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ACPI Forced On & Option Disabled in WinXP-Certified Motherboards
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?
I just bought an MSI nForce board, and it is awesome. Perfect stable, good features, and a good price.
I highly recommend this motherboard. For $159, you really can't go wrong.
Soyo boards are not cheap crap. I have one now (K7 Dragon Plus, KT266A based,) this thing comes packed with so many extras it's not funny (IDE RAID? Optical AND coax S/PDIF in AND out? Smart Card reader? Extra USB ports on said smart card reader? 10/100 onboard?) A "cheap" board you're lucky if it comes with a manual. Soyo is a respected motherboard maker, their motherboards are just as good as any of the other top makers out there. I'd be pretty sure the board is not at fault, Soyo is one of the few companies (Tyan and MSI also come to mind) who sells stuff in shiny boxes at computer stores.