All right, so how do you move IRQ's around?

[Alfie]

The definition of goan can be found at the end of this post,forgot your fairly new to this forum,so I guess this might be described as an inside joke.
What is surprising is Gateway would ship a computer in such a jumbled mess.I'm glad your initial problem is solved and if new problems arise,you know where to come, follow the suggestions already posted and you're g400 will be appreciative,not to mention the rest of your system! http://forums.murc.ws/ubb/Forum5/HTML/005327.html

[McRhea]

yes Yes YES!!!!!!!!!!!

PROBLEM SOLVED !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Everything Bixler said was right, it WAS my Promise Ultra 66 card giving me trouble, and that little fix of renaming the problem file worked! AOK runs fine now without any hanging, as does my system and any game i play! It's GREAT! I've never been happier! Wait, that's not true, I'm happier when my girlfriend comes over and my parents aren't home! Heh heh heeh ;D

My greatest thanks to you Bixler, for pointing me, wait, practicly SHOVING me in the right direction! If it wasn't for you, i'd probably be trying to rearange my IRQ's and crap right now!

And thanks to the rest of you for giving your helpful insight. I now know more about my computer, and that's always a good thing. There's still the thing with the IRQ's, but hey! If it ain't broke, don't fix it! Hehehe, that's how you get yourself in more shit. By trying to fix something that ain't broke... i'd know.... All righty guys, thanks a million and i'll see ya'll around.

------------END OF CASE--------------


Damn.... it sounds like i'm accepting some sort of an award! LOL. Bye now.

[McRhea]

All right guys, I've got some good news, and some bad news.

First, the good news. I moved the modem to a different PCI slot, the free slot all the way at the bottom, and now it uses IRQ 5, which is great! The PCI slots are setup like this now: 1st slot is the modem, 2=free, 3rd=Ultra66, 4th=free, 5th=free, and the the AGP with the G400. (The modem used to be in slot number 4)

My IRQ's look like this:

0 System timer
1 Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural Keyboard
2 Programmable interrupt controller
3 (free)
4 Communications Port (COM1)
5 U.S. Robotics 56K Voice Win
5 IRQ Holder for PCI Steering
6 Standard Floppy Disk Controller
7 ECP Printer Port (LPT1)
8 System CMOS/real time clock
9 Intel 82371AB/EB PCI to USB Universal Host Controller
9 IRQ Holder for PCI Steering
10 Promise Technology Inc. Ultra66 IDE Controller
10 IRQ Holder for PCI Steering
11 Matrox Millennium G400 - English
11 Creative Sound Blaster AudioPCI 64D
11 IRQ Holder for PCI Steering
12 PS/2 Compatible Mouse Port
13 Numeric data processor
14 (free)
15 Secondary IDE controller (dual fifo)
15 Intel 82371AB/EB PCI Bus Master IDE Controller


Now the bad news, my system is hanging again! It's like nothings changed! And it hangs for a longer period of time... about 4 secs now, instead of 2 secs, and it hangs more often! I'm tempted to move the card back to it's original positon and let them have a free beer party on IRQ 11!!!!! The hanging is driving me NUTS!!!!!!!!

This thought just came to me.... before i moved the modem, it was setup like this:

PCI's 1 and 2 are free, 3, 4, are taken, by the Ultra 66 and modem respectively, 5 is open, and the AGP is the G400.

Maybe the Ultra 66 has to be on a lower slot from the modem? Since it was 3 and 4 originally, maybe i should move both and put them 1 and 2 respectively.... what do you think? I'm going to try it right now...

Wish me luck.

[McRhea]

Shit, it still hangs, and it hangs for a longer time!! About 6 secs now! I'm moving everything back to their original slots!! And least it didn't hang then!

[Bixler]

McRhea:

Patience You want performance, this is how to get it. There will always be a few ruts in the road.

1. When you swapped things around did Windows automatically reinstall drivers, or did it ask you for an install disk? There is a high probability that you inadvertently reinstalled the old set of bad drivers for your Promise Card. Recheck that before you swap everything back.

2. How did you resolve the IDE Cables?

Once you have the right drivers for the Promise Card and have renamed the rougue file you should be OK (No! Better ) and then you will have one minor little issue of reassigning your ONBOARD Sound card to an empty IRQ, and you'll be running right. In the meantime, check your Gateway manual about the Onboard sound. There may be a jumper or some software utility to provide for IRQ reassignment of your sound.

[McRhea]

I moved everything back to their original spot, and it STILL hangs...

