From: Yousuf Khan on
Looks like I'm having a good old fashioned IRQ conflict. Even though
IRQ's are theoretically shareable these days, in practice it may not be
such a hot idea. The problem first occurred after I replaced my
motherboard and processor on one of my systems, a couple of weeks back.
I was getting a BSOD once every couple of days. I've had 5 BSODs so far.
There has been 3 different types of Stop messages: variously involved
the DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_THAN_OR_EQUAL (twice), the BAD_POOL_HEADER
(twice), and the UNEXPECTED_KERNEL_MODE_TRAP (once) errors.

Initially, they involved TCPIP.SYS and IPNAT.SYS, both of which were
network-related. So I thought it's a network card issue and I updated
the Realtek Gigabit Ethernet driver, but that didn't help.

Then a couple of days ago, I got another BSOD, but this time it involved
the driver NV4_MINI.SYS, which is an Nvidia video card driver -- seemed
completely unrelated. Then earlier today, I got another
DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_THAN_OR_EQUAL error, and this time it came from
both the TCPIP.SYS and the NV4_MINI.SYS drivers together! That clued me
into the idea that perhaps these two are sharing the same IRQ. I looked
in Device Manager, sorted it by Resource Connections, and sure enough
the gigabit ethernet and video card are both sharing IRQ 18! And that's
not all, there's 5 other devices sharing this same IRQ too! Seven
devices on the same IRQ line! There's only one other line, IRQ 16, that
has multiple devices on it too, at comparatively paltry 3 devices. Every
other IRQ line that is used only has one device on it, and there are
several empty unused IRQ lines all over the place.

So I went into the BIOS settings, but couldn't find any IRQ setting
functions available to it. The only option I found was something that
either enabled or disabled Plug'n'Play OS support, but not much else.

I tried to go into Windows' Device Manager to manually configure the
IRQ's, but the manual setting of resources was grayed out. According to
this webpage, you can't manually set anything inside an ACPI-compliant PC:

"You may find you cannot manually change your IRQ settings (the Use
automatic settings will be greyed out), this is usually related to the
ACPI function used by Win XP. "
http://www.helpwithpcs.com/upgrading/change-irq-settings.htm

So now I'm stuck, is there some kind of program available to reset the
ACPI tables? Some sections of the Registry that I can change?

Yousuf Khan
From: Yousuf Khan on
RobertVA wrote:
> Did you replace the motherboard and processor with the same make and
> model numbers? If either was replaced with a different component, what
> procedure did you use to reconfigure the OS to the new hardware
> configuration (backup data and clean reinstall or repair install)?

Nope, both the motherboard and processor were upgraded to newer models.
The processor came from the same manufacturer, but is a generation or
two newer (AMD, old: Athlon 64 X2, new: Phenom II X3). The motherboard
is from the same manufacturer, but different models/chipsets (Asus, old:
M2NPV-VM/Nvidia Nforce 430, new: M4A785-M/ATI 785G).

The method used to reconfigure was closer to a repair install. It was
merely an install of the drivers for new components as they got
discovered Windows. Processor information drivers were updated to the
latest versions. All attached hardware have been completely matched to
appropriate drivers. There are no yellow exclamation points or red X's
among any of the Device Manager entries, if that's what you're getting at.

> Was the original (with the old hardware) installed by the computer
> manufacturer? Customized OEM installation, generic "grey box" OEM, Full
> retail OS or upgrade from an earlier version of Windows? Were the old
> drivers installed from the OS installation media or media that came with
> the hardware (graphic accelerator, Ethernet card, sound accelerator,
> motherboard chip set etc)? Same information about driver sources after
> replacing the hardware.

The machine is a home-built. It was completely built and upgraded by me
over the years. Windows XP was originally installed on this system as an
upgrade from Windows 2000, which must've been 7 or 8 years ago; it's
been upgraded between that time too. The old and new drivers were
installed by a combination of OS install media and hardware install
media. Some drivers had sources pre-included in the OS install disk, and
some came from a later hardware installation disk.

This latest motherboard and processor upgrade was actually quite smooth
and trouble-free, comparatively. All new hardware drivers were installed
and working in the first try, without incident.

