My computer keeps locking up...

[Tekkitan]

Ok, I am running Windows 2000 Professional on a tbird 1.2ghz with 256mb pc150 sdram, ibm deskstar 60gxp 60gb hdd, hercules prophetII mx 32mb w/ DDV, and a creative sblive! x-gamer sound card. Ok, any game i play with graphics, locks up after a random amount of time. Deer Avenger 4 locks up, Half-Life locks up, etc. I checked the IRQs in System Information, and the gfx card, sound card, and NIC are all sharing IRQ 11. according to Microsoft, this is normal. But I have reason to believe that is what is causing these lock ups which force me to power down. Please help me resolve this problem, I love to play games...

[Sterling_Aug]

Try this to resolve the IRQ assignments.

Power down and pull the NIC out of the system. Reboot and log in, check the IRQ's again. Shut down and install the NIC in a different PCI slot (if you have one open). Start up and let Win2K assign the resources, reboot, and check the IRQ's again.

[Tekkitan]

do this with the sound card too?

[Brangwen]

Tekkitan:

Out of curiosty, how are your temps?

My experience gaming with TBirds is they get fairly HOT.

Let us know.

Brangwen ;)

[Tekkitan]

well when games used to work, temps never went higher than 45C. i have the OCZ Copper Gladiator with OCZ Quicksilver paste.

[Tekkitan]

anyone? please? help? i beg of you, PLEASE

[NDC]

Have you also tried loading a different version for the video driver? As for NIC and video card sharing an IRQ should be ok since Win2k allows IRQ sharing. However, try Sterling_Aug's suggestion and switch the PCI cards around...

[Tekkitan]

ok NDC< if you can read, i said i tried the pci swapping thing, still same irqs after it all. and i have tried 14.10 and 12.41 drivers for Win2k, both do the same thing.

PLEASE SOMEONE HELP ME

[Tekkitan]

and as i stated, it isnt JUST the nic and video card on same irq, there is also the sound card.

[Philip1952]

You said you did the card swap thing. OK
Now did you reinstall each card by it self. One at a time. Every time I have seen everything on the same IRQ. It has been because someone installed windows with all cards in. (Windows doesn't like this eather).
What I would say to do is go into control panel. Remove the drivers and programs for all add in cards. But the video. Then power down and remove all other cards. Then reboot into safe mode. Make sure it shows all drivers gone for removed cards.
Then power down. Intall one card. Install software for said card when windows finds it.
Repeat process till all cards are installed.
Then let us know what happens then.

[Hokie22DrG]

My computer also used to lock up randomly and I figured it was
because of my irq11 conflict. Win2k has assigned 6 devices on it.
(On board sound/lan/2 usb host controllers)However, even after swapping the 2 pci cards i have (video, modem) i still was not able to get them assigned by windows onto different irq's. However, as the previous post has mentioned many people experience this inconvenience with irq11 and it is perfectly normal under win2k.
More recently to solve these random lock-ups i installed new win2k drivers for my video card, and these lock-ups seem to have almost disappeared. I also have read that Soundblaster cards tend to have incompatibility problems with various motherboards. So what kind of board do you have?
Anyways, i've had my computer stable for only 2 days now and more testing is in order, so I do not want to rush to conclusions yet....
Other then device drivers I also thought that the problem could have been a power supply since Athlons on an ECS K7S5A motherboard which I have tend to be sensitive to the power supply.
As far as your temperature go's, 45c is very cool for an Athlon CPU and shouldn't be a problem.
Hope this little bit of info. helps. If I experience more lock-ups like you do I might have to resort to a post also.:confused:

[Tekkitan]

thanks for your replies, i think i will try the pci swap once more.

also i have an sblive xgamer and an abit kt7e (via apollo kt133e)

[Tekkitan]

i tried the pci swap yet again, still the same irq for all three cards

maybe i should just go back to win98se *sigh*

why do i have such bad luck with OS's...

