Manually Setting IRQ's on a 4100

If you are running Win2K, this is normal. If it's working, don't worry about it. If you are having problems, there are a couple of ways to change it. Below is an exerpt form the GEforce FAQ page. ( here). Good luck.

Tony

Q. I have Windows 2000 and all of my devices share the same IRQ, causing problems with my GeForce. How can I fix it?
This is a 'feature' of Windows 2000 - it uses ACPI in such a way that all devices share the same IRQ, usually 9 or 11. If you don't have problems, then leave it alone, but if you do get problems, use one of the procedures below:

This procedure, submitted by Steve Aucoin, will allow you to disable ACPI without reformatting:

Disable P&P OS and ACPI in your BIOS, if you can - if the option is not available try installing the latest BIOS update for your motherboard. You can get help with finding out what BIOS you need and instructions as to how to flash it at Wim's BIOS page

Reboot. Go to Control Panel - Hardware and double click on My Computer in the hardware manager.

You'll see ACPI - get into its properties and click to install another driver. When prompted, look under the Microsoft section and install the "Standard PC" driver.

Reboot. At this point Win2k will try and reinstall all devices on your system so install any drivers you are prompted for (have them all handy) and reboot. Finalise any drivers you may be prompted for on the 2nd boot and reboot again.

With all your drivers re-installed, take a look in hardware manager - and every device should have its own IRQ.

Be warned that this method is discouraged by Microsoft - see the note at the bottom of this Knowledge Base article.

You can press F7 during the portion of setup that displays the message to press F6 for adding SCSI drivers. This configures Setup to not try ACPI machine types. By doing so, you are not required to edit a file.

If for some reason the above procedure doesn't work, follow the following procedure, provided by Aaron Dierking, to disable ACPI from the outset.

Copy the i386 directory off the Windows 2000 CD onto your hard drive.

Go into the i386 directory on your HDD and find the txtsetup.sif. Open it with notepad.

Find the [ACPIOptions] section in the file. Below will be a setting for ACPIEnable - set it to 0.

Install Windows 2000 using your hard drive copy.

How about Win 98....

What motherboard is in the 4100? Is it Win98SE only, or a dual boot? What if any, problems are you having?

I went to MS, and did a search for ACPI. Almost every mention, refers to Win2K. This appears to be a function of Bios, and Win. It stands for Advanced Configuration & Power Interface. While it mentions Win98 as being viable with this, it doesn't seem to be the main focus.

Everything shows up on one IRQ, because that is where the PCI steering allocates everything through. It also is tied to system shutdown, standby, etc.

Go into your Bios, look at each item, for ACPI, and if it will enable/disable. Don't do it, as you will have problems. At best, you will have to reinstall the drivers for each item you have. At worst, you will have to reinstall Win98. Just see if it is a setting that you have access to or not.

Also, you better turn PCI steering back on. I would wait for a response from Dell (bug them again). There may be an easier way to do this. I think that the instructions I posted earlier will still work for you. I would prefer to be able to confirm that first. Good luck.

Tony

This is something that I worried about also with my T series (T600R) and Windows 98SE when I first received it. ACPI & PCI is a new ball game compared to my old P166S. The old school of how we thought that it was a sin to share an IRQ in the old days (in computers that is) is no longer true. As long as Device Manager shows no problems and the PC shuts down ok (consider yourself lucky these days), your PC can live very happily by sharing IRQ's. To change IRQ's that can be shared IF there is a problem, swap a couple of cards around in your PCI slots as the IRQ's are assigned to the PCI slots, with the first one sharing with the AGP video card. This will of course change the IRQ for that device. If there are availaibe IRQ's, Windows and your BIOS believe that they are not needed at this time. Weird ain't it? So leave the PCI steering alone.

This is a brand new motherboard using the 815e chipset. The system bios does not let you change anything or ACPI with the interrupt setup other than if the OS is plug and play or not. It the version of Win 98 currently supplied with a brand new Dell, must be Second Ed. The only thing I could do to change PCI was to move cards to different PCI slots, though my NIC and video are still sharing a IRQ with #5 wide open, and the system doesn';t allow me to change any interrupt.