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

[Velvet Wafer]

We hold our hardware very close to our hearts, the ones that OC the best take a nice spot amongst friends and family members.

I loved my Pencil modded 8600GT's - 900 core and 1936 shaders was a whole heap of speed for G84

at least i dont killed a good clocking part till now

do you know, why SLI shows up, but wont even work, with working HAL.dll?

 

[wolf]

Well, I've actually done this mod and had it worked to enable SLi, my only real guess is Incompatible cards for SLi, can you test them in an SLi certified board?

Sorry if you've already mentioned you tried this, haven't read up on all the pages in this monstrous thread.

 

[p_o_s_pc]

Well, I've actually done this mod and had it worked to enable SLi, my only real guess is Incompatible cards for SLi, can you test them in an SLi certified board?

Sorry if you've already mentioned you tried this, haven't read up on all the pages in this monstrous thread.

the cards are 2 8800GT. Both of mine are running the same bios. I'm sure they are compatible for SLI. i can't test them in a SLI certified board s i don't know anyone that has one (and i don't have one yet)

one last thing before i go to bed.. Does anyone have any ideas on what can be done to fix this? I have tried all drivers from 182 to 195 and no good. I even tried the modded drivers.. I too have done the HAL mod

 

[Velvet Wafer]

the cards are 2 8800GT. Both of mine are running the same bios. I'm sure they are compatible for SLI. i can't test them in a SLI certified board s i don't know anyone that has one (and i don't have one yet)

one last thing before i go to bed.. Does anyone have any ideas on what can be done to fix this? I have tried all drivers from 182 to 195 and no good. I even tried the modded drivers.. I too have done the HAL mod

i can say one thing:
after trying to search for 2 words, in many hundred lines of code... i nearly smashed my screen

EDIT: why doenst recognizes it the SLI in the DSDT tables???? in everest, everything is clean...
REEDIT: i need to break something. -.-

 

[Ridemetal]

Try this for Hal.mod:

http://img188.imageshack.us/img188/4546/halmod.jpg

I was stopped by the same problem as you and sli was enable after change that. And run hal.mod cmd after.

 

[SnyperTodd]

I had trouble with the hal.dll mod at first, I was using version 0.8. Once I got rid of that and tried version 0.9a SLI was available. This is on a Foxconn BlackOps X48 with 2 x 8800GTs on 191.03 drivers. The one that didn't work for me showed as X58 on CPUz and Everest. The one that did work (0.9a) showed correctly X48 chipset.

 

[oiluj]

For all those having trouble with hal.dll permissions:

You can use something like any file manager included in Hiren's Boot CD or an Ubuntu LiveCD, for example, to boot from there and replace original hal.dll file with modded one (remember to first make a backup of the original one!!)

 

[p_o_s_pc]

Try this for Hal.mod:

http://img188.imageshack.us/img188/4546/halmod.jpg

I was stopped by the same problem as you and sli was enable after change that. And run hal.mod cmd after.

I had trouble with the hal.dll mod at first, I was using version 0.8. Once I got rid of that and tried version 0.9a SLI was available. This is on a Foxconn BlackOps X48 with 2 x 8800GTs on 191.03 drivers. The one that didn't work for me showed as X58 on CPUz and Everest. The one that did work (0.9a) showed correctly X48 chipset.

what are you guys talking about

 

[SnyperTodd]

what are you guys talking about

Here's what I was talking about:

Notice the chipset shows X58? This is on an X48 board. This is the HAL mod that wouldn't work for me. The only thing I changed for the next picture is the hal.dll. I used version 0.9a for the next picture.

Notice the chipset here correctly shows X48?

Most people here have a much greater knowledge of this type of thing than I do, so they can probably explain why one worked and one didn't. I have benchmarks of SLI vs. single if anybody's intersted.

 

[Velvet Wafer]

Very kind of you, to try to help but:
the 3rd time: I use XP 32 BIT.
there is only one separate hal.dll, no matter which version, all other versions are for 64 bit i believe?

The SLI doenst show up in the DSDT tables. so where to start?:shadedshu

 

[Schlingel]

On this page: http://xdevs.com/e107_plugins/content/content.php?content.30

follow "Section X. For those, who are brave enough to get into details of modification and want experiment with different DSDT tables and SLIC strings"

and check if the string is in the DSDT. If u cannot find it, the string installer did not work. u have to use "asus"-button when using string installer.

after that use modded nv-driver (if string is in the DSDT)

 

[SnyperTodd]

Very kind of you, to try to help but:
the 3rd time: I use XP 32 BIT.
there is only one separate hal.dll, no matter which version, all other versions are for 64 bit i believe?

The SLI doenst show up in the DSDT tables. so where to start?:shadedshu

Velvet Wafer, what version of Everest are you using? I'm using 5.30.1901 Beta. This is the first version to check for the SLI string in the DSDT table.

