SLI anomalies

[link590o]

PLEASE NOTE: THIS ISN'T ACTUALLY FOR ME! THIS IS FOR A FRIEND OF MINE!

My buddy Chris is running a SLI system at the moment. If I'm not mistaken, he's running two 7900GS cards in SLI.

Here's the problem:

When he does video tests, the computer chokes and fails on the test.

In addition, he's been getting some weird information from Steam. Since he plays half life games and team fortress 2, he has Steam. And Steam meanwhile pulled some data from his machine to see what he was running, and it did not detect 2 cards. It only detected 1, and that he wasn't running sli.

I'm trying to help him diagnose where the problem is exactly. My feeling is that the company he ordered from forgot to turn on a card, that his bridge connector is dead, or that Steam is just giving him misinformation.

However, the last option seems unlikely because his computer fails its own video tests.

Do any of you have any way to see if he is actually running SLI that is, that both cards are on, that his bridge isn't dead, and that Steam is just being retarded?

Any help whatsoever is appreciated. Any further information you need, I can ask for, or tell you directly from what I know about his computer.

his specs:
ASUS M2N-E SLI AM2 NVIDIA nForce 500 SLI MCP ATX AMD Motherboard
Dual 7900GS SLI setup
AMD dual core 5000+
1 gigabyte Corsair value RAM
Windows XP SP2

 

[vegasgmc]

SLI has to be enabled manually, its not automatic. Right click on the nVidia icon in the Start Menu or right-click on the Desktop and select Properties. There will be an SLI tab.

 

[link590o]

he claims he has already accessed the nvidia control panel, and that sli is activated in that panel. so that isn't the problem. it seems like his computer is detecting it, but it still fails video tests and STEAM's data detection.

any ideas how to proceed?

 

[Juanra]

Dead bridge? Dead card? Test each card separately.

 

[link590o]

i was wondering the same, as was my friend chris. it might explain a few things. perhaps i should tell him to get a new bridge and see if that fixes the problem, yes?

 

[samjohnson]

I would test both cards separately then if they both work then get a new bridge and see if that helps.
good luck

 

[link590o]

i suggested him the same.

in the meanwhile, he has done some research and there are lots of steam users that are having similar issues.