Using the ISA Configuration Utility 4-1

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The ISA Configurat ion Utility (IC U) is used by the s ystem to track what expansion
cards are installed and what resources are used. With this information, the system
automatically configures Plug and Play expansion cards and Peripheral Component
Interconnect (PCI) ex pansion cards and can tell you how to configure non-Plug and
Play Industry-Standard Architecture (ISA) expansion cards manually by setting jump-
ers or swi tches. Plug and Play and PCI expansion cards do not contain jumpers and
switches; the y are conf igu red on ly throug h so ftware in the ba sic input/output sy s t em
(BIOS).
NOTE: The Windows NT operating system does not provide full Plug and Play sup-
port. Therefore, some Plug and Play cards (such as modem, sound, and network
cards) may not work with Windows NT. If your system is running a Dell-installed
Windows NT operating system and you want to use Plug and Play cards, Dell
recomme nds tha t y ou us e the ca rd man uf acturer’s config urat ion util ity to set the card
to legacy mode, enter the card’s resources through the manufacturer’s utility, and
then use the ICU to add the Plug and Play card to your system configuration. On sys-
tems with a Dell-installed Windows NT operating system, the ICU is installed on the
hard-disk drive as a diskette image. Use the Program Diskette Maker (located in the
Dell Accessories program folder) to ma ke an ICU diskette from this diskette image.
The remainder of this chapter describes the various features of, an d the various ways
to use, the ICU.