About what you said Bixler, You're right,
I removed the cards from the device manager, turned the comp off, moved the cards, and when I booted back up, Windows automatically installed BOTH card for me... the modem probably isn't a problem...

But the Ultra on the other hand.... Even if it didn't ask me for the disks, isn't that ok? I went back and MADE sure that the PU66VSD.VXD was renamed to Pu66VSD.PTI... and it still hanged.... nothing changed.

About the Onboard sound.... there's nothing in the manuals about it. I'm going to email Gateway about it tomorrow... I'm to tired now....

I haven't layed a finger on the IDE cables yet, i'm too scared to until i get some more info on them...

And the LAST thing that's bugging me, Why is the system hanging again, even after i went back to the original setup? I've tried everything! The Promise is updated, so is the G400... Oh well... it's 4 AM here, and i'm dead tired.... this comp is driving me nuts. Help?

[McRhea]

One last thing... for the drivers for the Ultra66... it says i need to install it from a "clean, Dos boot with NO EMM386.EXE, MUST be a clean boot." Ok.... HOW? IF i restart in Dos mode, the Emm386 is there... no matter what i do, it's there... do i hit F8 and then choose "command prompt only" ?

Hmm i've probably answered my own question...

And how do I go about totally deleting the modem and Ultra66 card from my comps memory so that Windows asks for the CD or disks, instead of automatically installing them for me? Tomorrow i'm going to get a fresh start on thsi problem... I want to be alert when i start moving crap around! Heh heh.

I'm sorry that I messed up and that we're at square one again guys.... But please help me out.

[RAB]

For a clean boot, the best way to do it is to create a "Boot Disk". This is not the same as the "Emergency Disk" that Windows creates from Windows Explorer or the setup program.

To make a "Boot Disk" from Windows, put a formatted blank disk in your a: drive, then choose START | RUN | and type "sys a:" in the box without the quote marks. Press Enter. This will copy only the very basic files to the disk needed to start your machine. Take the disk out and shut down your machine.

Put the disk back in and restart the machine. This will get you to an a: prompt with no drivers loaded. Take the Boot Disk out and load your Promise drivers. When you restart after that, just start normally without anything in the a: drive.

You can also try to start in "Safe mode command prompt", but the boot disk is even more basic.

RAB

[Bixler]

Courage, McRhea--the problem is on the run.

(this is an edit)

Didn't mean to tromp on your advice RAB, we were both posting at the same time, but let me explain in a litlle more technical detail. McRhea has (I believe) already updated his drivers and BIOS once. He swapped cards around and "Bill the Pill" dutifully and automatically reinstalled his old drivers. The Bios update should have already been done earlier, but is, in any case unrelated to the particular problem McRhea is having.
McRhea: RAB's instructions 'till later--They are very clear and will be helpful

End of Edit.

From what you are describing, you are attempting to "flash the BIOS" of your Promise card. THAT IS NOT NECESSARY if you did it already on the first driver update.
I'm concerned that you didn't follow instructions on getting your IDE cabling straightend out first. That needs to be done, and as Alfie and others have confirmed, you should have done that before you started swapping boards around. There is a REASON for following these instructions that you may not fully understand, but trust these guys, THERE IS A REASON. End of rant

Now, DON'T touch any boards or cables.

Don't worry. You won't be doing anything at all to your Boot drive--the WORST that could happen is that you lose your CD ROM temporarily until you figure it out, but you need to straighten this stuff out. I can tell from your IRQ's posted earlier that you have an open Primary Onboard IDE connector. At the very least, (and this is consistent with other suggestions in this thread) go into your BIOS and disable the Primary IDE port if it isn't already disabled. If you will at least do this first, (you won't have to touch any cables) we can at least be sure that the empty IDE channel isn't part of the hang.

There are TWO patch files on the Promise disk that you made. You are after the other one. The procedure is quite simple, but follow these instructions STEP BY STEP!!!!

1 Go to Start/control panel/system/device manager.

2. Double Click on SCSI devices, you should now see a device called "Promise Ultra 66 Controller"

3. Double click on the device, and click on the Drivers tab.

4. Click on "Change Driver"

Here it can get a little confusing, but bear with me, and you may need to fiddle around a little bit--the screens vary a little from version to version.

5. Click on "Have Disk", and navigate through the little windows to point your system to the A: drive.

6. Windows will only display actual Driver files. When you have the new driver file located (Named ultra66.inf on your A drive) click OK as many times as necessary. At the end of this process, you will be prompted to reboot.

