PCI IRQ Resource Problems

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cnick79

[H]ard|Gawd
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Oct 5, 2004
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Ok, I just replaced my Audigy 2 card with an X-Fi using the same PCI slot. When windows loads my video is in 4 bit color and 800x600 resolution. I checked my video card under device manager and it says: "This device cannot find enough free resources that it can use". I disconnected my sound card I just installed, rebooted and everything works fine again. This leads me to believe my new sound card is conflicting with my video card. I cannot insert the sound card into another PCI slot because of my water cooling system getting in the way. The sound card is the only device in a PCI slot and my video card is using AGP. I remember way back having a similar problem with 2 devices, I think it was my Sound Blast Live card and my video card (geforece 2 ultra) or G2 ultra and network adapter. I was able to resolve this problem by assigning new memory "blocks" or something like that. Point being, I forget how and need help!
 
Ok, I've been playing around and I managed to install my X-FI card into another PCI slot and I still get the same problem. I do notice though my USB devices get messed up. I'm unable to use my mouse and keyboard which are connected wirelessly to my USB adapter. When I unplug my ipod nano which is connected to my computer via USB then I can use my keyboard/mouse but still have the resource issues.

When I reboot I can see the listing of devices and the IRQ's being used. It looks like some USB devices are using IRQ 12 which is the same as my video, however when I'm able to reboot successfully (by removing my x-fi card from the pci slot) I check my video card IRQ setting in windows and it says it's using IRQ 16. Could the BIOS be assigning my devices its IRQ and then windows reassigning them?

I'm still confused as to what is going on and what is causing to the problem. I have no idea what to do.

Please, somebody with some knowledge help.
 
I'm not sure what the cause of the rash of IRQ posts is, these all seem to be related to SB's cards.

In general: You don't have IRQ issues, IRQ sharing works just fine. I have not seen an IRQ issue since windows 98. I have seen applications and drivers with bugs that had IRQ sharing issues. The cause was the app/driver and the solution was not to isolate the IRQ.

Here's a similar thread.
Text
 
Thanks for the sign of life. I too believe this is not an IRQ conflict anymore. I'm still puzzled as to why my darn video card is not receiving sufficient resources.

I uninstalled my X-FI from my device manager and reinserted my Audigy 2 ZS. When I rebooted I noticed that windows did not detect any new hardware. I checked my device manager and it did notice the audigy device but the device status had this lovely message: "Windows cannot start this hardware device because its configuration information (in the registry) is incomplete or damaged. (Code 19)".

Now to back up a bit, when I got down to originally installing my X-FI card I simply removed the Audigy 2 ZS from the PCI slot and inserted the new X-FI card. Should I have done anything to remove the A2 ZS such as "Right Click->Uninstall" on the card from within device manager?
 
Phoenix86 said:
I'm not sure what the cause of the rash of IRQ posts is, these all seem to be related to SB's cards.
I have not seen an IRQ issue since windows 98.
Click to expand...

Funny thing you should mention. The only time I've had an IRQ conflict was with my old Sound Blaster Live and Geforce 2 Ultra Card under windows 98. Now you can see why I first thought it was an IRQ conflict.
 
cnick79 said:
Now to back up a bit, when I got down to originally installing my X-FI card I simply removed the Audigy 2 ZS from the PCI slot and inserted the new X-FI card. Should I have done anything to remove the A2 ZS such as "Right Click->Uninstall" on the card from within device manager?
Click to expand...
Absolutely. Do a full uninstall of the older CL software, then swap the hardware.
 
Chastity said:
Absolutely. Do a full uninstall of the older CL software, then swap the hardware.
Click to expand...

I removed the Audigy 2 ZS and all of the software. Then I tried the X-Fi and I get the same results.

The X-Fi isn't that much of an upgrade over the A2 ZS, is it?
 
Try removing/disabling another component and see if you can get it working. Resource conflicts aren't neccessarily the fault of the manufacturer. You can also try disabling APIC and see if you get success. (This may require changing HALs)
 
Chastity said:
Try removing/disabling another component and see if you can get it working. Resource conflicts aren't neccessarily the fault of the manufacturer. You can also try disabling APIC and see if you get success. (This may require changing HALs)
Click to expand...

