Unknown Error

[Zodiak]

Hello Everyone,

Since a while ago, I have been looking for the solution to a problem where while playing video games, I would lose all signal from my video cards to my 3 screens. I get no error messages and the audio keeps playing normally. The temperatures of my video cards usually ranges between 37 and 55 degrees. The only option for me then is to reboot.

Recently, I have been having issues with the NVIDIA control Panel, where when I right click and chose to enter the Nvidia control Panel, it would come out a white window and my cursor would flicker non stop.

I believe I had been using a version of the drivers older then the current "280.26-desktop-win7-winvista-64bit-english-whql" ones.

First thing I did was download those. Now I am of an older way of thinking, where you used to enter Safe Mode, Uninstall the drivers:

NVIDIA 3D Vision Controller Driver
NVIDIA 3D Vision Driver
NVIDIA Graphics Driver
NVIDIA HD PhysX System Software
NVIDIA Update

Then use something like Driver Cleaner, reboot into safe mode again, reinstall the new drivers and then finally reboot into windows Normally. So that is what I did, though I did not use anything like Driver Cleaner.

Boy was that a BAAAAD idea. When I rebooted, I was greeted by having only video to the first of my 3 connected monitors, I then got a Balloon Warning from my System tray that I DID NOT detect any SLI Bridges (which there is a 3 way bridge currently installed, I never touched the inside). When I originally entered the NVIDIA control panel then, it worked and I went into the Configure SLI, PhysX section. It displayed my three GTX 580 Video cards but the first 2 of them diaplayed errors that there were no GPUs connected to them and that those displays would not be used, like this.

GeForce GTX 580 (1) - Surround DIsplay
/!\ Dell U2711 - Will not be used
[X] Connect a display to the GPU
[X] Connect a display to the GPU

GeForce GTX 580 (2) - Surround DIsplay
/!\ Dell U2711 - Will not be used
[X] Connect a display to the GPU

GeForce GTX 580 (3) - Surround DIsplay
Dell U2711

I then rebooted, thinking it may just fix itself but now I can no longer enter the NVIDIA control panel again, doing the same white window as before, not responding. I spoke to a friend of mine and I was not aware of this, but I WAS using MSI Afterburner at the time, which apparently can cause problems. But I have tried closing it and just reinstalling the drivers over the current one while in Normal mode without any changes.

Can someone please help me? All of this because of a driver update

Here are my specs:

Case: Cooler Master HAF X (Blue Edition)
CPU: Intel Core i7 2600k
Motherboard: ASUS Maximus IV Extreme-Z (Z68)
Video Card 1: EVGA GTX 580 Hydro Copper 2 FTW Edition 3Gb
Video Card 2: EVGA GTX 580 Hydro Copper 2 FTW Edition 3Gb
Video Card 3: EVGA GTX 580 Hydro Copper 2 FTW Edition 3Gb
Sound Card: ASUS Xonar Xense
Memory: Mushkin 12gb DDR3 1600
PSU: OCZ ZX 1250W
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit

Boot Drive: OCZ Vertex 3 128gb SSD
Game Drive: OCZ Vertex 3 256gb SSD
Storage: Western Digital 2Tb SATA 3 64mb Cache
NAS: Drobo FS, 15Tb (5x3Tb) Western Digital SATA 3 64mb Cache

Watercooling: Koolance 3K3U External Cooling Box

Monitor 1: Dell UltrlaSharp U2711 27'' IPS Monitor @ 1440x2560 (Portrait Mode)
Monitor 2: Dell UltrlaSharp U2711 27'' IPS Monitor @ 1440x2560 (Portrait Mode)
Monitor 3: Dell UltrlaSharp U2711 27'' IPS Monitor @ 1440x2560 (Portrait Mode)
Resolution: 4580x2560

Everything was working before all of this happened and all of this because I have been looking for a solution to my video loss problem while playing video games

[Zodiak]

I sort of semi fixed my problem by checking the connections of the DVI cables and the SLI bridge which all seemed ok for some reason, I had not touched any of them previously.

I now get a video signal to each of them, however I am experiencing a BSOD I cannot seem to find the answer to online

What I thought was "STOP ERROR: 0x00000101 (0x0000000000000019, 0x0000000000000000, 0xfffff88003165180, 0x0000000000000002) and not being able to find anything could very well end up being (0x0000000000000019, 0x0000000000000000, 0xfffff88003164180, 0x0000000000000002)

Which I can find problems pretty similar to mine, just no answers to. Always happens while playing games or video encoding.

[xeromist]

Since you weren't getting the BSOD before I would try going back to the older driver to see if this is something that Nvidia has caused with the latest update. Also I might try removing the SLI bridge entirely. Your performance will suck without it but it will still SLI and allow you to see if the bridge may have some problem.

[Brian@ASUS]

luckily you have a M4E! there are dip switches that allow you to turn off your pci-e lanes. i would test each card individually to see if there are any issues with them, then test 1 card 2 cards and 3 cards. i would do a clean driver install on them.