SLI 2x GTX 470 won't display sometimes (seems buggy)

[FlopZnuts]

Sometimes my new build will fire up right away with no problems. When it does it's kicking azz. However, sometimes the monitor simply will NOT turn on. The puter is booting to desktop just fine, it just won't display. I'll have to reset usually 3 times and the monitor will finally kick in. Don't know if you need all this stuff but thought it might help. Im running the latest nVidia drivers v285.62. I'm at a loss what's going on.

CPU - i7-2600 Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) Quad core

RAM - G.SKILL Sniper 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)

MOBO - GIGABYTE GA-Z68XP-UD3P LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0

SDD - Corsair Force Series 3 CSSD-F180GB3-BK 2.5" 180GB SATA III Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

HDD - 750 gig Caviar Black for storage and also picked up a 750 gig USB 3 external drive for backups.

COOLING - CORSAIR H80 (CWCH80) High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler

POWER - PC Power and Cooling Silencer Mk II 950W High Performance 80PLUS Silver SLI CrossFire ready Power Supply

GPU - GTX 470 x2

OS - Windows 7 Home Premium

SOUND - all sound is routed through the Yamaha drivers for a Steinberg CI 2 Interface and to a 200 watt JVC & Bose 301's.

Antec 900 case.

 

[jerreece]

How long have you had this setup? Is this a recent issue, or has this build always had this problem? Does this problem prevent you from seeing the BIOS or POST screens as well? Does the monitor go into standby mode during bootup without showing anything at all? Or is the monitor "ON" but showing a black screen?

What kind of monitor are you using, and how is it connected? Have you checked the connections between the video card and the monitor? You could also try switching the two GTX 470's into opposite slots in case one of them perhaps has an intermittent issue with the video output.

It's also possible the PSU could be an issue if it for some reason isn't outputting enough power for the two cards at bootup.

 

[FlopZnuts]

Thanks for the reply. I'll try to answer everything you asked.

How long have you had this setup? Is this a recent issue, or has this build always had this problem?

Brand new build I put together this week. I have had one of the 470's for a while now, just got the 2nd one this week with all my other new hardware.

Does this problem prevent you from seeing the BIOS or POST screens as well?

Yes, it displays nothing when this happens.

Does the monitor go into standby mode during bootup without showing anything at all? Or is the monitor "ON" but showing a black screen?

With everything turned off the light on the monitor is orange. When I turn the computer on it will turn blue then as the computer boots up and it doesn't get any signal it will turn back to orange. Not sure if that is standby though.

What kind of monitor are you using, and how is it connected? Have you checked the connections between the video card and the monitor?

Acer G24" G-24. Connections are fine. But I'll try switching them around to see what I get.

You could also try switching the two GTX 470's into opposite slots in case one of them perhaps has an intermittent issue with the video output.

OK, I'll give that a try as well.

It's also possible the PSU could be an issue if it for some reason isn't outputting enough power for the two cards at bootup.

Wouldn't that happen all the time though if that were the case? It's a brand new PSU and should have plenty of amps to handle this setup.

Thanks again for the suggestions.