X doesn't start with two Nvidia GeForce 9500 GT cards

ESC201 · 07-14-2009, 08:00 PM

Hi all, I recently bought two Nvidia 9500 GT cards in my Fedora 11 (64bit) system with the hopes of setting up SLI, going to a tri-monitor set up in the future, and running CUDA apps on them.

I put one in and everything booted fine. I installed the Nvidia driver and let it configure my Xorg.conf file. However, when I put the second card in (with an SLI bridge) X does not start. The screen flickers for a few seconds then hangs. (It does the same thing without the SLI bridge in). I've never done anything with two video cards before and I'm sure this takes a little extra configuration, I just don't know what that is.

Here is my current Xorg.conf file...

Code:

# nvidia-xconfig: X configuration file generated by nvidia-xconfig
# nvidia-xconfig:  version 1.0  (buildmeister@builder62)  Wed May 27 01:58:49 PDT 2009


Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "Layout0"
    Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
    InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
    InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
EndSection

Section "Files"
    FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/default/Type1"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

    # generated from default
    Identifier     "Mouse0"
    Driver         "mouse"
    Option         "Protocol" "auto"
    Option         "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
    Option         "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
    Option         "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    # generated from data in "/etc/sysconfig/keyboard"
    Identifier     "Keyboard0"
    Driver         "kbd"
    Option         "XkbLayout" "us"
    Option         "XkbModel" "pc105"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier     "Monitor0"
    VendorName     "Unknown"
    ModelName      "Unknown"
    HorizSync       28.0 - 33.0
    VertRefresh     43.0 - 72.0
    Option         "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen0"
    Device         "Device0"
    Monitor        "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option         "SLI" "Auto"
    Option         "TwinView"
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Currently, the only way to get my system to boot and start X is to physically take out the second card. For that reason, I don't have a Xorg.0.log file to post at the time. I can say that it said "No screens found" at the end when I had both cards in at once.

Anyway, I'd really like to not see 150$ go down the drain. Any help or a point in the right direction is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Drakeo · 07-14-2009, 08:19 PM

start in maintenance mode and use the vesa driver to login to your GUI. desktop.
or if you fail to get GUI then at that point ubuntu ask you fix the display use the vesa driver. then do this while on line.

Quote:

Go to System->Administration->Hardware Drivers and check the box to enable the restricted drivers for your NVIDIA card if the option is provided.

ESC201 · 07-14-2009, 08:39 PM

I don't have a problem installing the Nvidia driver. I am currently running Compiz and all the other pretty desktop effects. My problem is that when I put a second video card in my system, X fails to start.

Also, I'm using Fedora 11; your instructions appear to be for Ubuntu.

ESC201 · 07-15-2009, 09:17 PM

I got it all sorted out. Turns out I needed to specify the BusID for each video card in my xorg.conf because X couldn't decide which to use as the primary card.

dvelagap · 10-04-2009, 11:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ESC201

I got it all sorted out. Turns out I needed to specify the BusID for each video card in my xorg.conf because X couldn't decide which to use as the primary card.

Hi,

I am setting up ubuntu 9.04 with 2 9500GT cards and 3 displays.

When i have the 2 cards in the system i don't get the x-windowceven on one monitor. I added the bus id in the device section.

Can u please provide me your xorg.conf file. e-mail id is dvelagap2gmail.com.

Thanks
Durga

Drakeo · 10-05-2009, 07:03 PM

as root run nvidia-settings and set up a twin head system.

ESC201 · 10-06-2009, 05:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dvelagap

Hi,

I am setting up ubuntu 9.04 with 2 9500GT cards and 3 displays.

When i have the 2 cards in the system i don't get the x-windowceven on one monitor. I added the bus id in the device section.

I have read that to do 3 displays xinerama had to be used. However, I have no idea if that is correct or not.

If you have not done so already, take a look at /var/log/Xorg.0.log, look for any errors and post it here.

My xorg.conf (the card sections) is as follows:

Code:

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device1"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    Option         "AddARGBGLXVisuals" "True"
    BusID          "PCI:03:00:0"
EndSection

It probably isn't entirely correct but X doesn't complain about it and I haven't had any problems with it.

Drakeo · 10-06-2009, 03:13 PM

first off I would use the actual nvidia driver and installer from nvidia. Like the instructions say use the nvidia-settings tool to set up boot both screens separate.

Quote:

http://wiki.compiz-fusion.org/Hardwa...ama_Extensions

my config

Quote:

VendorName "Unknown"
ModelName "Gateway"
HorizSync 31.5 - 64.0
VertRefresh 60.0 - 75.0
Option "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Device0"
Driver "nvidia"
VendorName "NVIDIA Corporation"
BoardName "GeForce 9400 GT"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Device0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 24
Option "TwinView" "true"
Option "metamodes" "1024x768 +0+0"
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection

alexander_n · 11-03-2012, 01:01 AM

I would like to ask the original postr on how the story of two 9500GT SLI cards ended and whether the tandem was indeed faster. And how stable was it after-all?