Dell Mini Tower System manual Using the ISA Configuration Utility, Quick Start

Chapter 3

Using the ISA Configuration Utility

The ISA Configuration Utility (ICU) is used by the system to track what expansion cards are installed and what resources are used. With this information, the sys- tem automatically configures Plug and Play expansion cards and Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) expansion cards and can tell you how to configure non- Plug and Play Industry-Standard Architecture (ISA) expansion cards manually by setting jumpers or switches. Plug and Play and PCI expansion cards do not contain jumpers and switches; they are configured only through software.

CAUTION: The ICU is intended only for configur- ing non-Plug and Play ISA expansion cards. It should not be used for assigning resources to Plug and Play expansion cards and PCI expansion cards. These cards should be configured automati- cally by the basic input/output system (BIOS).

NOTES: The Windows NT operating system does not pro- vide full Plug and Play support. Therefore, some Plug and Play cards (such as modem, sound, and network cards) may not work with the Windows NT operating sys- tem. If your system is running a Dell-installed Windows NT operating system and you want to use Plug and Play expansion cards, Dell recommends that you use the card manufacturer’s configuration utility to set the card to leg- acy mode, enter the card’s resources through the manufacturer’s utility, and then use the ICU to add the Plug and Play expansion card to your system configura- tion. On systems with a Dell-installed Windows NT operating system, the ICU is installed on the hard-disk drive as a diskette image. Use the Dell Program Diskette Maker (located in the Dell Accessories program group or folder) to make an ICU diskette from this diskette image.

If you are using the Windows 95 operating system, the functions provided by the ICU are handled by the Device

Manager, which can be accessed by double-clicking the System icon in the Control Panel. See your Windows 95 documentation for instructions on using the Device Man- ager to manage resources and resolve conflicts.

The remainder of this chapter describes the various fea- tures of, and the various ways to use, the ICU.

Quick Start

To quickly get started using this utility, follow these steps:

1.Determine whether you need to run the ICU.

See “When to Run the ICU” found later in this chap- ter for detailed instructions.

2.Perform any required preparatory steps before starting the utility.

Preparatory steps include making a program dis- kette, copying your mouse driver to this diskette, and making a backup copy of this diskette. See “Prepar- ing to Use the ICU” found later in this chapter for detailed instructions.

3.Start the system using your ICU diskette.

Verify that the Boot Sequence category in the System Setup program is set to Diskette First. Then insert the backup copy of the ICU diskette into drive A, and turn on your computer or press the reset button.

NOTE: The ICU takes a few minutes to load. During this time, the cursor may appear as a pointer rather than as an hourglass.

When the utility has finished loading, the ICU win- dow (see Figure 3-1) is displayed.

Using the ISA Configuration Utility 3-1