> Others with similar hardware might be able to compare their driver
> versions to yours if in a further post you list equipment descriptions
> and any version numbers from the problematic computer. You may be able
> to use software like the DirectX diagnostic, Windows System Information
> or a third party hardware reporting tool to copy that information to a
> text file or the Windows clipboard, allowing you to paste the relevent
> sections of those report information into a post.

You just needed to ask. Here's the full list of IRQ assignments on the
machine:

> IRQ 00 Exclusive System timer
> IRQ 04 Exclusive Communications Port (COM1)
> IRQ 08 Exclusive System CMOS/real time clock
> IRQ 09 Shared Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System
> IRQ 13 Exclusive Numeric data processor
> IRQ 14 Exclusive Primary IDE Channel
> IRQ 16 Shared Standard OpenHCD USB Host Controller
> IRQ 16 Shared Standard OpenHCD USB Host Controller
> IRQ 16 Shared Microsoft UAA Bus Driver for High Definition Audio
> IRQ 17 Shared Standard Enhanced PCI to USB Host Controller
> IRQ 18 Shared Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller
> IRQ 18 Shared Standard OpenHCD USB Host Controller
> IRQ 18 Shared Standard OpenHCD USB Host Controller
> IRQ 18 Shared Standard OpenHCD USB Host Controller
> IRQ 18 Shared PCI standard PCI-to-PCI bridge
> IRQ 18 Shared PCI standard PCI-to-PCI bridge
> IRQ 18 Shared NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT
> IRQ 19 Shared Standard Enhanced PCI to USB Host Controller
> IRQ 22 Shared Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller

As you can see, there are 7 devices using the same IRQ 18.

Yousuf Khan
From: Jose on
On Jan 28, 2:13 am, Yousuf Khan <bbb...(a)spammenot.yahoo.com> wrote:
> RobertVA wrote:
> > Did you replace the motherboard and processor with the same make and
> > model numbers? If either was replaced with a different component, what
> > procedure did you use to reconfigure the OS to the new hardware
> > configuration (backup data and clean reinstall or repair install)?
>
> Nope, both the motherboard and processor were upgraded to newer models.
> The processor came from the same manufacturer, but is a generation or
> two newer (AMD, old: Athlon 64 X2, new: Phenom II X3). The motherboard
> is from the same manufacturer, but different models/chipsets (Asus, old:
> M2NPV-VM/Nvidia Nforce 430, new: M4A785-M/ATI 785G).
>
> The method used to reconfigure was closer to a repair install. It was
> merely an install of the drivers for new components as they got
> discovered Windows. Processor information drivers were updated to the
> latest versions. All attached hardware have been completely matched to
> appropriate drivers. There are no yellow exclamation points or red X's
> among any of the Device Manager entries, if that's what you're getting at..
>
> > Was the original (with the old hardware) installed by the computer
> > manufacturer? Customized OEM installation, generic "grey box" OEM, Full
> > retail OS or upgrade from an earlier version of Windows? Were the old
> > drivers installed from the OS installation media or media that came with
> > the hardware (graphic accelerator, Ethernet card, sound accelerator,
> > motherboard chip set etc)? Same information about driver sources after
> > replacing the hardware.
>
> The machine is a home-built. It was completely built and upgraded by me
> over the years. Windows XP was originally installed on this system as an
> upgrade from Windows 2000, which must've been 7 or 8 years ago; it's
> been upgraded between that time too. The old and new drivers were
> installed by a combination of OS install media and hardware install
> media. Some drivers had sources pre-included in the OS install disk, and
> some came from a later hardware installation disk.
>
> This latest motherboard and processor upgrade was actually quite smooth
> and trouble-free, comparatively. All new hardware drivers were installed
> and working in the first try, without incident.
>
> > Others with similar hardware might be able to compare their driver
> > versions to yours if in a further post you list equipment descriptions
> > and any version numbers from the problematic computer. You may be able
> > to use software like the DirectX diagnostic, Windows System Information
> > or a third party hardware reporting tool to copy that information to a
> > text file or the Windows clipboard, allowing you to paste the relevent
> > sections of those report information into a post.
>
> You just needed to ask. Here's the full list of IRQ assignments on the
> machine:
>
>
>
>
>
> >     IRQ 00                       Exclusive             System timer
> >     IRQ 04                       Exclusive             Communications Port (COM1)
> >     IRQ 08                       Exclusive             System CMOS/real time clock
> >     IRQ 09                       Shared                Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System
> >     IRQ 13                       Exclusive             Numeric data processor
> >     IRQ 14                       Exclusive             Primary IDE Channel
> >     IRQ 16                       Shared                Standard OpenHCD USB Host Controller
> >     IRQ 16                       Shared                Standard OpenHCD USB Host Controller
> >     IRQ 16                       Shared                Microsoft UAA Bus Driver for High Definition Audio
> >     IRQ 17                       Shared                Standard Enhanced PCI to USB Host Controller
> >     IRQ 18                       Shared                Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller
> >     IRQ 18                       Shared                Standard OpenHCD USB Host Controller
> >     IRQ 18                       Shared                Standard OpenHCD USB Host Controller
> >     IRQ 18                       Shared                Standard OpenHCD USB Host Controller
> >     IRQ 18                       Shared                PCI standard PCI-to-PCI bridge
> >     IRQ 18                       Shared                PCI standard PCI-to-PCI bridge
> >     IRQ 18                       Shared                NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT
> >     IRQ 19                       Shared                Standard Enhanced PCI to USB Host Controller
> >     IRQ 22                       Shared                Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller
>
> As you can see, there are 7 devices using the same IRQ 18.
>
>         Yousuf Khan

