Win2K IRQ questions

[artemis0007]

Hey guys, I don't know if this is the right place to post a question about IRQs but I'll give it a shot.

I wanted to know if there is ANY way to manually or automatically assign over shared IRQs to free ones. I am using a Tyan Thunder K7 mobo.

Right now I have the following assignments (according to Win2K)

01 = PS/2 keyboard
03 = COM1
06 = floppy controller
08 = cmos
09 = ACPI
12 = PS/2 mouse
13 = numeric data processor
14 = primary IDE
15 = secondary IDE
16 = Adaptec Ultra-160/m PCI SCSI card (onboard ch A)

17 = Adaptec Ultra-160/m PCI SCSI card (onboard ch B)
17 = NVidia RIVA TNT2/TNT2 Pro

18 = 3com Ethernet Server 10/100 PCI NIC (onboard NIC 1)
18 = Creative SB live! Value (WDM)

19 = 3com ... NIC #2 (onboard NIC 2)
19 = USB host controller
19 = USR modem

Okay, I'm running Win2K and the parrallel port takes up no IRQ. So that leaves a WHOLE LOT of IRQs left and yet I still have devices that share (even triple share). And the bad news is that since this is my CC rig (content creation rig), I will eventually add an IDE RAID card for the cheap drives that give more GB for the buck (I like SCSI as much as anyone, but trying to scrape up ~250GB under $500 is madness).

Anyways I hope someone can help me with this dilemma!

[ken257]

Some PCI slots share the same irq's also some PCI slots will use the same irq as certain onboard devices. The best solution to eliminate sharing is to move some of the cards around to avoid the problem. You should be able to look up in you mobo manual or on there web site and find out some info on what slots share with eachother and with onboard devices.

Here is an in general configuration

agp, first pci share an irq

2nd and 3rd pci can be by themselves but when a mobo has an additional controler either scsi or ide one of these useually shares with it.

The last 2 pci slots usually share with eachother as well as with usb.

Like I said this is a gereral guideline it varies from mobo to mobo. Does the shareing cause any probs for you? Otherwise you may want to leave well enough alone if the system is working ok.

Good luck!

[artemis0007]

It's working okay now, so I don't really NEED to fix it, but when I add an IDE RAID card, there goes 2 more IRQs which have to go somewhere (hopefully I won't have 5 things sharing).

Thanks for your advice! I'll give it a try.