In DOS and Windows 3.x environments, adding new hardware to your system was often a time-consuming effort that took considerable trial and error sometimes involving substantial hardware and software reconfiguration. At times, the process exceeded the average user's knowledge and capabilities. With the release of Windows 95 the process was streamlined considerably. That trend continues with the Windows 98 release. Though not flawless, adding new devices it is simpler than ever before. Typically you simply install the device and turn on the PC, and Windows 98 automatically installs support for the device.
This automatic installation works for many devices without Plug and Play BIOS support.
This chapter explains the processes you use to install and configure support for new hardware in your PC, and covers the following topics:
You perform most Windows 98 hardware and software configuration tasks through the Control Panel, using the System object and Add New Hardware object. The following material discusses these tools and their effective use.
Windows 98 has features built into it that simplify the task of installing and configuring new hardware. Principal among these features is Windows 98's support for the automatic installation and configuration of hardware. This includes support for Plug and Play systems (those that have a Plug and Play BIOS) and for legacy systems (computers that have standard BIOS, not designed for Plug and Play). We will discuss automatic installation and configuration and as well as Plug and Play in the section "Understanding and Using Automatic Configuration" later in this chapter. For the time being it is enough to understand that in most instances, Windows 98 automatically installs support for most commercially available adapters and peripherals. This is a wonderful feature of Windows 98 as even a novice user can perform device installation with relative ease.
Another beneficial feature of Windows 98 in supporting automatic installation and configuration of additional devices is the installation wizards. These wizards automate installation and configuration of devices that Windows 98 can't install and configure automatically. Installing a modem, for example, is as simple as selecting a few choices in the modem installation wizard. In most cases, Windows 98 can detect your modem to determine its manufacturer and type. In the event the device isn't detected, install the driver from the disk supplied with your modem.
As well as making it easier for you to install and configure devices such as CD-ROM drives, sound cards, and video adapters, installation of printers is also a relative breeze in Windows 98, especially across the network. To install support for a network printer, you often can just drag the printer's icon from the Network Neighborhood folder to your desktop. Windows 98 automatically copies the necessary driver files from the server to which the printer is connected. (For more information about installing and using printers, refer to Chapter 8, "Printing and Managing Printers.")
The following sections briefly explain some of the other improvements in Windows 98 for hardware configuration and support.
Windows 98 makes it easy to view, manage, and modify drivers and hardware configuration settings. Through the Device Manager, which you access by using the System object in the Control Panel, you are presented with a unified mechanism for managing your drivers and hardware settings. The Device Manager is explored in detail later in this chapter in the section "Controlling Devices with the Device Manager."
Just as its predecessor, Windows 95, Windows 98 ships with strong support for hardware devices and peripherals. So instead of relying on hardware manufacturers for the drivers of a particular device, Windows 98 implements a mini-driver architecture to support disk devices, pointer devices, video display adapters, modems, and printing devices. These mini-drivers are really "universal" drivers comprised of device-independent code. These additional mini-drivers simplify writing device drivers for Windows 98 and enable better driver performance through the use of 32-bit mini-drivers. Using this device driver approach provides many benefits:
The system virtual device drivers in Windows 98 help to enhance hardware performance. By replacing many of the 16-bit system drivers found in previous versions of Windows and DOS with 32-bit virtual device drivers, overall system performance is given a boost. These device drivers include the following:
Many of these items are described in detail in other chapters.
With the proliferation of notebook computers PCMCIA is now an important issue. Now being called "PC Cards," PCMCIA Devices benefit from excellent support in Windows 98. Windows 98 uses its Plug and Play architecture to support hot swapping and auto-configuration of PC Card devices. You can remove and insert PC Card devices without powering down the system or shutting down Windows 98. You can plug in a modem, for example, and Windows 98 automatically configures the modem so that you can begin using it. Inserting a network adapter causes Windows 98 to automatically make the network available and updates the interface to show available network resources (if that system is properly configured).
Windows 98 provides support for something called hot docking. Hot docking is the dynamic docking and undocking of a notebook computer to a docking station. Windows 98 automatically detects the docking or undocking of a system and adjusts to the condition. For example, the video from one environment to another will change and Windows 98 changes its video support to match the current video. This support is dependent on the BIOS of the system which must support hot docking.
One nice feature for improved memory performance is Windows 98's ability to manage memory. Windows 98 supports dynamically loading device drivers, which means Windows 98 only loads a device driver when it is needed and removes the driver from memory when the driver is not needed. So if you are using a notebook computer, the PC Card drivers are dynamic loaded only when a device is inserted into a socket. When the device is removed, its driver is removed from memory. This dynamic device driver design also is implemented with other Windows 98 device drivers.
