How To: Enable SLI on pre-i7/i5 hardware

[aGeoM]

Originally Posted by anatolymik

post results please

191 it's for Quatro cards.

downloading 190.89 ATM.

[derGhostrider]

Originally Posted by aGeoM

Hi

I'm updating my self, lol, yesterday didn't had time to fool around with SLI testing. I will test, sure.

Now: I was reading the latest post and I don't know if it help:



Supermicro C7X58 SLI Certificate:

    Scope (_SB.PCI0)
    {
        Name (SLIC, Buffer (0x9E)
        {
            "987134512781Genuine NVIDIA Certified SLI Ready Motherboard for SUPERMICRO X8SAX    0101-Copyright 2008 NVIDIA Corporation All Rights Reserved-765289891023(R)"
        })
    }

    Device (_SB.PCI0.WMI1)
    {
        Name (_HID, "pnp0c14")
        Name (_UID, "MXM2")
        Name (_WDG, Buffer (0x14)
        {
            /* 0000 */    0x3C, 0x5C, 0xCB, 0xF6, 0xAE, 0x9C, 0xBD, 0x4E, 
            /* 0008 */    0xB5, 0x77, 0x93, 0x1E, 0xA3, 0x2A, 0x2C, 0xC0, 
            /* 0010 */    0x4D, 0x58, 0x01, 0x02
        })
        Method (WMMX, 3, NotSerialized)
        {
            CreateDWordField (Arg2, Zero, FUNC)
            If (LEqual (FUNC, 0x41494C53))
            {
                If (IFSL ())
                {
                    Return (SLIC)
                }
            }

            Return (Zero)
        }
    }

Extracted DSDT from original BIOS rom, see attach.

HUH?! ... The C7X58 says X8SAX??? That's strange because the X8SAX is not officially SLI capable. I know that both boards look almost identical and I thought that they would be almost identical (except for the missing PCI-X ports) but that the ACPI-Strings are for the X8SAX is really astonishing.

I may need some advice how to go on.
Will the HALmod work when I use this SLIC or does the HALmod has to be customized for that particular string?
How should I continue, anatoly?

----

@aGeoM: 191 is for Quadros? *g* Thanks for the hint. I'll download them.

[anatolymik]

Originally Posted by derGhostrider

HUH?! ... The C7X58 says X8SAX??? That's strange because the X8SAX is not officially SLI capable. I know that both boards look almost identical and I thought that they would be almost identical (except for the missing PCI-X ports) but that the ACPI-Strings are for the X8SAX is really astonishing.

I may need some advice how to go on.
Will the HALmod work when I use this SLIC or does the HALmod has to be customized for that particular string?
How should I continue, anatoly?

----

@aGeoM: 191 is for Quadros? *g* Thanks for the hint. I'll download them.

You should to use ASUS SLIC. HALMod tells that system is ASUS system

[aGeoM]

Test HALmod v0.71 + Unmodded 190.89 + Asus cert = SLI Enable



EDIT: 3DMark Vantage Performance benchmark

[derGhostrider]

@anatolymik: I don't know how much work it is to mod the HAL but would it be possible to do a Supermicro HALmod? Just for the case that it won't work once again...

[aGeoM]

Originally Posted by derGhostrider

HUH?! ... The C7X58 says X8SAX??? That's strange because the X8SAX is not officially SLI capable. I know that both boards look almost identical and I thought that they would be almost identical (except for the missing PCI-X ports) but that the ACPI-Strings are for the X8SAX is really astonishing.

I may need some advice how to go on.
Will the HALmod work when I use this SLIC or does the HALmod has to be customized for that particular string?
How should I continue, anatoly?

----

@aGeoM: 191 is for Quadros? *g* Thanks for the hint. I'll download them.

Well that I don't know, I read your post, and downloaded BIOS for your board, and extracted DSDT table from BIOS, if you need any DSDT for any X58 board just download bios from the model you want and extract DSDT. If they are more supermicro X58 boards, just download bios and compare SLI certs.

Welcome, 191 from nVidia site.

[TheWolf]

Originally Posted by anatolymik

TheWolf try my last HALMod please

HALmod v0.71 test worked.
1st I make backup of working files with system restore.
Next I install HALmod v0.71 reboot work with mod driver rev2 64bit.
I then turned off test mode to see what would happen. BSOD on reboot.
Windows fix & replaced the hal.dll
I then again placed HALmod v0.71 & installed unmodded driver 190.62.
Then used dseo13b.exe to sign HALmod v0.71, + enabled test mode & reboot.
SLI is working and enabled.

[yeba]

Do u really need to sign the halmod v0.71?

