Announcement

**Jammrock** · 9 December 1999, 07:09

As far as I know, you cannot change the IRQ for the video card in Windows. The easiest way to get the G400 and the SB Live! of the same IRQ is to move the SB Live! card to a different PCI slot in your computer. This will force and addressing change and IRQ change as well. If you can avoid it, do not put the SB Live! in PCI Slot 1, because many motherboards used shared resources for the AGP and PCI 1 slots. Give it a try and tell me how it works.

Jammrock

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PIII 450@something higher, 256 MB RAM, 35 GB on 2 WD Expert drives, Abit Hot Rod UDMA 66 controller, CL 6x DVD, G400 32 MB DH, SB Live! w/ Digital I/O, LinkSys Etherfast 10/100, DSI 56k modem, Addtronics 6896A Case w/ a crap load of fans and Dynmat noise dampening in it, MAG DX715T monitor.

Hi, my name is Jammrock. I'm a computer phreak and an EverSmack addict.

**syntech** · 9 December 1999, 07:17

Is THAT the reason why I can't change the IRQ? A hardware-shared IRQ? Damnit...

So I'll try to move the SB Live! to another slot. The only problem is (which I know for sure) that the SB Live! sounds better or not depending in which slot it is installed. And right now it sounds very good! Therefore I hope it won't change. But anyway. I'll try it...

Does anybody know if reinstalling the 5.41.008 drivers AFTER DX7 installation will do any good? Since yesterday I've installed DX7 (but haven't tested much games yet).

Keep your thumbs up so that I get my game-station working! ;-)

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- Syntech -

**SCompRacer** · 9 December 1999, 07:50

And there are some with SB Live/G400 sharing an IRQ with no trouble. Mine has been like that since day one with a 16MB G400 and remains that way with a MAX. Get absolutely no improvement moving/removing SB Live either, so it stays that way so I can leave everything in the box I wanted.

But if you have got the resources, go ahead and move it. As long as there are no conflicts, should sound great no matter what slot it's in.

Interesting thing is Win 2000 assigned IRQ 9 to my G400, SCSI chipset, LAN chipset, SB Live and USB. Defies MB architecture despite IRQ's being free, and yet it still works. May set a record for most devices on one IRQ, at least that I have seen.

[This message has been edited by SCompRacer (edited 09 December 1999).]

**syntech** · 9 December 1999, 08:26

SCompRacer:

Sounds valid.
But it's not that I've nothing better to do than to move cards in slots, install/reinstall drivers are waste lots of time with BIOS tweaking! It's because the damn game WHEEL OF TIME hangs or crashes every vew minutes (and that since I've installed DX7) and that I want to have my stuff running well. Before DX7 I had installed DX6.1a and WOT only ran in Software mode. So since DX7 the gfx is much better and faster, but the crashes and lock-ups are annoying. And switching to windowed mode in WOT is also not possibly anymore - it results in a GPF in the game.

And I IDIOT have paid 70 bucks for this f***in game! Or should I blame myself for the 330 bucks for the G400 MAX? Dunno - I only know that all these problems are pissing me off. Damn - what would I do without internet and without my little knowledge about hardware? ....guess I would play console games and lough about all those STANDARD hardware/software problems.

(Sorry for my attitude, but I think you understand "why")

**Jorden** · 9 December 1999, 08:51

To the rescue, here I (hopefully) come

Syntech, if you have an Award type of BIOS, use the below figure to change the IRQ for your G400/AGP.

Go to the PNP/PCI Config section of your Bios

PNP/PCI Configuraion
********************
PNP OS Installed.......: No
Force Update ESCD......: Disable
Resources Controlled By: Manual
Assign IRQ For VGA.....: Enable
Assign IRQ for USB.....: Enable- only if your using USB Devices
PIRQ-1 Use IRQ No......: 7This should put the G400 on IRQ 7
PIRQ-2 Use IRQ No......: Auto
PIRQ-3 Use IRQ No......: Auto
PIRQ-4 Use IRQ No......: Auto

If you can go higher than 7, go higher than 7 for sure (9, 10 or 11)

Save the changes and reboot into Windows.