Now that we have discussed some of the changes in Windows 98 that relate to hardware installation and configuration, you're ready to begin installing and managing your hardware. The following section explains how to take advantage of Windows 98's Plug and Play support for automatic installation of non-Plug and Play devices.
Windows 98 has enhanced ability to automate hardware installation and configuration. In most cases this includes providing support for Plug and Play and the automatic installation of non-Plug and Play devices (such as standard ISA adapters). As an operating system feature, Plug and Play is one of the most significant usability benefits in Windows 98. The following section explains Plug and Play in more detail and ways you can take advantage of it.
Plug and Play is really a set of industry specifications that defines mechanisms by which a computer's operating system (in this case, Windows 98) can detect and configure hardware. Most hardware manufacturers now design their adapters and peripherals to support Plug and Play. Other types of systems and hardware, frequently older, that are not designed to support Plug and Play are referred to as legacy systems and hardware.
As many users know first-hand, installing legacy hardware in older systems can be a frustrating experience. With older adapters, for example, you have to hard-set the card through configuring either jumpers or dip switches. You are also required to know what resources on your system are already in use and ensure there are no conflicts with existing devices.
Provided you have a device that supports Plug and Play, installing and configuring new hardware in Windows 98 is a simple process. Windows 98 configures the new device using settings that do not conflict with other devices, and installs the necessary driver support for the device. Essentially, the device configures itself.
Although systems that have Plug and Play BIOS are only now becoming more common, you still can take advantage of Plug and Play to an extent on legacy systems. The Windows 98 Setup process searches memory, ROM, and existing configuration files for hints of legacy devices for which it can automatically install support. Through this capability, Setup often can automatically detect and install support for a device, even if it is not Plug and Play compliant.
Almost all of the systems and devices being sold today support Plug and Play. In the next section we take a look at some of the more important issues relating to these device types.
ISA is an acronym for Industry Standard Architecture. The ISA bus and its related devices were first used in the IBM AT. Today, most PCs have three or four ISA slots, in combination with PCI support. However, the number of new systems that contain PCI local buses is gradually overtaking the number of ISA bus systems.
As mention before, Windows 98 can automatically detect and install support for many ISA devices through hints and autodetection features. There is also support for legacy ISA devices and Plug and Play devices in standard ISA-based systems with or without a Plug and Play BIOS.
EISA stands for Enhanced Industry Standard Architecture. The EISA bus is an extension of the ISA bus. EISA devices typically are software- configurable, or soft set, and similar to today's new Plug and Play devices. Windows 98 supports automatic detection and configuration of EISA devices, although it does not allocate resources to the EISA devices. Instead, Windows 98 reads the EISA device's resource requirements from the device's nonvolatile RAM where its configuration information is stored. EISA systems can contain ISA, EISA, and Plug and Play devices.
SCSI stands for Small Computer Standard Interface. Common SCSI devices include hard disks, tape drives, CD-ROM drives, and scanners. The SCSI subsystem, the actual card and its drivers, enables multiple devices to be daisy-chained together on a single SCSI host adapter. The SCSI subsystem also works to deliver a performance boost to the overall system through the off loading of work from the CPU and main memory.
SCSI host adapters and devices require manual configuration of device IDs and manual bus termination. Plug and Play SCSI host adapters and devices can be configured and terminated automatically.
PC Card devices are credit card-sized adapters that install in special PC Card bus slots, usually in notebook and other portable computers. PC Card adapters are now available for desktop systems, enabling you to use PC Card devices in desktop computers.
The Windows 98 32-bit PC Card drivers and Card and Socket Services support Plug and Play for PC Card devices, including automatic detection and configuration and hot swapping (removing and installing PC Card devices while the system is powered up and Windows 98 is running). If your PC Card device requires a manufacturer-supplied real-mode driver, many Plug and Play PC Card features will not be available for the device.
For more information on using PC Card devices, read the section "Configuring and Using PC Card Devices" later in this chapter.
VESA stands for Video Electronic Standards Association. The VESA local (VL) bus provides a high-speed direct connection between the CPU and the VL device, enabling faster performance than possible with a standard ISA bus. VL bus devices are limited primarily to video adapters, although some VL bus disk adapters are available. VL bus devices are treated like legacy ISA devices in Windows 98.
The PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) bus also is a high-speed bus, similar to the VL bus, that provides direct connection between the CPU and peripheral devices for increased performance. The PCI bus is used in most Pentium-based and PowerPC-based systems. PCI bus devices are handled similarly to EISA-based devices--Windows 98 does not configure PCI devices, but instead reads the resource requirements from the device's nonvolatile RAM.
Installing a Plug and Play device is an easy task: power down the computer, install the device, then turn on the computer. If the system contains a Plug and Play BIOS, the BIOS recognizes the new device, as does Windows 98. Windows 98 then configures the device so that it doesn't conflict with any other devices and installs support for the device so that you can begin using it. Even if the system does not contain a Plug and Play BIOS, Windows 98 usually can properly detect, configure, and install support for the device. If the driver is not already installed, Windows 98 prompts you to insert the disk (or CD) that contains the driver.
