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Comment #31
Hi Adrian,
I'm glad to see somebody on the web finally got around to discussing this stuff, but
I've noticed in your new PNP/PCI configuration notes that a few things aren't agreeing
with my experiences. I'm using an ABIT BX6 R2.0, which has all of the settings you've
discussed, and I've found that, despite what your guide and ABIT's manual say, the AGP
card and PCI slot 2 refuse to run on different IRQs regardless of what I set P_IRQ_0 to,
or whether or not there's a card in PCI slot 1. I also noticed that you said the USB IRQ
is P_IRQ_4 ---- I wish such a setting existed so I wouldn't have my SB Live and USB bus
sharing IRQs, but unfortunately, the USB bus and PCI slot 4 and PCI slot 5 all use
P_IRQ_3. Thanks a bundle, ABIT.
Hope this unconfuses any confused readers
Jason S. Cohen
http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/~cohen3
Hello Jason,
AGP and PCI devices can normally share IRQs but some don't. So, let's say PCI slot 1
and the AGP slot have devices that can't share IRQ, the PCI slot 1 will use INT B, which
is using the primary interrupt (PIRQ_1) for PCI slot 2. Therefore, PCI slots 2 will have
to revert to its secondary interrupt, which is INT B (PIRQ_2) or other interrupts unless
it cannot share IRQs. In your case, you are probably using up all available PIRQs for the
other PCI slots, thus leaving none free for PCI slot 2 to use.
What you can do is move the device from PCI slot 2 to another slot. Also, when you
assemble your system with multiple cards, try to install cards that can share IRQs in the
AGP slot and PCI slots 1, 4 and 5. Use PCI slots 2 and 3 for devices that refuse to /
cannot share IRQs. That would prevent such problems from happening.
If you are not using the USB, you can disable IRQ for USB to retrieve a free IRQ for
your other cards to use.
Adrian Wong
Adrian's Rojak Pot
http://www.rojakpot.com/
http://www.adriansrojakpot.com/
Comment #32
Your BIOS guide was a great help since I recently built a new comp and hadn't the
faintest clue of what the best settings are. Also, you could set a mailing list up easily
at www.onelist.com.
Ravi Grover
Thanks, Ravi! :)
I'll be sure to check out www.onelist.com.
Adrian Wong
Adrian's Rojak Pot
http://www.rojakpot.com/
http://www.adriansrojakpot.com/
Comment #33
Hi there! Your BIOS guide is quite a good one. Since I don´t have time to surf around
the site too long (I´m at work :P) I need to make a direct question. Is there any Award
BIOS tweak/optimization guide for the ALi V mobos? I know that your guide can have many
things in common with the Award ALi V one but I (and not only me) need something more
specific.
Sorry for my english!!! Thanks in advance.
Best regards...
Tommy
Hello there, Adrien,
Hello Tommy,
Unfortunately, I don't know of specific BIOS guides for the ALi V motherboards. But if
time permits, I intend on expanding this guide further beyond the 440BX realm.
Adrian Wong
Adrian's Rojak Pot
http://www.rojakpot.com/
http://www.adriansrojakpot.com/
Comment #34
Hi!
I have really enjoyed reading the BIOS guides which you have posted. But one thing
continues to confuse me. Ever since I got my first ABIT motherboard and read of how nice a
feature it had to manually assign IRQs, I have been baffled by the little table in the
BIOS manual (which you nicely reproduce in your article under PIRQ_0 Use IRQ No. etc.)
which shows PIRQ_X and INT A,B,C,D. Is this system more complicated than it needs to be
with INTs and PIRQ? Why not just list the IRQs under the INTs? Which are the
IRQs? In
windows, IRQs have nice numbers from 1 to 15. Where are these numbers here? Can you walk
me thru an example of how I can assign IRQ 9 to my Linksys 10/100 NIC which is in PCI slot
number 4?
Thanks,
Travis Sapp
Hello Travis,
You needn't really worry about the table and all that technical stuff. In the BIOS, you
get to assign the IRQs (3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15) to the devices (via the PIRQs)
you want. Because all PCI slots are assigned INT A first, that means the PCI slot 4 will
be using PIRQ_3. So, you should set PIRQ_3 Use IRQ No. 9 in order to
assign IRQ 9 to your NIC in PCI slot 4.
Adrian Wong
Adrian's Rojak Pot
http://www.rojakpot.com/
http://www.adriansrojakpot.com/
Comment #35
I just completed you BIOS guide and a question has
arised... In my BIOS, there is an
option for "PCI 2.1 Compliance" Enable/Disable. What is this option, is there
any benefit to enabling/Disabling it? Would it lock the PCI Bus at 33MHz even if your
running a 83MHz front side bus? Thanks for your time and effort. I enjoy seeing a BIOS
guide that really explains each option in such detail. :)
Tzen
Hello Tzen,
The PCI 2.1 Compliance feature is just a renamed Delayed Transaction feature. All it
does is enable/disable the chipset's embedded 32-bit posted write buffer's ability to
support delayed transaction cycles. This function is used to meet the latency of PCI
cycles to and from the ISA bus. This option should be enabled for better performance and
to meet PCI 2.1 specifications.
