insight ■
■ troubleshooting
Video errors, installation and upgrade problems, using Hindi fonts
and much more—find your answers here
Internet telephony
I have a 1 GHz Celeron processor, a
motherboard with integrated sound and
graphics and Windows 98, with a modem.
I use this system primarily for voice chat-
ting with my husband. The problem is
that he can hear what I'm saying but I
can't hear him. Is this problem related to
the soundcard or the telephone line?
Shamina
Via e-mail
This problem could occur due to vari-
ous reasons. Check if the headset is
plugged into the correct port on your
soundcard—it should be in the head-
phone-out port. Use the audio-tuning wiz-
ards that come bundled with the voice
Select your soundcard as the preferred device
92
chatting software to adjust the volume lev-
els. For instance, in MSN and Yahoo! Mes-
senger, these options are under the Tools
and Help menus, respectively. An error in
these wizards will let you know the cause
of your problem. Finally, go to Start > Set-
tings > Control Panel > Multimedia. Make sure
that the name of the soundcard under the
Playback and Recording sections is the
right one. Also, check the box titled ‘Use
only preferred devices’ and turn up the
Master and Wave volumes in Volume Con-
trol by going to Start > Programs > Accessories
> Entertainment > Volume Control. If you have
amplified speakers, increase their volume
as well.
Viral attack
I have Windows 98 SE installed on my
PC. A few days back, I noticed two files,
Folder.htt and Desktop.ini, recreated in
every folder. I formatted the hard drive
and recreated the partitions, but the prob-
lem persists. It causes an adverse effect on
the system speed too. Apparently, the files
are also infected with the VBS/Redlof@M
virus. Which virus scanner can I use to
remove it?
Vijay Tripathi
Via e-mail
This is a polymorphic, encrypted,
VBScript virus that infects HTML-based
and VBScript files on all drives. The virus
also copies itself to either the Kernel.dll
or Kernel32.dll files and changes the
default association for DLL files. It will
then embed itself into every HTML e-mail
you send. You can use any good virus
scanner such as Norton AntiVirus to look
for infected files. Before this, you should
modify the registry. Open the Registry
Editor by running regedit from Start > Run
and go to HKEY_Local_Machine\Soft-
ware\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVer-
sion\Run. Delete the value Kernel32
under this. Next, browse to HKEY_Cur-
rent_User\Identities\[User ID]\Software\
Microsoft\Outlook Express\[Version]
\Mail and delete the values Compose Use
Stationery, Stationery Name and Wide
Stationery Name. Under HKEY_Cur-
rent_User\Software\Microsoft\Office\
9.0\Outlook\Options\Mail, delete the
EditorPreference value and finally, under
HKEY_Classes_Root\dllFile, delete the
keys Shell, ShellEx, ScriptEngine and
ScriptHostEncode. Next, open Start > Set-
tings > Folder Options and switch the view to
Classic style instead of Web style. Restart
the machine for the changes to take effect
and run the virus scanner.
USB camera
I have a Pentium III system running
Windows 98 SE. I have been using a
Canon IXUS 300 digital camera for the
past one year without any problems.
However, now whenever I connect my
camera to the computer using a USB
cable, an error, ‘STIMON caused an
invalid page fault’ is displayed. I have
uninstalled and reinstalled all the software
bundled with the camera. When I access
Scanners from the Control Panel and
select the camera in the window, an error
JANUARY 2003
with Sticpl.cpl is displayed. Recently I had
downloaded and installed the Windows
98 Q323255 Update. Could this have
caused the problem?
Nitesh Kumar Jain
Via e-mail
It seems that the Stimon.exe file on
your PC is damaged. Press [Ctrl] + [Alt] +
[Del] and check if Stimon is running. If it
is, end the task. Delete the file from \Win-
dows\System. Run the Registry Editor and
navigate to HKEY_Local_Machine\Soft-
ware\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVer-
sion. Look for a value named
StillImageMonitor under either the Run or
RunServices keys. Delete the value and
restart the PC. Now reinstall the drivers for
the USB camera.
Restoring a file using System File Checker
If you still get an error, replace the Stic-
pl.cpl file, too. To do this, run sfc from Start
> Run and insert the Windows 98 installa-
tion disk. Select the option ‘Extract one file
from installation disk’ and click Browse.
Locate Sticpl.cpl in the \Windows\System
folder and click Start. Restart the machine
after restoring the file.
Bootable floppy
I made a bootable disk several times,
using different floppies, but my PC does-
n’t boot from it. I can see the file list on
the disk from DOS and Windows. What
could be the problem?
Ashish
Via e-mail
Your PC is probably not set to boot
from the floppy drive. This is a setting in
the BIOS, where you can choose what
device chain it should look through for
booting. While the PC is booting, press
the [Delete] key ([F2] on some BIOSes) to
enter the BIOS setup. The way to access
this option varies across different BIOSes,
but just look for an option such as Boot
93
Installing Solaris
I have a Compaq Presario PC with
Windows XP pre-installed on it. The
partitions of my 40 GB hard disk
are 37 GB (NTFS) and 2.7
GB (FAT32). I want to
install Solaris 8 on my
machine. When I
boot the Solaris ker-
nel, it gets terminat-
ed and the system
gets restarted. Is
there a problem with
my BIOS, which is not
allowing the kernel
to run on it?
Gaurav ILLUSTRATIONS: Mahesh Benkar
Via e-mail
The installer is probably having
some problems with the 40 GB hard
Order or First Boot Device. Ensure that A
or Floppy is set as the first boot device,
save the changes and exit the BIOS.
Henceforth, it should boot from the
floppy. If it still doesn’t, the problem could
be with the floppy drive itself, in which
case you will have to get it replaced.
Running old programs
I need to run a DOS accounting soft-
ware under Windows Me, but I have to
change the Files variable to 100, which by
default is 10. In Windows 98, I used to set
it from the config.sys file, but in Windows
Me I cannot edit it. How can this be done?
Rahil Mehta
Via e-mail
You can set the environment variable
from the autoexec.bat file instead of the
config.sys file. Use the DOS command SET
to assign a value to a variable. Thus, you
can enter the following line in the
autoexec.bat file, or type it directly at the
Command Prompt:
SET FILES=100
To remove an environment variable,
type the SET command without any value
(SET FILES=) and simply type SET to view a
list of current variables.
Receipt confirmation
I have a Pentium II 433 MHz system
with 128 MB RAM running Windows 98
SE. I have Outlook Express 6 installed as
my e-mail client. How can I confirm that
the person to whom the mail has been
disk. The OS does not support disks
beyond 32 GB, as documented on the
Sun Web site. Your BIOS probably does
support the drive, as Windows
XP is installed and running on
it. One workaround to this
is to get another smaller
hard disk and install
Solaris on it, install the
patches for Solaris that
enable support for
large disks, then
reconnect the 40 GB
drive. Another possible
workaround is to install
Solaris 8 on a smaller hard
disk and then connect the 40
GB drive, but disable it in the BIOS. You
could also try setting the drive to 32 GB
in the BIOS and installing the operat-
ing system.
sent has seen the message?
Sukhbir
Via e-mail
You can request a notification when
the recipient reads the message using the
Request Read Receipt option in Outlook
Express. When creating a message, click
Tools > Request Read Receipt to enable this for
the message. A better option would be to
enable this permanently, so that the
request goes with every message you send.
To do this, open Tools > Options > Receipts
and enable ‘Request a read receipt for all
sent messages’. Here, you will also notice
how Outlook Express should respond to
receipt requests it gets from other senders.
When the recipient first opens your mes-
sage or views it in the Preview Pane,
Enable Read Receipt requests in Outlook
Express
JANUARY 2003
insight ■
■ troubleshooting
XP Service Pack
I have a Pentium III 1.14 GHz proces-
sor and 128 MB SDRAM. I tried installing
Windows XP Service Pack 1 from the
November Mindware CD. After it copied
all the files, it gave a message that the CD
key is not valid. If the key was not
valid then Windows XP
would not have installed
in the first place. Why
am I getting this error?
Meetesh Jain
Via e-mail
Since the release of
Windows XP,
Microsoft noticed that
the vast majority of
illegitimate copies are
using a small handful of
leaked CD keys. In an effort
to thwart these illegitimate users, Win-
dows XP Service Pack 1 will not install
on systems using these keys. Microsoft
claims that legitimate licensed users of
Outlook Express will either send back a
message saying that the e-mail has been
read, or ask the user for confirmation to do
so, depending on the settings. It may also
be set to never send such notifications.
Thus, it is possible for the recipient to not
send you the receipt notification.
Autorun
How can I create an Autorun CD?
Prabhat
Via e-mail
To create an Autorun CD, simply place
a text file named autorun.inf in the root.
The contents of this text file can have a
lot of property and behaviour-defining
parameters, but the ones you will use
most are the following:
open=<program path and name>
icon=<icon path and name>
Each parameter must appear on a sep-
arate line. Also, ideally the path should be
relative, since the CD-ROM drive letter
would differ from PC to PC. Thus, if you
want to launch a program named
runcd.exe from the Autorun folder on a
CD, the text would be open=autorun\
runcd.exe.
Cross cabling
I have an IBM NetVista with a D-Link
Lan card installed. Recently I purchased a
94
XP Professional should be unaffected.
During the installation of Windows
XP Professional, you are prompted to
enter a 25 digit Windows XP Product
Key, which XP uses to generate the sys-
tem’s product ID. Because of security
concerns about piracy, Microsoft does
not provide a tool that allows you to
view the Product Key that was used to
install the operating sys-
tem. The Product ID
can be found by right-
clicking My Com-
puter and choosing
Properties. To deter-
mine eligibility for
the update, Service
Pack 1 compares the
Product ID on the sys-
tem against the list. Ser-
vice Pack 1 for Windows
XP will fail to install if either the
XXXXX-640-0000356-23XXX or the
XXXXX-640-2001765-23XXX range of
Product IDs is found on your system.
Pentium 4 system with a Compex
RE100ATX/WOL Lan card. I connected
them with a cross-crimped cable and
after logging on, the IBM node was avail-
able in Network Neighborhood of the
Pentium 4 system. When I tried accessing
it, it displayed a message that the node
was not accessible and the IBM system
does not show Pentium 4 at all. On con-
necting the two via a hub on an existing
network, both machines can access other
systems on the network, but not each
other. Please help.
Pathanjali Nadiminty
Via e-mail
Add, remove and configure protocols and
services on Windows 9x
You have not mentioned what operat-
ing systems each machine is running. The
problem can occur due to incompatibili-
ty of network protocols across the
machines, or simply some network set-
tings. Ensure that the same set of proto-
cols and services are installed on both
systems and they should be able to com-
municate with each other. Also, if you are
using only TCP/IP on both machines,
make sure they both have valid IP
addresses in the same subnet. You can
configure all network settings by right-
clicking Network Neighborhood and
clicking Properties. Most importantly,
ensure that File and Print Sharing is
enabled on both computers.
Hindi on the Web
I would like to put a Word document
containing Hindi script on the Internet. The
document has been created on Windows
98 using Word 97, using Akruti fonts. The
fonts have been embedded into the docu-
ment and I tested it on several computers
where Hindi fonts are not installed. The
document opened properly, so I sent it to
London, where the Web site is being main-
tained. The feedback from there is that
they cannot see Hindi script as the font is
not available. What could be the reason for
this? Are there any limitations in embed-
ding true type fonts in Word?
Prasad DVR
Via e-mail
It is possible that the document is
being viewed within Internet Explorer at
the other end. Thus, the embedded fonts
may not show. Also, it is possible that the
document is being viewed on a different
version of Microsoft Word, which may be
handling the file differently. Create dif-
ferent versions of the document on dif-
ferent versions of Word and see if they
open properly. Word 2000 and higher
have stricter licensing policies when
embedding fonts than Word 97, so this
could cause the problem.
Startup screen
I’m facing a curious problem. Normally
when Windows boots, it shows the graphi-
cal bootup screen of the Windows version.
I have Windows 98 SE on my machine. For
the last three months, my bootup screen
has changed to that of Windows Memphis.
I don’t know how it got changed. I looked
for the logos.sys and logow.sys files, but
these are intact. The screen had changed
after I installed some software. I have
JANUARY 2003

