Vol. I, No. 5: 2. Computer Tutor: When Plug 'n' Play Won't

The promise of Plug 'n' Play is simple: Buy the hardware. Open up your PC. Find an empty slot. Plug. And Play. ...

Sounds simple. And, since the introduction of Windows 95, often enough, it can be. ... But often enough, it's about as far from simple as you can get.

The first and most important thing to keep in mind is that, while your PC may seem like anything but logical when Plug 'n' Play won't, it still is. The entire configuration -- from motherboard and processor, through memory and hard drive, to operating system and software -- is all based on a simple and logical set of rules: Things are either on or off, yes or no, 1's or 0's. So, no matter how complex the permutations and combinations may get, the probability is straightforward: It's not that there's 'no two ways about it'. ... It's precisely that there are only two ways about it.

Whenever you install hardware in your PC, there are at least a couple of 'layers' that need to know what's going on. At the bottom layer -- usually in the BIOS, the stuff that gets read when you turn your PC on before the operating system actually loads -- there's all sorts of negotiation going on that you're usually not even aware of. If you think of each piece of hardware as a renter looking for an apartment in your PC high-rise, and you realize that the number and types of renters who can comfortably fit into any one apartment is limited, then you'll have some idea of what's going on.

In the 'old days', anyone who installed their own hardware quickly became familiar with some of the basic settings the PC required in order to function properly. Most common among them were IRQ settings {viz., interrupt requests for hardware that essentially set up addresses}, and a couple of files, specifically, CONFIG.SYS -- which told your PC what hardware was installed and where to look for the files needed to let it know how that hardware was expected to behave -- and AUTOEXEC.BAT -- the file that provided instructions, in proper sequence, for how to load hardware settings, memory managers, and more, as well as the PATH to common folders. ...

Of course, back then, a lot of hardware came, as it still does today, with installation software. The software not only made the necessary changes to the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files, it also installed drivers down in the operating system folders, and listed the addresses the PC needed in order for the hardware to function. ...

All that said, all you really need to know here is that, without your having to think about it too much, there was a lot going on. Then Plug 'n' Play came along to make all this stuff supposedly even more seamless ... and invisible.

The Cut to the Chase: What to Do When Plug 'n' Play Won't ...
Ok. Fast forward to the present. Your PC is running Windows 95 or 98, or maybe even Windows ME or 2000. You just bought a new piece of hardware.

First Things First: You Need a Plug in Order to Play ...
First, make sure you've unplugged your PC before you open the case. Next, make sure you ground yourself out by touching a part of the PC chassis before you touch anything in there. Ordinarily, you're full of static energy to begin with. And if you're at all antsy about this, your static charge has probably doubled, and all that hardware is very fussy about stray electron charges. So ...

Beyond that, there can be a very obvious reason your Plug 'n' Play hardware won't: You don't have the necessary plug to plug it into. ... Either you can't find an empty slot, or the only slots you can find don't seem to jive with the hardware you just bought. ... The first thing to understand, then, is that every piece of hardware is designed to fit a particular type of slot. ...

In the early days of the PC, just about everything went in an 8-bit slot. For memory, that usually meant a 30-pin slot, and for just about everything else, a relatively long slot that corresponded to the pins on the bottom of the card you were trying to install. As the PC evolved, the 8-bit slot became a 16-bit slot. Then came the VESA local bus, essentially, a 16-bit slot with a tail that was about as long-lived as 286's or 8-track tapes. All of a sudden those 30-pin memory sticks suddenly had 72 pins. Then came the PCI, a much shorter slot with many more pins, and the first truly 32-bit architecture down there.

PCI, AGP & 168-Pin Memory ... Nowadays, the PCI is still the most common slot for much internal hardware, although video cards have migrated over to what's known as AGP -- an accelerated graphics port. {And, trust us, if you bought an AGP card but don't have an AGP slot, there's not much you can do short of either returning the card and exchanging it for something that'll fit, or buying a new motherboard with an AGP slot.} As for memory, unless your machine is brand-spanking new or pretty old for a PC {like 4 or 5 years}, then your memory slots are probably 168-pin ... maybe, maybe not PC-100 compatible.

USB ... One more note here: Lots of newer external hardware is increasingly based on what's know as USB -- Universal Serial Bus. These devices -- from scanners to mice to just about anything else you're after -- simply plug into the USB port, usually mounted {unfortunately} on the back of your PC where it's less accessible. That's a pain because one of the great things about USB and newer operating systems {Windows 98 and newer} is that USB devices are "hot-swap-able," meaning you can simply tell the OS to disable the device, then plug another one in, and you're ready to go ... no re-booting necessary.

OK. You Have the Right Plug, But You Still Can't Play ...
Assuming you have the right plug and followed the manufacturer's installation instructions {sometimes cards need to be installed first, sometimes software, etc.}, and your new hardware still won't work, then what?

Entering the World of CMOS ...
Whenever you boot your PC, maybe you've noticed that little message that says 'Press DEL to Enter Setup' ... or something similar. If you actually hit the DEL {delete} key {or, less often, the ESC key}, a screen pops up that, to some, reads like a tech nerd's bible ... things like Standard CMOS, BIOS features, CHIPSET features, PNP/PCI configuration, intergated PERIPHERALS, IDE/HDD auto detection, and more.

STANDARD CMOS SETUP BIOS FEATURES SETUP CHIPSET FEATURES SETUP POWER MANAGEMENT SETUP PNP/PCI SETUP LOAD BIOS DEFAULTS LOAD SETUP DEFAULTS	INTEGRATED PERIPHERALS SUPERVISOR PASSWORD USER PASSWORD IDE HDD AUTO DETECTION SAVE & EXIT SETUP EXIT WITHOUT SAVING
A Typical CMOS Screen

What the screen will look like depends on the type and age of your motherboard. But most CMOS screens will let you set all kinds of things ... including lots of settings you do not want to mess with, so take care here. You can effectively cripple your machine. And while recovery is not necessarily all that difficult, it is time-consuming.

What to Look For ... and What to Do When You Find It
What we're looking for down here in the basement of your PC high-rise is two things -- the settings for "Power Management" or something like it, and the one for "OnChip" or "OnBoard" USB. Why?

Most newer PC's come with both Power Management and USB capability. But the two are not always enabled. And if they aren't, our experience tells us that problems with Plug 'n' Play can easily result. Why?

Well, while the these features, if disabled in CMOS, shouldn't then try to grab apartments for themselves, often, they do anyway. And the result is that your operating system, thinking the apartments are empty, will try to assign that new hardware to one of them. The only problem is, OnChip USB and/or Power Management are effectively 'squatting' in those apartments, and neither of them is very social. That is, neither is very likely to share that apartment with another piece of hardware without a conflict. In short, your PC won't boot. Or, even if it does {which is more likely these days with newer operating systems, your new hardware simply won't work. In fact, in lots of cases, it won't even be detected.

So. In our world, after you've tried a different slot and that hasn't worked, the best next thing to do is go down into CMOS and enable Power Management and the OnChip USB. In lots of cases, that will do the trick. ... You simply find the settings, toggle them to enabled {usually with PgUp and PgDn -- the instructions are usually right on the screen}, then "Save & Exit Setup." ... On the other hand, if you think you may have inadvertently changed a setting you didn't intend to and can't remember which one, or what the setting was, simply "Exit Without Saving" and try again. ...

Well, drop us an e-mail, with as much detail about your machine & hardware as possible, and we'll be happy to try to help you figure out what's going on.

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