I'm trying to  have usb working on my  pc, based on a dual  athlon and a
motherboard GA-7DPXDW with linux 2.4.20 with  the patch for xfs from sgi
and the patch for the sensors.

I was reading the linux-usb faq and I found: 
> Sometimes a  BIOS fix will be  available for your motherboard,  and in
> other cases  a more recent  kernel will have a  Linux fix. You  may be
> able to  work around this  by passing the  noapic boot option  to your
> kernel,  or (when  you're using  an add-in  PCI card)  moving the  USB
> adapter to some  other PCI slot. If you're using  a current kernel and
> BIOS,  report this  problem  to the  Linux-kernel  mailing list,  with
> details about your motherboard and BIOS.

So I'm  writing hoping  to be  helpful. Usb  works, but  I have  to pass
noapic to  the kernel.  Otherwise I get  "device not  accepting address"
when I plug a device in the usb port. The motherboard has been bought in
september. I remember the older mobos  had the southbridge b1, which had
a faulty usb. My mobo has got the southbridge b2, which works.

Is there anything useful I can do?

Can you please explain me what "noapic" does? I think it changes the way
interrupts are  handled, but I'm  not sure. Do  I miss something  when I
pass noapic to the kernel?

Bye

PS: can you please cc your answer to my mailbox? Thank you.

-- 
Non c'è più forza nella normalità, c'è solo monotonia.