MSI 7950s on win8 can't get 5 th card running ......( BOUNTY offered .2 BTC )

[costapete]

Win 8
Mobo   Msi  990 FXA-gd80 v2
Msi 7050s  x5

4 cards hashing the 5 th card is being difficult and have switched around risor cables Ect.  Still no luck.

Running CGminer


5 th card I'm trying with powered riser 1-16 x with moldex ....can get it to fire up


Looking for help getting over this hurdle ... Offering bounty.

Open to
Skype
Google voice
Or
Email

[costapete]

I can give more info....

[costapete]

Can windows 8 run 5 cards.   .?   

[Gator-hex]

What is your power supply?
Are the cards running at reference clock or overclocked?

So we can rule out power issues.

[costapete]

1600. PSU.

[costapete]

Can anyone chime in who has a 5 or 6 card rig running on windows 8. ....or windows 7( will try windows 7 next ) ?

[nightbladexx]

I AM ADDING A 5 LTC bounty to this

The system specs for above, Im helping Pete assemble this rig.

AMD FX 4100
MSI 990FXA-GD80 v2
5x MSI R7950 Twin Frozr 3 Boost Editions
16GB Crucial DDR3 1600
Lepa G1600 PSU
2 - 1x to 16x powered risers (I have more on order)
and a bunch of 16x to 16x non and powered risers

I have tested the voltage levels, with a power supply tester all are within spec
I am just running the cards when I got 4 to work in CGminer at stock speeds.

we are running Windows 8 x64
I haved tried AMD 12.8, 13.1, 13.4 drivers
AMD SDK 2.7, 2.8
CGMiner 3.1.1

I have disabled everything that is not needed in Motherboard BIOS
I have jumpered the 1x to 16x Risers, and I have tried with a 16x to 16x jumpered,
every conceivable combination of Riser cables in the PCIe 16x and the PCIe 1x slots.
I have the cards in my test bench raised above the motherboard, they are close together for right now, but I will build another chassis to spread them out.

In referencing the cards

#1 is in the Primary (Top Most) PCIe 16x slot
#2 is in the Seconday PCIe 16x slot
#3 is in the Third PCIe 16x slot
#4 is in the Fourth PCIe 16x slot
#5 will be used in one of the PCIe 1x Slots


I start out with 2 cards in the primary 16x slot and secondary 16x slot and once that works I add the 3rd card in the 3rd 16x slot
The bottom slot (16x) seems to be a pain, as getting it to show up in Device Manager sometimes it does and doesn't, after I get the third card to work
I have got the 5th Card in the top most PCIe 1x slot to show up in Device Manager, but the 4th card wont show up, and or vice versa

Before I try CGminer I look for the cards in Device Manager, and we Pete and I have read tons of Posts,

[computerparts]

Windows 8 sucks. What in the world are you doing mining on there??

[sublime5447]

Agreed win 7 is best for mining.. Can you get the card to come up in another slot? Are you sure the card is good? When you go to device manager does anything show up? does the fan spin up on it? Are you sure that you have enough bus ways with that board? Sometimes a board has more slots than it can use . If you disconnect a gpu from the x16 slot will it pick up the other gpu? 

[nightbladexx]

I wont debate the Win 8 vs Win 7, I have used both 8 and 7 before for mining rigs, I have seen no problems nor heard of any legit information saying theres a problem with 8. From what I have read in other tech site not forums, is there is no difference in the kernels as far as GPUs are concerned besides a few small additions hence why most drivers didnt not change from 7 to 8

I have tested all the cards in the primary pcie 16x slot, and ran them on another computer of mine, all cards show up in both systems Device Manager and in CGminer they all mine

The PCIe slots are Gen 2 and function as 2x16x, 1x8x, and 1x4x

In other posts these motherboards have been said to have 6 cards running on them.

[YipYip]

I wont debate the Win 8 vs Win 7, I have used both 8 and 7 before for mining rigs, I have seen no problems nor heard of any legit information saying theres a problem with 8. From what I have read in other tech site not forums, is there is no difference in the kernels as far as GPUs are concerned besides a few small additions hence why most drivers didnt not change from 7 to 8

I have tested all the cards in the primary pcie 16x slot, and ran them on another computer of mine, all cards show up in both systems Device Manager and in CGminer they all mine

The PCIe slots are Gen 2 and function as 2x16x, 1x8x, and 1x4x

In other posts these motherboards have been said to have 6 cards running on them.

