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Toshiba VIRTUALTECH C6609-1201M1 User Manual

Page 156

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156

If Something Goes Wrong

Resolving a hardware conflict

5.375 x 8.375 ver 2.3.2

Direct Memory Access

Similarly, the data required by the device is stored in a
specific place or address in memory called the Direct
Memory Access (DMA). The DMA provides a dedicated
channel for adapter cards to bypass the microprocessor and
access memory directly. If two or more devices use the same
DMA, the data required by one device overwrites the data
required by the other, causing a hardware conflict.

Plug and Play

With Plug and Play and the operating system, avoiding
hardware conflicts is easy. Plug and Play is a computer
standard that helps the system BIOS (basic input/output
system) and the operating system to automatically assign
system resources to Plug and Play-compliant devices. In
theory, if every device connected to the computer is Plug and
Play-compliant, no two devices will compete for the same
system resources. Plug in the device and turn on your
computer. The operating system is automatically set up to
accommodate the new device.

If you install an older (legacy) device that the operating
system cannot recognize, the operating system may have
difficulty assigning resources to it. As a result, a hardware
conflict can occur.

Resolving conflicts

There are three things you can do to resolve hardware
conflicts:

Disable the device.

For an older device, remove it from the computer.

Disable another system component and use its resources
for the new device, see

“Fixing a problem with Device

Manager” on page 157

.