I'm having trouble using Windows 98SE on a Dell Inspiron 600m laptop, it took me much time to find drivers that work w/ 98 SE. Apparently, when i installed 98 SE typing 'setup' at DOS prompt, Setup opted to NOT install ACPI. Strangely, i can't find 'Advanced Power Management' listed under "System Devices." Anyhow, the majority of the devices (wireless, video card, NIC, sound, PCMCIA, modem, & USB 1.0 controller) are ALL assigned to IRQ 11, in fact the only devices NOT on IRQ 11, are the Primary IDE controller+ ULtra ATA controller which is on IRQ 14, and the Secondary IDE controller+Ultra ATA controller which is on IRQ 15. Moreover, the worse thing of all, is that Device Manager will NOT let me change the IRQ of ANY device. Why not? Now, according to System Information, IRQ 3, 5, 6, 9, & 10 are FREE, so why does 98 SE insist on putting all the major devices on IRQ 11? That's what i've been trying to figure out for a while now.....

Here is what i've tried to do: I installed the Unofficial Service Pack 2.1a, but this didn't do anything. Then, I enabled ACPI via the registry, but i had to detect new hardware for ACPI to install. Afterwards, it made NO difference. Actually, since w/ACPI IRQ 9 was used, it ended up making things worse. Next, i went ahead and disabled IRQ Steering,again,this did NOTHING. I checked 'Use BIOS' under 'Device Enumeration' under 'Settings' tab for PCI bus in System Devices, sadly, this made NO difference either. The Inspiron 600m's BIOS has very few options for me to set, so i don't what i could do there to fix this problem. Until i know what exactly is causing this issue; i'm stumped and at a lost as to what i can try next. If anyone can help, or at least allow me change the IRQ of my sound card to IRQ 5, where it belongs, i'd be very grateful.

Thanks in advance.

You could try to disable ACPI completely (sometimes it creates more problems than it solves) and then move your card to a different PCI slot. Sometimes this changes the IRQ assignement.

Look at this mess......

IRQ 0 System timer OK
IRQ 1 Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard OK
IRQ 4 NVIDIA nForce PCI System Management OK
IRQ 8 System CMOS/real time clock OK
IRQ 13 Numeric data processor OK
IRQ 14 ATA Channel 0 OK
IRQ 15 ATA Channel 1 OK
IRQ 17 D-Link DFE-530TX PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter (rev.C) OK
IRQ 18 Creative EMU10K1 Audio Processor (WDM) OK
IRQ 18 Silicon Image SiI 3112 SATARaid Controller OK
IRQ 19 Radeon X1650 Series OK
IRQ 20 Standard OpenHCD USB Host Controller OK
IRQ 21 Standard Enhanced PCI to USB Host Controller OK
IRQ 22 Standard OpenHCD USB Host Controller OK
IRQ 80 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 81 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 82 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 83 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 84 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 85 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 86 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 87 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 88 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 89 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 90 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 91 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 92 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 93 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 94 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 95 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 96 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 97 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 98 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 99 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 100 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 101 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 102 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 103 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 104 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 105 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 106 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 107 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 108 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 109 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 110 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 111 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 112 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 113 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 114 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 115 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 116 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 117 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 118 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 119 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 120 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 121 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 122 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 123 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 124 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 125 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 126 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 127 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 128 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 129 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 130 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 131 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 132 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 133 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 134 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 135 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 136 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 137 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 138 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 139 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 140 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 141 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 142 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 143 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 144 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 145 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 146 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 147 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 148 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 149 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 150 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 151 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 152 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 153 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 154 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 155 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 156 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 157 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 158 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 159 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 160 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 161 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 162 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 163 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 164 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 165 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 166 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 167 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 168 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 169 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 170 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 171 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 172 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 173 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 174 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 175 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 176 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 177 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 178 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 179 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 180 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 181 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 182 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 183 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 184 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 185 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 186 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 187 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 188 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 189 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 190 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK

ACPI was disabled by default, and enabling it did NOTHING. I already mentioned this, i believe. As far as switching PCI slots, I have a LAPTOP here. PCI slots, AFAIK, do NOT exist in the traditional Desktop manner. So, moving cards is definitely NOT practical, if it's even possible at all.

Oups. My fault. I didn't see "laptop".

For the rest I was thinking about your BIOS. Does it lets you take care of IRQ assignement / ACPI enabling/disabling?
If it does, you could try to assign IRQ manually in BIOS and reinstall 98 from scratch.

You see i think the problem IS the BIOS. It has NO settings to turn off/on ACPI or APM (if the Inspiron 600m even supports APM mode...) Of course, it does NOT provide the luxury of manually assigning IRQ's to ANY devices. In fact, NOT many BIOS setups allow this, at least the newer ones, possibly because XP is suppose to handle IRQ assignment. Come to think of it, overall, XP does do a better job then 98SE here, at least as far as modern hardware is concerned. Nonetheless, here's one thing i've tried, i installed ALL my devices: video card, wireless, PCMCIA, NIC, USB 1.0 controller, USB 2.0 controller(which are ALL still on IRQ 11, BTW) leaving the sound card as the last device to install. I figured with 7+ devices already using IRQ 11 there's no way in hell 98SE will put the sound card on IRQ 11 this time. Guess what? I was completely wrong! This is starting to get on my nerves... What really ticks me off is not so much the fact that i don't know WHY 98SE is fixated with IRQ 11, but that installing 98SE in APM mode doesn't make ANY difference whatsover!! I hear Windows 2000 has this problem too, but i doubt it's any where near as extreme as with 98SE.

No ACPI options in CMOS? That sucks!
Hmm... If you can't turn it off from the BIOS, maybe from Windows? A post from Tihiy that I can't find anymore explained how to disable ACPI in Win.
Here's the reg entries
If that doesn't help then I don't see what you can do. Does reinstalling Win98 ends up the same way everytime ?

Try to downgrade your BIOS to an older version. On Dell laptops usually newer BIOSes create more problems than they solve.

Some bioses (especially laptops) have so many limitations.
e.g. i have a computer which its ACPI function can only be displayed...

The BIOS is version A3, and dated March, 7, 2003. Now, i'm pretty sure the Inspiron 600m laptop was made in 2003. I checked Dell's FTP website, but i could NOT find anything older than A6. So, getting A0-A2 (if they even exist) is gonna be real tough.