There are also 3 sharing IRQ 16. Wouldn't that also be a problem?

How did you obtain this list of IRQ information?

What are ACPI tables that need to be reset?

Do you show IRQ conflicts in Device Manager, Interrupt Request,
Resources tab?

If you could change the IRQs, what would you change them to?

Please provide additional information about your system:

Click Start, Run and in the box enter:

msinfo32

Click OK, and when the System Summary info appears, click Edit, Select
All, Copy and then paste
the information back here.

There will be some personal information (like System Name and User
Name), and whatever appears to
be private information to you, just delete it from the pasted
information.

This will minimize back and forth Q&A and eliminate guesswork.

For IRQ information, expand the Hardware Resources, click IRQs, click
Edit, Select All,
Copy and then paste the information.

For video driver information, expand the Components, click Display,
click Edit, Select All,
Copy and then paste the information.

For audio information, expand the Components, click Sound Device,
click Edit, Select All,
Copy and then paste the information back here.
From: Bob I on
You don't have an IRQ conflict, you have a bad driver for the hardware
installed. NT uses Virtual IRQs for legacy support and the number of
items listed on a particular IRQ is immaterial.

Yousuf Khan wrote:

> Looks like I'm having a good old fashioned IRQ conflict. Even though
> IRQ's are theoretically shareable these days, in practice it may not be
> such a hot idea. The problem first occurred after I replaced my
> motherboard and processor on one of my systems, a couple of weeks back.
> I was getting a BSOD once every couple of days. I've had 5 BSODs so far.
> There has been 3 different types of Stop messages: variously involved
> the DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_THAN_OR_EQUAL (twice), the BAD_POOL_HEADER
> (twice), and the UNEXPECTED_KERNEL_MODE_TRAP (once) errors.
>
> Initially, they involved TCPIP.SYS and IPNAT.SYS, both of which were
> network-related. So I thought it's a network card issue and I updated
> the Realtek Gigabit Ethernet driver, but that didn't help.
>
> Then a couple of days ago, I got another BSOD, but this time it involved
> the driver NV4_MINI.SYS, which is an Nvidia video card driver -- seemed
> completely unrelated. Then earlier today, I got another
> DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_THAN_OR_EQUAL error, and this time it came from
> both the TCPIP.SYS and the NV4_MINI.SYS drivers together! That clued me
> into the idea that perhaps these two are sharing the same IRQ. I looked
> in Device Manager, sorted it by Resource Connections, and sure enough
> the gigabit ethernet and video card are both sharing IRQ 18! And that's
> not all, there's 5 other devices sharing this same IRQ too! Seven
> devices on the same IRQ line! There's only one other line, IRQ 16, that
> has multiple devices on it too, at comparatively paltry 3 devices. Every
> other IRQ line that is used only has one device on it, and there are
> several empty unused IRQ lines all over the place.
>
> So I went into the BIOS settings, but couldn't find any IRQ setting
> functions available to it. The only option I found was something that
> either enabled or disabled Plug'n'Play OS support, but not much else.
>
> I tried to go into Windows' Device Manager to manually configure the
> IRQ's, but the manual setting of resources was grayed out. According to
> this webpage, you can't manually set anything inside an ACPI-compliant PC:
>
> "You may find you cannot manually change your IRQ settings (the Use
> automatic settings will be greyed out), this is usually related to the
> ACPI function used by Win XP. "
> http://www.helpwithpcs.com/upgrading/change-irq-settings.htm
>
> So now I'm stuck, is there some kind of program available to reset the
> ACPI tables? Some sections of the Registry that I can change?
>
> Yousuf Khan

