Greetings all-
This is for users of laptops - which are much more challenging to get going that a "tower" PC.
Background: Built-in Firewire ports on Laptops normally share an IRQ - an "interrupt" - with other
items such as USB ports. This means that communications with the Firewire can be stopped momentarily
as say- data is sent to a USB port. The 3K Firewire driver tries to "deal" with the short pause by using
"Safe Modes" 1-2-3 on the driver utility. These force ever increasing buffers to be added to the Firewire port.
Even with these extra buffers - depending on what else is sharing the IRQ with the firewire port, you could still
land up with a drop-out or freeze-up occasionally. Sure, not running other items which use these shared IRQ
devices can help, but eventually...
What to do? On XP, you can actually change the IRQ of the Firewire port to an un-shared one.
Go to : Control panels/System/hardware/device manager - and then select View -Resources by Type
Then select Interrupt Request (IRQ)
You'll see a ling list of items - scroll down until you see your Firewire port. Does it share a IRQ number with
other things around it? Right-Click on the Firewire port and select Resources
Then Un-Click "Use Automatic Settings". Now - from the drop-down box, select an IRQ that us not-conflicting with anything else on the list. Reboot to set the change.
Windows 7- Well guys, you cannot change IRQ's on Windows 7. You'll have to add another Firewire port using a
PCMCIA card - or even better an ExpressCard port on the laptop. These slide-in adapter cards usually have an
exclusive IRQ associated with them. If you do this option, you HAVE to be sure to get a card that uses a Texas Instruments chipset. Check the specs. Belkin and Best-Connection has models using them, but there are limited quantities left. RoseWill currently makes them -I have one on order and will report if it works. If you don't have a slot to add a port, you'll have to try the following two things.
Windows 7 (and all Windows) start up several "Services" when you boot-up. There are dozens of them- and truly- many you'll never use. To turn off these services (which can make the computer do un-necessary things while you are trying to run SDR) open the start menu Search box on bottom left. Type [b]services.msc[/b] into it and hit return.
You'll now see the services utility program. Here are the list of services that an be safely set to Manual (click on the service and then go to the bottom to set it to manual). Don't turn them off. "manual" means windows can turn them on if it needs them. As you select each one in the list, Windows will alert you with a text description on the left as to the service's duties.. make your decision weather to go manual on that service from that info.
* Application Experience
* Computer Browser (If your computer is not connected to any network)
* Desktop Window Manager Session Manager (If you don't use Aero theme)
* Diagnostic Policy Service
* Distributed Link Tracking Client
* IP Helper
* Offline Files
* Portable Device Enumerator Service
* Print Spooler (If you don't have Printer)
* Protected Storage
* Remote Registry (Always disable it for Security purposes)
* Secondary Logon
* Security Center
* Server (If your computer is not connected to any network)
* Tablet PC Input Service
* TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper
* Themes ( If you use Windows Classic theme)
* Windows Error Reporting Service
* Windows Media Center Service Launcher
* Windows Search (If you don't use Windows Search feature frequently)
* Windows Time (If you don't want to update system tray clock time using Internet)
The goal here being to minimize interruptions in SDR data to/from the Firewire port- thus giving Safe Mode a better chance to handle those gaps.
Lastly, Windows 7 allows you to give an IRQ a high-priority. It only allows you to do one or two. We need only one.
First find the IRQ that your Firewire port is on by typing [b]msinfo32.exe[/b] into the start menu search field.
Select Hardware Resources /IRQ's to see the list again. Remember the Firewire IRQ #.
Now, close that and type RegEdit into the start menu search field. Then in the editor - select HKEY_Local_Machine and then System then Current Control Set and then Control. Scroll down to Priority Control and click on it.
Here we will be creating a new Dword. Do this by right-clicking on Priority Control and selecting New /Dword.
Rename the new Dword [b]IRQ#Priority[/b] where # is the number of the Firewire IRQ. ie:IRQ13Priority.
Now double-click on the new Dword you just created and type in a value of 1 (top priority). Now you can close the editor and re-boot.
Here is a website with the procedure: http://helpdeskgeek.com/windows-vista-tips/manage-irq-settings-windows-vista-7/
These things allowed me to use an IBM Lenovo laptop with an integrated Firewire port that shared an IRQ with a USB port and Turbo-boost processor utility. I can go for a long time without a freeze-up. Remember to shut off SDR first, then soon after -turn off your Flexradio -as the PC doesn't like it to be connected without SDR on.
NOTE: You know that these suggestions are all done -AT YOUR OWN RISK! This has just been my adventure!
Best of luck you'all and Ho Ho Ho!
