IRQ sharing, the MX400 (POS)

[Werdna]

yello
haven't posted in AGES!
anyway, I have always hated my MX400 sound card, it's 'fully sick mate' for MP3s, but other than that it is terrible. It has a lot of stuttering for sound quality especially when watching Flash animations over the net.. I noticed recently that it is sharing it's IRQ with 2 other things I will give you a list

IRQ 0 System timer OK
IRQ 1 Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural Keyboard OK
IRQ 2 Programmable interrupt controller OK
IRQ 3 Communications Port (COM2) OK
IRQ 4 Communications Port (COM1) OK
IRQ 6 Standard Floppy Disk Controller OK
IRQ 7 ECP Printer Port (LPT1) OK
IRQ 8 System CMOS/real time clock OK
IRQ 10 IRQ Holder for PCI Steering OK
IRQ 10 Intel 82371AB/EB PCI to USB Universal Host Controller OK
IRQ 10 Monster Sound MX400 Series Device Manager OK
IRQ 11 IRQ Holder for PCI Steering OK
IRQ 11 Matrox Millennium G400 DualHead Max - English OK
IRQ 12 Cordless8 (PS/2) OK
IRQ 13 Numeric data processor OK
IRQ 14 Intel 82371AB/EB PCI Bus Master IDE Controller OK
IRQ 14 Primary IDE controller (dual fifo) OK
IRQ 15 Intel 82371AB/EB PCI Bus Master IDE Controller OK
IRQ 15 Secondary IDE controller (dual fifo) OK

could there be a problem on IRQ 10? if so how do I change the IRQ?

[ayoub_ibrahim]

try diabling com 2 in bios & see if windows reassigns the now free irq. not sure if that will sort out your problem with your soundcard though!

[paulcs]

IRQ Holder for PCI Steering is OK. That's suppose to be there. There's a very good chance your soundcard is in a slot that shares an IRQ with USB.

The simplest approach, if you are not using USB, is to disable it in your BIOS and in Windows.

If you're not using both COM ports, as ayoub_ibrahim mentioned, disabling COM2 in your motherboard's BIOS is a good idea as well.

If worse comes to worse, you could always switch slots. I assume from your IDE controller that you're using a BX board. In most cases, PCI 2 and 3 are unshared. PCI 4 and 5 frequently share with USB, ISA slots, onboard controllers, etc.

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[This message has been edited by paulcs (edited 21 December 2000).]

[Johnny Ray]

Along Paul's line of thinking, my soundcard was sharing an IRQ with my USB port and hence my Intellimouse Explorer optical mouse due to their placement on my mainboard. I could hear my mouse movements!.......talk about annoying. Anyways, did the PCI card shuffle and all is fine.