I tried disabling other components such as USB devices and still no luck.

When you disable APIC and renable it, don't you have to reformat windows, or am I thinking of something else?

I think I'm going to pack up my X-Fi card and save it for a future computer build. Or if I get crazy enough, build a new computer now.
 
Creative Labs tech support told me to update my BIOS (which already is) and if that doesn't work I might want to try a large power supply. I thought my 550w PS would be enough. Has anyone heard of this?
 
I can't tell what your problem is but try a larger powersupply is the dumbest answer ever.

What does the PS have to do with IRQs? 550 Watts is plenty anyways for your setup...

Wow.
 
Yea, the people replying to my emails are of no use. They are indeed idiots because I already wrote a description of my computer telling them how I had the most recent drivers and BIOS and I tried all of my PCI slots. The first thing they tell me is to try all of my PCI slots. After I told them I already did that before they tell me to update my BIOS and try a stronger PS. I wonder what's next in their binder of steps.
 
They are grasping at straws. I guess this is a pretty common issue they have yet to solve, so their techs don't know what to do at some point.

Everything I have seen points to bad hardware or a bad driver, most likely the latter given the number of posts I have seen.
 
Phoenix86 said:
Everything I have seen points to bad hardware or a bad driver, most likely the latter given the number of posts I have seen.
Click to expand...

I agree. There hasn't been a motherboard made that doesn't support the ACPI standards for IRQ sharing and routing made for 4 or 5 years now. That was the whole reason Microsoft made the change to NT based OSes and dropping the 9x series was because they didn't fully support the ACPI standard. With as many devices that are built into motherboards these days there is absolutly no way each device can have it's own IRQ, there just aren't enough to go around.

Back on topic the only way to know for certain if it's hardware or software would require another hard drive. Install Windows clean on the new drive, install your video and motherboard chipset drivers next and make sure Windows boots normally. If it does, then install the Creative crap. At that point if everything is good, then you know it's a software problem, if not, bad card.
 
The_Mage18 said:
I agree. There hasn't been a motherboard made that doesn't support the ACPI standards for IRQ sharing and routing made for 4 or 5 years now. That was the whole reason Microsoft made the change to NT based OSes and dropping the 9x series was because they didn't fully support the ACPI standard. With as many devices that are built into motherboards these days there is absolutly no way each device can have it's own IRQ, there just aren't enough to go around.

Back on topic the only way to know for certain if it's hardware or software would require another hard drive. Install Windows clean on the new drive, install your video and motherboard chipset drivers next and make sure Windows boots normally. If it does, then install the Creative crap. At that point if everything is good, then you know it's a software problem, if not, bad card.
Click to expand...


It's not a bad card because I can install the sound card without any problems, even when my video card doesn't load.

The latest step was to open my msconfig and disable all startup services except MS services. I did that and still nothing.

I'm almost tempted to do a full reformat but I doubt that will solve my problem. I think this is starting to become a motherboard issue. All I have to do is remove my X-Fi from the PCI slot and presto!

Is the X-Fi that much better than my Audigy 2 ZS? Should I sell the X-Fi card and wait for my next computer build?
 
I got it to work! I went into my BIOS and increased my AGP Aperture size from 128 to 256.

However, now my video card is reporting it is not getting sufficient power!
 
cnick79 said:
I got it to work! I went into my BIOS and increased my AGP Aperture size from 128 to 256.

However, now my video card is reporting it is not getting sufficient power!
Click to expand...

:eek: Am I the only one here who thinks that should NOT have worked? Your AGP Aperture size should NOT affect Window's ability to load drivers. Either that motherboard is failing or you truely have a Voodoo PC.
 
The_Mage18 said:
:eek: Am I the only one here who thinks that should NOT have worked? Your AGP Aperture size should NOT affect Window's ability to load drivers. Either that motherboard is failing or you truely have a Voodoo PC.
Click to expand...

I found this solution in the forums at creativelabs. It appears some other people were having the same problem as me with their Geforce 6600 and 7800's.
 
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