FAQs
TV tuner problems
I have a Mercury TV tuner card. TV
programs are captured with quite poor
quality while recording in VCD mode.
Changing the resolution has not helped.
Can I directly save the video capture in
DivX/MPEG4 format? I can’t afford to
record raw video as I have only 7 GB of
free space.
Anoop
Via e-mail
The quality at which you can capture
video is largely dependent on the TV
tuner card—cheap, low-end cards can
never match the quality of a dedicated
video capture card. The quality that you
get is probably a limitation of your hard-
ware. Try checking the driver configu-
ration of your card to see if it offers a
high-quality mode. You can do this by
referring to the manual or the manu-
facturer’s Web site (www.kobian.com). Cap-
turing to DivX formats is very
processor-intensive and requires a high-
end CPU. You can download the latest
DivX bundle from http://www.divx.com/
divx/. After doing so, you can choose to
encode into DivX from your TV tuner
card’s video capture settings—if your
processor has the necessary power, you
will be able to get good video encoding.
If your processor is not up to it, try
using other codecs such as Intel Indeo
5.x or Radius Cinepak. These are not
very heavy on the system and do not
cut away too much visible clarity. Do
note that encoding has very little to do
with the video quality of live feeds. The
codec only compresses the incoming
video feed and further quality loss due
to encoding is usually marginal
(depending on the codec settings). The
only other way encoding affects quality
is if frame-drops occur due to slow
processors. Thus, if you notice that the
video feed itself is good quality and only
the recording is poor, check the codec
settings—changes such as using a dif-
ferent codec (keep away from the CPU-
intensive ones), reducing the amount of
compression and using more keyframes
can tremendously improve quality. For
better video quality, the best option
would be to record video at higher res-
olutions, but you may have to upgrade
the TV tuner card for that.
95
No picture
I have a Compaq Presario 7500 run-
ning Windows XP Professional. It has 192
MB of RAM and a Compaq DVD/CD-
ROM SD-612B. I use Windows Media
Player version 9, but am not able to see
movies on it—I can hear the sound, but
there is no picture. Please help.
Ankush
Via e-mail
The problem is with either the player
itself, or the video codecs. This problem
has been documented in earlier versions
of Windows Media Player. Version 6.4
has been the most stable player till date,
but most bugs seem to have been fixed in
version 9. Also, until now only Release
Candidates for the new version have
been made available, which means it
tends to have bugs. The final release will
have at least the most apparent bugs
fixed. You can download and install the
earlier version from www.microsoft.com/
windows/windowsmedia/download/default.asp
and try watching the movies.
It would be difficult to determine
whether it’s a codec problem, since you
have not mentioned what kind of
movies you are trying to view—whether
they are MPEG or AVI files, VCDs, or
other formats. DivX videos that you
download off the Internet could pose
problems. There are several flavours of
the codec such as SMR, FlaskMPEG,
Microcrap, etc and if the videos are
encoded with any of these, you would
need to have the relevant codec installed.
Since these codecs are very similar at the
core, the player may open the file any-
way and not display any picture. If the
codecs seem to be the problem, try
downloading and installing the Codec
Pack of ELISOFT from http://codecpack.
elisoft.net/.
Another problem, though unlikely,
could be with the video files them-
selves if they are DivX files. Some
video files get corrupted during trans-
fers or encoding software add unnec-
essary headers. Open the file using
VirtualDub (www.virtualdub.org) and save
it as a different file using the Direct
Stream Copy option for video and
audio. This will cut out unnecessary
bytes from the file that the player may
not understand.
uninstalled it, but the screen has not
changed back. Is there a way to solve this
problem other than reinstalling Windows?
Abhradeep Biswas
Via e-mail
The startup screen is not loaded from
the logo.sys or logow.sys files. If the
logo.sys file exists, it is used for the start-
up screen, otherwise the default system
screen is used. Thus, to revert back to the
original display, simply locate and delete
the logo.sys file. This could be in the root
of drive C or in the Windows folder.
Noisy drives
When I start my PC, the floppy drive
makes some noise and after entering the
BIOS password, it again makes some
noise. After the operating system is
loaded, when I start any application, my
hard disk also starts making some noise.
Please help me reduce these noises. I scan
and defragment the hard disk regularly.
Kamalshil Lokhande
Via e-mail
On starting the PC, after POST and after
entering the BIOS password, the BIOS may
be looking up the floppy drive to check if
a bootable disk is inserted, causing the
noise. You can disable this option from the
BIOS and have it boot directly from the
hard disk instead (see question, Bootable
floppy). Also disable ‘Boot Up Floppy Seek’
from the BIOS. When you start applica-
tions, Windows would be transferring a lot
of data to the hard disk to use the sswap
file. There is not much you can do about
this. The hard disk will make noise every
time there is heavy disk activity. Setting a
permanent swap file after defragmenting
the hard disk once may help, but will not
reduce the noise much. If you have Win-
dows 9x, to set a permanent swap file open
Control Panel > System > Performance > Virtual
Memory. Enable ‘Let me specify my own
virtual memory settings’ and set the same
value for the minimum and maximum
swap file size. Ideally, this value should be
two-and-a-half times the amount of RAM
you have on the PC. Thus, if you have 64
MB of RAM, set this value to 160.
Send your computing
problems to
sos@jasubhai.com
or write to Digit,
D-222/2, Om Sagar, MIDC, Nerul-400
706, and we may answer it here!
JANUARY 2003
insight ■
■ troubleshooting
Missing identities, skewed history, compatibility issues,
dying music, disappearing arrows—the doctor will see you now...
A failing hard disk
I’ve been facing a strange problem late-
ly. Windows shows an error message about
the name and location of files and folders
that I know are there on the hard disk—
I’ve been working with these files till
recently. Is my hard disk about to crash?
Rama
Via e-mail
It could simply mean that a rogue
software has scrambled your data or that
it is an isolated hardware glitch.
Run ScanDisk and set it to examine
the entire disk for physically damaged sec-
tors. If you’re using Windows 98 or Me,
click Start > Programs > Accessories > System
Tools > ScanDisk and enable the Thorough
option. In Windows 2000 and XP, open
Let ScanDisk
automati-
cally correct
all errors it
encounters
My Computer, right-click the drive, select
Properties > Tools and click the Check Now
button under Error-checking. Next, check
‘Automatically fix file system errors’ and
‘Scan for and attempt to fix bad sectors’.
If ScanDisk reports only a few logical
91
errors, such as cross-linked or fragmented
files, let ScanDisk repair the files. But if it
reports more than a few physical errors, it’s
time to immediately back up your data. It
is a good practice to run ScanDisk once a
month to catch hard disk problems in
time. Also, try using Search to locate the
files in case they’ve been moved acciden-
tally. Run an anti-virus program to elimi-
nate the possibility of the filenames being
changed due to a viral attack.
Double trouble
I am facing a peculiar problem with
Windows 2000 Server. The programs in the
Startup folder or the All Users Startup fold-
er starts twice, slowing down my startup.
Rita Joshi
Via e-mail
The likely reason for this is that the
registry entries for the two Startup folders
are pointing to the same place. The All
Users Startup folder is usually located in
The Registry Editor is a very powerful tool for
modifying Windows settings
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\
Start Menu\Programs\Startup. The user-
specific Startup folder is the same except
that the username replaces ‘All users’. Ver-
ify these locations in Windows Explorer.
Open the registry (go to Start > Run and
type regedit) and browse to the following
keys: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Soft-
ware\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVer-
sion\Explorer\Shell folders
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\
Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ex
plorer\User Shell Folders
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\
Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\
Explorer\Shell folders
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\
Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\
Explorer\User Shell Folders
For each key, examine the right-hand
pane for values named Startup or Com-
mon Startup. The All Users Startup can be
correctly identified as %ALLUSERSPRO-
FILE%\Start menu\programs\Startup,
and the user-specific startup as %USER-
PROFILES%\Start Menu\Programs\Start-
up. Double-click to fix the ones that point
to the wrong folder.
Error reporting gets irritating
If any of my programs causes a fatal
error, Windows XP doesn’t force me to
reboot, but it keeps asking me if I want to
send a report to Microsoft, which is quite
annoying. Is there some way I can stop this?
Natasha
Via e-mail
FEBRUARY 2003
insight ■
■ troubleshooting
Disable error reporting in Windows XP
Allowing Windows XP to send the
error report to Microsoft has some advan-
tages to it—it helps the company develop
patches to make the OS more compatible
with applications. But if this is happening
too often, you can disable it. Right-click
on My Computer and select Properties.
Select Advanced > Error Reporting and disable
error reporting. If you have an application
that causes a lot of errors, you can even
disable error reporting for specific pro-
grams by clicking Choose Programs.
Lost identities
Ever since I installed the service pack 1
upgrade for Windows XP, I haven’t been
able to use my multiple e-mail identities in
Outlook Express 6—I can only access the
main identity.
Should I uninstall service pack 1 for
Windows XP or reinstall the other identities
with the associated e-mail addresses?
Sarita Ramakrishnan
Via e-mail
There is an easier workaround for this
problem. Select Files > Identities > Manage
Identities and uncheck ‘Use this identity
when starting a program’. Now every time
you start OE, you will be prompted to
select an identity. If you want to switch
identities, restart OE and select another
identity.
Skewed History
When I type www.t in Internet Explorer’s
address bar, the auto fill-in suggests a site I
find distasteful and have never visited. Is
there a way to remove the site from
Internet Explorer’s address bar auto fill-in?
Nikhat
Via e-mail
92
Unable to kick-off FIFA
I had used my external CD-ROM
drive to install FIFA Football 2002, but
that drive has developed a fault and
needs to be repaired. My problem is
that when I try to run the game from my
DVD-ROM drive, the system tells me
to use the correct drive. Will I
have to reinstall the game
using the DVD-ROM
drive or is there
another solu-
tion to this?
Shalini
Mazumdar
ILLUSTRATIONS: Mahesh Benkar
Via e-mail
FIFA Football 2002 and other
games that require you to use the instal-
lation CD to start playing the game,
work only when the CD is in the drive
from which you installed the game.
If you reinstall the game from the
other drive, you would lose your saved
Selectively delete URLs from your IE History
Somebody using your PC must have
visited the site in question, as the Auto-
Complete entries in IE’s address bar are
drawn from your IE history.
A drastic step would be to get rid of the
entire history list by clicking Tools > Inter-
net Options and clicking the Clear History
button, but why lose the benefit of auto
completion? You can prevent a particular
URL from appearing in the address bar:
click the History button on the toolbar,
click on Search and locate the URL. Then
right-click each page in the history list
that matches the URL, and delete.
Formatting text from the Web
Text copy-pasted from the Web into
Word often has odd formatting and car-
riage returns after every short line of text.
This makes the article take up quite a few
pages when I take a printout. Is there a
quick way to format such text so I can
games and seasons. A simpler solution
would be to simply swap the drive let-
ters for your CD-ROM and DVD-ROM
drives. In Windows 98, go to Device
Manager and right-click on CD-ROM.
Next, under Properties, select the new
drive letter from the list.
If you are running
Windows XP, go to
Control Panel > Perfor-
mance and Mainte-
nance > Administrative
Tools > Computer
Management. Select
Disk Management
from the left pane
and locate the two
drives in the graphical view on the
right. Right-click on the DVD-ROM
drive, select Change Drive Letter and
Paths, and assign it the letter original-
ly held by the CD-ROM drive. Similar-
ly, change the drive letter for the
CD-ROM drive.
remove the carriage returns in one go,
instead of deleting them one by one?
Manish Saxena
Via e-mail
You can remove the carriage returns
through the Find and Replace dialog box
in Word. Before you begin, make sure that
there’s a blank line between paragraphs.
Bring up the Find and Replace dialog box
by pressing [Ctrl] + [H] and clean the doc-
ument as follows:
Step 1: Replace ^l with ^p (here ^l repre-
sents a new line (manual line break) and
^p represents a paragraph mark).
Step 2: Replace ^p_ with ^p (here the
underscore represents space).
Step 3: Replace _^p with ^p (the under-
score represents a space). Steps 2 and 3
ensure that you don’t miss out the paired
paragraph marks because of any inter-
vening space.
Step 4: Replace ^p^p with %$#@. In this
step the actual paragraph breaks (a pair of
paragraph marks represents the blank
lines separating the true paragraphs) are
replaced with a text string that does not
appear in the document.
Step 5: Replace ^p with a space. This takes
care of any stray paragraph marks.
Step 6: Replace %$#@ with ^p^p. This
restores the correct paragraph breaks.
In the Find and Replace dialog box,
click on More and expand the Special drop
FEBRUARY 2003
down list to select these characters. You can record these steps as a
macro, which you can apply every time you copy text from the Web.

An issue of compatibility
I recently upgraded to Windows XP Pro, but some of my old
games and programs don’t run in XP. What could be the problem?
Basant Kulkarni
Via e-mail

You can get your legacy applications to work in XP by trying out

the different compatibility modes. Right-click on your application’s
The Compability option allows
older games to be played in
Windows XP
shortcut and in Properties, click
the Compatibility tab to launch
the Compatibility wizard. Select
either the Windows 98 Compati-
bility mode or Windows 2000
Compatibility mode and see if
your application works. If it does-
n’t work, try selecting the Disable
Visual Themes option. If the
application still doesn’t work, try
dual-booting your PC with Win-
dows 98 or another OS that you
know works with the app.
Remember to first install the
older OS and then the more
recent one. For example, install
Windows 98 first, and then install
XP on another partition.

Missing msconfig in Win2000

I am running a PC with Windows 2000 Pro with Service Pack 2.
After a spree of experimentation, I ended up with a lot of programs
running on startup. As a result, my system takes ages to load.
However, I cannot locate msconfig.exe in Windows 2000 for clean-
ing out the System Tray. Please help.
Anand Kukreja
Via e-mail

Unfortunately, msconfig is not included in Windows 2000, but

there is a way to check which programs are starting up with Win-
dows and weed out the ones you don’t want.
First of all, look in the Startup folder in your Start menu and
delete the shortcuts you don’t need. Next, go to the registry (click
Run in the Start Menu and type regedit) and browse to
HKEY_LOCAL_ MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Cur-
rent version\Run. Each key in this folder starts an application that
runs every time Windows starts—remove the ones you don’t need.
However, we suggest that you don’t remove any program that’s
located in the c:/winnt or c:/windows directory or any of their sub-
directories. Also, as a general rule, retain any shortcuts that run
toward RUNDLL32.EXE.

