Changing IRQ's in Vista x64 on an A8N-SLI

T

TerranUp16

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Dec 11, 2007
Messages
1,031
Ok, so I picked-up an X-Fi XtremeGamer not long ago and have been having problems with it (worked fine initially, but I've realized that its ability to work fine is just kinda more or less chance) ever since. I have tracked these problems down to one major IRQ conflict- both my 8800GTS 640mb SSC and X-Fi XtremeGamer want to use IRQ slot 18. So I should be able to pull-up the Device Manager, right-click on of the two conflicting devices, go to properties, turn-off auto-IRQ assignment, and manually override the IRQ's, right? Nope. That little checkbox to turn-off auto-IRQ assignment is grayed-out, thus not allowing me to modify my IRQ's through the OS.

Ok, no problem, right? That's what BIOS are for, eh? Well, I'm using the latest BIOS for my A8N-SLI mobo, and I restart the computer and trudge into them. I have the IRQ's set to Manual because Auto does not allow the X-Fi to function at all (atm there's a bit of static that picks-up when CPU/GPU activity picks-up; I'm sure my GPU is suffering from this IRQ conflict as well, but it is doing so less visibly). However, if I go in and actually try to modify any IRQ's, it only allows me to modify slots 1-15 and only allows me to set those slots to either PCI or Reserved... Not very useful...

So... any ideas on how to fix this mess?
 
Have you tried moving the X-Fi to a different slot?

Sounds pretty frustrating though...
Jason
 
Myrandex said:
Have you tried moving the X-Fi to a different slot?

Sounds pretty frustrating though...
Jason
Click to expand...

Yep- I've tried all three PCI-E 1x slots. The only one I haven't tried is the second gpu PCI-E 1x slot (8x slot when using SLI, which I'm not), but that's pretty damn close to my 8800GTS and besides from impeding on the cooling for that it also would likely be close enough to generate a lot of EMI- and I also have a tough time believing that somehow that particular slot, meant for a second gpu and right next to the gpu, would generate a different IRQ when the other slots have utterly failed to do so.
 
Ok, this is going to sound stupid... BUT... I hadn't tried switching the position of my sound card since I swapped the BIOS from Auto IRQ assignment to manual IRQ assignment. Well, I decided it was likely futile but I'd better give it a try. And what d'ya know? It worked. (cue exacerbated sigh)
 
Good job...How do you like that PCIe version of the X-Fi? I looked at it and it kind of seemed like an X-Fi without balls. It had no X-Fi chip on it, so I don't know how it could be called an X-Fi, and I found no real review of it on any major website either.


Jason
 
Actually it only requires a PCI 2.1 slot, but all of my PCI slots double as PCI-E 1x slots and work w/PCI 2.1 as well. The XtremeGamer, as far as I can recall, does have the X-Fi chip on it unless we're talking about a different chip- it's the XtremeAudio that doesn't. Anyway, when I had it working back when I had two 8800GTS's in SLI (sold the older of the two b/c on my older mobo I just wasn't getting much of a benefit- the PCI-E gpu slots drop down to 8x in SLI mode) and it was working perfectly, it definitely took on all the sound workload (I'd previously been using an Audigy 2 Value and still running games w/the Sound quality one high- yay Opteron!) and produced very good sound quality. Atm, I just got this working so I've only been piping music through it as I deal w/the hw I had been procrastinating on xD But I've got it running on Entertainment mode with the Crystallizer at 50% and CMSS off and the quality is great. Later I'll toss on my headset and load-up Red Orchestra or something with similarly excellent sound effects and give a full report.
 
Now I'm just flat-out confused... I've eliminated all IRQ conflicts (and verified that I have done so) and the static has returned... seemingly for no reason...
 
I'm having the same type of problem with my Intel Q35 MB. Thing is that Intel locks out a lot of features out of this BIOS so I can't even try to manually set the IRQ in BIOS. Can't do it in Vista too. I get to different levels of crashing (Boot to desktop then crash, Windows load bar before desktop and crashes...BSOD's) depending on if the drivers are installed or loading Windows in anything besides safe mode.

Creative has been emailing me but has offered no dedicated solutions and is telling me to test the card on other computers now. yeah, like I want to kill another computer!

You'd think that Creative might have gotten this sound card thing down by now after being in the business for quite some time.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top