HELP! How do I change IRQ's in Win98SE?

[kosmo1]

I need to change the IRQ of one of my 2 network cards (they are both sharing the same IRQ (10), and I want to move one to IRQ 3, which is my only open IRQ), how do I go about this in Windows 98 SE? It says that I can't change them?

[Vampiel]

You may only change the IRQ's in the bios from what I have seen, if you dont see it in your bios then try flashing it if its flashiable with the newest ver. for your bios. Although IRQ's 2 and 4 are reserved. Heres a chart to help you understand a bit more :
COM 1 and COM 3 are logically joined
COM 2 and COM 4 are logically joined
COM 1 and 3 use IRQ 4
COM 2 and 4 use IRQ 3
This is exacly what your IRQ's are.
Real mode comes from the 80/88 proccessor where the chip can only address 1MB of real memory addresses. The 1MB is called "conventional memory" and can be split into low memory (IRQ tables), application memory (640k), and high memory is around (370k). Why can your system can read above the 1MB of conventional memory you ask? This is when HIMEM.SYS was invented, witch allows the system tor read above 1MB of conventional memory, well for all microsoft OS's at least, I dont know what it is fot the other ones. This is why WINDOW9x cannot LIVE without HIMEM.SYS. |)

[blondini]

one option is to swap all your cards around to change the irq's or try booting up in safe mode and then changing them manually in device manager(sometimes works)or set the bios to manage irq's and set each slot individually to suit--are they isa or pci nic's

[kosmo1]

It's an ASUS P5A ATX MB, and Slot 1 seems to use the same irq as my Matrox AGP card. And also in the bios slot 4&5 use the same irq? They can't be set separately?
The NIC's are PCI.

[blondini]

don't put them next to the agp slot as you've noticed it shares an irq-try them both in the middle slots- how many does the asus p5a have? also what other pci cards or isa cards are in their?can you diasable your two com ports in the bios, install one nic first then see what irqs are being used by each card/slot then in the bios assign those irqs to the matching slots and choose no for plug'n'play in the bios, then install the next card and see what it gets assigned!what brand are the nic's-good luck and let know if you've succeded

[kosmo1]

My MB has 1 AGP, 5 PCI, and 2 ISA slots.
The NIC's are SMC, and DLINK.
I put the Diamond Monster2 in Slot1 beside the AGP(IRQ 11) because it doesn't use an IRQ. Then in slot 2 i put my SCSI card(IRQ 9), in slot 3 my SB Live(IRQ 5), in slot 4 & 5 are the NIC's(IRQ 3).
Anyway everything seems to be working ok, with the 2 NIC's sharing the same IRQ, whic I don't understand? I have Slot's 4&5 set to use 3 in the BIOS, but you have to change both using the one setting?
Anyway, it's working.

[rmills]

Two PCI cards can share an IRQ if they are compatible. This is where the IRQ Steering comes into play. If the cards work together using the same IRQ then they are ok. If they cause a problem then try using a different slot because that will assign it a different IRQ.

[reddog4629]

I have my NIC card next to the agp and it shares IRQ11 with the video card. I don't notice any problems-am I lucky or is this common. My NIC is a 3-com 10/100 fast ethernet
and the video is a STB Vel. 4400 tnt 16mb.
I had to do it this way or dissable/share an irq with the sound card of dissable a com port.We need more IRQ's. Where can I buy some? /forum/biggrin.gif

[Vampiel]

As I stated above in my first reply. Each IRQ can support 2 devices without any problem... well usually |)
btw you cant buy em, I WISH!

[This message has been edited by Vampiel (edited 10-29-1999).]