Hi guys,
I just purchased a Diamond SupraExpress USB modem, and I really like it. There are a few bugs in the way it works with my BP6, however.
Let's see if I can describe the problem. I think I'm going to have to print up the list of IRQ assignments tonight to make this really clear, but I'll try to give you the general idea.
In the instructions for the modem, the company states that the USB shouldn't share an IRQ with anything else in order to ensure proper operation. I noticed that in my system list, it shared IRQ 10 with the ACPI PCI steering function, as well as my Sound card. So, being lazy, rather than yank the sound card from slot 3, which I think is shared with the USB, I just popped into the BIOS and fiddled around by disabling anything I didn't already use. I ended up disabling both serial ports, the parallel port, the "assign IRQ to USB", "assign IRQ to AGP", and selected the force update function.
Well, everything went smoothly, except now when I select shut down on my start menu, the screen goes through the shut down process and goes blank, but the tower doesn't turn off. I have to press and hold the power button for a few seconds to get it to switch off. Even then, the numeral lock light on my keyboard stays lit.
It's just a little thing, but does anyone know what I've done wrong? I'd like to hear any ideas you might have regarding this IRQ nonsense, too. I realize there are a limited number of unshared PCI slots and IRQs in the BP6 that we have to play around with, so I'm kind of wondering what people have done to make their systems run smoothly with no conflicts. I think the idea of disabling the serial/parallel ports and AGP IRQ assignments was a good start to free up resources, and I suspect that swapping my cards around to different slots might be another method, but I've no experience with the nitty gritty of IRQs.
Is there any good primer or FAQ on BP6 and IRQs out there?
Thanks,
-E.
Modems, IRQs, and Shutting Down Problems...
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e.lectronick
- Posts: 16
- Joined: Tue Sep 03, 2002 6:06 pm
- Location: New York City
Modems, IRQs, and Shutting Down Problems...
"Who put the Tribbles in the Quadrotriticale?"
I use the same modem on my MAIN BP6 WinXP-Pro peer server, which also runs Internet Connection Sharing (ICS). Like you, I also opted to address the shared IRQ issue by eliminating as many IRQ assignments as possible & trying to run everything off USB - KB, Mouse, printer, modem, etc. My MS keyboard has the (2) USB ports built-in (for mouse & printer).
I then disabled PS/2 mouse support, parallel port, & COMs as much as possible to free up the IRQs, hopefully to eliminate any trouble from sharing. So far, so good.
For the last 6 months, the ICS has worked perfectly with the SupraExpress USB modem. Ocasionally, the modem needs the USB disconnected & reconnected to clear a freeze-up (another good reason for EXTERNAL modems - no crappy reboots).
My shutdowns on this system do take a very long time to complete, sometimes 1 Min. or more. I'll look at my exact BIOS setup & post it along with the system H/W config so you can compare.
I then disabled PS/2 mouse support, parallel port, & COMs as much as possible to free up the IRQs, hopefully to eliminate any trouble from sharing. So far, so good.
For the last 6 months, the ICS has worked perfectly with the SupraExpress USB modem. Ocasionally, the modem needs the USB disconnected & reconnected to clear a freeze-up (another good reason for EXTERNAL modems - no crappy reboots).
My shutdowns on this system do take a very long time to complete, sometimes 1 Min. or more. I'll look at my exact BIOS setup & post it along with the system H/W config so you can compare.
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e.lectronick
- Posts: 16
- Joined: Tue Sep 03, 2002 6:06 pm
- Location: New York City
>>>InactiveX>>>InactiveX wrote:It sounds like you disabled ACPI in the BIOS. If you re-enable it, you'll probably have to reinstall Windows. Sorry I can't be more certain, I'm relying on my (slowly degrading) memory
Geez, really?
I don't seem to recall ever having to reinstall Windows in order to get ACPI to start working again in the past when I've fiddled with it. It's always just worked again after a reboot. I'm going to reserve judgement on that one until I've tried everything else.
>>>RRLedford>>>
I'm glad you and I are in the same boat. I'm going to pick up my 1100E's today from UPS, so perhaps after I've gotten the Neos we can compare further notes on that setup as well. As it stands, I think the USB printer/keyboard/mouse idea is a good one too. As I said, I'll print up a copy of my system IRQs tonight and post them here so we can see what we have in common.
Thanks, guys.
-E.
"Who put the Tribbles in the Quadrotriticale?"
