Using the ISA Configuration Utility 4-3
If your system was shipped with Dell-installed software, the ICU disket te image (from
which you can ma k e an ICU dis k ette) is installe d on y our ha rd-dis k driv e. (Your sy st em
may also be acco mpani ed by an
ISA Configuration Utility Diskette
.)
The ICU is also available through online services such as Dell’s TechConnect bulletin
board service (BBS). See the chapter titled “Getting Help” in your
Diag nos t ic s and
Troubleshooting Guide
for information on accessing the BBS.
Whene ver you ad d o r rem ove a non-P lug an d P lay ISA e x pa nsi on card, use the ICU t o
reconfigure your system. The utility reads the card’s corresponding configuration file
(.cfg file), which describes th e card’s characteristics and required system resources.
After the resources identified in these configuration files are assigned to all non-Plug
and Play ISA expansion cards, the system assigns resources to all Plug and Play
expansion cards, as well as PCI expansion cards, thereby creating a conflict-free
configuration.
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The ICU provide s a database of configura tion files for a large variety of non- Plug and
Play ISA expansion cards. The database is located in the \db subdirectory.
Listed cards
are non-Pl ug and Play ISA expansio n cards that have conf iguration files store d in this
database.
Unlisted cards
are non-Plug and Play ISA expansion cards that do not have configura-
tion files stored in the ICU database. Unlisted cards are not displayed in the list of
cards provided for the various card categories. The unlisted cards may be cards for
which no configuration file exists or new cards that include a manufacturer-supplied
configuration file on diskette.
When you supply a configuration file and the ICU is running from the hard-disk drive,
the configuration file is copied to the directory that contains the rest of the ICU
database.
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Whenever you add or remove non-Plug and Play ISA expansion cards, you must run
the ICU to ensure that no two cards attempt to use the same resources (such as
interrupt request [IRQ] lines).
R un the prog ram
before
adding or removing any non-Plug and Play ISA expansion
cards. The ICU can id enti fy and re so lve any resource co nfli cts a nd in dic ate the p rope r
jumper and switch settings for each expansion card to avoid such conflicts. Running
the program first helps you determine how to configure a non-Plug and Play ISA
expansion card before you install it in your computer.
After you have run the ICU for your non-Plug and Play ISA expansion cards and it has
configured all your Plug and Play and PCI expansion cards, you can use the utility to
lock
the configuration of your Plug and Play and PCI expansion cards so that they are
always assigned the same resources. See “Locking and Unlocking Cards” found later
in this chapter for details.