I was under the impression that IRQ conflicts did not occur with the
nt/xp os's. My recent conversion to Xp Pro has been fairly smooth until
this week. A flood of race videos filled up my harddrive and suddenly I
was beset by many Blue Screens of Death(I had also heard XP did HAVE BSODs)
(and yes I made sure the swap file was not being squished on the full
drive.) I got a screen full of warnings and gobblydeegook claiming a
possible hardware problem and that I should remove any new hardware. Well
except for unplugging my USB based Logitech wheel, and then replugging it,
I haven't added any hardware for months.
The windows trouble shooter said it could be video driver conflicts so I
yanked out every hint of an ati file and completely refreshed the video
drivers with a never installed version. Cleaned out the registry too.
But the crashes kept coming. I could stay active for about 10 or 15
minutes and the BSOD would return.
One of the lines of error code seemed to indicate irq problems, so I
removed my USB wheel from a front-mounted powered usb hub and the
complications have so far disapeared. This is not an elegant solution
however, as I have a TPTCC race to practice and get ready for. Is it the
hub? The wheel? The usb2 port itself(the one in back the powered hub is
connected to.)
Time for all the hardware geeks to wake up and earn their keep. The
stranger the solution, the better.
:)
dave henrie
Hi Dave,
1) Does the USB wheel and other devices work perfectly if you remove
the USB Hub from the equation??
2) Have you updated your Mobo drivers for the USB to the latest version
? I know some Intel based boards require this.
3) Have you tried using your wheel and playing Nascar 2003 from the
external view, hanglider position??
4) Have you emptied your trashcan?? The real one, outside?? Could be
the wife sabotaging you.
5) Have you deleted all your setups and recreated them from scratch??
6) Start a new GPLRank and play with keyboard for a few days until you
get to <100 and see if the same problem reappears with the keyboard
instead of the wheel. (my favourite).
7) Find out which IRQ the USB is trying to use (see if something comes
up after POST, but before XP Boots (disable hard disk if the bootup
sequence is too fast). Or see if you can find it in control panel if
you get the pc up.
8) Set that IRQ in the bios to be reserved. Hopefully the USB HUB will
grab it and not clash.
9) Try installing the TPTCC mod for Burnout3 on the PS2 so that you can
practise in the meantime.
Regards,
istoff
[email hidden] wrote in news:1114076694.221454.193940
@l41g2000cwc.googlegroups.com:
> Hi Dave,
>
> 1) Does the USB wheel and other devices work perfectly if you remove
> the USB Hub from the equation?? That may be it. I still have the Hub plugged in, but have removed the
wheel and all other usb devices from it's ports.
> 2) Have you updated your Mobo drivers for the USB to the latest version
> ? I know some Intel based boards require this. Amd..drivers? we don't need no steenkin drivers...
> 3) Have you tried using your wheel and playing Nascar 2003 from the
> external view, hanglider position?? Well that's it! Who'd a thunk it...merely by driving in the kite mode
solves all my problems...but now I feel dirty..
> 4) Have you emptied your trashcan?? The real one, outside?? Could be
> the wife sabotaging you
Thrash Can? You mean that dinky wastebasket thingy with a couple of
thousand files inside?
> 5) Have you deleted all your setups and recreated them from scratch??
Izzy...I thought you knew me better.....SETUPS?
> 6) Start a new GPLRank and play with keyboard for a few days until you
> get to <100 and see if the same problem reappears with the keyboard
> instead of the wheel. (my favourite).
If I play with the keyboard, won't I go blind.(typing this from behind
some very thick glasses)
> 7) Find out which IRQ the USB is trying to use (see if something comes
> up after POST, but before XP Boots (disable hard disk if the bootup
> sequence is too fast). Or see if you can find it in control panel if
> you get the pc up.
See that was my question, kinda-sorta. For years we fought Win98se and
tried to make sure certain pieces of hardware did not share IRQ's and
even in some cases did not even have an irq that was numerically close to
each other.(think Nvida graphic cards and Creative Sound cards)
But I had always been lectured by the XP litteratti that all the IRQ
problems go away with the mighty XP OS. Obviously, they have never fully
tested their systems with the Dave method...pile on stuff til it begs for
mercy.
> 8) Set that IRQ in the bios to be reserved. Hopefully the USB HUB will
> grab it and not clash.
> 9) Try installing the TPTCC mod for Burnout3 on the PS2 so that you can
> practise in the meantime.
But wouldn't I get calluses on my thumbs?
>
> Regards,
> istoff
>
Thanks for your help Istoff, By at least ignoring the powered hub, I
seem to have gained some stability...no blue screens for about a day now.
Sheesh...more money well spent eh? (except I have had that hub
operational for several months now with no previous problems...)
Hi Dave,
Actually, the point about the IRQ is that you *can* reserve one if you
have to, especially for a legacy device like some telephony cards, etc.
However, considering that USB is a plug and pray service, you would
imagine that a USB hub would be IRQ friendly.
Note that my understanding of XP's handling of interrupts is quite
limited, but IRQ's are still used, but the OS is able to share them
amongst several devices without getting too confused. I still get
blue-screens now and then and it always seems to be linked to Network
or USB devices, go figure.
Nice to actually post something on RAS for a change. It doesn't seem
the same any more. Atmosphere different, yadda yadda yadda.
BTW.
Been thinking of a coupla utilities for F1C, you still willing to be a
betatester?
[email hidden] wrote in news:1114170849.923009.61690
@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com:
> Been thinking of a coupla utilities for F1C, you still willing to be a
> betatester?
>
sure...you always come up with unique cool tools
dave
Quoted text (9 lines)
> One of the lines of error code seemed to indicate irq problems, so I > removed my USB wheel from a front-mounted powered usb hub and the > complications have so far disapeared. This is not an elegant solution > however, as I have a TPTCC race to practice and get ready for. Is it the > hub? The wheel? The usb2 port itself(the one in back the powered hub is > connected to.) > > Time for all the hardware geeks to wake up and earn their keep. The > stranger the solution, the better.Hi Dave,
Recently had a customer with intermittent freezes when downloading from
an iPod connected to a front USB port. The hardware all tested OK, iPod
included.
Eventually we narrowed it down to not enough oomph from the front USB
port. I've seen this before, particularly with other USB devices
attached such as scanners drawing the power.
After removing the iPod software and reloading it with the device
connected to a back USB port, no more problems.
I think your wheel probably draws more power than your average memory
stick or the like.
That said, with XP, I get plenty of systems tripping over after a single
Windows update or a program patch, etc. I'd be suspicious of those race
videos you mentioned though, because from what you say, the system
started tripping over after you downloaded them. Done a spyware check?
Glenn
