SB Live and MSI Pro2-A problerm ("loop out lockup").

[barlav]

I'm experiencing the problem that some others here have been seeing where the sound loops out and the system becomes completely locked when using a SB Live along with the MSI Pro2-A mobo. So far I've only seen this while playing Unreal Tournament. I'm running Windows 2000 with service pack 1. I'm also using a GForce DDR video card. My sound card is in the 2nd slot (counting from the agp side). I've looked at my IRQ's and my multimedia device is on IRQ 9 and the only other thing that lists IRQ 9 is the ACPI controller. I'm not sure if this is a problem or not? Has anyone found a solution for this problem yet? Thanks!

 

[illbot]

i have the same problem and its pissing the hell out of me and testing the limits of frustration in every way possible
please someone give me a quick fix
heres what windows system information says under hardware resources/sharing
IRQ 5 Creative SB Live! series
IRQ 5 ACPI IRQ Holder for PCI IRQ Steering
IRQ 10 NVIDIA GeForce2 MX
IRQ 10 ACPI IRQ Holder for PCI IRQ Steering
IRQ 11 D-Link DFE-538TX 10/100 Adapter
IRQ 11 ACPI IRQ Holder for PCI IRQ Steering
IRQ 14 Primary IDE controller (dual fifo)
IRQ 14 VIA Bus Master PCI IDE Controller
IRQ 15 Secondary IDE controller (dual fifo)
IRQ 15 VIA Bus Master PCI IDE Controller
And on startup when i hit escape to see irq's the multimedia device is on the same code as an input device but the input device is listed as NA?
I have tried every possible combo and even went and got a dlink 10/100nic to replace the 3com...eerything seems to want irq 11 at first...arrgg to much headache..please someone...

 

[chameleon]

yeah I had the same problem. I disabled the lagacy audio and sOund blaster under integrated periphs and reserved IRQ 5 for lagacy ISA under PNP/PCI, IRQ resources the in the BIOS. It seems to working so far. The PCI steering seemed to defaultly take over IRQ 5, which is needed for the SB emulation. Above was the only fix I could figure out.

 

[ctucker]

I gave up on my SB Live! Value + Pro2-A for now. Using onboard sound Couldn't even get mx300 to work stably.

 

[L1Trauma]

You might want to disable the SB16 emulation driver... causes a lot of problems in Win98, may not be the case in 2000, but who knows?

 

[stealthy]

Hi,

I'm using the Abit KT7 board now for 3 months. SB Live card used in my system and worked +- stable for 3 months. Until last week. No sound and BOD ! Tried to do all the tricks as mentioned before. No luck. Simply removed that damn SB Live and everything worked stable for 100%. Inserted a good old SB 16 pnp card. Still 100% stable. Even my TV card now works under NT without a hick-up.
I'm running similations for more than 2 hours a run, 8 hours a day. I can't afford to have random lock-ups.
Before this I already replaced my Asus A7V board for this Abit board. I tought that my instability problems where caused by the board. Now, I now better. It's that SB live card ,causing all the problems after all.

 

[FreeIsFun]

The SB Live card takes two IRQ's.

Go into the bios and change IRQ 5 reserved for legacy device to yes
Onboard Serial Port 2 - disable
Last resort if you arent using any USB devices disable

Disable onboard audio legacy support

I have my SBLive card on pci slot 3
Network card pci slot 4
Modem - pci slot 5

hope this works
Beth

 

[barlav]

Thanks! I made the IRQ change for #5 and I tested it a little this morning. It seemed better. My sound did loop out but it recovered after a few seconds so that is definitely an improvment. I will give it more of a test after work. I will post the results. Thanks again

 

[Davegod75]

i'm running a sb live with the msi board and i'm having no problems at all.

 

[barlav]

The IRQ change has definitely helped but I still get the sound loop lockup except now it recovers after a few seconds instead of having to reboot or restart Unreal Tournament. I'm still looking for a 100% solution. Can anyone think of anything else. Thanks!

 

[Mem]

My own MSI K7T Pro & SBLive Value are both rock stable in my Win98 OS1 anyway it must be a IRQ problem you have.

 

[FreeIsFun]

Some info on IRQ and win2000.

I've read that the win2000 BIOS does not fully support ACPI and to disable it at installation

microsoft support


ctucker, I've also read that Aureals soundcards doesn't mix so good with VIA. causes lockups during game playing. did you try getting the latest drivers.

 

[maninthebox]

I was having the same looping audio problem here as well. It happened in certain games and and FMVs. Here is what I finally came up with. For me it seems to be affected by my DMA settings. If I have two devices set for DMA on either the primary or secondary IDE channel, and I try to run the problem games or FMVs on the master - it locks up and the audio loops.

I have a WD 13.6 UDMA66, Iomega/Plextor 12/10/32A, and Creative 52x CD-ROM as my IDE devices. I found that with this set-up:

WD as Pri master (DMA on)
Iomega/Plextor as Sec master (DMA off)
Creative as Sec slave (DMA on),

I eliminate all lockup audio loops and am able to use any one of the devices to play from. The problem with this is that I take a serious performance hit by turning off the DMA on my Iomega/Plextor.

After trying several different setups, the only acceptable solution (for me) that I found is the same as above but with DMA enabled on the Iomega/Plextor as well. In this configuration the only problem is that I cannot play games or FMVs off a CD in the Iomega/Plextor, but I don't do that anyway - so it is an acceptable loss. Hope this helps someone, I know this problem was driving me crazy.

 

[DaddyG]

You don't need the SB16 Emulation. SB16 Emulation usues by default IRQ5 and two DMA channels. DMA 1 is used for 8-bit audio and DMA 5 is used for 16-bit audio. SB Emulation can be disabled in the device manager. After completely disabling, check config.sys and autoexec.bat for any possible entries regarding SB16. The IRQ can then be returned to the PnP pool.

 

[barlav]

Thanks DaddyG. Where exactly is the SB16 Emulation located in Windows 2000? I couldn't seem to locate it with Device Manager? Thanks!

 

[mofo888]

sb16 emulation is located in Device manager

 

Ive had this problem with sb live and UT.
On a MSI 815 and a OCed 700e.
I dont think its board specific.
My friend who is running and old katmai p3 600 had the same problem too.
This is how i fixed it.
Its pretty much an IRQ problem, as well as drivers if you have a Geforce vid card.
Bottom line is, ACPI is crap in 2k. Dont use if if you have any need for power in your system.
Ive switched to "Standard PC" and have not had that repeat loop lockup since, and gained 15 FPS.
You go into device manager, click on the plus next to computer and get the props on ACPI, update the drivers, choose standard computer types, and you should see "Standard PC" on the right. Install that.
ITs going to reboot, and reinstall everything, EVERYTHING you have on your computer, from chip set to HDD controllers.
This is for win2k only.
And after that I have noticed that the system is MUCH MUCH more stable.
Only thing is that the computer will not automatically shut down anymore. ATX will turn off all your HDD and such, but you have to hold in the power button to cut power. Just a minor annoyance.
Now, all devices should be on their own irq, if you have the resources to accomidate, if not, it will share irqs.
But imho this is the best way to combat that.
Just my .02