At 08:52 02/14/01, Michael A. Wosnick wrote:
>...I am using Win2k as my main engine...I have been
>having some Win2k freezeups and some BSOD's. Some of the BSOD's
>give no information at all, but some suggest that the problem is
>my video card driver....
>
>IRQ Number      Device
>9       Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System
>9       Video Controller (VGA Compatible)
>9       ATI TV Wonder BtCap, WDM Video Capture
>9       Network Everywhere Fast Ethernet Adapter(NC100 v2)
>9       Creative SB Live! Value (WDM)
>9       D-Link DHN-520 10Mb Home Phoneline NIC
>9       MDP3880-W(U) PCI Modem
>9       Intel(R) 82801BA/BAM USB Universal Host Controller - 2442
>9       Intel(R) 82801BA/BAM SMBus Controller - 2443
><snip>
>
>Is this normal for Win2k?? Does Win2k have enough
>oomph to really be able to manage all those IRQ contentions? Is
>there some way I can move any of these devices to other IRQ's?
>How do they get assigned in the first place, etc. etc.


Hi Michael

First off, consider updating your video drivers. That may help
with the instability and blue screens.

All the PCI devices sharing IRQ 9 is normal for Win2k if you are
running your system with Advanced Configuration and Power Interface
(ACPI) support enabled. (Win2k differentiates devices by their PCI
slot number when they have the same IRQ. This helps to avoid the PCI
card shuffle *if* the devices have properly written Win2k device
drivers and if devices that are needed before Win2k loads are not
in PCI slots that are hardwired to share IRQs.)

Go to Device Manager, double click Computer and note what HAL
(Hardware Abstraction Layer) you are using. It's almost certainly
the "Advanced Configuration Power Interface PC".

You cannot safely change from an ACPI HAL to a non-ACPI HAL simply
by changing the driver from within Device Manager but you can do
so by reinstalling Win2k on top of itself. (You will not loose
your installed programs or your Windows settings.) Switching to a
non-ACPI HAL will result in IRQ assignments being made the same
way that Win98 does them. Doing so may or may not help with your
blue screen problems.

Do not change the ACPI setting in your BIOS Setup. This may make
Win2k unbootable.

If you do decide to reinstall Win2k on top of itself, read "How to
Troubleshoot Windows 2000 Hardware Abstraction Layer Issues" at
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q237/5/56.ASP
Basically, it says that in order to select a custom HAL (instead of
letting Win2k autodetect the ACPI HAL) you need to start Windows
2000 Setup as an upgrade, hit F5 when Win2k Setup displays the
message "Press F6 if you need to install a third party SCSI or
RAID driver", and then manually choose the correct Standard
computer type. (The message comes up suddenly and goes away
quickly. Be ready.)

Regards,
Bill

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