205
If Something Goes Wrong
Resolving a hardware conflict
device overwrites the data required by the other, causing a
hardware conflict.
Plug and Play
With Plug and Play and the Windows
®
XP 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. You just plug
in the device and turn on your computer. The Windows
®
XP
operating system automatically sets up your system to
accommodate the new device.
However, if you install an older (legacy) device that the Windows
®
XP operating system cannot recognize, the operating system may
have difficulty assigning system resources to it. As a result, a
hardware conflict can occur. To see what resources are assigned to
the device, see “Checking device properties” on page 206.
Resolving conflicts
There are three things you can do to resolve hardware conflicts.
❖ Disable the device.
For an older device, remove it from the computer. For a Plug
and Play device, see “Fixing a problem with Device
Manager” on page 206.
❖ Disable another system component and use its resources for
the new device. See “Fixing a problem with Device
Manager” on page 206.
❖ Reconfigure the device so that its requirements do not
conflict. Refer to the device’s documentation for instructions
about changing settings on the device.
