IRQ Sharing in WINXP

[yngw1e]

here is the problem as it stands right now: i built another computer for my self and installed xp pro onto it as an upgrade from 98 se. with both os's my computer would routinely crash for some unknown reason to me. Much latter i found out that my video card, sound card, and network adapter were sharing the same irq address. No problem there, i will just go into device manager and change my video card to a different number as the sound card and network card are not having problems sharing on my other computer. the only problem was that the the use automatic settings box was grayed out and so i could not change the address:-(.

The bottom line is i would like to be able to put my video card and sound card on there own IRQ's how do i do it?

 

[Mookem]

Couple of points to add about the everything on ONE IRQ situation.

Microsoft seems to say it's ok...per their article "General Description of IRQ Sharing in Windows (Q252420).

Here is a partial quote from that article:
"In Windows, some or all of the devices on your ACPI motherboard may be listed when you view the resources in Device Manager as using the same IRQ (IRQ 9) (to view the list of resources click either Resources by type , or Resources by connection on the View menu). You cannot change the IRQ setting because the setting is unavailable. This occurs because Windows takes advantage of the ACPI features of the motherboard, including advanced PCI sharing. IRQ 9 is used by the PCI bus for IRQ steering. This feature lets you add more devices without generating IRQ conflicts. "

This seems to indicate your lockups may not be related to everything going through IRQ 9.

If you choose to use the Standard PC setup rather then ACPI know that your computer will NOT automatically shut down - you will have to hit the powerbutton to turn off your PC - so the Standard PC option is kind of like 1 step forward and two steps back. Also, if you have a joystick port on a soundcard the joystick port will show up 2x in device manager.

With all that said....
I have an Asus A7M266 motherboard and XP puts all peripherals through IRQ 9. I haven't had lockups but I am troubled as to why other motherboards put devices through separate IRQs. Microsofts article Q252420 would lead me to believe that everything showing through IRQ9 is normal...but if this is true then why with other motherboards does XP use of different IRQs???

 

[Lonman]

Kind of wierd, I don't have anything on IRQ 9, most of my stuff is stacked up on IRQ 11. No problems here (other then those of my own devising ).

 

[ZipTriX]

all mine is on 11

 

[RocketKnight]

Select show all choices or something or another and select Standard PC/MPS multiprocessor/ACPI multiprocessor & alot of others... choose one that's NOT ACPI & you can steer your OWN interrupts manually.

I tried that trick. It enables an option asking you if you want to steer IRQs automatically or not, but on my PC, you still cannot change the IRQ on any devices as the tick box is still greyed out in device manager for this.
What's worse is that not using ACPI means that when you try and shut down the PC, instead of switching off it now says"It's now safe to turn off your computer." You have to do it manually! Not so much of a problem except I use radmin a lot and not being in the house to switch it off means an increased electricity bill for no good reason, lol.