how do you manually set an IRQ on A7N8X?!?

[bjork]

when i booted my system (see sig for specs) with my IRQ / PCI settings set to "auto", this would happen:

pic1

looking in my BIOS (v.1003 for A7N8X Deluxe), i see this screen for IRQ setting options:

pic2

not very helpful.... i'm not sure how this BIOS works for allocating IRQs... usually i'm used to seeing "PCI slot 1 = IRQ5, PCI slot 2 = IRQ7" etc etc... in this BIOS, each IRQ has two settings, the one shown and a dropdown titled "reserved". so if i set IRQ 5 to "reserve", this happens on next boot:

pic3

if i reserve 5 AND 11, they all go to 9.

how do i isolate a specific IRQ for a specific PCI slot? i'm not an idiot, but i'm beginning to feel like one....

and don't tell me RTFM... i did. this is what i get for managing IRQs:


pic4


can anyone tell me how to set "the audigy in pci slot 3 gets IRQ7!!!"?

 

[BFG10K]

If you're running a Windows 2000/XP machine with ACPI enabled then the OS controls the IRQs and resources, not the BIOS. What you see in the boot screen is irrelevant.

There's nothing you can do about it unless you reinstall Windows with your system set to standard PC (either through the BIOS or with an installation switch).

Nice pictures.

 

[squidman]

Major mobo trip. Defective mobo. You SHOULD NOT have to do this on your mobo! It MUST do it by itself!!! Faults like yors are 1 out of 15000, but they do exist (machinery that makes mobo is pretty precise).
Exchange the darn thing if you can!
Good luck!

Also make sure when installing the mobo that it isnt mishandled - ie statical discharges, mech shocks, etc.

 

[squidman]

Major mobo trip. Defective mobo. You SHOULD NOT have to do this on your mobo! It MUST do it by itself!!! Faults like yors are 1 out of 15000, but they do exist (machinery that makes mobo is pretty precise).
Exchange the darn thing if you can!
Good luck!

Also make sure when installing the mobo that it isnt mishandled - ie statical discharges, mech shocks, etc.

 

[squidman]

And what he sees in the boot up screen is still relevant. When you have no OS - it shows you which devices use what HARDWARE assigned IRQ. Thats when we install new components we refer to irq screen - so there would be no 2 devices using the same IRQ (except for those that "share")

 

[mechBgon]

First of all, I suggest disabling the onboard audio, gameport and MIDI if you're not going to use them. Secondly, are you actually having a problem that seems to point to IRQ issues? Thirdly, slots 2 and 4 are the ones that don't share their IRQs with other PCI/AGP slots (see page 17 for the table), so I'd be putting the Audigy2 in one of those slots and let it handle things automatically.

If I get a chance I'll poke around in my A7N8X-Deluxe's BIOS tomorrow, but it doesn't need help to work right... I've got an Ultra160 SCSI controller in slot #4 and it certainly works fine.

 

[bjork]

are you actually having a problem that seems to point to IRQ issues?

yeah, i actually hadn't noticed it at all until i DID start to have problems... right around the time i decided to get a new soundcard (audigy2) to replace the onboard soundstorm chipset.

my once rock solid box has been going downhill since then. THAT's when i was going to try and set an IRQ manually, and THAT's when i noticed the strangeness with the IRQs.... i hadn't bothered with it earlier since everything was working fine.

as it stands now, i have only 2 PCI cards installed: slot 3 is my audigy2, and slot 5 is my adaptec 19160 u160 card. every onboard component except for my nforce NIC is disabled (sound, midi, 3com NIC, etc). i still get consistant lockups, though...

i'm staring down the barrel of a clean format as i type this, wondering wether or not to pull the trigger. :brokenheart:

 

[mechBgon]

Maybe try slots 2 and 4 with automatic IRQ assignment and see if the system stabilizes. You got SATA disabled? If not, do that too (unless you need it).

 

[bjork]

i'll try that... will post back if problems continue...