Jorden.

P.S: If you have a Phoenix BIOS on the other hand, I'm still not sure how to do things in that one.

**MartinS** · 9 December 1999, 09:48

I was about to suggest the same solution as Jorden. I have a cheap SCSI card which likes to cuddle up to the IRQ of other devices (modems/NICs especially) and forcing the IRQ's in the BIOS sorts it out. Best to remove the drivers in Windows before you go into the BIOS and force the IRQ change. It might not be 100% necessary but it helps to have Windows redetect it correctly.

At least you don't have to physically swap your cards around.

As an aside Jorden, can you ever tell me if "PNP OS Installed" BIOS option actually does anything ? It doesn't seem to make any difference and the Abit manual/F1 help doesn't really give much away.

**Jorden** · 9 December 1999, 10:07

Putting PnP OS to NO gives something like this:

Windows doesn't know the G400, and installing drivers alone doesn't matter, so the G400 should say to Windows "Look, here I am and I want to be on this IRQ because I'm very speedy!".

Upon Windows will respond with: "Ah, welcome onboard, G400. I'll put you on that IRQ as that needs the speed you're asking".

(Or, if you didn't specify an IRQ: "Ah, welcome onboard, G400. I'll put you on the next nearest free IRQ that I have."

If the PnP OS was set to Yes, Windows would respond like: "Ah, welcome G400, I got the right place for you, it's used by a couple of other things, but you'll just have to cope with them !".

Hope this clarifies things

Jorden.

**syntech** · 9 December 1999, 12:22

First of all, thanks for all your suggestions!

Jordan:
Yes I've an Award Bios, and I've tried what you told me, but it's not working. The IRQ 11 is set for the G400 and the SB Live! right after the BIOS info (I can see it in the device listing right before the bootfiles config.sys and autoexec.bat are loaded).
Maybe that's the reason why I can't change it in Windows.

Anyway, I've reinstalled the 5.41.008 drivers (just in case) and have returned the game Wheel of Time and have bought instead Drakan. I haven't played it yet (still downloading some patches and stuff) but I hope it works better then WOT.

Additionally to that I'll test some of my older games where I know they worked on my G400 BEFORE I've installed DX7. If everything else is still working (like HL, Unreal, etc) it must have been WOT. If those games are not working right now, it's DX7 (or the driver).
But I'll know it for sure soon.

At the end I would like to say that this MURC forum is a great thing for us Matrox users!!! (...but I hope I don't need to post here often )

PS: I'll leave both cards at IRQ 11 if everything else works fine (because then it was just a buggy WOT).

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- Syntech -

**SCompRacer** · 9 December 1999, 14:17

Jorden, and all this time, I thought Win9x used an autocratic</a>, one minute manager approach to hardware setup</a> Here you have it pictured as an optimistic, helpful Mr. Rogers</a>

Good analogy, high marks</a>

</a> </a> </a> </a> </a> </a> </a> </a> </a> </a>

**Jorden** · 9 December 1999, 14:51

Hi syntech, if it wasn't WOT, please be sure to try doing the following:

Have you tried putting the G400 onto another IRQ as I said in the example above? Make a printout of that post and check if everything is set as it says there, especially that Resources Controlled By: is set to Manual.

Then the occupation of the PCI slot next to the AGP port. It should be empty, so if for example your SB Live! sits there, move it down a slot.

Then drivers: I don't know if it's necessary or not, but after every driver-update I reinstall my current DirectX version (now Dx7.0). Just to be on the save side

Good luck !!

Scompy, it only does these things when you're nice to your PC

Jorden, off to write a FAQ on how to change IRQs for your videocard, in all the possible BIOSes that are out there

[This message has been edited by Jorden (edited 09 December 1999).]