Bob-AB5N :cool:
This is for users of laptops - which are much more challenging to get going that a "tower" PC.
Background: Built-in Firewire ports on Laptops normally share an IRQ - an "interrupt" - with other
items such as USB ports. This means that communications with the Firewire can be stopped momentarily
as say- data is sent to a USB port. The 3K Firewire driver tries to "deal" with the short pause by using
"Safe Modes" 1-2-3 on the driver utility. These force ever increasing buffers to be added to the Firewire port.
Even with these extra buffers - depending on what else is sharing the IRQ with the firewire port, you could still
land up with a drop-out or freeze-up occasionally. Sure, not running other items which use these shared IRQ
devices can help, but eventually...
What to do? On XP, you can actually change the IRQ of the Firewire port to an un-shared one.
Go to : Control panels/System/hardware/device manager - and then select View -Resources by Type
Then select Interrupt Request (IRQ)
You'll see a ling list of items - scroll down until you see your Firewire port. Does it share a IRQ number with
other things around it? Right-Click on the Firewire port and select Resources
Then Un-Click "Use Automatic Settings". Now - from the drop-down box, select an IRQ that us not-conflicting with anything else on the list. Reboot to set the change.
Windows 7- Well guys, you cannot change IRQ's on Windows 7. You'll have to add another Firewire port using a
PCMCIA card - or even better an ExpressCard port on the laptop. These slide-in adapter cards usually have an
exclusive IRQ associated with them. If you do this option, you HAVE to be sure to get a card that uses a Texas Instruments chipset. Check the specs. Belkin and Best-Connection has models using them, but there are limited quantities left. RoseWill currently makes them -I have one on order and will report if it works. If you don't have a slot to add a port, you'll have to try the following two things.
Windows 7 (and all Windows) start up several "Services" when you boot-up. There are dozens of them- and truly- many you'll never use. To turn off these services (which can make the computer do un-necessary things while you are trying to run SDR) open the start menu Search box on bottom left. Type [b]services.msc[/b] into it and hit return.
You'll now see the services utility program. Here are the list of services that an be safely set to Manual (click on the service and then go to the bottom to set it to manual). Don't turn them off. "manual" means windows can turn them on if it needs them. As you select each one in the list, Windows will alert you with a text description on the left as to the service's duties.. make your decision weather to go manual on that service from that info.
* Application Experience
* Computer Browser (If your computer is not connected to any network)
* Desktop Window Manager Session Manager (If you don't use Aero theme)
* Diagnostic Policy Service
* Distributed Link Tracking Client
* IP Helper
* Offline Files
* Portable Device Enumerator Service
* Print Spooler (If you don't have Printer)
* Protected Storage
* Remote Registry (Always disable it for Security purposes)
* Secondary Logon
* Security Center
* Server (If your computer is not connected to any network)
* Tablet PC Input Service
* TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper
* Themes ( If you use Windows Classic theme)
* Windows Error Reporting Service
* Windows Media Center Service Launcher
* Windows Search (If you don't use Windows Search feature frequently)
* Windows Time (If you don't want to update system tray clock time using Internet)
The goal here being to minimize interruptions in SDR data to/from the Firewire port- thus giving Safe Mode a better chance to handle those gaps.
Lastly, Windows 7 allows you to give an IRQ a high-priority. It only allows you to do one or two. We need only one.
First find the IRQ that your Firewire port is on by typing [b]msinfo32.exe[/b] into the start menu search field.
Select Hardware Resources /IRQ's to see the list again. Remember the Firewire IRQ #.
Now, close that and type RegEdit into the start menu search field. Then in the editor - select HKEY_Local_Machine and then System then Current Control Set and then Control. Scroll down to Priority Control and click on it.
Here we will be creating a new Dword. Do this by right-clicking on Priority Control and selecting New /Dword.
Rename the new Dword [b]IRQ#Priority[/b] where # is the number of the Firewire IRQ. ie:IRQ13Priority.
Now double-click on the new Dword you just created and type in a value of 1 (top priority). Now you can close the editor and re-boot.
Here is a website with the procedure: http://helpdeskgeek.com/windows-vista-tips/manage-irq-settings-windows-vista-7/
These things allowed me to use an IBM Lenovo laptop with an integrated Firewire port that shared an IRQ with a USB port and Turbo-boost processor utility. I can go for a long time without a freeze-up. Remember to shut off SDR first, then soon after -turn off your Flexradio -as the PC doesn't like it to be connected without SDR on.
NOTE: You know that these suggestions are all done -AT YOUR OWN RISK! This has just been my adventure!
Best of luck you'all and Ho Ho Ho!
Bob-AB5N :cool: