15 Problems That Your Plague Your PC
And How to Solve Them


--by Karen Kenworthy, Contributing Editor, Fred Langa, Senior 
Consulting Editor, John Woram, Consulting Editor, Serdar 
Yegulalp, Technology Editor


** Problem No 2: 
My Plug-and-Play hardware still doesn't play. **

Solution:
There's no doubt PnP has made upgrading easier. But even PnP 
hardware can cause IRQ conflicts. It's not uncommon for PnP to 
misdetect or even fail to detect new hardware, especially the 
first time around.

To give PnP a second chance, back up your hard disk and create 
an emergency boot diskette. Next, follow the steps detailed in 
Problem No. 1 (Windows can't find my hardware). If this too 
fails, you may have to resolve an IRQ or I/O port conflict. 
This is not for the faint of heart, or even the stouthearted 
beginner. But it can sometimes rescue an installation when all 
else fails. First, display Device Manager's hardware list, as 
before. Next, double-click a misinstalled device's entry. Click 
the Resources tab and clear the Use Automatic Settings checkbox.

In the Resource Type list, double-click the IRQs, I/O ports and 
upper memory blocks (UMBs) Device Manager tells you conflict 
with other devices. Then make new entries in the Edit Resource 
dialog. The dialog should restrict your choices to values your 
device supports, and advise you of any conflicts between the 
current resource assignments and those of other devices. Once 
you've made your changes, click OK in all open dialogs 
and reboot.

Existing ISA cards can also cause conflicts, as can motherboard 
resources. For example, your system BIOS may assign a PCI slot 
an IRQ that is already taken by an ISA card. If so, try turning 
off or reassigning motherboard resources through the BIOS. If 
your motherboard lets you use the BIOS to assign IRQs to PCI 
slots, this may also help you untangle things.

Poorly constructed PCI cards may also cause problems. If they 
don't adhere to the PCI 2.1 spec, they may play games with IRQs 
or do other unorthodox things. If you suspect your hardware of 
being flaky, test it on another machine, if possible. No-name 
motherboards with low-rent PCI controllers or BIOSes can also 
be at fault. In such cases, replacement is the only solution.


 1998 Windows Magazine, April 1999, Page 112.