NOTE: Automatic detection and configuration of Plug and Play devices, as well as many legacy devices, occurs automatically when Windows 98 starts. After you install the device and turn on the computer, you see the standard Windows 98 logon dialog box. After you supply a valid logon name and password, Windows 98 displays a dialog box that informs you it has detected new hardware and will install support for it. If Windows 98 is unable to complete the configuration and installation process on its own, a hardware setup wizard appears to step you through installing the device.
In some cases, you will have to manually configure and install a device if you want to use it with Windows 98. Not to worry, even if that is the case; the procedure is relatively simple. If you install a legacy device that Windows 98 can detect, it will most likely complete the installation process on its own, prompting you for a driver disk if necessary.
Sometimes Windows 98 can detect that a new device has been installed, but cannot correctly detect the device type or install support for the device. Sometimes Windows 98 cannot detect the device at all. Either way, you can use the Add New Hardware Wizard to install support for the new device.
After you install or attach a device, run Windows 98, open the Control Panel and go to the Add New Hardware Wizard, and then click the Next button. At this point, you must choose whether you want Windows 98 to try to detect the new device (see Figure 5.1). If Windows 98 did not detect and install the device automatically, the wizard probably will not be able to detect the device. Continue with the Add New Hardware Wizard by clicking on the radio button labeled Yes (Recommended) or No, I want to select the hardware from a list.
FIGURE 5.1 Add New Hardware Wizard.
If you choose Yes the system will search for the best driver for your device. The Hardware Wizard attempts to detect any new devices installed on your PC (see Figure 5.2). At the completion of the hardware detection, the wizard pauses to let you view the hardware it found.
FIGURE 5.2 Windows 98 ready to install the best driver for a device.
If you choose Display a list of the drivers in a specific location to prevent the wizard from attempting to detect the hardware, a dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 5.3. From the hardware list, choose the type of device you want to install. Then, click on Next. The wizard displays a hardware selection dialog box you can use to specify the manufacturer and model of the device you are installing.
FIGURE 5.3 Device hardware list.
After you select the device you want to install, click on the Next button to enable the wizard to install the necessary drivers for the device. If the device manufacturer and model aren't listed, but the device includes a driver disk, choose Have Disk. The wizard prompts you to insert the driver disk so that it can copy the driver files to your PC and configure the device.
NOTE: Although you can install nearly any device using the Add New Hardware Wizard, you also can install some types of devices using other objects in the Control Panel. The Modems object enables you to add a new modem, for example, and the Network object enables you to add a new adapter (although Windows 98 probably automatically recognizes the adapter when you start up the system after you install it).
If your PC includes PC Card slots, Setup should automatically detect and install support for PC Card devices. If Windows 98 detects PC Card slots in your PC, the PC Card object appears in the Control Panel and a PC Card object also appears in the Device Manager (choose the System object in Control Panel to access the Device Manager). Setup also runs the PC Card wizard the first time you start Windows 98 to configure the PC Card drivers.
To enable PC Card support if Setup cannot do so automatically, run the PC Card Wizard (choose the PC Card object in the Control Panel or choose the PC Card controller object in the Device Manager).
The PC Card Wizard adds 32-bit PC Card driver support for the PC Card devices, and removes (comments out) any real-mode PC Card drivers from any existing CONFIG.SYS file. To determine whether Windows 98 supports your PC Card controller, open the Control Panel and start the Add New Hardware wizard.
If your PC Card controller is not supported by a 32-bit Windows driver, you must use the real-mode drivers for the PC Card controller supplied with the PC or controller device (and in some cases, provided with the PC Card devices). In the case of PC Card network adapters, the PC Card socket driver and network driver both must be Plug and Play-compatible to work properly. If you use an older NDIS network driver, you must use the 32-bit Windows 98 PC Card socket driver. If you use a real-mode network driver, you must use a real-mode socket driver. Windows 98 supports NDIS 4.1, a superset of all earlier NDIS specifications.
If your PC contains a PC Card controller, Setup should automatically detect it during installation. To configure your PC to use the Windows 98 32-bit PC Card socket driver, run the PC Card Wizard in the Control Panel, or double-click on the PC Card object in the Device Manager. The PC Card wizard installs the 32-bit drivers and comments out the real-mode drivers in the CONFIG.SYS file. Then restart the system so that the new drivers can take effect.
To verify that enhanced PC Card support is enabled, open the Device Manager and choose the PC Card object, then click on the General tab to display the General property page. A check beside a hardware profile in the Device Usage list indicates that enhanced PC Card support is enabled.
