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If Something Goes Wrong
Resolving a hardware conflict
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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 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. Simply connect the device and turn on your
computer. The operating system automatically sets up your
system to accommodate the new device.
If you connect 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. To see what resources the operating
system has assigned to the device, see “Checking device
properties” on page 215.
Resolving conflicts
There are things you can do to resolve hardware conflicts:
❖ 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 215.
❖ Reconfigure the device so that its requirements do not
conflict. Refer to the device’s documentation for
instructions about changing settings on the device.