kX 3550 and IRQ problems ...

Slippers · Oct 20, 2009, 06:57 PM

HoWdY!!
OK ... I did a search for IRQ conflicts and basically came up with a couple of posts that were about 3 years old.
We need to revisit this subject about the ACPI and BIOS and how to tell each kX card to use THIS EXACT IRQ and not try and share with other stuff that keeps it from working right.
This might ALSO explain the missing tray icon that hasn't been fully answered ... as far as I know anyways.
My ethernet card and several other strange and mysterious entities are all trying to play in the same corner of the sandbox and it's not working out great.
If I am online and trying to do some video and audio at the same time, the Ethernet freezes and or the audio/video freezes. The 3 finger salute doesn't work either. Frozen Solid! POWER OFF REBOOT!
My setup used to work fine with individual and unique IRQ's until I installed this new (3550) version and it changed all the IRQ settings around.

Is there really NO *.inf file or command line /??? that would force kX to use a specific IRQ?

When booting, kX tries to load the icon into the tray, but then my ethernet starts before kX is finished and jumps on the kX thingy loading and I get no icon in the tray. Its a Royal Pain in the butt when you need to access the DSP in the middle of something and have to clear your screen to get to the program outta the way so you can go and click on the folder that has the files that starts the kXMixer

Looking forward to your response!

Thankx

Max M. · Oct 20, 2009, 07:19 PM

Well, the Windows assigns a specific IRQ to a driver (to the corresponding hardware device actually). A driver can do nothing about this.
(So it's actually strange your PC interrupt assignements changed when you installed 3550, are you sure you did not change anything related before that? (e.g. updated motherboard drivers, enabled previously disabled ethernet port, updated Windows kernel etc.)
Either way, shared IRQs should not normally freeze anything (in worst case it's only about poorer performance). So if it freezes then it's most likely a bug in one of those three drivers (e.g. ethernet, video or kX).)

Slippers · Oct 20, 2009, 08:55 PM

HoWdY!!

Thankx for your quick reply!

My first Windows version was V1.0 on a 286 with 1 meg RAM

... Things have changed immensely since then LOL ! The problem, I think, is with the IRQ SHARING that seems to be giving me grief.

I've changed the BIOS setting for it to take control of the peripherals by shutting off the "PnP Software" switch.
This allows te BIOS to control the peripherals rather than the software. This may or may not be a good idea too

My thoughts about the the reason the settings changed is because I had to un-install and re-install my Ethernet drivers when I was having problems connecting to the Internet. Then I uninstalled the video and ACPI and everything else I could in hopes that kX would jump into an IRQ alone without sharing. That didn't happen.

Is there any control you can achieve over the ACPI? In my BIOS there is no PCI/Legacy type of toggle for the card slots so I can't dictate which is what for who IRQ.
I've moved the cards to different slots, but that didn't do anything worthwhile either.

... kX drivers ... I LOVE THEM! and wouldn't do without them now after all the work and the kinda long learning curve has been accomplished. They work are great!

Thankx

Quote:

Originally Posted by Max M.

Well, the Windows assigns a specific IRQ to a driver (to the corresponding hardware device actually). A driver can do nothing about this.
(So it's actually strange your PC interrupt assignements changed when you installed 3550, are you sure you did not change anything related before that? (e.g. updated motherboard drivers, enabled previously disabled ethernet port, updated Windows kernel etc.)
Either way, shared IRQs should not normally freeze anything (in worst case it's only about poorer performance). So if it freezes then it's most likely a bug in one of those three drivers (e.g. ethernet, video or kX).)

Max M. · Oct 20, 2009, 09:25 PM

MS has something to read: A general description of IRQ sharing in Windows XP (there're more useful articles).
Regarding the problem, assuming that all worked fine before (did it?) - i would suspect the whole Windows hardware confuguration just got messed up - so (if it was me) i'd tried to install it from scratch (i.e. killing the root "PCI Bus" device, and then reinstalling all descendant devices).

Slippers · Oct 25, 2009, 07:14 AM

HoWdY!!

