Crossfire HELP

[casht0wn]

first things first, the setup

MOBO: MSI 890FXA-GD65
PSU: CoolerMaster SilentPRO 850W Modular
GPU: XFX ATI Radeon HD 5770 x2 (HD-577A-ZNFC)
Catalyst: 11.11
OS: Win7 Ultimate x64

and CCC Crossfire diagnostics tells me...

"the internal bridge interconnects are not properly connected. Both bridge interconnects must be connected."

obviously this is incorrect as these cards only have a single connector. (not tri/quad-fireable) I have tried buying a new motherboard (old one was Gigabyte 790XTA-UD4), psu (old one was Corsair ModXtreme 600W) and crossfire cable (tried a few). I have the latest drivers and I have tested each part individually, everything is perfectly functional but i still cannot enable crossfire. I have tried all the usuals like reseating the cards, cleaning connectors, bios settings, drivers... I am stumped.

any ideas would be appreciated.

 

[wolfram23]

I'd suggest for now checking that the BIOS is updated.

You've probably tried it, but it never hurts to try again - uninstall your drivers, then run Driver Sweeper to totally remove it. Then reinstall the latest drivers (11.11) along with the CAP.

You can try flipping the CF bridge around. Shouldn't matter but who knows.

Also you might want go through MSI support and see if they can help.

 

[casht0wn]

thank you for the reply! I have tried uninstalling them, driver sweeper in safe mode, then re installing with no luck. I have tried changing the bridge orientation with no luck. I have gone as far as replacing everything except the video cards. It is a real noodle-scratcher... I will ask MSI and XFX as well...

 

[iam2thecrowe]

replace the bridge, its probably faulty.

 

[casht0wn]

replace the bridge, its probably faulty.

That was the last thing I tried, I have a ticket open with XFX and the tech said that it may be the bridge so he sent me one. I am using the new one now with the same message in CCC CrossFireX Diagnostics. It really makes no sense to me. I updated my MOBO bios last night and the message was still there. Has anyone got a CrossFire setup on a 'MSI 890FXA-GD65'? I have noticed the bios versions of the cards, according to GPU-Z, are different. Could that cause an issue? I mentioned it to the XFX guy but he didn't seem concerned about it. Anyone got two 'XFX HD-577A-ZNFC's? I just got Arkham City and I have no X-fire ...I was trying to get this fixed by the time DiRT 3 came out so that shows you how annoying this has been. (Over 6 months!) I have officially tried everything... that is what has brought me here. I could usually be the guy solving the issues for others so this is most likely no easy fix. I don't know if it will ever work at this point. If it is any help to figuring this out here are the two bios versions on the cards:
012.013.000.000.034602
012.020.000.044.000000

 

[wolfram23]

There's a somewhat simple thing to do then. Could be the VBIOS's.

First, download GPUZ. In GPUZ there is a button beside the BIOS info that lets you save the BIOS to your hard drive. Do that for both cards.

Then download ATI Flash from techpowerup.com.

I would probably say try flashing the 012.020.000.044.000000 onto the other card is it seems like it's probably newer (higher number at the start).

I've used ATI win flash plenty of times, it's a bit wierd. I find CF needs to be disabled for it to work properly, and also I recommend ONLY using it as soon as you start your PC, so restart before running it. Don't know why but it reduces the chances of errors. It should go through the process and then say it's done and you restart. If it freezes up really bad you're going to have to restart and do it again.

You can also try doing through DOS with a USB boot drive but IMO that's a big pain in the ass these days.

 

[casht0wn]

There's a somewhat simple thing to do then. Could be the VBIOS's.

First, download GPUZ. In GPUZ there is a button beside the BIOS info that lets you save the BIOS to your hard drive. Do that for both cards.

Then download ATI Flash from techpowerup.com.

I would probably say try flashing the 012.020.000.044.000000 onto the other card is it seems like it's probably newer (higher number at the start).

I've used ATI win flash plenty of times, it's a bit wierd. I find CF needs to be disabled for it to work properly, and also I recommend ONLY using it as soon as you start your PC, so restart before running it. Don't know why but it reduces the chances of errors. It should go through the process and then say it's done and you restart. If it freezes up really bad you're going to have to restart and do it again.

You can also try doing through DOS with a USB boot drive but IMO that's a big pain in the ass these days.