[pcbugfixer]

Originally posted by Tekkitan
i tried the pci swap yet again, still the same irq for all three cards

maybe i should just go back to win98se *sigh*

why do i have such bad luck with OS's...

Yes, good that you did.
However did you tell BIOS Setup to refresh (Reset) configuration, normally in PNP/PCI Configuration after you changed your PCI card slot position?

[Tekkitan]

no, i was told windows 2000 ignores BIOS configured IRQs, plus, i see no where in my BIOS to set IRQs.

[Emerson Wu]

Some BIOSes have a "OS PnP-Compatible" option that will allow the OS to set the IRQ for your peripherals. Turning this to "no" will let the motherboard specify the IRQ settings. I'm not sure if that's still the case for Windows 2000, but for Windows 98 I could set my IRQs for the different slots.

[Emerson Wu]

Oh, and I don't think this'll be the problem, but it seems that the new GeForce 3 drains a lot of power and will lockup whenever it doesn't receive the power it needs. I know you're not using one, but still... what's your Wattage on your power supply?

[Skwanderer]

I'm betting that going down to Win98se will not resolve the problem...

I've got an identical problem with my computer that I've been troubleshooting for over a week now... random lock-ups during 3d applications (games, benchmarking, demos, etc.).

No IRQ conflicts; brand new 300W psu with 28A on 3.3v and a combined output of 180W (kinda pissed that this "sure-fire" solution cost me $100 with no help!). Tried all the latest nvidia drivers on clean installs (now sticking with 12.90), as well as 4in1's latest and DirectX8.

Truth is, if you undertake a really deep investigation into this problem on the net, you will find dozens and dozens of people with the identical problem (and dozens more who are able to resolve it the easy way with a new psu or irq settings). A lot of people are wandering aimlessly about, pulling their hair out!

Then I read something about a power regulator component on many GeForce2 cards (ELSA Gladiac, for example) that will not communicate with certain mobos as to how it should regulate the vi/o 3.3v (blah blah blah, it was a technical report to nvidia that lost me, and, unfortunately, I lost it...).

Anyway, short of the important advice "make sure you install the latest via 4in1 drivers BEFORE you install your video driver", I'm just hanging about hoping that this problem will come to light and be resolved soon :confused:

MSI K7T w/ 800 Duran
ELSA GeForce2 GTS 64MB w/ nvidia 12.90
256 PC133
AC'97 onboard sound
4in1 4.33, DirectX8, Win98SE
300W psu: 3.3V=28A, combined output 180W

[Tekkitan]

windows 98se would solve the problem because you are able to change irq setting in windows 98 but not windows 2000. also the newest via 4-in-1 driver are installed.

[Skwanderer]

Hey, I could be wrong - maybe win2000 "WILL" help - it's YOUR problem I'm trying to help you with kid!

But beware that if you have a look on other forums you will find a lot of people with the identical problem who are running win98se, with no irq conflicts, and the latest 4in1's...

So before you go formating your HD, maybe try some of the other work-arounds that are surfacing:

- reduce your Sound hardware accelerator in DirectX to the lowest or second lowest

- try the 6.31 drivers, I don't know why, but at least 2 people say that they are the only ones that help them with this same problem

Good Luck :cool:

[Beemer]

I had this kind of a problem a while back when I built My AMD Machine (http://www.geocities.com/a3a17013/tippages/machine/machine.html).

My HP 9351i and the Epson 777 printer wouldn't work.

Changed the burning software from HP to Adaptec 4.2
Didn't solve the printer problem though. The only way I was able to eventually get the printer to work was by changing the "ACPI Computer" computer type to "Standard Computer" type.
You can do this in the Device Manager but it won't work properly. Here's a bit of a thread on ACPI I posted a while back
(Advanced Configuration and Power Interface)
A power management specification developed by Intel, Toshiba and Microsoft that makes hardware status information available to the operating system. ACPI enables a PC to turn its peripherals on and off for improved power management especially in portables. It also allows the PC to be turned on and off by external devices, so that the touch of a mouse or the press of a key will "wake up" the machine. ACPI support is built into Windows 98.

