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Where's my free IRQ'S?

C

coolice

Junior Member
Hello. Just built my first system. Amd duron 750, Asus A7V133 kt133a Mobo, 256mb Crucial RAM cas2, IBM Deskstar 60 GXP 20 GB, Asus 7100 Pure/Pro Mx-400 AGP 4x video, Antec SX1030 case, NEC cd-rom Win98. No sound, no NIC, no other expansion cards other than the listed AGP video card. All PCI slots empty. My question is this: How come I dont have any free IRQ'S? Video card has IRQ 11 shared with ACPI holder for PCI steering ( i am assuming this is normal). Other than that, all IRQ'S taken. I still have my SB Live Value and NIC to install, but no free IRQ'S. Is this something normal for AMD systems (only had intel before)? Here is a list of my IRQ'S. Any help/suggestions would be appreciated:

IRQ Description
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: ACPI IRQ Holder for PCI IRQ Steering
5: VIA VT83C572/VT82C586 PCI to USB Universal Host Controller
5: VIA VT83C572/VT82C586 PCI to USB Universal Host Controller (YES 2 USB on this IRQ)
6: Standard Floppy Disk Controller
7: ECP Printer Port (LPT1)
8: System CMOS/real time clock
9: SCI IRQ used by ACPI bus
10: ACPI IRQ Holder for PCI IRQ Steering
10: Win 95-98 Promise Ultra 100 IDE Controller
11: ACPI IRQ Holder for PCI IRQ Steering
11: Asus V7100 Pro ver 11.01
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
:Q
 
*update*

Removed com2 in system BIOS. IRQ 5 is now free. I would like to have more though. IRQ map is now:
0: System timer
1: Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural Keyboard
2: Programmable interrupt controller
3: ACPI IRQ Holder for PCI IRQ Steering
3: VIA VT83C572/VT82C586 PCI to USB Universal Host Controller
3: VIA VT83C572/VT82C586 PCI to USB Universal Host Controller
4: Communications Port (COM1)
5: free
6: Standard Floppy Disk Controller
7: ECP Printer Port (LPT1)
8: System CMOS/real time clock
9: SCI IRQ used by ACPI bus
10: ACPI IRQ Holder for PCI IRQ Steering
10: Win 95-98 Promise Ultra 100 IDE Controller
11: 11: Asus V7100 Pro ver 11.01
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
 
You're likely to not have a problem as long as you have a PCI slot your NIC is happy in - in most MBs they like 2 or 3. Put in the NIC first, and if it works OK then put in the sound card. Most sound cards will share resources without blinking, but NICs can get unhappy.
 
Most sound cards will share resources without blinking

Well... if you use any of the Creative ones (eg., Sound Blasters), they DO "blink" if they don't get IRQ 5 in many many cases, for whatever stupid legacy reason. 😛 Sure they'll try to work somewhere else as long as there's no conflict, but in many cases, the SBs and compatibles have issues when not on their traditional "5". In fact, when you install the SB Live! drivers, you get an emulated SB16 mode that takes its OWN interrupt separate from the card's default. And you also have a game port on that card that takes yet another interrupt. So that's 3 right there. :Q

The whole PCI bus management thing was supposed to be the greatest thing since sliced bread, but it never really took into account alot of legacy cards that prefer to be on some specific, preset IRQ.

If you don't need to use a modem, then disabling the com ports will free up 2 more interrupts for other things. Also disabling an interrupt for the VGA card often frees another. If you have network printing setup (say to print through another machine), then disabling the parallel port will give you another.

There's alot of give and take and experimenting that needs to happen. And although many devices have no problem sharing interrupts, there ARE ones out there that get heartburn when you do (eg., some 3COM NICs). 🙂
 
Thanks for the responses. I do have a SB Live! Value that is yet to be installed. I don't believe I have a need for the Creative SB16 Emulation. I don't play old DOS games. I do remember that SB16 emulation can be disabled, but I can't remember where I saw the instructions on how to do it. Also, I don't have any need for the game port. Can this be disabled also? If game port is disabled, that would also not take an IRQ as well, right? How do I disable gameport and SB16 Emulation before and after SB Live! Value card is installed? In the systems BIOS? Can anyone help me out with this? Thanks in advance!
 
Actually I'd also like to know how to disable some stuff like the gameport and SB16 emulation. I too have a SB Live value and it does install all of this crap. To be honest, I regret buying it. Everyone says they are the benchmark blah blah blah, but I had a Diamond Sonic Impact S90 that worked a heap better than my new SBLive. SBLive also distorts a lot more in some things. Anyway, back to the point, whats the best way to disable these things? Through windows? Or the BIOS?
 
ya in windows, in device manager right click the ones you want to disable, if ur not using ur midi port u could disable that as well, in the properties at the bottom jus check "disable in this hardware profile" and you should be set .. good luck ..
-neural
 
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