How to disable ACPI in Win2K without reinstalling

[glc]

TEXT FROM GEFORCE FAQ (get the full thing at http://www.geforcefaq.com/#hw:gef:troub:all1irqw2k )
---------------------------------------------

Q. I have Windows 2000 and all of my devices share the same IRQ, causing
problems with my GeForce. How can I fix it?

This is a 'feature' of Windows 2000 - it uses ACPI in such a way that all
devices share the same IRQ, usually 9 or 11. If you don't have problems,
then leave it alone, but if you do get problems, use one of the procedures
below:

This procedure, submitted by Steve Aucoin, will allow you to disable ACPI
without reformatting:

1. Disable P&P OS and ACPI in your BIOS, if you can - if the option is not
available try installing the latest BIOS update for your motherboard. (**
For the procedure, I temporarily disabled P&P OS in the bios. I then
totally disabled all power management features in the bios. **)

2. Reboot. Go to Control Panel - Hardware and double click on My Computer
in the hardware manager.

3. You'll see ACPI - get into its properties and click to install another
driver. When prompted, look under the Microsoft section and install the
"Standard PC" driver.

4. Reboot. At this point Win2k will try and reinstall all devices on your
system so install any drivers you are prompted for (have them all handy) and
reboot. Finalise any drivers you may be prompted for on the 2nd boot and
reboot again.

5. With all your drivers re-installed, take a look in hardware manager -
and every device should have its own IRQ. (** This is stretching it... Not
"every" device will have its own IRQ, at least not on my system. **)

[WJWheels]

Very good glc...thanks. I think I better leave my dual-boot system alone. I have 98se on a hdd (C http://www.pcmech.com/ubb/smile.gif all alone and win2k on a 4gb partition (D http://www.pcmech.com/ubb/smile.gif of a 20+ gb drive.

It's difficult for me to get straight with the fact that the different systems *really have different assigned irq's. I've almost individually assigned each one in the bios of this p3v4x board, yet win2k shows every pci slot assigned to #9. They haven't budged from their original assignments in win98.

One thing that does change. My ISA nic uses irq 11 in both 98 and 2k, but when I force it up to irq 10, it changes in both systems.

The system still hasn't given an inkling of crashing or freezing though. And I've been taxing it using tv, icq sounds, web page sounds, mp3s, etc all at the same time.. stuff that when done all at the same time would crack my 98 system in a minute or so.

My only concern right now with it is the r e a l l y s l o w startup. I have led's on the front of my case for both the mobo ide's and also for my promise card. Both hdd's are on the promise card, but when 2000 boots, the mobo led is lit for 2 to 3 minutes before the action switches to the promise led. The win98 system spends NO time at the mobo. -- any thoughts on this?

[glc]

Do you have the latest W2K driver for the Promise card? Do you have ALL hard drives in CMOS set to "none"? (correct answer is "yes") Do you have it set to boot from SCSI first? (again, correct answer is "yes")

[WJWheels]

hmmm.. I better check. I believe I have only primary master set to "none", as there's nothing there. Should I set the cdr, cdrw, & zip to "none" also?

Now I generated another problem I'm stuck on. I loaded the burner software, NTI, and as soon as I started the program, Win2k shut-down and restarted. On the restart and every boot-up since, an error box comes up:

CTSvcCDA.exe has generated errors and will be closed by Windows. You will need to restart the program.
An error log is being created.

I can click it shut and there seems to be no consequences, but ctsvccda.exe MUST do something. I can also *search for it and start it from the search window. I get a blink of the black command window and that's it. I assume it's running again. What does the file do and why would it be causing errors??

TIA

[WJWheels]

I fixed the some of the above by hosing the partition and starting over. Now only the long delay at the mobo's ide ports is a problem.

I get the dual boot screen and choose Win2000. I go to the w2k splash screen where the progress indicator is about half way across. At that time the HDD LED lights up for 2-3 minutes. Finally the light goes out and the Promise Ultra LED flickers and continues the boot, the progress indicator moving quickly as it does.

All ide devices (4) in bios are marked "NONE"
The newest drivers for the promise card are installed in both systems.
The Promise card has been newly flashed.

Any and all suggestions/solutions are welcome.