Installing ISA Cards in Windows
admin > 11-14-2011, 07:41 PM
Issue:
ISA Cards don’t require any drivers and are configured via the hardware jumpers located directly on the card. Therefore the process to install a card is a little more manual.
Resolution:
- Check your system for available resources
- Enter the Device Manager by right clicking on My Computer, selecting properties and clicking the Device Manager Tab
- From the Menu select View Resources by Type
- Expand the IRQ Branch and find a number missing between 0 and 15, jumper the card to the missing number
NOTE: If IRQ 9 is availalbe then set the IRQ jumper to 2. If all the IRQs are being used then you must disable a device to free up an interrupt for our card.
- From the Menu select View Devices by Type
- Expand Ports (COM & LPT) and find a port number that isn’t currently in use.
NOTE: If COM1 through 3 are displayed then jumper the ISA Serial card for COM4.
NOTE: If LPT1 is displayed then jumper the ISA Parallel Card for LPT2
- Shut down your computer and place the ISA card in the slot
- Boot into the BIOS settings
- Reserve the IRQ selected by above
NOTE: Depending on your BIOS this could be located in a number of places but for an Award type BIOS this will likely be located in the PNP CONFIGURATION SETUP. Consult your motherboard manual to find equivalent settings and how to enter your BIOS setup
- Boot back into Windows
- Run Add New Hardware and let it detect the ISA card
- Verify the resources match the jumper settings
- Open device Manager and double click the new COM port.
- Select the Resources tab and make sure that the interrupt request matches what you have set our card to.
- Repeat Steps 1-6 for any additional ports
Applies to:
All ISA Cards