hi,

i am having the hardest time trying to get my m-audio 2496 to have an irq lower then 15 (and one that it isnt shared). i have changed pci slots 3 times (i have 3 slots). they seem to be assigned an irq, regardless if i change or reserve. i have disabled my com and serial ports. and again, i have reserved irqs in my bios, still nothing. i currently have it on its own irq (18), but its a virtual irq and most likely sharing with something else anyways.

specs:
OS Name Microsoft Windows XP Professional
Version 5.1.2600 Service Pack 2 Build 2600
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Manufacturer To Be Filled By O.E.M.
System Model To Be Filled By O.E.M.
System Type X86-based PC
Processor x86 Family 15 Model 3 Stepping 3 GenuineIntel ~2993 Mhz
Processor x86 Family 15 Model 3 Stepping 3 GenuineIntel ~2993 Mhz
BIOS Version/Date American Megatrends Inc. 1005.002, 6/8/2004
SMBIOS Version 2.3
Windows Directory C:\WINDOWS
System Directory C:\WINDOWS\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume1
Locale United States
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "5.1.2600.2180 (xpsp_sp2_rtm.040803-2158)"
Total Physical Memory 2,048.00 MB
Available Physical Memory 1.42 GB
Total Virtual Memory 2.00 GB
Available Virtual Memory 1.96 GB
Page File Space 3.35 GB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys

irqs:

IRQ 0 System timer OK
IRQ 1 Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard OK
IRQ 6 Standard floppy disk controller OK
IRQ 8 System CMOS/real time clock OK
IRQ 13 Numeric data processor OK
IRQ 14 Primary IDE Channel OK
IRQ 15 Secondary IDE Channel OK
IRQ 16 NVIDIA GeForce FX 5600 OK
IRQ 16 D-Link DFE-530TX+ PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter (rev.F) OK
IRQ 18 M-Audio Delta Audiophile OK
IRQ 19 Standard OpenHCD USB Host Controller OK
IRQ 19 Standard OpenHCD USB Host Controller OK
IRQ 19 Standard Enhanced PCI to USB Host Controller OK
IRQ 21 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK

my motherboard is a asus P4R800-VM.

is there a way to somehow MAKE my computer either assign 5 or 6 (i can disable my floppy, never use it) without going to "standard pc?"

(also, my onboard sound is also disabled)

thanks for any help you can provide.

My Audiophile 2496 is one of three devices with the same IRQ (under Win98se). There has never been a problem, although I understand that happy experience isn't universal. Do you want this IRQ change because you are having difficulties with the card, or is this a matter of aesthetic fastidiousness?

well, i just started noticing some pops when i was listening in foobar (with asio). also, probably for peace of mind.

This is not an effort to talk you out of bettering your situation, but I decided to share this experience. I do a lot of LP conversions to CD. I've become very attuned to listening for pops and clicks because I remove them as part of the project. Perhaps this practice is responsible for the fact that at times I notice clicks in other sources such as FM, cassettes, and even commercial CDs. I never used to notice these, at least consciously. Since none of these sources involve my soundcard, it can't be the problem. It is just the case that producers are not always as careful as they could be. So, are you sure the clicks are not in your sources?

Unfortunately, I can't help with virtual IRQ efforts. I am still running Win98 and Win95.

For pops you could try to increase buffer from fb2k or M-Audio Control Panel. If that doesn't work, you could try to mess with pci latencies (don't remember which way help, google for more info).

PCI Latency Tool

Yes there is way (or two at least)
Windows XP assigns IRQ through the first install of the HAL (the first Windows install) then IRQs won't move, even if you free some non-virtual IRQs
On ACPI computers, reservation or BIOS settings of the IRQ are quasi useless

So, you have to reinstall the HAL, by reinstalling the driver which should be:
- ACPI Multiprocessor PC (if you have dual-core CPU or a Pentium 4 with HT) or
- ACPI Uniprocessor PC (if you have a single-core Athlon, Celeron or a Pentium 4 without HT) or
- Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) PC (practically same as above, preferable for some chipsets as nForce 2)

You have to open the device manager and locate one of the item I listed, right-click and select "Update driver" and choose the one matching your system.

If you try to reinstall the same HAL, the driver may not update so there are two options:
-Try to install a compatible HAL (ACPI uni- is compatible with ACPI multi-), reboot, then re-reinstall the correct one
-Reinstall Windows clean, which is the best known solution.

Some info here
Some resources here and here.
Good luck.

Edit: If you still hear pops and clicks, you can also verify that your M-Audio isn't sharing any hard-wired PCI IRQ. That depends on the PCI slot you use (please refer to the first SOS article I provided).

Could you also just uninstall the HAL and wait for it to be reinstalled automatically after a reboot? Or would this result in an unbootable system?

