How do you FORCE IRQ's (Windows 2000 Professional, AMI BIOS)

[CURIOUS ANGEL]

I have a SCSI Supermicro P6DGU motherboard w/AMI BIOS, and am trying to
figure out how to FORCE HARDWARE in Windows 2000 Professional, the new
system I am presently building.

There are three PCI cards that I am trying to force IRQ's on:
CREATIVE SOUNDBLASTER LIVE! 5.1 CARD . . . PCI SLOT 5 . . . AMI set to
PCI IRQ Priority "5"
ADAPTEC SCSI 7850 SCANNER CARD . . . PCI SLOT 3 . . . AMI set to PCI
IRQ Priority "10"
SIIG MULTI-PORT EXPANSION CARD . . . PCI SLOT 2 . . . AMI set to PCI
IRQ Priority "9"

All three of these IRQ's are available incidentally; what I haven't yet
touched are the DMA settings (because I don't really understand them),
so that remains one of the few things I haven't yet changed (they
remain set as PNP in BIOS).

What is happening is, try as I might, I cannot get Windows 2000 to
honor the AMI BIOS preferences -- despite having the cards in their
appointed slots -- and I've tweaked this so many different ways by now
my head spins.

I've tried turning off PNP.
I've tried booting into SAFE MODE.
And of course I've tried every iteration of an uninstall/reinstall
imaginable.

The reason I need to lock in these IRQ's has to do with the generous
selection of slots on my (wonderful!) P6DGU motherboard, and my
intention to make use of all of them.

I've experienced conflicts with the Soundblaster card with some older
sound programs, thus it _MUST_ have IRQ 5, which is available.
Currently it's on IRQ 19, and predictably, I'm having problems.

I've experienced severe hardware lockup on BOTH my scanner and my
printer when (either) have been forced to share an IRQ. I haven't even
attempted to install the scanner software -- I already know I'm going
to have problems. As for the printer: PROBLEMS. I have to manually
interact with its console to start any print job; but worse, the
printer is printing a pattern of (curiously attractive lol) marks
across my paper on each page.

In short folks, I wouldn't be asking how to do this if I wasn't
experiencing problems right now. If I have to reinstall Windows 2000
Professional in a completely different way, I WILL. I'm just building
this system, so this is the time to do it.

What advice do you have viz . . .
AMI BIOS settings
SYSTEM DEVICE MANAGER settings
REGISTRY HACK
SOUNDBLASTER LIVE 5.1 JUMPER SETTINGS?

How about any 3rd party utilities that allow me to access these locked
up IRQ's and get in there to fix them?

Thanks anyone and everyone!

Angel

 

[Cari \(MS-MVP\)]

See:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/252420/

Disable ACPI in the BIOS and reinstall if you need to assign your own IRQs.

 

[CURIOUS ANGEL]

See:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/252420/

Disable ACPI in the BIOS and reinstall if you need to assign your own IRQs.

Cari! Hey thanks! Might I impose upon you to confirm/revise my
understanding of this process. The first question is the big one:

Will I have to reinstall the OS for these forced IRQ's to work? --which
invites the other end of that question, Will I be able to return to PnP
mode AFTER these three devices are forced . . . and have their settings
remain honored?

Next, if the OS does NOT have to be reinstalled -- and these components
were originally assigned IRQ's in PnP Mode -- is there a recommended
SEQUENCE of steps to do this? Here is what I intend:

1. System\ Device Manager to UNINSTALL devices
_______Q. In SAFE MODE?
2. Confirm that the PCI cards to be forced are in their appointed
SLOTS
3. Reboot
_______Q. Or Shut Down and physically REMOVE the cards just to be
sure?
3. Boot\ DELETE into AMI BIOS
4. CHIPSET\ ACPI Control Register\ Disable
PCI|PnP SETUP
5. \Plug and Play-Aware OS \ No
_______Q. Or Yes? Will this prejudice my ability to return to PnP
Mode LATER?
6. \PCI Slot Priority
2 = 10
3 = 11*
5 = 5
(* note, this is a change because I read yesterday that IRQ 9 is used
for PCI Steering and I don't want to invite trouble)

I'm sure others will find this post helpful, and that is why I am
trying to be exacting in my description of the steps involved. Thank
you so much for helping me with this and I look forward to your
comments!

Angel