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Okay - after a week of trying to do this on my own, I need help from the gurus here.

Mod-please move if this isn't the proper place.

Quick look at my setup:

MSI 890FXG GD65 w/8 gigs of ram
5 r9 290 w/powered risers

I tried various flavors of Ubuntu and Windows 7 but I can never detect more than 2 GPUs, that's using different versions of AMD Catalyst and different combos of slots. Also tried shorting PCI pins but it's being plain fucking stubborn. I've already killed one CPU (not even sure how I managed to do that) but I suppose it's a good thing I purchased 3 sets of everything. Anyhoo, I'm trying to set up 2 rigs with a total of 10 cards total. I'm starting to wonder whether I need to axe this MOBO and get something else?

Anyone who can help a sister set this shit up, a nice bounty awaits.

EDIT - I think this is supposed to be in Mining Support - Please move.
 

Will your BIOS let you set the Gen of the PCI slots? If so, set them to Gen2, rather than Gen1 or Gen3.

Failing that, do you know which cards aren't working? Are they connected to the 1x slots?

The 2 cards that windows detects, are they always in the same slot (on mobo) or the same 2 cards?

I can't image an issue with the OS since you say that both ubuntu and win detect some of the cards (so it can't be OS drivers) and since some of the cards do work it can't be mobo driver issue (don't think so anyhow).
That leaves you with either a PSU problem, faulty risers, fried PCI-e slots or of course bad cards.

Hi,

No, mobo won't allow me to do that. any combo of the slots are working, but only two can be seen at a time. Both 16x works, but if I plug a 1x, it won't recognize. Same the other way around too. If I have 2 1x connected, the both are visible, but it's plugging that 3rd one - no matter the slot - that never gets play, altho the fan spins.

I have a total of 10 cards - I've tried all of them, various slots. I don't think there's an issue with the cards or the PSU, everything brand spanking new. I have a Corsair AX1200i as main power for each rig. I know that's not enuff to power all five cards (I'm getting the power adapter), but it should be enough to power the rig with 3 cards...

Corsair Link shows all of my PCI slots; but only has power going to MAIN (the mobo). Right now I just have one card connected via powered riser. It's not doing any major processing so this smart PSU isn't directing any power to it I suppose.

Running windows update now; my 5th fresh install :(

I have the MSI drivers that came with the disk - should I reinstall? I also have the AMD Catalyst driver (13.25) that came with the cards I tried during a previous installation and got nothing but a black screen.
 

Damn, I really hate for it to be these damn risers. I was extra careful with them.

One board I have 3 1x and 2 16x. The other board I have 4 1x and 1 16x - just trying to mix em up. I have 5 more 1x still in the package unopened. I guess if all else fails I can start swapping those out.

Oh - not sure if this helps...

Device Manager says Standard VGA Graphics Adapter. The kicker is these cards are DVI-D only.

Well, let me say this... I'd rather it be the risers than something else! lol

Sounds like it's getting some power (fans spinning), but probably not enough.

EDIT - just seen your reply. I've got the same power supply on one rig. It's still possible this might be an issue with power to the risers. Although it's working on one card there may still be one of the others that may be drawing slightly less than it needs to.

As an example, on a recent install I had 6 cards. One would stubbornly not work. If I swapped the card out the card that was in it's place also didn't work, so it looked like it was the riser. I swapped the riser - still the same problem. I then swapped the riser for another design (was using USB, switched to one non-USB) and it's now working absolutely fine. Normal fault finding wouldn't have found it, it's only by luck I had a pile of older risers to hand.

Son of a <bleeep!>

Okay, I have the molex risers, and I have the 6 pin power cord connected to the board that gives extra power to the slots. I also still have the cards that aren't connect to the board connected to the PSU (it's hell disconnecting them).

I'll disconnect all cards from the PSU and report back

It will always see a video card as a VGA device - it means that Windows has identified the class of device, but hasn't got any further than that.

It does sound like there's enough power or enough pins alive on the riser to identify the class of device, but it's likely that anything else and it's failing. It's ticking boxes for power or riser (or the powered part of the riser isn't working). Sounds like your card and mobo are fine.

Device manager says it after you installed driver for the 2 cards that do work? (under display adapters).

BTW, use 13.12 drivers for r9 290

This PSU is kickass BTW! lol  This thing is outsmarting the hell out of me!

