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I'm running Ubuntu 11.04 x86_64 2.6.38-10-generic. I have two GTX 460s, and I'm using Nvidia driver 270.41.06. Without SLI enabled, the computer runs fine. However, after running nvidia-xconfig --sli=Auto and rebooting, performance drops. When I do anything, even as simple as scrolling a webpage, it's choppy and the cards get excessively hot (in the red in Nvidia X Server Settings). In Windows 7, this isn't a problem (making this even more annoying). SLI does seem to be "working", as nvidia-xconfig --query-gpu-info shows both cards attached to the screen in SLi.

Any ideas?

Here is my xorg.conf:

# nvidia-xconfig: X configuration file generated by nvidia-xconfig
# nvidia-xconfig:  version 270.41.06  (buildmeister@swio-display-x86-rhel47-08.nvidia.com)  Mon Apr 18 15:14:00 PDT 2011

# nvidia-settings: X configuration file generated by nvidia-settings
# nvidia-settings:  version 270.29  (buildd@allspice)  Fri Feb 25 14:42:07 UTC 2011

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

Section "Files"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

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

Section "InputDevice"

    # generated from default
    Identifier     "Keyboard0"
    Driver         "kbd"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"

    # HorizSync source: edid, VertRefresh source: edid
    Identifier     "Monitor0"
    VendorName     "Unknown"
    ModelName      "Ancor Communications Inc VE228"
    HorizSync       30.0 - 83.0
    VertRefresh     50.0 - 76.0
    Option         "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    BoardName      "GeForce GTX 460"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen0"
    Device         "Device0"
    Monitor        "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option         "TwinView" "0"
    Option         "metamodes" "nvidia-auto-select +0+0"
    Option         "SLI" "Auto"
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Here is everything after running nvidia-xconfig -a --sli=Auto. It runs the same and I believe the gpu-query-info is the same as before.

xorg.conf

# nvidia-xconfig: X configuration file generated by nvidia-xconfig
# nvidia-xconfig:  version 275.19  (buildmeister@swio-display-x86-rhel47-07.nvidia.com) Tue Jul 12 18:35:38 PDT 2011

# nvidia-settings: X configuration file generated by nvidia-settings
# nvidia-settings:  version 270.29  (buildd@allspice)  Fri Feb 25 14:42:07 UTC 2011

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "Layout0"
    Screen      0  "Screen0"
    Screen      1  "Screen1" RightOf "Screen0"
    InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
    InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
    Option         "Xinerama" "0"
EndSection

Section "Files"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

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

Section "InputDevice"

    # generated from default
    Identifier     "Keyboard0"
    Driver         "kbd"
EndSection

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

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier     "Monitor1"
    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"
    BoardName      "GeForce GTX 460"
    BusID          "PCI:1:0:0"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device1"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    BoardName      "GeForce GTX 460"
    BusID          "PCI:3:0:0"
EndSection

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

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen1"
    Device         "Device1"
    Monitor        "Monitor1"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option         "SLI" "Auto"
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

lspci | grep VGA

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation GF104 [GeForce GTX 460] (rev a1)
03:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation GF104 [GeForce GTX 460] (rev a1)

sudo nvidia-xconfig --query-gpu-info

Number of GPUs: 2

GPU #0:
  Name      : GeForce GTX 460
  PCI BusID : PCI:1:0:0

  Number of Display Devices: 1

  Display Device 0 (DFP-0):
     EDID Name             : Ancor Communications Inc VE228
     Minimum HorizSync     : 30.000 kHz
     Maximum HorizSync     : 83.000 kHz
     Minimum VertRefresh   : 50 Hz
     Maximum VertRefresh   : 76 Hz
     Maximum PixelClock    : 170.000 MHz
     Maximum Width         : 1920 pixels
     Maximum Height        : 1080 pixels
     Preferred Width       : 1920 pixels
     Preferred Height      : 1080 pixels
     Preferred VertRefresh : 60 Hz
     Physical Width        : 480 mm
     Physical Height       : 270 mm


GPU #1:
  Name      : GeForce GTX 460
  PCI BusID : PCI:3:0:0

  Number of Display Devices: 1

  Display Device 0 (DFP-0):
     EDID Name             : Ancor Communications Inc VE228
     Minimum HorizSync     : 30.000 kHz
     Maximum HorizSync     : 83.000 kHz
     Minimum VertRefresh   : 50 Hz
     Maximum VertRefresh   : 76 Hz
     Maximum PixelClock    : 170.000 MHz
     Maximum Width         : 1920 pixels
     Maximum Height        : 1080 pixels
     Preferred Width       : 1920 pixels
     Preferred Height      : 1080 pixels
     Preferred VertRefresh : 60 Hz
     Physical Width        : 480 mm
     Physical Height       : 270 mm

EDIT: I updated to 275.19, no change.

EDIT: Ended up selling the second one. Problem solved I guess.

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1

I'm going to leave the link alone because I think it still has some valuable information. And I'm going to assume you've done everything that you feel is related to your problem.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1684460

Well hell Jeff, all of your query info shows that it should work. Only thing I can think of is in the back of my mind maybe force the sli=on instead of auto. I know auto is supposed to handle it and be the same but syntax can do crazy things. Maybe just for s's and g's.

Other than that I got nothing.

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9
  • Isnt your #2 point better suited for a comment? – Thomas Ward♦ Jul 28 '11 at 19:30
  • possibly, but I was place holding for the link i found. I had it bookmarked and took me a while to go fishing through firefox =P – Ctuchik Jul 28 '11 at 19:31
  • I had found that same post earlier, but, first, Jigen90's problem was the X Server not starting. My X Server starts, and the cards are actually running in SLI. Second, I don't understand how his fix would relate to my problem, and I usually try to avoid "button-smashing." – Jeff Jul 28 '11 at 19:43
  • @Jeff Even if it's not the same exact symptoms they could be a related problem. There are millions if not billions of different hardware combinations that may act different with the same problem His problem originally was that he couldn't get sli to start correctly but a single card runs fine. Seems to be an issue with the current driver.Several pieces of advice that are universal though such as purging the drivers and setting the sli to "on" instead of auto. The grub edit is the only risky thing and i would just tell you to backup your xorg.conf before trying any of the methods in his post. – Ctuchik Jul 28 '11 at 19:48
  • @Ctuchik I definitely know what you mean about universal troubleshooting steps, but the example of switching sli to on is exactly why I don't just do whatever pops up in forums. According to Nvidia: 1, yes, on, true, and Auto all do the exact same thing. – Jeff Jul 28 '11 at 20:08
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I had the exact same problem, but following the tutorial on the ubuntuforums that someone posted here sorted it all out. X.org was starting fine but it performed poorly and was highly unstable, but setting vmalloc to 256M in Grub fixed it completely. Hope this helps if you're still struggling with this.

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