This chapter describes the default system resources and how to share an IRQ between two devices. This chapter is only for Windows 98 and Windows 95.
In most cases, your computer automatically assigns the system resources when you install a new device. For example, your computer assigns such resources as the interrupt request (IRQ) level and the input/output (I/O) ports when you install a PC Card modem. Other devices might need such system resources as direct memory access (DMA) and memory. The IRQ for each system resource can have a value of 0 to 15. That is, there are 16 values that can be assigned for IRQs.
Sometimes Windows 98 and Windows 95 do not allocate the resources correctly, because the resource might already be allocated to another device. This is called a system resource conflict, or contention. In this case, you can free one IRQ by sharing an IRQ between two devices.
When doing this, you need to know about the system resources available and their IRQs.