 

[p_o_s_pc]

it didn't show SLI in the DSDT tables on mine... So me and velvet have the same problem. i am also running XP 32bit

 

[Velvet Wafer]

On this page: http://xdevs.com/e107_plugins/content/content.php?content.30

follow "Section X. For those, who are brave enough to get into details of modification and want experiment with different DSDT tables and SLIC strings"

and check if the string is in the DSDT. If u cannot find it, the string installer did not work. u have to use "asus"-button when using string installer.

after that use modded nv-driver (if string is in the DSDT)

wont work, i tried that yesterday... i cant find the correct entry point in my dsdt table..
it wont compile into an asl, due to that, i believe

Velvet Wafer, what version of Everest are you using? I'm using 5.30.1901 Beta. This is the first version to check for the SLI string in the DSDT table.

nope, even that versions doenst show anything up.

 

[SnyperTodd]

I wonder if that's because of the fact that your SLI string is in the registry. I didn't find this thread until I was almost finished with the SLI mod on my BlackOps. I started here, and AndyP inserted the SLI string into the DSDT table in the BIOS and sent it to me. Maybe Everest only shows the string if it's in the BIOS? They have a tool to allow you to do it yourself, but I haven't had success with it myself yet- I only get SLI available with the BIOS AndyP sent me.

 

[p_o_s_pc]

could someone edit my DSDT table for me I hav tried myself and have failed more then once
here is my DST file
http://www.mediafire.com/?ifdnywyjmmq

btw this is the one you put in the registry(if that makes any difference)

 

[Ridemetal]

Your dst file is correct: you can see at the end....

Scope (\_SB.PCI0)
{
Name (SLIC, Buffer (0x9E)
{
"987134512781Genuine NVIDIA Certified SLI Ready Motherboard for ASUS RAMPAGE II EXT 3287-Copyright 2008 NVIDIA Corporation All Rights Reserved-765289891023(R)"
})
Device (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, 0x00, FUNC)
If (LEqual (FUNC, 0x41494C53))
{
Return (\_SB.PCI0.SLIC)
}

Return (0x18)
}
}
}
}

 

[p_o_s_pc]

thanks for taking a look at it. That isn't the problem then so what could it be?

 

[Ridemetal]

Full driver package with modded part.
http://www.xdevs.com/sli/Forceware_XP32_19062_SLImod.rar - 80MB

Backup server, if NVIDIA come to me and kill my server
http://xtremelabs.org/downloads/Drivers/graphics/nvidia/Forceware_XP32_19062_SLImod.rar

 

[p_o_s_pc]

I'm trying Wndows 7 64bit now since i had no luck with 7 32bit or XP 32bit so time to start trying the 64bit OS

i can say one thing:
after trying to search for 2 words, in many hundred lines of code... i nearly smashed my screen

EDIT: why doenst recognizes it the SLI in the DSDT tables???? in everest, everything is clean...
REEDIT: i need to break something. -.-

it was a bitch to look at it almost made me sick (but i'm sure it was cause by more then just the hundreds of lines)

 

[p_o_s_pc]

I GOT SLI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Velvet Wafer]

that isnt very useful.... sadly in the manual is clearly stated to NOT use the hacked driver?... i dont really know,now...

I'm trying Wndows 7 64bit now since i had no luck with 7 32bit or XP 32bit so time to start trying the 64bit OS

it was a bitch to look at it almost made me sick (but i'm sure it was cause by more then just the hundreds of lines)

it also in my dsdt table.... but wont work

I GOT SLI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
http://gpuz.techpowerup.com/09/11/28/8pe.png

man, and i only have a vista 32 business...:shadedshu

 

[sobsidian]

Issue with vista x64 using modded driver

Hey guys, I know this is way simple compared to everything else you guys are up to, but maybe someone else has run into this. I am trying to use the modded driver for vista x64. I installed the whole nvidia 191.06 driver and copied over the nvlddmkm.sys file, signed it with dseo and it appears to load correctly (tested with it not being signed, and it didn't load the driver, then I signed it and it loads, so I assume its using the modded driver). Nvidia control panel shows that the version installed is modded 190.62. However, when I open GPU-Z it shows the driver as being the newer 191.06 and not having SLI. But I cannot figure out why (or how for that matter) its using the new version when I replaced it with the modded version. Has anyone run into this? I'm trying to avoid re-installing (As I had this working when I first installed the system)

Here is a quick background: I am using the matrox triplehead2go, and apparently the resolution (5040x1050) is not supported using the new drivers, only works when using version 182.50. So I installed that 182.50 nvidia driver and the matrox software to get my resolution set, and tried to re-apply the modded driver. I don't remember exactly what happened after applying the mod because I tried so many different things, but it wouldn't work. I then decided to try and see if I could get the new driver re-loaded and maybe hack the resolution using some other tools.

I ended up today going through and trying to find every rememnant of the old drivers. I removed all the old INF files in c:\windows\inf and also removed any nvidia reference in c:\windows\system32\driverstore and start from scratch. Still somehow is using the newer 191.06 instead of the modded driver (according to GPU-Z), and I don't know how because the c:\windows\system32\nvlddmkm.sys file is the modded one.

I sure there is something stupid I'm missing, but I am a little lost. Any ideas? (And I did install the ASUS SLI string using the intaller)

 

[sobsidian]

Here is a screenshot of what I am seeing with the different versions. I've tried every which way to uninstall re-install, force driver update via device manager, nothing...

 

[p_o_s_pc]

uninstall all drivers use a regrestry cleaner (something like Ccleaner) and reinstall