Awesome! I will try that as soon as I get home from work. Should I completely remove the card that already has the newer bios to flash the other, older bios, card? or are there instructions for ATI flash on techpowerup as well? I am excited to find out if this does it, thank you so much for that premium knowledge! I can't even express how relieved I would be to see this issue in my rearview! :lol:

 

[wolfram23]

You can leave both cards in. I'd personally plug my monitor into the card not getting flashed.

techpowerup does indeed have a tutorial for you

I really hope this works for you.

 

[jrpowell01]

Please post your results. I'm having the same problem with my cards. different VBIOS and xfirex will not interconnect properly and whatnot...

 

[casht0wn]

so, I tried flashing the VBIOS... and nothing. Then I uninstalled all AMD/ATI software, driver sweeper in safe mode, fresh reinstall with CAP2.... Nothing. I Get the Crossfire pop-up but when I open CCC... same message;

"The AMD CrossfireX internal bridge interconnects linking your
graphics cards are not properly attached. Both bridge
interconnects must be attached. For more information, see the user's
guide for your graphics card."

So far the guys at XFX are stumped, and I'm waiting to hear from MSI too. This is going to be the death of me! It is insane... Anyone else got any ideas?

 

[jrpowell01]

I have a ticket in a Biostar for the mobo and XFX for my cards. I also tried flashing but nothing helped. I installed different versions of CCC and CAP but nothing changes the error on catalyst's CrossfireX enable page... :/

 

[wolfram23]

You've scrubbed down all the contacts on the card correct? I mean where the bridge connects. Make sure it's nice shiny gold and all that...

 

[casht0wn]

You've scrubbed down all the contacts on the card correct? I mean where the bridge connects. Make sure it's nice shiny gold and all that...

yea, for the bridge and the pci-e. I have had to make sure a few times since the issue has persisted so long. I am considering just buying 2 powercolor 6870's and trying to sell at least one of the 5770's. I think it is just something that will not happen. I have bought a brand new: mobo, psu, bridge, ram, even the cpu (cuz who wants a new mobo without a new cpu?) It has to be the cards...

 

[wolfram23]

To be honest, a single 6870 would be close to the performance of CFX 5770s so it's probably a good idea at this point. As I recall 5770s were between 5850 and 5870 performance. Overclock a 6870 and you'd be close to even. A pair of them would be significantly faster.

You might be able to sell your cards for as much as $75 or $100 if you're lucky, so you'd almost cover the cost of an upgrade.

 

[casht0wn]

To be honest, a single 6870 would be close to the performance of CFX 5770s so it's probably a good idea at this point. As I recall 5770s were between 5850 and 5870 performance. Overclock a 6870 and you'd be close to even. A pair of them would be significantly faster.

You might be able to sell your cards for as much as $75 or $100 if you're lucky, so you'd almost cover the cost of an upgrade.

It is done. I ordered two Powercolor 6870s. Thank you for all your help and advice Wolfram, it was very generous of you to spend any thought on my problems, and @jrpowell01; sorry for bailing on the issue but I have been wrestling it for too long now.

 

[wolfram23]

That's great, let us know how they turn out.

 

[jrpowell01]

It is done. I ordered two Powercolor 6870s. Thank you for all your help and advice Wolfram, it was very generous of you to spend any thought on my problems, and @jrpowell01; sorry for bailing on the issue but I have been wrestling it for too long now.

Haha. Trust me, I understand. Im emailing Biostar and XFX for support.

Biostar seems confident that this is not a bios issue but rather a driver issue.

XFX has yet to reply. I just hope to solve this issue sooner than later, but I have a feeling I'm going to end up going down the same road as you...

 

[casht0wn]

So, I got my 6870's... they are magnificent! Installed w/o issue and even gets me an average of 54 fps on unigine heaven bench on max settings! I am 'no disappoint'! It is glorious... so glad I did that.

 

[jrpowell01]

So, I got my 6870's... they are magnificent! Installed w/o issue and even gets me an average of 54 fps on unigine heaven bench on max settings! I am 'no disappoint'! It is glorious... so glad I did that.

Did you use a new motherboard? Or just new cards>?

 

[casht0wn]

Did you use a new motherboard? Or just new cards>?

When I was trying to get the 5770s to work in crossfire i replaced the mobo so i used that newer one with the 6870s. It was something to do with the cards...

 

[jrpowell01]

Oh okay. Makes sense. Xfx is telling it sounds like a driver issue between the cards. So I'm just gonna get a couple 6830's or something instead of figuring this out forever.

 

[casht0wn]

Best answer selected by casht0wn.