Pci irq routing table error [0:05:00] with video card.

[jonfaquit]

I have a pci video card (ati rage mobility) that makes the BIOS generate a pci irq routing table error during POST. My motherboard does not have onboard video & I have no other video card. In another system, I have no problems with the card, so I know it's not the card itself.

windows 2k doesn't install unless I disable ACPI Hal manager (press F7 on install when it asks for F6 otherwise I get a BSOD telling me my BIOS is not ACPI compliant). When it does install, VgaSave activates (the failsafe driver when the normal driver has problems). Dev.Mgr says something about the BIOS did not send enough info to properly configure the device (I'm guessing the whole irq routing table error) which would mean BIOS did not configure the video card. I was told I need to lookfor a "pnp-os" setting in my BIOS setup but one could not be found. I also cannot locate a tool that "unhides" settings in the BIOS setup; my BIOS is AMI, I have only found one for Award (awdbedit).

windows xp x64 installs fine but video is crappy in the sense that scrolling a simple notepad window runs the utilization up to 70-90%. I'm guessing that means that DMA isn't being used for transfers to video memory?

linux (debian 3.1, sarge) installs fine but video is similar in performance to windows xp. lspci tells me pin A assigned to irq 0 (I'm guessing it's really a "null" instead of a '0', as irq 0 is the timer).

My next course of action is to use DOS debug to search for the routing table signature ('$PIR'), extract the table and analyze the data myself to see if I can find an inconsistencies. I'm familiar with x86 assembly language (almost made my own os), that is until I got a job doing web development & now (5 years later) it seems I've lost a lot of the knowledge I had pertaining to hardware & system architecture.

I'm willing to get really involved into tracking this problem down but does anyone have any info or tips/pointers about how to actually tackle the problem (if you've experienced it before)?

I guess my main areas of concern:
- finding an ami bios tool to modify the 'pnp-os' setting so that the bios is forced to configure the devices
- analyzing the irq routing table to see if it's 'to spec'
- anything else that'll make this card work

I actually ordered another card (agp), but the mailman left it under the mailbox (since it was too big to fit inside) and someone stole it.

[jonfaquit]

Oops, heres some info:

motherboard: msi k8t neo-v (ms-7032)
(no onboard video)
bios: msi's version a7032vms.500 (= version 5.0)
chipset: via k8t800 / vt8237
cpu: athlon xp 64 (sempron) @ 2.0GHz (200MHz HTT x 4 = 800MHz FSB)
mem: ddr400 512MB micron tech (crucial)


here's my ba output:

Program: eSupport.com BIOS Agent Version 3.52
BIOS Date: 07/26/05
BIOS Type: American Megatrends
BIOS ID: 63-0100-009999-00101111-072605-ATHLON64-1XXXX005
OEM Sign-On: A7032VMS V5.00 072605
Chipset: VIA 82C282 rev 0
Superio: Unknown
OS: WinX64 SP1
CPU: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3000+ 2000 MHz
BIOS ROM In Socket: Unknown
BIOS ROM Size: Unknown
Memory Installed: 511 MB
Memory Maximum: Unknown


Everything is new less than 5 days (except the video card).

[KachiWachi]

Craig Hart's PCI program can display the routing table information.

http://members.net-tech.com.au/~dft0802/downloads.htm

[jonfaquit]

Tried it out...didn't really give any info that lspci didn't. How can I just find out what the error is?

[KachiWachi]

Have you contacted MSI about this?

[jonfaquit]

MSI...haha...

The response they sent me was:

"Buy an AGP card"

All I need to do is unhide that one "PnP OS" setting as they told me it is hidden & always on. But no tool works to modify the BIOS image!

[Yaye]

Try changing pci slot

[jonfaquit]

Already did...still a problem.

I finally got an AGP card, but PCI & AGP are clearly different buses (even though there may be an AGP->PCI bridge somewhere in there) so the reason why an AGP card works but not a PCI card is inconclusive.

[Denniss]

No AGP->PCI bridge on newer chipsets, maybe not even on older boards because it should be connected to the Northbridge.

The problem is either the MSI Bios or the VGA Bios or just the combination of both. A siomilar VGA card but with different Bios may work fine.