Changing IRQ settings in WinXP?

[Guest]

I am using WinXP and have 8 devices all using IRQ9 which include my videocard, sound card, network card, ACPI, USB controller and a couple other devices. I tried changing my IRQ for my sound card to IRQ 5 (since that irq is not being used) but when I go to device manager then double click the device I want to change and choose the resources tab for that device the "Use Automatic Settings" box is checked and greyed out so I can't change it I have administration rights on my user account so I don't know why I can't un-check that box. Can anyone help?

 

[Toejam31]

There are two methods of Power Management ... ACPI and APM.

APM (Advanced Power Management) is the older method, and allows the user to manipulate the IRQ and I/O addresses in the Device Manager (to a certain degree). ACPI (Advanced Configuration and Power Interface) is the newer, more advanced method, and supports IRQ sharing among multiple devices ... but does not allow the user to manually change the IRQ and I/O settings.

This is why you were unsuccessful in switching your sound card to IRQ 5 ... with ACPI enabled, you can't. This has nothing to do with Administrative Privileges.

Having several devices sharing one IRQ in WinXP and Win2K is perfectly normal, and unless you have some kind of actual device conflict, there is usually no reason to manually change any of the IRQ's.

Having said that, there are a few other things you should know.

1.) Previously, in Win2K, some people still felt the need to change reinstall the operating system and change the settings to APM. Sometimes this was necessary, in order to resolve a conflict. But with WinXP, unless you have the Professional version, you can't do this. Home Edition does not support APM. And if you are running a multiprocessor system, WinXP Pro will not install APM either.

2.) Microsoft does not recommend installing APM unless your mainboard does not support ACPI. And in that case, it's possible that your mainboard is too old to run WinXP without problems in the first place. At the very least, you would need a BIOS upgrade.

Toejam31

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[Guest]

You're the man ToeJam. That explains everything I need to know. Thx

 

[Toejam31]

You are very welcome ... that's why we're here.



Toejam31

<font color=red>My Rig:</font color=red> <A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?rigid=6847" target="_new">http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?rigid=6847</A>
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[troopr]

Toejam, dos that apply to winME also?

Joe

 

[Toejam31]

Basically, yes ... but unfortunately, ACPI doesn't work nearly as well in Win9x ... and that includes WinME. Sometimes, in order to avoid conflicts, ACPI (sometimes listed as ICPI) has to be disabled in the BIOS, so that IRQ addresses can be changed manually. This also means that the IRQ Holder for PCI Steering might have be "adjusted". You can decide, in this area, if the settings are loaded from the BIOS, or by Windows when the operating system starts.

This is one of the many reasons that a true 32-bit operating system is preferable to Win9x. Not nearly as many IRQ conflicts, because of much better support for ACPI. And that's one less thing to worry about when installing or upgrading your hardware. It's not perfect, but it's a big improvement ... and it usually makes Plug-and-Play a workable premise.

Toejam31

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