Wondering if my mobo supports SLI on the 1st and 3rd slots

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tobargy

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Mar 19, 2015
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Hello, I have an Asus maximus vii Formula and the second pcie 3.0 (red) is not working so I had to use the 3rd one which is pcie 2.0 (red)

for some reason the cards are being detected in the device manager but Nvidia control panel doesnt allow for SLI

I am wondering if this Mobo supports SLI for the 1st and 3rd slot, or is there a way to fix that in the BIOS

btw I looked everywhere for an SLI setting in the BIOS, unless its named something I wouldnt get since am a noob.
 
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tobargy

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I got this build shipped here and I think in the process of shipping it broke something there and it stopped detecting my card
which was working perfectly before getting it here

so guess this mobo is useless for SLI now :C
 
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Multipack

Multipack

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I wouldn't just settle for a broken PCIe 3.0 slot. As you say, the 3rd one is PCIe 2.0 x4 and should be considered a peripheral port. Did you install OS? Did the slot have a different card in before you got it? A CMOS reset may fix that.
 
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tobargy

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the 3rd one is PCIe 2.0 x 16 though not x4
I had Windows 8.1 and updated it to 10 like 3 days ago before I took everything out since I have a watercooling loop in there :/
the second and the first slot had both my cards in when being shipped, I filled up the system and it wouldnt detect my card not even in the device manager, I asked here about it and they said its the mobo and it might be broken since I tried to switch the cards on the slots and still the second one wont detect the cards

am not sure what a CMOS reset is though

 
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bignastyid

bignastyid

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The 3rd slot is physically a 16x slot but electrically it only runs at 4x.
https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/MAXIMUS_VII_FORMULA/specifications/
 
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Multipack

Multipack

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Physically it's a x16 slot, but chipset limitations only allow 4 lanes. The z97 has 2gb/s bandwidth (your CPU provides the 16 PCIe 3.0 lanes). It even says 1 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (x4 mode) in your manual.. https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/MAXIMUS_VII_FORMULA/specifications/

Your PCIe slot is almost definitely not broken though. A CMOS reset reverts BIOS back to default values, and resets the memory controller etc.. and can be done by removing the lithium cell battery with power unnattached. It may affect your OS installation so only do it if you dont mind reinstalling or have BIOS/data backed up. It would be a good place to start though.
 
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tobargy

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Do you recommend a similar Mobo in terms of specs, even if it doesnt have a waterblock in it.. am just exhausted after all that time I wasted emptying the loop and filling it again...
 
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tobargy

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I tried to update the BIOS using a a flash drive when I was trying to get it fixed and it didnt work if that is the same thing
 
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Multipack

Multipack

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Not quite, but that could well be the source of your problems. When you say didn't work, what happened? Did the BIOS update work?
 
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tobargy

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tobargy

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I have tried both cards in both slots and none of them would work on the second slot
and no it wasnt detected in the bios for both cards on the second slot
would the CMOS reset require me to dismantle the cards out and empty the loop?
 
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tobargy

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Is the OS 100% will need to be re-installed or not necessarily? since I dont have the copy of it on me
 
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tobargy

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I mean I have windows installed on my SSD
I havent done anything to my BIOS, there is an option I think in there to revert back to default settings even though I havent touched the BIOS since the time I built this PC
 
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Multipack

Multipack

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Resetting CMOS does more than just reset defaults, but it should be ok to do if you never changed anything.

Before you do that, assuming you have Windows 10, open Device Manager>System Devices and check you have PCIe controllers for all root ports. If you do, right click the faulty one (eg slot 2) and click Scan For Hardware Changes. If that doesn't do anything, right click again, choose Properties>Details>Has Problem and see what it says. Check Status too
 
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tobargy

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I can only see one PCI Express Root Complex
am guessing that is because am not using the second slot atm since my card is still on the third one
 
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tobargy

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there is a PCI standard host CPU bridge
no PCI Express Root Port
 
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Multipack

Multipack

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Hmm, sounds like your controller may be malfunctioning. Is almost too complicated as you'd have to check chipset, ME and even firmware for corruption. Thing is, if you reset BIOS and do a clean OS install all of this wont matter, as long as you install all drivers.

I think if getting that 2nd slot working is important for you a clean BIOS/OS install is where you need to start, but its a long process and you may find out the port is just dead in the end anyway. Do you know if your working GPU runs at x16?
 
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tobargy

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I think it does run at x16
problem is I dont have much time to do all of that since I have already wasted like 4 days just trying to get this slot to work,
I think I should focus on my studies since there is a deadline coming and I think am just going to get a new motherboard since this thing has given me enough trouble

problem is I cant just empty the pc and try running it without the water since the cpu would reach 90c and shut down, so every time I have to move a card from one place to another I will have to empty the system do whatever switching then fill the system check if everything is working or not (in my case nothing did), so its just too big of hassle to keep doing that process and in the end it is not a 100% chance of it working
 
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