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If Something Goes Wrong

Resolving a hardware conflict

Plug and Play

With Plug and Play and the operating system, avoiding hardware conflicts is easy. Plug and Play is a computer standard that helps the system BIOS (basic input/output system) and the operating system to automatically assign system resources to Plug and Play- compliant devices. In theory, if every device connected to the computer is Plug and Play-compliant, no two devices will compete for the same system resources. Plug in the device and turn on your computer. The operating system is automatically set up to accommodate the new device.

If you install an older (legacy) device that the operating system cannot recognize, the operating system may have difficulty assigning resources to it. As a result, a hardware conflict can occur.

Resolving conflictsThere are several things you can do to resolve hardware conflicts:Get the most recent drivers from the manufacturer.Disable the device.For an older device, remove it from the computer.

Disable another system component and use its resources for the new device. See “Fixing a problem with Device Manager” on page 176.

Reconfigure the device so that its requirements do not conflict. Refer to the device’s documentation for instructions about changing settings on the device.

Fixing a problem with Device Manager

Device Manager provides a way to check and change the configuration of a device.

Changing the default settings using Device Manager can cause other conflicts that make one or more devices unusable. Device Manager is a configuration tool for advanced users who understand configuration parameters and the ramifications of changing them.