Member Avatar for chrisclough7283

I purchased a barebones computer and it works great!
I want to use an old steering wheel with the racing car games (old), but this is a 15 pin socket. The Motherboard has a 9 pin game socket. I installed an old sound card which has a 15 pin socket and plugged in. Plug and play installed the hardware and software and said that the device was ready to use.
Steering wheel did not work!
I opened systems manager, hardware, and saw a yellow question mark against the "game port for thrustmaster acm.
I right clicked, selected properties and this informs me that "this device cannot find enough free resources that it can use (Code 12)."
Clicking on the Resource tab, set configuration manually it shows the I/O range as 0201 - 0201 and that this is in conflict with Motherboard resources and standard game port.
Selecting the next I/O 0203 - 0203 brings up conflict with Motherboard resources as does the next I/O 0205 - 0205. The next one 0207 - 0207 is the same conflict as the first and then the cycle of options reverts to 0201 - 0201
I can disable the standard game port but when I go to Device Manager, View, Resource by Type, Input/Output there is no relevant I/O motherboard resource in the range 0201 - 0207 shown!!

Can anybody help!

I have an ASUS M4A88T-M/USB3 motherboard
AMD Phenom II X2 560 Processor
3.25Gb Ram
Windows XP Professional SP3 operating system
Thrustmaster grandprix 1 steering wheel
The Sound card has no name.

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Dani AI

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Brief diagnosis and practical next steps.

Code 12 on "Game Port for Thrustmaster ACM" normally means Windows cannot assign the legacy gameport I/O range the driver expects (common legacy addresses are 0x201, 0x203, 0x205, 0x207). That situation is usually about reserved legacy I/O space rather than a simple IRQ number clash. Modern motherboards and many PCI/HD-Audio cards either do not provide a true hardware gameport or rely on a vendor driver and an internal header/bracket to expose it.

Useful identification checks before deeper changes:

  • Identify the sound card model in Device Manager (Properties → Details → Hardware Ids) and obtain the manufacturer driver if possible.
  • Inspect the sound card physically for a DA‑15 (15‑pin) bracket or an internal "GAME" / "JOYSTICK" header, and check the motherboard manual for a matching header.
  • Confirm whether the wheel is a genuine gameport device (analog axes) rather than a device expecting USB/HID.

Practical troubleshooting (in priority order):

  • Install the official driver for the sound card (legacy gameport support is often driver-dependent).
  • Uninstall the broken "Game Port" entry in Device Manager, reseat the card in another PCI slot, then reboot to let Windows re-enumerate.
  • In the BIOS look for PCI/PNP or "Plug and Play OS" options and try toggling whether the BIOS assigns legacy resources (this is the method that forces BIOS-assigned I/O ranges). Keep unused serial/parallel ports disabled as already attempted.
  • In Device Manager use "View → Resources by connection" to see which device currently owns the 0x0201–0x0207 range; that reveals the blocking device.

If the card is very old or lacks a true gameport, the most reliable fallbacks are a PCI/USB audio solution that explicitly lists gameport support, or a gameport-to-USB adapter (these convert legacy analog joystick signals to USB HID). As noted, BIOS/device-disable is a valid path; as observed, Windows manages IRQs dynamically, so this is about legacy I/O reservation and driver/hardware capability rather than a simple IRQ reassignment.

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Member Avatar for rch1231

Go into the computer BIOS setup (normally Hit <DEL> or <F1> or <F2> depending on manufacturer) as the computer is booting and disable the onboard game port. While you are in there you might disable the onboard serial and parallel ports (if they are installed. Also I bet the motherboard has a 15 game port on a spacer that would fit in one of your expansion slots. The 9 pin port is normally a serial port.

Member Avatar for chrisclough7283

Go into the computer BIOS setup (normally Hit <DEL> or <F1> or <F2> depending on manufacturer) as the computer is booting and disable the onboard game port. While you are in there you might disable the onboard serial and parallel ports (if they are installed. Also I bet the motherboard has a 15 game port on a spacer that would fit in one of your expansion slots. The 9 pin port is normally a serial port.

I am not as savi as you with the BIOS set up. I hit <DEL> to get into the BIOS. I am given headings - Main-Advanced-Power-Boot-Tools-Exit.

I have searched each carefully but no onboard game port is shown. In the Advanced (Settings) the options are:
JumperFree configuration
CPI Configuration
Chipset
Onboard Device Configuration
PCIPnP
USB Configuration

In the Onboard Device Configuration is shown

Serial Port1 Address [3F8/IRQ4]
Parallel Port Address [378]
Parallel Mode [Normal]
Parallel Port IRQ [IRQ7]

HDAudio Controller [Enabled]
Front Panel Select [HD Audio]
Onboard LAN Controller [Enabled]
Onboard LAN Boot ROM [Disabled]
USB3.0 Controller [Enabled]

Which one do I disable and how?

Sorry to be a pain!

Member Avatar for rch1231

I would disable these and free up a few IRQ's

Serial Port1 Address [Disabled]
Parallel Port Address [Disabled]
Parallel Mode [Normal]
Parallel Port IRQ [Disabled]

Check under Chipset and see if there is an option for the onboard sound card or game port. If so disable them since you are installing a replacement card.

Member Avatar for chrisclough7283

I would disable these and free up a few IRQ's

Serial Port1 Address [Disabled]
Parallel Port Address [Disabled]
Parallel Mode [Normal]
Parallel Port IRQ [Disabled]

Check under Chipset and see if there is an option for the onboard sound card or game port. If so disable them since you are installing a replacement card.

I disabled Serial Port1 Address and Parallel Port Address. The latter automatically removed Parallel Port Mode and Parallel Port IRQ.

I searched the Chipset and all its subsidiary menus but found nothing resembling onboard sound card or game port.

Rebooted, but still have the same problem.

Member Avatar for gerbil

A PCI sound card? You cannot reassign IRQs to resolve 'conflicts' in XP... it dynamically assigns them; sharing should not be a problem.
You might attempt forcing XP to use resources that BIOS assigns to PCI... do this by editing boot.ini to include the parameter /pcilock in the OS specification line. I think some BIOSs have a switch for that, also.

Member Avatar for chrisclough7283

A PCI sound card? You cannot reassign IRQs to resolve 'conflicts' in XP... it dynamically assigns them; sharing should not be a problem.
You might attempt forcing XP to use resources that BIOS assigns to PCI... do this by editing boot.ini to include the parameter /pcilock in the OS specification line. I think some BIOSs have a switch for that, also.

I first restored the settings in the BIOS to the original.
Then I amended boot.ini as requested. Made no difference.

If at first you don't succeed.......................give up while you still have hair left!

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