Win98 IRQ Conflict

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion (More info?)

I have recently installed a network adapter card in this machine and
connected it to a router/gateway ADSL unit. Works well until I switch on
the USB printer. Clicking on a URL link in my browser causes the
computer to crash. Both the NIC and PCI to USB controller share IRQ 11
so I deduce that the problem is an IRQ conflict.

Tried swapping the NIC into another PCI slot and this moves it to IRQ5 -
but the PCI/USB device follows it also to IRQ5 - doh!

I believe that win98 does not provide a means of manually allocating
IRQ's - is that correct? I have IRQ's allocated to several obsolete
devices - com1; com2; LPT and the game/joystick- so I would have thought
that a conflict could be avoided. Any suggestions of resolving this
conflict, please?

Very much obliged for your comments.

Andereida
---------------
[Win98FE, 500MHz Intel PIII, 256MB RAM, Netgear DG834G router and FA311
Adapter card, Epson RX600 all-in-one USB printer.] OK I know it is old -
but it happens to function extremely well for the work for which I use it.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion (More info?)

I recommend that you consult the companies that made your USB and NIC
hardware. There does seem to be s conflict between these devices.
However, I am not sure that an IRQ conflict is actually the problem.
On many computer systems there are three or four devices sharing IRQ
11.

Bill Starbuck (MVP)

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion (More info?)

Andereida <kblammermuirs.invalid@talk21.com> wrote in
news:#Yu#h4DGFHA.1260@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl:

> I have recently installed a network adapter card in this machine and
> connected it to a router/gateway ADSL unit. Works well until I switch
> on the USB printer. Clicking on a URL link in my browser causes the
> computer to crash. Both the NIC and PCI to USB controller share IRQ 11
> so I deduce that the problem is an IRQ conflict.
>
> Tried swapping the NIC into another PCI slot and this moves it to IRQ5
> - but the PCI/USB device follows it also to IRQ5 - doh!
>
> I believe that win98 does not provide a means of manually allocating
> IRQ's - is that correct? I have IRQ's allocated to several obsolete
> devices - com1; com2; LPT and the game/joystick- so I would have
> thought that a conflict could be avoided. Any suggestions of resolving
> this conflict, please?
>
> Very much obliged for your comments.
>
> Andereida
> ---------------
> [Win98FE, 500MHz Intel PIII, 256MB RAM, Netgear DG834G router and
> FA311 Adapter card, Epson RX600 all-in-one USB printer.] OK I know it
> is old - but it happens to function extremely well for the work for
> which I use it.

You can disable the unused hardware in BIOS. Maybe that gives some more
free IRQ's. You could disable USB too, just to check if the NIC works then.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion (More info?)

Bill Starbuck wrote:
> I recommend that you consult the companies that made your USB and NIC
> hardware. There does seem to be s conflict between these devices.
> However, I am not sure that an IRQ conflict is actually the problem.
> On many computer systems there are three or four devices sharing IRQ
> 11.
>
> Bill Starbuck (MVP)

Many thanks for your advice from Bill, Jeff and Ingeborg.

I have been to the NIC's support. They say there is a conflict and to go
to the computer manufacturer for advice on freeing up a spare IRQ
channel. Support for the machine seems to be no longer available
although I have the booklet for the mobo (AOpen AX6BC EZ).

I understood that it was possible for devices to share IRQ channels so I
cannot see exactly what to do. The device manager does not indicate any
problem devices.

Certainly with the printer not plugged into the USB there is no problem
whatsoever with the network operation: with the network cable
disconnected there is no problem with the printer but with both plugged
in - and switched on - when I try to use the web or send an email the
screen goes blank and then the computer restarts with scandisk.

The only 'funny' I can think of is that the printer is intended for
USB2.0 and the win98 box has only USB1.1. But it worked quite happily
until the NIC was fitted.

It is bedtime here now. I'll have to sleep on it and see what tomorrow
brings.

Many thanks for your suggestions.


Andereida

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion (More info?)

If clicking on a URL creates the crash, I would suspect a problem with a
virus or similar, as the devices you mention know nothing about whether you
are clicking a URL or (for instance)downloading e-mail.

