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Help! I can't find ah answer!!!!

Hi all, I posted a few days ago message about PCI Slot 5 IRQ problems. It seems that I have found a lead. PCI 5 doesn't support Bus mastering. I assume that cards with bus mastering capabilities won't work in that slot. Now here is the question : I have 5 cards with bus mastering option, CAN I DISABLE THIS OPTION ON ONE OF THESE CARDS?????
Or may be you having another idea?
Here is the link to my previous message: http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/For...ML/009397.html
Thanks A LOT for help.
Mike.

Mike;

Sorry to see you're not getting any help with this problem.

I'm not an expert on the PCI Bus, but I can offer a few ideas. I don't think that the bus mastering ability of a PCI device is dependant on the PCI card, it does however; require a driver that supports PCI bus mastering. I think that the mobo's chipset is what determines how many and which PCI slots are capable of bus mastering. It may be possible, in the Bios, to assign an IRQ to PCI 5 so that it does not share with other devices. You could also check if there is a updated PCI Bus Mastering driver for you motherboard.

One other thing I noticed; in your other message, you stated that PNP OS is set to YES. I think that this is ordinarily set to NO; at least it is on all my Windows 9.x systems. Again, I'm not sure of the implications of changing the PNP OS option, but it could have some affect on your ability to control your system settings.

Hope this little ^bump^ gets you the help you need from some of our more knowledgeable members. http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

PS. if your up for a little reading http://grafi.ii.pw.edu.pl/gbm/matrox/pciagp.html

[This message has been edited by Fingers (edited 09-04-2000).]

Thanks a lot! Bur it seems that bus master card won't work in that slot http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/frown.gif .
Thanks anyway for help http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif .
Mike.

Please tell me what you mean by a *bus master card*
The motherboard has the support for bus mastering on chip. PCI cards in and of themselves have nothing to do with turning bus mastering on or off.I have never seen,or heard of any motherboard that would allow you to turn on or off an individual pci slot.
So no you can't disable busmastering on an individual pci slot.Your motherboard might have 3PCI and 2ISA slots and the PCI slots are busmastered. Is the slot longer than the card? Is it a different color? Are you putting a PCI card in a combo PCI/ ISA slot?

Spark25: Run SiS Soft Sandra 2000 and look at PCI&AGP Bus section.
I am not a specialist, but I suppose that "Bus mastering" is an interface for transferring data over the bus and to the memory.When you say PCI Slot "supports" that interface it means that THE CARD in that slot will be able to use "Bus mastering" functions (that board provide) to transfer data. Now think about this situation http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif , card putted in PCI slot knows to communicate with the bus ONLY by using those "Bus mastering" functions, but unfortunately the slot DOESN'T support this interface - so what happens, right card goes crazy http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif. What do you think am I right?

So we are all on the same page:

Quote:

Bus Mastering
Refers to a feature supported by some bus architectures that enables a controller connected to the bus to communicate directly with other devices on the bus without going through the CPU. Most modern bus architectures, including PCI, support bus mastering because it improves performance.

http://webopedia.internet.com/TERM/b/bus_mastering.html

Quote:

Bus mastering
Bus mastering is a feature of PCI bus which may be implemented by any PCI device (like disk controller, graphics controller or sound card). Bus mastering allows the device to control the bus and perform (initiate) any read/write transaction to the other devices on PCI bus or to the system memory. These transactions are performed independdently of the main CPU, so they are using only bus time, but not CPU time. Bus mastering transactions are not any faster than regular transactions performed by the CPU. The advantage of bus mastering is that once the controler is programmed to perform some data transfer or to fetch a sequence of commands, no further CPU action is needed until the controller completes its task. Usually the interrupt mechanism is used to inform the CPU that bus master completed its operation.

In case of graphics controllers, PCI bus mastering is used for two main purposes:

-Transfering image data from system memory to video memory - this may include transfers of images and textures which will by used in future image generation.

-Fetching the graphics commands ("display lists") from system memory. In this case the CPU (under the control of graphics driver) prepares the sequence of command primitives and places it somewhere in system memory. Then the comand is sent to the graphics controller which instruct it to fetch and execute the sequence of commands starting from a given address in system memory. The CPU may then work on the next scene, while the current scene is drawn by the graphics controller.

