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..

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

 

[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.

 

[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.

 

[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

in my device manager both cards show up

 

[SxyDevil]

it wasn't but is now

 

[SxyDevil]

just ran 3dmark06 this is what i got if that helps at all

 

[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