Windows 98 uses a common set of configuration settings for the PC Card slots when you use the drivers supplied with Windows 98. This works well with most devices. These settings include IRQ and memory window (RAM address range) settings. Some devices, however, require settings different from what Windows 98 uses. If your PC Card device(s) does not work, changing the memory setting or the IRQ of the device might overcome the problem.
To specify new settings for the memory window, open the Control Panel and choose the PC Card icon to display the PC Card property sheet. Click on the Global Settings tab to display the Global Settings property page.
If the Automatic selection check box is enabled, Windows 98 automatically assigns values for the memory window. To specify a different value, clear the Automatic selection check box, then enter different start and end values in the Start and End text boxes based on the requirements specified in the documentation for your PC Card devices. Choose OK to apply the changes.
You can change the settings of individual PC Card devices. Double-click on the PC Card device in the Device Manager, or select the device and choose Properties. Windows 98 displays a typical property page for the device. Choose the Resources tab, then choose the Set Configuration Manually button to display a property page. Specify the correct IRQ and memory settings for the device, and then choose OK to apply the changes.
If your PC Card controller and devices use the 32-bit drivers provided by Windows 98, you can hot swap PC Card devices, which means you can insert and remove PC Card devices without shutting down Windows 98 or powering down your PC. If you want to temporarily remove your network adapter to use a modem, for example, you can leave Windows 98 running.
Before you remove a device, however, you should shut down the device to ensure that it is not actively using resources that could become corrupted (such as an open file) or cause the system to lock up. To stop a PC Card device, choose the PC Card object in the Control Panel to display the Socket Status dialog box. Select the device you want to stop, then choose Stop. Windows 98 displays a message indicating when you can remove the device.
TIP: You don't need to do a thing before you insert a PC Card in a socket. Simply verify that any necessary cables are attached to the card; then insert the card in its socket. If the device has previously been used in the computer, Windows 98 loads the device drivers for the device and enables the device. If the device has not been used before, Windows 98 detects the device and installs support for it automatically, prompting you for the location of the Windows 98 distribution disks or CD, if necessary. If you use real-mode PC Card controller drivers, however, automatic detection and installation probably will not work and you will have to use the Add New Hardware Wizard to manually add the device driver.
The Device Manager, which is a property page on the System property sheet, enables you to view and control the devices installed in your PC. Device Manager enables you to change drivers for a device, remove devices from the system, print a summary of a device or all devices in the PC, and print a system summary. The following sections explain these uses.
To view and change the properties of a device or class, open the Control Panel and choose the System object. Click on the Device Manager tab to display the Device Manager property page. You can also right click on My Computer, select properties from the menu, and click on the Device Manager tab (see Figure 5.4).
FIGURE 5.4 Device Manager.
The Device Manager shows the devices in your PC organized by device class as a hierarchical tree, as shown in the previous figure. To view the devices in a particular class, click on the plus sign (+) next to the class name to expand its branch. To collapse the branch, click on the minus sign (-) beside the class name.
A device's branch shows the devices that fall under that class. In the Disk drives branch, for example, all the disk drives listed are installed in your PC. To view the properties of a particular device, open the branch in which the device is located, then double-click on the device or select it and choose Properties. The resulting property sheet naturally varies from one device type to another because of the differences between devices. Some devices have a single property page, but others have several.
All devices have a General property page that provides general information about the device (such as manufacturer), its driver, and whether the device is working properly. Most devices also have additional pages that enable you to view and set various properties for the device. For example, Figure 5.5 shows the Settings property page for a hard disk drive, and Figure 5.6 shows the Driver page for a video adapter. These all are fairly typical representations of device property pages.
FIGURE 5.5 Hard drive settings.
FIGURE 5.6 Video driver page.
Later sections of this chapter discuss changes you might want to make to specific devices. The following sections explain changes you can make to devices in general.
As you have seen, if you want or need to change the driver for a device, you can use the Device Manager. If the device supports a driver change, the device's property sheet includes a Driver page similar to the one shown in Figure 5.6.
You might need to change the resources a device uses to overcome a resource conflict or to make a resource available for a new device you install. For example, you might need to change the IRQ a device uses because it conflicts with another device. If a device supports resource changes, the device includes a Resources property page similar to the one shown in Figure 5.7.
FIGURE 5.7 Device Resources property page.
To change resources for a device, first open its Resources page. If the Resources page includes a Set Configuration Manually button, click on it to display additional controls on the property page that enable you to change resources for the device. Next, clear the Use automatic settings check box to enable the resource controls on the property page.
Windows 98 provides multiple basic configurations for many types of devices. These basic configurations are nothing more than common combinations of IRQ, I/O, and DMA settings (where appropriate) for that type of device. You can select a configuration from the drop-down list, which changes the resources displayed in the Resource settings list. When you find the set of resources values that work for your device, choose OK to apply the changes.
