Video card and IRQ in XP?

Hi,
This ones got me stumped. I have a box that is partition with XP and ME (ok, don't laugh... I use the ME for testing 9x issues I sometimes troubleshoot at my job) I installed a new Geforce 4 on the XP partition and it dosn't work with my current hardware config. Basicly it was just booting to a blank black screen (oooooohhhhh, I'm so glad theres a safe mode) after some troubleshooting I was able to get things running after I disabled my soundblaster driver. I've updated both drivers, windows updates, moved the cards the every diffrent kind of PCI slot config possible (yes, my box is a POS HP with no AGP), but no matter what, the video card won't work with the soundblaster enabled. I even tryed formatting and reinstalling the XP OS since I keep it on it's own partition seperate from my data and ripped everything out of pci, started with the G4 (worked fine), then SB (stopped working fine). Then it dawned on me. The IRQ settings. I haven't messed around with them in xp before, I jumped in there and to my dismay saw that they can't be changed, or at least the part where you can is blanked out. So I jumped into ME where I know you can tweak that, and once I installed the G4 in there, it works fine with the SB. So WTF? I know the XP OS overrides some stuff, but theres got to be a way to override it in some way. I'm assuming it's the IRQ but not possitive. Does anyone know about this kind of issue? Is there a service in xp that needs to be enabled that isn't? ANY input on this would be appriciated!

Hex

I tried to upgrade a HP Pavillion 8655C to XP for a customer about a month ago and according to HP it is not recommended.The reason I tried anyway was that the machine is supposed to be Win 2000 ready,and I like to tinker.This computer's motherboard is very limited having shared video memory from the beginning.Installed an ATI 8mb card which I know runs with xp also.The system kept freezing even with 256mb of memory.Put 98se back on and it runs just fine.The motherboard is incompatible with XP,in it's broad sense.Microsoft's HCL for xp does not recommend this board either.Had to build the customer a new box with some cannibalized parts.This has happened with other boards that were not major manufacturer brand as well.Maybe you can run another sound card with the pci geforce?If it's anything like the HP I had I think you will have stability problems.

In addition to the information provided by zipp51, which was great by the way, you can try, but I doubt it will work, is to manually assign IRQs for your hardware.. it is difficult to try, and requires patience but there's a 1 in 10 shot it may work. Alternatively, you can take back your current card, provided you have the box and receipt. then take the tower to the PC store and tell them to upgrade it. That way you pay a small installation fee, and they have to do all the trial and error work with installing the video card in Xp :D I did that with my mom's old Emachines, and they charged me like $40.00 to install it, I got the Geforce 4 PCI 440MX for like 29.99 after rebates :D so I spent 69.99 on that card and they installed it, worked great :D

You can change the IRQ I think in the BIOS.. but it all depends on your maker. And lastly, you may just have to upgrade your motherboard before it will work with XP as Zipp51 suggests.

I am interested in this actually. So if anyone else offers a solution, I am all ears. :msntongue

BB is correct about the irq's in the bios and if it can't be done there trial and error(remember dos and win 3.1 days) then therein lies the problem of incompatability:D I remember spending hours with an FIC 503+ mobo and windows 95,and 98 trying to install sound and modem cards.Assigning irq's and resolving conflicts.What a pain.

You have received excellent advice. If you haven't succeeded , I have something else to try. This came from an old computer technician book, don't remember the name. It was written during the Win 95/98 era. The book had an entire chapter (about 50 pages) in it concerning audio cards. The reason was that the author believed that most PC installation problems resulted from problems with the audio card. At that time the audio card required more i/o resources than any other single component in the computer. Probably still does.

His suggestion to resolve an installation problem:

Remove all components except audio and video card.
Install the audio drivers first, and make sure it is working.
Next install video card drivers.
Then install other components.
You will have to reboot several times during this procedure.

If this doesn't work, try changing the slots sequence for your PCI components. Then go through above procedure again. May sound funny, but sometimes changing slots is all it takes to prod a problem card into action.

I actually had to use this method to set up a problem computer couple years ago. Good luck.

Awesome advise guys. Zipp51, thats my exact box. Thats gotta be it. What a fu$&^ng POS!!! Oh well, I was planning on building a new box sooner or later so it looks like it's going to be sooner. Thanks for the help everyone!

Hex

how big is your power supply?

Xp takes more power to operate and your cards take alot of power.

if you have a spare power supply handy, i would give it a try!

takes 2 minutes.

egghead

good advice efc, I had troubles with my sound card (sblive! 5.1) which are notorious for conflicts. And my board ABIT KT7A, on the abit forums, they said i would have to put in PCI slot 5, cos all else will cause conflicts. As it turned out, i had it in 3 and would freeze or stutter all the time, then switched to 5 and no probs :D No I enjoy 5.1 surround sound, freaky when playing FPS cos here people from behind .... :D

Thanks 4 the suggestions guys. I'm going to load a program to monitor how much juice my box is sucking up, but beyond that I'm just going to let sleeping dogs lie until I build my new box, which as is stands, I really just need a good MOBO and case and I can part out the rest from my old box.
Peace out and thanks again,
Hex