Dell laptop & IRQ's.....

[oceaneer]

This laptop has 3 free IRQ's and "Free beer on IRQ 11"

However, when I try to reassign an IRQ through device manager/resources, I get "This resource cannot be modified"

The Phoenix/Dell BIOS is not helpful on this issue. Anyone??

------------------
P3 650@750 on ABIT BE6 r2, 192M RAM, G400 32m DH oem, 6.10 drivers, Voodoo II in SLI, Aureal SQ2500, 30G Maxtor DMax 7200 ATA 66, 300W PS

[Greebe]

What OS and is there a problem resulting from this?

[oceaneer]

Greebe....

Win 98. Nothing specific I can put my finger on, but the system is sluggish, delays between keystrokes and execution, downloads very slowly, and...it just doesn't seem right!!

IRQ 11:
Xircom modem card bus
Xircom ethernet card bus
TI card bus PCI 1131
TI Card bus PCI 1131
Magic graph 128xD
USB controller - LOCKED
IRQ holder for PCI steering
IRQ holder for PCI steering

Maybe everything is OK, but why can't I force the IRQ's?. My desktop allows me to change everything except the USB.

[ayoub_ibrahim]

Originally posted by oceaneer:
My desktop allows me to change everything except the USB.

yes, but this is a laptop!

[MultimediaMan]

PCI devices cannot have IRQs changed. The Device does not determine the IRQ, like ISA devices do...the PCI SLOT Does.

Sharing an IRQ is not really cause for concern for most devices. However, some Graphics Adapter and Network Card drivers don't work well in a shared environment.

Some BIOS' do allow the base IRQ to be changed on a per slot basis. Even then, that won't "fix" your sharing problem: it will only move it to a different IRQ.

If your machine is sluggish, clear out all old programs and files you don't use anymore.

If your HDD is nearly full, and your system RAM is 32 to 64 MB, expect some sluggishness: your OS trying keep your swap file up will be constantly trying find space on a nearly full HDD to stuff information into will eat up CPU cycles in a hurry.

If you are running Win95/98/98SE/ME, and you haven't reinstalled in a blue moon, perhaps now is the time to do so.

A word of caution on ME: system restore is great idea, but unless you have a fairly fast HDD and fast processor expect some slowdowns to occur (I always disable System Restore in ME).

[oceaneer]

Ayoub..

MultimediaMan..A reinstall of win98 would probably help. The HD is 2/3 full, 128RAM. I have free IRQ's, so I just want to move something off IRQ 11 onto a free one.

So, what is happening when I go to Device Manager, select a device, select properties, then resources, then change setting and give the device a different IRQ? Is it just that the Award bios in the desktop allows this and the Phoenix BIOS in the laptop does not?

I guess I am really asking why my desktop allows this but the laptop does not.(Both running Win98SE)A BIOS issue, then?

[MultimediaMan]

Yes, it is a BIOS-chipset issue. (Some chipsets are better at letting you hop IRQs, but the feature has to be enabled in the BIOS: Intel chipsets do not let you change an IRQ on any specific device)

I have a Dell laptop myself, and while it is a fine piece of equipment, it is a little weird.

A Clean install of Windows will do wonders for it.