IRQ problem with sound card

[Rowen]

My soundcard is sharing IRQ 9 with the ethernet, usb, and
acpi. Whenever there is activity on the usb ports (I move
my mouse for instance) there is static noises coming
through the speakers. How do I force my sound card to a
different IRQ?

 

[Dan Seur]

Depending on the sound card/driver, you may be able to do this through
Device Manager.

 

[Rowen]

I have been unable to change any of the IRQ's in device
manager.

 

[Bob I]

I would suggest that you try moving the sound card to a different slot.

 

[Rowen]

I moved it twice, I am going to try and move it to the
last slot in a few. It seems all the pci devices run on
the same IRQ, which is really odd.

 

[Dan Seur]

If what BobI suggests doesn't work for you, here are some thoughts:
1. Make absolutely sure, especially if it's an old sound card, that
there's no jumper or separately-provided software routine used to set
the IRQ on the card. Various cards in the past use these.
2. Make sure it's a plugnplay card.
3. Try removing as many other PCI cards as possible, check the behavior,
restore one card, check the behavior, etc.
4. Run the problem past the soundcard maker's tech support.

W2k normally handles IRQs very well; it's not unusual to see a bunch of
devices sharing an IRQ.

 

[Bob I]

Please be aware that the hardware interupt handler on most PCI boards
only have 4 lines, A,B,C and D. In a nutshell, the numeric IRQ
convention is a "carry-over" from ISA and is a software "kludge" for
legacy support.

Poorly written drivers and "bus hogs" are typical problems blamed on
shared IRQ's.