IRQ
(Interrupt ReQuest) A hardware interrupt on a PC. There are 16 IRQ lines used to signal the CPU that a peripheral event has started or terminated. Except for PCI devices, two devices cannot use the same line. If a new expansion board is preset to the IRQ used by an existing board, one of them must be changed. This was an enormous headache in earlier machines.
Starting with the 286 (introduced in 1982), two 8259A controller chips have been cascaded together for a total of 16 IRQs (the first PCs had only one chip and eight IRQs). However, IRQ 2 is lost because it is used to connect to the second chip. IRQ 9 may be available for general use as most VGA cards do not require an IRQ.
PCI to the Rescue
The PCI bus allows IRQs to be shared, which helps to solve the problem of limited IRQs available on a PC. For example, if there were only one IRQ left over after ISA devices were given their required IRQs, all PCI devices could share it. In a PCI-only machine, there cannot be insufficient IRQs, as all can be shared. See
Win Technical details.
IRQ Assignment
0 System timer
1 PS/2 port
2 Connects to IRQ 9
3 COM2, COM4
4 COM1, COM3
5 Sound
6 Floppy disk
7 LPT1
8 Real-time clock
9 VGA, 3270 emulation**
10 **
11 **
12 PS/2 port
13 Math coprocessor
14 IDE primary
15 IDE secondary
** For general use.
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| IRQ Settings |
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| This shows typical IRQ settings in a PC. By the time Windows 98 came out, from which this dialog box was captured, technicians no longer had to deal with IRQs on a regular basis. |