Windows NT 3.51 supports a number of Personal Computer Memory International Association (PCMCIA) cards, which are listed in the Hardware Compatibility List. Supported PCMCIA cards are detected if they are in place when the computer is started. Supported cards installed while Windows NT is running are detected the next time Windows NT is restarted.
Conflicts between supported PCMCIA devices (serial ports, mouse port, and atdisk devices) and any other devices are not detected or resolved; you must resolve these conflicts yourself. In most cases, this step involves changing the IRQ of the device that is not a supported PCMCIA device. The exception is PCMCIA network adapters. The resources used by PCMCIA network adapters can be changed during installation, or by choosing Network from the Control Panel. The IRQs generally used by PCMCIA devices are as shown in the following table.
PCMCIA device type | IRQ level(s) used |
Atdisk devices | 14 or 15 |
Atdisk devices (Cirrus Logic PCMCIA controller) | 7 |
Modems | 3 or 4, or 5 if a mouse is using 3 or 4 |
SCSI® drive | 15 and or lower |
Network adapter card | 10 or higher |
It is especially important to make sure that there are no conflicts between a supported PCMCIA device and the boot SCSI device, since this could prevent the system from starting or from performing a bug check.
The SCSI PCMCIA device driver must be set up after installing Windows NT Workstation or Windows NT Server, as described in Windows NT Server Update Information for Version 3.51. It cannot be installed during text mode setup.