It will not lock your PCI bus at 33MHz. If you are running using an
83MHz bus speed, your PCI bus speed will remain at 41.5MHz.
Adrian Wong
Adrian's Rojak Pot
http://www.rojakpot.com/
http://www.adriansrojakpot.com/
Comment #36
Hi, nice site!
Well the video BIOS do have some functionality even in accelerated mode, it handles the
memory management (like page switching) and in some cases it even contains routines
associated to the drivers like blitting from one surface to another. This is true for some
cards but NOT for all card as far as my knowledge goes.
Pontus "Wång
Hello Pontus,
If I'm not mistaken, all video cards now use a linear framebuffer which removes the
need for page switching. And blitting was supposed to be done in software (via the driver)
if the graphics processor itself does not accelerate it. Anyone to confim this?
Adrian Wong
Adrian's Rojak Pot
http://www.rojakpot.com/
http://www.adriansrojakpot.com/
Comment #37
You might find this useful:
Even though video cards use an IRQ, they are by far the best at sharing it. So if you
are running out of IRQs, put either your Network Card or a SCSI card next to the AGP slot.
I never experienced any conflicts with a G200 AGP and TNT AGP when sharing an IRQ with
either 3Com Fast Etherlink XL or Adaptec AHA-2940U2W.
Martin Wasiak
Hello Martin,
I have never tried placing a PCI device in the PCI slot 1 so I won't know if my AGP
card shares its IRQ voluntarily. But I remember complaints about AGP cards like the RIVA
TNT not working... until the user removed the card in the PCI slot 1.
So, I guess if you still have empty slots or free IRQs, it's best to leave the AGP card
to its own IRQ. You should only resort to sharing the IRQ with the AGP card when the need
arises.
Thanks for your input there, Martin. It's good to know that IRQ sharing with AGP cards
work. :)
Adrian Wong
Adrian's Rojak Pot
http://www.rojakpot.com/
http://www.adriansrojakpot.com/
Comment #38
Hi, I just wondering about the "Optimizing BIOS" section, it seems to me that
you are copying word by word from the ABIT menu. I mean why not copy all and let other
people know instead of trying to get smart to separate it into parts? By the way, you are
not teaching other people on how to optimize their system but you are just giving bunch of
options. Why not just let people know that the Default option is the best?! Easier???
Right??!!! Stick the whole menu in for god sake. Be kind and generous. Do it right.
From people who admire you tooo much :0)
Looi Kim Thean
Hello Kim Thean,
I hope you are not another Jim Navas in
the making... One is more than enough. :)
I would like to know why do you think that it's entirely plagiarized from ABIT's BIOS
menu? Granted, ABIT's manuals played a part in the creation of this BIOS Optimization
Guide but except for the names of those settings, I have never copied "word for
word" from the BIOS menu. In fact, there's nothing much to copy anyway.
Take a look at the BIOS menu and ABIT's motherboard manual. The explanations there are
very brief and it doesn't contain all the features that are outlined in this guide. I, for
one, cannot understand how my Guide would appear like an exact copy of ABIT's manual/menu
to you. I would be very happy if you could point out the parts that you think came
directly from ABIT. Plagiarism is something I don't tolerate - from me or anyone else.
The Default option is NOT the best option, at least not for those who
want optimal performance. But it's the best option for those who want a more reliable
operation. So, the Default option may be the best one for you. However, I'm concentrating
on performance improving settings here.
Adrian Wong
Adrian's Rojak Pot
http://www.rojakpot.com/
http://www.adriansrojakpot.com/
Comment #39
Hey! Great Site. I just wanted to let you know that its probably a good idea to tell
Linux users to disable the PNP OS setting in PNP/PCI section of the BIOS. They can run
into some trouble if that is left enabled. Thanks.
Chris Elkins
Hello Chris,
Thanks for the tip there. I'll be sure to pass it along.
Adrian Wong
Adrian's Rojak Pot
http://www.rojakpot.com/
http://www.adriansrojakpot.com/
Comment #40
Hi,
Firstly I just want to say that I think your BIOS
Optimization Guide is excellent, and
very helpful. A question I have though is, for both the "8-bit and 16-bit I/O
Recovery Time" options you have written exactly the same thing. Is this a mistake?
Wouldn't it be faster to set them both to "1"?
Thanks for your help,
Brighton Cohen
Hello Brighton,
No, there's no mistake there. Setting both options to NA essentially
adds 0 wait states (no delay) to the default 3.5 clock cycles delay between each
consecutive 8-bit/16-bit I/O cycle to the ISA bus. Setting it to 1
introduces a total delay of 4.5 clock cycles instead of 3.5 cycles with the NA
setting.
However, note that these functions have no meaning unless you are using an ISA card.
Adrian Wong
Adrian's Rojak Pot
http://www.rojakpot.com/
http://www.adriansrojakpot.com/ |