Note that bus mastering is a feature of the graphics card and its driver which may or may not be used in a given system. Bus mastering enhances performance, but in some systems it may negatively influence the operation of some devices on PCI bus. Any properly configured system should not have any problems with bus mastering.

Also note, that no "bus mastering driver" must be used to enable bus mastering for a graphics controller. The term "bus mastering driver" for a given motherboard refers to only disk controller bus mastering driver (as disk controller is a part of a motherboard). Bus mastering of a graphics card is controlled only by its own driver.

http://grafi.ii.pw.edu.pl/gbm/matrox/pciagp.html

My understanding is that PCI Bus Mastering is not a different way for PCI devices to communicate, but rather a method that allows the communication to occur more efficiently. It does not appear to be dependant on the individual PCI card, but rather on the motherboard configuration.

I would say that your problem is more likely the result of conflicting IRQ's rather than a problem with bus mastering. If you are certain that the problem only occurs with PCI slot 5 regardless of what card is in it, then I would configure my system so that the card in slot 5 doesn't share an IRQ with anything else.

If you include the specifications of your system (including model numbers) we may be able to diagnose the problem more accurately.

[This message has been edited by Fingers (edited 09-08-2000).]

Hi fingers! Thanks a lot for help! But ...
"...Bus mastering is a feature of PCI bus which may be IMPLEMENTED BY ANY PCI DEVICE (like disk controller, graphics controller or sound card)..." - It is exactly what I mean - it is an interface which may be implemented , and may not. So I think that yours conclusion is wrong. Option for "Bus mastering" feature must be provided by the board, BUT USE of this feature implemented by PCI device.
I appreciate your help, I WISH YOU WERE RIGHT!
Here is the info you asked:

<<< Mainboard Information >>>
-----------------------------
< System Chipset >
System Chipset: Intel Corporation 82443BX/ZX 440BX/ZX CPU to PCI
Bridge (AGP Implemented)
Front Side Bus Speed: 100MHz
ACPI Support: Yes
SMBus/i2c Support: 3 channel(s)
Board Manufacter: Lucky-Star

<<< CPU & BIOS Information >>>
------------------------------
<< System BIOS >>
< System BIOS >
Manufacturer: Award
Version: Award Modular BIOS v4.51PG
Date: 05/05/99
Plug & Play Version: 1.00
ID No.: FC 01 00
Bios Signon: 05/05/1999-i440ZX-W977-2A69KL1AC-04
Mainboard Chipset: Intel 440BX/ZX rev 3

<<< PCI & AGP Buses Information >>>
-----------------------------------
<< Buses Information >>
< PCI & AGP Buses >
Interface Version: 2.10

<< Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 EIDE Controller >>
< Device Information >
Device Type: EIDE Mass Storage Controller
Device ID: Device 7h on bus 1 F1
Windows Device Name: Intel 82371AB/EB PCI Bus Master IDE Controller
OEM Device Name: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 EIDE Controller
OEM Hardware ID: FUN_1, VEN_8086, DEV_7111
Revision / Stepping: A / 2 (1)
IRQ Line: 14
I/O Port: 0170
IRQ Line: 15
Dynamic Management: Yes

<< Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 USB Controller >>
< Device Information >
Device Type: Universal Serial Bus Controller
Device ID: Device 7h on bus 1 F2
Windows Device Name: Intel 82371AB/EB PCI to USB Universal Host Controller
OEM Device Name: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 USB Controller
OEM Hardware ID: FUN_2, VEN_8086, DEV_7112
Revision / Stepping: A / 2 (1)

< Device Properties >
Latency Timer: 32 clocks
I/O Access: Yes
Memory Access: No
Bus Master Capable: Yes
IRQ Line: 3

<< Macronix International Co Ltd MX98715/25 Fast Ethernet Adapter >>
< Device Information >
Device Type: Ethernet Network Adapter
Device ID: Device 8h on bus 1 F0
Windows Device Name: Macronix MX98715 Family Fast Ethernet Adapter (ACPI)
OEM Device Name: Macronix International Co Ltd MX98715/25 Fast
Ethernet Adapter
OEM Hardware ID: FUN_0, VEN_10D9, DEV_0531
Revision / Stepping: C / 1 (32)