Dim memory
I have a PC with a Pentium III 800 MHz processor. The mother-
board is an 815 chipset motherboard. I recently upgraded my mem-
ory and installed a 512 MB RAM module in my PC. Though my sys-
tem reads installed memory as up to 512 MB RAM, it shows as just
256 MB in the Windows 98 Control Panel. Why is this so?
I also experience hiccups when playing Quake III Arena, even
though I have a 32 MB nVidia GeForce card. Even the audio gets

93
insight ■
■ troubleshooting
FAQs
Transferring files
I often need to take work home and I do
this by copying files to a removable
media and then copying them back onto
my home computer’s hard disk. After I’ve
finished my work, I copy the files to the
removable media again, so I can cart it
back to work. Is there a better way to
transport files between my work and
home computers?
Ramez Mistry
Via e-mail
There’s an old DOS command that
makes it much easier to transfer files.
This command works with hard drives,
Zip drives, CD-RW (via packet-writing
software such as Roxio’s Direct CD) and
other removable media.
Right-click a blank space on the
desktop or in Windows Explorer’s right
pane and select New > Shortcut. In the
Create Shortcut wizard, enter xcopy
‘’import folder name\*.*’’ x:\transfer /d /y /s.
Here, ‘import folder name’ is the loca-
tion and name of the folder you want
to copy and ‘x’ is the drive letter of your
removable medium. For instance, if you
want to copy from c:\Windows\Desk-
top\Work via your floppy drive (a:),
enter xcopy ‘’C:\Windows\Desktop\
Work\*.*” a:\transfer /d /y /s. Click Next
and name the shortcut ‘Export’. Click
Next, choose an icon for the shortcut if
you want to, and then click Finish. In
Windows 98 and Me, right-click the
shortcut and select Properties. Under
Program, check ‘Close on exit’ and
click OK.
Now select the Export shortcut and
press [Ctrl] + [C], then [Ctrl] + [V] to cre-
ate a new shortcut called Copy of
Export. First rename this as Import and
then right-click it and select Properties.
Click the Program tab and reverse the
two paths so that the one to the trans-
fer folder on your removable medium
comes before the one to the hard drive
folder. For instance, change the exam-
ple above to xcopy a:\transfer "C:\
Windows\Desktop\Work\*.*" /d /y /s.
Click OK.
Create similar shortcuts on your
home computer.
Next time you want to transfer files,
put a disk in the drive and click your
Export shortcut. To access the contents
94
on the other machine, put the disk in the
computer and click the Import shortcut.
Save Our Screen
I have heard that running a screensaver
program prevents the screen from
burning out and helps prolong the life
of the monitor. Is it true? What else can
I do to prolong the life of my monitor?
Mitoo
Via e-mail
Set Windows to automatically shut down the
monitor after a certain period of inactivity
In the days of monochrome moni-
tors, characters (such as the C:\
prompt in DOS) and images could get
permanently burned into the screen if
the screen was left static for too long.
Today’s monitors are sturdier.
The best thing you can do to
prolong the life of your monitor is
to switch it off when not in use.
You can set Windows to automatically
power down the screen if it’s been
inactive for a certain period of time. If
you have Windows 98 or Me installed,
click Start > Settings > Control Panel >
Power Management. Under the Power
Schemes tab, select a time from the
drop down menu next to ‘Turn off
monitor’.
Your monitor’s worst enemies are
heat and water—add a fan if your dis-
play is running hot and keep it safe
from moisture.
stuck during games or if I play music while
working in Photoshop. Please help.
Santosh R.
Via e-mail
The reason for your RAM problem is
that your motherboard doesn't support 512
MB RAM DIMMs. The 815 chipset mother-
boards have three DIMM slots that togeth-
er support a total of 512 MB RAM—they
don’t support a solitary 512 MB DIMM. If
you exchange your RAM for two 256 MB
modules, it will show up correctly.
Regarding your gaming woes, even a
very old GeForce is more than enough to
play Quake III Arena, unless you are playing
the game at a resolution over 1024x768.
Also, disable the motherboard’s onboard
graphics from the BIOS and/or the Device
Manager. Make sure that you have the lat-
est Intel chipset drivers (for the mother-
board) and the latest nVidia drivers (for the
GeForce graphics card) installed. Finally,
make sure you have the latest version of
DirectX (www.microsoft.com/directx).
If you want hassle-free audio, consider
replacing the onboard audio with a sound-
card. But before you spend any money,
check that the audio problem is not
because you have the wrong drivers loaded
for your onboard audio. If you do decide
on a soundcard, make sure you uninstall
your audio drivers and turn off the onboard
audio in the BIOS or via the motherboard
jumper before you install the soundcard.
Did I kill my graphics card?
I recently bought a new PC with 512
MB of PC2100 DDR SDRAM, an AMD
Athlon XP 2100+ processor, a GeForce4 Ti
4600 graphics card and a KT333 mother-
board. Everything was working fine, till I
exchanged the graphics card with the one
in my old computer—now I am unable to
boot. I’ve put back the GeForce4 in my new
machine, but still nothing. Have I caused
my graphics card some serious damage?
Shiv
Via e-mail
The most likely reason for your trouble
is that you’ve shaken something lose
while you were switching cards. But just
to make sure that your GeForce4 is still
fine, try booting your older PC with the
card installed in it.
To fix your new PC, reinsert the
GeForce4 and make sure it’s firmly in place.
Also reseat the other components such as
the memory and power to make sure that
nothing came lose while you were tinker-
FEBRUARY 2003
 When the music died
Whenever I play an MP3 file on my laptop, there is an inter-
ruption at the beginning of the song and then it continues to
play. If I stop and replay the song, it runs fine. My laptop is a
Compaq Presario with a 533 MHz AMD K6 and 96 MB of RAM
and I have the latest versions of MusicMatch Jukebox and
Windows Media Player. I’ve redownloaded some songs, updat-
ed the drivers and even defragmented and scanned my hard
drive for errors, but the problem persists.
Swadesh
Via e-mail

There’s noth-
ing wrong with
your laptop or
your media play-
ers, except for the
fact that your laptop is
just too slow—the specifications you’ve listed are the minimum
requirements for running MusicMatch Jukebox and Windows
Media Player. And remember, like Zip files, MP3s also have to
be decompressed before they can be played—this process can
be quite taxing for an older processor running a new, resource-
hogging media player while simultaneously running other soft-
ware in the background. You can verify this by playing some of
your MP3s on a faster desktop PC.
To solve your specific problem, try running a light and no-
frills software MP3 player such as Sonique (www.sonique.com) on
your laptop. Also remove unnecessary applications from the Sys-
tem Tray so that they don’t load automatically at startup—for
instance, you could temporarily disable some applications such as
the anti-virus program and the IM. Go to Start > Run and type
msconfig. Click on the Startup tab and uncheck anything you don’t
want to automatically launch (you can always enable these later).
These steps should help you squeeze out enough power from
your laptop to play your songs.

ing. If the motherboard has an onboard speaker, enable it; if the speak-
er is external, ensure it’s plugged in so that you can hear if you are get-
ting a POST beep code error.

No arrows
How do you remove those ugly little arrows that appear over
icons in Windows 98?
Username
Via e-mail

It is very simple to get rid of the shortcut arrows. Just download

TweakUI from Microsoft’s Web site (you can get the Windows XP ver-
sion at www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/ downloads/powertoys.asp).
After installing TweakUI, launch the program and open the
Explorer tree and then the shortcut selection. Change the Setting
from ‘Arrow’ to ‘none’.

Send your computing problems to

sos@jasubhai.com or write to Digit,
D-222/2, Om Sagar, MIDC, Nerul-400 706,
and we may answer it here!

95
insight ■
■ troubleshooting
Blank screen while loading games, missing data, floppies that don’t work,
problems with qudraphonic speakers—the doctor will see you now…
The right to write
I own a PC with a P4 processor,
128 MB RAM and a 40 GB hard disk. For
quite some time I’ve been unable to
delete some of my files from my hard disk
and I get the message, ‘cannot delete file.
Check whether the disk is write protected
or not in use.’ This is extremely frustrating.
Please help.
Anand Kumar
Via e-mail
You haven’t mentioned which OS you
use or the kind of file system adopted by
you; we are assuming you use Windows
2000 or Windows XP with NTFS partition.
First, you will need to check the per-
Right Access to users in Windows 2000
124
mission of the files you want to delete. I have Windows XP as the operating sys-
Right-click on the file and select Proper- tem. My problem is that whenever I start
ties. On the window that appears, select Windows XP, the dialup connection starts
the Security tab. You will now be able to automatically. The same thing happens
see the names of the users and the per- when I start a program. What could be
missions granted to each. Check if there the problem?
is an entry such as ‘Everyone’. If yes, click Kumash Desai
on it and select Full Control. Via e-mail
If you can’t find Everyone, check if
there exists an entry by your username To solve your problem, go to Control
(login name) and click on the entry to view Panel and double-click on Internet
the permissions. If this is also not present, Options. In the pop-up window, click the
then enter your username or ‘Everyone’ by Connections tab and select ‘Never Dial a
clicking on the Add button and then click Connection’. Click OK to save and close
Everyone or your login/username. Finally, the window. This will solve your problem,
add the required set of users and then click but now whenever you wish to get on the
OK. Now activate the ‘Full control’ rights Internet you would have to manually dial
box for Everyone. Press the OK button to a connection.
close the window. You will now be able to
delete the file since you have the rights to
access the file.
However, if you are using FAT32 file
system, check whether the files are being
used by any other program running in the
memory. If not, ensure that you have no
file protection software or any such utili-
ty installed on your computer. If you have
software installed on your machine that
gives you the facility to password-protect
certain files, then check the permissions
of the file using the software. Remove all
protection, then delete the files.
XP autodials to the Net
My system has a P4 2.4 GHz proces-
sor, an Intel 845 GBV motherboard, Stop your Internet connection from auto
256 MB DDR RAM and a 40 GB hard disk. dialling
MARCH 2003
insight ■
■ troubleshooting
I draw a blank!
I have a Pentium III processor with a
Compaq Presario 5000 installed with
Windows Me. The problem I am facing is
that some games, after being loaded to
play, show a blank screen, but the sound
works fine without any disturbances. The
busy light on my CPU remains on through-
out. In a few other games, the graphics
appear on screen gradually. Please help.
Aditya Bajaj
Via e-mail
The problem pertains to the display
drivers (VGA drivers). In the Control
Panel, double-click on System and then on
the Device Manager button. Click on the
plus (+) sign next to the display adapters—
it should not be showing a yellow icon on
it. If it does show an error icon on the dis-
play adapter, then you need to load the
updated set of VGA drivers.
However, if the adapter is configured
properly then the problem could be
because you are using a low-end VGA
card. In this case, the only option would
be to upgrade the VGA card to the level
required by the game. A GeForce MX or
above should be more than adequate for
most games.
Invisible Data
A few days ago I had taken my home
hard disk (a 40 GB, 7,200-rpm drive) to my
college to copy some data. I had connect-
ed my home hard disk as Slave (CL) and
copied around 2 GB of data to it, but when
I checked the hard disk at home (connect-
ed as Primary), it didn’t show the copied
files, though the used up space reflected
the size of those files. What should I do?
Should I format my C drive and reinstall the
OS? Or is there another way out?
There’s another problem with my C
drive: when I run Disk Cleanup, it doesn’t
clean the disk properly. It stops in between,
at ‘Compress old files’. CPU usage reaches
the 100 per cent mark and it doesn’t come
down even when I cancel it—it remains in
the ‘Tasks Running’, so I have to manually
end cleanmgr.exe to make things stable.
Any ideas about these strange problems?
Deep Ganatra
Via e-mail
Problems while copying from hard
disk to hard disk usually happen while
performing Drag-N-Drop copy. It is very
easy to drag the files to the wrong folder.
So if you remember some of the filenames
that you had copied, search for them in
125
Scandisk scans tirelessly
My PC has a P4 1.5 GHz processor, a
20 GB Samsung hard disk and an Intel
845 motherboard. My problem is that
when I start the machine, it automati-
cally runs Scandisk and also shows a
message that the hard disk contains
bad sectors. This is
despite the fact that I
shutdown the
machine properly. But
after completing the
surface test, no bad
sectors are found.
Why is this happen-
ing? Please help me
solve this problem. ILLUSTRATIONS: Mahesh Benkar the safest bet is to
Shubha Nambiar
Via e-mail
Anytime a problem occurs while
accessing the hard drive, Windows
makes some entries in the registry. The
next time you boot up the machine,
Windows recognises the entries and
takes preventative/corrective steps to
your hard disk. Also ensure that the ‘Show
hidden files and folders’ option is checked
(Click on Tools > Folder Options or View >
Folder Options depending upon the operat-
ing system installed).
As for your second problem, as time
passes a lot of temporary files are created
in the system, so it takes time to prepare
a list of the unwanted files. If you feel that
the machine hangs, run Scandisk with the
Thorough option checked. The Thorough
option checks the hard disk surface for
physical damage. It would take some time
to check but after the test is complete, the
problem should be solved.
Cannot playback audio stream
I have a Celeron 633 with 64 MB RAM
and a 20 GB hard disk with four partitions.
The primary partition (C:) has Windows
XP Professional and Windows 98SE
installed (in different folders); the last par-
tition (F:) has Mandrake Linux installed.
In XP and Linux, video and audio files
run well, but Windows 98 shows an error,
‘Cannot playback the audio stream, no
audio hardware is available or the hardware
is not responding (Error =80040256)’; a
little later the video starts without audio.
How can I fix this?
Anoop Kumar Vaidya
Via e-mail
ensure less damage. Scandisk tries to
detect the problem and update the reg-
istry entry properly. In your case, Scan-
disk, even after successful completion,
is unable to remove the entry, hence
Scandisk appears every time you boot
up.
You could try dis-
abling Scandisk
manually in the
msdos.sys file, but
this would perma-
nently disable Scan-
disk. It will not run
automatically even
in case of an error. So
reinstall the operat-
ing system.
Alternately, since you have a Sam-
sung hard drive, you can download a
diagnostic utility, SHDiag.exe, provided
by Samsung on its Web site. In case this
utility detects an error it can't repair,
you should take your hard disk to the
RMA centre for repairs.
You are facing this problem in Win-
dows 98SE because its Windows Media
Player (version 6.4) cannot play videos
encoded with the newer codecs. To solve
this, you need to install the appropriate
codecs. The DivX codec is available at
www.divx.com and the Nimo codec at
http://nimo.titanesk.com/modules/mydown-
loads/. You can even download the latest
version of Windows Media Player from
the Microsoft Web site.
Ruling the messages
My company receives around 200-
300 messages a day, which are distributed
to the employees concerned through
Postmaster. In case a virus in a message
damages a system, we have to run
Windows setup again on that PC. This
obviously erases all the Message Rules set
in Outlook Express.
Is there some way to back up Message
Rules in Outlook Express so that they don’t
have to be recreated in case of a Windows
reinstallation? Also, can one rule be applied
to all the terminals on the network?
Sarita Sawant
Via e-mail
Outlook Express does not provide any
mechanism to export/import Message
Rules. So there’s no option but to
MARCH 2003
insight ■
■ troubleshooting

