Dell OptiPlex GXi, Reference And Installation Manual

Page: 46 / 140

3-2 Dell OptiPlex GX
i
Midsize Systems Reference and Installation Guide
4. Add, modify, or remove a card, or view resources
for a card or other device.
Depending on what you need to accomplish with the
ICU, you may need to perform one or more of these
tasks:
•
If you are adding a non-Plug and Play ISA
expansion card, see your online
System User’s
Guide or “Adding a Listed Card” found later in
this chapter for detailed instructions. If the card
you are adding does not have a configuration
file, see your online
System User’s Guide or
“Adding an Unlisted Card” found later in this
chapter for detailed instructions.
•
If you are modifying a card that is already
installed, see your online
System User’s Guide
or “Modifying a Card” found later in this chap-
ter for detailed instructions.
•
If you are removing a card, see your online
System User’s Guide or “Removing a Card”
found later in this chapter for detailed
instructions.
•
If you want to examine the resources already
assigned in the system, see your online
System
User’s Guide or “Viewing Resources” found
later in this chapter for detailed instructions.
5. Save your configuration, and exit the utility.
See your online System User’s Guide or “Saving the
System Configuration” and “Exiting From the ICU,”
found later in this chapter for detailed instructions.
A
bout the ICU
Before your system was shipped from Dell, a technician
used the ICU to enter the correct information for the
expansion cards initially installed in your computer.
If your system was shipped with Dell-installed software,
the ICU diskette image (from which you can make an
ICU diskette) is installed on your hard-disk drive. (Your
system may also be accompanied by an
ISA Configura-
tion Utility Diskette .)
The ICU is also available through online services such as
Dell’s TechConnect bulletin board service (BBS). See
your online
System User’s Guide or the chapter titled
“Getting Help” in your Diagnostics and Troubleshooting
Guide for information on accessing the BBS.
Whenever you add or remove a non-Plug and Play ISA
expansion card, use the ICU to reconfigure your system.
The utility reads the card’s corresponding configuration
file (
.cfg
file), which describes the card’s characteristics
and required system resources. After the resources identi-
fied in these configuration files are assigned to all non-
Plug and Play ISA expansion cards, the system assigns
resources to all Plug and Play expansion cards, as well as
PCI expansion cards, thereby creating a conflict-free
configuration.
ICU Database
The ICU provides a database of configuration files for a
large variety of non-Plug and Play ISA expansion cards.
The database is located in the
\db
subdirectory. Listed
cards are non-Plug and Play ISA expansion cards that have
configuration files stored in this database.
Unlisted cards are non-Plug and Play ISA expansion
cards that do not have configuration files stored in the
ICU database. Unlisted cards are not displayed in the list
of cards provided for the various card categories. The
unlisted cards may be cards for which no configuration
file exists or new cards that include a manufacturer-sup-
plied configuration file on diskette.
When you supply a configuration file and the ICU is run-
ning from the hard-disk drive, the configuration file is
copied to the directory that contains the rest of the ICU
database.
See your online System User’s Guide or “Adding a Listed
Card” found later in this chapter for directions on how to
add a listed non-Plug and Play ISA expansion card. See
your online
System User’s Guide or “Adding an Unlisted
Card” found later in the chapter for instructions on how
to add an unlisted non-Plug and Play ISA expansion card.
W
hen to Run the ICU
Whenever you add or remove non-Plug and Play ISA
expansion cards, you must run the ICU to ensure that no
two cards attempt to use the same resources (such as
interrupt request [IRQ] lines).