Sometimes you have to remove a driver. You may accidentally direct Windows 98 might to install two copies of a device, for example, and you need to remove the duplicate. Or, you might remove a component from your system or replace it with another device, and then you don't require the old driver anymore.
To remove a device, choose the System object in the Control Panel, then click on the Device Manager tab to display the Device Manager property page. Select the device you want to remove; then choose Remove. If you select a device class from the tree, the entire class and all of its devices are removed. If you open a class and select an individual device, then choose Remove, only the selected device is removed. In many cases, removing a device requires restarting Windows 98, and you are prompted to do so when necessary.
Detailing every setting of every possible device type is impractical. Instead, the following sections provide an overview of the settings for common devices that you are most likely to need or want to change. The following sections do not cover changing drivers or resource settings, because these two topics are covered earlier in the chapter, in the sections "Changing Drivers" and "Changing Device Resource Assignments." Changing modem and COM port properties is explained in Chapter 19, "Modems and Telephony."
The Settings property page for a CD-ROM drive (see Figure 5.8) typically shows the SCSI logical unit number, defined by the SCSI host adapter, and the device ID, defined by the hardware settings on the CD-ROM drive itself. The only settings you might need or want to change on the CD-ROM Settings property page are the following:
FIGURE 5.8 Settings property page for a CD-ROM.
NOTE: Typically, you need not change any settings for a hard disk drive or a floppy disk drive.
If your SCSI host adapter requires or can use optional command-line switches to enable special options or features, you can use the Device Manager to add those command-line switches. In the Device Manager, choose the SCSI host adapter from the SCSI controllers class, then choose Properties. Click on the Settings tab to display the Settings property page shown in Figure 5.9. Enter the command-line switches in the Adapter settings text box, then choose OK.
NOTE: The command-line switches supported by a SCSI host adapter driver depend solely on the host adapter.
FIGURE 5.9 SCSI controller settings.
Setting System Device Properties
You usually do not have to change any of the settings for the devices listed in the System class. In certain situations, however, you might need or want to make some changes to improve performance. The following sections explain some of the changes you can make to common System class devices in the Device Manager.
The direct memory access (DMA) controller device in the system class includes two groups of settings you can use to control how Windows 98 handles DMA. Figure 5.10 shows the Settings property page for the direct memory access control device, which you can access by double-clicking on the direct memory access controller object in the System devices class.
FIGURE 5.10 DMA settings.
The first of these groups, Reserved memory, enables you to specify an amount of RAM to use as a DMA buffer. This setting can be required to increase the DMA buffer size for your network adapter to function properly if you use real-mode network drivers, and also can help overcome problems with other devices that require DMA buffering. To increase the DMA buffer size, place a check in the Reserve DMA buffer check box; then specify the size of the buffer in kilobytes with the associated increment control.
The Address restrictions group on the Settings property page enables you to restrict the memory area in which DMA transfers occur. To set a transfer limit, enable the check box in the Address restrictions group, then choose either the 16 MB or 4 GB option.
The Numeric data processor device in the System devices class refers to your PC's math coprocessor, sometimes referred to as a floating-point unit, or FPU. In 386 and earlier Intel-compatible processors, the FPU is separate from the CPU. In 486- and Pentium-based CPUs (excluding the 486SX), the FPU is an integral part of the CPU. The FPU designed for the 486SX CPU is a separate chip usually referred to as the 487.
The FPU handles the majority of the floating-point math operations in your PC. By performing the calculations in hardware rather than in software, the FPU significantly speeds the performance of applications that rely on math operations (if the application can take advantage of the FPU). Some applications actually require the presence of an FPU to run.
Early versions of the Pentium suffer from a bug in the FPU that results in math errors. The Settings page of the numeric data processor's property sheet (see Figure 5.11) enables you to control whether Windows 98 uses the FPU in your system. Windows 98 performs a set of diagnostics on the FPU to determine whether it functions correctly. You can use the three option buttons in the Settings page to control whether Windows 98 uses the FPU. If you turn off the FPU, Windows 98 handles math operations in software rather than hardware. This slows down performance but ensures that an FPU error does not affect the accuracy of your applications.
FIGURE 5.11 Numeric data processor Properties.
A useful feature of the Device Manager is the capability to print system and device summaries. A system summary includes information about your system, such as the processor type, BIOS information, machine type, Windows version, and bus type. The system summary also includes a summary of your system's IRQ, I/O port, UMA (upper memory area), and DMA usage. To print a system summary, open the Device Manager, choose the Print button to display the Print dialog box (see Figure 5.12), and then choose the System summary option.
FIGURE 5.12 To print a System summary.
If you select a device class from the Device Manager's list before you choose the Print button, you can choose the Selected class or device option from the Print dialog box. This option prints a report of the selected class, including the resources (IRQ, DMA, I/O port) and drivers each device in the class uses. If you select a single device in a class, this option prints a similar report of only the selected device.
