The problem:
The PCI/USB/AGP specifications do allow for interrupts to be shared in hardware.
BUT, it also requires the software folks who create the drivers for the hardware to allow for interrupt sharing. If this is not dine, lost interrupts will occur, random lockups will happen, and general reliability will be horrible.
That said; Even when the software/firmware is written correctly to handle the sharing of interrutps, there can still be major problems.
For instance, if your network/modem card and game port card share interrupts, interrupts will get lost due to latency of the OS to handle interrupts.
A system may appear to be running fine when two or more resources are sharing interrupts, but you will be surprised how much better and more stable the system will be when it is not sharing interrupts.
I am glad at least one person got some use out of that information I posted. Mission accomplished.
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Roy "Skuzzy" Neese
President, AppLink Corp.
http://www.applink.netskuzzy@applink.net