2x Sapphire HD 3870 - crossfire not showing up in ccc 8.4

[SxyDevil]

Hello i've been doing a lot of reading here trying my best to find an answer, but can't seem to find anything that will work.

System:
CPU: AMD Phenom 9750 Quad-core
Motherbord: K9A2 CF
Ram: OCZ 4gb Ram
Power: OCZ Game X Steam 700w
Video Cards: Two(2) Sapphire HD 3870 512mb gddr4
OS: Windows XP pro sp2

so i've tried a few things from installing first card, then putting 2nd in update driver, connect the Crossfire brige. tried 1 then 2, using the Drivers that came in the box, then update with 8.3, and then 8.4. both cards show up in device manager, in the display u see the 4 monitor. going into ccc the crossfire tab wont show up.

i've also tried both card in single both will run fine. using GPU-z 1.9 both cards are shown. but crossfire shows disable, updated with the current DX.

Tried to reinstall over and over also using driver cleaner pro in safe mode to remove any trace of ATI stuff. I've done everything in Dr. Spankenstein "Making Crossfire Work and Optimization" i've search on amd's fourms and here search goodle and no luck :(

Also have the most upto date bios for the K9A2 CF also check the bios to see if u have to enable the 2nd pci slot, but nothing the user guide said it should be auto.

so pretty much both card shows up, i'm upto date on drivers, and ccc. but no crossfire tab is showing up so i can't enable crossfire and or crossfire just not working.

Any help would be great

Thanks for your time.

[DanishDevil]

If I remember correctly, you're supposed to install one card, install Catalyst, shut down, install the second card, and it will pick it up, then shut down, and connect CF bridges, then start up.

[SxyDevil]

yes i have done that, I've done everything in Dr. Spankenstein "Making Crossfire Work and Optimization"

[erocker]

Actually with 8.4's and XP I tested and found out that you can have both cards in with bridges connected while installing CCC with no loss in performance. On my Asus 790fx board, there are bios settings you need to enable to turn crossfire on. It should be located under a "chipset" menu.

[CStylen]

Maybe one or both of your bridges are defective?

[SxyDevil]

with the MSI K9A2 CF it said its auto also i have looked in every single menu in the bios and also have flash my bios with the most current one i could get off the site. no option to turn on.

[SxyDevil]

the probability of both brand new brige is broken is kinda unlikly one maybe but both i dont think so i've also tried and flip each of the bridge thinking maybe i put it in the wrong way but i dont think thats the case either

[trog100]

try just uninstalling the CCC and then reinstalling it.. leave the drivers alone..

i had to do it this way.. but in spite of what folks say there is no hard and fast method to make things work.. sometimes a different set of chickens need to be sacrificed.. :D

trog

[Francis69007]

the only thing to keep in 8.4 catalyst is CCC, forget the driver ;)
you should install 8.3 (March 4 08 release), then the AMD hotfix (8.47) driver.
Once finished, you install 8.4, but only the control center.

[SxyDevil]

have uninstall ccc 8.1,8.2,8.3 too many times to count was really happy to see 2.4 come out the day after i've picked up a set of these cards and have uninstall it and reinstall it and played with it for about 6 hours last night b4 i just gave up and was like okay lets try these forums then :P

[trog100]

8.3 and 8.4 dont work for me in XP crossfire.. i have had to go back to the 8.2s..

basically i have an extra 3870 card sat there which draws extra power and hogs another 512 of my 32 bit system ram for bugger all except higher 3dmarks..

my experience might not be the norm in XP crossfire but it aint good.. he he

trog

[Francis69007]

soz, i was talkin' about vista drivers :(

[SxyDevil]

still no clue on what to do any ideas anyone?

[SxyDevil]

Anyone have any idea of what i can try or do?

[Bytor]

My CCC does not show anything in the crossfire tabs, but if you go into the ATI overdrive tab, if you have a drop down box that shows 2 cards then your in crossfire.


http://i26.tinypic.com/30m0mlv.jpg

[erocker]

I think it's narrowed down to two things. One being a bad crossfire bridge. The other being a bios option not being set correctly.

