by Rob Tidrow
In the past, installing new hardware on a PC was often a harrying and time-consuming task, even for those who considered themselves experienced users. With the Plug and Play specification release with Windows 95 and supported in Windows 98, much of the work of adding new hardware has been simplified, albeit not perfected. Not only can Windows find and install Plug and Play-compatible devices (more on Plug and Play in the next section), but Windows also does a good job of locating and automatically installing support for legacy devices (those that do not meet the Plug and Play specification).
Windows 98 doesn't differ from Windows 95 too much in the way it detects hardware and supports devices. One noticeable difference is that this release includes support for more devices and more types of devices. The new types of devices Windows now supports include the following:
The Plug and Play specification released with Windows 95 and supported in Windows 98 eliminated, or at least decreased, the number of problems associated with hardware upgrades and installations. Plug and Play is a hardware and software specification supported by Microsoft, Compaq, Intel, and many other manufacturers that frees the user from manually configuring hardware components. The purpose of Plug and Play is to provide a tight integration between the operating system and the hardware device, such as a sound card, CD-ROM device, or mouse. In many cases, system settings, memory access, and other configuration settings now are handled by Windows 98 and the device, not by the user.
If you've upgraded your Windows 3.x system or have added hardware to it, you know the frustrations of configuring device drivers, updating INI settings, figuring out the correct IRQ and DMA channels, and determining other details of setup. Each time you upgrade your system, you have to make sure that the newest device drivers are on your system to run with your software. Many times, the device driver has to be obtained from the manufacturer through a technical-support system or downloaded from the Internet.
NOTE: Downloading device drivers is not eliminated with Plug and Play. You still might need to download an updated driver for a hardware device to increase the device's performance, or even to enable some of its features in Windows 98. If you notice a device that worked fine under Windows 95 but is not functioning correctly under Windows 98, contact the manufacturer or visit its Web site (if it has one). If the problem is known by the manufacturer, you might be able to download an updated driver for it or read instructions on how to correct the problem.
When you first install Windows 98, Windows hunts down and configures any Plug and Play device you have on your system. You are not required to memorize IRQs and DMA settings just to get a piece of hardware working. Plug and Play takes care of all this when Windows 98 is set up.
NOTE: Windows 98 snoops out the hardware on your system and attempts to set it up during Setup. If Windows 98 can't figure out what to do with your hardware device and doesn't set it up during install, you can use the Add New Hardware utility in the Windows Control Panel after you have Windows 98 up and running. This utility is examined in more detail in each of the chapters in Part VI, "Configuring Windows 98 in a Networked Environment."
When upgrading from Windows 95, however, Windows 98 does not perform an entire hardware check. This greatly speeds up installation time. Also, if you have legacy hardware installed, which are not Plug and Play devices, Windows 98 detects and sets them up during the Windows 98 first boot after all Plug and Play devices are set up.
A major component of Windows is the inclusion of the Registry. The Registry is a centralized database of your system settings. The Registry is a hierarchical structure that stores text or binary value information to maintain all the configuration parameters that were stored in INI files in Windows 3.x. See Figure 5.1. The Windows 98 Registry is identical to the one introduced in Windows 95.
FIG. 5.1 Plug and Play relies on the Windows 98 Registry to determine system information.
One role of the Registry is to enable the Plug and Play system components to access the hardware-specific information. As new hardware devices are added to your system, Windows 98 checks your Registry settings for hardware-resource allocations, such as IRQs, I/O addresses, and DMA channels, and determines the settings for the new hardware device. With Plug and Play devices, all these configuration settings are performed at the software level, not the hardware level as before. This (virtually) eliminates the need to adjust settings on the hardware itself prior to installation. You can install the hardware and let Windows 98 do the rest.
You activate Plug and Play in one of five ways:
It goes without saying (but I'll say it anyway) that you need to install your hardware device in your computer before Windows can detect it and set it. With any device, including Plug and Play devices, follow the manufacturer's instructions for the installation of the card.
Read the documentation that accompanies your new device to learn how to change the interrupt request (IRQ) and input/output (I/O) settings. If your device automatically resets to the settings imposed by Windows 98, you do not have to manually set the IRQ and I/O settings.
Also, you might need to run any setup programs provided by your hardware manufacturer to finish setting up your device after the Add New Hardware Wizard runs. For older non-Plug and Play devices, these setup programs configure resource settings on the device.
NOTE: If there are default positions for any settings on a device, you should leave the settings at their defaults. In general, Windows 98 first looks for devices at the default settings for that card. The only time you need to change the settings from their defaults is if there is a conflict with some other device in your system.
