Using The Motherboard
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Plug and Play
It is likely that any PCI card you will install on the
motherboard will be Plug and Play (PnP) compliant.
Plug and Play is a design specification for expansion
cards that allows the system to automatically assign
and manage resources for installed expansion cards
rather than requiring manual configuration as in pre-
PnP designs. Any new expansion cards you install
are more than likely to be PnP compliant. Some old
PCI cards might possibly not be. Where you have the
option, we suggest not installing cards that are not
PnP compliant as it simplifies the management of
system resources.
System Resources & Power Limitations
Many expansion cards require the use of system re-
sources such IRQ and DMA channels. By design, all
PCs have a limited number of these resources and
their proper configuration is fundamental to proper
system operation. As noted in the previous section,
the PnP feature handles the management of system
resources. The problem is that these resources are
finite. If you install enough expansion cards and
connect enough devices that use system resources to
the various ports, it is possible to run out of these
resources. While IRQs can be shared, there is a limit
to doing so. Resource conflicts and problems can
result in operation problems.
If you have a lot of cards installed and devices con-
nected it is a good idea to check the system resource
status. For example, if you are running Windows 98,
you can use the System Information utility to exam-
ine system resource assignments. An average con-
figuration is unlikely to encounter this problem so it
is not something to be concerned about.