Originally Posted by TheWolf

HALmod v0.71 test worked.
1st I make backup of working files with system restore.
Next I install HALmod v0.71 reboot work with mod driver rev2 64bit.
I then turned off test mode to see what would happen. BSOD on reboot.
Windows fix & replaced the hal.dll
I then again placed HALmod v0.71 & installed unmodded driver 190.62.
Then used dseo13b.exe to sign HALmod v0.71, + enabled test mode & reboot.
SLI is working and enabled.

[anatolymik]

Originally Posted by derGhostrider

@anatolymik: I don't know how much work it is to mod the HAL but would it be possible to do a Supermicro HALmod? Just for the case that it won't work once again...

you will not need supermicro sli string

[TheWolf]

Originally Posted by yeba

Do u really need to sign the halmod v0.71?

I did for some reason for it to not BSOD on a reboot of the system.
Edit: after thinking about I may not have removed the modded driver before that reboot & it may have caused the BSOD.
I test & see now with unmodded driver. BRB

[anatolymik]

Originally Posted by TheWolf

HALmod v0.71 test worked.
1st I make backup of working files with system restore.
Next I install HALmod v0.71 reboot work with mod driver rev2 64bit.
I then turned off test mode to see what would happen. BSOD on reboot.
Windows fix & replaced the hal.dll
I then again placed HALmod v0.71 & installed unmodded driver 190.62.
Then used dseo13b.exe to sign HALmod v0.71, + enabled test mode & reboot.
SLI is working and enabled.

thanks. and you don't need sign HALMod. if you run install.cmd, it will do everything to works properly.

[anatolymik]

Originally Posted by TheWolf

I did for some reason for it to not BSOD on a reboot of the system.

BSOD you got because you disabled test mode

[soundood]

Originally Posted by TheWolf

HALmod v0.71 test worked.
1st I make backup of working files with system restore.
Next I install HALmod v0.71 reboot work with mod driver rev2 64bit.
I then turned off test mode to see what would happen. BSOD on reboot.
Windows fix & replaced the hal.dll
I then again placed HALmod v0.71 & installed unmodded driver 190.62.
Then used dseo13b.exe to sign HALmod v0.71, + enabled test mode & reboot.
SLI is working and enabled.

how do you turn off test mode? and do i really need to? i used the watermark remover to get rid of the nagging text in bottem right of screen

[TheWolf]

No don't disable test mode if you do you will get BSOD on a reboot, as anatolymik has already said.

[derGhostrider]

Originally Posted by anatolymik

you will not need supermicro sli string

Sorry my friend, but you are wrong.

I DID IT!
Quadro FX 4800 SLI on X8DAH+ running Server 2008 R2!

NO HALmod! NO modded drivers! And NO test mode!

All I needed was the customized SLIC string!

Here is my new .dsl file. The part from aGeoM was "almost correct". I just had to remove the "IFSL" and directly return the SLIC to get IASL to compile the file without errors.

My .dsl is attached. I will also attach the .aml file for people who can't do it themselves. (Maybe it won't work for them if their hardware differs too much... at least it's worth a try)

---

Here my short step-by-step description what to do to enable SLI on a Supermicro X8DAH+ running Windows Server 2008 R2:

0. Install the Quadros to the native 16x PCI-Express 2.0 sockets. It is no problem that these 16x ports are connected to different IOH-36Ds!
1. Install unmodified NVidia Quadro 191 drivers.
2. Download the attached ZIP sli_X8DAH+_Win2008R2.zip. It contains the asl.exe tool, as described earlier in this thread, and the file DSDT.aml. (It also contains the .dsl and iasl.exe if you would prefer to mod it yourself as I did.)
Extract these files to an easy to reach path (e.g.: c:\SLI).
3. open a command prompt. (Start -> run... -> cmd)
4. Enter the path where you stored the files that you extracted from the zip. -> cd\SLI
5. Run the following command: asl /loadtable DSDT.aml
6. That's it. You may have to reboot to enable SLI. An automatic SLI-notification will pop-up in your taskbar and the NVidia Control panel will show SLI and PhysX.


Thanks to Anatolymik, TheWolf, aGeoM. I needed some help that you provided. ->

Now I will have to run some Benches.
This thread is awsome!

----

Edit:
I added a screen shot as ZIP because the forum shrinks my 1920x1200 pixel screen shot so much that you can't see anything.

Edit2: Added another Screenshot that shows some of the Quadro-SLI capabilities: 64x Antialiasing!.

[cxghjcqr]

Must I uninstall the old version HALMOD before use a new version? if "yes",how do I uninstall it?

[aGeoM]

Originally Posted by derGhostrider

Sorry my friend, but you are wrong.

I DID IT!
Quadro FX 4800 SLI on X8DAH+ running Server 2008 R2!

NO HALmod! NO modded drivers! And NO test mode!

All I needed was the customized SLIC string!

