Second 6950 is not detected by device manager.

[OmieeGAF]

Hey everybody long time lurker first time poster. Unfortunately its because i have a problem. I recently bought a MSI 6950 and i loved it so much i bought a second one, but when i plugged it in i could not activate crossfire, so i removed the 11.2 driver and installed 11.1 when that dident work i did the same and installed 11.4.
when that dident work i went to device manager and to my suprise it only detects one of my cards and not both of them.
My motherboard is crossfire ready, so i my power supply ( seasonic 850W ) and i did the following tests.
Put the first card in the first slot and boot and than in the second slot and boot and the same with the second card, every time it worked but when i put them both in and connect them with 2 crossfire bridges ( i even tried connecting just the one ) it doesnt work. ( the card does get power and works thought because both the fans of the cards are spinning.

 

[Maguscreed]

You may want to check your mobo for possible bios updates, if the device is not being detected properly it could be a bios issue.

 

[OmieeGAF]

You may want to check your mobo for possible bios updates, if the device is not being detected properly it could be a bios issue.

would that not mean the other card wont be detected as well?

 

[Maguscreed]

not if it's an issue with crossfire detection.
Some of the new ati cards apparently have some different initialization standard with them. I had to update my bios just to get my motherboard to post with my 5850.

 

[OmieeGAF]

not if it's an issue with crossfire detection.
Some of the new ati cards apparently have some different initialization standard with them. I had to update my bios just to get my motherboard to post with my 5850.

ok thanks using live update 5 right now to update my bios.
will post later with result

 

[mrdemon]

Well.

You may have a SLI board or one that does both and a option in the bios may need to be changed, also have you tryed the GFX card in another X16 socket. That card may be dead, Just because the fan is moving doesnt mean that it works, remember there are 2 6 pin PCI-E powering the card.

Also try Plugging your VGA cable into it before you boot and see if the bios comes up.

 

[OmieeGAF]

Well.

You may have a SLI board or one that does both and a option in the bios may need to be changed, also have you tryed the GFX card in another X16 socket. That card may be dead, Just because the fan is moving doesnt mean that it works, remember there are 2 6 pin PCI-E powering the card.

Also try Plugging your VGA cable into it before you boot and see if the bios comes up.

i tried putting it in another socket, like i said in the op both cards work just fine when put in the motherboard alone.
doest not matter if i put it in the top pci slot or the second one the first card and the second card work.
i updated my bios via msi live and went to device manager and still couldent find the card.
also according to the msi site my board does not support sli

 

[Maguscreed]

it's possible this thread addresses what you're experiencing.
AMD Game Forums - Crossfire 6870s 2nd card not working?

 

[OmieeGAF]

it's possible this thread addresses what you're experiencing.
AMD Game Forums - Crossfire 6870s 2nd card not working?

no because he can actually see the card in the overclock menu and i cant, also he has crossfire checked and i dont even have the option

 

[Maguscreed]

It still sounds like the hardware is not even seeing it, I would write msi support at this point.
The bios update would normally have fixed the detection issue, but since the card is not showing up even as a unknown device, that tells me the hardware (motherboard) is not even seeing it properly.

I don't think we are at the point of even worrying about software issues here, we need it to detect on the hardware side before we even get to that step.

 

[OmieeGAF]

It still sounds like the hardware is not even seeing it, I would write msi support at this point.
The bios update would normally have fixed the detection issue, but since the card is not showing up even as a unknown device, that tells me the hardware (motherboard) is not even seeing it properly.

I don't think we are at the point of even worrying about software issues here, we need it to detect on the hardware side before we even get to that step.

And im not realy that of an expert on these things but i dont get how its not working since when i put the card in the second slot only it works, if i put it in the first slot only it works.
but as soon as i put two in it wont work.

 

[Maguscreed]

Yeah, it's not making a hell of a lot of sense to me either, looking around on your behalf I found several instances of a similar issue with a gigabyte model board that was solved with a bios update, since we have updated your bios and the problem persists, the best advice I can give you is to write msi tech support about the issue.

The only other thing I can come up with is your power supply is strong enough for one card but not both of them. ...that doesn't seem terribly likely though, I would think you would at least get a post even if the power supply wasn't handling it properly.

 

[OmieeGAF]

Yeah, it's not making a hell of a lot of sense to me either, looking around on your behalf I found several instances of a similar issue with a gigabyte model board that was solved with a bios update, since we have updated your bios and the problem persists, the best advice I can give you is to write msi tech support about the issue.

The only other thing I can come up with is your power supply is strong enough for one card but not both of them. ...that doesn't seem terribly likely though, I would think you would at least get a post even if the power supply wasn't handling it properly.

i checked amd site and the seasonic is supported for crossfire, also seasonic is one of the most powerfull psu so im fairly certain it can handle 2 6950's.
what are the little things i could have done wrong that could cause this?
like a cable lose or what ever

http://i56.tinypic.com/14mrzuo.png

thats a pic of what im being showed even though there is def a second card running.

 

[Maguscreed]

It's not being seen by the hardware, either there is a setting in your bios I don't know of (not personally experienced with your motherboard model) or there is another reason it's not detecting, as I've said several times now though. Writing msi is probably the quickest path to any real answer.

 

[OmieeGAF]

It's not being seen by the hardware, either there is a setting in your bios I don't know of (not personally experienced with your motherboard model) or there is another reason it's not detecting, as I've said several times now though. Writing msi is probably the quickest path to any real answer.

Yes i have done that a hour earlier via their site so ill see what they will send me as an reply.
im going to see if my bios will have anything.
a friend send me this advice

Uninstall drivers
Boot Windows in Safe Mode
Run CC Cleaner
Boot Windows normally
Reinstall drivers


could that help? If so how do i start windows in safe mode and what is CC cleaner.

 

[Maguscreed]

I couldn't hurt, instead of using ccleaner though I suggest using driver sweeper to remove the drivers completely.
I've had ccleaner cause more problems than it solves. The temp file wipe on it is good but the registry cleaner isn't always 100%

Guru3D - Driver Sweeper (Setup) download from Guru3D.com

 

[OmieeGAF]

I couldn't hurt, instead of using ccleaner though I suggest using driver sweeper to remove the drivers completely.
I've had ccleaner cause more problems than it solves. The temp file wipe on it is good but the registry cleaner isn't always 100%

Guru3D - Driver Sweeper (Setup) download from Guru3D.com

well i havent hear anything yet from msi but thats normal since its the weekend.
i updated everything in my computer from soundcards to network cards etc. tried every ati driver i could find.
did the driver sweaper thing to remove all other drivers and the ati driver ( since i still had some nvidia drivers from my old card ) but nothing.
again like i said what i realy find weird is that both cards work and both slots work since i tested them individualy.
but as soon as you put them together it does not work.
it cant be the power though because somebody on gaf said my seasonic should be more than capable of handling this

 

[stormy13]

What motherboard? Little details like this can make it much easier to help you. Maybe even take a moment and go here,

http://www.sevenforums.com/profile.php?do=extra

and fill in your full system specs.

 

[OmieeGAF]

What motherboard? Little details like this can make it much easier to help you. Maybe even take a moment and go here,

http://www.sevenforums.com/profile.php?do=extra

and fill in your full system specs.

I updated my specs.

 

[gazz9496]

did some checking and there is a switch chip to add 8 extra pci-e lanes which aren't nativly active on your motherboard to enable support of 2 high end graphics cards

MSI P55A-GD65 Motherboard | Hardware Secrets

now i can only assume you need to do something from the bios to enable this but it could happen automaticly i honestly don't know and couldn't find anything in the bios menu to change it.