Dude I have 5 x 7950 vapor-x OC boost running on msi 990fxa gd 90 v23 mobo u r using as u know etc

Start with just the 1 card in the 1x slot with a a1-b17 short etc ...get this working first and then all your problems should slot into place etc

WIN 7 vs Win 8

WIN 7 is great for 4 card rigs and WIN 8 is for 5 + etc

I currently have 14 rigs using msi 990fx gd 80 v2 mobos with either vtx 6970's or sapphire 7950 OC vapor-x cards in 4 & 5 card rig setups etc

I dont care as long as it works

[Miracek]

Not sure if this will help as this guy had 5 working and needed help with getting the 6th, but as you're already using win8 it might help

It basically comes down to a limitation of Windows 7. What the specific limitation is, I don't know. But Windows 8 allows 1 more GPU to be detected and mineable. So if you install 13.1 driver on win7 and get 4 GPU working, you will get 5 GPU working on win8. Win8 is also annoying though in that you can't install "older" drivers, some of which allow an additional GPU mineable on top of that. The catalyst installer manager simply won't show the display driver installer option. SO. Here we go.

Install windows 8.
Wipe any previous GPU drivers off with amd_cleanup_util_1.2.1.0.exe (google it) if you have installed them before.
Install 13.1 plus OpenCL included with it. Personally, I only installed display driver, opencl sdk, and the hdmi driver because I dont like seeing stuff without drivers. None of the other stuff is required.
You will now have 5 GPU working with one with an error code 43 inside the Device Manager.
Open 12.6 and install only to the point where it extracts stuff into C:\AMD\Support\. Do not actually install drivers. We just need to extract.
In device manager, right click the errored GPU -> Properties -> Driver tab -> Update Driver -> Browse my computer for driver software -> Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer -> Have Disk -> Browse -> Navigate to C:\AMD\Support\12-6_vista_win7_64_dd_ccc_whql\Packages\Drivers\Display\W76A_INF and select either .inf file (it doesn't seem to make a difference) -> OK -> Should only have one device listed under "Model". Hit Next.

It should now proceed to downgrade from 13.1 to 12.6, which is the highest version driver that allows an extra GPU. You screen may flicker MANY times, and your device manager may appear to freeze/hang. Just let it do it's thing. It may take upwards of an hour or longer. You may get a BSOD too. Just go with it. If you're coming on 2 hours or longer, try doing a hard reset. You -should- now have all 6 GPU installed OK in device manager and detected in OpenCL. If not, reboot again (just in case).

If this doesn't work, well, I don't know what to say. This is just the solution I was given. (Well, actually, I was recommended the special 7970 release driver, but I was worried it wouldnt work with 13.1 opencl)

EDIT - BTW this is not my solutions, I found it here https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=193695.0
if this help please feel free to provide the .2BTC to that op

[costapete]

REWARD



if anyone can do a Question and Answer session that may help get us over this 5th card hurdle...i would very much appreciate it as its been a week of trial and error with no luck as of yet.  Please PM me..or just skype me    princesspresto420      please help if you can and receive the bounty

[intense]

Are your riser cables powered or just the regular type?
http://blog.zorinaq.com/?e=44

The above shows you how to modify your riser cables to power the cards, normally a full width pcie slot will also provide 50 watts of power.

[thecryptokeeper]

I had the same problem as you. Mine was working with six GPUs. Then it went down to five. Then four.

When I had six running. One would go sick or dead. So I discovered one and removed it from the system. I moved around the PSU power cables to clean it up. Then another GPU would get sick or dead. I isolated that one too. Eventually the whole computer was locking. So I removed that GPU too. I moved these two GPUs to my office PC and ran cgminer. It ran like a champ for days while the mining rig was only running four. I then installed back one of the two by itself and it was fine. So I then proceeded to plug another in. It was crashing. I skipped it and went to the others. They were fine. I went back to the one causing the crash and tried it with another power cable. It worked fine. So I then added the other GPUs and moved off the bad powered rail. Now I got five GPUs working again. I don't think I can get six because of the bad rail. But now I know what the problem is.

I recommend you test each rail on your PSU or use another PSU.

TLDR: Bad rail on power supply cause sick/dead GPUs or lock ups. Moved the power to another rail and it works fine.

[logicus]

Read this post https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=193695.msg2054705#msg2054705 and you will get 5 GPU working on win8

[BlazinBeaches]

These guys here got me working 6 cards in Win8
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=193695.0

[iamthekey]

Hello,

i have rigs with 5x 7970 and 5x 7950 win 8

what you need?

First your cards need two 8 power pins, if dnt have, more as 4 cards need powered riser. In windows 8 for me working only catalyst 13.1 (only clean install) for more like 4 cards and cgminer without crash.

My all setup with 5x cards working without powered risers because all cards have 2x 8 power pins, mobo is M77 mpower. Many cards dnt have open all pcie slots without ivi bridge intel platform.

Hope it help and donate is welcome.

[bonker]

more ram needed... bounty to below addy, thx