re-enter each rule once you reinstall your

operating system. There is also no way
to implement these rules over the
network.
What you could possibly do is switch
to Microsoft Outlook which does allow
you to export as well as import rules.
You can do this through the Tools >
Rules Wizard Options in Microsoft Outlook.
To export the rules, press ‘Export Rules’,
type the filename and press Save. To
import the rules, press ‘Import Rules’,
select the filename and press Open to
browse previously saved rules.
System hangs the first time
I am facing a rather strange problem.
If I boot my system after a fairly long inter-
val, say 4 hours or so, it always hangs the
first time. I have a Pentium III 800 MHz
system with 128 MB RAM and 500 VA
UPS. I leave the UPS charging all the time.
R.B. Rajesh
Via e-mail
The problem seems to be with the
SMPS of the system. If you have access to
a spare SMPS, try changing to it. If this
fixes your problem, then you should
get the original SMPS checked by a
professional.
A halting response
Whenever I run any applications or
games, they stop responding for a few
seconds. Even after ending tasks of other
applications (expect Explorer, System
Tray), the problem persists. Is this due to a
virus? I have an Intel 810E motherboard, a
Pentium III processor at 1.0B GHz, a 40 GB
hard disk and 128 MB RAM with Windows
Me and XP installed. Please tell me what
to do.
Rohit Yadav
Via e-mail
No scrolling
I have a P-III 500 MHz system, Intel 810 motherboard, 128 MB RAM, a 10.2 GB
hard disk, with Windows 98SE installed. I use Internet Explorer 6. The problem is that
often when I want to scroll through Web pages or even scroll in Word or Excel files,
my computer freezes and I have no other way than to do a warm reboot. I even for-
matted the hard disk, but it doesn't work. Please help.
Kaushik Dutta
Via e-mail
You need to check whether the
problem occurs when you scroll using
your mouse or keyboard. Generally,
the problem will be with your mouse,
so just check the drivers for the
mouse. For a Logitech compatible
mouse, use Logitech drivers only. If
the problem persists, try changing the mouse. If this doesn’t work either, there could
be a problem with the PS/2 port on your motherboard. As an alternative, if
you have a free USB port, you could try using a USB mouse or even a serial port
capable mouse.
needs 3D and OpenGL, whereas the VGA FixKlez from http://securityresponse.syman-
card in your system does not support tec.com/avcenter/tools.list.html to clean the
these, then you need to upgrade the VGA registry entries.
card too.
Of keyboards and handycams
Afflicted by virus I have installed both Windows 98 and
I have a Pentium III based system run- Windows XP in my computer. In MS Word
ning Windows 98SE. It is connected with (Office XP), the numeric keys and other
10 other systems on the LAN. The prob- special symbol keys were not working
lem is that the system is affected by virus- properly—they seem to have become
es—alevir.exe, scrsvr.exe, marco.scr, jumbled up. For example, when I press
brasil.pif, brasil.exe. I am using Norton [#], I get the symbol £. Everything is work-
2002 and AVG AntiVirus, and I update ing properly in Windows 98 and DOS.
these regularly. Even though I’ve deleted Please suggest a solution.
the virus-affected folders from the My second problem relates to the fact
Windows directory, they reappear after that I have a handy cam that is non-com-
some time. Please give me a solution. patible with PC. Is there some way to con-
Sibasis Das nect it to my PC so I can view recordings on
Via e-mail my computer, and store and burn the
recordings onto CDs?
Hemant Dwivedi
Via e-mail

It all depends on the games you are
trying to play. Every game has its own
minimum hardware requirement, so do
check in the manuals and/or documents
of the game. You can analyse the RAM
requirement from the Task Manager win-
dow in the status bar. It shows the Mem-
ory Usage as current/maximum.
Remember that the maximum includes
the virtual memory, so check your current
usage value relative to the 128 MB RAM
that your machine has. If it falls short,
you need to upgrade to more RAM.
Another factor to check is the VGA sup-
port required for the game. If the game
FixKlez from Symantec cleans the registry
entries made by the virus
Your system is infected with the Klez
virus. Norton or for that matter any
other anti-virus software can only
clean/remove infected files from the sys-
tem. They do not clean the registry
entries and Klez is a virus that makes
some entries in the registry, which
makes it possible to re-infect the system.
To eliminate the Klez virus, download
Regarding the problem with your key-
board, go to Control Panel and select Key-
board. Here, set your default keyboard to
US instead of UK or any other.
As for how you can connect your
handy cam to your PC, buying a TV Tuner
card would solve your problem, but first
check whether your handy cam has a
Video Out jack. You can then connect the
Video Out of your handy cam to the
Video In of your TV Tuner card. Finally,
using the software that came with the TV
Tuner card, you can record the movie on
the computer while simultaneously play-
ing the movie on the handy cam.

126 MARCH 2003

insight ■
■ troubleshooting
FAQs
Floppies don’t work
I have a P-III processor and 128 MB
RAM. Of late, I've been facing a problem
with my floppy drive—whenever I put in
a floppy, it returns a message saying the
floppy is not formatted, and then the
computer stops responding. I have tried
formatting the hard disk. When I scanned
the floppy drive with an anti-virus soft-
ware, it said that the boot record has
changed. I checked the BIOS settings, but
couldn't figure it out. Please help me.
Rocky Smith
Via e-mail
Try using a brand new IBM formatted
floppy diskette in the drive. If the floppy
functions properly, then your previous
floppies are either damaged or are infect-
ed by virus. However, if the new floppy
gives the same error message, then your
floppy drive needs professional servicing.
As for the ‘boot record has changed’
message, it appears if you have enabled
the ‘virus warning’ options in the BIOS.
To get rid of it, you will have to disable
this option in the BIOS.
Missing boot.ini
By mistake I deleted a file named
boot.ini from my hard disk. I tried to
recover the file with the help of a recov-
ery software, but it was too late. Now
when I boot my PC, I get an error saying
‘invalid boot.ini file. Booting from
c:winnt\’ and then the PC boots nor-
mally. Is this a serious problem? So far I
haven’t faced any problem. I also tried
to search for the missing file in the
Windows 2000 Professional CD but in
vain. Please help me with my problem.
Hitesh Boricha
Via e-mail
To solve your problem, create a text
file in Notepad (or any text editor). Type
the following five lines
[boot loader]
Timeout=1
Default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)parti-
tion(1)\WINNT
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINN
T="Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional"
/fastdetect
Save the file by the name, ‘boot.ini’
in the C: drive. Now you won’t face this
error anymore.
127
Problem multibooting
I have an assembled computer with a
P-III 700 MHz processor and 20 GB hard
disk. I had seven partitions—C, D, E, F, G,
H and I, plus J as the CD-ROM drive and
K as the CD-RW drive. C drive runs
Windows 98 and D runs Windows 2000
Professional. I also had Visual Studio.NET
and SQL Server 2000 installed in G under
Windows 2000 and everything was work-
ing fine. The problem began when I
installed Red Hat Linux 7.3.
Now, booting into Windows 2000
takes about 5 minutes. After booting,
whatever I do, whether it is opening My
Documents or an application, the machine
hangs. It is working fine in the case of Win-
dows 98 and Linux.
I had deleted the H and I partitions to
install Linux (creating Linux native and
swap partitions), but these drives are still
displayed when I open My Computer in
Windows 2000—they are not displayed
in Windows 98 though.
Bhaskar
Via e-mail
The reason your system performance
has slowed in Windows 2000 is because
Explorer is trying to access the deleted H
and I drives in the background.
Check whether the drive types of H
and I are Swap and Ext or FAT or FAT32.
If these partitions use the Swap and Ext
file system, then you need to format
them through Windows 2000 and rein-
stall Linux. This time, be careful about
the type of partition you create through
Linux (it should be FAT or FAT32) and
don’t forget to delete the partitions
before Linux makes new ones for itself.
Here are the steps you need to follow
to install Linux the right way: Select
‘Manually partition with Disk Druid’,
then click Next. Select ‘/dev/hda6’, click
Delete and confirm by pressing Yes
again. Select ‘/dev/hda7’, click Delete
and confirm by pressing Yes. Click New
and type ‘/’ for Mount Point. Select ext3
for File System Type and enter the size
of the partition. Select the ‘Forced to be
a primary partition’ checkbox.
Select the ‘Check for bad sectors’
checkbox, click OK. Under New, select
Swap as File System Type and enter the
size of the partition. Click OK and then
continue with the rest of the installa-
tion process.
Rear speakers do not work
I have a P4-based system with
256 MB RAM and an ASUS SL133 moth-
erboard. I also have an ADCOM four-
channel support soundcard. My speakers
are Creative Cambridge 4.1. The speak-
ers work fine with Windows 98. The
problem is with Windows XP—when I
use Winamp and Jukebox 7.0, the two
rear speakers do not function and pro-
duce only a light buzzing sound. With
other software such as Samsung’s media
player or Windows Media Player, there is
no problem. I have tried changing the
advanced settings in the control panel to
quadraphonic speakers and have even
reinstalled Windows XP, but to no avail.
Please give me a solution.
S. Ragunath
Via e-mail
Set the keyboard to US
Since you are facing problems using
Winamp in Windows XP, you should
install the A3D plugin. Installing
the plugin would enable all the speakers
and you can hear from all of them.
The plug-in is available at http:// clas-
sic.winamp.com/plugins/browse.jhtml. Simi-
larly you could try this for Jukebox
7.0 also.
Send your comput-
ing problems to
sos@jasubhai.com or
write to Digit,
D-222/2, Om Sagar, MIDC, Nerul-400
706, and we may answer it here!
MARCH 2003
insight ■
■ troubleshooting
Web cam conflicts, blue screens of death, unrelenting recycle bins, burning errors—we’ve got
solutions for all of these and more...
Run in C
Recently, I bought an assembled PC
comprising PIII 600 MHz, a KOB 810 DSMT
Motherboard, 64 MB SD RAM and a 20 GB
hard disk. It runs Windows 98 SE along
with C and C++. I have installed the Turbo
C++ 3.0 IDE. Whenever I try to compile or
run any of my C or C++ programs, I get the
error message saying “Unable to open
include file ‘stdio.h’”. This happens with all
the include files that I use.
Ajay Paul
Via e-mail
C/C++ programs do not run unless all
the #include files (header files) and library
files are present. A single missing file will
throw up an error message during compi-
Turbo C3
lation. Thus every compiler needs to
know where the library files reside.
In Turbo C 3.0, the it is specified in
the Options menu. Go to Options > Direc-
tories. Now you will be able to check the
settings for the include and library folder.
If they are incorrect, you have to correct
the settings to the proper folder location.
94
The default location of Turbo C 3 is C:\tc,
and that of include and library folder is
C:\tc\include and C:\tc\lib, respective-
ly. If you have not installed Turbo C in
the default location then type the Direc-
tories settings as per the installation in
your case. Now all your C/C++ programs
will compile and execute properly.
Whats my comp’s temperature?
Hi, I need to know a few things. What
is the normal and maximum temperature
for a hard disk? Is there any software utility
to measure the temperature of the proces-
sor? How do I increase the sample/refresh
rate of a PS/2 based optical mouse?
Carl D'Souza
Via e-mail
For any hard disk, there are two tem-
perature ranges to be taken care of—one
while the hard disk is in operation, and
the other when it is not. These tempera-
tures vary from manufacturer to manu-
facturer. But the approximate range in
operating condition is 2 to 55 degrees
Celsius and non-operating is 40 to 65
degrees Celsius.
Most new motherboards have the
capability of sensing the temperature of
the installed hardware. In case you wish
to see the temperature of the processor,
you can download utilities such as the
Motherboard Monitor from http://www.3d
news.ru/download/tweak/mb/motherboard-
monitor/, which gives you a complete
snapshot of the various temperatures of
the installed hardware.
To increase or decrease the refresh rate
of a optical PS/2 mouse, go to Control Panel
> Mouse > Hardware > Select your mouse device
> Properties > Advanced settings. Now change
the sample rate from within the drop box.
Click OK and you're all set.
Web cam conflict
I have been facing a strange problem:
I run Windows 98 and have only 8 GB of
hard disk. Recently, I formatted my com-
puter. It was running fine until I installed
my Web camera. Now, when I restart the
PC, it does not start in the Normal Mode;
it always goes in the Safe Mode. If I try
bringing it to the Normal Mode, it gives
an error message saying “Please restart
the computer”. Is my hard disk about to
crash?
Tushar Kapoor
Via e-mail
First, check if your hard disk is working
correctly by running ScanDisk in the Thor-
ough mode. If the ScanDisk finds any bad
sectors on the disk, the reliable solution is
to replace your hard disk since you risk los-
ing your valuable data.
But since the problem started after you
installed your Web camera, it is likely that
those drivers are corrupt or do not support
Windows 98. Try downloading the drivers
afresh from the company Web site. Before
you install the new drivers, remember to
uninstall the previous drivers completely.
If the problem persists, browse through the
APRIL 2003
troubleshooting guide provided by the
manufacture—this will have a list of the
most common problems experienced. If all
else fails, reinstall Windows.
Screen of death
I use an ASUS motherboard with Athlon
XP 1700+ processor, 256 MB of DDR RAM
and run Windows 98 SE. The problem is
that while loading Windows, after POST,
the system shows a blue screen with the
error: “A fatal exception OE has occurred at
017F: BFF8AB97. The current application
will be terminated.” When I restart the sys-
tem again, Windows shows a message say-
ing, “Windows did not shut down proper-
ly.” Then the ScanDisk begins, after which
Windows starts in the Safe mode.
Babu K
Via e-mail
Whenever you install a new program,
check if it is compatible with your exist-
ing OS. This problem generally occurs
upon installation of a new program,
which may have replaced some DLL files,
resulting in the improper behaviour.
Many of the programs freely distributed
on the Net are not properly tested for
bugs, causing your system to crash. In this
case you have no choice but to uninstall
the program from Control Panel >
Add/Remove Program.
Internet sharing
My problem is that I have five com-
puters which are connected in a LAN. The
operating system on all computers is
Windows 98. Out of the five computers,
one is connected to the Internet. I wish to
extend the same connection to all other
computers. How can I do this?
Sunil
Via e-mail
To extend the same Net connection to
Transfer problems
I have two PCs—one at my house
and the other at my office. I want to
transfer a few of the Mp3s from my
home PC to my office computer. I don’t
have a CD Writer, and want to transfer
the files through the telephone line as
it will be faster and cheaper than the
File Transfer utility in the
Instant Messenger. Please
tell me the name of the
software which can be
used for this kind of dial-
up transfer of files and the
settings which will be
needed.
Vikram S. Shah
Via e-mail
The only software you need is Win-
dows 98 with the Hyper Terminal
installed. To check if your system has
Hyper Terminal installed go to Programs
> Accessories > Communications. If you
don’t find it here, go to Control Panel >
Add/Remove Program > Windows Setup >
all your computers in a LAN, you need to
make one machine a proxy server. This
can be done by installing a software called
AnalogX. The program is fairly easy to
use, and involves minimal configuration.
After installing AnalogX, note down
the IP address of the machine on which
you have the Internet connection—this
will be your proxy server. Now to gain Net
access from each PC, go to Tools > Internet
Options > Connections > LAN Settings. Click on
‘Use a Proxy Server’ and enter the IP
address of the proxy server as the Address
and 6588 as the Port. Now you can access
the Internet through every machine you
have configured. Just keep in mind that if
you are using a dialup connection, the
speed will be relatively slow as the band-
width is shared by all your machines.
Communications > Details. Here select
Hyper Terminal and click OK to install
it. Do this for both your computers. Set
the Hyper Terminal on your office
machine to ‘Wait for a call’. To do this
go to Call > Wait for a Call. Now call the
office machine from the house
machine by going to Call > Call. Speci-
ILLUSTRATIONS: Mahesh Benkar
fy the Country Code, Area Code,
Phone Number and Connect using
then click OK.
Once the connection is set up, you
will be able to transfer files from your
house machine by clicking Send with-
in the Transfer menu.
There are a few things you can do to
increase the data transfer rate—use a 80
pin conductor cable to connect the CD
Writer to your PC. Next, run Disk
Cleanup to free up more space on the
hard drive. This will give the burning
software more space for cache the files
while writing the CDs. Finally, defrag-
ment your hard disk to speed up the read
and write process, thus hurrying the data
transfer rate.
Can I rollback my OS
I have a Compaq Presario Pentium III
933 MHz with 128 MB RAM, running
Windows Me that came pre-installed. I

