Standard PC problem selecting irq

[Rogurt]

Hi

I have an MSI k7n420pro which has been tested by KEYBOARDS to run well with pulsar cards even in acpi mode.
I have been running my system with 2 pulsar2 and a pulsar1 card. It worked well (9 Masterverbs) with occasional "IRQ not less or equal" Bluescreens. With the new timeworks reverb I need to really get the most pci bandwidth possible so I turned the system to standard mode to have the Pulsar boards on one dedicated IRQ olny sharing amongst themselves.
Now I have two problems:
a) I cant change or set any IRQ in the Device Magager. I have deactivated the use IRQ steering checkbox in the Standard-PC Device; Bios is set to Plug and play OS "Yes"

b) the booting is soooooo slow (6-7min instead of 1-2)

any ideas? Do you think I will get noticebly more pci power? or should i leave it like it worked (quite stable)

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Rogurt on 2004-10-05 10:23 ]</font>

[Counterparts]

Rogurt wrote:

a) I cant change or set any IRQ in the Device Magager. I have deactivated the use IRQ steering checkbox in the Standard-PC Device; Bios is set to Plug and play OS "Yes"

In the BIOS, set 'Plug 'n' Play OS' to NO

If your MOBO is APIC compatible, ensure that the BIOS interrupt handling is set to 'PIC', not 'APIC'

Then you set the IRQs in the BIOS, not the OS.

HTH,

Royston

[krizrox]

Hey Royston - whats up with that APIC thing? Why is PIC preferred? I have my BIOS set to APIC. What am I missing in terms of performance?

oh wait a minute - doesn't PIC limit you to less IRQ's? Why is that preferred over APIC?

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: krizrox on 2004-10-06 00:36 ]</font>

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: krizrox on 2004-10-06 00:38 ]</font>

[Counterparts]

krizrox wrote:

Hey Royston - whats up with that APIC thing? Why is PIC preferred? I have my BIOS set to APIC. What am I missing in terms of performance?

oh wait a minute - doesn't PIC limit you to less IRQ's? Why is that preferred over APIC?

'PIC' is the normal (pre-APIC ) interrupt controller, giving 16 IRQs I think. APIC is the Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller, giving more IRQs. I believe that APIC needs to be turned off to have full control over IRQ allocation.

I guess what's preferable is what works best for you and your particular system. The common view is that if you're running XP on a modern MOBO, it's best to install the OS as ACPI and have APIC enabled in the BIOS; let the OS sort out the IRQ assignments. If you're running W2K on a slightly older MOBO, install the OS in Standard PC mode, disable APIC & "Plug 'n' Play OS" and set the IRQs yourself.

I think that's only a rough 'rule of thumb' at best though...YMMV I guess. Personally, I run W2K (I refuse point-blank to upgrade to XP although it is more stable) in Standard PC mode, have APIC disabled, Plug 'n' Play OS set to 'No' and I have assigned IRQs for the Scope cards in the BIOS (they share one IRQ which nothing else is using). Seems to work pretty well.

Royston

[Rogurt]

I can´t set dedicated IRQs in the Bios only in general "IRQ # used for plug&play or reserved.
I exeperience total overall performance drop down at the moment (in stadard mode with no IRQs assignable manually).

[Plato]

How did you get to Standard PC mode ?
It sounds like something's gone wrong if performance has so drastically dropped.
I find Std Pc mode to be infinitely better on my system, but to do it properly you need to completely reinstall XP, and press a certain F key (can't remember which OTTOMH) at the right time.

Having said that, I've never managed to get all the Scope stuff on the same IRQ...I just disable anything i don't need to free up irqs, but my system is very stable.

Make sure (once you're sorted) that you set the latency setting in the STWP100 to match the ULLI setting in Scope.

[Guest]

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