IRQ Conflict

Well with Win2000 it is bit tough to do.

Take a look at this MS KB article

General Description of IRQ Sharing in Windows 2000
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;252420

BEGIN ARTICLE

The information in this article applies to:
Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional
Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server

For a Microsoft Windows XP version of this article, see Q314068.
NOTE: This article is for informational use only; it does not contain any troubleshooting information. If you are searching for troubleshooting information that is not referred to in this article, please try searching the Microsoft Knowledge Base again by using keywords that are listed in the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article:
Q242450 How to Query the Microsoft Knowledge Base Using Keywords

Summary
In Windows, peripheral component interconnect (PCI) devices can share interrupts (IRQs) by design. Per the Plug and Play capability that is defined by the PCI specification, adapters are configured by the computer's BIOS, and are then examined by the operating system and changed if necessary. It is normal behavior for PCI devices to have IRQs shared among them, especially for Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (APCI) computers with Windows ACPI support enabled.

More Information
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.

Note that Windows 2000 does not have the ability to rebalance resources in the same way that Microsoft Windows 98 does. After PCI resources are set, they generally cannot be changed. If you change to an invalid IRQ setting or I/O range for the bus that a device is on, Windows 2000 cannot rebalance the resource it assigned to that bus to compensate. Windows 2000 does not have this ability because of the more complex hardware schemas it is designed to support. Windows 98 does not have to support IOAPICs, multiple root PCI buses, multiple-processor systems, and so on. Rebalancing becomes risky when you are dealing with these hardware schemas, and will not be implemented in Windows 2000 except for very specific scenarios. However, PCI devices are required to be able to share IRQs. The ability to share IRQs should not prevent any hardware from working in general.

The Plug and Play operating system settings in the computer's BIOS should not affect how Windows handles the hardware in general. However, Microsoft recommends that you set this setting to "No" or "Disabled" in the computer's BIOS. For information about viewing or modifying your computer's BIOS settings, consult your computer's documentation or manufacturer.

Manually assigning IRQs to PCI slots in the System BIOS as a troubleshooting method may work on some non-ACPI systems when using a standard PC HAL, but these settings are ignored by Plug and Play in Windows if ACPI support is enabled. If you need to manually assign IRQ addresses through the BIOS to a device on an ACPI motherboard, you will need to re-install Windows to force the installation to use a Standard PC HAL. For additional information, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Q216251 How to Specify a Specific or Third-Party HAL During Windows 2000 Setup

COPYRIGHT NOTICE. Copyright 2002 Microsoft Corporation, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, Washington 98052-6399 U.S.A. All rights reserved.
 
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Thanks Crazyone, Do you think it would be advisable to to a complete re-install? I'm reluctant to do this as I'll have to restore all my settings for programs etc.

Any further advice people?

Jay

Greetings, jamie_bennett!
   Boot up in Safe Mode and go to Device Manager. Look at which device has yellow exclamation marks.  Delete those drivers. Reboot and Windows will reinstall the drivers and hopefully assign them non-conflicting IRQs. Are the yellow marks gone?

From your list, looks like IDE Controller and Modem should be on other IRQs. Uninstall the modem driver, reboot, and let Windows install driver, hopefully with a different IRQ. If this does not move the IRQ, move the modem to a different PCI slot. Do the same with IDE Controller. Uninstall the driver and reinstall.

To find out which IRQs are being use and not use, select Start > Run and type "msinfo32" without the quotes. Open up Hardware > IRQ.

Best wishes, war1

War1,

Unfortunatly there are no such exclamation marks as the devices "Supposedly" can share the same IRQ happyly... I have tried as you suggested and unfortunatly it was to no avail.. any further tips?

Jay

Yep Win2000 is a different beast and remove a device and reinstalling them generally won't chang the IRQ Win2000 decides that the device should have.

I am thinking your Win2000 is setup with the ACPI HAL. If you want to use the Standard PC HAl then yes you do have to start fresh. Using the Standard PC Hal will probably lessen some of the IRQ sharing but some sharing will still be there and you still won't be able to control the IRQ's settings for within Win2000. Plus if you use the Standard PC you will loose most of the control over the Power settings in your computer.

You know looking back over your question it comes across that the power supply isn't sufficent rather then an IRQ sharing problem.

jamie_bennett,
   Here is a webpage for troubleshooting IRQ conficts, DAM conflicts, and I/O conflicts in Windows 2000. It may help in your situation.

jamie_bennett,
   You may have to swap all the cards in your system around in different combinations to see if you can bust the conflict. Bear in mind that the top slot in your motherboard shares an IRQ with the AGP slot and the bottom slot 'normally' shares with the USB bus. Is the modem card NOT in the bottom slot?

http://www.techrescue.net/guides/conflicts.asp

Hmmm jamie I came across this. I have never tried it so I can't verify if it works but...

http://www.tek-tips.com/gfaqs.cfm/lev2/67/lev3/70/pid/616/fid/971

If you have system problems that you cannot resolve, or if you are attempting to change a device IRQ and cannot, consider removing the ACPI HAL and installing the Standard PC HAL. This method is not supported or offered by Microsoft, it is a solution I created and implemented through trial and error (testing).

The only way to change your IRQ is to remove ACPI. The only way to remove ACPI, is too remove the ACPI HAL and that requires a repair install and then some configuration.

First, have your Windows 2000 CD and all the information about your peripheral card that you can gather. The more info you get, the less experimenting you will have to do to configure IRQs.