7. Do so, and all will be well.

IF your system still hangs---

8. THEN go in and rename that PU66vsd.vxd as instructed before.

When you get all of this resolved, you will have the satisfaction of knowing that you control the machine, instead of the other way around, and you'll get better and better as time goes by. I will also predict that you will be come a Bill Gates Hater, but that's a subject for another forum.


[This message has been edited by Bixler (edited 18 November 1999).]

[This message has been edited by Bixler (edited 18 November 1999).]

[McRhea]

Bixler, I sent an email to Gateway, asking about the jumpering, IRQ's, mobo brand, etc. I'll post their email when I get it.

I disabled the Primary IDE, but it doesn't look like it did anything. My system still hangs.

I went through and tried what you said about the Promise drivers, but when I get to the "driver" tab, instead of "change driver”, it say's "update driver." I guess that's the same thing... Anyway, Step 5 and 6 are where I'm a little confused...
Why do I have to point to the A: drive? Are we assuming that I put the Ultra 66
3.5 diskette in? If so, why? That's an older version! Please clarify.

One more thing that needs clarifying. The Promise Ultra 66 controller CAME with the computer. I did NOT buy it and set it up! When the comp came from Gateway, it was setup like that.

Now that that's all cleared up...
My CD ROM is hooked up to the mo bo... I can see the ribbon of wire coming out of the back of the CD and into what I think is an IDE slot. There are 2 slots on the mo bo...
The CD is hooked up to the slot towards the back... I'm not sure which one is Slot 1 or Slot 2... But!! when I look at the IDE devices in the BIOS, it shows something hooked up to the Master IDE Slot 2. So I’ll take a wild guess and say that it's the CD. Right?

Now, It makes sense that I should let the Promise controller control both IDE devices, but the question is, how? Is there something I need to disable before I unplug the CD and put it into the Promise? If so, what? And take another look at my IRQ list:

0 System timer
1 Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural Keyboard
2 Programmable interrupt controller
3 (free)
4 Communications Port (COM1)
5 (free)
6 Standard Floppy Disk Controller
7 ECP Printer Port (LPT1)
8 System CMOS/real time clock
9 Intel 82371AB/EB PCI to USB Universal Host Controller
9 IRQ Holder for PCI Steering
10 Promise Technology Inc. Ultra66 IDE Controller
10 IRQ Holder for PCI Steering
11 Matrox Millennium G400 - English
11 U.S. Robotics 56K Voice Win
11 Creative Sound Blaster AudioPCI 64D
11 IRQ Holder for PCI Steering
12 PS/2 Compatible Mouse Port
13 Numeric data processor
14 (free)
15 Secondary IDE controller (dual fifo)
15 Intel 82371AB/EB PCI Bus Master IDE Controller


On IRQ 15, see the Secondary IDE controller (dual fifo)? Why is it "Secondary"? Where's the Primary? RIGHT HERE------>
When I use System Information, go to
"components", and check for "Problem Devices", this shows up:

Primary IDE controller (dual fifo)
hdc
This Device Has a Problem: Code=29 (0x1D)
This device has been disabled in the hardware. In order to use this device,
you must re-enable the hardware. See your hardware documentation for details.

Registry Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\enum\MF\CHILD0000\PCI&VEN_8086& DEV_7111&SUBSYS_00000000&REV_01&BUS_00&DEV_07&FUNC _01

Alloc resources: Logical Configuration 0
Forced resources: None
Boot resources: None
Filtered resources: None
Basic resources: None

Driver: hdc\0001

Driver Date: 5-11-1998
Driver: ESDI_506.pdr
File Size: 24406 (0x5F56)
File Date: 5/11/1998 7:1 AM
Company Name: Microsoft Corporation
File Version: 4.10.1998

What the HECK is that? I can't find it in the Device Manager, or ANYWHERE... what should I do about this, and do you think this is part of our problem?

[Bixler]

Close--So Close.

This is an Edit

We've all been learning while waiting for your next post, go to the bottom of this thread for the quick fix, and then come back up here and let's learn a little computer basics

End of Edit

To answer your last question first, I don't think so, but Win98 IDE Busmastering drivers, (heck, ALL busmastering drivers) are touchy and need to be configured just right for everything to be in sync. You never noticed this problem before because you didn't have any real high performance hardware before. Well, now you do , so everything has got to be properly tuned up. It's kinda like replacing a Diesel engine with a race-car engine. You can't feed both engines the same fuel, right? So be patient, follow procedures, learn, and everything will work right --SOON.