It doesn't seem likely that IRQs are the problem, as those devices should
share quite OK, but if you want to change it then go into BIOS setup and
check how IRQs are assigned to PCI. If there are unused IRQs in the machine
then add them to the list of PCI IRQs. Note that this won't work in every
case - the system sometimes seems determined to share IRQs even if there are
spare PCI IRQs available.
--
Jeff Richards
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)
"Andereida" <kblammermuirs.invalid@talk21.com> wrote in message
news:%23Yu%23h4DGFHA.1260@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
>I have recently installed a network adapter card in this machine and
>connected it to a router/gateway ADSL unit. Works well until I switch on
>the USB printer. Clicking on a URL link in my browser causes the computer
>to crash. Both the NIC and PCI to USB controller share IRQ 11 so I deduce
>that the problem is an IRQ conflict.
>
> Tried swapping the NIC into another PCI slot and this moves it to IRQ5 -
> but the PCI/USB device follows it also to IRQ5 - doh!
>
> I believe that win98 does not provide a means of manually allocating
> IRQ's - is that correct? I have IRQ's allocated to several obsolete
> devices - com1; com2; LPT and the game/joystick- so I would have thought
> that a conflict could be avoided. Any suggestions of resolving this
> conflict, please?
>
> Very much obliged for your comments.
>
> Andereida
> ---------------
> [Win98FE, 500MHz Intel PIII, 256MB RAM, Netgear DG834G router and FA311
> Adapter card, Epson RX600 all-in-one USB printer.] OK I know it is old -
> but it happens to function extremely well for the work for which I use it.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion (More info?)

Andereida wrote:

> Bill Starbuck wrote:
>
>> I recommend that you consult the companies that made your USB and NIC
>> hardware. There does seem to be s conflict between these devices.
>> However, I am not sure that an IRQ conflict is actually the problem.
>> On many computer systems there are three or four devices sharing IRQ
>> 11.
>>
>> Bill Starbuck (MVP)
>
>
> Many thanks for your advice from Bill, Jeff and Ingeborg.
>
> I have been to the NIC's support. They say there is a conflict and to go
> to the computer manufacturer for advice on freeing up a spare IRQ
> channel. Support for the machine seems to be no longer available
> although I have the booklet for the mobo (AOpen AX6BC EZ).
>
> I understood that it was possible for devices to share IRQ channels so I
> cannot see exactly what to do. The device manager does not indicate any
> problem devices.
>
> Certainly with the printer not plugged into the USB there is no problem
> whatsoever with the network operation: with the network cable
> disconnected there is no problem with the printer but with both plugged
> in - and switched on - when I try to use the web or send an email the
> screen goes blank and then the computer restarts with scandisk.
>
> The only 'funny' I can think of is that the printer is intended for
> USB2.0 and the win98 box has only USB1.1. But it worked quite happily
> until the NIC was fitted.
>
> It is bedtime here now. I'll have to sleep on it and see what tomorrow
> brings.
>
> Many thanks for your suggestions.
>
>
> Andereida

Wel, I was going to start a thread of my own about a problem
that consumed this morning, but here one is on just the subject
that caused me grief. I installed a USB 2.0 card on my five-year
old Compaq (Win98SE, 256Mby, 1 GHz), and plugged a new scanner into
it. Various things started behaving oddly, but most pressing was a
loss of ability to get online and ask about my problem. Late in the
morning I finally looked at the IRQs and found the new card sharing
IRQ 11 with my built-in modem. Unplugging the new scanner from the
USB 2.0 card and plugging it into a USB 1 hub cured the problem.
Even with no scanning going on, the presence on the USB 2.0 card of
the scanner was enough.

Is there a guide somewhere in the numerous helpful documents the
gurus have written, on intelligent sharing of IRQs? Obviously,
there has to _be_ sharing -- on my machine, 29 uses are made of
the 16 IRQs. But some sharing is obviously toxic; the question is,
_which_ sharing?

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion (More info?)

Sharing of IRQs between PCI devices is OK. Sharing of IRQs between devices
that are actually the same device is OK (for an example, look at the IDE
controller). Sharing of IRQs for other devices (such as a serial port for a
modem) is not OK.

