HyperSLI (Enabling SLI on non-sli motherboards)

[Sheogorath]

Hello there,

First of all, many thanks to jbailey8 for making clear instructions.

I was running SLI GTX470 with Different sli 1.3 and nvidia 355.98 drivers for 4 days without problems. Mobo is a DFI UT3 RS P45.


However yesterday after alt-tabbing off WoT, started microstuttering, screen flashes, and after a while the screen would go black and driver crashed. Tried the 358.50 drivers to no avail. The same would happen if I try to launch other games (World of Warships and Mw2), which worked fine till yesterday. temps are very low at low 70s gaming and 30ish idle.

Both cards work just fine by themselves (as single gpu) but as long as I enable sli, it black screens even on desktop.

Any idea?

Could anyone post the link for the modded 344.75 drivers? I might give them a shot.

Anyway, forgive any mistakes as english is not my native language.

 

[jbailey8]

To Sheogorath:

You didn't specify your operating system, so hopefully it's one of the following:

Here's the download link for the 64 bit 344.75 patched driver:

This is for windows 7, 8 & vista 64 bit.

http://www.gamefront.com/files/25293630/nvlddmkm-34475-win7-win8-vista-64bit.rar

------------

Here's the download link to the official 344.75 64 bit driver installer:

https://www.nvidia.com/download/driverresults.aspx/79891/en-us

click on on 'agree & download' then on the next page that comes up, scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page and click on the 'download' button.

Previously posted installation instructions apply otherwise.

I'm not convinced at the moment that the patched driver is at fault, I would think that issues would show immediately upon installation, not several days after installation, the only other thing
I can think of at the moment is your games themselves are having some other problem, but I'm not sure about that for now.

Here's something you can try though, go here:

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/blue_screen_view.html

and download (and install) bluescreenview, find your memory dump files for the crashes in
'C:\windows\minidump' or 'c:\windows', your looking for a file named 'memory.dmp'.

Load the dmp file into bluescreenview and see what it says is causing the crash. You can
also run event viewer and see if it says anything about the crashes. (go to start and type
in 'event' when event viewer comes up, click it).

 

[Sheogorath]

I'm using Windows 7 64bit, my mistake not mentioning it.

The problem was solved 10 mins ago, just by putting the sli bridge on the second set of fingers, instead of the first. However I am still afraid of a black screen so your post definatly helped.

Thanks a lot for your time Keep up the good work!

 

[jbailey8]

Hope everything works out ok!

 

[smoblikat]

Hello, I am having problems getting SLI to run on my system. I am using an ASUS M4A89GTD pro/usb3 board with a zotac 560Ti and ASUS 560Ti, and windows 7 X64. Ive been following your instructions on page 105 about using the 355.98 drivers. I install the official 355.98 drivers, open up CMD as an admin and run the install.bat file (with the matching 355.98 modded driver in the root directory) and it says success. Then I reboot and my res is set to 800X600 and nvidia control panel is not an option when right clicking the desktop. Any help in getting my cads running would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

 

[jbailey8]

Your running a system nearly identical to mine so this should work just fine, you stated the patched driver was in the root directory, it needs to be in the same folder where you unpacked differentsliauto (latest version), run
the Install.cmd again and make sure there are no errors listed in the output, even if it says 'success' in the final output, you might need to adjust some of the signing certificates for this driver.

 

[smoblikat]

Your running a system nearly identical to mine so this should work just fine, you stated the patched driver was in the root directory, it needs to be in the same folder where you unpacked differentsliauto (latest version), run
the Install.cmd again and make sure there are no errors listed in the output, even if it says 'success' in the final output, you might need to adjust some of the signing certificates for this driver.

Thanks for the fast reply, I do have the modded driver in my differentsliauto folder (C:\DSLI)
Im using version 1.3, though I tried with 1.31 also and I get the same results.

Here is a pic of the install.bat output, not sure how to check if I need to mess with the certificates.

 

[jbailey8]

In the output it says 'SignTool error: file not found', make sure you have a folder in you dsli folder called 'tools' if that folder is there look in the tools folder and make
sure you have the following programs:

CertMgr.exe
ChecksumFix.exe
makecert.exe
signtool.exe

There is another error saying it can't find the certificate, try running these commands:

- Start > Run > Cmd > MMC
- File > Add / Remove Snap-in
- Add certificates
- Then there should be a DifferentSLI folder, delete the certs from there.
- Then remove the one from Trusted Root Certification Authorities > DifferentSli

Try disabling your anti-virus while your getting this driver installed too, it might be interfering
with the installation process.

Hopefully this will get you going.

 

[smoblikat]

In the output it says 'SignTool error: file not found', make sure you have a folder in you dsli folder called 'tools' if that folder is there look in the tools folder and make
sure you have the following programs:

CertMgr.exe
ChecksumFix.exe
makecert.exe
signtool.exe

There is another error saying it can't find the certificate, try running these commands:

- Start > Run > Cmd > MMC
- File > Add / Remove Snap-in
- Add certificates
- Then there should be a DifferentSLI folder, delete the certs from there.
- Then remove the one from Trusted Root Certification Authorities > DifferentSli

Try disabling your anti-virus while your getting this driver installed too, it might be interfering
with the installation process.

