Creative Voodoo2 SLI problem

[wysiwyg]

Hello.

I have 5 different 12MB Voodoo 2's here, 3 of them are Creative CT6670, 2 of the CT6670's are using the same memory chips and look identical.

I'm running Windows 98 SE on this PC (P1 233MMX, 64MB RAM, S3 Virge GX, SB AWE64 Gold).

I've tested all the Voodoo cards in single card mode and they are all working fine.

I've tried to run the identical CT6670's in SLI with pretty much all the driver versions and modifications I've found around the internet and I still can't seem to make them work correctly. I've followed all the instructions - installed a single card first, then installed the second card, and so on, but no luck. Whenever I try to run a game that was running fine with a single Voodoo 2, I only get a black screen for a second and then I'm thrown back on the desktop with the game "Not responding" in task manager.

Games I've tried are: NFS3 (with and without the 1024x768 fix), Ultimate Race Pro, GTA1 (in DOS)

Please advise.

[H-street]

What driver are you using?

I would first try the latest Official 3dx driver (no modified or 3rd party) and if that doesn't work i would try the Creative release drivers for the cards.

looking here it looks like they even have the release drivers for it

http://www.falconfly.de/voodoo2.htm (first one on the list)

[wysiwyg]

As I said - I've tried with all the drivers available on the internet that I could find. As follows:
1. The Creative's official driver 2.18.
2. Latest official driver 3.02.02
3. Latest official beta driver 3.03.00 (older than 3.02.02)
4. Fast Voodoo 2 - 4.0 Gold Edition
5. Fast Voodoo 2 - 4.6
6. Wicked 3D eyeSCREAM - 1.15 beta
7. Diamond Monster 3D II - 2.07
8. Obsidian 2 - 2010-22-01
And probably some other driver versions.

The results differ by a bit, but in any situation I never get SLI to work correctly:
1. The "System Info" says that Scanline Interleave is Detected, however I get the described problem with the games not running correctly;
2. The Voodoo control panel isn't working at all in Display Properties;
3. same as 2;
4. same as 2;
5. same as 2;
6. same as 1;
7. same as 2;
8. same as 2.

I've even tried using the Creative 2.18 glide2x.ovl combined with glide2x/3x.dll from the official release driver 3.02.02. This lets me into the Voodoo control panel in Display properties, but does not fix the problem with the games.

[pierrickuk]

Hi,

Do you have another computer you can try the V2-SLI in? It could be a hardware incompatibility.
If not, do you have another video card to replace the S3 Virge? Also, remove anything that is not needed from that setup (soundcard, leave only one memory stick).
You can also explore the bios settings and try different PCI ports.
My reference game for testing glide is Supreme Snowboarding, you can get a demo version easily enough. Your CPU might be too slow, but when you start the game, you can choose the mode (Software, DX6, DX7, glide) and then you have the list of available resolutions (handy to check if the SLI if set up correctly).
Good luck and let us know your findings.
Edit: just saw that you're using an SSD with a pentium 1. I would swap it for a good old harddrive until everything is working fine.
In the BIOS, if you have the option, set PNP OS on No.

[goriath]

There are several things that I would inquire.

- Different BIOS settings as already suggested
These below are BIOS optimizations, but you can try them anyway to get stability:

Code Select Expand

In the BIOS, if available, set to ENABLED:
1) Snoop Ahead
2) Host Bus Fast Data Ready
3) PCI 2.1 Support

Set to DISABLED instead:
1) PCI/VGA Palette Snoop

Set to 0 'PCI Latency Timer'
Disabling 'Power Management' is also suggested
- Different PCI slots combos as already suggested
- Swap the Voodoo2 each other; maybe one would prefere to be MASTER, while the other would prefere to be SLAVE. Usually if you own two identical card there is no particular preference but you never know...
- You must try the Voodoo2 on another and more conventional system, test them singularly then again in SLi (as already suggested)
- Last but not least: if both cards separately are working properly but together in SLi not, you may have a bad SLi ribbon cable. It's self-built? BTW, check the cable links.

I don't think that the SSD, if working as I suppose, could interfere in that way, but yes, try with an old HDD. To be honest (and meticulous) that PSU (very good Seasonic PSU) is overkill, I would swap it with an old 200W PSU. Actually the system's load is too low and the PSU is working inefficiently, generating more heat than power. That's no good in a long run.

P.S.
I'm very curious about the way you used to link the SATA SSD to the old PATA motherboard. Could you share some details please?
Thanks

[wysiwyg]

Thank you for the suggestions. I've already tried some of them before starting the thread.

* All cards are working fine in single card mode on any given PCI slot on the mainboard.
* I've tried moving all the cards around the slots in different configurations.
* I have 3 different SLI cables - 2 original ones and 1 hand-made by me, all are tested and verified by me using a multimeter.

I know that this PSU is overkill for this machine, however I'm not gonna use a 15-years-old 200W PSU with a top-of-the-line Pentium 1 machine (next year it will be 18 years old, it can legally be in a p*rn ) when I can use the best fanless PSU on the market .
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1313-page3.html
Given this information, this PSU runs at 71% efficiency at 22W, this means that it will be generating 7W of useless power, which actually is not "working inefficiently, generating more heat than power". Those 7W differs from what an old 200W PSU can do how? Do you think 15 years ago they made PSUs that had 70% efficiency at 20W load or at 50-100W? I don't think so - an old 200W PSU will probably have 60-70% efficiency at best, at its maximum load. Not to mention the lack of protection circuits, the uglier outer casing of the old PSUs, the fact that they are all coming with a fan. My P1 is hanged on a wall like a painting, I can't have an old ugly PSU on it .

About the SSD - you can use this type of an adapter:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-IDE-HDD-to-SATA-Hard-Drive-Serial-ATA-Converter-Adapter-red-/230870467245?pt=US_Drive_Cables_dapters&hash=item35c0f3c2ad
* Mine has IDE-to-SATA and SATA-to-IDE ports, one on each side (like the one on the link), so I'd advise you to look for one exactly like it. I've heard that sometimes the ones that has only IDE-to-SATA doesn't work on old motherboards.

I'll try some of your suggestions soon and I hope it'll work this time. Thank you very much.

[goriath]

200W PSU was only a generic suggestion to use a more balanced and dimensioned PSU; you can find 300W PSU from Seasonic as well that can do the job magnificently and although not fanless they are silent enough.

Which controller is used on your SATA-IDE adapter BTW?

[wysiwyg]

If you look at the link in my first post, you'll notice that the whole Pentium1 PC is cooled by a single 8cm fan - you might think that a 300W Seasonic is "silent enough", however it will make the PC at least twice as noisier than it is at the moment, and that's unacceptable for me. Best "solution" would be to switch the 520W with a 400W X-series fanless, but since I already have the 520W, I'm too lazy to change it now.

I can't read what's written on the controller's chip - the inscription is too pale, however on the back of the adapter it says "JP103-20330-010-2". I hope this helps you enough.