The All devices and system summary option in the Print dialog box prints a system summary and a report for all classes and devices in your system.
TIP: You can choose the Print to file check box to print the report to a file rather than the printer. The file contains embedded printer codes for the selected printer. To print a report to an ASCII file without printer codes, use the Add Printer wizard in the Printers folder to add the Generic / Text Only printer, then print your reports to that printer. You can connect the Generic / Text Only printer to the FILE: port or enable the Print to file check box in the Print dialog box to direct the output to a file.
Windows 98 enables you to maintain multiple hardware profiles and choose from those profiles when you boot the system. Each profile references its own set of devices (many of which are naturally duplicated in each profile), and you can enable or disable a device for a specific profile. When Windows 98 starts, it loads only the device drivers for the devices in the selected profile.
TIP: If Windows 98 can't determine which profile your PC should use when the PC boots, Windows 98 displays a menu that enables you to choose which profile you want to use to boot the PC.
Windows 98 automatically recognizes most docking stations and supports hot docking, which enables you to dock and undock your notebook computer without shutting down Windows 98 or powering down the system. For this reason, multiple hardware profiles generally are not required to support docking stations. In some cases, however, you might need to create and use profiles to support your docking station. You also might want to create multiple hardware profiles in situations in which you use a device only occasionally, and that device puts an abnormal load on the system or conflicts with other devices. In the case of a device conflict, you can remove one of the conflicting devices from each of the profiles, eliminating the conflict. (The ideal solution, however, would be to resolve the conflict within the profile by changing the resource requirements of the devices.)
TIP: Although Windows 98 does not store different resource settings for a device in different profiles, you can add multiple instances of a device, specifying different resource settings for each one. You then can enable one instance for one profile, and a different instance for another profile. The methods for using different resource settings for a device are explained later, in the section "Using Different Resource Settings."
You cannot directly create a hardware profile. Instead, you must copy an existing profile, giving it a new name. You then can add or remove devices as necessary from your hardware profiles. To copy a profile, open the Control Panel, choose the System object, then click on the Hardware Profiles tab to display the Hardware Profiles property page shown in Figure 5.13.
FIGURE 5.13 Hardware Profiles.
Select from the list in the Hardware Profiles property page the profile you want to copy. By default, your system includes a hardware profile named Original Configuration. Then choose Copy. Windows 98 displays a simple dialog box you can use to enter a name for the new profile. Specify the name of your choice and choose OK. If, later, you want to rename any profile, just select the profile and choose Rename. Windows 98 prompts you for a new name.
When you create a profile, Windows 98 places all the devices in the source profile in the new profile. You then must modify the profiles, adding or removing devices as necessary. To modify a profile, open the Device Manager property page. Then, select the device you want to add or remove from a profile and display its property sheet. If the device can be removed from the selected profile, the General property page for the device includes a Device usage group that lists all the defined hardware profiles. Beside each profile name is a check box. If the check box is enabled for a profile, the selected device driver will be used in that profile. If the check box is cleared, the device will not be used in that profile. Simply enable or clear the check boxes as necessary and then choose OK.
TIP: To add a device to a profile when the device is not yet installed on the system, first run the Add New Hardware Wizard to install the device. Then, open the Hardware Profiles property page and add or remove the device in the appropriate profiles.
When you remove a device in Device Manager, Windows 98 displays the Confirm Device Removal dialog box (see Figure 5.14), which enables you to remove a device from all configurations or only a specific configuration.
FIGURE 5.14 Device removal.
You cannot maintain different sets of resource settings from one profile to another for the same instance of a device. You can, however, add multiple instances of a device, then apply different resource settings to each instance. Then, you can add and remove instances of the driver from various profiles to achieve the end result of maintaining different resource settings for the same physical device.
To install multiple instances of a device, run the Add New Hardware Wizard in the Control Panel and choose manual installation (bypass hardware detection). Use the process described previously in this chapter to install another copy of the device, then use the Device Manager to set its resource properties as necessary. Next, use the Hardware Profiles property page to add and remove devices from each profile as necessary.
Windows 98 includes 32-bit protected-mode drivers for a wide variety of hardware, and in most cases, you won't have to use older 16-bit real-mode drivers for the devices in your PC. In certain cases in which Windows 98 doesn't include a 32-bit driver for a device, you can use another driver for a compatible device. In some situations, however, you have to continue to use the real-mode drivers that came with the device until the manufacturer makes a Windows 98 driver available for the device.