LAN Settings in Internet Options
Slow burner
I recently bought a 32x CD-Writer. My
system is built on a Pentium III 667 MHz
with 192 MB RAM. I have dual installation
of Windows 98 and Windows XP. When I
write a CD, I get a data write speed of 2
MB to 2.5 MB per second, whereas a 32x
write speed should give me a transfer rate
of 4800 KBps. I have tried using 32x and
40x CDR media disks.
Kunal The 80 pin conductor cable will hasten your
Via e-mail transfer speeds

95 APRIL 2003
insight ■
■ troubleshooting
want to upgrade to Windows XP but my
vendor raises a doubt that after I upgrade,
I may not be able to roll back to Windows
Me, even through the Compaq Recovery
CD. I need Windows Me in case I cannot
upgrade my printer drivers to be compat-
ible with XP.
Dipesh Naigaonkar
Via e-mail
Yes, you can roll back to your previous
Operating System (OS) by removing the
upgraded OS. All you have to do is go to
Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs and
remove the new OS.
Impossible Outlook 2000
I have been accessing my Hotmail
account through Outlook Express. But
now I wish to access my Hotmail
account through Microsoft Outlook
2000. How can I do that?
Ishak Patel
Via e-mail
Microsoft Outlook Express version 5
onwards have the facility to access Hot-
mail accounts from the e-mail client and
download e-mails. You cannot download
e-mails in Microsoft Outlook 2000, but if
you wish to access your hotmail account,
type www.hotmail.com in the address bar
Microsoft Outlook 2002
and check your e-mails without closing
Microsoft Outlook.
If you insist on downloading your e-
mails in Microsoft Outlook, upgrade to
Microsoft Outlook 2002 which has incor-
porated this feature.
Printer problems
I have connected two PCs that run
Windows 98 SE with peer-to-peer net-
working without a hub. One of the com-
puters has a HP LaserJet 1000 printer con-
nected on the USB port. I have shared the
printer and installed it as the network
printer on the other machine.
The printer works fine on the comput-
96
No scrolling
I have a Pentium 4 1.7 GHz PC with 256 MB RAM, MSI 845E, 64 MB AGP and
two hard drives—4 GB and 5.1 GB respectively.
Every time I try to empty my Recycled Bin, I get the message “Cannot delete
BE__: Cannot find the specified file, make sure you specified
the correct path and file name”. I have tried to view
the file by changing the settings to ‘View all files’
in Folder Options, but I am still unable to view
the specified file. I have even done an anti-
virus (AVG 6.0) check on the folder but
found nothing. However, the anti-virus
reports state that ‘d:\recycled\dd0\my
music\BE__.BM cannot open; not
checked.’ What should I do?
Akter ul azim parvez
Via e-mail
The solution is to run ScanDisk in the Thorough mode. This error is caused by
crosslinks, but once ScanDisk checks and removes these cross links, the error does
not appear again.
er it is connected to, but when I try to Recording woes
print from the other machine, it does not I have a PCI TV Capture card
print and displays the message ‘Printer (ADCOM Make). I am able to view the
could not print the document.’ It does not cable reception, but whenever I record
even print the test page. with the bundled software, it records in
Naiyer Rizvi .avi format. The .avi files take up huge
Via e-mail space on my hard drive. So please tell me
of some freeware that will help me
You can very well share a USB print- record the live video in MPEG format. I
er just like any other printer. The have used the trial version of PowerVCR
problem seems to be with the printer and Ulead Video Studio 6 which has cer-
drivers that have not been installed tain limitations.
properly. Uninstall the drivers and install Also, tell me if I can record only audio
them afresh. A printer connected to from the TV Capture card. The sound
either USB port or LPT port does not in recorder in Windows can record only for
any way cause a problem while printing 60 seconds and that too in WAV format.
on the LAN. Anurag Gupta
Via e-mail
Call monitoring
I have a 56 KB internal fax modem. I First, the size of the file is directly
want to monitor all the incoming and out- dependent on the bit rate at which you
going calls on the telephone line. Please are recording. Higher bit rate results in
tell me if this is possible and which soft- more hard disk space and vice versa. Also
ware should I use. .avi files are of two types—uncompressed
Deepak and compressed. So check whether the
Via e-mail software you are using is recording in
compressed or uncompressed mode by
You will be able to monitor your default. Change it to compress mode to
calls only if the call are made via the save space.
computer. If calls are made from the tele- To record the live video in MPEG for-
phone instrument, there is no mat you have two options. The first one
way to monitor each incoming and is to get a CODEC from the manufactur-
outgoing call. Proprietary software er or the Internet that supports your soft-
usually bundled with the modem will ware. With this, you can directly convert
let you monitor your calls. In case if your live video to MPEG format. But bear
you don't have software along with in mind that the performance of your
your modem, try using Super Voice machine will be severely tested when
from www.supervoice. com. directly recording to MPEG format. The
APRIL 2003
 FAQs
Memory Overload
I have a Compaq 5000 with a 1 GHz
processor, 128 MB RAM, running
Windows Me. When I try to launch the
Explorer, it does not start; even if it does,
it hangs abruptly while surfing. I even get
the following message, “KERNEL32
caused a general protection fault in mod-
ule KRNL386.EXE at 0001:000075a8”.
My system hangs a lot while running
other applications too. Also, the Task
Manager shows many programs on its list
such as Explorer, Gmt, Cmesys, etc.
Satish Dubey
Via e-mail
The amount of memory you possess is
inadequate to run all your tasks, causing
the Explorer to hang. To make most of
your memory, press [Ctrl] + [Alt] + [Del] to
start the Task Manager. Now end any pro-
gram which you may have exited but is
still running in the background. Next, go
to Control Panel > Add/Remove Program and
remove the unused programs from the
list. Also check is if a virus is eating into
your memory as well as processing powe.
If all these steps do not amend your prob-
lem, try installing your OS anew.
Store your mails safely
I want to know how to backup and
restore my Outlook Express mails in
case I wish to format my PC.
Saugat Ray Chaudhury
Via e-mail
To back up your mails go to Tools >
Options > Maintenance > Store Folder > Change
and select Change from the popup win-
dow. Select the location you want to copy
your mails to. If you wish to format only
a particular drive, choose the location on
some other partition or save it on an
external storage device. Once the loca-
tion is chosen, click OK and again OK to
complete the process.
You will now get a window showing
the message ‘Your store location will not
be changed until you shutdown and
restart Outlook Express’. Click OK and
restart Outlook Express.
After you format your PC and the
installation is complete, you can restore
the mails by going to Store Folder > Change
and select the location were you had
copied the e-mails. You will get a win-
dow saying ‘There appears to be an Out-
97
Store Folder in Outlook Express
look Express message store already in
the folder that you have chosen. Do you
want to switch to using that store? If
not, it will be deleted and replaced by
your current store.’ Press Yes.
Now restart Outlook Express to see
all your stored e-mails.
Computer amnesia
I have a Pentium III 850 MHz with
128 MB SD RAM, a 32 MB 3D card and
an Intel motherboard. After I returned
from a trip of 2 months, my computer
showed 96 MB RAM instead of 128 MB.
I tried every way to get back the remain-
ing 32 MB, but to no avail. Just hope you
guys have some bright ideas up your
sleeve!
Another question is that I have two
RAM modules of 64 MB each. Can I get
a third 128 MB module?
Hashim Mehmood
Via e-mail
Firstly, check if your VGA card has its
own 32 MB of memory or is it sharing it
with your RAM. If this is the case, then
the 96 MB RAM is accurate. If your VGA
card has its own memory, then one of
your RAM modules is corrupted.
Here’s how to fix it yourself-check
the size of your modules. If both of
them show 32 MB of RAM, then your
VGA card is sharing the system memo-
ry. But if one of them shows 64 MB and
other shows 32 MB, then the latter is
damaged.
As for your second query—yes, you
can insert a 128 MB module with your
existing modules, provided your 128 MB
module is working on the same fre-
quency as your 64 MB one.
second option is to record the video in
.avi format and then convert it to MPEG
format using third-party software such as
WinMPG 2.5 and TMPEGenc 2.5.
As for recording only audio, you can
do so using third-party software such as
Total Recorder and Cool Edit. These are
shareware programs available on the
internet in demo version for free. In most
systems, the Audio Out of the TV Tuner
card is connected to Line In of sound-
card. Hence, you can use any audio
recording software. Most recorders record
in .wav format but plug-ins are available
on the audio recording software's Web
site if you want to record in different
formats such as mp3.
WordStar via network
At my office, we have four PCs
connected in a LAN. All the machines
have Intel Pentium 4 1.7 GHz processor
with 256 MB DDR RAM and run
Windows 98.
I have WordStar 4 running on one PC.
Is it possible to access it from the other
terminals? If so, how?
Deepak
Via e-mail
To run WordStar 4 over the network,
you will have
to map the net-
work drive
first. To do this
go to Network
Neighbour-
hood and go to
the shared
folder in which
WordStar 4 is
stored. Right-
click on it and
select Map Map Network Drive
Network Drive,
and Press OK. Now you can execute
WordStar 4 through this network drive.
Don’t forget that you need to have
enough number of licences to access
WordStar 4 from the network.
Send your comput-
ing problems to
sos@jasubhai.com
or write to Digit,
D-222/2, Om Sagar, MIDC,
Nerul-400 706, and we may answer
it here!
APRIL 2003
insight ■
■ troubleshooting
Get your vaccinations here for bogus clock speeds, dirty fans, BIOS flashing, Linux problems, dual OS
installations and much more...
Under clocked processor
I have an AMD Athlon 2000+ proces-
sor on a MSI motherboard, with 256 MB
RAM and a 40 GB hard disk. The OS on
my machine is Windows XP. While boot-
ing, the machine shows the processor
speed as 1.25 GHz instead 1.65 GHz.
What is the problem?
Ajit Wakode
As your processor is working at a
lower frequency then normal, you need
to check the settings in your BIOS. On
POST press [Del] to enter the BIOS. Go
to Frequency/Voltage Control. Here you
The Frequency and Voltage control inside
the BIOS
need to check two values—CPU FSB
Clock and CPU Ratio. Since the AMD
Athlon processor series work on 133
MHz, the CPU FSB clock should be set to
the same. The Ratio value should be set
to Auto. If the CPU FSB Clock is not at
133 MHz, arrange the jumpers as per the
93
motherboard manual to set the frequen-
cy to 133 MHz. Go back to BIOS and
ensure that the CPU FSB clock is set at
133 MHz. Restart your machine and
check the frequency at which your
processor is working.
Cross your BIOS limitation
I have a Pentium III 450 MHz proces-
sor on a 440ZX motherboard, with 256
MB RAM and Windows XP Professional as
the operating system. Recently, I upgrad-
ed to a 40 GB hard disk, but the system
detects the hard disk as a 27.27 GB. What
is the problem?
Sreedharan
Most old motherboards have a limita-
tion for the largest capacity of hard drive
that they can detect. You have a mother-
board that does not support a 40 GB hard
disk, thus resulting in the improper detec-
tion. You should visit your motherboard
manufacturers Web site, and download
the latest BIOS update. A word of caution:
If the update process is interrupted while
updating your BIOS, your motherboard
may be rendered useless.
Visual ache
I run Windows Me and have Microsoft
Visual Studio 6 installed. I have developed
a small application in Visual Basic, but am
unable to execute it. I get an error mes-
sage saying, “Cannot find DAO350.DLL”.
How should I tackle this problem?
Navin
Setup options while installing Visual Studio
While installing Visual studio, you
may have unselected Data Objects. Rein-
stall Visual Studio using the ‘typical’
option or select Add/remove in the exist-
ing installation and install Data Objects.
You will be able to execute your applica-
tion now.
Days of Cobol
I wish to convert the existing data
from RM Cobol to any other database or
text format. I have the data files but I can’t
make out the file structure. How do I con-
vert it?
Uday Shetty
One way to convert your data to a
text file or a .csv file, is to write a small
program in COBOL that reads the data-
base file and writes it to a line sequential
file. One constraint in this approach is
that you must know the record layout.
You can find the record layout from
MAY 2003
insight ■
■ troubleshooting
the COBOL source (.cob) files.
Search for a file named recover2.cob.
When you execute this file (type
runcobol recover2.cob and press [Enter]), it
will dump the contents of an index file to
a binary sequential file. The new file will
be more understandable and you will be
able to extract the data easily.
If you still can’t get the data on your
own, you can also convert your data, at a
price. Data readers and converters auto-
mate the task of converting data to any
other database format.
One such software is available at
http://www.siber.org/sct/datafile/data-view-
er.html.
Clearing the MBR
I have a Pentium III 650 MHz with a
dual boot system, running both Windows
XP and Linux. Recently I manually deleted
both the partitions of Linux—swap and
ext3—but still get the initial dual boot
screen. How can I remove this?
Amit Aggarwal
The solution to your problem is to
go to MSDOS prompt and type
C:\>fdisk/mbr. This will get rid of the initial
dual boot screen.
94
Faster than the watch
My problem is that I can’t
change the time and date in my
machine. I have even changed the
CMOS battery, but still the prob-
lem remains. I observed that the
second counter was moving fast, as
if it were the microsecond counter. Is
ILLUSTRATIONS: Mahesh benkar
the problem with my BIOS?
Gopi V counter is true, then the RTC (Real Time
Clock) in your machine is not working
If you have not tried changing the normally. A number of applications and
date or time through MSDOS then do games rely on the RTC for time. A faulty
so. Sometimes, Windows causes the RTC can cause these applications to per-
problem leading to a belief that the form abnormally. The only option is to
CMOS clock is not working. get the RTC chip replaced at one of the
If your observation about the second service centres.
World of Linux 9
I have an AMD Athlon XP 2000+
processor on an ASUS A7N266-VM moth-
erboard, with 128 MB RAM, 40 GB hard
disk and onboard graphics (GeForce2
MX). I have GRUB as the boot loader.
When I try to install Red Hat Linux 8.0 on
my system, I get the following warning
message while creating a new partition:
“Warning: Boot partition/may not meet Use GRUB to partition your Linux machine
MAY 2003
booting constraints for your architecture.
Creation of a boot disk is highly encour-
aged.” Below the warning message there
are two options, the first is ‘Modify
Partition’, while the second is ‘Add any-
way’. When I select ‘Add anyway’, the
setup continues and the installation is suc-
cessful. But when I reboot my system and
boot into Red Hat Linux, I get the follow-
ing error message, “Error 28: Selected
item cannot fit into memory. Press any key
to continue...” When I press a key, the
boot menu shows up again. What do i do?
Sanju B Nelli
It seems that you have created a swap
partition that is equal to the size of the
memory you have in your computer (i.e.
128 MB). You will have to create a new
256 MB swap partition.
To do this, restart your machine and
boot via the Red Hat installation disk 1,
now select Linux rescue, and login as
root. Start the GRUB utility by typing grub
at the command prompt.
Once within GRUB, type root (hd0,0)
and press [Enter]. Check the file system
and partition type values—they should
have ext2fs and 0x83 values respectively.
If not then issue a root (hd0,1) command
and check again. Repeat the exercise till
you find the correct partition.
Once you have found the correct par-
tition type setup (hd0). This will install the
boot loader in the MBR of the hard disk.
Now exit GRUB and restart your comput-
er. You should not get the problem again,
if you still face the problem, then it would
be a good idea to use LILO as the boot
loader and try again.
Bad client service from Windows NT
During the Startup of my PC, I get an
error saying, “Windows Networking:
Unable to load the dynamic link library
msnp32.dll, the system cannot find the file
specified. Some or all, of the following fea-
ture is not available: Microsoft Network”. I
have tried at my best to resolve this but in
vain. I seek your advice to solve this error.
Anand Jha
This is an error, which relates to a file
named ‘DSClient.exe’ (directory services
client) in Windows NT. This file forms a
part of the security functionality of Win-
dows NT, and automatically installs other
important driver files including
secur32.dll, vredir.vxd, vnsetup.vxd and
msnp32.dll. To reinstall it from your Win-
dows NT CD-ROM, follow this procedure.
95
Load the Windows NT CDROM and
look for the DSclient.exe file in the CD.
Run the application, which will reinstall
some other driver files apart from the one
you have specified. This will solve your
problem.
High speed compatibility problem
I have recently upgraded from
Windows 98 to Windows XP Professional.
I installed NFS4: High Stakes. Whenever I
try to run the game, i get an error mes-
sage: “Nfs4 is not a valid Win32 applica-
tion”. Please help me.
Arvind Madan
Certain applications do not run in
Windows XP, because they were not
designed for it. You can still execute such
Changing the compatibility mode for a
program under Windows XP
Putting the cart before the horse
I have a Pentium 4 1.6 GHz processor with Windows Me. Whenever I try to install
Windows 98 it shows an error message “already has an upgraded version” and after
the error message the installation stops.
Isn’t it possible to install both
Windows 98 & Windows Me
on different partitions on
the same computer?
Partha Bhattacharyya
Yes, it's possible to install
Windows 98 and Windows Me
simultaneously. But for your multi-
boot system to work properly, you need to
install Windows 98 first, followed by Windows Me.
Different partitions are not necessary as along as the folder names
are different. Install Windows 98 first and then Windows ME and your problem
will be solved.
applications by right clicking on the
application and selecting the Compati-
bility option. Here you can specify the OS
that needs to simulated. As you have
upgraded from Windows 98 to XP, you
should select Windows 98 in the combo
box. Now you won’t get the error and will
be able to execute the game normally.
If the game still does not run, try
reinstalling the software again and/or
updating the driver files. You can get the
latest drivers from the Web site of the
manufacturer. The latest patch version is
4.50, which is available at http://www.
gamesdomain.com/patches/n/3237.html.
Playing the graphics game
I have an assembled computer with
Pentium III 667 MHz, inbuilt 4 MB graph-
ics chip and Windows 98 SE loaded.
Recently, I purchased a DVD ROM drive,
but while watching movies, found that
the motion is not smooth. I have been led
to believe that I have to purchase a graph-
ics card. Please suggest a card suitable
only for watching DVD movies, as I don’t
require it for gaming purposes. Secondly,
will high-end graphic cards, such as
Ti4200 or Radeon 9700 pro, improve the
quality of the picture.
SK Biswas
Normally, a DVD movie runs quite
smoothly on the configuration you have
specified. Ensure that there are no mem-
ory or CPU-intensive applications run-
ning in the background. At the same
time, increasing the memory capacity
would be a good option.
For the second question, a high-end
MAY 2003
 insight ■
■ troubleshooting