You are five minutes away from a fix, once you pop the right diskette into your system and follow the procedures I posted earlier.

First--As long as Primary IDE is disabled in the BIOS, lets leave that be for a few tries. That isn't optimal, but it probably isn't necessary to change that for the time being.
--Maybe later--but it isn't optimal. Maybe later on the switching of your CD onto the Promise card too. You can try that after the Promise Driver issue is properly dealt with.

We just needed to make sure that there wasn't an open IDE channel on your mainboard--that it is disabled in the BIOS, and based on what you posted that is correct, so now we can proceed.

Here's the immediate problem:

When you downloaded the Promise Driver patch, I assumed that THAT was the floppy diskette that we were working with.

1. The Patch you downloaded from Promise is a 'zip' file that must be unzipped onto a blank, formatted floppy. You need a program called 'Winzip' or 'PKzip' installed on your computer to do this. This is shareware that is widely available on the internet. www.downloads.com is one site that has the program if you don't already have it.

2. Find the file that you downloaded, if it is on your harddrive, and unzip it onto a floppy, and work from there following the procedures I posted earlier.

3. If the downloaded .zip file from Promise is already on a floppy, it needs to be uncompressed. This kind of thing is Computers 101. IF you haven't done it before, any friend with a basic knowlege of Computers can help you do it.--you should be able to uncompress the patch right on the same floppy that the .zip file is on.

Once you have a floppy diskette with the following files on it (NOT the original floppy from Promise/Gateway) you can follow the procedures posted earlier to update your Promise driver, and all will be well.

If problems continue (they might--remember you are pushing a feature called Busmastering with your G400), then we will have to switch some cables around. When you post again, give me the EXACT model number of your Gateway, and I can get a manual off their website to guide you through this if necessary.

Here are the file names that need to be on the Diskette before you update the driver:
Advpack.dll
Disk 1
ptistp.dll
PU66VSD.vxd
Readme.txt
txtsetup.oem
Ultra66.inf
Ultra66.mpd
Ultra66.sys
readme.txt--
ubios.bin
PTIflash.exe

With this diskette loaded in your A: drive, go through the driver update procedures outlined earlier. --and yes, "update Driver" means the same thing as "change Driver". Once you have clicked on "Update Driver" refuse the Option for Windows to search for drivers, and point Windows to the A: drive. In some versions it will automatically go there, but you'll get the idea. Just make sure that you are updating with the Promise Driver that is on the floppy drive.

If this is too confusing, e-mail me your phone number (my e-mail address is in my profile) and I'll walk you through this. Just promise at the end of this mess that you'll learn something...and remember, everyone has to start somewhere. If you want to overclock and push performance, you must gain this kind of knowledge to do it right.
The path to high performance is littered with the dead bodies of those who gave up.

[This message has been edited by Bixler (edited 19 November 1999).]

[This message has been edited by Bixler (edited 20 November 1999).]

[onbelay]

Just a small side not ;-)
Bixler, after all this support, you should AT LEAST be given a murcer title.

Richard

------------------
P3-450, Abit Bx6r2, 128meg pc100, Quantum Fireball 12, Quantum Fireball 4.3, g200-8meg,
Monster V2 16meg, SB Live value, HP CDRW 8200, Creative Labs 5xDVD, DxR3, D-link Nic,
ADSL(e)modem, Aims VHE Tv tuner.

[Jorden]

Still monitoring

Even I'm learning here, Bixler. You're doing a good job so far. Are you sure you're not a techie??

Jorden.

[Bixler]

onbelay & Jorden:

Thanks for the company.
We gonna get there or I'll die.

But seriously folks

I can remember (not too long ago) being exactly where McRhea is.--We all were.
And it's a good reminder that we all ASSUME too much.

[This message has been edited by Bixler (edited 19 November 1999).]

[Jorden]

McRhea: what sort of BIOS do you have? You can see it at the top of your BIOS screens, or at the top of the start-up screen when you start-up your PC.

(Just press the Pause button on your keyboard when you see this screen. Or even if your monitor has a lag-time to warm up, boot your PC and press Pause about 5 seconds after you booted. write down what I asked, and press return/enter to resume)

Is it an Award, Phoenix or other BIOS?? Plus what make?

Also, can you tell me the brand and make of your mobo? If you don't know, pause as said above and at the bottom of the start-up screen you see some letters and numbers, can you tell me what they are??

Thanks already,

Jorden.