Hey y'all. I recently purchased a second EVGA GTX 970 FTW to run in SLI but there's a problem. If I restart my computer without turning off SLI, it messes with the GUI. Whenever I right click on the desktop, the drop box is blank. I can still click on the times in the drop box, but because it appears blank, I have no idea what it is I'm clicking on. Same goes for any prompt windows. If a window pops up asking me to click "yes", "ok", "cancel", etc., the buttons will be blank and I won't be able to tell what I'm clicking on just by looking at it. This will affect my computer in just about every aspect. Drop boxes, buttons, and text fields on the desktop, in the browser, and in other programs will be blank. There is also noticeable lag in the GUI.
 
The only "fix" I know of (if I have forgotten to switch off SLI prior to shut down) is to switch it off and switch it back on, but this is tedious as I am working completely off memory, clicking certain buttons, closing certain programs, all without being able to see the buttons and icons. If I switch SLI off, then switch if back on, it runs like it should. I have tried swapping PCIE slots between the two cards, but I get the same results. I've also tried running the new card solo to see if it is defective. No results. I am at a loss =[. If anyone has any tips or suggestions I would really appreciate it. 
 
UPDATE: After messing around for a bit, I have found that if I change ANY setting, not just switching on/off SLI, from default through Nvidia Control Panel it will act as described. First time I noticed, I changed one of the image scaling settings. The second time, I changed a single setting within SLI configuration. 
 
Here are my specs., just in case:
Asus X99 Deluxe
Intel i7 5820k
(2) EVGA GTX 970 FTW
Intel 730 480gb SSD
Intel 730 240gb SSD
(4) Corsair Vengeance 4gb DDR4
EVGA 1000P2

And yes, it occurred on older drivers 
 

You can try a different display cable/output/sli bridge.
 
Clean the SLI 'Gold fingers' on the cards with a pencil eraser/rubbing alcohol/Q-Tip..Sometimes manufacturing/other residue causes problems, wouldn't be the first time.
 
Maybe try setting up SLI from scratch..Remove the secondary card and run Display Driver Uninstaller again choosing the Clean and Shutdown option..Then put your secondary card back in again, start your PC and install the Graphics Driver that should be in the C:\NVIDIA folder unless you deleted it.
 
Perhaps try running sfc /scannow from Command Prompt (Admin) or at boot.
Win7
Win8
Win10
 
Just a few more things here.

my post here was not for this thread ... sorry  bout that  no option to delete it
 
hope you sli issue gets  work out
 
good luck 

So, I figured it out everyone. Software interference from AI Suite 3. Just needed to disable it on startup. So (Deleted for Foul Language) silly, but I'm relieve. Thank you all for you're input and advice. Lol I wish is it was something a bit more technical and complex but hey, mystery solved :) 

Cool. Excellent. Thanks for the reminder.