Teledyne Princeton Instruments PI-MTE, System Manual

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Chapter 7 Troubleshooting 83
As shown, there are no conflicts, allowing the three peripheral cards to operate
properly. If the PCI Serial card were then installed, the BIOS would interrogate the PCI
cards and may reassign each of them new address and interrupt values as listed
in
Table 7-4 .
As indicated, there is now an interrupt conflict between the ISA Network Card and the
PCI Video card (both cards have been assigned Interrupt 11), causing the computer to
no longer function normally. This does not mean that the PCI Serial card is defective
because the computer stops functioning properly when the Serial card is installed.
What it does mean is that there is an interrupt conflict that can be resolved by changing
the interrupt level on the conflicting Network card in this example. It is up to you to
consult the documentation for any ISA cards to determine how to make the necessary
change.
NOTE:
Changing the order of the PCI cards, that is, plugging them
into different slots, could change the address and interrupt
assignments and possibly resolve the conflict. However, this
would be a trial and error process with no guarantee of
success.
7.10.2 Diagnostics Software
Many diagnostics programs, both shareware and commercial, are available to help
resolve conflicts. Most often, all that is required is a program that will read and report
the address and interrupt assignments for each PCI device in the computer. One such
program available from Teledyne Princeton Instruments' Customer Support
department is called PCICHECK. When the program is run, it reports the address and
interrupt assignments for the first PCI device it finds. Each time the space bar is pressed,
it moves on to the next one and reports the address and interrupt assignments for that
one as well. In a few moments, this information can be obtained for every PCI device in
the computer. Note that, although there are generally only three PCI slots, the number
of PCI devices reported may be larger because some PCI devices may be built onto the
motherboard. A good strategy for using the program would be to run it before installing
the PCI Serial card. Then run it again after installing the card and note any address or
interrupt assignments that may have changed. This will allow you to easily focus on the
ones that may be in conflict with address or interrupt assignments on ISA cards. It might
be noted that there are many programs, such as the MSD program supplied by
Microsoft, that are designed to read and report address and interrupt assignments,
including those on ISA cards. Many users have had mixed results at best using these
programs.
Table 7-4: I/O Address & Interrupt Assignment after Installing Serial Card
Slot Type Status I/O Address Interrupt
1 (ISA) ISA Network Card 200-210 11
2 (PCI) PCI Video Card FE00-FEFF 11
3 (ISA) ISA Sound Card 300-304 9
4 (PCI) Teledyne Princeton
Instruments (RSPI) PCI
Serial Card
FF80-FFFF 15