I/O address conflict, no others available. Update: Solved?!!!

[Jeff7]

Epox 8KTA3 motherboard, Win98SE. A TNT2 Vanta card and a System board extension for ACPI BIOS both want the same memory addresses, so I'm stuck in 16 colors. The Sys extension doesn't have a Disable option, and neither component will allow me to change any of the resource settings. Removing both, or just one at a time has no effect. Using the Reset ESCD data in BIOS, and the PnP OS options do nothing.
And this is funny: when I open the Hardware Troubleshooter, the program locks.

What caused this all? I popped the Vanta out and stuck in a TNT2 to resolve a cold boot problem. It didn't work, so without the system ever getting past the BIOS screen, I put the Vanta back in. No setting changes anywhere, but now it seems to think that it's never seen the Vanta again.
Need help soon, as this isn't my system - it's my dad's.

 

[Jeff7]

<Dr. Evil>Throw me a frickin' bone here!</Dr. Evil>

 

[Jeff7]

Anyone? Plz help; still stuck here. I've tried just about anything I can think of - resetting BIOS, removing some other devices that use I/O memory addresses to free up some so that Winblows could jumble them around, different driver versions....nothing. These components all worked just fine together before; don't know why they can't play nice now.

 

[zzzz]

reinstall via 4in1

 

[Jeff7]

Tried it already; no effect.

 

[Jeff7]

Just tried some more:
Went into Safe mode. Removed video card, anything installed by VIA, and the system board extension; then reinstalled the 4-in-1's, latest version. Rebooted. No effect.

Tried reserving the system resources used by the System board extension for BIOS; it still wanted those resources, as did the video card; so much for that.

I also updated the videocard BIOS and the motherboard BIOS; no effect.

Other curious thing here is that it is detecting 2 video cards. One is a Standard PCI graphics card, the other is a PCI/VGA graphics card. I only have a single vid card installed though.
However, the 2 devices it sees use different resources.

 

[Woody419]

First of all the "ACPI IRQ Holder for PCI IRQ Steering" is a normal part of Win 98 and does not effect the video card. The two video cards is more problematic.

Download and expand RegCleaner

Make sure you don't have a PCI card in slot 1, that can cause conflicts with the AGP card.

1.) Un-install the TNT drivers. You should to go to the website of the manufacturer of the card and see how to do a manual removal of the drivers just to make sure.
2.) Boot into Safe Mode. Obviously you missed a listing in Safe Mode, so do it all again and delete both cards.
3.) Re-boot, when windows finds a video card choose "Standard VGA"
4.) Run RegCleaner: Tools | Registry Cleanup | Do them All
4.) Still using the Standard VGA setting re-install the latest Via 4 in 1.
5.) Re-boot and then install the latest TNT drivers.

If you still have problems and/or the hardware troubleshooter still locks the system you will have to do a clean install of your OS.

 

[Jeff7]

<< First of all the "ACPI IRQ Holder for PCI IRQ Steering" is a normal part of Win 98 and does not effect the video card. The two video cards is more problematic. >>



It isn't "ACPI IRQ Holder for PCI IRQ Steering," it's "System board extension for ACPI BIOS."

Tried Regclean and Norton Windoctor already; no problems found.


I'll try all that though and report back.

 

[Jeff7]

There are no PCI devices in the 2 slots nearest the AGP card. BIOS confirmed that no other devices are sharing that slot (onboard sound that is) - it's on the one 2 slots away.

Step 1 done by first using the Add/Remove programs option, then deleted all remaining nvidia files from the drive; also used Detonator Destroyer then.

Step 2: All display adapters were already deleted.

Step 3: Windows has found "Standard PCI Graphics adapter"
Windows has also found "Standard PCI Graphics adapter (VGA)"
Using standard mode drivers for each...

Step 4: Done

Second Step 4: Done, however, upon reboot, it froze after it did the network login, and after it found all the VIA bridges, but before the desktop. Rebooted then.

Step 5: Display Adapter not configured properly; OK/Cancel.
Says for the monitor and adapter: (Unknown device) on (Unknown device).
Installed TNT2 drivers for the heck of it.

Rebooted. Still screwed up.
Geez, I just did a fresh install on this system a few weeks ago. I mean come on, I've gotten an installation of Win95 through 4 motherboards already! Intel to a VIA to a VIA to an ALi chipset! All I did here was swap a videocard...





The (VGA) card was already conflicting in standard mode; it's using the same memory range as that System board extension for ACPI BIOS.
Something else curious: the nonexistant vid card it detects is using IRQ 0. Not possible is it?

 

[Woody419]

Seem it would be quicker and easier to re-install Windows than to figure this one out. I have never seen two video cards detected when only one is installed. All cards removed in device manager; Windows installs 2 cards on reboot with only one card in AGP; Windows really confused.

Maybe by morning someone will have a good answer for this one.

Could be the TNT is finally dead.
I think your dad would really enjoy the visual quality upgrade of a Matrox card if he is not a gamer.