[Bytor]

I also use ATI Tray Tools and it lets me enable and disable crossfire.

http://i26.tinypic.com/2euppih.jpg

[SxyDevil]

Ill have another look when i get home, its not the bois thats for sure. since i have read the manuel many times regarding the crossfire and it says its auto MSI K9A2-CF-F http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p_spec.asp?model=K9A2_CF-F&class=mb

I had tried both and one bridge >.< one of then must work i dont belive i would have such bad luck as both being broken lol but who knows ill check for the double cards in the over drives tonight and also take some screen shots on what i'm seeing maybe ill be able to get more insight that way =/ thanks for those who have taken the time and given me advise :) i just hope i can get this working lol

[Bytor]

When I installed and reformatted my rig I just installed both cards and fired it up and worked from then on...

[SxyDevil]

Okay here is what i'm getting
Crossfire dont show up and i dont even see where i am able to pick the video card
http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/2720/atikq4.gif

in my device manager both cards show up
http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/2025/dmmk1.gif

[SxyDevil]

it wasn't but is now o.O
http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/7485/aiyg3.gif

[SxyDevil]

just ran 3dmark06 this is what i got o.O if that helps at all
http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/2416/3dmarkal7.gif

[nicepun]

AI has to be on for crossfire to work if I remember correctly.

[SxyDevil]

well its on now still didn't change anything

[erocker]

Are you sure you have all of the drivers installed from this page? http://global.msi.com.tw/index.php?func=downloaddetail&type=driver&maincat_no=1&prod_no=1395

[SxyDevil]

would be from this page http://global.msi.com.tw/index.php?func=downloaddetail&type=driver&maincat_no=1&prod_no=1333

ill double check and see if they undated anything didn't really see any update that would really effect the Cross Fire but ill update it all again

[SxyDevil]

Oh here is the copy of the manual regarding enabling it in the bios, i have also went in there and look at every single screen to see if i could enable it manual but no dice :(

http://img91.imageshack.us/img91/918/msimanualpg9.jpg

[Bytor]

Do you know anyone near you that has a ATI crossfire card that you can borrow a link cable from or even a card?

Do both cards work in the top slot as singles?

[philbrown23]

what does Gpu-z say?? also maybe try deleting all ati files and uninstalling everything to do with ati, and then try re-insalling everything.

EDIT: If I remember correctly you cannot run 4-way crossfire in XP only in vista

[Bytor]

Yes Phil XP can only support 2 GPU's.

[SxyDevil]

Yes i have tired both on single and they both work, as for do i know anyone with crossfire no =/, i have deleted everything and reinstalled many times using The treads that i've found here regarding installing cross fire, also tried running single cable on the 1st and 2 set turn the cables around in all direction. lol

[Bytor]

I'm using CCC 8.4 with the 7.11 drivers. CCC does not show anything in the crossfire tabs.

But I'm able to enable it in ATI tray tools.

Is this how yours looks?

http://i26.tinypic.com/14m8klc.jpg

[SxyDevil]

Okay here is what i'm getting
Crossfire dont show up and i dont even see where i am able to pick the video card
http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/2720/atikq4.gif

in my device manager both cards show up
http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/2025/dmmk1.gif


Nope this is how it looks

[CrackerJack]

are both cards using the same drivers?

[SxyDevil]

yup both are using the 8.453.0.0

[erocker]

Do you remember a pci bridge driver ever being installed?

[SxyDevil]

i remember seeing south bridge being installed

[Bytor]

I wonder if the ATI function drivers under the sound tab in device manager that are not installed and causing this problem... A long shot but worth a try.

Its says sound, VIDEO & game controllers...

[erocker]

Have both cards installed, bridges on, and plugged in.

Have as many background processes including virus protection turned off.
Make sure you have everything that has to do with OCing or tweaking your video cards uninstalled.
Use 8.4's catalysts downloaded directly from AMD
1. Uninstall the old drivers: uninstall "ATI - Software Uninstall Utility" from add/remove programs in the control panel
2. Restart
3. Don't let windows install anything
4. Install Catalyst 8.4 package.
5. Restart
6. Boot up and wait five minutes.
Try enabling crossfire via CCC.

[philbrown23]

dude he is in XP therfore all of this is worthless because there is NO quadfire for XP

[lockjaw509]

Hello I have the same Motherboard in my new build, I used the MSI HD2600XT Diamond Plus Pci_e 512 card with the factory drivers from MSI for when I updated through windows update for the CCC It change my CCC and disabled my ATI overdrive and D.O.T. overclocking that comes with the card. So I had to re-install my drivers for that issue.

