Quote:
But as IRQ 10 isnt use for any of the system board stuff like system timer, hard drive controllers, USB ports then there is a very good chance that this can be done... I hope so. I've had another idea as well - I could try removing the card, turning on the PC long enough for it to POST, tell it to reset the errrmmm..oh bugger, forgotten the name of it off the top of my head - that thingy under PCI/PNP in the BIOS, then turning off & putting the card back in. I'll have to record this on my VCR to find out what IRQ it's on as it flashes by too quickly to read.

If doing that doesn't work then I'll have to see if doing without ACPI solves the problem. The thing that makes it worse is that it's not predictable - it doesn't seem to be caused by any noticeable event. Someitmes I can watch a couple of hours of recorded video files [i sometimes use my PC as a VCR, as my actual VCR no longer records in stereo] without probs, but then other times it doesn't last more than about 10 seconds before the sound goes, & then I have to reboot to get it back.

Funnily enough when I 1st [re]installed XP after getting new mobo & CPU it was on 10, even in Device Manager, but so was my network card. I tried uninstalling & reinstalling the network card [physically as well as in Device Manager], but when I reinstalled it it kept going back to 10 [@ least that's what it showed up as in Windows - that blasted virtual IRQ thing certainly confuses the issue when you're trying to troubleshoot].

I'd forgotten that my mobo does [or so it seems] have the ability to allocate specific IRQs to specific PCI slots. The reason I forgot about it before is well...
 
I've seen the ability/function to do this in the BIOS's of other mobos & the way it was done was nice & simple:
 
PCI no. X use IRQ Y
 
Anyone care to guess which way of doing this Abit didn't use? Yup, that's right - the simple 1.
 
The reason I forgot about my KT7A-RAID v1.3 [supposedly] having this ability is that when I tried to wrap my head around the explanation of it in the manual I ended up tying my brain in knots!
 
Here's what it says:

Quote:PIRQ_0 Use IRQ No. ~ PIRQ_3 Use IRQ No.: 
Eleven options are available: Auto, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15. Default setting is Auto. This item allows the system to automatically specify the IRQ number for the device installed on PCI slots. Which means, the system can specify the fixed IRQ number for the device installed on the PCI slots (PCI slot 1 to PCI slot 6).
 
....<snipped part explaining why you might want to use this function>
So far, so good - normal straight-forward stuff, right? So then there's this:Quote:For the relations between the hardware layout of PIRQ (the signals from VIA VT82C686A chipset), INT# (means PCI slot IRQ signals) and devices, please refer to the table below: 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
|_____SIGNALS____ | Slot 1 | Slot 2| Slot 3 | Slot 4 | Slot 5| Slot 6 |
| PIRQ_0 Assignment | INT A | INT B | INT B | INT D | INT C | INT D |
| PIRQ_1 Assignment | INT B | INT D | INT A | INT A | INT D | INT B |
| PIRQ_2 Assignment | INT C | INT C | INT D | INT B | INT A | INT C |
| PIRQ_3 Assignment | INT D | INT A | INT C | INT C | INT B | INT A |
 
USB used INT D
Each PCI slot has four INT#s (INT A~INT D), and the AGP slot has two INT#S (INT A and INT .
WTF??? Can anyone explain that in plain & simple English please?

Sure try this....
 
http://duxcw.com/faq/irq/irq.htm
 
Also your PCI slot has a IRQ that you can assign but it also is connected to other devices like your usb port...etc (USB not a PCI card but it will use the same IRQ as the PCI slot) so it almost like being a real PCI card... takes the same resoures...

Errrmmm... That's not exactly what I meant. I know that it's a more awkward way of assigning IRQs to PCI slots, but what I don't understand is how to use that table to figure out how to make a spcific PCI slot use a specific IRQ.
 
I don't know why Abit [or Award, if it was their idea] would chose to do it this way instead of the "PCI no. X use IRQ Y" way.

Quote:
Errrmmm... That's not exactly what I meant. I know that it's a more awkward way of assigning IRQs to PCI slots, but what I don't understand is how to use that table to figure out how to make a spcific PCI slot use a specific IRQ.

I don't know why Abit [or Award, if it was their idea] would chose to do it this way instead of the "PCI no. X use IRQ Y" way.


try going to thier web site and see if they have a support forum... I am sure someone thier has the infor you need...

I figured it out eventually, not that it did me much good - made no difference @ all. Tried moving cards around according to what slots share IRQs with each other & so on to get it on its own & managed to get it on the right IRQ in the BIOS, but that didn't help. Did the thing in device Manager to switch to a Standard PC [instead of ACPI] so that windows reports IRQ useage the same as the BIOS, but that makes no difference either, well, actually that's not strictly true - it made the problem a bit worse, Now, if the sound goes the system sometimes freezes up which is a less dramatic version of what my SV2 used to do with old mobo [used to lock the system & black-screen].
 
I've also updated to the latest BIOS [incase anyone else has a KT7A (RAID or non-RAID) version 1.3, there's a new BIOS out - 8T]. No change from that, nor from the latest VIA 4-in1 betas. Oh well, I think my system's probably in a bit of a mess "under the hood" now after all this fiddling, so am gonna reinstall. <sarcasm>Oh what fun!</sarcasm>
 
Unless doing the fresh reinstall solves the issue then it looks like I'll be in the market for a new soundcard. Will probably go for an Audigy, £55.28 [inc VAT & delivery] for the OEM version doesn't sound too bad I guess.

