Troubleshooting Device

and Hardware Conflicts

Karl D Swenson
Support Professional
PSS/Jenga Team
Microsoft Corporation
Overview
 Introduction
 A brief overview of Plug and Play (PnP)
 Understanding conflicts
 Identifying conflicts
 Resolving conflicts
 Driver issues when the system is reinstalled
without original drivers
 Resources
 Questions
2
Introduction

What Is a Conflict?

3
Overview of PnP Hardware
Detection System
 System BIOS and CMOS
 ISA or older devices
 Windows Configuration Manager
 PnP devices
 USB devices
 Hardware tree
 HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Enum registry key
4
Understanding Conflicts
 The difference between hardware and driver
conflicts
 Hardware conflicts generally involve resource
allocation
 IRQ (interrupt request)
 DMA (direct memory access)
 Input/output
 Memory addresses
 Device conflicts involve drivers and software
configuration

5
Understanding Conflicts (2)
 When they can happen
 After new hardware installation
 After program installation
 During operating system upgrade
 Out of the blue

6
Understanding Conflicts (3)
 Symptoms of conflicts
 Device does not function properly
 Sound does not work or repeats a sound
 System does not boot
 Port will not open
 Modem will not initialize

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Understanding Conflicts (4)
 Symptoms of conflicts (continued)
 Printer does not print
 Fatal events occur
 New devices are not detected
 Start up and/or shut down problems
 Problems entering standby and hibernation

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Understanding Conflicts (5)
 Reasons for conflicts
 Driver needs to be updated
 Driver files are corrupted
 Registry is corrupted
 Another program is conflicting with driver
 BIOS needs to be upgraded

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Understanding Conflicts (6)
 Reasons for conflicts (continued)
 Incompatible hardware
 Failing hardware
 Conflicting resources
 Insufficient resources
 Virus

10
Understanding Conflicts (7)
 Driver files
 BIN files
 Drvdata.bin and Drvidx.bin
 INFfiles
 VXD files
 Vmm32.vxd
 Static vxd
 Other driver files

11
Identifying Conflicts
 Tools to identify conflicts
 Device Manager
 Symbols

12
Identifying Conflicts (2)
 Tools to identify conflicts (continued)
 Device Manager
 Symbols
 Common symbols in Windows® 98 and
Windows® Millennium Edition (Me)
 Red X
 Exclamation mark on a yellow field
 White I on a blue field
 Yellow question mark
 New symbol in Windows Me
 Green question mark
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Identifying Conflicts (3)
 Tools to identify conflicts (continued)
 Device
Manager
Codes

14
Identifying Conflicts (4)
 Tools to identify conflicts (continued)
 Device
Manager
View resources used

Right-click and select Properties

on the shortcut menu.

15
Identifying Conflicts (5)
 Tools to identify conflicts (continued)
 Device
Manager
View resources used

16
Identifying Conflicts (6)
 Tools to identify conflicts (continued)
 Device
Manager
Specific device Resources tab

17
Identifying Conflicts (7)
 Tools to identify conflicts (continued)
 Microsoft System Information tool
(Msinfo32.exe)

Windows Millennium Edition Windows 98

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Identifying Conflicts (8)
 Tools to identify conflicts (continued)
 Msinfo32
in Windows 98
Contains IRQ conflict and sharing
information

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Identifying Conflicts (9)
 Tools to identify conflicts (continued)
 Msinfo32
in Windows Millennium Edition
Contains conflict and sharing information about
IRQ, DMA, input/output, and memory address

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Identifying Conflicts (10)
 Tools to identify conflicts (continued)
 Msconfig
Steps for Msconfig/clean boot troubleshooting

Windows 98 Windows Millennium 21

Windows 98 22
Windows Millennium 23
Identifying Conflicts (11)
 Tools to identify conflicts (continued)
 Removing devices
 Physically remove the hardware from the computer
or
 Disable through
Device Manager

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Identifying Conflicts (12)
 Tools to identify conflicts (continued)
 Safe mode
 What drivers load in Safe mode
 Ghost devices

25
Identifying Conflicts (13)
 Tools to identify conflicts (continued)
 Linear troubleshooting
 Application
 Hardware
 Operating system

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Identifying Conflicts (14)
 Example: Cannot print in Microsoft Word
 Print in Notepad or another application
 This can determine if it is an application-specific error
 Print in MS-DOS® mode
 Isolates and verifies the integrity of the printer and port
by printing directly to the hardware
 Print using generic text driver
 Isolates the driver as a potential problem area

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Device Driver Conflicts
 Tools to identify conflicts
 DirectX® diagnostics (Dxdiag.exe)

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Device Driver Conflicts (2)
 Tools to identify conflicts (continued)
 Minimum functionality drivers
 Mouse
 Video
 Display
 Standard modem
 Generic (text only) print drivers

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Device Driver Conflicts (3)
 Tools to identify conflicts (continued)
 Parallel installation
 Installing Windows into an isolated folder
without deleting either data or system
configuration information about the existing
installation.
 Verifies operation of the hardware drivers at
the most basic level. No conflicting programs.
 The original system can be restored
completely intact.

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Resolving Conflicts
 System Restore (Windows Millennium Edition
only)

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Resolving Conflicts (2)
 System Restore (Millennium Edition only)
 Restore registry
 Scandisk
 Reboot

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Resolving Conflicts (3)
 Resource reallocation

33
Resolving Conflicts (4)
 Remove and reinstall in Device Manager

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Resolving Conflicts (5)
 Remove and reinstall in Device Manager
 Update BIOS
 Hardware technicians

35
Resolving Conflicts (6)
 Update or reinstall drivers

36
Resolving Conflicts (7)
 Update or reinstall drivers (continued)

37
Resolving Conflicts (8)
 Update or reinstall drivers (continued)

38
Resolving Conflicts (9)
 Update or reinstall drivers (continued)

39
Resolving Conflicts (10)
 Driver sources
 Device manufacturer’s Web site
 Computer manufacturer’s Web site
 Third-party driver clearinghouse
 Microsoft Hardware Compatibility List (HCL)
 http://www.microsoft.com/hcl/

40
Resolving Conflicts (11)
 Resolving conflicts
 Using older drivers
 Pros
 Cons

41
Driver Issues
 Scenario: System is reinstalled w/o original
drivers
 Computer was originally installed with Windows
95 by the manufacturer. Video works well.
 Upgraded to Windows 98. Updates video drivers.
Video works well.
 Upgraded to Windows Me. No video upgrade
needed. Video works well.
 Formats and reinstalls Windows Me. Video works,
but with less functionality than before.

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Resource Information
 Q133240 “Troubleshooting Device Conflicts
with Device Manager”
 Q275012 “Description of Green Question
Mark in Device Manager”
 Q262381 “How to Troubleshoot Computer
Hangs During Hardware Detection”
 Q125174 “Explanation of Error Codes
Generated by Device Manager”

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Resource Information (2)
 Q131900 “Windows Hardware Compatibility
List”
 Q142984 “How to Install New Hardware in
Windows”
 Q181966 “System Configuration Utility
Advanced Troubleshooting Settings”
 Q267951 “Description of the System Restore
Utility in Windows Millennium Edition”

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Resource Information (3)
 Q275499 “Troubleshooting Device Driver
Issues by Using the Driver Information
Database”
 Q281965 “How to Troubleshoot Using the
Msconfig Utility with Windows 98”
 Q281995 “How to Troubleshoot Using the
Msconfig Utility in Windows Millennium
Edition”

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