Keeping dialup modem, which slot to put NIC in? Then, do I just disable the d.u. modem in Hardware Mgr?.

[MichaelD]

Self explanatory, but I'll explain anyway. I have an Abit KT7R mobo. Currently, I'm using PCI slots 2 (soundcard), and 4 (dialup) This has avoided all the deadly PCI conflicts that seem to plague Abit users. I've had no conflicts at all and everything runs fine.

When I get DSL next week (at least that's when I'm supposedbe getting it, I'll need to install my NIC card. Being that I had no probs/conflicts with the dialup modem in slot 4, I want to put the Nic card there. I want to keep my dialup installed JIC DSL farts out. What slot should I put the dial up modem in, and does it matter since I'm going to be disabling it in Hardware Manager?

Do I have the right idea?

 

[MichaelD]

Anybody? ^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

[odog]

just put it in a slot and see if it works.... most of the time it's best to find a slot thats not shared.. but as a testament to perfect slot placement... i currently have all 5 PCI slots full, in order from 1-5: modem, sound, scsi, nic, tv tuner, with my GF2 in the agp slot.

 

[samanvahedi]

hehe i have cable modem but i still have my modem in my computer too.... i use it as a phone chord coupler... heh

 

[erikistired]

why would you disable the modem?

~erik

 

[MichaelD]

Hi Erik,

I'd disable it because:
1. I'm not using it,or more precisely, I'd only use it in the event that DSL farted out and
2. It would take up an IRQ, wouldn't it? I'm not currently having any probs w/IRQ sharing and I'd like to keep it that way.

If you think my logic is flawed, please advise as I've never had a pc with both a NIC and a dialup modem installed. Always one or the other. Thanks.

 

[Zenmervolt]

I don't see why you would have problems with keeping the modem alive in the Hardware Manager, as for what to do about which PCI slot, all I can say is trial and error.

Zenmervolt

 

[Judgement]

I currently have my NIC hooked up to a DSL router and a 56k modem installed without any problems.

You might want to make sure you don't have "always dial my default connection" selected in internet properties as I'm pretty sure that would cause some problems.

 

[obenton]

NICs generally like slot 3.

 

[Aruba]

Anything but slot one (1) OR five (5) will work fine (historicly....).

 

[MichaelD]

Thanks for all the great replies; I appreciate your time. The reason I'm partial to Slot#4 is because on Abit KT7 boards, #4 is the only slot that doesn't share an IRQ with anything else. I figure, if I'm going to put my "connection to the outside world" in a particular slot, it should be the one with the least chance to screw up.

I may be a bit rusty here...I'm not going to cheat and look it up; I'm going by memory. Unless you specifically assign IRQ's in the bios:

AGP and 1 share an IRQ, so no card period in slot one.
2 and 3 and the USB bus share an IRQ
4 has it's own
5 and 6 share with the HPT 370 ATA100/RAID controller


What I'll probably do is put the NIC in slot 4 and the modem in slot 3. Being that I'm using the ATA100 feature of the HPT370, I like that channel to be as pure and clean as possible. Hey, it'll either work, or my pc will lock up...either way we'll find out.! Thanks again.