geforce gtx285 issues - thoughts/suggestions?

[droplet]

i recently purchased a second-hand gtx285 to match my existing one for SLI purposes. i have an asus p6t motherboard
(x58 chipset) with an i7 920, 3x2GB DDR 1033. i have an antec signature 850w PSU, so power is not an issue.

i have always been running my GPU in the second pci-3 16x slot (for better air circulation in the case). when i plugged in my new acquisition (with a 3-way SLI bridge - should be fine for 2-way as well), i had no signal to my monitors. i moved the monitor cables to all available outputs to no avail. i tried the setup with a 2-way SLI bridge - same result. i then removed both cards and inserted my existing card into the first pci-e 16x slot. on reboot, the standard windows vga driver was managing the card, in 800x600, with no second monitor output. when i attempted to open the nvidia control panel, i received an error message "An NVIDIA graphics adapter was not detected" (or nearly that). moving my existing card back to the second slot resulted in the nvidia control panel recognising the card.

i updated to the latest geforce drivers 301.x. no improvement.

i bought the motherboard three years ago new - could the contacts inside the first pci-e 16x have become corroded (i live right by the sea in cape town)? i tried cleaning the slot with a toothbrush as well.

the slot works to some extent at least - there is no onboard video on my mobo - as i can get video out of that slot. just can't get the card to be recognised fully.

i could always sell the two gtx285 cards and get a 580 or something (and run that in the second slot), but i really want the extra video ports as i want to run four monitors...

thoughts/suggestions? faulty mobo? dirty connections? driver issues?

any ideas would be welcome

 

[CataclysmZA]

The P6T has switches on the board that manage which slots are operational and whether the board is in SLI mode or not. You need to go back to your manual and make sure you've set up the switches, bridges and BIOS options correctly, like this guy who had the same issue.

This thread on Tom's suggests that its the Realtek drivers that cause the issue and you need to roll them back to the version that comes with Windows 7 by default. (if you can get into Windows with both cards, that is, but maybe keep this info anyway)

Once you get it working, install EVGA's SLI Enhancement patch. It improves SLI compatibility with a range of games and is meant to improve general stability with a range of setups.

 

[droplet]

i have read my user manual for the p6t through three times with no mention of a switch that manages the slots... there is nothing in the BIOS either that deals with the pci-e slots.

with both cards in i can not get video - should i roll back the realtek drivers with only one card in?

 

[CataclysmZA]

Only do the drivers thing if you can get into Windows with both cards inserted. Are you sure your bridge is bi-directional? It should have markings on it if its not - J1 is for the main card and J2 is for the secondary.

And which P6T version is your board? There's about six or seven variants on ASUS' site.

 

[droplet]

i have tried the bridges both ways, in all possible configurations. the 3-way is labelled, the 2-way is not labelled.

i have the p6t vanilla.