From: Yousuf Khan on
Jose wrote:
> There are also 3 sharing IRQ 16. Wouldn't that also be a problem?

Yes, that was mentioned in the original posting too.

> How did you obtain this list of IRQ information?

From Device Manager and Everest.

> What are ACPI tables that need to be reset?

The IRQ assignments.

> Do you show IRQ conflicts in Device Manager, Interrupt Request,
> Resources tab?

Read the original post.

> If you could change the IRQs, what would you change them to?

My main concern is to remove either the video card or ethernet port from
that sharing arrangement as those are the two that have caused most of
the Stop messages. I don't care if anything else is sharing resources.

> Please provide additional information about your system:
>
> Click Start, Run and in the box enter:
>
> msinfo32
>
> Click OK, and when the System Summary info appears, click Edit, Select
> All, Copy and then paste
> the information back here.
>
> There will be some personal information (like System Name and User
> Name), and whatever appears to
> be private information to you, just delete it from the pasted
> information.

Sorry, none of that information is relevant to this discussion. I'll
show you the Resource Sharing/Conflict summary from Msinfo32 instead:

I/O Port 0x00000000-0x00000CF7 PCI bus
I/O Port 0x00000000-0x00000CF7 Direct memory access controller

I/O Port 0x00000060-0x00000060 Motherboard resources
I/O Port 0x00000060-0x00000060 Motherboard resources

I/O Port 0x000003C0-0x000003DF PCI standard PCI-to-PCI bridge
I/O Port 0x000003C0-0x000003DF NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT

I/O Port 0x00000064-0x00000064 Motherboard resources
I/O Port 0x00000064-0x00000064 Motherboard resources

Memory Address 0xFEC00000-0xFEC00FFF Motherboard resources
Memory Address 0xFEC00000-0xFEC00FFF System board

IRQ 16 Standard OpenHCD USB Host Controller
IRQ 16 Standard OpenHCD USB Host Controller
IRQ 16 Microsoft UAA Bus Driver for High Definition Audio

Memory Address 0xD0000000-0xDFFFFFFF PCI bus
Memory Address 0xD0000000-0xDFFFFFFF PCI standard PCI-to-PCI bridge
Memory Address 0xD0000000-0xDFFFFFFF NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT

IRQ 18 PCI standard PCI-to-PCI bridge
IRQ 18 NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT
IRQ 18 PCI standard PCI-to-PCI bridge
IRQ 18 Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller
IRQ 18 Standard OpenHCD USB Host Controller
IRQ 18 Standard OpenHCD USB Host Controller
IRQ 18 Standard OpenHCD USB Host Controller

I/O Port 0x00000B00-0x00000B3F Motherboard resources
I/O Port 0x00000B00-0x00000B3F Motherboard resources

Memory Address 0xA0000-0xBFFFF PCI bus
Memory Address 0xA0000-0xBFFFF PCI standard PCI-to-PCI bridge
Memory Address 0xA0000-0xBFFFF NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT

I/O Port 0x000003B0-0x000003BB PCI standard PCI-to-PCI bridge
I/O Port 0x000003B0-0x000003BB NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT

Memory Address 0xFA000000-0xFEAFFFFF PCI standard PCI-to-PCI bridge
Memory Address 0xFA000000-0xFEAFFFFF NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT

> This will minimize back and forth Q&A and eliminate guesswork.

No it won't. I've already been asked to repeat information that was in
the original posting, twice already.

Yousuf Khan