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Snugglebear
- Posts: 90
- Joined: Wed Aug 21, 2002 6:19 pm
- Contact:
If you disable ACPI in the bios and windows NTx is expecting it, windows will no longer boot - it will just sit there and reboot shortly after getting to the 256 color boot screen and continue infinitely. Hence the proper way of disabling or enabling ACPI is to leave the bios settings untouched and boot into windows, then open up your device manager and change the Computer driver to something like 'standard APM multiprocessor machine' from 'ACPI multiprocessor machine'. After the reboot, change the bios setting. Doing it that way will let windows NTx survive an ACPI disable just fine, though reenabling won't hurt windows, but you still *should* update the driver there.
As for other bios settings, I'd recommend leaving the Assign IRQ to USB and VGA on - most devices require that IRQ for proper functioning. The serial and parallel ports are less worrisome, and since I myself use SCSI, I also killed the IDE controllers.
Lastly, in regards to your keyboard staying lit - this is normal. Without the power supply explicitly killed by being unplugged from the main or having its own switch flipped the computer is still drawing juice. Modern machines act like VCRs - they look off, but in reality they're still sucking juice, powering things like your nic and keyboard in case you have the APM functions for powering up on LAN, keyboard, modem, or power failure.
As for other bios settings, I'd recommend leaving the Assign IRQ to USB and VGA on - most devices require that IRQ for proper functioning. The serial and parallel ports are less worrisome, and since I myself use SCSI, I also killed the IDE controllers.
Lastly, in regards to your keyboard staying lit - this is normal. Without the power supply explicitly killed by being unplugged from the main or having its own switch flipped the computer is still drawing juice. Modern machines act like VCRs - they look off, but in reality they're still sucking juice, powering things like your nic and keyboard in case you have the APM functions for powering up on LAN, keyboard, modem, or power failure.
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e.lectronick
- Posts: 16
- Joined: Tue Sep 03, 2002 6:06 pm
- Location: New York City
Fixed the problems. Here's how.
I fixed the auto shutdown problem by accident.
I went into the BIOS and reset all the settings to their defaults using that function on the front screen, then I went into each page one by one and reset all the settings I knew had worked in the past (eg. Overclocking speeds, Memory latency, etc...) and booted. I think the difference was in one of a couple of functions. First, what surprised me was that the function having to do with PNP OS installed was set to "no" as the default, so I left it alone, even though I know Windows 98SE is plug n play equipped. Go figure. I also left the serial ports and parallel ports as well as the USB and VGA IRQ assignments alone to their defaults. Those were the only differences.
I rebooted and tried to shut down. It worked. Yay.
SO, the upshot of all of this is that it has to be one of the following:
-"PNP OS Installed?"
-the Serial or Parallel port enable/disable
-"Assign IRQ to VGA"
-"Assign IRQ to USB"
Something tells me it's the first one, since in my hazy memory I think that was something I had to deal with in order for certain Sonic Foundry software to function properly. I guess I never switched it back to it's original settings, maybe. I dunno, it's been a while since I used this computer until I got my new modem.
I'll fiddle some more when I have the chance to narrow it down to the exact function that caused the problem. The good thing is, my modem works fine even without having messed with the IRQs in the first place. I guess this was all for nothing after all.
Thanks for the suggestions and help.
-Erik.
I went into the BIOS and reset all the settings to their defaults using that function on the front screen, then I went into each page one by one and reset all the settings I knew had worked in the past (eg. Overclocking speeds, Memory latency, etc...) and booted. I think the difference was in one of a couple of functions. First, what surprised me was that the function having to do with PNP OS installed was set to "no" as the default, so I left it alone, even though I know Windows 98SE is plug n play equipped. Go figure. I also left the serial ports and parallel ports as well as the USB and VGA IRQ assignments alone to their defaults. Those were the only differences.
I rebooted and tried to shut down. It worked. Yay.
SO, the upshot of all of this is that it has to be one of the following:
-"PNP OS Installed?"
-the Serial or Parallel port enable/disable
-"Assign IRQ to VGA"
-"Assign IRQ to USB"
Something tells me it's the first one, since in my hazy memory I think that was something I had to deal with in order for certain Sonic Foundry software to function properly. I guess I never switched it back to it's original settings, maybe. I dunno, it's been a while since I used this computer until I got my new modem.
I'll fiddle some more when I have the chance to narrow it down to the exact function that caused the problem. The good thing is, my modem works fine even without having messed with the IRQs in the first place. I guess this was all for nothing after all.
Thanks for the suggestions and help.
-Erik.
"Who put the Tribbles in the Quadrotriticale?"