# IRQ Blocked by another device?  Gentoo won't install

## gandalf2041

I will start off by saying that this may be a long post but, PLEASE bear with me.  Secondly, I know JUST ENOUGH about Linux to hurt myself  :Smile:  which is to say that I am not necessarily a n00b but may require a little more thorough explanation.  OK, here goes:

Hardware:

Dell Dimension 8100 (XP2 BIOS) - P4 1.8GHz w/ 512MB RAM

3ware Escalade 7000-2 ATA RAID / 2 - 60GB Maxtor drives configured RAID0

3com 3c509TX PCI Nic

Turtle Beach Santa Cruz Sound Card

ATI All in Wonder 8500 DV Video Card

Network Configuration

4 machines with internal fixed IPs routed through D-Link 604 over high speed wireless from ISP

Machine in question is WinXP Pro and shares single connection through D-Link switch with Red Hat Server (DNS, Samba PDC)

I'm trying to install Gentoo 1.4 from the 2CD set for the P4.  Goal is dual boot with WinXP.

Now for the problem:  AIW video, 3ware Escalade and NIC all share IRQ3 under Windoze.  I have explored many options but can't seem to change IRQ for any of the devices (PCI Bus Mastered?).  This is not a problem under Windoze as everything works fine.  When I boot the Gentoo CD with:  "gentoo doataraid nodhcp noapic" it comes up to the root cmd line.  Now I type "net-setup eth0" and fill in the appropriate values.  One of two things happens:

1.  After the assignment of DNS value, the whole installation process hangs OR

2. net-setup completes and ifconfig confirms UP and Running with correct IP but a ping to anything may return 1 or 2 times but then dies with a message something like "IRQ posted as available but <isn't> -- IRQ blocked by another device?"

I've assumed that this is an IRQ conflict but I have no idea how to resolve it.  I think I read that I can assign IRQ values with ifconfig but I don't have any idea which IRQ goes with which base address.  Aside from that, I'm guessing there is a reason that the BIOS and/or Windoze will not let me change them.  Can anyone elaborate or point me in the right direction?

Lastly, the verbose option during boot SEEMS to indicate that there's a problem with the 3ware RAID controller but I haven't been able to get far enough to see.

I have had Gentoo on this box before (prior to the install of the RAID and AIW) and I definitely think it's the best Linux distro around.  It seems I have complicated my life greatly by "improving" the hardware  :Confused:   If anyone out there is willing to help I would GREATLY appreciate it.

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## pross

Have you tried pci=biosirq at lilo prompt?

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## gandalf2041

No, I haven't tried that but the BIOS reflects the same problem...all 3 boards have the same IRQ so I'm not sure how this would help.  Then again, as I've mentioned, I'm still fairly new to Linux   :Laughing: 

My apologies for the double post.  I was having network issues here at work and the first one didn't seem to go through.  I'm hoping one of the admins will correct it.

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## gandalf2041

Anyone?....Class?....Anyone? (loved that movie   :Wink:  )

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## Janne Pikkarainen

If you boot without "noacpi" option, it still doesn't work? Or is the "noacpi" actually required for your box to even make it boot?

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## gandalf2041

It will actually boot without the noapic option but the problem is the same...still some type of IRQ conflict

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## gandalf2041

Still trying desperately to get this problem fixed.  I am making ZERO progress and could really use a hand.  I feel strongly that Gentoo is one of the best distros as I have successfully run it on this box before (prior to all my upgrades   :Rolling Eyes:  )  I KNOW there is a solution, I just don't have enough knowledge to do it on my own.   Isn't  there anyone out there who likes a challenge?    :Smile: 

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## mike4148

Did you boot with noacpi as suggested or with noapic? They're completely different

things; I googled for your error message and found that booting with noapic (i.e., no advanced

programmable interrupt controller) was a suggested solution.

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## gandalf2041

Sounds like the same post I turned up in my searches.  That's actually what gave me the idea to try noapic in the first place.  Unfortunately, it was indeed noapic and not noacpi.  No luck I'm afraid but thanks for the suggestion.   :Smile:    I KNOW the answer is out there somewhere.

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## gandalf2041

SOLVED!!!  :Very Happy:   After bwkaz at JL confirmed my suspicions about needing to move hardware around, I tried it again.  After what seemed like forever, I finally got the nic seated in a PCI slot that did not give me a conflict during install (I did this before reading bigrigdrivers post - might've saved myself some trouble but, oh well :rolleyes: ) .  At any rate, some things I've learned along the way:

1.  Don't move a raid controller after it's been setup in Windoze.  Apparently, it's not smart enough to find it again  :Rolling Eyes: 

2.  Plug and Play is not always a good thing

3.  Integrated devices on proprietary systems are a PITA!

4.  Don't quit trying!

Thanks to all who responded.  Now, on to the hardware raid...

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