changing resources in device manager

Although i log on as Local\administrator i am unable to change any of the resource settings in Device Manager\properties window.. This at the moment has prevented me from getting some hardware working due to minor conflicts with IRQ,s.
I am runningWindows 2000 using NTFS format, I have tried changing passwords and even reinstalling 2000 and using no password but i am still unable to get any control over changing device resources.

Regards, Alan