**syntech** · 9 December 1999, 16:21

Jorden:

Man, you're right! I've forgotten to set Resources Controlled By: to manual...
I've just changed PNP-OS to NO and PIRQ_0 and PIRQ_1 to 7 (just becuase I'm nuts) ;-)
Additionally to that I've put the SB Live! one slot down and after that I rebootet. Now the G400 is set to IRQ 5 (where the PCI/USB host was), and I've disabled USB in the BIOS and disabled them in windows. The system is still working, but Drakan hang 2 times within around 4 hours playing. That's MUCH better than with WOT, which hang every few minutes!
Anyway, the cards are not at the same IRQ now (which I assume is a good thing). But just 2 questions still unanswered: Shouldn't be the Live! at IRQ 5 and the G400 at 11? And why is it STILL not possible to change the IRQ in windows? But I'll change the Resource controlled-value to manual and then try to change them in Windows. Maybe that's the reason why it's not working.

But thanks alot for your support!!! I think there's not much left I can do...

PS: my CPU is overclocked but cooled well, so I don't think it's a temerature problem (JFYI).

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- Syntech -

**Jorden** · 9 December 1999, 16:45

Okay Syntech,

We're getting there

Go back to your BIOS and only put PIRQ_0 to IRQ11, leave the rest on Auto for the time being (You have 5 or 6 PCI-slots??)

It might be that your BIOS starts counting at 0 for PCI-slot 1. I don't know about that one (which version Award BIOS do you have??)

If PIRQ_0 doesn't change your G400 to IRQ11, then go back to your BIOS, set PIRQ_0 to Auto and PIRQ-1 to 11. Check again in Windows.

At a later date you might want to try to put your SB Live! to another IRQ, but that's for later (It shouldn't be on IRQ5 either, I think...)

And could you post us a list of your IRQs as they are now?

Ask one of the technical guys why you can't change the IRQs in Windows. I haven't got a clue, to be honest

I'm off to bed for now (I'm in The Netherlands), but will check in about 6 hours time on your progress

Jorden.

**syntech** · 10 December 1999, 02:33

Jorden:

You really want to get me these things work ;-)
Unfortunately I haven't played around with it anymore (yesterday eveneing). Right after this reply I'll print the whole thread out and follow all your steps. But this will take until late afternoon (I guess we're on the same timezone - I'm from Austria).

Just to complete some specs:
Abit BH6 - 1 AGP, 5 PCI, 2 ISA Slots
Intel Celeren 300A @ 450 (100 * 4.5)
128MB PC-100 Ram
Award Bios (just found out I can upgrade it!)
W98 SE
SB Live! Value
Matrox G400 MAX (5.41.008 driver)
DX 7

Ey, I've just found a great source of information about the ABIT Bios (well, it's enough to describe the meaning of some Bios parameters ). For anyone who's interested, it's the BH6 Users-Manual. And there is the relation between AGP+Slot1 and Slot4+5 and Slot5+USB described. ;-)
Exactly the information I needed!

Now I think I can become the master over my hardware (and not vice versa) ;-)

I'll report any success later in the evening.

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- Syntech -

**MartinS** · 10 December 1999, 06:00

Just make sure that any hangs you're getting isn't the result of too much heat. C300A's @ 450 are great but they don't half generate some heat if you don't add a bigger cooler. You could always try and run it at 300 for a couple of hours (gasp !!).

You never mentioned (I don't think) if you were trying to force the Matrox into AGP x2 (or was that just G200 it screwed - havn't got a 400 yet) If so then don't for now.

What Jorden suggested in his last post should work just fine in that it's a similar configuration to the one I use but I also force some of my other cards IRQ's too.

And thanks for that explanation of 'PNP OS'. Well described. And there was me thinking that windows just said 'right bugger off I know what I'm doing'

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G400 MAX IRQ - change not possible!

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