Author Topic: Win2K again (Read 660 times)

MrBill · « **on:** June 03, 2001, 03:47:00 PM »

Another prob., this one with irq conflicts
last night I dl'ed and installed service pack 2 ... ati driver updates ... security updates ... and D-Link update ... things appeared to go well.
This a.m. I attempted to disable ACPI functions and the problems began.
first after disabling ACPI and rebooting when I selected win2K from the boot manager the system just went back to the post restart. After several attempts to boot the system failed I re-enabled ACPI. The next boot worked but took a long time. I shutdown and re-booted and all seemed to go well. Then I noticed that my sound was not working.
The short version of what happened next is I checked irqs and found that somehow 2,5,7,9 and 10 had nothing on them while 11 has
Microsoft ACPI-Complient System
All-in-Wonder RADEON
VIA USB Universal Host Controller
VIA AC'97 Audio Controller (WDM)
Realtek RTL8139 (A) PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter
This is not acceptable!
I attempted to change the irq's with the device manager but it would not
allow the manual configuration box to be accessed on any of the devices listed.
Any help would be appreciated
TIA

system when booted under win2k
1ghz tbird
K7VZA via MB 200MHz FSB
32 meg ATI All-in-Wonder Radeon agpx2 (I can't get it stable at x4???)
on board sound (I dont use sound except for games that require it)
10/100 Ether net
Primary 1 40 gig maxtor UMDA 100 7200rpm
slave 1 generic 52x cd
primary 2 75 gig IBM deskstar UMDA 100 7200rpm
slave 2 pioneer dvd
ps2 mouse and keyboard
external modem (Rockwell chipset) on serial 2
plotter on parallel
2 printers on USB 1 (actually a laser printer and a combo ink jet, scanner, copier)
joystick on USB 2

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OhNooo
Smile Awhile

qts · « **Reply #1 on:** June 03, 2001, 03:57:00 PM »

You're not going to like this: reinstall W2000 with ACPI disabled.

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qts

MrBill · « **Reply #2 on:** June 03, 2001, 06:14:00 PM »

I turned ACPI function off on the motherboard in CMOS after win2Kwas installed. Was this the problem?
I also have the option to turn off plug and pray in CMOS allowing the bios to assign irq's, will this help or just create more problems.
I attempted to do a custom reinstall of 2k but it gave me no option to disable ACPI or I missed it??

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OhNooo
Smile Awhile

bloom25 · « **Reply #3 on:** June 04, 2001, 01:01:00 AM »

The ONLY way to disable ACPI support in Win2k is to disable it in the bios BEFORE installing Win2k. You cannot disable it after install, win2k is unable to adapt to a system change like that.

There is a little more to ACPI than meets the eye though... First of all, all your devices are not really sharing irq 11 (or 9 ) the system only reports that. ACPI allows the system to dynamically steer IRQs around as needed at the time. The benefit of this is that you don't run out of IRQs so quickly. The downside is that drivers can be very tricky to get that work correctly with ACPI enabled. (My win2k sp2 system is using ACPI, no problems at all.)

It looks to me like you have a Radeon card in your system though. ATI still can't write a quality driver for Win2k, let alone one that works right with ACPI on.

Here's what I would recommend. Load all the newest drivers and leave ACPI on see how things work. If the system is not acceptable, burn all those new drivers, sp2, AMD large page file registry patch, via 4 in 1 4.29s (or 4.31s), Direct X 8a, and anything else you don't want to download again. Format the hard drive

. Turn off ACPI in the bios, leave plug and pray on. Install Win2k, install via 4 in 1s, install AMD registry patch (large page update), install sp2 (it includes fixes in SP1 as well, but you are going to need the big 100+ MB full .exe file, not the express install), install video drivers, install all other drivers, plug the usb stuff back in and install their drivers, write a nasty e-mail to Bill Gates for making this such a pain.

I'd also be a little worried about installing Win2k with the radeon card in, but if it doesn't work just pop in another card to do the install, then put the radeon back in.

As for AGP 2x or 4x, I wouldn't worry about this too much. The speed difference is minimal at best.

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bloom25
-MAW-
(Formerly of the)
THUNDERBIRDS

MrBill · « **Reply #4 on:** June 04, 2001, 11:55:00 AM »

Bloom25
Thanks for the info. I am now determined to learn how to use this sorry excuse of an os ... onward and upward

You know offhand of any good manuals or websites?
I have (always have) kept downloads in a separate folder for just this kind of situation. Win2k is in its own partition on my small drive. I have plenty of unused space on my large drive, is it possible to create a new partition and install a completely separate instance of win2k? I have done this with OS/2 and had no probs, but do not know if win2K is to militant to allow this. If so I will do as you suggested THEN reformat and ghost the working version back to its intended, reformatted partition. Meanwhile I can play with it.

By the way I dl'ed the ati radeon support upgrade for win2K from the M$ website, I did not notice any change in performance should I have reloaded the drivers after the support upgrade?
I can't believe that this is so foreign to me! I spent years in tech support and admin. on OS/2 (all the way from 1.3) and I still have no clue on what makes windos tick

If you think taking this off the BBS would be agreeable please email me .
It seems that lepf and yourself have a handle on windos. If we meet at a con I owe all your fav. beverage you can hold - hehe.
OH, how do I check the current version of my drivers in win2K? Crud, I need a manual not the stupid booklet that came with the os!

Email is not showing in profile?
ssgte5@laplaza.com

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OhNooo
Smile Awhile

[This message has been edited by MrBill (edited 06-04-2001).]

Lephturn · « **Reply #5 on:** June 04, 2001, 02:10:00 PM »

Yep, you can put 2k on it's own partition. It just needs to be able to access the boot partition somehow. 2k will put a boot manager on and try to detect any other OS's you have on there. When you boot, it will give you an option to pick something else I believe.

2k Rocks. Do you know any NT? 2k is basically similar to NT4 in most ways.

I wuv my Win2k, it rocks. Best OS I've ever used. It's now come far enough by patch 2 that I can game on it too. I haven't converted my 98 box over to 2k yet, but I run it on my server. Next time I have a problem with my 98 box or I feel it's time for a clean start, Win2k will be in.

The ACPI thing is one of the only issues... and it's not a big one if you know about it before hand. On some mainboards you can't disable ACPI by default, and you may need a newer BIOS version to do it. If you can't disable ACPI in your BIOS, there is a setup switch for Win2k to disable it as well. I don't remember it off the top of my head, but if you need it, holler and I'll look it up for you.

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Sean "Lephturn" Conrad - Aces High Chief Trainer

A proud member of the mighty Flying Pigs
http://www.flyingpigs.com

Check out Lephturn's Aerodrome for AH articles and training info!

bloom25 · « **Reply #6 on:** June 04, 2001, 04:07:00 PM »

Yep, Win2k is smart enough to coexist with multiple OSes. (I would recommend using a program like bootmagic that comes with partition magic so you can totally isolate them though. This would also allow either of your 2 hard drives to be bootable.)

As for learning about win2k, I would probably refer you to www.ntcompatible.com for some good info and links.

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bloom25
-MAW-
(Formerly of the)
THUNDERBIRDS

qts · « **Reply #7 on:** June 04, 2001, 04:14:00 PM »

If you're running FAT32, there is no need to reformat. Simply boot with a W9x boot floppy and rename the WINNT and Documents & Settings directories before reinstalling.