General Troubleshooting - Adaptec 29320A-R Manual

General Troubleshooting

The following procedures can be used for troubleshooting in all the
Windows operating systems. For troubleshooting specifically in
Windows NT 4.0, see
page A-5.
What if I can't load the driver and suspect that it is an IRQ conflict?
The PCI specification allows the motherboard manufacturer to
determine the IRQ assignment for each PCI device. Check with the
motherboard/computer manufacturer for the specific PCI
configuration details of your system.
These are some basic steps that can assist the motherboard in
correctly allocating resources to your PCI devices and/or resolve
existing IRQ conflicts:
1 Move the PCI SCSI card to a PCI slot that is not forced to share
an IRQ with any other PCI, AGP, or ISA slot. These are usually
the PCI slots in the middle of the PCI expansion. You will need
to check with the motherboard/computer manufacturer for the
specific PCI configuration details of your system.
2 Check with your video card/display adapter manufacturer to
see if your specific video card requires an IRQ allocation. Most
motherboard CMOS/BIOS setup utilities have an option to
disable the allocation of an IRQ to the AGP slot. Disable this
option only if you have verified that your video card does not
require an IRQ.
3 Verify that all IRQs not specifically required for ISA devices are
set to Available or PNP ISA/PCI in the motherboard
CMOS/BIOS setup utility.
4 Verify that all devices not being used are disabled so that the
resources they are being allocated can be freed up for allocation
to another device. This is accomplished through the
motherboard CMOS/BIOS setup utility. For example, if you are
not using the onboard COM/Serial port on your motherboard,
you can usually disable this chipset and free up the IRQ it is
currently being assigned.
Troubleshooting in Windows NT 4.0 on
Troubleshooting in Windows
A-3