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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. See the next page.