CHANGING RESOURCES

Within Windows 95 and Windows 98, most PnP (Plug N Play) cards can be manually adjusted through Device Manager. If your device is encountering conflicts with another device within Device Manager, double-click the device within the device category. Such as double-clicking a 3COM NIC icon under Network Adapters. Within the properties of the device click the Resource tab. In Resources uncheck the box which says 'Use automatic settings'; once unchecked you will then be able to change the Basic Configuration. As you change the Basic configuration, each of the resource settings will change. If you only have one option for resource settings, it's a good possibility that the device may be a Legacy device or may only work with one configuration mode.

Step by step instructions for changing the resources for a device under Windows 9x can be found at CH000197.

ALL IRQs ARE USED, NOW WHAT?

If your computer is utilizing all IRQs, unfortunately there are only a few ways around this, which can be very complicated. The first and easiest way would be to attempt to remove devices from the computer to allow IRQs to become free and or substitute for external devices. The other option would be to attempt to assign the IRQ settings to IRQ settings that may already be used by another device. However, when doing this, it is recommended that you choose a device that is not going to be frequently used. Windows may report that there is a device conflicting; however, in some instances the devices can work on the same IRQ the devices but will not be able to work at the same time.

CAN I ADD AN IRQ?

No, unfortunately with PCs they are limited to 00-15. The latest and greatest PCs will also have this limitation. However, you can add devices such as a SCSI card to the computer, daisy chain a hard drive / CD-ROM drive and other hardware devices, and because the SCSI card uses ID addresses, when the hardware devices are hooked up to the SCSI card, they will not be taking an IRQ. Therefore, you will be able to utilize up to 7 devices on one IRQ. Another recommended connection to PC computers would be the USB port which allows up to 127 devices to be connected at once using only one IRQ.

IRQs NOT RECOMMENDED

When connecting devices it is recommended that you stay away from IRQ 9 which is a cascade port with IRQ 2. However, generally it is a good idea to assign devices that you wish to move and do not plan to use to IRQ 9 to allow extra IRQs for a device you may plan to use. A good example of this recommendation is moving the MPU-401 device, which is a midi device used for musical keyboards.