Hopefully this will get you going.

This is my filetree for C:\DSLI\tools

I ran MMC and I did not have a DifferentSLI fiolder

Im not running an AV.

Thanks

 

[jbailey8]

This is getting a little strange, but go to "C:\windows\system32\drivers" find the file "nvlddmkm.sys" and rename it to something like "nvlddmkm.old" and go back to your dsli folder and run the install.cmd again.

The motherboard your running has a integrated gpu, go to your bios, and disable this chip
and set your other video boards as the primary display, go to your device manager
and make sure both video bards are listed as active devices and there are no "x" or "!"
listed with the video boards.

 

[smoblikat]

This is getting a little strange, but go to "C:\windows\system32\drivers" find the file "nvlddmkm.sys" and rename it to something like "nvlddmkm.old" and go back to your dsli folder and run the install.cmd again.

It created a new nvlddmkm.sys file in my C:\windows\system32\drivers directory. Im going to reboot and see what happens.

EDIT - So I rebooted and I still dont have an nvidia comtrol panel. I checked GPU-z and it thinks that im using the 358.50 driver, and it cant detect any of the specs of the card.

 

[jbailey8]

At the moment I don't know why your having this much trouble, but do these steps:

1. Go to your bios and disable the on-board gpu and set your other video boards as the primary display. (I had to do this myself).
2. Go to nvidia.com and download and install (or maybe re-install) the official driver installer for 355.98 video drivers. (64-bit)
3. Download and unpack differentsliauto 1.3 and the patched 355.98 driver into the same folder (you've already done this, just covering all the bases).
4. Go to the dsli folder and run the Install.cmd.

Installing this driver shouldn't be this much trouble, it's almost like something isn't being installed from the official driver installer, or something is interfering, this might be caused by the on-board gpu chip being active.
I'm running a nearly identical system to yours and I've never had this much trouble.

Try running the above steps again and note any errors (if any) and hopefully it'll work this time.

 

[smoblikat]

At the moment I don't know why your having this much trouble, but do these steps:

1. Go to your bios and disable the on-board gpu and set your other video boards as the primary display. (I had to do this myself).
2. Go to nvidia.com and download and install (or maybe re-install) the official driver installer for 355.98 video drivers. (64-bit)
3. Download and unpack differentsliauto 1.3 and the patched 355.98 driver into the same folder (you've already done this, just covering all the bases).
4. Go to the dsli folder and run the Install.cmd.

Installing this driver shouldn't be this much trouble, it's almost like something isn't being installed from the official driver installer, or something is interfering, this might be caused by the on-board gpu chip being active.
I'm running a nearly identical system to yours and I've never had this much trouble.

Try running the above steps again and note any errors (if any) and hopefully it'll work this time.

I ran displaydriveruninstaller and removed every trace of my old drivers. Rebooted and installed the official 355.98 drivers, then ran install.cmd (with a re-downloaded modded 355.98 driver) and I dont have an nvidia CP. Im not really sure whats wrong, I did this a few years ago on the same board with a pair of 470's......

 

[jbailey8]

Did you disable the on-board gpu? If it's still active that might confuse the driver, are your other video boards listed as active devices in the device manager with no errors or warnings listed with them?
Do you have a sli bridge installed on your video boards? and lastly, are you sure these video boards are in good running condition, if 1 of them is bad in some way, that would cause problems.

Also, do you get a nvidia control panel if you only install the official drivers? you won't
be able to activate sli mode though.

 

[smoblikat]

Did you disable the on-board gpu? If it's still active that might confuse the driver, are your other video boards listed as active devices in the device manager with no errors or warnings listed with them?
Do you have a sli bridge installed on your video boards? and lastly, are you sure these video boards are in good running condition, if 1 of them is bad in some way, that would cause problems.

The onboard GPU is disabled. I checked the status of the GPu in device manager and the error that I saw was:
Windows cannot verify the digital signature for the drivers required for this device. A recent hardware or software change might have installed a file that is signed incorrectly or damaged, or that might be malicious software from an unknown source.

EDIT - Just rebooted with driver signature environment disabled, and I get a new error:
Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware. The driver may be corrupted or missing.

I know both cards and the SLI cable are working, because a few hours ago they were happily running in SLI mode in another computer.

 

[jbailey8]

Based on what your telling me, the official driver installer isn't installing properly, if you downloaded the driver installer from nvidias' site, it should be a good file. another thing you can check
is your system date and time, if this is off much that would cause problems, another poster on here had that very thing as the cause for his issues. You also stated you are not running
a anti-virus program, it's possible there are viruses on your system causing problems.

 

[smoblikat]

Based on what your telling me, the official driver installer isn't installing properly, if you downloaded the driver installer from nvidias' site, it should be a good file. another thing you can check
is your system date and time, if this is off much that would cause problems, another poster on here had that very thing as the cause for his issues. You also stated you are not running
a anti-virus program, it's possible there are viruses on your system causing problems.

