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PostPosted: 12 Mar 2012, 16:41 
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Joined: 27 Feb 2012, 22:00
Posts: 2
Good day to all, I have a very odd issue I wanted to run by everyone to see if anyone can help me out. First off let me get my system specs out here for reference:

Rig specs:
Monitors: 3 x VE276Q and 1 x HF207 on WSGF Edition Monitor Stand. All monitors are connected using HDMI on Monitor end and using HDMI to DVI on Video card end.
Rig 1: - Issue rig

Windows vista upgraded to Windows 7 - 295.73 – WHQL
I7-970 @ 3.2 (stock at the moment due to troubleshooting this issue then back up to 4.0)
Intel DX58SO v1
16 GB Corsair Dominator
1 TB SATA drive OS
2 x 1 TB SATA Drive Data
BFG 1000w PSU
2x (unknown MFG, got used 1 years ago) NVIDIA 295 (2 DVI and 1 HDMI port on card, Supposedly supported on NVIDIA’s website Link : http://www.NVIDIA.com/object/3d-vision-Surround-system-requirements.html )

Rig2: - No issue

Windows 7 - 295.73 - WHQL
2x X5550 (Light OC)
EVGA SR-2
48 GB Corsair Dominator
EVGA SR-2 1200w PSU
Corsair 1000w PSU for water loops / Rad Box
2 x X-25m Intel 160 GB SSD raid 0
4 x 2 TB WD caviar Black Data drives raid 10
3x EVGA GTX470 Hydrocoper FTW

Problem: NVIDIA Surround will enable but games crash on Rig1, but not on Rig2.

Game list current Test: COD4, Starcraft2, Flight Sim X, need for speed shift 2, BF2

Testing Methodology:

Before I get way in-depth on the 3 day ordeal I have been messing with, let me give a bit of a backstory on this.

Rig1 was build a while ago about 2009, since then I decided that it would have been best to upgrade the OS to Windows 7 ( for better or worse at the time ). I could have gone with a fresh install but I felt the upgrade process should allow it to work with minimal issues, the upgrade worked for everything I ever needed it to do until I enabled Surround. At the time I was not running NVIDIA Surround, I was only using 2 monitors due to a space restriction. That is no longer a problem.

Rig 2 is a combination of about 1 years’ worth of planning and work to get it to what it currently is, I tested it on the new monitors with NVIDIA Surround and it functions flawlessly. Games such as flight sim X and need for speed shift 2 work perfectly.


Now on the the problem child - RIG1. Originally being Vista on this OS I considered that to be a potential issue with the oddities I am seeing. Keeping that in mind. This is the scoop on Rig1.

I can connect all 4 monitors to the cards all via a DVI to HDMI conversion on the card to a HDMI input on the monitor end. Startup the computer and all output video just fine. I can play any game installed on the computer perfectly on one screen with NVIDIA control panel set to activate all monitors and it works no problem at native resolution on any monitor I set as primary.

I decided it to be best to upgrade to the latest NVIDIA driver 295.73 – WHQL. This still allowed me to run games in one monitor on any setting.

I decided to finally enable Surround, this process went smoothly, 295.73 – WHQL recognized all monitors, disabled my HF207 and put my 3x VE276Q’s together as one. At this time the only odd thing I noticed was if I used windows screen resolution to check my resolution @ 5760 x 1080 vs. using NVIDIAs control panel. I would notice that in windows my monitor shows up as a 1|2 display, but in NVIDIAs control panel it would show up as just 1. This is different than how it appeared on Rig 2 where it only showed up as 1, and when I identify monitors in windows it shows up on RIG 1 as 1|2 not like in rig 2 where it is just 1. This I found to be quite odd.

At this point the problems get odder, now that Surround was enabled, I could still run any normal program (non-gaming) full screen application such as FL studio, MS office, Firefox, Chrome, Explorer, any number of other programs on my computer with no issue. I could even watch movies on there with no problem. But when I tried to start up COD4 with Surround enabled at 5760 x 1080 the game started to load up, then the keyboard lights shut down, numlock, caps lock keys all become non-responsive, and my hard drive light indicator for activity shuts off and goes dark with no hard drive activity, monitors stay lit no video signal though. Same applies to Need for speed shift, Starcraft2, and BF2.

I hard reset again, this time I try and I get surround enabled again, then try and launch BF2, at this time I hear my speakers start to play the intro then freeze as if they are outputting the same sound over and over, basically it was like a very fast base line at a rock concert. Same hard lock symptoms as stated above. So I bounced the box. This time I power down rig, re seat the SLI strip. Try again same results.

So I decided to hard shut down the box, I tried again, same results. This time I boot it up, disable my HF207 in NVIDIA control panel then shut down pull out the connection off the card, the boot up. I re enable surround, it fails again. Same hard lock symptoms as above. I go through this process several more times, as well as uninstall NVIDIA drivers and re install them to validate they are installed properly. I also try with different connections on the card to see if there were any differences, and it is the same.

I can go on and on about the various times I tried different settings, but you get a general idea on the process. Everything works in non-surround, but in surround every game fails and hard locks the box.

Can anyone shed some light as to why this is doing what it is doing? I have basically ran into a wall and Not sure how to figure out what the issue with beyond a fresh install. It is just so odd that everything passes hardware tests, burn in tests, I can fold on the cards, I can run normal programs on the cards, but when surround become enabled, it freaks out.

I am still new to this surround thing but I would not believe it to be this complicated so I wanted to as the community on this topic and see where it gets me. Thanks for the read, hope it is understandable.

Thanks,

Jacob


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