Generally, Windows 98 leaves real-mode drivers in place for devices during setup if Setup cannot provide protected-mode driver support for the device. In these situations, the drivers are usually loaded in the CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT file. If you need to use a real-mode driver for a device, you can install the driver in two ways. The first method is to use the Add New Hardware Wizard to install the device. Direct the wizard not to detect the device, and when the wizard displays the manufacturer and model dialog box, click the Have Disk button. Specify the path to the driver disk that was supplied with the device, then follow the remaining prompts to complete the installation process.
If the device includes a device driver disk but doesn't support automatic installation by Windows 98, you still can add support for the device. Copy the driver file(s) from the driver disk to your computer; then modify your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files as necessary to add entries for the driver file(s) according to the device's documentation.
NOTE: If you boot the system to DOS to modify the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files, remember that Windows 98 actually maintains two sets of configuration files. When the system is booted to DOS, the Windows 98 CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files, if any, are named CONFIG.WIN and AUTOEXEC.WIN. If you boot the system to the Windows 98 command line, however, the correct files to edit are CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT.
If two devices attempt to use the same resources, such as IRQ, DMA channel, or I/O addresses, a device conflict occurs. Device conflicts sometimes are relatively harmless. You can share IRQ values between two COM ports, for example, as long as you don't try to use the two ports at the same time. With other types of devices, however, a device conflict can cause the system to hang or even refuse to boot.
NOTE: EISA and MCA bus systems are capable of sharing interrupts in hardware.
If you use true Plug and Play systems and devices, device conflicts should not occur because the system can automatically detect available resources and assign them to a new device. When you use devices that do not support Plug and Play, or you use some Plug and Play devices on a legacy system, device conflict still can be a problem.
The best solution to device conflicts is to avoid them. Before you install a new device, open the Device Manager property page and print a system and device summary for the system. Check the printout to determine available resources for the new device, then configure the device for those available resources. After you install the device, use the Device Manager to apply the correct resource settings to the device if the Add New Hardware Wizard can't detect or set the correct resources.
Windows 98 also provides an automated tool to help you troubleshoot device conflicts. You can access the Hardware Conflict Troubleshooter from the Windows 98 Help index. To open the Troubleshooter, choose Start, then Help, or press Win+F1 on the Microsoft Natural Keyboard. In the Contents pane, choose the Troubleshooting topic, and then choose Windows 98 Troubleshooters. From the Windows 98 Troubleshooters tree select Hardware Conflict. You then need to click on the radio button in the right pane of the window to select "I need to resolve a hardware conflict on my computer" (see Figure 5.15).
FIGURE 5.15 Hardware troubleshooting.
Then click Next to start the Hardware Conflict Troubleshooter, which then steps you through troubleshooting the device conflict. Follow the prompts to identify and correct the problem.
Using the accelerated graphics port (AGP) provides support for devices which can make your system more enjoyable. Windows 98 delivers new features such as enhanced television, video playback, and support for these AGP devices. These enhancements can provide the user with hours of fun. Windows 98 supports a variety of new hardware devices, such as DVD, force-feedback joysticks, digital audio speakers, and recording devices. Improved Plug and Play capabilities make installing new hardware even easier. You will also enjoy improved graphics, especially 3D graphics, and video playback.
Multiple display support requires that all of the display adapters be PCI or AGP devices. The setup instructions vary according to the following two scenarios:
Your motherboard has a PCI or AGP display chipset and you have a second PCI or AGP display adapter to plug in.
When you use a computer with a built-in motherboard display adapter:
The built-in display usually is not the primary display. The computer disables the on-board video adapter at startup time and the add-in card becomes your primary display. This is a function of the BIOS and not something you can control.
It is important to set up Windows 98 for the first time with only your on-board video adapter in the computer. If another adapter is present before you start Windows 98 for the first time, Setup cannot initialize your on-board video properly.
If you follow the instructions and your on-board video does not function correctly as the secondary display, it is likely that Setup is unable to find and read the complete ROM of the adapter to initialize it properly. In this case, you must use two add-in adapters for multiple monitor support.
If your computer has built-in display chipset on the motherboard, follow these steps exactly when setting up Windows 98:
NOTE: You can independently set the resolution and color depth for each display by moving the Screen area slider and choosing a new color depth in the Colors box, while an adapter/ monitor pair is selected.
USB specifications define a category of hardware that makes it easy to add serial devices to your computer. USB support is designed to the specifications in such a way as to allow future updates to support current drivers. Simply plug the cord into your system to install a USB device. The Universal Serial Bus (USB) leverages emerging technology by using a 12-megabit per second capacity bus structure, which will be standard on every Intel motherboard shipping in the not so distant future. It is replacing the standard serial port and supports Plug and Play and daisy-chaining capability; it will enable users to software-set serial devices. This eliminates the need to take the cover off systems to install peripheral cards and manually set jumpers or dip switch settings. The need for an open industry standard like USB was generated by the proliferation of telephony and other new technology products that integrate the phone and PC. Where it will be deployed the most, at the desktop, USB supports up to 12 megabits per second of instantaneous bandwidth. This capability is more than sufficient for telephony-based products and applications.