I did download the installer from nvidias site, and I also re-downloaded it to make sure. I also verified my system date and time and thats right too. There arent any virusses on this machine, its a fresh OS and I run malwarebytes from time to time.

EDIT - So I just ran DDU again, removed all drivers, rebooted, installed the official 355.98 drivers straight from nvidia, rebooted again and can now access the nvidia CP. GPU-z recognizes all cards correctly, device manager shows that the cards are working, and I can get a display from both of them. What should my next steps be?

Thanks for all the help, I really appreciate it.

 

[jbailey8]

If you install only the official drivers and reboot, do you get a nvidia control panel then?
and your downloading the 64 bit version of the driver for your operating system?

EDIT: almost missed your edit in your last post, go back to your dsli folder and run the install
command again, look out for any errors from the install command, if you don't see any, reboot
and see if you can activate sli mode then.

Make sure the version numbers match between the official driver and the patched driver.

 

[smoblikat]

If you install only the official drivers and reboot, do you get a nvidia control panel then?
and your downloading the 64 bit version of the driver for your operating system?

EDIT: almost missed your edit in your last post, go back to your dsli folder and run the install
command again, look out for any errors from the install command, if you don't see any, reboot
and see if you can activate sli mode then.

Make sure the version numbers match between the official driver and the patched driver.

The only error I see is
Signtool error: File is not found:

Im going to reboot and see if it worked.

 

[jbailey8]

The signtool is looking for the file "nvlddmkm.sys" if it's not finding it, then either it's not there at all (did you actually unpack the rar file into the dsli folder or did the unpacking program create a new folder?),
or it's been renamed to something else (or put somewhere else).

 

[smoblikat]

So I just rebooted and I dont have the nvidia CP anymore. Device manager says:
Windows cannot verify the digital signature for the drivers required for this device. A recent hardware or software change might have installed a file that is signed incorrectly or damaged, or that might be malicious software from an unknown source

So I think the problem might be with that signtool program.

EDIT - So I just re-unpacked the DIfferentSLIauto folder to my DSLI folder, put the modded driver in, and re ran install.cmd and I got the same signtool.exe error

 

[jbailey8]

I have a newer version of this program, I've started including it in later driver uploads, but I don't remember if this update was included here, here's the download link for the updated signtools:

http://www.gamefront.com/files/25298865/differentsliauto_win81-x64_cert_tools.zip

unpack these executables into the tools folder overwriting the old files, (back them up first if you want), and run the install command again.

also check that the dsli folder (and all subfolders) are not set to read only)
and turn uac off (or at least way down).
you might even consider running signtool in administrator mode.

 

[smoblikat]

I have a newer version of this program, I've started including it in later driver uploads, but I don't remember if this update was included here, here's the download link for the updated signtools:

http://www.gamefront.com/files/25298865/differentsliauto_win81-x64_cert_tools.zip

unpack these executables into the tools folder overwriting the old files, (back them up first if you want), and run the install command again.

also check that the dsli folder (and all subfolders) are not set to read only)
and turn uac off (or at least way down).
you might even consider running signtool in administrator mode.

Good ideas. I checked and all files are not read only. UAC is set to off, and I ran signtool from CMD with the switches from the script and it gave me the same error about file not found. I even set the path directly to C:\windows\system32\drivers\nvlddmkm.sys and it still said it could not find the file.

 

[jbailey8]

Here's the line that's trying to run in the Install.cmd:

call "tools\signtool.exe" sign /v /s DifferentSLIAuto /n DifferentSLIAuto /t http://timestamp.verisign.com/scripts/timstamp.dll "%_nvlddmkm%.sys"

I've been assuming it can't find nvlddmkm.sys, but it might be the http link it can't find, try entering the link into a browser and see what the link comes back with.

If the link is working, then try running this line manually, stepping through it one thing at a time.

You could even try replacing the current http link with one of these :


http://timestamp.comodoca.com/authenticode
http://www.trustcenter.de/codesigning/timestamp

Another possibility is the windows firewall needs to be updated with this link as an exception,
it might be getting blocked.

 

[smoblikat]

Here's the line that's trying to run in the Install.cmd:

call "tools\signtool.exe" sign /v /s DifferentSLIAuto /n DifferentSLIAuto /t http://timestamp.verisign.com/scripts/timstamp.dll "%_nvlddmkm%.sys"

I've been assuming it can't find nvlddmkm.sys, but it might be the http link it can't find, try entering the link into a browser and see what the link comes back with.

If the link is working, then try running this line manually, stepping through it one thing at a time.

You could even try replacing the current http link with one of these :


http://timestamp.comodoca.com/authenticode
http://www.trustcenter.de/codesigning/timestamp

I still get the file not found error when using the new link. I think im going to mess around with my graphics cards tomorrow and make sure this isnt a random hardware issue. Thank you for your help, ill post back here after I try some stuff out.