalling the game, drivers (with drivercleaner), directx, and have had no luck getting thie game to work nor the x8 to change to x16.

Any thoughts or links to other forums that could help would be much appreciated.

I am using bios 1003.

 

[seattledesi]

allright! someone needs to kick some asus butt

too many people reporting 8x.. a few reporting 16x, but im not so sure..

anyone work with asus support before to clarify their specs? their manual specifically says "pci express x16 slots"..

btw, if i play with that selector card, sometimes i get "system failed vga test" while i'm in single gpu mode.. it clears out only if i flip to "dual video"..

any ideas on that?

 

[coyrls]

"a few reporting 16x but im not so sure" ....... I don't know what you mean by this but I can assure you that mine is reporting 16x. I've got no doubt that yours is reporting 8x, so I don't understand why you should doubt others that are telling you that theirs report 16x.

 

[seattledesi]

Originally posted by: coyrls
"a few reporting 16x but im not so sure" ....... I don't know what you mean by this but I can assure you that mine is reporting 16x. I've got no doubt that yours is reporting 8x, so I don't understand why you should doubt others that are telling you that theirs report 16x.

'cause you have a different asus board.

No offence dude.. i'm just trying to get more asus sli owners to tell me what they see on their board.

 

[bilgehanm]

hi, i have the same problem. i have an asus a8n sli-deluxe board and single leadtek 6600gt tdh vga card. the sli selector card is pointing blue slot and set to single card. most of the time i get "system failed vga test" post error. if no error occurs the operating systems loads but when i check the settings i see that my card is working at pcie 8x.

 

[DFranch]

Mine says 16x. I am using the 1003 final bios, the 66.93 drivers, the 6.39 nforce drivers, I have a gigabyte 6600gt overclocked to 573 core, 1201 memory.

 

[quattro1]

I'd like to see some pictures of people motherboards who are reporting x8. Either the SLI selector card is in wrong, (the little card between the PCIE slots), actually, thats what I only think it could be.

Do you also have pwr plugged into the motherboard with a molex connector?

 

[seattledesi]

Originally posted by: quattro1
I'd like to see some pictures of people motherboards who are reporting x8. Either the SLI selector card is in wrong, (the little card between the PCIE slots), actually, thats what I only think it could be.

Do you also have pwr plugged into the motherboard with a molex connector?

yes in my case, i have the 4-pin molex also conected.. doesnt make any difference..

something I have consistently been able to reproduce is that my ez-selector card seems to be whacked.. i keep getting "system failed vga test" when set to "single video card", which goes away if I re-seat the card to "dual video" or entirely remove it.

Sometimes (very rarely) it does post in single video card mode.. however i suspect that those times, the card may not be sitting properly, ie its equivalent to it being absent.

I've written to asus support.. no response yet.. gonna call them tomorrow.

 

[seattledesi]

holy cow!
I finally got 16x.. i haven't tried repeating the test, but this is cool, and doesnt make sense..

i finally get thru to asus support.. described my problem.. got the "our 3rd level support will call you back".. sheesh!

one suggesstion they had was to try booting with the vid-card in the pcix1 "black" slot.. that didn't make sense, but i thought i'll try it anyways..

as expected, i get the same "system failed vga test" when the card is in the black slot, regardless of the position or presence of the ez-selector card, which btw ive come to realize is totally BS design.. why can't they enable signle / dual mode thru the bios?

so i'm back to the blue slot playing with the ez-selector card.. but this time i try seating the card differently..

so check this out.. if i flip the card to the "single video card" end, pointing towards the slot connector near the blue slot, insert it angularly (like the old style ram sticks), but DO NOT press it down to the retention clips, my PC posts with video, and I get 16x!

wtf?!

I haven't tried repeating this.. is this pure luck, or is this the way the stupid card is supposed to be seated? not according to the manual anyways..

 

[seattledesi]

repeated and verified.. if you do not press the ez-selector card down to the retention clips, and leave it in its angular position, i get 16x..

if i press it down to the retention clips, i get "system failed vga test"..

conclusion: ez-selector sucks.. its probably losing contact or something when pressed down fully.

 

[rileychris]

Someone else who has one pcie card that is showing at x8 needs to try this. Please posts results.

 

[quattro1]

Originally posted by: rileychris
Someone else who has one pcie card that is showing at x8 needs to try this. Please posts results.

Why? seattledesi either has a defective paddle card or there is still user error by people reported x8. The paddle card is suppose to be pushed all the way down into the retaining clips, not left the way seattledesi has his.

You guys do understand what that little paddle card does right?

 

[seattledesi]

rileychris has a good suggestion.. if other users get 16x using the same position, then a lot of us have a defective paddle card / mobo.