BIOS writing/reading illegal IO port

[Valurei]

I just reinstalled XP after a long HD problem. Was forced to use backup HD as main (that is not the problem, just backstory).

My comp is stable as can be, unless I run certain things, so far it seems to be limited to media, then it freezes.

EX: I'll play media or mpg (video clip, avi, mp3, etc.) in Windows Media, after about 6 or so minutes it freezes.

It also happens when I use any other program ~watching DVDs in PowerDVD, Winamp, anything.

The event log, logs

"AMLI: ACPI BIOS is attempting to read from an illegal IO port address (0xcfc), which lies in the 0xcf8 - 0xcff protected address range. This could lead to system instability. Please contact your system vendor for technical assistance.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp."

There is also the sister messege,
"AMLI: ACPI BIOS is attempting to write to an illegal IO port address (0xcf8), which lies in the 0xcf8 - 0xcff protected address range. This could lead to system instability. Please contact your system vendor for technical assistance."

(They actually occur in the opposite order I posted, but I don't think it matters, they relate to eachother)

When I go to the link I get,

Product: Windows Operating System
ID: 4
Source: ACPI
Version: 5.2
Symbolic Name: ACPI_ERR_AMLI_ILLEGAL_IO_READ_FATAL
Message: %2: ACPI BIOS is attempting to read from an illegal IO port address (%3), which lies in the %4 protected address range. This could lead to system instability. Please contact your system vendor for technical assistance.

Explanation
The system BIOS attempted to incorrectly access hardware resources concurrently with the operating system. This type of access cannot be synchronized and can cause system instability.


User Action
Contact the system vendor for an updated BIOS and follow the vendor's instructions for installation.

I BIOS is fully updated to the extent that my MoBo manufacturer provides (FIC AZ11- VDA44, stop laughing). I updated all the drivers for everything on my system. Still does it.

I don't know if it helps, or I'm giving away system info (frankly I dont' care), but the box at the bottom of the event properties window gives this data:

(In Bytes)
0000: 00 00 00 00 04 00 52 00 ......R.
0008: 00 00 00 00 04 00 05 c0 .......À
0010: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0018: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0020: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........

(In Words)
0000: 00000000 00520004 00000000 c0050004
0010: 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
0020: 00000000 00000000

A little more (probably) useless info:
Type: Error
Source: ACPI
Category: None
Event Id: 4

ALL HELP IS APPRECIATED

 

[Peter]

The ACPI BIOS is attempting to read configuration registers from a PCI device. (CF8 and CFC are index and data registers used for this purpose.) I'm rather surprised this causes a protection fault; but it looks like you'll either need an OS patch or a BIOS update. If XP still does that with all patches applied, your last resort is to disable ACPI in system BIOS and do a full reinstall of the OS again.

 

[Valurei]

I also posted this in a couple microsoft usenet groups, one guy there said that an older Windows might be a viable option too. This would be ok as I have Win2000 lying around and 98SE (God forbid).

Although I only mention that because I am, at this time, not sure if I know how to disable the ACPI. I only say this cause I don't ever recall noticing Enable/Disable for ACPI, let alone ACPI, and I've spent waaaaay more tiem in my BIOS than anyone would ever want to.

I might as well ask, even though I'm checking it out right now, so is it difficult to disable the ACPI or is it nice & clearly listed like: ACPI Enable[Disable], is it spelled out (Advanced Configuration Power Interface), or actually called something totally different.

Its safe to assume that I won't be able to find it myself.

 

[Valurei]

All right, I just went into BIOS , found the ACPI control, Disabled it, and found outthe Windows won't start without it enabled. Won't start normally, in sfae mode w/ networking/ command prompt, or normal safe mode.

Do I need to choose whether ACPI is enabled or disabled before I install OS?
Do I need to completely reinstall XP after disableing ACPI?
Anyone know if disableing ACPI might contirbute to instability in another way, or have some other adverse reaction? If so, I'll just try putting 2000 on and see if it works with ACPI enabled, though I'd rather need to reinstall as little (0x) as possible.

THX for all suggestions, opinions, speculation

 

[Steve]

As Peter said, if you do disable ACPI, you will need to do a full reinstall. ACPI is a HAL (Hardware Abstraction Layer); if you tell Windows it can no longer interact with your hardware this way, it won't know what to do. Start from scratch.

I wouldn't expect 2000 to work if XP won't with ACPI on (or off), since they're based on the same kernel.

 

[User1001]

Is this the right forum?

 

[Steve]

Sure. Why not?