graphics card will definitely boost the video quality in a big way.
Since you want one only for movies, a GeForce2 MX 16 MB card
is a good choice, as it will offer good value for money. What’s
more, you will also be able to play demanding games, such as
Quake III and Unreal Tournament, which may change your attitude
towards gaming.

Remove that Buzz

I recently bought a Toshiba Satellite laptop with a Pentium 4 1.8
GHz, 256 MB DDR RAM, 30 GB hard drive and an internal modem,
running Windows XP. I face with two problems. First, when I use the
modem to connect to the Net, it dials the number properly, but
makes an extra beep when activated. It occurs at regular intervals of
about 3 seconds and the laptop shows the message, “The phone line
is busy”. I have tried changing
the number, the telephone line
and also reinstalled the modem
driver, but to no avail.
I also want to connect this lap-
top to my home PC that has a
NIC and runs Windows XP. I
failed to connect using the NIC
and tried the wizard, as well as
manual configuration. How can
I solve these problems?
Jitesh M K

You might have configured

the dialing pattern as ‘Tone’ in
Setting the phone line for Pulse your Dialing Properties. Many
Dialing telephone connections still do
not have the facility for Tone
dial. To change the dialing mechanism go to Control Panel >
Modems > Dialing Properties. Now change the ‘Dial using’ to Pulse
dial.
To transfer files from your laptop to your PC, you need to connect
them via a network. You need to have network cards in both, the
laptop and the PC, and connect them with a cross-linked cable.
To create a cross cable, connect pin 1 and pin 2 at one end, to pin
3 and pin 6 at the other end, respectively. As you are connecting
only two computers, further configuration is not required, just
connect the cables and you will be up and running.

Transfer on the move

I have a Mobile with an IrDA port, which I want to connect to
my computer. The problem is, my computer doesn’t have an IrDA
port. Do I need an IrDA port, and what will it cost me? My com-
puter is an IBM Net vista, with four USB ports.
Chaiatny Sharan

As you do not have an IrDA port on your computer, you need

to get an IrDA device. IrDA devices are external devices that con-
nect to the computer via the USB port or even the serial port. These
devices are available, but expensive and cost about Rs 5,000. If you
are serious about using IrDA, upgrade to one of the latest mother-
boards, which have the infra-red facility.

Cassettes to MP3
I have many audio cassettes. Is there any way I can convert the
songs on them in to the MP3 format and store them on CD’s?
Rajat

96 MAY 2003

Secure your Outlook Express
I use Outlook Express to manage my
Hotmail account. As my computer is also
used by others, I want to know if there is
any way in which I can password protect
or hide my inbox from public view?
Sidhartha Mohapatra
Manage identities
and set passwords
to secure your
account in Outlook
Outlook Express does have a facility
to manage users, to access it go to File >
Identities > Manage Identities. Here, you
have two alternatives—you can create a
new identity or use the default identity.
If you create a new identity, you will
have to set up your Hotmail account
again. To secure your identity click on
Properties > Require a password. As soon as
you click the checkbox a window
appears for the new password. Enter
your password and your Outlook
Express is secure. It is important to
Convert audio tapes into MP3s using
MusicMatch Jukebox
To do this, you will have to get a Line-
On/Line-Out cable. The cable is connect-
ed from the line-out of the audio player to
the Line-In port of the soundcard. To
97
FAQs
remember that instead of the normal
exit, you have to click Exit and Log Off
Identity in the File menu.
Tired fans
I have assembled my own PC, it
consists of a Pentium 4 processor on an
original Intel motherboard with 128
MB SD RAM and a 40 GB hard disk.
One day the computer just shut down
normally, but refused to start up again.
It started after an hour, but hung after
10 minutes. On opening the cabinet, I
observed that the fans (both the SMPS
and the processor fan), were not work-
ing properly. They were starting and
stopping unpredictably. What is the
problem and how do I solve it?
Vijay
You have done a good job of trou-
bleshooting. On first thought, dust seems
to be the culprit—quite often the fan’s
ball-bearings jam due to the dust. As a
result is that the fan doesn’t work prop-
erly and causes the machine to function
abnormally.
If dust isn’t the culprit, get the SMPS
checked by a professional engineer. Since
both fans are behaving unpredictably, the
SMPS might not be able to supply enough
power. If a fan doesn’t work properly, the
temperature in your machine rises, which
record, you should use decent sound
recording software, such as SoundForge or
MusicMatch Jukebox. Once the songs are
on your computer, you can burn them
onto a CD. You can also refer to our Octo-
ber 2002 issue, where we conducted a
workshop on converting audio cassettes
into MP3s. There you will find step-by-
step instructions on how to transfer songs
from a cassette to a PC.
DirectX misbehaving
I have a P4 1.7 GHz computer, 128 MB
DDR RAM running Windows XP. I have a
problem running my games. I tried the
DirectX diagnostic troubleshooting tool,
and found that there is some sort of DirectX
error. When I ran the Direct3D test, a mes-
sage is displayed saying, “You cancelled the
test by pressing a key”, even though I never
touched any key. I installed DirectX 8.1
from one of the earlier Digit CDs, but even
that didn’t help. I tried to repair Windows
XP, which solved the problem, but only for
in turn causes the machine to act up.
Cleaning the fans and fixing the
SMPS, will solve your problems.
Hard disk: on/off?
I am running Windows Me and have
noticed the option of turning off the
hard disk in Power Management. What
exactly is the purpose of turning off the
hard disk? In what specific cases should
the hard disk not be turned off? What
happens if the hard disk turns off while
an MS Word window is open? Can it
cause any harm to the system?
Bharat Bhatnagar
The main purpose of power manage-
ment is to save power. This benefits us in
two ways—reduced electricity bills and
an increase in life expectancy for periph-
erals. There would be no data loss, even
if the hard disk shuts off automatically.
As soon as you use the system the hard
disk will pick up from where it left off.
One can set the power management to
STR (suspend to RAM) from the BIOS.
This option causes all the data to be
stored in the RAM, and switches off all
the peripherals in the system except the
RAM and the CPU fan. Power Manage-
ment does not harm the machine, in
fact it reduces the strain on the devices
and thereby increases their life.
a few days. I have Windows XP and
Windows 2000, and the problem persists
with both the operating systems. Please
help me solve this problem.
Suman
Everything depends on the graphics
card you have, and the games you wish
to play. An on-board graphics card is nor-
mally not recommended. As you have a
problem with DirectX, you should be try-
ing installing DirectX version 9 instead of
DirectX 8. You can download it from
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/
directx/downloads/drx90.asp.
Send your computing
problems to
sos@jasubhai.com
or write to Digit,
D-222/2, TTC Industrial Area, MIDC,
MIDC, Nerul, Navi Mumbai-400 706,
and we may answer it here!
MAY 2003
insight ■
■ troubleshooting
Get your vaccinations here for bogus clock speeds, dirty fans, BIOS flashing, Linux problems, dual OS
installations and much more...
Compulsory activation
My PC runs three operating systems—
Windows XP, Windows 2000 and
Windows 98. A few days ago, during
reboot, I was asked to activate Windows
XP. I tried to do so online, but it showed
me the error message ‘Online Services
temporarily unavailable’. I then formatted
the old partition, and installed the OS on
a different partition. After a few days, I got
a pop-up box asking me to activate
Windows, again. Strangely, after pressing
the OK button, it never asked me to acti-
vate again. What could be wrong?
Tamilarasan
Manually activate Windows to get updates
It seems that you have already activat-
ed your copy of Windows XP. You can ver-
ify this to be sure. To do so manually, go to
Start > Run and type ‘oobe/msoobe /a’. If
Windows XP is activated, then you will
get a window say that the product is
already activated. If not, then you will be
232
taken back to the Window where you acti-
vate Windows. If you get the later win-
dow, then you can carry on with the acti-
vation process and if you have any issues
getting it done over the Internet, you can
contact Microsoft India’s toll free number
and get it activated over the phone.
Flashy BIOS
I have a Pentium III 733 MHz proces-
sor on a Mercury KOB 815e FSX mother-
board. I recently downloaded an update
for my BIOS. As per the instructions, I cre-
ated a DOS disk, copied the flash utility
into it and ran it after restarting. It
prompted me to provide the necessary
‘File Name to Program’. Since I did not
know the name of the file, I just typed the
model number of the motherboard, and
the name of the updated file as the source
file. It made me wait for more than a half
an hour, after which I had to restart again.
Before the memory test, it showed an
error in the BIOS. Please help.
Rejin Ravi
Updating the BIOS is always a danger-
ous affair and the error you get is due to an
improper update. It is advisable to take a
backup of the BIOS. Also, before upgrad-
ing, make sure you have downloaded the
right version for your motherboard. In
your case, go to http://www.kobian.com/
dl_mb_get.php for the latest version. Unzip
the contents to a floppy, and configure the
first boot device to Floppy in the BIOS. On
restarting the machine, type the following:
Take a backup of the BIOS before updating it.
A:\AMIFLASH xxxxxx.bin or A:\AWARDFLASH
xxxxxx.bin. Here, xxxxxx.bin is the name of
the BIOS file. Press [Enter], and follow the
instructions. After you are done, remove
the floppy and restart the machine. This is
the correct way to flash the BIOS. Howev-
er, before you do this, please refer to the
motherboard users manual and see if a
corrupt BIOS flash can be recovered by set-
ting any jumper on the motherboard. If it
can be done, please recover the BIOS,
reboot the computer and check if it is
working fine. Then shut down the com-
puter and perform the instructions men-
tioned above to flash the BIOS properly. If
however, the corrupt BIOS cannot be
recovered and your system remains unus-
able, then you will need to contact your
system vendor to get this issue resolved.
A backup number
Can you please tell me how to take a
backup of my data in Tally using Nero?
Saura
JUNE 2003

