MSI K7T IRQ Problems... please help me!

[whytcolr]

I've posted this problem over at Ars, but haven't gotten any very helpful responses. So I thought, since there's so many K7T fans here, maybe I'd have more luck posting it here.

I've just built the following system:
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• MSI K7T Pro

• Thunderbird 900

• 384 Mb PC-100 RAM

• TEAC Floppy

• Sony CD-ROM (48x)

• Zip-100

• (2x) IBM Deskstar 30Gig Drives (7200rpm, ATA/100)

• FastTrak-66 RAID Card

• 3Com 3C905B Ethernet card

• Matrox G400 (Single Head) 32Mb AGP)

• Creative Soundblaster Live MP3+

• MicroStar 750A Case (w/ 400Watt PS)

When all the cards are in, the system will not boot past the FastTrak66 looking for IDE drives. It just hangs with a blinking cursor. If I take either the 3Com or the SB Live! out, the system boots without so much as a hiccup.

Here's what I've tried, all without luck.
[*]

1. Flashed the BIOS to the latest rev.
   1. Diabled all onboard ports (COM1, COM2, LPT, USB, IDE1, IDE2, SOUND) individually and all together.
   1. Set all IRQs to legacy ISA mode (together, individually, and in some combinations)
   1. Moved all cards into several (though not all possible, since that would amount to more than 700 possibilities) different slot configs.
   1. Set INT Pin 1-4 Assignments with 16 combinations of IRQs
   1. Changed the 3C906B with a 3C905C
   
   Has anyone else run into this problem? How did you solve it? I'm not averse to buying a new brand of card, if I know that the new one won't have the same problem (i.e. "card a is better at IRQ sharing than card b, I have this setup and it's working fine.&quot
   
   If you want to see how my IRQs are being assigned with a few different slot configs (not all the ones I tried, but a decent representation), go here: ArsTechnica Original Thread
   
   This system would easily be the best system I've ever worked with (barring servers, of course) if it weren't for the fact that I can't use my SB card! Please help!
   

 

[JimmyZ]

Well, there is always on board audio ;-) Just kidding. I had a problem like this. I was using SB Value and had it in the last slot (the imitation PCI that is really a made over ISA) I moved it and put my Ethernet card there....same thing. Then I made sure that no cards were in that slot and it seems to work just fine.

I know you said you rotated, but make sure you don't use that slot and see if it works.

Hope it helps,

Jimmy

 

[The Rock]

Do your SB Live drivers also include DOS support? If so disable it to free up resources(mem,DMA channel). Go to 3dsoundsurge.com to see how to do this. Good Luck!