Assigning IRQ/DMA settings for ISA on KT7-RAID

[coyote]

I have a KT7-RAID board and would like to utilize the ISA slot, but I understand that I need to make adjustments in the BIOS...something like manually assigning it's own IRQ and DMA settings. How is this done in the BIOS? Why does this have to be done in the first place and why would the ISA not be plug and play without adjustments to the BIOS?

The card I'm forced to install in the ISA is a proprietary SCSI card that came with the HP PhotoSmart Slide/Photo scanner. For what it's worth, here are my current slot assignments:

AGP: nothing installed (yet!)
PCI#1: Creative 3D Banshee
PCI#2: 3COM 10/100 TX NIC
PCI#3: nothing installed
PCI#4: SoundBlaster Live! MP3+
PCI#5: nothing installed but I am using the plate for the 2 extra USB ports on the board.
PCI#6: Shares with ISA, so nothing here
ISA: This is where the SCSI card will go.

Any help would be appreciated. I would take a stab at this but would like to have a better understanding of why and how first.

Thanks Much

[DingoVolf]

Yea, I had the same problem with mine - wouldn't boot in windows at all when I had this ISA SCSI card in. Tried everything from assigning IRQ from BIOS and from the card itself (jumpers on the card? yea... it was oooold).

Ended up trading someone for a cheap PCI SCSI card... which worked perfectly of course.

I would make a wild guess that there are issues with having a SCSI card on the ISA bus while also having a raid chip onboard? who knows...

If your OS is booting, its getting much farther then I was (win98 started to load, then just quit when I had the card in).

Best of luck to you

[coyote]

Nope...haven't tried yet, although I did try to install an ISA USR modem and had the booting problems (BSOD). Then I found apushardware.com and read about the ISA issue. The only problem with the article in 'Pauls Unofficial Abit KT7...FAQ' page (www.apushardware.com/faq/kt7faq) was that it did not explain in detail the process - it assumes a certain level of experience.


[This message has been edited by coyote (edited 01-23-2001).]

[coyote]

...bummer...well I guess I'll give it a try, but if anyone has any insight to this issue that may address my original questions, don't hestitate to reply...or even direction to an information source would be nice. Thanks Much.

[Shaky]

No Problem with mine, at least I didn't have one after a day of fooling around with it.

AGP: Matrox Millennium G450 32MB Dual Head
PCI#1: Nothing because it shares with AGP
PCI#2: Nothing
PCI#3: Linksys LNE 100TX Fast Ethernet Card
PCI#4: Nothing
PCI#5: SoundBlaster Live! 5.1+MP3
PCI#6: Nothing
ISA: SCSI Controller for UMAX ASTRA 1220S Scanner
And everything works!
Before you start disable the Raid on the Motherboard until after everything works, then you can enable it. Also go into the section PnP/PCI Configuration and change the following:
PNP OS Installed to "NO"
Reset Configuration Data to "Disabled"
Resources Controlled By "Manual"
Then under IRQ Resources:
IRQ-5 assigned to Legacy ISA
I also changed IRQ-10 to Legacy ISA and left this section alone after everthing worked.
Then go into Device Manager and see if you have a listing for "Creative SB16 Emmulation". If you do, disable it, don't enable the Creative SB16 Emmulation or you'll have all sorts of problems. This works for me!

[coyote]

Thanks Peter. The only thing is that I have no free IRQs. The way I see it, I have one choice (until I trade this card in for a PCI card) and that is to disable the HPT RAID assignment since I am not using that anyway. Here are my current assignments:

IRQ 0 System timer OK
IRQ 1 Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural Keyboard OK
IRQ 2 Programmable interrupt controller OK
IRQ 3 Communications Port (COM2) OK
IRQ 4 Communications Port (COM1) OK
IRQ 5 3D Blaster Banshee PCI/AGP OK
IRQ 5 ACPI IRQ Holder for PCI IRQ Steering OK
IRQ 6 Standard Floppy Disk Controller OK
IRQ 7 EPSON Printer Port (LPT1) OK
IRQ 8 System CMOS/real time clock OK
IRQ 9 VIA Tech 3038 PCI to USB Universal Host Controller OK
IRQ 9 VIA Tech 3038 PCI to USB Universal Host Controller OK
IRQ 9 Creative SB Live! OK
IRQ 9 ACPI IRQ Holder for PCI IRQ Steering OK
IRQ 10 3Com Fast EtherLink XL 10/100Mb TX Ethernet NIC (3C905B-TX) OK
IRQ 10 ACPI IRQ Holder for PCI IRQ Steering OK
IRQ 11 SCI IRQ used by ACPI bus OK
IRQ 11 HPT370 UDMA/ATA100 RAID Controller OK
IRQ 11 ACPI IRQ Holder for PCI IRQ Steering OK
IRQ 12 PS/2 Compatible Mouse Port OK
IRQ 13 Numeric data processor OK
IRQ 14 VIA Bus Master PCI IDE Controller OK
IRQ 14 Primary IDE controller (dual fifo) OK
IRQ 15 VIA Bus Master PCI IDE Controller OK
IRQ 15 Secondary IDE controller (dual fifo) OK


My ISA SCSI (Adaptec 1505A) says it uses IRQ 9, 10, 11 or 12, No DMA. Looking at the list above, what would you do?

Thanks Much

[Peter M]

Basically it goes like this:

If your ISA cards are Plug&Play compatible, then leave all the BIOS settings at "Auto" (including those for PCI IRQs!). BIOS will then figure out a configuration that enables the ISA card as well.

If you have legacy ISA cards with configuration jumpers, then you need to set its resources (IRQ, DMA, memory) manually to "ISA/EISA" in the BIOS Setup's "PCI/PnP" page, AND make sure other manually assigned stuff does not use those. Then, BIOS will not use these IRQ/DMA/memory for PCI or ISA PnP devices, and keep them free for the ISA card instead.

Regards, Peter

[Peter M]

If you set your PCI IRQ assignments back to AUTO, then it'll work - remember, PCI devices may share interrupt. That means as long as you have ONE interrupt line available for use with PCI, you may add ISA devices as you please. My home box is like this, thanks to an ISA NIC and ISA sound card, everything PCI comes out at IRQ 11. Works anyway.

You're currently using the maximum of four system interrupts for PCI. It doesn't have to be that way. What I said above will make the system take one of 9, 10 or 11 for use with the ISA SCSI, and move the respective PCI device onto one of the remaining IRQs occupied for PCI. The only thing you'll need are device drivers that are behaving in the way the PCI specification requires. Poorly written drivers can screw up on the sharing.

The 1505 is PnP, isn't it? That would mean you don't manually reserve an IRQ or DMA for it.

(Besides, that thing SUCKS bigtime. ISA, no DMA ... PIO driven SCSI on the ISA bus will cost you almost all of the system's bandwidth. Try moving the mouse during SCSI transfers and you'll see. Spend $25 for an LSI Symbios 20810 PCI Fast-SCSI or $30 for a 20860 PCI Ultra-SCSI controller. Life will be more fun (and their drivers share a PCI IRQ happily).

Regards, Peter