Juggling my IRQ?s

[Scee]

Because my system is so unstable WarCon suggested getting my vid card off IRQ 11 - but all the others are filled. What do you suggest I shift around so the my video can sit fat and happy and hopefully get rid of this awful instability? Thanks.


0 System timer
1 Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural Keyboard
2 Programmable interrupt controller
3 Communications Port (COM2)
4 Communications Port (COM1)
5 Philips Rhythmic Edge Audio
5 ACPI IRQ Holder for PCI IRQ Steering
6 Standard Floppy Disk Controller
7 Printer Port (LPT1)
8 System CMOS/real time clock
9 SCI IRQ used by ACPI bus
10 MPU-401 Compatible
11 VIA Tech 3038 PCI to USB Universal Host Controller
11 VIA Tech 3038 PCI to USB Universal Host Controller
11 VIA Tech 3038 PCI to USB Universal Host Controller
11 Linksys LNE100TX Fast Ethernet Adapter(LNE100TX v4)
11 NVIDIA GeForce2 GTS/GeForce2 Pro
11 ACPI IRQ Holder for PCI IRQ Steering
11 ACPI IRQ Holder for PCI IRQ Steering
12 PS/2 Compatible Mouse Port
13 Numeric data processor
14 Primary IDE controller (dual fifo)
14 VIA Bus Master PCI IDE Controller
15 Secondary IDE controller (dual fifo)
15 VIA Bus Master PCI IDE Controller

 

[corkyg]

Well, just a suggestion. I see you have two Com ports active - most people only need one - shut one down in BIOS and gain 1 IRQ. Next, run your printer on a USB port and close down LPT1 as well. Another IRQ saved. If you are using a USB mouse, you can also shut down the PS/2 port in BIOS and save a 3rd IRQ.

 

[KillerCow]

I agree with the previous poster.
Shut down those serial ports if you are not using them, same thing with the LPT and PS2.

 

[JustinLerner]

Since you are using ACPI, you cannot manually juggle or re-assign IRQ's that will stick to any device. In Windows 2000/XP, upon install and setup, ACPI settings are set for each device by the OS and will not change even if you attempt to manually set them to different values. Like the above two posts, the best way to help your system ONLY for new or different devices which are to be installed is to eliminate devices using IRQ's by shutting them down in MB BIOS.

BTW, I hate ACPI so I either disable ACPI or use the older APM always. Unfortunately, Wake on LAN or Wake on Ring work best with ACPI, but that is the tradeoff. With APM you can manually set IRQ's in MB BIOS and the OS will accept the BIOS input when it reboots.

The only way you can change to an APM setup over ACPI is by reinstalling Windows 2000/XP and pressing the F5 or F6 key when prompted. Select the Standard PC type, not ACPI.

---
So what is your OS? What are your instability symptoms?
Some problems can be caused by faulty memory or other devices.

 

[WarCon]

Justin, can't you assign IRQ's to slots in ACPI? My 4G4A+ still has this feature and I am not sure that I can turn ACPI off in bios.

I hated ACPI and never used it until WinXP and my P4 and now it is uses virtual IRQ's like IRQ 18, 19, 23 so I don't care......

..................edit....................
I tried to use those features on my mobo and wow what a waste of options in bios.......... They caused intense havoc because every slot had a motherboard feature tied to it like the SMBus (which stopped my MBM and freaked out my HID devices. You will probably have to do it Justins way for those devices not to share.

 

[JustinLerner]

You cannot manually set IRQ's in BIOS when using ACPI. This is the way ACPI works in both hardware and software, since IRQ's are predominantly set by by the OS.

The only way to manually set IRQ's in BIOS is when using either APM or no power managment capabilities at all.

BTW, the higher IRQ's are not a function of the BIOS or ACPI, but of the Intel chipset and CPU. More specifically, you can get IRQ's upto 50 when using SMP setups because Intel has used an APIC (Asynchronoush Programmable Interrupt Controller) for SMP systems for years, but only used a PIC for single CPU chipsets. APIC or higher IRQ's works regardless of OS (Windows and version, DOS, Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris for Intel, etc) but may be dependant upon ACPI. However, not all hardware (PCI, AGP) cards like sound cards, Ethernet, video, special editing hardware, etc are able to accomodate higher IRQ's since their drivers are primarily designed for lower IRQ's. Hence, if your device accepts a higher IRQ the system will function, but the device may have more problems.

---
BTW, there is nothing wrong with devices sharing IRQ's unless multiple programs attempt to access the same device with same IRQ at the same time. IRQ sharing works much better under the Intel APIC than the PIC. If the PC is buggy, then IRQ's may be part of the problem, but something else is probably the real problem.

---

Here's an example from my PC with AGP card set to IRQ 10 in BIOS, Ethernet set to 11, and Sound card set to IRQ 5.

******************** IRQ SUMMARY ********************

IRQ Usage Summary:
(ISA) 0 System timer
(ISA) 1 PC/AT Enhanced PS/2 Keyboard (101/102-Key)
(ISA) 3 U.S. Robotics 56K Voice INT PnP
(PCI) 5 Intel 82371AB/EB PCI to USB Universal Host Controller
(PCI) 5 Santa Cruz(tm)
(ISA) 6 Standard floppy disk controller
(ISA) 8 System CMOS/real time clock
(PCI) 10 3Dlabs Oxygen VX1
(PCI) 11 Intel(R) PRO/100+ Server Adapter
(ISA) 12 Microsoft PS/2 Mouse
(ISA) 13 Numeric data processor
(ISA) 14 Primary IDE Channel
(ISA) 15 Secondary IDE Channel

 

[Scee]

Thanks y'all. I can clear out one of the com ports (printer is parallel and my mouse is PS/2). I'm in 98se, and I think I can manually shut off ACPI. Can I just remove the repeated items (on the same IRG) as well?

Yeah, there may be some other problem, but I'm just hoping this will work so I can stay away from replacing hardware. Appreciate it, and let me know if you've got some more ideas.

Erat

 

[Scee]

just wondering - I won't send my system over the edge the minute I disable ACPI since I have shared devices, will I?

 

[WarCon]

Backup up all important data and give it a try..........

 

[GAZZA]

I have changed from ACPI to Standard PC , luckily everything worked fine upon reboot and I gained quite a few fps in Q3A timedemo's but as Warcon suggests make sure you backup all your data first !

 

[JustinLerner]

I don't know if Windows 98 will accomplish what you want, but you can try.

Just changing the BIOS setting from ACPI to standard wont' work in conjuction with Windows 2000/XP because they incorporate hardware abstraction layers (HAL) at the kernel level that must be changed by an OS reinstallation.

Best wishes and good luck

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BTW, system stability is MUCH better in Windows NT/2000/XP than in Windos 9x/ME. Windows NT4 is especially stable and resilient, but you can't play most games on it and it's quite old (ca 1996.) However, NT 4 can run on a 486 with 32MB RAM.
Only get Windows XP if you want to play games though. XP access to the HD through FAT32 and DOS is not recommended since there are significant and important security advantages to using NTFS over FAT32. However, if you upgrade, I would probably leave the file system intact as FAT32.