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ACPI Forced On & Option Disabled in WinXP-Certified Motherboards

Posted by Cliff on from the BIOS-incompatibility-or-something-more dept.

stealth_zipper asks: "I just got off the phone with a rep from Soyo Computer Inc trying to get the ability to change IRQs for the onboard hardware. It turns out that because of a deal to get WindowsXP certification, the Dragon-series motherboard ended up having the ability of Enabling/Disabling ACPI in the BIOS disabled. Now FreeBSD has complications with multiple devices on the same IRQs (especially sound, video, and nic all off the same one). Is there a way to get around this for new hardware? Has anyone else encountered this?" Why in the world does XP need this feature disabled, and are there workarounds to get OSes like FreeBSD working properly with motherboards of this sort?

3 of 532 comments (clear)

  1. ACPI != problem. ACPI == solution. ;-) by sigwinch · · Score: 4, Funny
    I have a hard time believing that this wasn't done expressely to make it harder for alternate OSes to get to work properly.
    Microsoft is keeping it hush-hush, but it's well known among CTOs that Redmond is simply running out of crappiness. Customers were already reeling from the general desktop and server usefulness of Win2K, and the spiffiness of WinXP is starting a major exodus to OS/2 among gamers (who are a traditional bellwether for the datacenter).

    Enter ACPI. A weighty specification that you can beat a mugger to death with. Big, juicy, complex data structures. States and modes out the wazoo.

    All implemented by heroin-addled BIOS writers working in perpetual darkness, in a basement in Taiwan. Mmmmmm....bugs....

    ACPI is Ballmer's last hope to return Windows users to the level of crappiness they love and expect.

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  2. Excuse me? by Doktor+Memory · · Score: 4, Funny

    and forces the device into big-endian (mac fag) mode

    Hey now. That's also "Sun Fag", "IBM Fag", "MIPS Fag", "Alpha Fag" and even "Cray Fag" mode. Oh no mister bill, those dang homosexuals have corrupted the entire industry!

    Hmm, why don't they let us audit their code?

    Isn't it obvious? You can't accessorize.

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    News for Nerds. Stuff that Matters? Like hell.

  3. Hush. by Doktor+Memory · · Score: 3, Funny

    You're ruining a perfectly good rant with trivial facts. :)

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    News for Nerds. Stuff that Matters? Like hell.