After the hardware has been installed on your computer, you are ready to turn your computer back on and begin the process of telling Windows 98 about the new device. In many situations, just turning on your computer and starting Windows 98 is enough. Windows searches for devices each time it launches and compares each device installed with the device settings from the last time you launched Windows. If a new device appears, Windows attempts to install the correct drivers for the device. You might be prompted to provide the Windows Setup CD-ROM or floppy disks, or any setup disks that came with the device.
If a new device cannot be set up automatically by Windows during the launch stage, you're instructed to run the Add New Hardware Wizard after Windows starts. Also, if Windows doesn't even detect a new device during the startup stage, which is usually the case for legacy devices, you need to manually start the Add New Hardware Wizard.
Follow these steps to start the Add New Hardware Wizard:
FIG. 5.2 The first Add New Hardware Wizard screen tells you what the wizard does and gives you the opportunity to cancel it.
FIG. 5.3 This Add New Hardware Wizard screen list all the Plug and Play devices installed on your computer.
NOTE: Sometimes, devices appear in the Devices list (see step 3) because they are detected but Windows 98 has a problem installing them. If this happens, click the Finish button on the Upgrade Device Driver Wizard to view the properties of the device.
FIG. 5.4 From this wizard screen, you can select the type of hardware device you want to install.
FIG. 5.5 Select the device's manufacturer and model you want to install from this wizard screen.
CAUTION: Not all hardware vendors support Windows 98. As a result, some software drivers might not work properly with Windows 98. Check with the hardware manufacturer for updates to its device drivers. Also look for updated drivers on your manufacturer's World Wide Web site, if available.
FIG. 5.6 You can use the a device's Properties sheet to resolve some device conflicts.
Sometimes the Add New Hardware Wizard runs fine, but your device might not work properly. If you receive an error message that your device is not working properly, use the following steps to change the default settings that were set up during the Add New Hardware Wizard to the ones configured on your card:
FIG. 5.7 You use the Resources page for a device to change default settings.
FIG. 5.8 Use the Edit Input/Output Range dialog box to change the I/O setting for your new NIC.
For a hardware device, such as a keyboard, to work with the operating system controlling the computer, you need a sort of intermediary between the two. This is essentially what software device drivers do. Every piece of hardware attached to a computer requires some sort of software driver to tell the operating system what the hardware wants to do. Without the correctly installed driver, a hardware device and the operating system basically will be speaking in different languages to each other, not communicating properly, and essentially bringing the system to a standstill.
Adding or changing device drivers is substantially easier in Windows 98 than in the previous DOS/Windows combination. With Windows 98, you can add or change device drivers easily by using Device Manager, because Device Manager keeps track of assigned system resources.
To change the driver for a device (in this example, a standard 101/102-key keyboard), follow these steps:
FIG. 5.9 The keyboard properties dialog box.
FIG. 5.10 The Driver tab for the Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural Keyboard enables you to change drivers.
FIG. 5.11 Windows 98 will look for a new driver in various locations, including the Internet.
NOTE: If Windows locates a driver that matches the one already installed for your device, you'll see a wizard screen recommending that you keep the current location. You can click Next to finish the Upgrade Device Driver Wizard, or click Back to install a specific driver, as discussed in the following procedure.
TIP: A Models list details the keyboard models compatible with your hardware. Make sure the Show Compatible Devices option is selected. If the keyboard you want to set up is not on the list, you should select the Show All Hardware option. The list changes to show all such keyboards.
FIG. 5.12 Windows 98 shows a list of manufacturers and models that might match your installed device.
Windows 98 applications are designed to be installed in an easy and painless method. Applications distributed on CD-ROM, for example, use the Windows 98 AutoRun feature to automatically launch their setup wizard to guide users through the installation process. The AutoRun feature is activated automatically when a CD-ROM is inserted into a user's computer.
TIP: You can temporarily turn off the AutoRun feature by pressing Shift while inserting a CD-ROM. To permanently turn off the feature, display the Device Manager and open the Properties dialog box for your CD-ROM. Select the Settings page and uncheck the Auto Insert Notification option. Click OK.
If an application you acquire is not on CD-ROM, or it is on CD-ROM and you turn off the AutoRun feature in Windows 98, you can start the installation process by following these steps:
FIG. 5.13 Use the Add/Remove Programs Properties dialog box to install and uninstall applications under Windows 98.
FIG. 5.14 The Run Installation Program dialog box shows the name of the install program for the application you're installing.
TIP: You also can use the Run command from the Start menu to launch an application's setup program. To do this, choose Start, Run, and fill in the path to the setup program in the Open field. Click OK to launch the program.
Windows 98 applications include uninstall features that enable you to remove the program and its associated configuration and Registry settings from Windows 98. To remove an application from Windows 98, use these steps:
NOTE: You also can click the Add/Remove button to reinstall an application or to add additional components to an application.
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