changing I R Q' s

Discussion in 'Software' started by wk990, May 7, 2004.

  1. wk990

    wk990 Private E-2

    need to know how to move devices from sharing the same I R Q any info would help greatly. thank you
     
    wk990, May 7, 2004
    #1
  2. chaslang

    chaslang MajorGeeks Admin - Master Malware Expert Staff Member

    You need to supply some more info. At least your Operating System. See this link:

    http://www.majorgeeks.com/vb/announcement.php?f=33
     
    chaslang, May 7, 2004
    #2
  3. wk990

    wk990 Private E-2

    I R Q

    darn I'm sorry for not giving this info --screwed up and forgot to include it
    I'm running win XP pro. 2.4 gig intel processor , i gig ddr sdram , 200 gig western digital HD Nvidia fx5700 ultra video card, bios is only 6 months old.
    All my drivers are up to date and the most current available,

    My problum is when I try to run a game called ( need for speed underground )
    the sound works great but the video is jerky, I contacted the game tech support and attached a copy of my directx diagnostic file, their responce was I have too many things sharing the same I R Q ., after checking my system files I agree I have 8 sharing the same I R Q ( 8 ) and was wondering if i could move one or two around without having to do a reinstall and force the installation to one thats is not assigned by windows, if it's going to be a hassel I'll say forget the game cause it's not that imporant, I was just wondering if it could be done somewhat easly.
     
    wk990, May 7, 2004
    #3
  4. chaslang

    chaslang MajorGeeks Admin - Master Malware Expert Staff Member

    I would not expect that a reasonably new PC would be overloading an IRQ that much. In addition, I'm no expert at DxDiag logs, but I do not remember them listing the IRQ, I/O Ranges, DMA channels,...etc that hardware is using. So exactly how they determined that, I'm not sure. Did give you a list of what items were sharing IRQ8?

    Your can run this command using Start, Run c:\windows\system32\compmgmt.msc /s
    And then select Device Manager (can also access through Control Panel, System, Hardware, Device Manager). You can then select various hardware elements and right click on them. Then select properties. For some of the devices there will be a Resources tab where you can view IRQ's, I/O Range, etc. See if you can really find 8 items sharing IRQ8. I would not expect so, unless you have a lot more hardware in you system then you listed.

    Sounds more likely to me that you have either too slow a CD-Rom drive or you have too many other items running that can be slowing down the system and impacting the video. Virus scanning software (especially Norton & McAfee) can do this. So can some other tools that require lots of real time resources (like popup blockers, spyware blockers.....etc). Try shutting down (using task manager) everything you don't need to have running and see if that improves the situation.

    In fact, an easier method would be to download Belarc Adviser 6.1 here: http://www.majorgeeks.com/download1385.html
    Install it and run it. Then select Devices followed by Device Resources. It should list what is being used by what. See if you really have 8 devices using IRQ8.
     
    Last edited: May 8, 2004
    chaslang, May 8, 2004
    #4
  5. alanc

    alanc MajorGeek

    An easier way to see how your IRQs are assigned is (in the same Computer Management applet) to expand System Information > Hardware Resources, select IRQs and click the IRQ Number heading to sort by IRQ. And I don't think he was referring to IRQ8 (which is not shareable, IIRC), just 8 devices sharing a particular IRQ, probably 9 or 11.

    Also, IRQ sharing (or steering, as it's called) is completely normal for AGP/PCI devices. 8 devices on IRQ9 or 11 may be normal for his mobo, depending upon how many PCI cards he has in the machine.

    I'm no expert at troubleshooting video and game issues, but I think those clowns are blowing him off. It's logical to want the video card on a 'free' IRQ, but that may not be configurable with that card. Maybe someone else can jump in with that info.

    Smells fishy to me...
     
    alanc, May 8, 2004
    #5
  6. wk990

    wk990 Private E-2

    Thanks guys for the info and yes Chaslang I do have belarc also fresh devices (fresh diagnostic )tools, also a good information program , but I have to agree with Alanc
    I think the techs are just trying to blow me off. In any case my best bet is to dump the program and forget it.again thank you for the information. I know one thing for sure ---the people on Major geeks are the greatest and am proud to be a member--- ;) ;)
     
    wk990, May 8, 2004
    #6
  7. chaslang

    chaslang MajorGeeks Admin - Master Malware Expert Staff Member

    Wk, I was implying the same as Alan when I previously said:

    " Sounds more likely to me that you have either too slow a CD-Rom drive or you have too many other items running that can be slowing down the system and impacting the video. Virus scanning software (especially Norton & McAfee) can do this. So can some other tools that require lots of real time resources (like popup blockers, spyware blockers.....etc). Try shutting down (using task manager) everything you don't need to have running and see if that improves the situation."

    You could give that a quick try. I have down this a few times on a couple of PCs that friends were trying to play games on or even just a DVD movie. It did help in each case. While I'm not positive it would fix your problem, it may be worth a try.
     
    chaslang, May 8, 2004
    #7
  8. chaslang

    chaslang MajorGeeks Admin - Master Malware Expert Staff Member

    Alan, I thought that would work too but I do not see it on my system from there. See attachment.
     

    Attached Files:

    chaslang, May 8, 2004
    #8
  9. snakefoot

    snakefoot Sergeant Major

    ACPI makes it almost impossible to identify IRQ sharing, as the OS assigns software IRQs for each devices. Usually this assignment makes all devices seem like they are using the same IRQ (The one of the ACPI Controller), or IRQs above the usually hardware IRQs.

    Most motherboard BIOS's list the devices it detects along with its hardware IRQ before the operating system is being loaded. Using this list to determine what devices are sharing IRQ is usually better than using software within Windows. Also the motherboard manual is able to specify what PCI slots are sharing IRQs with each other or with onboard devices.

    Checkpoints for fixing a hardware/software conflict
     
    snakefoot, May 8, 2004
    #9
  10. alanc

    alanc MajorGeek

    That's some good info, snake :)

    My bad, I'm on 2K at home, thought it was the same, try running msinfo32.exe, that should show you what I mean.
     
    alanc, May 8, 2004
    #10
  11. chaslang

    chaslang MajorGeeks Admin - Master Malware Expert Staff Member

    Yep! Thats the one! Forgot all about msinfo for some reason.
     
    chaslang, May 8, 2004
    #11
  12. G.T.

    G.T. R.I.P February 4, 2007. You will be missed.

    WinXP won't let you reassign IRQs manually, but you may be able to get one or two off of that IRQ by moving them to different slots.

    What all is sharing that IRQ? If the sound card is one of them, I'd try moving that one, as it's the one that uses the bus the most during gaming, along with the video card.

    Windows 2000 was really bad at lumping everything on a single IRQ. XP usually does better at spacing them out, even though things SHOULD share nicely, as long as it's fairly new hardware.
     
    G.T., May 9, 2004
    #12

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