Does a zip drive take up an IRQ?

[chipbgt]

I need to free one up. Thanks http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

[Mntsnow]

Nope http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/frown.gif

Mntsnow

[chipbgt]

dang. The problem is that my new SBLive platinum says that I dont have enough IRQ's for the live drive (I am assuming), and the digital connection hasnt work for dvds yet...sigh. hmmmm maybe I could take out the hard drive...who needs that anyway? sigh.....

[Ed_S]

Can you get away with disabling a com port, maybe?

[chipbgt]

Ya got me....I will try and see. what are com ports used for?

[Susan]

Serial mice/peripherals that are connected to the COM ports on the back of your system and modems mostly. If you're using a PS/2 mouse, then you should be able to safely disable COM1 in the BIOS. What kind of modem are you using?

Go to Control Panel/Devices and right click on Computer and click properties. That will give you a good indication of what IRQ's you are using.

[stogierogy]

you can also go into bios and disable a usb port if you have one and arent using it. that will free up an irq as well.

[Richard_Cranium72]

ON my Win98 SE, the usb ports don't use a IRQ. On Win98 you can disable the midi player in device manager, it's mpu-401 I think. This will free maybe irq 11. Install your drive and let Windows do the assignment. On my HP 6350 amd 333, I did the big no-no on installation of periphials. I re-formatted then added in the extra parallel port and a SCSI card then re-booted and let windows do it's thing. This on a machine with two parallel printes, two SCSI scanners and a joystick I was still short on, did the mpu-401 disable and fine it went for several months till I loaded some "freeware" that ,,, well you know the rest.. good luck, DrVette

[chipbgt]

Thanks guys!

Heres what I have in my computer:

SBLive paltinum with a live drive,
tv tuner card,
2 NICS (for home network on cable modem)
hp cd writer,
dvd drive,
zip drive,
hdd,
no usb devices

So I can disable usb huh? Do I do this in my bios or in win98? and then i guess I have to disable the sblive and reinstall it?
How about the printer porta(irq 7)? I use the network printer for printing. I also dont see any usb irq's.....com ports 1 and 2 though are in irq's 3 and 4..dont think i am using those for anything?



[This message has been edited by chipbgt (edited 05-01-2000).]

[chipbgt]

also.....some of the irqs have more than one device on them, for example: irq 10 has the Hauppage wintv audio and video driver, and IRQ holder for pci steering...irq 5 has one of my NICs and the creative SB Live! on it. could this be causing some of my sound disapearing problems?

[Nathan]

You should be able to go into CMOS and disable one of those com ports. Is the cable modem using one of them? I don't know much about those cable modems. If both com ports are free, disable both of them (as long as you have a PS-2 mouse). That should free up an IRQ or 2.

As to your sound problems....well....maybe

[This message has been edited by Nathan (edited 05-01-2000).]

[PKA]

Might try using device manager, properties, ans select "disable in this hardware profile for those you aren't using. Then change when you want to do something else.

[poppajames]

I had a similar problem when I installed an Ultra ATA/66 PCI controller card which wanted to occupy IRQ 10 along with my USB Universal Host Controller. This caused a conflict with my USB Scanjet 4100cse scanner. My solution was to remove the ATA/66 PCI card and insert it into another PCI slot. This caused the USB controller to move to IRQ 5 while the ATA/66 remained at IRQ 10, sharing it with Creative Sound Blaster AudioPCI 64V, which so far doe not cause any audio conflicts.

Hope this helps.

[rekrot]

On my old Sound Blaster Live! I went into System Properties and d.clicked on the SoundBlaster emulator. (I'm not at the computer now : ( ) I believe that I had also installed the LiveWare update from their webpage. The update had placed a box in the SoundBlaster emulator(or something like that) in which I could share an IRQ with the printer. After ticking the box and rebooting, everything worked ok. Before I had done the update, while Windows was booting, I would click on the ESC key and see a message that the driver for the SB emulator was not loading and would also get a beep, audibly telling me the was an error. HTH

[chipbgt]

hmmmm......more info always welcome.....still giving me pains by the way.

[Petros]

I had the same problem. First thing to do is make sure you are using the most recent drivers for the card. Then go to Device Manager and click on properties for the sb that is having the problem. On mine there is an option under the settings tab that says allow LPT Interrupt sharing. I just checked that box and it solved the problem. (the part i was having trouble with was the creative sb16 emulation)

[neo_otyugh]

disable SB16 emulation in your device manager
that takes an irq, and it is only used for DOS games and DOS sounds

[Hopeful]

Yes, if you aren't using any USB device, you should Disable "all" USB ports in your CMOS setup, also in your windows "System Properties" select the "Device Manager" tab and look for "any Universal Bus" device(s), assuming you aren't using any USB devices you wont have anything listed here, if so, you need to decide whether you want it, if you do, then you should only allow the appropriate USB port to be enabled in CMOS.
I use a USB Ported device to overcome my Limited IRQ's.
also, if your mouse is a Serial mouse (Uses Comm port) then you might consider purchasing a PS/2 mouse and you will free up an IRQ that way.

[SDT]

For $29 you could go out and buy yourself a cheap hub for your networks. That would allow you to remove one of your nics which would free up a number of system resources.

[chipbgt]

Thanks Neo, That did free up an IRQ http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

Hopeful, I did disable it in device manager but I will do it in the CMOS also now, see if that makes a difference....no usb devices.

SDT,
?
I have a cable modem that is connected to the first nic, and a second nic that sends the signal out to the hub, which connects to the other 2 computers in the house. Are you saying I can caonnect the cable modem directly to the hub, and then run it to the different computers?

[tantone]

As for the hub/cable-modem question.....yes.

[chipbgt]

See, I thought thats what I coudl do too, but the monkeys at my cable company told me I would need two nics, a hub, and internet connection sharing. Its a linksys 5-port workgroup hub. it has ports 1-5, then an uplink port. from what I understand, the uplink is used to connect two hubs together, not to connect to the cable...any help?

[reddog4629]

Connect the modem to the "uplink" port on the hub and the other comps. to the other ports. However u will need additional IP adds. for the other boxes. I have RR and get 3 IPs free. Check with your cable ISP. http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

[chipbgt]

Thats what it was. They wanted to charge us aother 40 bucks a month for a second IP. I knew there was a reason I couldnt do it before.

[SDT]

Yes ! There will likely be only one port on the hub that the cable modem can plug into. It is usually highlighted on the back of the hub (outlined in black or whatever). You can plug the modem into it and then your other pc's into the other ports.

A word of caution though... go to Steve Gibsons site www.grc.com (http://www.grc.com) and check the security on EACH of your machines as your network configuration has changed.

[Ron Crump]

DLink systems has a personal firewall that handles the same functions as Win98SE's Internet Connection Sharing/DHCP. The DLink di701 (http://www.dlink.com/products/broadband/di701/) home firewall/gateway is less than $160.00 right now and includes a 5 port hub.