Here is the process:

1. Insert your Windows 2000 CD into your CD drive and reboot.

2. Make certain that your BIOS is set to boot to the CD. (Read the manual for this info)

3. When Windows 2000 first turns the screen blue and writes in the status area, "Press F6 if you have....". Press F5 now! **Yeah thats odd, but thats the way it is.**

4. you will be presented a screen that contains a list of PC configurations - choose Standard PC.

5. Continue through the installation, doing a repair install. DO NOT ABORT THIS INSTALLATION! your system will not boot if you don't.

6. Reinstall your service pack level.

7. Right click on my computer and select Properties, choose Hardware, then choose the Device Manager. Click the plus sign next to Computer and right click on Standard PC - click Properties.

8. Click on IRQ Steering. You will see three boxes checked. FROM THE BOTTOM UP, uncheck these boxes.

9. You will be prompted to reboot. Do so...

Now the hard or easy part, I can't say.

PCI devices today are loaded with IRQ presets. Manufacturers have agreed to use certain IRQs for their devices. For instance sound card traditionally used IRQ 5. Unfortunately, Sound Blaster decided to break this habit, my current SB Live uses IRQ 12.

If your problem remains, it may now be the possibility of real IRQ conflicts - depending on your devices.

The most extreme manner of sorting out IRQ issues is this:

Remove all peripheral cards except for the video card, and your hard disk controller if that is on a PCI card. Boot Windows 2000, open Device Manager and set this card to use the desired IRQ. Shut down and readd your cards one by one, rebooting between each and setting the IRQ for each - or just accept where Windows 2000 slots them.
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BTW jamie you really aren't having an IRQ conflict per se just a sharing issue which is the way Win2000 does. What one could do in Win98 to change IRQ's doesn't work in Win2000. But that in part what makes Win2000 a more stable enviroment then Win98

Dear Crazyone,

Admittedly i have a lot running form a 300W PSU, so maybe I'll upgrade it to a 600W.

I'll give that a try!

Jay

Ok. this is the part that got me thinking it might be a power supply issue "(IE CD runs down at unexpected times, USB devices fail to connect etc)."

Also how about the usb power. It is self powered or does it have its own power source.

Most devices have own power source. One is an internal card reader, that runs from the PSU. I should be getting a new PSU courtesy of maplins... I'll let you know how it goes!

Right... sorry it's been so long since I've replied... I've installed the new power supply and no joy. Still has the same problems, I've manaaged to get the Modem off IRQ 11, so now thats not an issue. Same problems though.

Any further ideas people?

I really don't want to have to trash my PC and re-install, but if necessary I'll do it... any other options or will it be a complete rebuild?

Jay

PS I've increased the points to 350 in the hope of a non re-install option

It still bafles me. Have you tried a Parallel Installation to see if the problem persist under the installation.

HOW TO: Perform a Parallel Installation of Windows 2000
http://support.microsoft.com/search/preview.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;266465

Well, ive basically got the same problem under windows XP. Except, i have A LOT of devices, that are giving me problems, on irq 11

IRQ 11      Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System      OK
IRQ 11      NVIDIA GeForce2 MX/MX 400      OK
IRQ 11      VIA Rev 5 or later USB Universal Host Controller      OK
IRQ 11      VIA Rev 5 or later USB Universal Host Controller      OK
IRQ 11      VIA AC'97 Audio Controller (WDM)      OK
IRQ 11      OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller      OK
IRQ 11      NEC PCI to USB Open Host Controller      OK
IRQ 11      NEC PCI to USB Open Host Controller      OK
IRQ 11      D-Link DFB-A5 USB 2.0 PCI Adapter      OK
IRQ 11      Realtek RTL8139 Family PCI Fast Ethernet NIC      OK
IRQ 11      HPT370 UDMA/ATA100 RAID Controller      OK

These are all on irq 11, and i often have problems with ALL of them.

IRQ 11      HPT370 UDMA/ATA100 RAID Controller
My hard drive will randomly, shut down, and just say, im taking a nap.... 5 minutes later, ill hear it start like i just turned on the pc and it will resume windows (mouse moves and everything) and work fine.

IRQ 11      NEC PCI to USB Open Host Controller      OK
After my computers on for longer then 2 hours, none of my usb devices work, ie, digital camera's and external cd burners.

IRQ 11      D-Link DFB-A5 USB 2.0 PCI Adapter
IRQ 11      NVIDIA GeForce2 MX/MX 400
These 2 always give me blue screens, saying IRQL NOT LESS OR EQUAL, and its one or the others driver file listed.
Whenever im using my card, not so much the internet, but my graphics card, playing games or working in 3d anything will blue screen shortly after using them.

IRQ 11      VIA AC'97 Audio Controller (WDM)
Although its not listed on irq 11, when my cdrom decides to work, if i use it, the sound will skip, like a scratched cd, until im done copying or anything with the cdrom. even refreshing folder lists on a cd.

I have tried replacing my network card with a new one, and i couldnt get the IRQ to change, i tried changing slots on every avail slot,
and the IRQ still will not change. I cant find a way to change my AGP GeForce2's IRQ slot, and my hard drive... where would i change that in winxp ? This has been going on for a little over 2 years, and i never actually put all the problems together till now to realise there all on the same IRQ. Any help on changing would GREATLY be appreciated.

Thanx guys :)