I think if I was you I'd maybe try and steer clear of a Creative Labs soundcard.
Don't get me wrong, I love my Audigy to bits, it's never caused me a single problem and I'm extremely happy with it.
However I'm using an Intel chipset and there are numerous stories on the web with people having problems with the Live! & Audigy - What they all seem to have in common is VIA chipsets.
Be it VIA or Creative Lab's fault (I refuse to take sides on that one) they really don't appear to be well suited together.

What alternatives would you suggest? I'm rather reluctant to go with Videologic again as this is the 2nd card from them that I've had probs with - haven't had any CL cards yet. Please bear in mind that I can't really afford to spend more than the cost of that Audigy.
 
I was planning on getting that Audigy [though not for a few weeks yet, sadly] from Overclockers.co.uk, & I was thinking that if I fone them beforehand & specifically ask them if there would be any problems using it with a KT7A-RAID v1.3 & XP & they say that it should be fine & it then turns out to be problematic then I could send it back.

It would be difficult for me to recommend any other make of soundcard than CL as I've always used them, ever since my SB Pro.
But then again I've always used Intel chipsets too so never had a problem.
overclockers.co.uk have a quite good forum so I'd be tempted to post over there asking about the Audigy and your exact motherboard and see if anybody else has had success or failure with that combination.

Cheers, I'll check it out. I know there were probs between the SB Live series & KT7 series boards, & even with KT7A series, but that was [so I've heard & read] fixed with a BIOS update, & mine came with a BIOS that was newer than that BIOS patch anyway. I built a system for a friend last year with a KT7A [non RAID & not sure what v. #] & put a Live 5.1 Player in it & it works fine. so hopefully CL &/or Abit &/or VIA have got their collective acts together.
 
Just had a chat/conference with someone from CL tech support via their website & they told me that they're "not aware of any incompatibilities" with my mobo, which is nice. However, 1 thing that did bother me a bit was:
Quote:In order to install sb. audigy first you need to install drivers, software for win.2k and then run the patch for win.xp from our web siteI think it sucks that you have to install the 2K driver 1st, & that they don't offer a complete download of the driver for XP, only an update. I remember reading that this was something to do with bandwidth on their server or whatever & the size of the patch, but having looked @ the stuff on the download page & from installing a CL card on someone else's system before the only thing I'd want is the drivers, not all the other crap.

Well the drivers for Win2k and WinXP for the Live! & Audigy cards are the same, the update on the web site is a Win2k/XP update rather than a specific WinXP one (As fas as I know, I'm pretty sure they list them as seperate things on the CL site, but I believe the files are the same).
 
I don't mind installing the Liveware package, never had a problem with it and the update installs over the top without worries too.
In theory it might be possible to uninstall Liveware afterwards and that should leave the drivers intact, never actually tried that though.

Have you ever considered a Turtle Beach Santa Cruz card? http://www.tbeach.com/site/products/santacruz/producthome.asp

I don't know of anywhere in the UK that does TB/SC cards, I've checked all the usual places I deal with & they only do Creative, Videologic, Terratec, Hercules, Diamond, & Guillemot. I won't be going with Videologic again, that's for sure! Besides, apparently Creative have a 30 day satisfaction guarantee in addition to the normal faults guarantee/warranty/whatever.
 
Edit: I forgot to mention, I saw an Abit AU10 mentioned somewhere as well, but so far I think the Audigy OEM v. still looks a good bet, especially as I can send it back if I don't like it.

Paul's Unofficial Abit FAQ explains all about that Abit PCI-Irq Table. "What on earth is the interrupt pin assignment table in the manual all about?!":
 
http://www.viahardware.com/faq/kg7kr7/bios.htm
 
Take note that most Asus motherboard have an Asic for control of PCI sharing activated only by enabling PnP OS in the Bios.
 
1394a (i.e. "Firewire", "I-Link") as network solution with Internet Cable Modem plus USB2 and ADS USB Turbo Quad bring a clear slowdown on ACPI.
 
These tools go far to solve the lack of sufficient IRQs. Standard PC is then more efficient and recovers the one Gigabyte HD space otherwise lost to hiberfile.sys.

Quote:
Paul's Unofficial Abit FAQ explains all about that Abit PCI-Irq Table. "What on earth is the interrupt pin assignment table in the manual all about?!":

http://www.viahardware.com/faq/kg7kr7/bios.htmI'm glad I didn't see that 1st as it's more confusing than the thing I found buried on Abit's site, but thanks anyway. Quote:Take note that most Asus motherboard have an Asic for control of PCI sharing activated only by enabling PnP OS in the Bios.Ummm, yeah, but I only just bought an Abit - I won't be buying a new mobo for quite a while, unless I win the lottery. Quote:1394a (i.e. "Firewire", "I-Link") as network solution with Internet Cable Modem plus USB2 and ADS USB Turbo Quad bring a clear slowdown on ACPI.Good thing I don't have any of them then, ain't it? Well, I do have a cable modem - a Motorola Surfboard 3100, but it uses good old ordinary ethernet.Quote:These tools go far to solve the lack of sufficient IRQs. Standard PC is then more efficient and recovers the one Gigabyte HD space otherwise lost to hiberfile.sys. Ummm, it's only 1GB if you have 1GB of RAM, I only have 384MB. Besides, I want hibernation capability, & even if I didn't, or desperately needed the extra space it's a lot simpler to just go to Control Panel -> Power Options -> Hibernation & uncheck the box marked "Enable Hibernation", & you don't even need to reboot when enabling/disabling it.