My step-dad just got a Dell Dimension 8100 and cannot get his Sidewinder 3D Pro joystick to be recognized by the SW control panel. He verified it's properly plugged into the SB Value gameport. Plus, his Dual-Strike Sidewinder works fine (tho' that's a USB device). The soundcard also seems to be working just fine.
Dell told him to call MS...it isn't "their problem". So he called me...
He shared out his desktop, and I rummaged thru Device Mangler. It would appear the SB takes IRQ 11, and shares it with his NIC and USB, plus two instances of PCI steering...and IRQ 5 is empty. No conflicts were listed. Doesn't seem so bad, since his DSL, Dual-Strike and audio all work, but I can't help but feel this IRQ sharing is the culprit.
I attempted to wipe out the SB and let ME re-install it, hoping it would grab IRQ 5 (it didn't). I tried just removing the gameport, and then removing both the gamepot and SB. I also found out that ME won't let you change the IRQ manually (ick...).
He's 1500 miles away, so I can't be there if something goes horribly awry, but he's far more savvy with computers than most people his age. I'm thinking perhaps he should first try removing the NIC from Device Mangler and letting ME re-install it, and hope it takes IRQ 5. If that doesn't work (again...), I think he should then try opening the case and moving the SB or the NIC to a different PCI slot...or move both of them.
Any other ideas? Or has anyone else ever dealt with this issue before on ME or a Dell machine? Thx.
Dell told him to call MS...it isn't "their problem". So he called me...
He shared out his desktop, and I rummaged thru Device Mangler. It would appear the SB takes IRQ 11, and shares it with his NIC and USB, plus two instances of PCI steering...and IRQ 5 is empty. No conflicts were listed. Doesn't seem so bad, since his DSL, Dual-Strike and audio all work, but I can't help but feel this IRQ sharing is the culprit.
I attempted to wipe out the SB and let ME re-install it, hoping it would grab IRQ 5 (it didn't). I tried just removing the gameport, and then removing both the gamepot and SB. I also found out that ME won't let you change the IRQ manually (ick...).
He's 1500 miles away, so I can't be there if something goes horribly awry, but he's far more savvy with computers than most people his age. I'm thinking perhaps he should first try removing the NIC from Device Mangler and letting ME re-install it, and hope it takes IRQ 5. If that doesn't work (again...), I think he should then try opening the case and moving the SB or the NIC to a different PCI slot...or move both of them.
Any other ideas? Or has anyone else ever dealt with this issue before on ME or a Dell machine? Thx.
