Windows XP Device Manager

When having a problem with any hardware component (= device) on a Windows XP system,
it is a good start to check in the Device Manager to verify, whether the device (like a network
adapter ) is working properly :

	In the Control-Panel, select the System icon: (or right-click "My Computer" on the desktop and select Properties) Select the tab: "Hardware" and then use the button "Device Manager"
	In the Device-Manager, expand the specific section, like Network Adapters : right-click on your network adapter and select to display the "Properties"
	Tab : General Make sure, that the "Device status" is: "This device is working properly". if not, use the button "troubleshooting"
	tab: Advanced Some devices, like this network adapter, allow to configure additional items (in this example : the connector to be used in case of Combo adapters.
	tab : Driver In case that Windows has problems using the driver (either provided with the Windows XP CD-ROM or from a floppy disk or CD-ROM delivered with the hardware component), you can download from the manufacturer of the component a new driver, which you can use then to "Update". In case that the new driver is not working properly, you can use the feature "Roll Back Driver" to uninstall the new driver and use again the previously installed version of the driver.
	Tab: Resources For PCI network cards, it is not possible to change the resources (I/O-range and IRQ ), but for ISA Plug & Play card you can assign different settings (if you need to resolve a resource issue, but that should not be required, this should only be done by real experts )

By default, Windows XP will not display all installed drivers. To display the complete list,
select from the View-menu to "Show Hidden Devices" :

Example: Network Adapters
Device Manager will now display also the "internal" devices used for:
- Direct Cable connections : Direct Parallel
- VPN connections : WAN Miniport (PPTP)
- DSL/ADSL/Cable connections : WAN Miniport (PPPOE)

Since Windows XP and the PC-BIOS are managing the resource assignment (and since
Windows XP does not support anymore non-PnP-ISA adapters ), there is no actual need
anymore to verify the assigned resources, which can be display from the View-menu with
"Resources by type" :

The list will show for the IRQ's the
list of the build-in ISA-devices
(part of the PC motherboard) and
the resources assigned to PCI devices.

Note:
While ISA devices can NOT share
an IRQ, PCI devices can share an
IRQ (which need to be supported by
the device driver delivered by the
manufacturer of the component ).