Asus MES-N User Manual download pdf (Page 32)

32 K7M User’s Manual

3. HARDWARE SETUP

Expansion Cards

3. H/W SETUP

free. If your motherboard has ISA audio onboard, an extra 3 IRQs will be used,

leaving 3 IRQs free.

Both ISA and PCI expansion cards may require IRQs. System IRQs are available to

cards installed in the ISA expansion bus first, then any remaining IRQs are available

to PCI cards. Currently, there are two types of ISA cards. The original ISA expan-

sion card design, now referred to as legacy ISA cards, requires that you configure

the card’s jumpers manually and then install it in an available slot on the ISA bus. To

see a map of your used and free IRQs in Windows 98, the Control Panel icon in My

Computer, contains a System icon, which gives you a Device Manager tab. Double-

clicking on a specific hardware device gives you the Resources tab which shows the

Interrupt number and address. Make sure that no two devices use the same IRQ or

your computer will experience problems when those two devices are in use at the

same time.

To simplify this process, this motherboard complies with the Plug and Play (PnP)

specification, which was developed to allow automatic system configuration when-

ever a PnP-compliant card is added to the system. For PnP cards, IRQs are assigned

automatically from those available.

If the system has both legacy and PnP ISA cards installed, IRQs are

assigned to PnP cards from those not used by legacy cards. The PCI and PnP con-

figuration of the BIOS setup utility can be used to indicate which IRQs are being

used by legacy cards. For older legacy cards that do not work with the BIOS, you

can contact your vendor for an ISA Configuration Utility.

An IRQ number is automatically assigned to PCI expansion cards after those used by

legacy and PnP ISA cards. In the PCI bus design, the BIOS automatically assigns an

IRQ to PCI cards that require an IRQ. To install a PCI card, you need to set an INT

(interrupt) assignment. Since all the PCI slots on this motherboard use an INTA #, be

sure that the jumpers on your PCI cards are set to INT A.

3.7.3 Assigning DMA Channels for ISA Cards

Some ISA cards, both legacy and PnP, may also need to use a DMA (Direct Memory

Access) channel. DMA assignments for this motherboard are handled the same way

as the IRQ assignment process described earlier. You can select a DMA channel in

the PCI and PnP configuration section of the BIOS Setup utility.

IMPORTANT: To avoid conflicts, reserve the necessary IRQs and DMAs for legacy

ISA cards (see 4.4.4 Plug and Play Setup for those IRQs and DMAs you want to

reserve).

3.7.4 ISA Cards and Hardware Monitor

The onboard hardware monitor uses the address 290H-297H so legacy ISA cards

must not use this address or else conflicts will occur.

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Asus MES-N User Manual Page 32