Andrew 0 Posted December 1, 2001 Hi all. I had a lot of USB and IRQ problems in Win2K, and one of the solutions was to reinstall the OS and change HAL from "ACPI Uniprocessor PC" to "Standard PC". This could also solve problems with all PCI cards using the same IRQ. Especially the very bad combination of display adapter and USB controller on the same IRQ. My XP installation is now working fine as "ACPI Uniprocessor PC". But display adapter and USB is on the same IRQ. No matter what other people say, this could be (also by my own experience) a bad combination. Why is the OS that stupid ? Before I activate WinXP, I just want to ask if it is recommended to change my computer role to "Standard PC", or should I leave it as it is ? I do like the thought of changing it to "Standard PC", to get better manual control of the IRQ`s. Regards, Andrew Share this post Link to post
Speed4Ever 0 Posted December 1, 2001 Quote: My XP installation is now working fine as "ACPI Uniprocessor PC". If your having no problems in this configuration, whats the problem? Quote: But display adapter and USB is on the same IRQ. No matter what other people say, this could be (also by my own experience) a bad combination. Why is the OS that stupid This depends on the type of video card and motherboard. Some people can run this configuration just fine, while others may have problems. Typically, people will run into these problems with VIA motherboards. W2K and XP can only work with what the motherboard tells it. Because of the many different MB companies making all types of configurations and sometimes doing things their own way, the OS has to get these instuctions from the BIOS. Many times, there can be confusion because certain devices require their own IRQ. Also, IRQs may be shared on certain AGP/PCI slots due to various reasons (Like VIA boards ), but I wont get into that... Nevertheless, this isnt entirely (or at all) the OSes fault. Believe me, if W2K/XP were doing things on their own, you'd be in for worse problems . I'd say this problem (does a problem exist here? I forgot...) is attributed to the video card and/or the motherboard. There are some cases where certain combinations of devices and motherboards wont work right at all. It impossible to list them all, and practically none of them are blamed on the OS, unless it detects things incorrectly, which does happen in rare cases. I'd say, unless you start seeing problems, leave it this way. You probably wont have any problems switching slots with Activation. AFAIK, as long as you have the same device on the machine, WPA shouldnt have to give it a different ID#. Of course, I'm running on assumption here (I know, I know... ;( ), and could very well be wrong. Even so, you should have like six changes in a 120 day period before having to reactivate, so you should be safe. Hope this helps. EDIT: I forgot the other question ... Changing to Standard PC can help in some cases, especially if you have a Soundblaster Live card. But unless you can change IRQs in your BIOS, it probably wont help you as far as changing IRQs in Windows. AFAIK, you cant do this in Windows. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. Its a hit or miss type of thing. Standard PC could make things better, could make things worse. Its almost impossible to tell in most situations. BTW, can you give us your computer specs, as detailed as possible. This could help a bit in determining a better answer to your question. Share this post Link to post
Andrew 0 Posted December 1, 2001 Speed4ever, Thanks for that long explanation, it is just what I needed. As you think, I do not have any problems right now, I had them in Win2K. I just want to learn more about this, as I am often making computers for others with the OS installed. Right now my XP is running just fine, and based on your info I`ll leave it as it is today. And yes, it is a VIA mainboard, my second. VIA is trouble guaranteed, but my latest MB is really fast, and has (got it working yesterday) USB 2.0. Besides, Win XP supports it quite well, no need to install those potentially explosive VIA drivers ! System: Athlon XP 1600 512MB PC2100 DDR SDRAM MSI KT266A Pro2-RU High Performance BIOS (CAS2) Geforce2 GTS 32MB WD 7200rpm 60GB ATA-100 HDD SB128PCI Soundcard Plextor 16/10/40 CD-RW 52x Aopen CD A LOT of USB controllers / ISDN modem Regards, Andrew Share this post Link to post
Speed4Ever 0 Posted December 1, 2001 Good to hear it! BTW, I just thought of something... XP doesnt have the "Press-F5-when-it-says-press-F6-to-change-to-Standard PC" option. It just seems to work alright in XP. Yeah, W2K was kinda "experimental" when it came to ACPI, but XP seems to smooth over the rough edges pretty good. Yeah, stick with what you have now if it works. Dont fix it Share this post Link to post
