Assigning IRQs on an AOpen AK73

[Werdna]

I am helping a friend setup Windows 2000 on his computer, it uses the AOpen AK73 Pro and I'm having trouble with IRQs.
I'm used to assigning IRQs using my very nice ASUS Bios, but now I'm trying to get it done using this AOpen mobo and I have no idea, I can't find anything on the net just yet, I'm still looking but help would be appreciated.

To the point:

His network card, sound card, video card and USB interface are ALL sharing IRQ 11.
I nearly fell off my chair when I saw the root of all our problems. Then I went to work looking through their bios and looking through their manual trying to fix it, but to no avail. All I could find was a way to reserve IRQs which I don't think did anything, if it does, I'm not sure how.

[ayoub_ibrahim]

you are seeing this because Windows 2000 has been installed in ACPI mode and that is how it assigns its plug and play resources. This is normal. Most people have no problems, other people do have problems. Usually it's all assigned to IRQ9, sometimes IRQ11. Supposedly this single IRQ is used as a gateway to 255 virtual IRQs above 15. By allowing Win2K to automatically assign your resources, you will not have to juggle IRQ assignments, and lets you install more devices that require IRQs than before. Win2K uses ACPI to manage Plug and Play, device enumeration, the dynamic loading and unloading of drivers, and system power management.

These are not conflicts: this is IRQ sharing. Most PCI devices, along with AGP video cards, are designed to accommodate IRQ sharing.

If you have no problems, it is highly recommended that you leave the assignments alone.

Usually problems with systems installed in ACPI mode can be attributed to hardware, BIOSes, firmware and/or drivers that are not fully ACPI compliant. To avoid problems, you should always use the latest BIOSes, firmware and drivers wherever possible.

[Werdna]

hmmm, well, that is a bit of a relief
but something isn't going right then
perhaps I should contact his hardware manufacturers etc.

it's odd
the USB interface sometimes just wont load, when it does load, everything is fairly smooth, except when he tries to play a game, that's just a joke
he's literally offline, and he gets lag
we played Red Faction and it lagged, I'm not saying low FPS, I'm saying he actually lagged, he started going one way and then got moved back to where he was
played Counter-Strike, same thing
he hosted the server, he should've had a 0 ping
it jumped to that magical 4095 once, most of the time it still said 0 but he still lagged, he would spring back to places

[Gurm]

There are two issues at work here.

1. Some motherboards disregard ACPI and generate BIOS-level IRQ conflicts. This is usually fixable with a BIOS update. I used to get buzzing on my sound card because my vidcap card shares its hardware IRQ (INTB, for those who care). At this point, I have every slot in the machine filled and all my devices are happy, including the onboard RAID, onboard IDE, onboard USB, etc. etc.

2. Some DEVICES don't deal well with hardware-level INT sharing. This needs to be taken up with the device manufacturer.

- Gurm

[Werdna]

I'll assume it was 1.
I think I'm going to flash a new bios when I go over there next. He's got an Athlon 1.2, GeForce2MX, SoundBlaster Live, etc. there's nothing that wouldn't have support for ACPI.

Thanks for your help.

[The PIT]

Err the soundblaster live in some cases doesn't get on well with acpi. The main culprit being the via chipsets. It's best leaving the option off and then moving cards around.

[Gurm]

If it's a first-gen Live! then you may or may not have to isolate it on its own INT line, and then make sure to get the latest MS drivers for it.

There's a good FAQ at:

http://shs-sound.paraknowya.com

With instructions for making a Live! work well in XP. You can get that same driver set from Alive! if you're running Win2k and not XP(do a quick web search, I forget the address).

- Gurm

[The PIT]

Try this link

http://alive.singnet.com.sg/