To backup a company’s details, note its code
number in Tally
Locate the Tally data directory manu-
ally, and copy the entire directory to the
Nero window. The default location of this
folder is C:\tally\data. Press the Burn but-
ton, and that’s it.
If you wish to copy just one company
and not the entire directory, then first
start Tally and note down the code num-
ber shown beside the name of the com-
pany, go to the data folder and copy all
the files with the same number.
Space-eating virus
I use a Pentium 4 system with NT and
Windows 98. After using Windows 98 for
a while, I get an error saying, ‘Hard disk is
full. Delete unwanted files or disk
cleanup’. I have 367 MB of free disk space,
and have installed Norton AntiVirus, but
the problem persists. What should I do?
Manoj Nambiar
Windows NT and Windows 98 use sep-
arate swap files. The default setting is set to
‘Let Windows manage my virtual memory
settings.’ Since you are getting this error in
Windows 98, what you can do is specify
the amount of swap space to be used by
Windows. You can do that by going to Start
> Settings > Control Panel > System > Perfor-
mance > Virtual Memory. Set the options as
per your requirement. You will need to
restart the computer to save the settings.
You can perform an online scan at
Pandasoftware.com
233
Incompatible music player
I run Windows 2000 and use Nero
5.5 to write my CDs. The problem
is that if I create a multi-session
MP3 CD, the songs recorded in
the first session are read by my
CD player, while those record-
ed in second, or later sessions
are not. I write at 8X speed.
What is the problem and how can
it be solved?
Arindam Singha ILLUSTRATIONS: Farzana Cooper some players cannot recog-
It is quite common for CD player’s
to only recognise the first session, as it
is not designed to handle multi-ses-
You can also clear the temporary
files, cookies and uninstall unnecessary
programs on the hard drive to get more
hard drive space. Otherwise, you will
need to get a new hard drive.
This problem can also be caused by a
virus. You need to run an anti-virus
check with the latest virus definitions for
your software. In case you cannot update
your virus definitions, you can do an
online scan by logging on to www.panda-
software.com.
Extension confusion
Can you please tell me which program
can play RM extensions, as I am unable to
play downloaded songs with this exten-
sion? Also, what are files with the PHP
extension?
Sandesh
The RM extension for songs refers to
the Real Media format popularised by Real
Networks. Either download the latest Real
Player software from www.real.com, or get it
from the Mindware CD we have provided.
The PHP extension is used for files con-
taining scripts in PHP language. These files
are used by software programmers to
design Web sites.
Online, offline
I use Internet Explorer 6 SP1 as my Web
browser. Recently, I haven’t been able to
view Web pages offline. I can see the Web
pages offline through history only just after
disconnecting from the Internet. But, when
I try to view the pages later, they do not
open. I have tried reinstalling Internet
Explorer but that didn’t help. What should
I do to view pages offline?
Jodil Davis
sion CDs. There are a few exceptional
players that can read multi-session
CDs, but most do not
support this feature. You
will have to buy a CD
player that reads multi-
session CDs. You writ-
ing at 8X speed is only
going to matter if you
are making an audio
CD(.cda audio files) as
nise audio CD’s written at
higher speeds. The core of the issue
here is multi-session CD’s which is not
being recognized by your CD player.
To view pages offline, open an Internet
Explorer window and on the Favourites
menu click on ‘Add to Favourites’. Select
the ‘Make available offline’ checkbox. To
update the page regularly, you can specify
a schedule and also the amount of content
to be downloaded for that page by clicking
on Customize. Then follow the onscreen
instructions. Remember this will only save
the current Web page for offline viewing.
You can repeat this for all the web pages
that you want to save.
You can also use utilities such as
WebZip or WinMHT to download, and
save entire Web sites to your hard drive so
that you can view them offline.
Reset your cookies
Whenever I try to log into the Yahoo!
Messenger, it shows an error message say-
ing, “Reset your cookies”. However, my
friends can log in from the same computer.
What should I do?
Shantanu Bhattacharya
The Yahoo! Messenger stores your
preferences as cookies on your comput-
er. Whenever you visit, or connect to
their services, these cookies are sent back
to the Yahoo! server. Some even store
sensitive information, such as your
password. Generally, these cookies are
created and deleted automatically by the
messengers, as and when required. But
sometimes due to some reason, the cook-
ies are not updated. This results in error
messages. To solve this problem, you
have to reset all cookies by deleting
them. As you have not mentioned your
operating system, you have to locate the
cookies folder. To do this go to Start > Find
> Files or Folders and type ‘cookies’. Press
JUNE 2003
insight ■
■ troubleshooting
‘Find Now’, and delete all the files that
are found.
Virus Attack
I have a 10 GB hard disk with two par-
titions. The second partition has a file
named win386.swp. Can I delete the file?
Another problem is that when I open
the HTML files from my Web site in
FrontPage, I get an error stating illegal
operation. When I open the same file in
Notepad, it opens showing a new line.
The line appears to be some sort of VB
script that I do not remember adding in
the file. When I removed the line, the
HTML file started loading faster. What can
the problem be?
Parimal Satyal
Certain viruses add lines of code to files
Win386.swp is the Windows swap file.
If you delete the file, Windows will recre-
ate it. But it is essential for Windows to
have this file as it will cease to boot if this
file is absent. The default setting is set to
‘Let Windows manage my virtual memo-
ry settings.’
To change this, go to Start > Settings >
Control Panel > System > Performance > Virtual
Memory. Here set the option ‘Let Windows
manage my virtual memory settings (Rec-
ommended)’ to Yes. Here, you can also
specify a new partition, the minimum
swap file size and the maximum swap file
size.
Your second problem is caused by a
virus called HTML.Redlof.A (also known
as VBS/Redlof@M, VBS.Redlof,
VBS_REDLOF.A and VBS/Redlof-A). It
acquires control of your machine, and
modifies the registry and infects all the
.html, .htm, .asp, .php, .jsp and .vbs files
with the line you found in your HTML file.
Once a machine is infected, each e-mail it
sends will be infected with the virus.
Update your anti-virus package, scan
the entire hard disk and delete all infect-
ed files. If you do not have backups of the
files, you will have to remove the VB script
234
FAQs
Unauthorised modem
I have an 800 MHz Processor with 128
MB RAM and a Conexant Soft 56 Kbps
internal modem. I run Windows XP and
Windows Me. Whenever I try to install the
modem drivers in Windows XP, I get the
message ‘Modem is not digitally signed’.
The modem drivers were working per-
fectly with Windows 98, and the problem
started only after I upgraded the OS.
Pawan Sudedi
Microsoft has a laboratory called
Windows Hardware Quality Laboratory
(WHQL) that tests drivers and digitally
signs them. The purpose is to ensure
that the user gets drivers which comply
to a standard quality. The drivers that
are provided by manufacturers along
with the devices are the latest ones, and
in most of the cases are not tested by
Microsoft. The unsigned drivers are
recognised during installation in Win-
dows XP, due to which you get that error
message. Go ahead and install the driv-
ers by clicking on the ‘Continue any-
way’ button. Just make sure that you
download and install the latest WHQL
drivers from the device manufacturers
Web site as soon as they are available.
The upgrade dilemma
I have a Pentium III 800 MHz,
256 MB SD RAM, Creative Vibra 128,
ASUS CUV4X-E, GeForce4 Ti4200 128
MB and a 10 GB 7,200-rpm hard disk.
My motherboard manual clearly
states its support for AGP 4X. But,
when I connected the above men-
tioned graphics chipset in the AGP
slot, it seemed to work in 2X mode.
When I try to change it to 4X, nothing
happens. I have also checked the BIOS
settings, which is set at AGP 4X. The
driver version is 31.00, which the latest
version available from MSI. Upgrading
to version 43.45 might not help as I
might not be able to get the MSI tabs.
Hardik Malekar
You are right in assuming that
upgrading to driver version 43.45 may
not have the MSI tabs. But that does not
impair the functionality of your video
card in any manner. You have not men-
tioned the manner from which you have
concluded that the card is running in
AGP 2X mode. Since, the BIOS is set to
4X, the card should run at 4X. To verify
this download the latest 4-in-1 drivers
from the Via Web site and install it. Con-
figure this utility and it will show you
the information about your mother-
board including the AGP information.
Type mismatch
With reference to the January 2002
issue of Digit, whenever I type 'gpedit' in
the run command, it gives the message
‘Windows cannot find gpedit, make
sure you typed name correctly, and
then try again. To search for a file, click
start button, and then click search’.
I also wish to know how to allow
and deny access to the DOS mode
using the registry. I use Windows XP
Professional and have an administra-
tive account.
Gajendra S
What you need to type is ‘gpedit.msc’
(you missed out the .msc file exten-
sion). This command actually means
Group Policy Editor, which controls the
administrative rights for the user.
To deny access to MS-DOS Com-
mand Prompt, follow these steps:
Using Regedit find the key below:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Micr
osoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Poli-
cies\WinOldApp.
Create the key if it does not exist. To
do this, right-click in the right pane of
the window, select DWORD Value,
name it ‘NoRealMode’ and modify the
value of NoRealMode to ‘1’. If you wish
to enable it in the future, you can do so
by changing the value to ‘0’. Note that
you need to reboot your PC for this
restriction to come into force.
JUNE 2003