The Win32 Driver Model provides support for USB devices. This driver model also supports Universal Serial Bus (USB) hubs, Universal and Open host controller interfaces, and Human Interface Device (HID)-compliant USB devices. One thing to note is that Microsoft does not natively support the CMD USB OHCI host controller. If you have revision 04 of the CMD USB OHCI host controller, you will get the following message when using the device manager: "Rev 04 CMD USB controller not supported by Microsoft." If this happens, you must contact your computer manufacturer for a vendor-specific driver. Also, don't confuse USB and IEEE 1394. Although they are similar technologies, you cannot interchange USB connections with IEEE 1394 connections.
IEEE 1394 is a specification for hardware devices that streamlines the process of adding a serial device to your computer. IEEE 1394 support is designed so that future updates of Windows will support current drivers. Installing a IEEE 1394 device is as simple as plugging the cord of the device into your computer. Support for the IEEE 1394 bus includes the 1394-bus class driver and minidrivers for both the Texas Instruments PCILynx and the Adaptec AHA-8940 200 Mbps host controllers. A stream-class driver for the Sony desktop camera (CCMDS250) is also provided. This release of Windows 98 includes a 1394 bus class minidriver for host controllers that adhere to the 1394 Open Host Controller Specification (OHCI), revision .94 or greater. You can find a copy of the minidriver in \betaonly\1394OHCI.
The following contacts are provided if you want to test IEEE 1394- compliant devices.
Windows 98 supports DVD movie playback. Support is available for Toshiba DVD Infinia systems with either S3 or ATI graphics cards. You cannot upgrade a Windows 95 system. Using DVD requires a clean installation of Windows 98.
All properly written DVD movies are supported on either VGA and TV displays. Support for several other DVD decoder cards will be available in the near future.
The hardware and software requirements for DVD are listed below.
These components allow DVD movie playback on an NTSC or PAL display provided the decoder card has that type of output. For use on a VGA display, you need a physical connection between the decoder card and the graphics adapter card and a DirectDraw HAL with VPE support written specifically for the graphics adapter.
Windows 98 also supports DVD-ROM drives as storage mediums. In order to use a DVD-ROM drive, your drive must be compliant with the Mt. Fuji specification (also referred to as SFF8090). In implementing DVD Windows 98 supports a new filesystem called UDF (Universal Disk Format). This is a read-only file system. You cannot write a UDF file to a disk. The reason for UDF support is that DVD movies contain a UDF file system, but they may not contain an ISO9660 file system.
The support for DVD-ROM drives requires Direct Memory Access (DMA). For Windows 98, you must enable DMA by using the following procedure. Open Control Panel, double-click on the System icon, and click the Device Manager tab. Under View devices by type, select the DVD drive, and then click Properties. On the Settings Option tab, select the DMA check box. Restart your computer.
You may run into problems having a DVD-ROM that requires a WDM driver. If that is the case you may experience problems while viewing movies. To remedy this you will need to get an updated UDF.VXD from Microsoft.
Using the DVD Player you can play DVD discs from a DVD drive connected to your computer, use your DVD drive to play software and music CDs. To open DVD Player after you have inserted a disc, click the Start button, Programs, Accessories, Multimedia, and then click the DVD Player. Your DVD hardware may require a decoder card and specific software. Check with your DVD and computer manufacturers for details.
Through the use of power management, you can minimize the power consumption of any of the devices on your system or for the entire computer. You do so through the configuration and choice of a power scheme that allows you to manage the power consumption of the system through a collection of various settings. The individual settings on your system can be adjusted in a number of ways, depending on the type of hardware you have. Some examples of these settings are:
Normally, to conserve power, it is a good idea to turn off your monitor and hard disk if you are going to be away from the computer for a short period of time. If you plan to be away from your computer for a while, you can put your computer in standby mode, which puts your entire system in a low-power state.
It is a good idea to put your computer in hibernation when you'll be away from the computer for an extended time or even overnight. When you restart the computer, your desktop is restored exactly as you left it.
To use power management, you must have a computer that is set up by the manufacturer to support these features. Below are some important Power Management features and how to configure them.
Open the Power Management Properties dialog box. Click the Alarms tab. If the Alarms tab is not displayed, your computer does not support this feature. In Low battery alarm and Critical battery alarm, specify the settings you want by dragging the slider. Click Alarm Action to select the type of alarm notification and power level you want. You can also open the Power Management Properties dialog box by clicking Start, pointing to Settings, clicking Control Panel, and then double-clicking Power Management. If you want your computer to shut down when the alarm occurs, click When the alarm goes off, the computer will in the Alarm Actions dialog box. You can set a low battery alarm, a critical battery alarm, or both.
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