IRQ Problem?

[Fishy007]

Hi Guys,
I'm having some odd problems with USB ports and my DVD Drive. Generally the computer is stable, but if I attach a storage device via USB or use my DVD drive, the computer starts to stutter. If I'm listening to music in iTunes or just watching an avi file, things will freeze or start to stutter.

I thought the problem might be the IRQ of the sound card as it was shared with one of the USB items. I moved the card to another PCI slot and now it has its own IRQ, but the problems persist. Looking at the IRQ list I see odd things like the video card sharing an IRQ with USB ports and the DVD drive controller. Is there any way to change the IRQ manually like in the good ol' days? Or is it all automatic?

Thanks

 

[corkyg]

Don't believe that is an IRQ problem. Sounds more like a CPU multitasking or memory problem.

 

[Fishy007]

Memory tests fine and the CPU is brand new.

 

[Oyeve]

Is your DVD drive on the same IDE chain as your boot drive?

 

[Fishy007]

Nope. DVD is on an IDE controller by itself and the HDs are all SATA in ACHI mode.

 

[MichaelD]

Originally posted by: Fishy007
Nope. DVD is on an IDE controller by itself and the HDs are all SATA in ACHI mode.

What's ACHI mode? Is your DVD drive jumpered for Master and not Cable Select? Many drives and motherboards arent' happy with the CS setting.

 

[Fishy007]

Never been happy with the CS setting myself. I always use Master on the DVD drive when it's alone on a channel.
As for AHCI, it's an enhanced SATA mode. I tried disabling it, but things were much slower.