I got mine to work.
I uninstalled pci firewire card, ethernet card and modem card (which I don't currently need). Rebooted and checked device manager, no problems. Then installed pci firewire card into a different slot and booted up. As windows was loading, I heard the familiar bing bong sound that windows makes when something is inserted into a usb or firewire slot, but I had nothing plugged into them. I then tried plugging one of my external hard drives into the pci firewire card and IT WORKED!!!! I attached the 2nd external hard drive to the 1st and IT ALSO WORKED!!!! So at this moment I had both of my external drives showing up, but no ethernet card installed yet. I safely removed both external hard drives and tried them in the onboard firewire port, no detection. I tried them in the pci firewire card port again and they WERE detected.
At this point I still had no internet. I looked at System Information and checked the IRQ assignments. I decided to try the last slot for the ethernet card. Shut down, installed and rebooted. I let windows install the ethernet card and plugged the internet cable in....IT WORKED!!!!
My BIOS does not allow me to assign IRQs, so I have to work with what I have. I tried searching for a BIOS update, submitted a request to esupport.com and the response was: Phoenix made the BIOS and sold it to Compaq, who modified it. So the only way to update it was to get the update from Compaq. Compaq (HP) had nothing available for my older pc. So until I ever get a newer pc, I'll just deal with what I have.
So if this helps:
My IRQs for my pci slots are
slot 1, IRQ 11
slot 2, IRQ 5
slot 3, IRQ 10
slot 4, IRQ 5 or 10
slot 5, IRQ 11
These I found out by installing cards and checking System Information, IRQs. Slot 4 showed IRQ5 at one point, IRQ10 at another (maybe I didn't make note correctly?).
So currently I have:
Video card in the AGP slot, IRQ 10
Slot 1, sound card, IRQ 11
Slot 2, empty, IRQ 5 (my onboard firewire is also using this IRQ)
Slot 3, pci firewire card, IRQ 10 (sharing with video card)
Slot 4, empty, IRQ 5 or 10
Slot 5, ethernet card, IRQ 11 (sharing with sound card and 2 onboard USB controllers)
Something that I have learned from all this is that if switching devices, I need to UNINSTALL the older device first, before installing the new device (as in going from internet-usb to internet-ethernet). I looked through my Road Runner install kit and it said nothing about switching connection types, it only showed how to hook up either one or the other. The Motorola cable modem (supplied by Road Runner) did not come with any instructions or paperwork (an oversight by the install guy?)
Hope this helps.
