Wireless IRQ Problem | The Coffeehouse

I have a Dell D800 laptop that is having an IRQ problem. My modem and my wireless nic are sharing the same IRQ (5). At home, I am still on dial-up and I have a wireless network for printing purposes. When I am online I have to disable the wireless nic or my browser will act weird (not responsive). If I had this issue with a desktop computer, I would simply put the modem in another PCI slot so the OS would assign it another IRQ number, but this is a laptop so I believe I do not have this option (never done it).

What can I do to fix my problem?

CannotResolveSymbol

VBJB wrote:

I have a Dell D800 laptop that is having an IRQ problem. My modem and my wireless nic are sharing the same IRQ (5). At home, I am still on dial-up and I have a wireless network for printing purposes. When I am online I have to disable the wireless nic or my browser will act weird (not responsive). If I had this issue with a desktop computer, I would simply put the modem in another PCI slot so the OS would assign it another IRQ number, but this is a laptop so I believe I do not have this option (never done it).

What can I do to fix my problem?

If it's the built-in onboard modem and onboard wireless, you shouldn't be having that problem. Call Dell and get them to replace it.

I looked in my BIOS (Inspiron 6000) to see if you could change the IRQ of the Mini-PCI slot (where your wireless card is), but it doesn't let you change any of that type of stuff.

msemack

Multiple PCI devices sharing the same IRQ is not a problem. In fact, it is a required part of the PCI specification.

Whatever your issue is, it's not caused by IRQ sharing.

VBJB

msemack wrote:

Whatever your issue is, it's not caused by IRQ sharing.

I realize sharing an IRQ is not a problem, but I am having an issue. I googled it and have found documentation where there may be a concern if one of the devices that is sharing the IRQ is a nic card.

http://www.homenethelp.com/web/howto/irq-sharing.asp

msemack

VBJB wrote:

http://www.homenethelp.com/web/howto/irq-sharing.asp

#1 That page isn't correct.
#2 It's for Windows 98. If you're using Windows 2000 or XP, the article is even more inaccurate.

Whatever the issue is, it's not caused by IRQ sharing.

Some questions to debug the problem:
#1 what OS are you using?
#2 What exactly is the problem you are seeing.

VBJB

msemack wrote:

Some questions to debug the problem:
#1 what OS are you using?
#2 What exactly is the problem you are seeing.

#1 I am running XP Pro SP2.

#2 When I connect and request a webpage the browser is blank (my homepage is about:blank) and sits in this state until I disconnect then all-of-a-sudden the page will render. It's like the page downloaded in memory, but was not displayed until I disconnect the dial-up service. Now, if I disable my wireless card and try the same scenario everything works like expected.

Thanks for your help.

Edit: I picture the http request going out the wireless card instead of the modem, but that does not explain why it will render afterwards.

msemack

Question: When this happens, is the wireless lan connected to any networks (even an ad hoc one?).

VBJB

msemack wrote:

Question: When this happens, is the wireless lan connected to any networks (even an ad hoc one?).

Yes, I run a workgroup at home. My computer downstair is used mostly for a print spooler, other than that there is no other computers on the network.

msemack

Open up a command prompt and type "route print".

Look at the routing information.

VBJB

msemack wrote:

Open up a command prompt and type "route print".

Look at the routing information.

When I get home I will give it a try.

Thanks

W3bbo

msemack wrote:

Open up a command prompt and type "route print".

Look at the routing information.

Here's mine, but what does it mean?

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\David>route print
===========================================================================
Interface List
0x1 ........................... MS TCP Loopback interface
0x2 ...00 11 2f 46 36 7b ...... NVIDIA nForce Networking Controller - Packet Scheduler Miniport
===========================================================================
===========================================================================
Active Routes:
Network Destination        Netmask          Gateway       Interface  Metric
          0.0.0.0          0.0.0.0      192.168.0.1     192.168.0.2       10
        127.0.0.0        255.0.0.0        127.0.0.1       127.0.0.1       1
      192.168.0.0    255.255.255.0      192.168.0.2     192.168.0.2       10
      192.168.0.2  255.255.255.255        127.0.0.1       127.0.0.1       10
    192.168.0.255  255.255.255.255      192.168.0.2     192.168.0.2       10
        224.0.0.0        240.0.0.0      192.168.0.2     192.168.0.2       10
  255.255.255.255  255.255.255.255      192.168.0.2     192.168.0.2       1
Default Gateway:       192.168.0.1
===========================================================================
Persistent Routes:
  None

C:\Documents and Settings\David>

Karim

VBJB wrote:

#1 I am running XP Pro SP2.

#2 When I connect and request a webpage the browser is blank (my homepage is about:blank) and sits in this state until I disconnect then all-of-a-sudden the page will render. It's like the page downloaded in memory, but was not displayed until I disconnect the dial-up service. Now, if I disable my wireless card and try the same scenario everything works like expected.

Thanks for your help.

Edit: I picture the http request going out the wireless card instead of the modem, but that does not explain why it will render afterwards.

I picture a beat-up old laptop infested with spyware and malware that has hijacked your browser. For that I suggest:

http://safety.live.com/site/en-US/default.htm

I picture a misconfigured proxy, firewall or (ugh) "Norton Internet Security" product. For that I suggest uninstalling and using Windows One Care instead:

http://www.windowsonecare.com/

If you really think it's IRQ-related -- and I have not seen an IRQ issue in years -- you can change the IRQ of devices in Device Manager:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;307970&sd=tech

IIRC IRQ 5 was typically used by the sound card/Sound Blaster emulation etc. Most IRQ sharing was on IRQ 9 or 11. Can you move your network card there? Perhaps what's happening is that your browser is trying to make a sound and it can't do so Big Smile

If you really must use IRQ 5, you might try disabling the on-board sound in the BIOS to see if that helps. Good luck, you're gonna need it.... Big Smile

Karim

W3bbo wrote:

msemack wrote: Open up a command prompt and type "route print".

