IRQ, DMA and I/O by Jim Aspinwall
Sooner or later, almost all PC owners face systems conflicts - malfunctions that arise when a new operating system, sound card, CD-ROM drive or other hardware or software component is added to a computer. In the vast majority of cases, the malfunctions fall into one of three basic conflict categories: IRQs, or interrupt requests; DMAs, or direct memory access; and I/O, or input/ouput functions. This text describes what causes PC system problems and how to solve them. It covers all major operating systems, including DOS, Windows, Windows 95 and OS/2. The accompanying disk contains a limited version of DiagSoft's conflict-resolution software, designed for pre- or post-installation use.