 

[Jeff7]

Yeah; think something got messed up somehow. Weird. It doesn't have onboard video either.

This problem occurrs with 2 different video cards too, so it's not just the card. I'll try to mess with the registry awhile, cause it doesn't seem like it'll get much worse.

 

[Jeff7]

Just wiped the Windows and Program Files directories and reinstalled Windows. Freshly booted to the desktop, and it already sees 2 video cards, and the one marked "PCI Standard (VGA)" already reports that there are no free I/O addresses.

 

[Boobers]

Are you positive that you flashed the correct BIOS?

I know you're having big problems and I don't want to frustrate you, but I would try reflashing the BIOS. Then I'd clear the BIOS (with the clear BIOS jumper) and then remove the CMOS battery for a few hours (take a break). Then reinstall the battery, boot to the BIOS screen, load default settings, shut down and reboot. Personally, it sounds to me like you've had a bad BIOS flash or the CMOS data has become corrupted somehow. Sometimes it helps to load the default values, save and reboot a few times.

 

[Bozo Galora]

Older card is not compliant with current ACPI HAL?
Reset bios to ACPI disabled
Reinstall windows (I assume Win 98) C:\ setup /p_i (no ACPI support)

i would not load 4 in 1, only old (5.32) detonators first to see

 

[Jeff7]

Well, it is possible for a corrupt BIOS, but 2 in a row? I was trying to solve this using the 10/19 dated BIOS, with no luck, so I flashed to the newest one (1/28) and it reported no errors. However, Windows was still stupid. I did try resetting the BIOS via the jumper, and using the default settings. I also tried enabling that "reset hardware ESCD" option with no effect.

I'm trying it right now with ACPI disabled in BIOS (another fresh reinstall now). The vid card should be compliant, as it's a TNT2, with the latest BIOS. Will keep everyone posted.

Update on the reinstall with ACPI disabled: now there's more conflicts. It still sees 2 video cards. However, now the vid card is not only conflicting with the System extension for BIOS, but is also conflicting with Motherboard Resources.
The System Extension and Motherboard Resources windows don't report any conflicts though, which is also weird. Only the video card reports conflicts.


Update BIOS thinks there's 2 display adapters too!!! Under the Pci devices window, where it allows you to assign IRQ's to certain slots, slot 1 has the Display adapter, but PCI slot 3 also has a display adapter listed!!! This motherboard does NOT have onboard video!

 

[Boobers]

I know you said the board doesn't have on-board video, but does the BIOS have a setting to "Disable on-board Video"? If so, disable it, though if it did have it you would have figured that out, already.

I just read about your cold boot problem, and I still think there is something wrong with your BIOS. Have you removed the CMOS battery for a few hours? You could also pull the BIOS chip out of the MB for a few hours.

Concerning flashing the BIOS, if you have a flaky floppy drive or floppy disk, you could have a corrupted BIOS in your vid card or your MB. I know that's not likely, but I'm just trying to throw out some ideas.

 

[Jeff7]

Nothing anywhere in BIOS concerning onboard video; nothing in the manual about it.


Tried removing the CMOS battery for awhile, which did clear it; no change in the conflict.

Haven't had any problems with the floppy drive. If there would be any problem with the flashed BIOSes, it would report a checksum error anyway, which it didn't.

I'm considering contacting Epox and seeing if they would replace the motherboard; I've never seen a motherboard detect hardware that doesn't exist in the system.

 

[Boobers]

I've never seen that either. Maybe RMA is the way to go...

 

[MadRat]

Did you do as the guy in the other thread suggested and try a higher rated powersupply?

 

[Sunner]

1: Buy Matrox G400/450/550
2: Install Matrox card
3: Get hold of Win2K
4: Install Win2K
5: Install Matrox drivers
6: Everyone be happy.

 

[Jeff7]

<< Did you do as the guy in the other thread suggested and try a higher rated powersupply? >>



Not yet, as that was probably just to solve the cold boot problem. Plus it's a 300W PSU; I'll have to try another brand I guess. It was working fine for well over a month on the PSU it has in right now; right up until last week when I tried a different video card.


Sorry Sunner, getting that stuff is a bit out of the budget right now.

 

[Jeff7]

Think it might be solved. I e-mailed Epox with a detailed description of the problem, and within and HOUR they send me a list of things to try. Did them, and it works so far. Was the usual and simple stuff I forgot: remove all non-essentials. Removed the NIC and modem, reseated CPU, and moved RAM to a different slot. No more mystery display adapter. Weird.

Oh, did I mention: EPOX TECH SUPPORT IS GREAT!!!!
Not many other motherboard makers reply to e-mails, and those that do usually take a long time and aren't helpful. I e-mailed them already about a possible corrupt BIOS file on their website; they replied within 5 minutes!

 

[MadRat]

<<Removed the NIC and modem, reseated CPU, and moved RAM to a different slot.>>
I could have sworn you had said that you did that already.

 

[Jeff7]

Where did I say that? Similar stuff maybe; not that though.