Then I picked up a second card from newegg and had to buy the bridges seperate for the cards did not come with them (that sucked). any way installed the second card with the bridges on powered up and the OS picked up the new card right off the bat installed everything automaticly. Then all I had to do was enable the crossfire mode in CCC and it worked just fine for me, (dispite the fact that I got a bum card from newegg with bad memory it still did everything automaticly in OS.)

So with all that happening I returned the card to newegg and ordered an XFX 8800GS Alpha Dog edition took the other ATI card out and sold it. the only kick here is that it is crossfire board not SLI :banghead:

But thinking about going with the sapphire HD3870 TOXIC and crossfire them (any suggestions)

Hope this helps
Lockjaw

[Bytor]

dude he is in XP therfore all of this is worthless because there is NO quadfire for XP

But they only have 2- 3870's listed and they should work with XP.

[lockjaw509]

Yes I'm running XP Pro 32bit but I need to go 64bit still no issuse with crossfire and the 790x chipset though.

[SxyDevil]

Thanks for everyone response ill take a look and try everything that was suggested tonight and see if it worked. ill post more screen shots and what not after i tried it.

[SxyDevil]

as for Gpu-z both cards shows up and both are using the 8.4 drivers but it says cross fire is disabled ill have a screen shot once i get home.

[smiledammit24]

Hey folks. I know this thread is old but maybe someone here can tell me if they made any progress?

I just registered so I could participate in this thread. I am having a very similar problem with the HD3870 and for the life of me I have no goddamn clue what on earth I am supposed to do. Some of this has been pretty helpful and I'm going to try some of it later.

[SxyDevil]

Hey i tried everything and everything to try to get crossfire to work with XP over all in the end nothing worked with xp even with the lastest drivers from Ati and so on. spend hours and days frustarted with this issuse. in the end I got Windows Vista and didn't have to do a single thing. it worked right when Vista finshed installing

[Bo$$]

why dont you try modded drivers??????

[Mussels]

weve been getting a lot of threads lately about crossfire not working on the latest drivers.

The two solutions that worked at to go back to the catalyst 8.12 drivers, and/or get updated BIOS'es from the card manufacturer.

[smiledammit24]

Here's what I'm working with:

Microsoft XP Home Edition SP3
AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ Windsor 3.0GHz Socket AM2 125W Dual-Core Processor
2 GB of RAM
2 Radeon HD3780
ASUS CROSSHAIR AM2 NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI MCP ATX AMD Motherboard
700W Power Supply


I'm using both Crossfire bridges so I sincerely hope those are working. I've used the latest drivers and I just tried using the 8.12 drivers, with still no luck. I haven't the slightest clue how to even start doing the BIOS stuff so I'd like to avoid that because I'm almost certain I'll screw up my computer royally if I try. Does anyone have a clue what's going on? It seems almost like the only thing that's preventing these things from working together is some kind of evil voodoo.

[smiledammit24]

Wait...God dammit...is having a Crossfire Edition card and a Crossfire Ready card not the same thing? Do they need to be different?

[Mussels]

Wait...God dammit...is having a Crossfire Edition card and a Crossfire Ready card not the same thing? Do they need to be different?

earlier cards required a crossfire master card, and then a regular card.

I'm pretty sure 3K and 4K cards only need identical cards. i havent seen a master card since the X1K series.

[ShadowFold]

He has an nForce board. Crossfire isn't going to work on it, ever :) You need an AMD chipset man.

[Mussels]

oh what? goddamnit, i thought that was a crossfire board.

how did i miss that :(, he even said SLI in the product name.

[ShadowFold]

It's late, well it's late here. You have no excuse lol

If you want a good cheap board that does CF, I'm just gonna go off on a limb and assume you live in the states.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157156
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130191

[smiledammit24]

Well here I was this whole time thinking that I was using a crossfire ready board. Clearly, someone lied to me and I don't know enough to double check. Hard lesson. When I get some money and some time I'll look into either replacing the motherboard or just sending back this card.

[HammerON]

Good call ShadowFold!
And no there is not a not a Master CrossFire card with the 3870. ATI got rid of that stupid requirement after the X1900 series. They also got rid of that stupid dongle running from the Master card's DVI to the slave card:)