< Device Properties >
Line Cache Size: 8 bytes
Latency Timer: 32 clocks
I/O Access: Yes
Memory Access: Yes
Bus Master Capable: Yes
I/O Port: E400
Memory Address: EF101000
IRQ Line: 11

<< Motorola SM56 PCI Speakerphone Modem >>
< Device Information >
Device Type: Other Communication Device
Device ID: Device 9h on bus 1 F0
Windows Device Name: Motorola SM56 PCI Speakerphone Modem
OEM Device Name: Motorola SM56 PCI Modem
OEM Hardware ID: FUN_0, VEN_1057, DEV_5600
Product Device Name: Motorola SM56 PCI Speakerphone Modem
Product Hardware ID: VEN_1057, DEV_0300
Revision / Stepping: A / 1 (0)

< Device Properties >
Latency Timer: 32 clocks
I/O Access: No
Memory Access: Yes
Bus Master Capable: Yes
Memory Address: EF100000
IRQ Line: 10
INT Pin: A#

<< Ensoniq (Creative) Creative Sound Blaster AudioPCI64V, AudioPCI128 >>
< Device Information >
Device Type: Audio Multimedia Device
Device ID: Device Ah on bus 1 F0
Windows Device Name: Creative VIBRA 128
OEM Device Name: Ensoniq (Creative) ES1371, ES1373 AudioPCI
OEM Hardware ID: FUN_0, VEN_1274, DEV_1371
Revision / Stepping: A / 7 (6)

< Device Properties >
Latency Timer: 64 clocks
I/O Access: Yes
Memory Access: No
Bus Master Capable: Yes
I/O Port: E800
IRQ Line: 4

<< Sigma Designs Inc REALmagic Hollywood Plus MPEG2 DVD Decoder >>
< Device Information >
Device Type: Other Multimedia Device
Device ID: Device Bh on bus 1 F0
Windows Device Name: REALmagic Hollywood Plus
OEM Device Name: Sigma Designs Inc REALmagic Hollywood Plus MPEG2 DVD
Decoder
OEM Hardware ID: FUN_0, VEN_1105, DEV_8300
Revision / Stepping: A / 2 (1)

< Device Properties >
Latency Timer: 32 clocks
I/O Access: No
Memory Access: Yes
Bus Master Capable: Yes
Memory Address: EF000000
IRQ Line: 3

<< Brooktree Corp Bt848 Mediastream Controller >>
< Device Information >
Device Type: Video Multimedia Device
Device ID: Device Ch on bus 1 F0
Windows Device Name: Bt848 Video Capture Device
OEM Device Name: Brooktree Corp Bt848 Mediastream Controller
OEM Hardware ID: FUN_0, VEN_109E, DEV_0350
Revision / Stepping: B / 3 (18)

< Device Properties >
Latency Timer: 32 clocks
I/O Access: No
Memory Access: Yes
Bus Master Capable: Yes
IRQ Line 4

<<< Hardware IRQ Settings >>>
--------------------------------------

0: System timer
1: Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural Keyboard
2: Programmable interrupt controller
3: Intel 82371AB/EB PCI to USB Universal Host Controller
3: IRQ Holder for PCI Steering
3: REALmagic Hollywood Plus
4: Creative VIBRA 128
4: IRQ Holder for PCI Steering
4: Bt848 Video Capture Device
6: Standard Floppy Disk Controller
7: Printer Port (LPT1)
8: System CMOS/real time clock
10: IRQ Holder for PCI Steering
10: Motorola SM56 PCI Speakerphone Modem
11: 3dfx Voodoo3
11: IRQ Holder for PCI Steering
11: Macronix MX98715 Family Fast Ethernet Adapter (ACPI)
12: PS/2 Compatible Mouse Port
13: Numeric data processor
14: Intel 82371AB/EB PCI Bus Master IDE Controller
14: Primary IDE controller (dual fifo)
15: Intel 82371AB/EB PCI Bus Master IDE Controller
15: Secondary IDE controller (dual fifo)