Thankx Max for your great information!
I read the articles that you suggested and they answered the questions I had.
There would be a BIG headache trying to change the HAL to allow specific IRQ's to be used so your idea about uninstalling the "PCI Bus" and the like is what I did.
It seems to have worked ok as I now have an excellent sound even on the Internet.
I'm using 2 X SB Live! cards and an Audigy II card in my system. I know this might seem to be overkill, but I dont want the drops outs and empty spaces in the sound because only one card can't keep up with the midi information. I use this setup in audio/video performance and recording.
In Sonar PE I can assign what each midi is playing through for each track on each Synth on each card and it sounds AMAZING!! LOL ... This also eleviates greatly the note losses that sometimes happens in playback.

Soooo ... bottom line ... your advice was excellent!
My sound is great now and I can record video and audio without bogs and glitches on the Internet

Just some questions to ponder ...

(1) If I wanted to record the midi output of each track on each synth on each card as an analog stereo track, what would the basic DSP using the PRO FX addons look like and could I record all 16 midi tracks in a song to 16 audio tracks simultaneously?

(2) WHY do I never seem able to have the kX icon in the tray unless I disable my Ethernet card or something else before booting?

(3) Does the Audigy II card have an IEEE 1394 - 400 mbps connection on it? What is that for if it does?

LOL Thankx!
Slippers

Quote:

Originally Posted by Max M.

MS has something to read: A general description of IRQ sharing in Windows XP (there're more useful articles).
Regarding the problem, assuming that all worked fine before (did it?) - i would suspect the whole Windows hardware confuguration just got messed up - so (if it was me) i'd tried to install it from scratch (i.e. killing the root "PCI Bus" device, and then reinstalling all descendant devices).

Oct 20, 2009, 06:57 PM	#1
Slippers HardwareHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Ingersoll, Ontario Posts: 70 Rep Power: 0	kX 3550 and IRQ problems ... HoWdY!! OK ... I did a search for IRQ conflicts and basically came up with a couple of posts that were about 3 years old. We need to revisit this subject about the ACPI and BIOS and how to tell each kX card to use THIS EXACT IRQ and not try and share with other stuff that keeps it from working right. This might ALSO explain the missing tray icon that hasn't been fully answered ... as far as I know anyways. My ethernet card and several other strange and mysterious entities are all trying to play in the same corner of the sandbox and it's not working out great. If I am online and trying to do some video and audio at the same time, the Ethernet freezes and or the audio/video freezes. The 3 finger salute doesn't work either. Frozen Solid! POWER OFF REBOOT! My setup used to work fine with individual and unique IRQ's until I installed this new (3550) version and it changed all the IRQ settings around. Is there really NO *.inf file or command line /??? that would force kX to use a specific IRQ? When booting, kX tries to load the icon into the tray, but then my ethernet starts before kX is finished and jumps on the kX thingy loading and I get no icon in the tray. Its a Royal Pain in the butt when you need to access the DSP in the middle of something and have to clear your screen to get to the program outta the way so you can go and click on the folder that has the files that starts the kXMixer Looking forward to your response! Thankx

Oct 20, 2009, 07:19 PM	#2
Max M. h/h member-shmember Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Evil Empire Posts: 2,639 Rep Power: 69	Îòâåò: kX 3550 and IRQ problems ... Well, the Windows assigns a specific IRQ to a driver (to the corresponding hardware device actually). A driver can do nothing about this. (So it's actually strange your PC interrupt assignements changed when you installed 3550, are you sure you did not change anything related before that? (e.g. updated motherboard drivers, enabled previously disabled ethernet port, updated Windows kernel etc.) Either way, shared IRQs should not normally freeze anything (in worst case it's only about poorer performance). So if it freezes then it's most likely a bug in one of those three drivers (e.g. ethernet, video or kX).) __________________ Last edited by Max M.; Oct 20, 2009 at 07:29 PM.

Oct 20, 2009, 09:25 PM	#4
Max M. h/h member-shmember Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Evil Empire Posts: 2,639 Rep Power: 69	Îòâåò: kX 3550 and IRQ problems ... MS has something to read: A general description of IRQ sharing in Windows XP (there're more useful articles). Regarding the problem, assuming that all worked fine before (did it?) - i would suspect the whole Windows hardware confuguration just got messed up - so (if it was me) i'd tried to install it from scratch (i.e. killing the root "PCI Bus" device, and then reinstalling all descendant devices). __________________ Last edited by Max M.; Oct 20, 2009 at 09:31 PM.