I never tested that by myself! So... you can give a try and tell me

Perhaps not...

Virtual IRQs? I think you guys got it wrong. With APIC capable systems (no connection with ACPI, it's a CPU thing) you get more IRQs that the standard 16 with ISA. Actually it's only 15 due to a engineering decision (when designing the PC/AT, IBM cascaded two 8bit IRQ controllers and IRQs 8 and 2 are shared, if I remember correctly).
In effect, those higher number IRQs are as real as the standard ones. If you manage to get a single higher number IRQ for your 2496 all should be well. If you insist on assigning a lower number IRQ there are couple of things to keep in mind:

• some BIOSes assign 1-15 IRQs to ISA devices only
• some BIOSes have an option to configure IRQs assigned to PCI slots, but there are only 3 PCI IRQs and you can have more than 3 slots. You have to guess which PCI slot gets which of the 3 available PCI IRQs
• if you have a "Plug and Play OS" option in BIOS try playing with it. "Enabled" or "Yes" usually means that the plug & play hardware is not fully initialized and that the OS takes control over IRQ distribution, while "Disabled" or "No" means that the BIOS distributes the IRQs. But! The OS can still remap the distribution.
• "Reserve IRQ" option is useless for PCI cards - it reserves IRQs for ISA components and that does not include the 2496
• Shared IRQs where a problem in the ISA days. In the PCI world there is hardware support for IRQ sharing and things usually work out (unless you have a buggy PCI implementation, like some of the early VIA chipsets)

All in all it's much simpler if you leave it as it is.

Well explained.
Isn't APIC is enabled in Windows through the ACPI HAL (compared to 'Standard PC')? That's why I spoke about ACPI...

IRQ can matter for PCI cards. PCI slots, and the IRQs internally shared by the PCI slots, if correctly choosen, can prevent you from corruptions or glitches in audio ***which can be*** introduced by IRQs sharing.
That happened to me with IRQs shared by both a PCI SATA controller card and a TV card and also a M-Audio Audiophile 2496.

This article on Sound On Sound explained this further for those interested http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/may03/arti...usician0503.asp

I had a 2496 that peformed splendidly , but then began introducing pops into recordings. I went a bit mad trying to correct it (M-audio was convinced it was an iRQ sharing issue, so I did the usual slot-swapping dance to no avail) but in the here's what the fix turned out to be: i had installed a wireless PCI card just before the pops/clicks began. Disabling the card whenever I want to record via the 2496 completely eliminated the problem.

Bus-locking, perhaps? I've never heard of a network card doing that - it's usually graphics cards that cause this problem.

You should try to move you network card to another PCI slot.
Please refer to the article I mentioned in my previous post.
Check your mainboard manual to obtain the table of shared internal PCI IRQs and find a slot that doesn't share interrupts (INT A, INT B...) with the slot you put your M-Audio in. There are only 3 PCI IRQs so you may have to move your M-Audio too to find a correct combination.

If that doesn't solve the problem, you may try to adjust the PCI latencies of your card.
Some relevant article (it deals with PCI latencies and SATA problems but your can transpose it to yours): http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.asp?m=45491&a...dio%2Cglitching

Believe me, I did try that. Several times. The PC would switch the IRQs but it would never give the M-audio its own IRQ.



There are none. I tried shifting both the M-audio and the wireless card, separately or together. I even removed the legacy Creative soundcard (that was already deactivated, but still installed) to open up another slot. I tried every combination of slots available to me. I went through this all in painful detail with M-audio technical support, honest.



The problem was solved, thanks. Disabling the aftermarket wireless network PCI card -- easily done via the 'Network Places' interface , and just as easily enabled when I'm done -- solves it. Btw, I only noticed the blips when recording (and playing back those recordings), not during playback of files recorded elsewhere. And I don't do that much recording.

Glad you came over it.
It's not easy (if not impossible) to come over interrupt conflicts when the 3 of the 3 slots are populated.
PCI IRQs are not the same as IRQs numbers assigned by Windows. Devices can share the same PCI IRQ even if they have different IRQ number in Windows...
Your "blips" *can* come from a IRQ sharing issue or PCI latencies.

Here is the IRQ table of your mainboard:
No PCI slot has its own not-shared IRQ, so it's not easy indeed. Slot 1 seems to be the safest to put your M-Audio in, but I'm sure you tried!

***But even if you manage to find the correct PCI slot combination and adjust PCI latencies, some (badly designed) PCI devices are simply keeping the PCI bus for themselves, preventing other devices like soundcards to work as they should. And the only solution is to disable them when you are doing some recording if you don't want to record some kind of artifacts.

I experienced this problem myself with no workaround possible, unless switching to another soundcard.

Please come back to tell if you find a workaround for putting your 3 cards functionnal (enabled) together.

er...how do you know what my mainboard is?