Interrupt Requests

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The only operating system related crashes I get these days in Win 2K are the
very rare interrupt request not less or equal blue screen of death.

Looking at the list of my hardware interrupt request numbers I have IRQ Nos
0,1,4,6,7,8,9,10,12,13,14 and 15 in use. However, IRQ 7 is being shared
between 7 different things. I know that it is common and perfectly normal
for some IRQs to be shared, but I can't help feeling that 7 different things
sharing the same interrupt is causing the occasional aforementioned BSODs.

So, how is it possible to re-assign some of the devices using IRQ 7 to
another IRQ? And which devices should be using which IRQ nos? On the
resources tab of the properties of the devices, the option to use manual
settings (and thus change the IRQ no) are greyed out.

Thanks for any advice.

 

[Gerry Voras]

That's a lot on IRQ 7, especially when it is traditionally supposed to be
used just with LPT1.

I do notice some things in your IRQ list that aren't in use -- which may be
just as troubling. Most PC's have 2 serial ports, which means both IRQ 3
and 4 should be in use. You don't list IRQ2 in use, but it should be the
cascade to 8-15. If you have either a NIC or a sound card, IRQ 5 should be
in use somewhere.

The OS will let you change addressing on devices as long a (1) an acceptable
address is available, and (2) the device is designed to change addresses
(some aren't).

 

[Rick]

The only operating system related crashes I get these days in Win 2K are the
very rare interrupt request not less or equal blue screen of death.

Looking at the list of my hardware interrupt request numbers I have IRQ Nos
0,1,4,6,7,8,9,10,12,13,14 and 15 in use. However, IRQ 7 is being shared
between 7 different things. I know that it is common and perfectly normal
for some IRQs to be shared, but I can't help feeling that 7 different things
sharing the same interrupt is causing the occasional aforementioned BSODs.

So, how is it possible to re-assign some of the devices using IRQ 7 to
another IRQ? And which devices should be using which IRQ nos? On the
resources tab of the properties of the devices, the option to use manual
settings (and thus change the IRQ no) are greyed out.

Thanks for any advice.

The all-on-one-IRQs is a result of ACPI. In order to gain some
degree of manual control over IRQ assignment you'd need to
disable the ACPI option in your system bios, then reinstall Win2K
from scratch. When you boot off the CD and it prompts you to
hit F6 to install disk drivers, hit F5 instead, and change the system
type to "Standard PC". Finish the installation normally.

Even this won't give you complete control over IRQs -- they will
still be assigned according to PCI slot order, and any sharing
between multiple PCI slots and onboard devices will still exist.

Rick