[Asterisk-Users] Intel Desktop MotherBoards Unsuitable for Digium Boards

[Rod Bacon]

I have come across things like this before, but it's generally not an issue if 
you simply disable the onboard stuff that you don't need and select the PCI 
slot(s) wisely.

I had the situation where my mobo allocated fixed IRQs to each slot, and shared 
  IRQs between some of them (I can't remember the exact IRQs, but for arguments 
sake; 10, 11, 3, 5, 10, 11 in slot order - 6 slots, 2 sharing IRQs.)

In most cases, IRQ 5 will be unused by anything on the mobo, giving one "fixed, 
unused" interrupt. This is where I placed my zaptel card.

By disabling my COM ports, I was able to free IRQ3. You can also disable stuff 
like USB, Parallel, Audio, secondary IDE, etc. etc, which can all free-up IRQs.


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Rod Bacon
Empowered Communications
Ground Floor, 102 York St. South Melbourne
Victoria, Australia. 3205
Phone: +613 99401600    Fax: +613 99401650
FWD: 512237                   ICQ: 5662270
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George Pajari wrote:
> FYI:
> 
> We're trying to standardise on a tier one motherboard for the Asterisk 
> boxes we build for customers and thought we'd try to use a low-end Intel 
> Desktop Board since even a low-end Celeron has more than enough 
> horsepower to handle a typical 8x32 PBX.
> 
> To make a long story short, according to Intel Dealer Technical Support 
> (we became Intel dealers in order to get answers to our questions) there 
> is no Intel motherboard that permits the IRQs to be configured uniquely. 
> They are all hardwired and shared. This information applies to both the 
> Intel Desktop Board and Server Board product lines.
> 
> Please let me know if your experience differs from what I've been told 
> by Intel.
> 
> Otherwise, you've been warned -- Intel mobos appear to be unsuitable for 
> use with Digium hardware.
>