IRQ's

[CocoPops]

Hi Guys,

I have little problem, I am lacking in IRQ's any ideas. Here is current config

TMC TI5-VGF with AMD K6-3 400
Voodoo 3 3000
SCSI card
SB Live Value
Diamond Internal 56k Modem.

And now I have run out of IRQ's!!!!

I want to add a network card to this, but I don't think I can.

The motherboard has 6 PCI slots, but I can't see any way of populating them if I have no IRQ's left. ideas??

Lee
aka CocoPops

[scotter]

check your com ports if one is not being used you can disable it in the bios there by freeing it's IRQ if i remember right if your using a ps/2 mouse it does not use a com so com 1 should be free ? same for key board if you have usb ports you could go to a few usb devices you cna also get network setups that use the usb port just a thought

[CocoPops]

Thanks Scotter,

I had totally forgotten about the Com Ports.

As I have a PS2 mouse and an internal modem, I could disable both I guess, would this free up two IRQ's, or do they share one??

Thanks,
Lee.

[Peter M]

Hi,

due to the way PCI and AGP work, there never will be more than four system IRQs going to PCI or AGP stuff. You will get IRQ sharing as soon as you have more than four devices on those busses (including onboard integrated stuff like USB, sound, etc.).

PCI specification demands that cards and drivers handle IRQ sharing correctly. THIS IS NOT A CONFLICT. However, PCI soundcards emulating ISA soundcards usually don't like sharing theirs, and so do some LAN cards with poorly developped drivers. You must then move these into a slot where no sharing occurs.

Regards, Peter

[CocoPops]

I think that one of the main problems, is the SB Live card.

It uses "two" IRQ's I think, one for itself and one for its SB16 emulation, weird huh?? or normal.

Anyway, I'll try to disable the coms ports later tonight when I get home from work.

Lee.

[scotter]

ok well i just tryed it with mine and it freed up 2 irq's it moved my modem irq's to where the com's where and I had to reconfigure my modem in dial up propertys for my conection wizard but othere than that every thing is working gr* and I now have 2 free IRQ's where before I had none like you

[This message has been edited by scotter (edited 12-04-1999).]

[Peter M]

CocoPops,

you need to set the IRQ and DMA resources that the SBLive drivers use for the SB16 emulation to "ISA/EISA" in BIOS Setup (usually an IRQ and one or two DMA channels), and set "PnP aware OS" to "No". That way, BIOS will not use these resources, and once Windows loads the emulation software, they will still be available. (And the PnP OS No switch will keep Windows from messing with the configuration itself.)

Side note, this needs to be done for many PCI sound cards that do software emulation of ISA sound cards and use separate IRQ and DMA resources for that. C-Media's 8338 and 8738, found on many boards these days, are also guilty of doing this ...

Regards, Peter

[Millerman]

Hello Me ode mate!

I have just installed my new board, from your recommendation, and have found I have exactly the same problem as you with exactly the same soundcard, the Creative soundblaster live 1024! Spooky or what. Although the system is working great, and a tremedous improvement on my old 233, I would like to clear-up this conflict. Please let me know if you manage it and let give me some details to solve it.

I would like to thank you for recommending the board, its the first I have installed ever, and it spun-up first time!!!!!

Millerman

[crin]

Hi,
I had a problem with conflicting IRQ's
untill i read your comments. While
i was going to free up my com 2 irq
i noticed that lpt2 was enabled..
CocoPops..Check in power mangement
to see if that is a case in your
situation.. Thanks fellas!!!

[crin]

Hi,
I had a problem with conflicting IRQ's
untill i read your comments. While
i was going to free up my com 2 irq
i noticed that lpt2 was enabled..
CocoPops..Check in power mangement
to see if that is a case in your
situation.. Thanks fellas!!!