Look at the routing information.

Here's mine, but what does it mean?

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\David>route print
===========================================================================
Interface List
0x1 ........................... MS TCP Loopback interface
0x2 ...00 11 2f 46 36 7b ...... NVIDIA nForce Networking Controller - Packet Scheduler Miniport
===========================================================================

It took me a while to figure out you weren't the guy who has the problem Big Smile

It means you are screwed because you let a company that specializes in display adapters (nVidia) make your network interface. LOL

VBJB

Karim wrote:

I suggest uninstalling and using Windows One Care instead:

IIRC IRQ 5 was typically used by the sound card/Sound Blaster emulation etc.

I have been running Windows One Care with no issues.

I did not mention that my IRQ 5 is shared three ways:
   1) Dell wireless WLAN 1350 WLAN Mini-PCI Card
   2) Sigma Tel C-Major Audio
   3) Conexant D480 MDC V.92 Modem

Edit: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;307970&sd=tech
"This check box might be unavailable if you have selected a non-Plug and Play device."

All three of these devices must not be Plug and Play; The check box is unavailable.

Karim

VBJB wrote:

Karim wrote:
I suggest uninstalling and using Windows One Care instead:

IIRC IRQ 5 was typically used by the sound card/Sound Blaster emulation etc.

I have been running Windows One Care with no issues.

I did not mention that my IRQ 5 is shared three ways:
   1) Dell wireless WLAN 1350 WLAN Mini-PCI Card
   2) Sigma Tel C-Major Audio
   3) Conexant D480 MDC V.92 Modem

Edit: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;307970&sd=tech
"This check box might be unavailable if you have selected a non-Plug and Play device."

All three of these devices must not be Plug and Play; I checked them.

Hmmm, didn't know they made a lot of non-plug-and-play hardware these days. Is that normal for that system, sharing IRQ 5 that way? Have you made any IRQ changes? It looks like asking for trouble if you ask me.

Also, have you always had this problem, or did it start one day recently, or...?

I think you should probably head on over to http://support.dell.com. I went and looked up the D800 and there are a LOT of software downloads available. I don't know what BIOS, firmware & driver settings you have, but there is stuff that was posted for that system last year. The audio drivers were updated in January 2005, the BIOS was updated in July 2005, the Dell WLAN drivers were updated TWO WEEKS AGO Big Smile

etc. etc. so it's possible a driver/firmware update will fix your problem.

You can also grab the Dell diagnostics there and test the wireless card. It's possible it just died or is flaking out. If it's a mini-PCI card, you might be able to replace it yourself. Either way, the diagnostics should tell you if it's working.

Worst case, you can probably just go on the Dell forums and commiserate with all the other owners of the same model... LOL

VBJB

Karim wrote:

I think you should probably head on over to http://support.dell.com.

I'm going down this route first, I'll let you know.

Thanks Karim.

W3bbo

VBJB wrote:

Karim wrote:
I think you should probably head on over to http://support.dell.com.

I'm going down this route first, I'll let you know.

Thanks Karim.

msemack

Karim wrote:

Hmmm, didn't know they made a lot of non-plug-and-play hardware these days. Is that normal for that system, sharing IRQ 5 that way? Have you made any IRQ changes? It looks like asking for trouble if you ask me.

Also, have you always had this problem, or did it start one day recently, or...?

Multiple devices sharing an IRQ is NOT a problem. It hasn't been for about a decade. If someone blames a problem on "shared IRQs", they are repeating wisdom from the old ISA bus days which no longer hold true.

Case and point:

This is from my system which has been running for years without a problem.

msemack

Regarding the routing table:

It sounds like Windows is getting confused about which network connection to use (dial-up vs wireless lan).

The route command will help identify what connection is being preferred.

http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articles_tutorials/Making-Sense-Windows-Routing-Tables.html

msemack

Karim wrote:

If you really think it's IRQ-related -- and I have not seen an IRQ issue in years -- you can change the IRQ of devices in Device Manager:

No you can't. You can't change the IRQ for PCI devices in the device manager (at least not on a mdern PC with ACPI and APIC).

Karim

msemack wrote:

Karim wrote:
If you really think it's IRQ-related -- and I have not seen an IRQ issue in years -- you can change the IRQ of devices in Device Manager:

No you can't. You can't change the IRQ for PCI devices in the device manager. Either way, this isn't an IRQ sharing problem.

Perhaps I am remembering my Windows 98 days Big Smile

I could be wrong, but I think you can actually do this, though you can't do it with an ACPI HAL. You have to go to a non-ACPI HAL ("Standard PC"):

http://support.microsoft.com/?id=314068

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/299340/

Using the "Standard PC" HAL should allow you to change the IRQ in Device Manager. Just my theory, though, I haven't actually confirmed this on an ACPI PC.

Agreed, probably not an IRQ sharing problem.

Karim

msemack wrote:

Karim wrote:
If you really think it's IRQ-related -- and I have not seen an IRQ issue in years -- you can change the IRQ of devices in Device Manager:

No you can't. You can't change the IRQ for PCI devices in the device manager (at least not on a mdern PC with ACPI and APIC).

Often, people will put "EDIT:" when they go back and change a post to make themselves appear smarter Wink

msemack