Owner`s manual

Reserving an IRQ within the BIOS – Legacy ISA

Other than removing the offending legacy card, the next most effective method is

to reserve the IRQ for legacy use within your BIOS. To do this you will need to

enter the BIOS configuration screen when your computer first starts up. This is

usually done by pressing the Delete key or F1 key right after the memory test

during the boot-up routine. Once you’re in the BIOS control panel, check to see if

you are given the option of manually configuring your interrupts. Some BIOS’s,

such as those from Award, allow you to choose between “Plug-and-Play” and

“legacy ISA” for each interrupt. If you select “legacy ISA” for the interrupt that is

being used by your legacy card, the BIOS will know not to assign that interrupt to

a Plug-and-Play card.

Unfortunately, some BIOS’s don’t support this capability. If your BIOS is one of

those, don’t worry: You still have another option.

Reserving an IRQ within Windows 98/Me – Legacy ISA

Windows 98/Me also allows you to reserve interrupts for legacy use. In most cases

this works just as well as reserving the IRQ in the BIOS. However, you may still

have problems if you boot up an older version of DOS from a floppy where

Windows 98/Me can’t do its Plug-and-Play magic. To reserve an IRQ within

Windows 98/Me do the following:

1. Click on the Start button and select Control Panel under the Settings option.

2. Double click on the icon labeled System.

3. Select the tab labeled Device Manager and click the Properties button.

4. Select the tab labeled Reserve Resources and make sure that Interrupt

Request is selected.

5. Click on the Add button and enter the IRQ that is being used by your legacy

card.

6. Windows may prompt you that the IRQ is currently in use by another device.

Click on Details to see which device Windows currently thinks is using this

IRQ. It should be your Echo card or whatever device is currently conflicting

with your legacy card. If that is the case, go ahead and reserve the IRQ.

7. When Windows asks, reboot your machine. When Windows restarts your Plug-

and-Play cards will not be assigned to the reserved IRQ.

Hopefully, your system will now be functioning properly. If not, please refer to the

“Contacting Customer Service” section of this manual. We’ll do our best to help

you solve your problem.