In WinY2K, ACPI might create a problem with IRQ assignments. Some devices don't like shared IRQ's so changing the way your computer deals with your hardware and assigned IRQ's might clear up some kinds of symptoms or problems in WinY2K. Removing the ACPI support by selecting your type of computer as being a Standard PC at either Windows Y2K installation, or in the update driver of System Properties and Computer, Properties.

Note: Converting to a Standard PC from a ACPI enabled computer doesn't work well. ACPI to Standard PC has a problem with the hardware abstraction layers information stored in the registry. The ACPI registry information isn't thoroughly removed from the registry is how I heard it. Something about left over instructions from the ACPI configuration.
Here's a little more from Microshaft:Check out this page for further info on Abstraction Layers (http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q237/5/56.asp) As you can see, you will have to do a fresh install of WinY2K.

Removing ACPI will free up your IRQ's for re-assignment in your bios. (I know. You don't seem to have anywhere in the bios to set the IRQ's. We'll see about that.)
You will loose some functionality of your power configurations but this is minor.

Backup any files you don't want to loose before trying this out.
Remove all unnecessary cards. You don't need the sound card or the NIC, Web Cam, Scanner, etc, etc. Just the basics to start your machine after Windows is installed.
[list=1]
Start the installation process and when the prompt for any special drivers appears at the bottom of your screen, (Press F6 for installation of special drivers) press F5 and then quickly press F6 if you do have special drivers to load.
You are now viewing the Computer Type Selection screen
Select, from the list of computer types, "Standard Computer".
Press OK or whatever command button they give you and if you pressed F6 at the beginning as well as F5, you will be taken to the Load Special Drivers screen. If you didn’t Press F6, you will carry on with your installation of Win Y2K.
Now that you have Windows loaded, check out your "System Information" in System Tools. Navigate to "Hardware" and then "IRQ's". Write down your findings for a benchmark.
Shut down the computer and load one of your cards. Re-boot.
Get back into "System Information" and see where the card is located. Note any changes as well.
Load each of your internal devices, one at a time with a re-boot in between. This should alleviate the necessity of changing IRQ's in your bios if you don't have "PCI Configuration" settings. The hardware should load onto separate IRQ's.
If you are noticing IRQ's bunching up a bit in the "System Information", hopefully you are wrong about not having the ability to change IRQ assignments in your bios.
Now get into your bios and look for something that relates to "PCI Configuration".
Taking for granted that you found the area you need to reserve IRQ #'s for various slots, refer to this table for default assignments:

http://cablelan.net/beemer/irqpriority.gif

Here's what I started out with when ACPI was in my computer:

http://www.cablelan.net/beemer/sysopt/irq.gif[/list=1]

Sorry I didn't have very much to say on this topic. This is the second reply I have made up today to this thread. The first one was lost due to a power outage. Am I having fun? Yup!http://cablelan.net/beemer/smileys/happyscrew.gif

Cheers!
(One little ending, list tag. Dang. Almost had a perfect post)

[Beemer]

Hey there Tekkitan,

How's your problem solving going?

Inquiring minds want to know...

Cheers!

[Tekkitan]

oh yeah sorry. i tried the 6.52 drivers, there isnt freezeing every time i start the game, but it freezes every once in a while. it's better. now my cable modem is down and cant do anything (i'm at school).

thanks for all your help, more ideas are welcome

[Beemer]

Another thing you could check on is your resource usage. How many background and foreground processes do you have running? Remove any program from your Start Up folder that isn't necessary, trim your Services, set the preferences or options on any program that wants to start when you boot Windows. Since WinY2K doesn't have msconfig, you can find the running programs by going into the registry:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Run

If you double click an entry on the right you deem as not needed when Windows loads, hit your Home key and place a semi-colon at the front of the data value. This doesn't remove the item, just modifies it so it won't load.

Here's an example of what I have setup for Services:

Beemer's Services List (http://cablelan.net/beemer/services_list.gif)

Cheers!