Here is my new .dsl file. The part from aGeoM was "almost correct". I just had to remove the "IFSL" and directly return the SLIC to get IASL to compile the file without errors.

My .dsl is attached. I will also attach the .aml file for people who can't do it themselves. (Maybe it won't work for them if their hardware differs too much... at least it's worth a try)

---

Here my short step-by-step description what to do to enable SLI on a Supermicro X8DAH+ running Windows Server 2008 R2:

0. Install the Quadros to the native 16x PCI-Express 2.0 sockets. It is no problem that these 16x ports are connected to different IOH-36Ds!
1. Install unmodified NVidia Quadro 191 drivers.
2. Download the attached ZIP sli_X8DAH+_Win2008R2.zip. It contains the asl.exe tool, as described earlier in this thread, and the file DSDT.aml. (It also contains the .dsl and iasl.exe if you would prefer to mod it yourself as I did.)
Extract these files to an easy to reach path (e.g.: c:\SLI).
3. open a command prompt. (Start -> run... -> cmd)
4. Enter the path where you stored the files that you extracted from the zip. -> cd\SLI
5. Run the following command: asl /loadtable DSDT.aml
6. That's it. You may have to reboot to enable SLI. An automatic SLI-notification will pop-up in your taskbar and the NVidia Control panel will show SLI and PhysX.


Thanks to Anatolymik, TheWolf, aGeoM. I needed some help that you provided. ->

Now I will have to run some Benches.
This thread is awsome!

----

Edit:
I added a screen shot as ZIP because the forum shrinks my 1920x1200 pixel screen shot so much that you can't see anything.

Edit2: Added another Screenshot that shows some of the Quadro-SLI capabilities: 64x Antialiasing!.

Welcome.

I'm glad you managed. Is always nice to see one more happy face around here.

[aGeoM]

Originally Posted by cxghjcqr

Must I uninstall the old version HALMOD before use a new version? if "yes",how do I uninstall it?

I didn't, but if you want, you must have the original hal file, and replace modded hal for the original one. A simple command c:\original.hal c:\windows\system32 will do.

[hhahaahyea]

since i have done this, my cpu has disappeared from hwmonitor and my ram specs don't show up in cpu-z



it's not a big deal, but why is this?

[anatolymik]

Originally Posted by hhahaahyea

since i have done this, my cpu has disappeared from hwmonitor and my ram specs don't show up in cpu-z

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...utempnoram.png

it's not a big deal, but why is this?

it'll be fixed

[hhahaahyea]

Originally Posted by anatolymik

it'll be fixed

how/when? this is amazing that it is working though.

[Nick [D]vB]

A few years ago I tired to mod an Asus A8N-E into an A8N-SLI (soldered SLI bridge of nforce4 chipset, flashed bios to A8N-SLI Premium, even edited DMI info) but I could not make SLI work (even with the old hacked drivers) so I just gave up on it in the end...

Luckily I still have the board so I am going to pick up a couple of 8800GTs on eBay and give this a try, better late than never! Because this board *should* support SLI already will I have to do anything differently?

I’m also going to try it on my new system, which has a Biostar TA790GX-128M board, could Biostar be added to the SLIStringInstaller? (Biostar do make an X58 SLI board if that helps) If not can I do it “manually”?

I just want to say that it is really great to see this working again, thanks to everyone involved, especially to the guys who stick around to help us mortals work it out, you rock!

[anatolymik]

Originally Posted by hhahaahyea

how/when? this is amazing that it is working though.

there are some means

[anatolymik]

Originally Posted by Nick [D]vB

A few years ago I tired to mod an Asus A8N-E into an A8N-SLI (soldered SLI bridge of nforce4 chipset, flashed bios to A8N-SLI Premium, even edited DMI info) but I could not make SLI work (even with the old hacked drivers) so I just gave up on it in the end...

Luckily I still have the board so I am going to pick up a couple of 8800GTs on eBay and give this a try, better late than never! Because this board *should* support SLI already will I have to do anything differently?

I’m also going to try it on my new system, which has a Biostar TA790GX-128M board, could Biostar be added to the SLIStringInstaller? (Biostar do make an X58 SLI board if that helps) If not can I do it “manually”?

I just want to say that it is really great to see this working again, thanks to everyone involved, especially to the guys who stick around to help us mortals work it out, you rock!

SliStringInstaller: Push ASUS button and install latest HALMod

[yeba]

FINALLY SUCCESS!! Thanks anatolymik and wolf for all your help. I tried everything that was suggested and no SLI. Here is what I did to make it work. Updated my bios to latest bios, reset the bios settings to default ( my previous setup was OC'ed to 4GHz with custom bios settings).

Halmod v.071 + Asus SLI Cert + unmodded drivers = BSOD

Halmod v.07 + Asus SLI Cert + unmodded drivers = SLI