49
Chapter 6: Troubleshooting & Tips
This section is used to assist with troubleshooting conflicts and FastTrak SX4300
or SX8300 installation problems. Also refer to the README.TXT file on the
FastTrak driver and utility diskette for more recent information as well as the
PromiseOnline services listed in Chapter 7 .
The section is divided into the follo wing categories: Motherboard Issue s, System
CMOS Issues, Drive Errors, Operating Sy stem Errors, and Audio/Video Editing
Tips.

Motherboard Issues

Freeing additional IRQ resources
Since the Promise card supports PCI Interrupt sharing, it is possible to use
IRQs already assigned to another PCI card. Interrupt Sharing is not
supported with onboard IDE controllers. If the onboard IDE controller(s) are
not used, you may disable the controllers to free IRQ 14 and/or 15.
Configuring PCI IRQ resources
Setting the IRQ for a particular PCI slot will be different depending on the
motherboard BIOS. This setting is usually made in the PCI Configuration
and/or Plug and Play (PnP) section of the motherboard BIOS setup. There
are three common methods that motherboard BIOS?s handle assignment of
IRQs to PCI slots:
• Specifically assigning an IRQ to a particular slot - You can tell the
motherboard to use IRQ 10 for PCI slot 1, IRQ 11 for PCI slot 2, etc.
• Listing which IRQs are available to be assigned to the PCI slots – This
BIOS has an option where you specify 1st Available IRQ, 2nd Available
IRQ, etc. The BIOS then scans the PCI slots for PCI cards and assigns
these IRQs in the order that it finds the PCI cards.
• Excluding an IRQ from being used by a PCI slot – If you have an ISA
card that is using an IRQ, change the setting for this particular IRQ from
Available to Used by ISA card so that the motherboard will not assign
this IRQ to a PCI slot.
Consult your motherboard manual for information that is specific to your
motherboard.
• Motherboard Issues, below
• System CMOS Issues, page50
• Drive-Related Errors, page50
• Operating System-Related Issues,
page 51
• Performance Tips, page 52