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Eliminating Computer Hardware ConflictsIf you have a problem using Cakewalk, frequently the problem isn't actually with Cakewalk itself. When you get a "General Protection Fault" error message, or when your computer locks up, often this is due to a conflict within your system. Almost everyone who has ever owned a PC has had to deal with these problems and they can be difficult to resolve. But if you want things to work right, you have to bite the bullet and fix them. The Most Common Type of Conflicts:There are three very common types of conflicts that can affect Cakewalk.
You may be asking yourself, "What the heck is an IRQ, Port Address, or DMA?" Good question. Basically, IRQs, Port Addresses, and DMAs are settings for devices connected to your computer. These settings—if correct—enable the devices work with your computer and avoid interfering with each other. Here's a simple analogy that might help you understand the nature of a conflict. Think of an IRQ as a street address, and think of your computer as the mailman. Then, imagine that both you and your next door neighbor share the same address: 1 Strawberry Lane. What's going to happen when the mailman tries to deliver mail to 1 Strawberry Lane? He's going to see the same address on both mailboxes at which point his brain will start churning and churning so much that he won't know what to do—he'll lock up—he'll freeze—he'll stand there unable to deliver the mail—he'll crash—he'll "General Protection Fault." This is essentially what can happen when you have two pieces of hardware set to the same IRQ, Port Address, or DMA. So the point is,
Solving Conflicts: The Safe WayThe safe way is the method we recommend, and it requires that you first find out all the IRQ, Port Address, and DMA settings for your hardware. This is a one time procedure that you should probably do anyway to prevent future conflicts. The more devices you have in your computer, the more time consuming it becomes, so you must be prepared sniff around—to be the bloodhound.
Here are a few places to look that will help you determine your settings:
Where to change your settings.There are a few ways to change your settings, but the method is not the same for every device.
The only way to know for sure how to change the settings is to consult your manual or the device manufacturer. Getting to the root of the problem.A good way to find out the source of a conflict is to actually remove devices from the computer. Here's an example: Pretend the devices in your computer are a MIDI interface and two soundcards: Let's call them the Cool soundcard and the Loser soundcard. Say you suspect the Loser soundcard is the one that is causing the trouble. The best thing to do is to make your system as simple as possible and remove both the Loser soundcard and the MIDI interface.
The goal here is to see if the Cool soundcard will work by itself. If it does work by itself, then you know that the conflict happens when you introduce the other cards into the system. Next, one at a time, you add back the other cards. Try your system a few different ways:
So, the moral of the story is: Detecting conflicts is best done through a process of elimination. The Risky Way—Is There An Easy Way Out?You now know the safe way. The safe way is the most thorough way to resolve conflicts and to prevent future ones, but if you're the type of person that likes to find an easy way out, you can take your chances and try the Risky way. The risky way is very simple. Let's use our previous example of the two soundcards and the MIDI interface. If you thought that the Loser soundcard was the problem, instead of removing all the cards or taking an inventory of all the IRQs, Port Addresses, and DMAs in your system, you could simply change some settings. Let's say you weren't able to record MIDI using the Loser soundcard, and since not being able to record MIDI is indicative of an IRQ conflict, you could change the Loser soundcard's IRQ setting to one that you thought was free. If you guess correctly and change it to an IRQ that is free then you're successful at the risky way: You have nothing more to do. BUT...if you fail you can open yourself up to potentially more nightmarish problems—like your computer not booting into Windows which makes it much more difficult to change a setting. You must decide: The safe way or the risky way? We, of course, recommend the safe way. Back to index of technical articles
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