Dopey Question from a "Senior Member"...

radio1_mike · May 6th, 2003, 08:00 AM

Hi.

Ahem, how do you change the IRQ of particular device in XP? My soundcard is sharing the same IRQ as video card, and my sound card performance is noticeably degraded.

The manufacturer recommends changing IRQs, but did not give the instructions for that.

Thanks for your input.

Bill in SD, CA · May 6th, 2003, 11:50 AM

2K here. My advice here may be on the lame side.

All of my IRQs are automatically assigned. I see no way to do anything in System Information. I just checked the properties on my SB card in device manager and the option to change the settings are grayed out. If your properties are the same, one of 2 options that come to mind is your BIOS may have an option to set IRQs manually. Which may cause a lot of headaches.

Another would be to change PCI slots and see if a different IRQ gets assigned.

However, I think your stuck with the IRQ. My SB card shares IRQ 11 with 8 other devices.

Bill

**EvilRick** · May 6th, 2003, 11:59 AM

If you want to assign IRQ's, you'll have to change your BIOS where it says "Plug and Play OS". Just change it to "No" and then you should be able to use "Device Manager" to change IRQ's.

petriedn · May 6th, 2003, 12:02 PM

I'm on W2K. In Device Manager, I can just uncheck the "use automatic settings" box and set IRQs, etc. automatically. This also gives me information on whether an IRQ is in use. However, I've had some problems using "unexpected" IRQs for some devices - notably NICs.

However, it has the advantage (if it works) of not requiring you to disable Plug'n'Play OS in the CMOS.

Cheers,
David

shotokan · May 6th, 2003, 12:18 PM

As far as I know the only way to change the IRQ for a device in XP and 2k is to change the actual slot that the deicve is located in.

radio1_mike · May 6th, 2003, 02:29 PM

Thanks Guys,

Hmmm.

1) I already have PnP OS in BIOS disabled.
2) I have tried moving the card to another PCI slot, but I did not check the IRQs before then.

I'll hunt around device manager and see what I can come up with!

radio1_mike · May 6th, 2003, 05:40 PM

Heh.

You know back in the days of Win98, I just thought the brute force method of changing IRQs (moving cards around) worked best. Who knew that there were more elegant ways to do it through the device manager. (Or perhaps, I just forgot).

Well, who knew that brute force way would be the only way XP can reallocate IRQs. So, I did just that- I swapped my NIC and sound card until those two and the video card all had their separate IRQs.

So far, things seem to be working okay, and Windows seems slightly more responsive.