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Force Windows XP to ignore specific PCI slots
I'm not sure how much information is needed, so . . .
My system:
Dual Boot System: Windows XP Pro SP2 & GNU/Linux Fedora Core 3
Windows AntiVirus: AVG Free edition, updated today (05/13/2005)
Windows Firewall enabled.
No anti-spyware programs installed.
Intel P4 3.0E using stock heatsink and fan
Abit IS7 motherboard (latest BIOS, version 24)
2GB RAM (4 X 512MB)
PNY nVidia GeForce 6600 GT 8X AGP Video Card
1 X 3.25" Floppy Drive
1 X Sony DVD Drive (DRU-720A)
2 X 36 GB, 10,000 RPM SATA Hard Drives using on-board SATA chip in RAID 1 array (WinXP Pro installed here)
2 X 80 GB, 7,200 RPM SATA Hard Drives attached to a Promise Tech. SATAII150 TX2plus in PCI slot 1 (GNU/Linux installed on one of these drives, the other is unused for now)
1 X Hauppage WinTV 350 card in PCI slot 2
1 X pcHDTV HD-3000 card in PCI slot 4
My question(s):
Is there a way to *safely* force Windows XP to ignore/disable specific PCI slots? And if so, how is it done?
I'm not looking for a setting in the BIOS, but a setting in Windows.
Why I'm asking (the long story):
As some of you can tell from the last two listings for my system, I'm in the process of converting this computer into a MythTV system. However, I still need this computer (for the next year or so) to run Windows for when I use SolidWorks. After I installed the tv capture cards onto the motherboard and booted into Windows, the video quality was reduced to 800x600 in 4 bit color. Investigation of the Device Manager revealed that the video card:
"cannot find enough free resources that it can use. (Code 12)
If you want to use this device, you will need to disable one of the other devices on this system."
My immediate thought was to disable the capture cards from within the Device Manager (showing up as the yellow question marks) and reboot. Installation of the TV capture cards was the only thing that changed between the video working correctly and this problem occuring, therefore they are the most likely source of the problem, so in my mind disabling them should have fixed the issue. This did not work. Uninstalling them from within the Device Manager also did not work, for as soon as I rebooted they were detected again. I booted up into GNU/Linux to see if it would have the same problems. It did recognize that new hardware had been installed, but it did not produce the same issue; the video works just fine in GNU/Linux. I rebooted into Windows and tried updating the video drivers (I didn't think this would fix the issue, but it was worth a shot). Updated video drivers did not solve the problem. Windows Update did not solve the problem (again, I didn't think this would work). Both the Hauppage card and the TX2Plus card have drivers for Windows, so I installed them. Same problem. I tried changing which resources the Hauppage card uses from within the Device Manager, couldn't do that. I tried changing which resources the TX2Plus card uses; again, I couldn't do that.
So now my thought is to see if there is a way to get Windows to ignore/disable specific PCI slots in such a manner that when resources get assigned, the specific PCI slots are skipped over and ignored. Perhaps there's some unknown switch in the boot.ini file that does this, but I couldn't find one. A google search for "disable pci" resulted in listings for "PCI bus IRQ steering" but this did not seem to be what I am looking for (I could be wrong, I might have misunderstood the pages).
I don't want to be messing around with the BIOS because this problem is specific to Windows and I don't have this issue when I boot up into GNU/Linux. I'd rather not have to remove the TV capture cards every time I boot into Windows and then put them back in when I'm using the computer as a MythTV system.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. I will understand if the answer comes back as as simple 'No', but I'd rather not go with my 'sure fire' solution: buy another case, motherboard, processor, etc. for a seperate system.
Again any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance.
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