I Survived Windows 98!
In the last two articles, I looked at Windows 98 and installing Windows 98. This week's article is about living with Windows 98 and includes a mention of adding new hardware as well as running Windows 98.
New Hardware
This can often seem a daunting task - adding new hardware to your system. In the last week I have added a new sound card and another parallel port (a printer port).
Fitting the new cards was no problem at all - a simple "slot in" procedure but it is worth mentioning a few little tips when doing something like this.
First of all - if you take the back off your computer make sure you disconnect all power leads first!
Read the Instructions!
This is crucial! It sounds obvious but it is amazing how many people don't do this - even more experienced people. In particular, pay attention to the instructions where mention is made of other hardware.
For example, my parallel port card was, by default, set up as a "one and only" parallel port. The instructions stated that I needed to change jumper switches if I was adding the card to an existing port (which in my case I was).
Jumper switches are small black squares (about 3 mm square), that fit over two or more "prongs" projecting from the circuit board. They form a circuit and are used to make hardware changes which effect the way the device works. Get these wrong and the card will not work so it is important to read the instructions carefully.
Mostly these instructions talk about hardware addresses, IRQ's and such. You don't need to understand what all these mean so look at the instructions from a slightly different viewpoint. The instructions will say something along the lines of "If you have an existing port, set switch one to .... Switch two to ....." That's all you need to know.
If you are not sure if you have an existing "whatever" then use the "System" icon with control panel to check. Point is - make sure you read the instructions and set the jumper switches accordingly.
Another method of setting hardware is by using DIP switches. These are tiny "up and down" switches (like very small light switches) and are usually in rows of four or eight. You set the switches to ON or OFF in various combinations to alter the settings.
You should only install one piece of hardware at a time. Adding more than one piece at a time can often compound problems especially if the devices "talk" to one another (such as adding a new sound card AND a graphics card - a deadly mix if you try this in one step!).
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