Some device drivers that are supposed to operate properly when shared might
be badly written and can cause problems,. There is no general rule for this
case.
--
Jeff Richards
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)
"Anthony Buckland" <buckland@direct.ca> wrote in message
news:OMr$T%23SGFHA.1260@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
> Andereida wrote:
>
>> Bill Starbuck wrote:
>>
>>> I recommend that you consult the companies that made your USB and NIC
>>> hardware. There does seem to be s conflict between these devices.
>>> However, I am not sure that an IRQ conflict is actually the problem.
>>> On many computer systems there are three or four devices sharing IRQ
>>> 11.
>>>
>>> Bill Starbuck (MVP)
>>
>>
>> Many thanks for your advice from Bill, Jeff and Ingeborg.
>>
>> I have been to the NIC's support. They say there is a conflict and to go
>> to the computer manufacturer for advice on freeing up a spare IRQ
>> channel. Support for the machine seems to be no longer available although
>> I have the booklet for the mobo (AOpen AX6BC EZ).
>>
>> I understood that it was possible for devices to share IRQ channels so I
>> cannot see exactly what to do. The device manager does not indicate any
>> problem devices.
>>
>> Certainly with the printer not plugged into the USB there is no problem
>> whatsoever with the network operation: with the network cable
>> disconnected there is no problem with the printer but with both plugged
>> in - and switched on - when I try to use the web or send an email the
>> screen goes blank and then the computer restarts with scandisk.
>>
>> The only 'funny' I can think of is that the printer is intended for
>> USB2.0 and the win98 box has only USB1.1. But it worked quite happily
>> until the NIC was fitted.
>>
>> It is bedtime here now. I'll have to sleep on it and see what tomorrow
>> brings.
>>
>> Many thanks for your suggestions.
>>
>>
>> Andereida
>
> Wel, I was going to start a thread of my own about a problem
> that consumed this morning, but here one is on just the subject
> that caused me grief. I installed a USB 2.0 card on my five-year
> old Compaq (Win98SE, 256Mby, 1 GHz), and plugged a new scanner into
> it. Various things started behaving oddly, but most pressing was a
> loss of ability to get online and ask about my problem. Late in the
> morning I finally looked at the IRQs and found the new card sharing
> IRQ 11 with my built-in modem. Unplugging the new scanner from the
> USB 2.0 card and plugging it into a USB 1 hub cured the problem.
> Even with no scanning going on, the presence on the USB 2.0 card of
> the scanner was enough.
>
> Is there a guide somewhere in the numerous helpful documents the
> gurus have written, on intelligent sharing of IRQs? Obviously,
> there has to _be_ sharing -- on my machine, 29 uses are made of
> the 16 IRQs. But some sharing is obviously toxic; the question is,
> _which_ sharing?
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion (More info?)

Andereida wrote:
> Bill Starbuck wrote:
>
>> I recommend that you consult the companies that made your USB and NIC
>> hardware. There does seem to be s conflict between these devices.
>> However, I am not sure that an IRQ conflict is actually the problem.
>> On many computer systems there are three or four devices sharing IRQ
>> 11.
>>
>> Bill Starbuck (MVP)
>
>
> Many thanks for your advice from Bill, Jeff and Ingeborg.
>
> I have been to the NIC's support. They say there is a conflict and to go
> to the computer manufacturer for advice on freeing up a spare IRQ
> channel. Support for the machine seems to be no longer available
> although I have the booklet for the mobo (AOpen AX6BC EZ).
>
> I understood that it was possible for devices to share IRQ channels so I
> cannot see exactly what to do. The device manager does not indicate any
> problem devices.
>
> Certainly with the printer not plugged into the USB there is no problem
> whatsoever with the network operation: with the network cable
> disconnected there is no problem with the printer but with both plugged
> in - and switched on - when I try to use the web or send an email the
> screen goes blank and then the computer restarts with scandisk.
>
> It is bedtime here now. I'll have to sleep on it and see what tomorrow
> brings.
>


I feel that I should post the results of my efforts to clear this problem.

Thanks for Bill's suggestion but I have spoken to the two manufacturer's
support groups who didn't seem to think there was anything wrong with
their products and couldn't help. The were very surprised that I even
attempted to fit new equipment to a six year old machine! But there is
nothing wrong with the computer and it does what it does very well. We
just wanted it to be one piece in a network for particular tasks.

All the IRQs were in use and in BIOS I was only able to alter the IRQs
relating to PCI devices. The BIOS gave no access to the IRQs for the
other devices like ports, etc.

So I was on my own and the solution proved to be fairly easy to come by.
I saw that the graphic card slot always shared an IRQ with PCI-1
slot. So I swapped the card in PCI-1 with the NIC and set PCI-1 to IRQ5
in BIOS. It worked. The Network card is now on IRQ5 with the video and
the USB is on IRQ11 with other devices. No more conflicts and the
computer is completely stable, thankfully.

Much obliged for all you help and encouragement.


Andereida