IRQ conflict problem

[EliC]

In order to connect a SCSI zip disk and a HP SCSI CDWR I am attempting to install an Adaptec 2906 SCSI controller. However I have had some serious problems with IRQ conflicts that have prevented the card from working. Please offer me any advice on how to resolve this problem.

System:
Windows 98 SE
Tyan Trinity 400 Motherboard with VIA Apollo Pro 133A Chipset
Intel Celeron 500mhz
128mb PC133 SDRAM from Kingston 1 DIMM
Maxtor 20GB HD ATA66 IDE controller one
I/O Magic 110x DVD on IDE controller two
Voodoo3 2000 in AGP slot
Soundblaster Live Xgamer in PCI slot 3
3Comm Ethrnet Card ISA in ISA/PCI6

Trying to install Adaptec 2906 SCSI controller in:

PCI slot 1:
IRQ 9, shared with IRQ Holder for PCI steering
Device Status:
This device is using an IRQ resource that is in use by another device and cannot be shared. You must change the conflicting settings or remove the real-mode drivers causing the conflict (Code 30)
Note: When the SCSI controller is in slot 2 or 5 IRQ 9 is not used.

PCI slot 2:
IRQ 11 NO conflicts reported in device manager but card doesn't work. IRQ number is shared with the Soundcard, VIA USB controller, and 2 IRQ Holders

PCI slot 4
Same as slot 1. IRQ 9. Conflict with IRQ Holder for PCI Steering.

PCI slot 5
Same as slot 2. IRQ 11 NO conflicts reported in device manager but card doesn't work. IRQ number is shared with the Soundcard, VIA USB controller, and 2 IRQ Holders

[alien_from_io]

Try at www.hp.com (http://www.hp.com) the "IRQ-less" scanner driver for the HP Photosmart Scanner with SCSI card no. 20403 isa. It may work with your machine. On my HP, when at wits end I gave up and hooked everything up after a fresh format and let the chips fall where they may. Had to disable "midi" player(mpu401) to free a irq. Your bios may allow for the pci irq steering to have irq sharing. Another possible irq is getting a $14.00 Kouwell KW 508-e Parallel port. I got one, works great, didn't take a irq when I set it up.. Has jumpers though. I'm sure you've seen Nathans post at www.ehelpfree.com/nathan (http://www.ehelpfree.com/nathan) < It took a lot of work to make it I'm sure. Hope this helps.. Take me to your leader.

[tlwhite76]

EliC: My recommendation is first to go to the Tyan web site and learn all about all the oddities of your board. Some slots may be better than others, some devices may not share IRQs, you've got to find the most harmonious combination that will work with your board. If that fails, instead of windows assigning everything automatically, you can always make the manual assignments in the device manager until you resolve all your IRQ confict issues.

[EliC]

Windows device manager will not let me manually set the IRQs http://www.sysopt.com/forum/frown.gif

[Richard_Cranium72]

Some irq's are settable in device mgr.. I cannot remember which ones. Just clear the check mark in use system settings(or whatever) and change the 001 to 002 or 003 and then change the irq.. Like you said, you're limited to the ability to change them, but some you can indeed.. Hope this helps DrVette

[tkray]

Sometimes removing one or two other items, and the reinstalling in a different order works, or rearranging the slots they reside in. (It sounds like you tried that tho)

Somtimes you have to take a long look at you expansion cards and decide which one to give up on.

Try taking out the 2 or 3 items that are conflicting. Install one, then see if you can manually set the IRQ for that item. (BTW, Sometimes you can set an item to share with printer port on IRQ 7, without causing a problem, even if it says there is a conflict!)

If you can, do so and reboot, without installing anything else. Then add the next item, go for manual settings again. This worked with a network/video/soundcard prob I had, they all set on IRQ 11 now.

Irq conflicts are tough, best of luck to you.

P.S. I noticed at one point you said it showed no conflict. At that point it might have been a DMA issue(?)

[EliC]

A DMA issue? How do I check this and what is the solution?
Well, as I said, no conflict was reporeted but the IRQ was shared and the card was not working properly. I really dont have a vialble option to give up any other cards. The only PCI card I have in is a soundcard (cant give that up). I could still try to move the soundcard around (talk about a pain in the a**). Thanks everyone for the help. Any further insight is appreciated.

[ENVY]

Are you using your serial ports? You can disable them to free up a couple of irq's,Is USB setup on your system? If yes are you using it? If no disable this and free up another one.Then try to get some of the devices that device mgr will let you assign irq's for over to those free irq's. Then try to set up the scsi card. What irq does it want? You can go into your system bios and manually assign the irq you want to use to the slot you will be putting the scsi card into. Also trying to put an irq hog into the first slot after the agp slot can cause some pretty bad headaches.(video and scsi are 2 prime examples of irq hogs)
Another thing to try is after you free up as many irq's as possible and putting your hardware in the slots you want them in is to boot to safe mode remove any references to the hardware you moved around or installed and also unders system devices remove all references to your irq steering.
Reboot to normal mode and windows will reaasign your irq steering tables and redetect your hardware. Had the best luck doing this.