Interrupt Controller uninstalled

Question

My wife's Dimension 2400 lost its network connection and went into ultra slow mode yesterday. I checked the Device Manager and saw that the network adapter was gone. In its place, there was a line that said 'Interrupt Controller' that I had not seen before. The Interrupt Controller was listed as 'uninstalled.' There appears to be no way to install the interrupt controller. I'm guessing that this chip is on the motherboard and the motherboard will have to be replaced. Does this sound about right, or am I overlooking something?

x_lab rat · Answer

That's a somewhat bizarre error.  Given what happened, it sounds like the NIC could be corrupt to the point of identifying itself as another device.  If it's plug-in, remove it and see if anything changes.  If it's onboard (I forgot if 2400 had that), disable it in F2 setup.  If an onboard device fails and disabling it otherwise makes the system work, you can add a plug-in NIC (for example).   The Intel chipset has a native firmware interrupt controller, you couldn't get to Windows without it.  But Windows can reallocate (virtual) interrupts to please itself.  A disagreement with the hardware interrupt controller might cause such a message.  In short, at this point the odds are pretty much 50/50 whether it's hardware or a very quirky Windows corruption.   You might try reinstalling first the chipset driver then the NIC driver.  That may not 'fix' it, but the result could point more to what's wrong. Message Edited by x_lab rat on 11-12-200607:35 PM

helenet · Answer

That's a good suggestion regarding the NIC. It's easy enough to check the possibility of a bad NIC by disabling it in the bios setup. I've seen chattering NIC's cause symptoms similar to what I'm seeing now. Right now I'm reinstalling the OS, since I ran out of other things to try. At the current speed, it should be done by Friday. I'll update when I have additional info. Thanks for the help.

x_lab rat · Answer

Oh jeez.  Installation is running that slow?  F2 and assure that CPU mode is not set to 'compatible'.  That option is nothing but trouble, intended to support hardware that was never shipped, and was removed from Dell BIOS after 2400.

helenet · Answer

I killed off the reinstall - too slow. I checked the bios and sure enough, cpu mode was set to 'compatible.' Turning that back to 'normal' speeded things up a whole bunch. After reboot, the system was showing that it found new hardware - System Interrupt Controller. Not too surprisingly, the wizard was unable to find the required installation software for this device. Looks like I need something that's not on the installation disk. Earlier today I downloaded the intel chipset drivers from Dell. Unfortunately, I ran into a missing dll when I tried to install the drivers. I may need to try the install again. Do you think these drivers are what the wizard is looking for? I'm off to bed for now. I'll continue this tomorrow evening. Thanks a lot for that tip on the cpu mode. BTW, I did not find a place in the bios setup to disable the on-board NIC.

x_lab rat · Answer

On models later than 2400, the Setup heading is 'onboard devices'.  2400 should have something comparable, but I can't 'swear' that it does.   The 'New Hardware Wizard' is about as useful as 'compatible mode'.  It has failed for me even when I typed in the exact driver location and filename.  Wheareas, closing the 'wizard' and manually going to the location and clicking install.exe or setup.exe worked.  'Wizard' will not install Dell drivers.  Among other things, on the disc they are code-named files, not even identified.  You have to let the Resource CD do the install.  It should autostart, identify your system, and give you a list of 'likely' needed drivers.  (Please tell me you do have the Resource CD, it's twice as hard to scrounge up the drivers independently.)

helenet · Answer

I managed to blow away the video driver when I aborted the install, so I'm re-doing the install to get some decent screen resolution. I take it the Resource CD is not the same as the Install CD. I took a quick look and couldn't find anything that looked like a Resource CD, but it may still be around. We've tried to keep the pieces all together, but critical items still have a way of disappearing. Things may also improve with the completion of the OS install. I'll re-assess the situation when the install is complete. Again, thanks for the help. It's sure great to talk to someone who is technically familiar with Dell products.

helenet · Answer

I got the graphics controller tamed, finally. I'm not sure how, but when I rebooted, out of desperation, the driver had somehow, magically, reappeared. Then I had another go at installing the Intel Chipset Drivers. They installed OK this time, but I have no idea where they went. The short version is: not luck with all that mess. On a hunch, knowing that the system couldn't find the on-board NIC, I installed a pci bus NIC. Windows found it immediately and installed it. It picked up a dhcp address and jumped right on to the Internet. I'm declaring victory and moving on. Screw the interrupt controller. Everything works without it. Thanks very much for your patience and technical support in helping me through this.

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Interrupt Controller uninstalled

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