Manually assign IRQ in WinXP - to solve usb2 / cardbus issues

[Crow]

I'm trying to configure an external USB2 harddrive enclosure on a HP Pavilion ze4420ca with a generic cardbus that has a NEC chip.There are numerous posts concerning problems with external enclosures and usb2 and no one seems to knowa workable solution.
I want to try setting up a second hardware profile with certain devices disabled and manually assign irq and memory address.
THis way the second profile can be used just for transferring files onto thelaptop. Ideally - if I can get it to transfer at high speed - I can use the external drives as a library,keeping everything, including a ghost image of a clean install on the externals and only using the 40G internal drive forthe operating system and programs and a few Gigs of current files.
I switched the computer to standard pc in device manager - but - the manual settings for IRQ stillaren't enabled (Do I have to do a clean install to force a Hal change?
I've also disabled: floppy disk controller, modem, printer port (LPT1).What else can i disable?Also, is there a way to sync the files back to the external storage if I've modified them?

Thanks all who respond. System info & screen shot http://www.geocities.com/rex_crow/

[Play_The_0dds]

you can not change a irq on 2k/xp...if you do it in the bios you will trash xp.
XP and 2k handle the irq assignments very differently then the 9x systems. you could change the irqs on 95,98,and me from windows and fix some odd issues. your problem is probably not irq and more like needing a firmware/driver/bios or a few other system devices needing a driver update.
is your enhanced usb fully installed? sp1 adds usb2 support, check your device manager and see if you have any conflicts next to any usb entry listing...it doesnt always install the enhanced driver...you may have to tell it to look for the drivers. there are a few patches for your machine and a bios update...try them first.
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/s...c c=us&os=228

[Crow]

Thanks for the link but I already had everything up to date, SP2 and bios and all Hp drivers.

The laptop is 1 1/2 years.
CPU Type Mobile Intel Celeron 4A, 2000 MHz (20 x 100)
CPU Alias Northwood-256
Instruction Set x86, MMX, SSE, SSE2

I have an external enclosure (SE-Series?) with an Ali chip
Theres a sticker on the inside that states that the enclosure will only work with the drive set to Master (Obviously - 1 drive is master) Well....

I thought if i put a dual ide cable and spliced the power i could get two drives working together, It worked. But...

I could never get full usb2 speed - not even close - not even with only 1 drive connected.

My 1st cardbus had an ali chip in it - it showed both drives but slow transfer speeds (somethinglike 30 min for 1G)

My new cardbus has a NEC chip which is suppose to be better from what I've read. Itried it at the store and it seemed to recognize both drives pretty fast so I thought it was good.
After I brought it home along with a 160G WD drive I was able to partition the drive (via the usb enclosure) but shortly after i started transfering files it suddenly dropped off. I'm thinking shared memory but i'm not very knowlegable on the subject.

I tried reinstalling the drivers, tried all diferent combinations of compatable and non compatable (signed) drivers until I settled on my current config. that seems to need the onboard USB1 devices to be disabled.

Now with 2 drives connected I'm getting an i/o error after transfering files.

Transfer Speeds: 5 tests aprox 700MB file
1- single drive: G - C 0:48 sec.
2- 2 drives C - G 1:24
3- 2 dives G - I (transfering between 2 externals) 0:20 sec into transfer i/o error
4- single drive: G - C 1:50
5- " " : C - G 2:35

The best time (test #1) is under 14Mb/sec nowhere close to 480Mbps. I would be happy with 100Mb.