Win2K loves IRQ 9...

[RandomGoon]

Alrighty, I have Win2K installed and running fine for the most part. I'm concerned, however, as the OS has deigned to put all my cards on IRQ 9! Now this isn't currently a major hassle but I believe it's messing up my sound in Everquest (which otherwise runs like a champ!) and may have caused a lock-up last night (rebooted and the problem went away).

How can I get all my perripherals off of IRQ 9? BIOS on my A7V133 at the time of OS load was set to Non plug-and-play OS. I've changed things around in an attempt to force even one of my cards off IRQ 9; it didn't work http://www.sysopt.com/forum/frown.gif The cards I'm using are an Elsa Gladiac, Philips Acoustic Edge, USR 56K Performance Pro Modem, and an Asound 10/100 LAN card.

So, point me in a direction, I'd love to know what to try to fix this little quirk.

Aw bugger...I just found this MSKB article: http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q252/4/20.ASP?LN=EN-US&SD=gn&FR=0&qry=IRQ&rnk=17&src=DHCS_MSPSS_gn_SRCH&SPR=WIN2000 Looks as if I'm pretty much SOL http://www.sysopt.com/forum/frown.gif

'Goon

[This message has been edited by RandomGoon (edited 05-15-2001).]

[Nighthawk]

The PCI standard is supposedly implemented and designed to use IRQ sharing. IRQ 9 is frequently used either because it's really IRQ 2 or because it's one that is usually available on most systems.

That said, I personally don't really trust IRQ sharing.

The only way you are going to be able to change it is if you can find some sort of hardware setup program or you can set specific IRQs in the BIOS. For PCI cards and PnP ISA cards, all of the configuration is done through the BIOS.

[CMonster]

Look carefully at your motherboard manual and pay particular attention to which slots are sharing IRQ - the info is in there, Now install your cards so that there is the least amount of sharing going on and so that cards that are no likely to be in use at the same time are not sharing an IRQ.

NEXT: go into BIOS and manually assign IRQs for the slots, this is very easy and your manual has all the necessary information to do it. Also disable unused serial/parallel/PS2 ports in order to free up those resources.

Note: PCI slot 1 shares IRQ with the AGP (I highly recommend you keep this PCI empty)

PCI-2 shares with the Promise Ultra ATA-100 controller, if you use the Promise controller you might not want to put any card in that slot that might be used during heavy disk activity

PCI-3 shares with the AMR slot - since NOBODY I know uses the AMR slot you are probably okay to put any card there - I recommend that you put your most active resource intensive card in this slot.

PCI -4 and PCI -5 share the same IRQ - nothing you can do about that so make sure that the cards are compatible.

My system:PnP OS =yes

AGP -Nvidia TNT2 Pro (IRQ =auto)

PCI-1 -empty

PCI-2 -Sound Blaster (note Promise Controller not used) (IRQ=5)

PCI-3 -SCSI controller (IRQ=11)

PCI-4 -NIC (IRQ=10)

PCI-5 -empty

I used to have an intermitatant problem with Win98 hanging on bootup, once I manually set the IRQs I had no more problems.

[RandomGoon]

Thanks, guys. I already tried the IRQ changes in the BIOS to no avail. I've put my sound on slot 3, NIC on 4, and modem (used infrequently) on 5. 3 is shared with the useless AMR, 4 and 5 are shared with each other and the USB (I'm not using any USB hardware). In theory they shouldn't be sharing with each other at all. Oh well, I'll just have to live with it for now http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

'Goon

[NDC]

Been through the same thing as you. I wasn't having any problems with the two cards that were sharing IRQ 9 which were my NIC and Video card, but I just didn't like the fact that it was. I also tried forcing IRQ's thorugh the PCI IRQ setting so that my cards wouldn't share IRQ's, but no go.

If you installed Win2k with ACPI support, changing the IRQ is not possible as far as I know. Win2k will not allow you to change the IRQ through Device Manager (that's why it's grey out) and it won't let you force it through BIOS settings either.

[camaro]

I'm in the same boat. Tried everything. I blame every lock up in my games on that. http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

[Mungla]

I had this exact same problem, and it is because Win2k installs the ACPI HAL (Hardware Abstraction Layer) automatically. The only way M$ docs said that I could fix this was to reinstall the OS. When you boot into the installation of Win2k, you get the prompt to hit F6 to install a HD controller. When this prompt comes up, you need to hit F5 and select the Standard PC HAL. Once you have done this, carry on the installation like normal. You can now assign any conflicting IRQs via the BIOS.

Before I figured this out, I had terrible problems with IRQ sharing. For one, I have an older Hauppauge PCI capture card which WILL NOT share an IRQ with another device. Now that I have the Standard PC HAL installed, I don't have any major devices (Capture card, NIC, HD Controller) sharing IRQs.

Here are a few links I just looked up in M$ knowledge base.

Tells you what I just mentioned (http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q269/4/91.ASP?LN=EN-US&SD=gn&FR=0&qry=IRQ%20sharing&rnk=3&src=DHCS_MSPSS_gn_SRCH&SPR=WIN2000)

Instructions for changing your HAL (http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q237/5/56.ASP)

[RandomGoon]

Thanks Mungla, I'll mess around with my installation and see if I can remedy my woes.

'Goon

[RandomGoon]

Well, I followed the instructions and got my box over to a non-ACPI HAL. It seems to be working about the same though http://www.sysopt.com/forum/frown.gif I still get choppy sound in Everquest (during combat mostly, sometimes while I sit idle). Just to add to the general confusion, I slicked the drive and reinstalled everything (making sure to use the standard PC HAL) just to see if it was the 'upgrade' that didn't clear the sound issues. Perhaps the Philips drivers aren't up to speed where Win2K is concerned. <shrug>

'Goon

[Mungla]

Random, check this:

Goto: Control Panel, Admin Tools, Computer Management, System Information, Hardware Resources, Conflicts/Sharing.

Check and see if any of your devices are sharing IRQ's. Now, there will be some that are sharing and you can do nothing about that. But, things such as your sound card and video card shouldn't be sharing an IRQ. Now, if it is sharing one then you need to force that motherboard PCI slot to a specific IRQ (this is done in the BIOS). I have an Asus motherboard, Asus provides a very easy to use interface for forcing a PCI slot to an IRQ.

<IMG SRC="http://www.mystick.com/images/deviceirq.jpg" border=0>
Devices that are assigned an IRQ in system.

<IMG SRC="http://www.mystick.com/images/conflicts.jpg" border=0>
Current conflicting IRQs. No problems with this configuration at all.

[RandomGoon]

The only IRQ sharing going on now is IRQ 5 with the pair of USB controllers, modem, and NIC. Sound Card and video card are on very disparate IRQs. Maybe it's because the sound card is on IRQ 3? Not assigned a high enough priority IRQ? I can't remember which numerical order has precedence.

'Goon

Oh, and have I mentioned thanks, Mungla http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

[AuraEdge]

<IMG SRC="http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=1698049&a=13041049&p=49188327" border=0>

Thats everything on my board on IRQ11!
Win2k Pro, with KT7A-RAID.

Whys Win2k do this? Seems senseless to me.

I think I'm gunna do the F5 next format.

In my BIOS, Its set at default, which is
AGP+PCI1 = #1
PCI2+PCI3 = #2
PCI4+PCI6+USB = #3
PCI5+RAID = #4

And I have AGP, PCI2, PCI4, PCI5, and PCI6 populated.

Its not like I dont have free ones either.
I'm suprised I dont have any problems.
I think I'll leave it be until next format though, unless something happens to go arway before then.

[This message has been edited by AuraEdge (edited 05-26-2001).]

[NDC]

As long as there aren't any problems when resources are being shared by devices in WIn2k, there should be no concern... But dang, Aurea... That IS a lot of devices on IRQ 11! LOL I've never see any systems with so many devices on a single IRQ channel!

I have 3 IRQ's being shared:


IRQ 9 = VIA USB Universal Host Contoller
IRQ 9 = VIA USB Universal Host Contoller

IRQ 17 = Realtek 8139(A) PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter
IRQ 17 = OvisLink LFE-8139ATX Fast Ethernet Adapter

IRQ 18 = Adaptec 29160N Ultra160/m PCI SCSI Card
IRQ 18 = HPT370 UDMA/ATA 100 RAID Controller


[This message has been edited by NDC (edited 05-26-2001).]

[AuraEdge]

..grr
I must have spent about half an hour at one point thinking what the best PCI slots for each card is in order to have optimal IRQ seperation and the least probable conflicts, and Win2k does this to me.

It's kinda funny when you think about it.
But its still seems stupid to me.

I also think I found something else I like about USB stuff; they dont take up an IRQ. My keyboard, mouse, digital cam, scanner, and printer are USB.

[BipolarBill]

Actually, it's F7 hat you press when you see "Setup is detecting hardware...".

Here are the choices for fixing this nonsense:

1. Enter BIOS setup and change the OS to Non-PnP and Manual in the PCI/PNP section. Enable "Reset" too. Assign IRQs to your slots.

2. Reinstall Windows 2000 and press F5 when you see "Setup is detecting hardware..." (on reboot) and select the Standard PC HAL. You can reinstall over the existing OS.

3. The easiest fix and one that works for me is to change the driver for "Computer" in Device Manager to Standard PC and restart. Go to the Driver tab and click Update driver&gt; Next&gt; Display a list...&gt; Show all...&gt; Standard PC.

[RandomGoon]

NDC, how do you get IRQs greater than 15??

'Goon

[NDC]

Win2k has virtual IRQ's just like NT4 did. When I had NT4, I had some devices on IRQ 128. http://www.sysopt.com/forum/wink.gif

I think Virtual IRQ's only exist on Multi-Processor systems. I haven't seen IRQ's higher than 15 on Uni-Processor systems.

[This message has been edited by NDC (edited 06-07-2001).]

[Pojodan]

Weird weird weird..
My system is the same except my vid card (Elsa Geforce2 GTS) sound card (Soundblaster Live X-gamer) NIC card and several other system devices are all jamed onto IRQ 7
So far I havn't had any major flaws, though Everquest tends to lock up for about 10 seconds at least a couple times every night I play it and Insane crashes occationally.
I did notice that My 3dMark score (2993) was about 800 lower than many systems identical to mine...
Might this be because my sound and vid card are on the same IRQ?

[Denton]

Regardless of what has been posted IRQ 9 is going to rule. This is necessary in Windows 2000 to isolate system functions and is addressed properly by Microsoft. The fact that Windows 2000 uses memory so well is that it needs to to overcome areas shown by the IRQ 9 issue. The more you have the better the system will run as you eventually enter a virtual IRQ allocation where startup IO's wont matter. Even if you force IRQ's within the Bios, it is only cosmetic, and the system will continue to allocate resources the way it was designed to. If there are problems with sound cards or whatever, its more of a driver issue than hardware allocation. A previous message stated to start off with proper drivers for the intended application and this is correct.
I have 7 items running on IRQ 9 and there is no hint of any problems.

Hang in there and take what you can get untill XP arrives...these issues are addressed very well.

[Mungla]

Of course Denton, what do you do when you are having problems? I recently moved over to an Epox 8K7A motherboard, I was having more IRQ related problems. My video card would not run 3D apps at AGP 4x at all, it would hard lock the system. I disabled ACPI in the BIOS and assigned IRQ's to PCI devices that I knew would share alright. Since I had a clean install of Win2k, i tried changing the Computer drivers to Standard PC. When I rebooted, I noticed that all of my PCI devices were now using the IRQ that I assigned. One thing I forgot in my previous post, you have to disable ACPI in the bios as well. I have tried changing the Computer type on a Win2k installation that was several months old, only to find out that it wouldn't boot back into Win2k - repair couldn't fix it either apparently.