Here's something else... the fan on the PSU only turns on for a short time after reboot then turns off. It's a power saving setting, right? I saw that there's a setting to fun the PSU as full power in Corsair Link, should I do that?

No need. Some of the Corsair models got this silent feature built in that will let the fan spin only under load.

Yes. The disk that came with my cards have 13.25, which caused a black screen and I had to reinstall windows. With Ubuntu I was able to ssh in and uninstall nonworking drivers but windows won't allow me to.

I'm scared! But going to AMD tech site to download 13.12...

K, thanks! I have all 5 cards plugged into it... should I disconnect all but 3? My husband built me a closed case (can't wait to post my pics) and I have 6 120mm fans connected to another PSU so the only things I have connected to the main PSU is the board, a SATA hard drive.

If your GPUs are marked as VGA that means the driver didn't install properly. VGA is the standard basic drivers.

K, I haven't installed the AMD Catalyst drivers, I just did a fresh install of Win7 and that's how it detected it. As soon as the system boots back up I'm going to try 13.12.

Normally shouldn't happen if all 5 cards are the same - Windows uses the same driver files as the other cards. If the correct driver is installed for card 1 and 2, then subsequent cards should install correctly.

Just a thought - are all of the cards identical, or are some different models or configs (memory, brand etc.), despite being the same GPU?

EDIT - just seen your response, didn't realise the standard VGA description was happening with the first card. Install the drivers and try again.

Closed case for 5 cards rig? Hmm...

And you said you got a dedicated PSU just for the mobo and your HDD/SSD? Why?

How exactly are you connecting your GPUs to the power? Are you making sure you aren't mixing the power supplies?

Yes, all are the same identical cards. I waited 4 months for them to all be in stock just so I'd have all the same cards.

lol, I have a Thermalink temp control unit set-up no worries. Plus the hot air is directed out of my window via vents - well, at lease they will be once I start mining!

The AX1200i won't power all 5 cards, but I have them all connected to it just trying to get up and running. I'm getting a PSU2PSU dongle (whatever it's called) to power another 850w. So once I can get set up... 3 cards will be connected to the 1200w with the mobo, and the remaining 2 on the 850w.

I'm sure I'm not mixing up the power supplies - it's pretty tidy in there.

k... 13.12 is the same as 13.25, which came on the disk with the cards. That resulted in a blackscreen...

http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/desktop/previous/detail?os=Windows%207%20-%2032&rev=13.12 (http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/desktop/previous/detail?os=Windows%207%20-%2032&rev=13.12)

If you can get 4 GPUs to show up in your device manager when using windows7 then theres a strong chance the 5th will appear when you move up to windows8.

Source: I had 5 280x running off an MSI Z77A-G45

I ran into all sorts of problems and windows 8 was the only OS that would let me utilise the 5th card. This may be down to some other components I used of course, maybe even bios verisions and UEFI options couldve been the culprit.

Also I had to return a number of 290s due to the dreaded black screen issue. They would basically crap out after a while doing anything at all, even when idle.

If windows 8 fails you then you may want to try BAMT or something of a similar flavour.

Windows 8 I intend to try as well, eventually - I'm just several thousand into this and don't want to invest more right now.

I wonder if I update the BIOS on my board if that'll work? It just takes windows so damn long to install I hate getting the black screen of death!

As mentioned above, BAMT (or SMOS) is worth a try. Download it, install to a usb stick and boot the PC from the stick.

If all cards work, then you know the hardware is fine and it's then worth exploring software options (driver, OS etc).

If it doesn't work, then you know it's hardware - most likely the risers.

Regarding Windows 8, bear in mind you can download 8.1, install and use for a period of time without a key. This will give you enough time to confirm whether it's working or not.

Oh shit! lol, I didn't even know that!

Could help giving you a visual while loading. Though I wonder when you said you got black screen does it mean the PC crashed or is it still loading just no visual? I have that issue with my R9 290 btw.. There's no visual at all, but windows loads fine. Luckily I had an old HD 6850 lying around which I used to access windows and install TeamViewer. So now my rigs are headless and mine flawlessly.

Should be 90 days or so for the windows trial.

I'm going to create a restoration disk before preceding. Maybe I can restore from it if the black screen happens again.

