IRQ problems with Windows 2000 Pro

[ericd]

I have tried time and time again to install Windows 2000 Pro on my computer but everytime it is unstable as can ever be imagined. I believe the problem is related to Win2K routing 7, thats right 7, devises to IRQ 11. These devises include: Video Card, Sound Card, NIC Card, my 2 SCSI cards, and 2 USB devises (I think it's the USB controller on the motherboard). Of course Windows 2000 doesn't see this as a problem and since it only lets you manually remap IRQ's if there is a problem I can't manually change them either. I even tried uninstalling and reinstalling the devices which results in it putting them on a different IRQ for one boot, then throwing them back on 11 on the very next boot. I would really love to be able to put Win2K on this machine cause I love the OS (I have it on my other machine and my laptop from work).

I need to know if anyone knows how to force Win2k to allow you to manually remap IRQ's without it detecting a conflict first.

Thanks,

Eric

This is my system setup just in case anyone knows of issues with any of these components:

PIII 600 OC'd to 800
256 MB of Crucial PC133 Ram
Abit VT6X4 motherboard
Diamond Viper V770 non-Ultra
Sound Blaster Live (original not Platinum)
Netgear 310TX NIC card
Promise Simple SCSI card
Adaptec 2903B SCSI card
Maxtor +40 40 GB hard drive
Toshiba 40x CD-Rom
HP 9210 SCSI CD-RW

 

[GAZZA]

It's ACPI ... Windows' power management control system. I'll tell you a way to have your IRQ's back, but prepare to have some install disks ready. It won't format, but all your hardware will be rescanned and reinstalled.

Go to Control panel / System / Hardware.
Click on "Device Manager".
Double click "Computer", then right click "Advanced Configuration blablabla".
Go to Driver, then click on "update driver".
Click next.
Select "Display a list of blablabla".
Wait.
Click on "Show all hardware...".
Select Standard PC.
Now just follow the steps. After you reboot, all your hardware will be rescaned and stuff.


Some guy said that his Quake III performance doubled after this, mainly because his VGA card was sharing the same IRQ with sound/NIC/modem/usb stuff. >>

 

[ericd]

Thanks GAZZA, I will reload Win2K tomorrow (I reloaded Win98SE off a ghost image so I could actually use my computer) and try that. Hopefully it will work and you will be my new favorite person in the world.

Eric

 

[Floyd]

If you're going to have to reload Win2k to do it, might as well prevent ACPI from installing in the first place, to keep things cleaner. If you press F7 when the prompt 'Press F6 to load additional drivers' appears, it will install in standard PC mode which enables you to specify your IRQ's in the BIOS. When you press F7, it will not notify you that the key has been pressed, rather it silently triggers the change. See the MS Knowledgebase for more info.

Best regards,
Floyd

 

[kuk]

Hey GAZZA, I want credits for that one Ericd's new favorite person in the world should be me, not you

Muahahaha ... just spread the word out about IRQ sharing to everyone

 

[Kishkumen]

Hey Floyd thats a good tip. I always have had to install then reinstall everything after selecting Standard PC. That will save me tons of time. Thanks.

 

[ericd]

GAZZA just gets "very cool person" status for now....tried loading Win2k again and once I put it in Standard PC mode everything went to hell. IRQ issues were resolved sure enough, BUT I no longer had network connectivity and I got frequent (Error writing to memory address XXXXXXXXX (don't remember the various numbers) errors". Will try again with the F7 trick and see if all goes better that way. By the way is the computer not shutting itself off a normal side effect of this setting? Maybe my motherboard is screwed after all.

Eric

almost forgot..... kuk gets "very cool person" status as well

 

[G14]

Stacking multiple devices on one IRQ is a feture of Win2k, not a problem. I currently have my video card, sound card, network card, usb controller, 56k modem, and fire wire controller all in IRQ9! I play UT at 1024x768x32 at 50fps and Quake3 at 80fps.

A friend of mine who does Win2k support for Microsoft had this to say about IRQ sharing and Windows 2000.

*******************************************

<C¥BER PETE> this guy i work with thinks he's getting lag because he is
sharing irq's with his video card and nic card
<colby> haha!
<C¥BER PETE> i know in win2k it's not a prblem
<C¥BER PETE> is it a problem in 98?
<colby> in any OS it is not a problem
<colby> and here is why
<colby> there is a chip called the PIC
<colby> IRQ priority goes like this
<colby> 1-2-8-9-11-12-13-14-15-3-4-5-6-7-8-10
<colby> when all of his devices are stacked on 9 that is GOOD!
<colby> it is also has NOTHING TO DO WITH WINDOWS OR LINUX OR WHATEVER YOU
put on the system
<colby> it is the BIOS that assigns the IRQs
<C¥BER PETE> unless you turn it off right?
<colby> the BIOS stacks them all on 9 because it is a HIGH PRIORITY IRQ
<colby> if he moves a device to IRQ 10 take a look at where it ends up
<colby> you want as many on 9 as possible
<colby> all that are on 9 get equal priority
<colby> same goes with IRQ 11
<colby> the PIC handles all that without you ever having to worry about it
<colby> IRQ problems are old school
<colby> update the BIOS to the most current version and ALWAYS set PnP OS to
NO and disable ACPI in the bios -> especially if you are running W2k
<C¥BER PETE> this applies to 98 as well?
<colby> yes

******************************************

If your still having trouble I would recommend doing a format and clean install. But first make sure you disable ACPI in the bios and set PNP OS to NO.

Hope this helps!

 

[GAZZA]

KUK you got all the credit dood as i said in the other post tnx to you we are irq free

 

[ThurzNite]

Disable acpi and enable apm in bios, right?
Also, I thought it was F5 that is pressed during setup to get to the computer selection menu. Whatevers...My system is strange. MX300 always craps out after 3 mp3's, regardless of which player I use (real, winamp, media player). time to reformat....
Jay

 

[ericd]

Well either G14 is wrong or my motherboard is messed up. I set the bios to PnP OS not installed and even manually assigned IRQ's to each pci slot and it still assigns all devices IRQ 11. Maybe I'll try ONE more time tonight.

Eric