L
LT.Homer Simpson
Guest
Troubleshooting IRQs
IRQ problems. The most vile and utterly annoying thing out there, besides barbara streisand of course, or lawyers, or car
salesmen... Ok, so I digress. Anyways, here's a few ways to deal with IRQ problems.
NOTE: there are also ways to solve IRQ problems in the BIOS, but there are too many BIOS configurations for me to go into
detail without accidentally having mess ups on someones cherished computer.
First off, you need to see what items are using what IRQs. To do this in win9x, right click on "My Computer" and go down to
properties. Now you should be looking at the system properties applet. To find out about your IRQs, go over to the
"device manager" tab. It's usually a good idea to have a pen(cil) and some paper at this point to write down your IRQ table just
for reference and troubleshooting purposes.
Now, go into the properties sheet for the different items that you see listed and go over to the "resources" tab. Once you're at the
resources tab, you should see a little grayish box towards the bottom of the screen. In this box windows should list any conflicts
of any resource type for the current item. Also, there should be a box above this box that lists all the resources, I/O addresses,
and what we're looking for, IRQs. As said earlier, write down the IRQ numbers, they will prove invaluable at a later step.
NOTE: Only go through the next section if you have noticed any IRQ conflicts between your video card, and possibly your
SBLive! card if you have one. Also, make sure you have an open IRQ to use for this section, or you can seriously harm your
computer. What if I don't have an open IRQ? If you don't have an open IRQ, just go into your BIOS and find the setting to disable
com-port1 or com-port2 if you aren't using them. This will free up one IRQ for each comport disabled. Another one you can try,
if you are crazy/don't have a printer (both me!) or any other device using the LPT port, is that you can go one further and disable
your LPT port in the BIOS as well.
First, boot into safe mode. The way to do this is, hitting the F8 key or the ctrl key when you see the first windows splash screen.
Then select "Safe Mode". Another easy way to do this if your computer boots to fast to accomplish the F8/CTRL trick, turn off
your computer all of a sudden when windows is booting (I know this seems unsafe/retarded, but it's not). When you next turn
on your computer, it should present you with a screen saying windows did not start properly blah blah blah. Then go down and
select safe mode from the menu.
Now things are going to get a little tricky. We are going to change what IRQ the video card is using (same for the SBLive!). Go
back to the "resource" tab of your video card or SBLive. Once there, uncheck the box labeled, "Use automatic settings". Then,
go down and change the IRQ to an unused one (windows should only list unused IRQs in this box). Then just reboot like it asks
you to, and you should be good to go.
IRQ problems. The most vile and utterly annoying thing out there, besides barbara streisand of course, or lawyers, or car
salesmen... Ok, so I digress. Anyways, here's a few ways to deal with IRQ problems.
NOTE: there are also ways to solve IRQ problems in the BIOS, but there are too many BIOS configurations for me to go into
detail without accidentally having mess ups on someones cherished computer.
First off, you need to see what items are using what IRQs. To do this in win9x, right click on "My Computer" and go down to
properties. Now you should be looking at the system properties applet. To find out about your IRQs, go over to the
"device manager" tab. It's usually a good idea to have a pen(cil) and some paper at this point to write down your IRQ table just
for reference and troubleshooting purposes.
Now, go into the properties sheet for the different items that you see listed and go over to the "resources" tab. Once you're at the
resources tab, you should see a little grayish box towards the bottom of the screen. In this box windows should list any conflicts
of any resource type for the current item. Also, there should be a box above this box that lists all the resources, I/O addresses,
and what we're looking for, IRQs. As said earlier, write down the IRQ numbers, they will prove invaluable at a later step.
NOTE: Only go through the next section if you have noticed any IRQ conflicts between your video card, and possibly your
SBLive! card if you have one. Also, make sure you have an open IRQ to use for this section, or you can seriously harm your
computer. What if I don't have an open IRQ? If you don't have an open IRQ, just go into your BIOS and find the setting to disable
com-port1 or com-port2 if you aren't using them. This will free up one IRQ for each comport disabled. Another one you can try,
if you are crazy/don't have a printer (both me!) or any other device using the LPT port, is that you can go one further and disable
your LPT port in the BIOS as well.
First, boot into safe mode. The way to do this is, hitting the F8 key or the ctrl key when you see the first windows splash screen.
Then select "Safe Mode". Another easy way to do this if your computer boots to fast to accomplish the F8/CTRL trick, turn off
your computer all of a sudden when windows is booting (I know this seems unsafe/retarded, but it's not). When you next turn
on your computer, it should present you with a screen saying windows did not start properly blah blah blah. Then go down and
select safe mode from the menu.
Now things are going to get a little tricky. We are going to change what IRQ the video card is using (same for the SBLive!). Go
back to the "resource" tab of your video card or SBLive. Once there, uncheck the box labeled, "Use automatic settings". Then,
go down and change the IRQ to an unused one (windows should only list unused IRQs in this box). Then just reboot like it asks
you to, and you should be good to go.