I can almost bet Windows load just fine - just no pic. Same thing happened with Ubuntu as well.

In windows I can start it up in safe mode but it won't let me uninstall or reinstall drivers, so I'm left with reinstalling the entire OS.

Just a thought regarding the black screen.

Is there any chance one of the other cards have become the 'primary' card? Next time you get a black screen try swapping the DVI connection to one of the others.

that's a good one - I tried it. Even got the black screen with one card connected.

I'll be doing this later tonight :)

Any idea which version of AMD Catalyst to try?

13.12 shows it has the 13.25 Display drivers

13.9 shows Display Driver ver 13.152

This is fine.

WTF?!

While waiting for the drivers to download, I updated MSI Control Center - and guess what! Monitor went black and jumped off. Switched power off, uninstalled it in safe mode and trying to boot back up now. I don't understand what the MSI Control Center has to do with it - I hadn't even installed the AMD drivers and this happened!

Okay - Will install as soon as I'm back in... looks like MSI Control Center was the culprit this last go round. Uninstalling it from the control center in safe mode got me back to where I see the Windows logging in screen, but it jumps back to black.

Nothing - blackscreen, monitor isn't on :(

What the hell. Windows launched start up repair on my ass and of course you cancel it. I'm not sure why I got the black screen this last go round - MSI Control Center should have nothing to do it.

Would changing the screen resolution have anything to do with this?

YES it does! System Repair got me back up and running and when it turned back on, the resolution was back to 800x600. Well isn't that something. I'm leaving that alone while install the catalyst drivers

Just to update you guys - it appears that changing the screen resolution was the culprit for the blackscreen. What crust!

Anyhoo, I was able to successfully install the 13.12 drivers and now the one card I have connected says AMD Radeon R9 290 series. The monitor defaulted as high res so I don't need to change it. I'll be shutting down and adding cards! Wish me luck!

gl :)

Well, still no go, even after updating BIOS. This board seems to only recognize 2 GPUs!

And I bought 3 of these shitty ass boards.

did you tried Smos for scrypt mining , or Pimp for scrypt-n

No, I haven't even gotten that far - I'm just trying to get Windows to recognize all of my cards :(  I'm not familiar with either of these but I'm checking Google now...

I forgot about this thread for a bit.

Anyhoo - I found out that I have to connect a total of 3 power connectors to my GPUs; 8 pin, 6 pin, and the molex riser. Funny enough I can actually use unpowered risers - just as long as I have those 14 pins connected. Hope this help others.

dazza12 please post your addy. You gave me the idea of attaching the additional 6 pins.

If it's dedicated for mining I recommend using bamt. check it out http://guiminer.net/bamt
im using 4 270x with my setup. If MB is the issue buy the cheap asrock btc MB, that can handle 6 gpus. GL.

Hey Cris,

Saw your posts and just wanted to assist a bit.
I have 4x R9 290 running on a MSI board, and I planned to add another 2 cards soon.

It is of course important to have both power connectors attached to the gpus, as you will be running them on high load, so they need the wattage from your PSU.

As for powered risers, I only run with powered risers as this should lower the effect passing through the mobo pci slots. You should keep an eye out if you are running 5 cards, especially if your 1-2 psus (?) are on the edge of what they can handle.

For Windows vs Linux you could use whatever you are more comfortable with. I am currently running on win7 though running on BAMT or PIMP shouldn't be a big problem if you are a little computer savvy. Otherwise ask a friend who knows a little linux about setting up your config files.

If you are running on windows, my no.1 advise is to keep CCC (comand&control center) that comes with the AMD drivers away from your system. They made my rig very unstable and it froze frequently. After uninstalling this trashware everything operated smooth again.

If nothing seems to be working besides your 2 cards, try testing the cards 2 and 2 to see that they are all working ok. After that, swap the cables and see if they too are ok. Finally connect all working cards, with or without powered riser cables, ensure that all power cables are connected to each gpu, and install the latest amd drivers. If the system sees your cards you should be good to go and start hashing away.

Hope these advises can assist you in the trouble shooting.

Hi Cris - glad you got it working. Have to admit it took lots of hair pulling to get there...

I forgot about the thread as well, only realised when I checked my notifications.


My addy is 1CA4a9dfgbYhW3qc48CJbitBxDTUT3wNgx (BT- if any other is easier let me know).