Blurry monitor
I have a Pentium III 866 MHz
CPU with 128 MB RAM. For the
past few months, I have noticed
that the display gets blurry a few
minutes after I turn my computer
on. This happen with all the three
OS I run.
If I turn my monitor off for half
an hour, I get a sharp picture for a
few seconds after I turn it on again.
Kindly suggest a solution.
Alip Kumar Saha
As the problem persists in all the
from each of the HTML files manually. If
you miss even a single file, it will spread
again.
Aging battery
I have a Pentium 4 1.7 GHz with a SiS
chipset motherboard, with Windows 98
SE and 2000 installed. When I start my
computer in Windows 98, the logo
remains for a long time, but then the
machine starts normally.
I also have another problem. The
CMOS system password works until an
error occurs or I restart the PC. Then it
displays a message ‘CMOS checksum
error defaults loaded’. I think it is due to
the low power in CMOS battery, even
though it displays the time correctly. What
can be the problem?
Shiladitya Mohpatra
Normally, Windows loads applications
after the boot up process. If your PC takes
a long time to start, it is because of the
device drivers and files loading in the
background. You can also use the Mscon-
fig utility in Windows to disable all back-
ground programs that may affect your
Windows startup time. After you have
reached the Windows desktop, perform
these steps below
Click on Start > Run. Type ‘MSCONFIG’
to get a window with a title ‘System Con-
figuration Utility’. Click on the Startup
tab. Here you will see a list of programs
installed on your computer. These are
programs that load automatically when
Windows is started, and they keep run-
ning in the background. Please clear all
the check boxes except for ‘ScanRegistry’
and ‘SystemTray’, then click OK. The
computer will now prompt you to restart.
This should help you reduce some of the
235
three OS’, the
problem rests
either with your
display adapter,
or your moni-
tor. First, try
uninstalling
your
display adapter
drivers and
then re-
install them. If
the problem still persists, then get the
picture tube of your monitor checked
from your vendor.
startup time taken by Windows.
Regarding your second query, it seems
that your CMOS battery has drained out.
Even though it shows the correct time, it
will decrease over a period of time. We
recommend you to replace it.
Exaggerated disk usage
I have a PC with Pentium 4 processor,
845E mercury motherboard, 256 MB
RAM, 40 GB Seagate hard disk and
Windows 2000 Professional. The problem
is that my machine shows my disk usage
more then it actually is, i.e., I use 2.11 GB,
but it shows that I use 3.77 GB. The parti-
tion size is 9.31 GB. Can you tell me why
Windows extrapolates my disk usage?
Ramprasad
Windows is not extrapolating your disk
usage; in fact, your OS is showing the exact
Remember to select hidden files as well if you
want to know the exact hard disk space usage
amount of size. The difference in the disk
consumption shown and as assumed by
you is because you are not considering the
size of the hidden files.
In order to check if you are indeed
consuming 3.77 GB of space, in Windows
Explorer go to View > Folder Options. Select
‘Show all files’ and press OK. Now go to
the C drive, select all files and check the
total usage of disk space by right-clicking
on it and selecting Properties. This
will confirm the amount of space you
are using.
DirectX misbehaving
I have a P4 1.7 GHz computer, 128 MB
DDR RAM, running Windows XP. I have a
problem running my games. I tried the
DirectX diagnostic troubleshooting tool,
and found that there is some sort of Direc-
tX error. When I ran the Direct3D test, a
message is displayed saying, “You can-
celled the test by pressing a key”, even
though I never touched any key. I installed
DirectX 8.1 from one of the earlier Digit
CDs, but even that didn’t help. I tried to
repair Windows XP, which solved the prob-
lem, but only for a few days. I have Win-
dows XP and 2000, and the problem
persists with both the operating systems.
Please help me.
Suman
It seems that some application is
modifying settings in your computer
that is preventing or disabling DirectX
from functioning properly. What you
can do is restore your computer using
the System restore feature. Then check if
DirectX functions properly, and if you
are able to carry out the diagnostic tests.
Then install the applications that you
normally would. Check after each appli-
cation or game installation, if the Direc-
tX functionality remains. If you face this
problem after installing a game, then the
game is to blame. An easier way around
this is to download and install the latest
DirectX 9. It will upgrade your version
of DirectX and also fix any corrupted, or
missing files.
Send your computing
problems to
sos@jasubhai.com
or write to Digit,
D-222/2, TTC Industrial Area, MIDC,
MIDC, Nerul, Navi Mumbai-400 706,
and we may answer it here!
JUNE 2003
insight ■
■ troubleshooting
Do away with compatibility problems, display disorders, power matters,
messaging headaches, and mystery files more mysterious than the errors…
Compatibility disorder
I have a PIII 450 MHz machine, with
128 MB RAM and Internet Explorer 5.5.
When I was installing JetAudio, I got the
error message ‘Incompatible version of
RPC stub’. What does it mean? How can
this problem be solved?
Ashwin K
This error occurs when the Setup pro-
gram finds an incompatible version of
OLEAUT32.DLL, OLDPRO32.DLL, ASYC-
FILT.DLL or stdole2.tlb files. Certain pro-
Download and run the repair tool to remove
incompatible files
grams might have replaced these files
with an incompatible
Download and run the .exe file available
at h t t p : / / d o w n l o a d . m i c r o s o f t . c o m / d o w n l o a d /
msninvestor/patch/1.0/win98/EN-US/
m c r e p a i r . e x e . Click on Yes when prompted
to overwrite newer files. Reboot the
computer, and start the program again.
Radio matters
112
I have a computer that runs Windows
95 and has an Internet connection
through the LAN. My problem is that the
old version of RealPlayer no longer plays
radio stations or steaming audio, and
the latest version requires Windows 98
or more. My organisation refuses to
upgrade the OS. Is there any software that
can play radio stations such as BBC on
Windows 95?
Satish Kumar Gajbhiye
You can play radio stations such as
BBC on Windows 95 using Pirate Radio,
or with the Destiny Media Player
available online at w w w . p i r a t e r a d i o . c o m.
Mixed up drives
version.
The Destiny Media Player from pirate radio lets
you play online radio
Till recently, I was able to use my
Iomega 100 MB zip drive without any
problems. I recently changed my mother-
board, and then installed my printer and
Zip drive. When I tried to install my CD-
Writer, I reached a situation where I could
use either my zip drive or my CD-Writer.
Nitesh Kumar Jain N
It appears that you’ve switched to a
new motherboard without installing the
required drivers. Thus, Windows is most
probably using incorrect drivers, due to
which it ended up corrupting the ASPI
layer that interacts with removable drives
such as the CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, Zip and
Jaz drives, etc. This driver is essential for
the smooth functioning of these devices.
What you can do is back up your data to
another partition, or another hard disk.
Then, format your system, and re-install
Windows. After completing the installa-
tion, first install all the necessary moth-
erboard drivers, and then install the VGA
or Display card and sound drivers. Now,
install the Zip drive’s drivers. Finally,
install the printer drivers and the neces-
sary applications. This should solve your
problem.
Outlook errors
When I export messages from Outlook
Express version 4.0, using F i l e > E x p o r t >
M e s s a g e s, I get an error message which
JULY 2003
says “The export could not be performed.
An error occurred while initializing MAPI”.
However, I can export the address book
without any errors.
Sanjay Kot
This can happen if you configure Out-
look Express as the default Messaging
Application Programming Interface
(MAPI) client. To work around this prob-
lem, restart your computer and start Out-
look Express. Go to T o o l s > O p t i o n s . Under
the General tab, clear the ‘Make Outlook
Express my default Simple MAPI client’
check box and click Apply. Click OK
when you receive the prompt, ‘The Sim-
ple MAPI client has been changed.’ You
may need to restart your machine for the
changes to take effect. Quit Outlook
Express and restart your computer. You
should now be able to import or export
messages without any hassles.
Fatal exception
I use an ASUS motherboard with an
Athlon XP 1700+ processor, 256 MB DDR
RAM and run Windows 98 SE. The prob-
lem is that while loading Windows, after
POST, the system shows a blue screen
with the error message ‘a fatal exception
OE has occurred at 017F: BFF8AB97’.
Why is this so?
Babu Govindharaj K
The problem seems to lie with a
memory module-timing mismatch
between the RAM modules. This will
mostly be the case if you use two 128 MB
RAM sticks. It is also possible that the
motherboard cannot detect the RAM
modules settings properly. Get a BIOS
update and see whether it happens
again. Also, in the advanced settings of
your BIOS, try setting the CPU to MEM-
ORY ratio to 1:1, after setting all jumpers
and switches back to their default values
according to the motherboard manual.
Change the above settings after selecting
‘Load bios defaults’ in the BIOS, then
reboot for the changes to take effect. The
problem should be solved.
If it persists, try checking the memory
modules on a different PC, or a different
memory slot on your machine. This
would help determine whether the fault
lies in the motherboard or in the DIMM
slots. If the DIMM slot is faulty, then use
another DIMM slot for the RAM module.
In case the motherboard is defective, you
will need to get it serviced by the mother-
board vendor.
113
Oops, my display!
I was playing with the display
properties of my PC and set
the resolution to maximum.
The computer went all fuzzy,
and I received the follow-
ing error message—’The
output signal is out of
range. Please check your
signal source.’ Could you
please let me know the
process of setting my
PC back to its normal
resolution? ILLUSTRATIONS: Farzana Cooper
Sarveh Patil
RAM compatibility
I have a few questions to ask: Will a
32 MB RAM and a 128 MB RAM work
together?
Secondly, I have a SIS 630 mother-
board with a PIII 533 MHz processor.
What is the best upgrade for this configu-
ration?
Thirdly, how do I know whether the
sound card is full duplex, or not?
Vikram Aditya Mishra
Audio tuning using MSN messenger
Your 32 MB and 128 MB RAMs will
work together, provided both of them
have the same frequency, or speed rat-
ings. The speed rating is usually printed
on the RAM module itself. If they are dif-
ferent, set the DRAM clock to the lesser
of the two, in the BIOS. The RAM speed
adjustments can generally be found
under the ‘Advanced Chipset Settings’
section. Set all the values you find
there—Memory Clock, RAS\CAS
Latency—to their slowest settings.
Keeping the same motherboard, the
Boot the computer and keep [F8]
pressed. You will see a Startup
menu that should have an
option of booting into Safe
mode. Boot into Safe mode,
and access the display
properties by right-click-
ing on the desktop and
choosing Properties. Set the
resolution for the moni-
tor to what it was earlier
and then click on OK.
Reboot the computer. This
should solve the problem.
best upgrade you can opt for is a 933 MHz
PIII processor, though it is really hard to
find one now since Intel has officially
stopped its PIII production.
If you wish to know whether your
sound card supports full duplex opera-
tion, in Windows, go to C o n t r o l P a n e l >
S y s t e m s > D e v i c e M a n a g e r . Here, double-
click on the ‘Sound Video and Game
Controller’ item. Select your sound card
and go to Properties. In the Settings tab,
look for a checkbox labelled ‘Allow Full
Duplex Operation’. This indicates that
the sound card has the full duplexing
feature.
You may also use the MSN Messen-
ger’s ‘Audio Tuning Wizard’ by accessing
T o o l s > A u d i o a n d V i d e o T u n i n g W i z a r d or the
corresponding Yahoo! Messenger utility
through H e l p > A u d i o S e t u p W i z a r d to check
whether the sound card has a full
duplexing feature.
Bad clusters
I have an Intel Pentium III 866 MHz
and Windows 98. In the past, I had two
hard disks that developed bad clusters,
which I replaced. I would like to know
whether I lost those two hard disks due to
non-availability of a UPS. Is it necessary to
use a UPS or is a stabilizer enough? If a
UPS is needed, what is the best brand?
Raghu Gadiga
Bad clusters are actually physical dam-
ages that occur to your hard disk platters.
The cause for this could be either a man-
ufacturing defect, or a voltage fluctuation.
The latter can occur if you don’t have an
UPS or CVT. The fluctuation may not be
apparent to you, but it can still cause
trouble to your hard disk. Even a trouble-
some SMPS can do damage. So, it is advis-
JULY 2003
insight ■
■ troubleshooting
able to connect your PC to a UPS as it also
prevents problems caused by power fail-
ures, rather than using just a stabilizer or
CVT. APC and Emerson are a couple of
good brands you can consider.
Power puff!
I’ve recently purchased a Compaq
Presario that has a P4 1.6 GHz, 128 MB
RAM, and a 40 GB hard drive. After a few
months, it stopped working properly. It
turns off suddenly, a few minutes after I
start my PC. When I reboot my PC, it takes
a lot of time and shows a red light. Please
suggest a solution.
Vickey Kumar
There could be a number of reasons
for this. First of all, this can occur when
the inside of the cabinet gets heated.
Check if the power supply fan, at the
back of the tower, is working properly
when the PC turns off abruptly. If it isn’t,
then it is a power supply issue. Call the
service engineer if your machine is
under warranty.
If your machine is not under warran-
ty, then follow the instructions given
below, but only if you have previous
hardware experience. Ground yourself
properly by touching a metal or wear an
anti-static strap. Power off the PC, and
open the cabinet. Check whether the
RAM and video card are properly seated.
Ensure that the monitor cable on the
back of the video card is properly tight-
ened. Now turn on the PC, and see
whether the processor fan and the fan
on the video card are spinning properly.
Leave it like this, and see if the comput-
er remains on. If it goes off, then there is
an issue with one of these three compo-
nents. Remember that you can only nar-
row down the possibilities of a fault in
components such as these. If there is a
problem with the motherboard, then
you will not be able to detect it easily.
RAM happy
I have a Compaq Presario 5000, built
around the i810 motherboard. How can I
dedicate more RAM to my integrated
graphics chip?
Nitin Kundra
The Intel i810 uses a technology called
Dynamic Video Memory Technology
(DVMT). The OS will typically require
allocation of up to 1 MB of system mem-
ory to support legacy VGA. This means
that system utilities will report 1 MB less
114
than the actual physical memory
onboard. The graphics driver for the i810
configuration can request up to 6 MB of
memory from the OS to maintain the
i810’s maximum screen resolution of
1,024 x 768, 2 MB for a command buffer
and 4 MB for Z-buffering. For high per-
formance 3D applications, the drivers
request larger allocations of system mem-
ory for AGP graphics textures. When the
3D application is closed, the OS will then
re-allocate system memory back for nor-
mal Windows use. So the integrated
graphics chipset will pick up the video
RAM allocation from the system memory.
Increasing the system memory should
provide you with more video RAM. You
can also refer to the users’ manual that
came along with the computer to see if
you have BIOS settings to allocate more
RAM for your video applications. This is
typically found in the Advanced Chipset
Settings or Integrated Peripherals sections
of the BIOS.
Getting rid of Linux
I have a peculiar problem with my
Zenith PC, which has a Pentium 4, 128 MB
and a 40 GB hard drive that has five parti-
tions. I had Windows and Linux installed on
different partitions. To format and re-install
Windows from a scratch, I used FDISK, and
deleted the non-DOS partition and then
the logical, extended and primary parti-
tions, one after the other. I recreated the
partitions (without the non-DOS partition),
and formatted the disk. The problem now
is that, if I boot from the hard drive, GRUB
Trojan at your backdoor
The Backdoor Sdbot Virus has infect-
ed my Windows system file, i.e.,
msvcrt.exe. I have used Norton
AntiVirus 2002 to amend this, but to no
avail—it has only quarantined the file,
not repaired it. Please give me a solu-
tion.
Gurpreet
This virus is a Trojan horse
that allows the hacker to control
your computer. It can also update
itself regularly using the Inter-
net. The virus shows up under
the file name cnfgldr.exe or sys-
mon16.exe in the task manag-
er. The executable files can be
found in the c : \ w i n d o w s \ s y s t e m
folder. The only way to repair the
of Linux appears in the command line.
Also, the Windows setup doesn’t proceed,
giving a cryptic message and starts the
thorough scandisk on the system. Is there a
way out?
Anirban Sen
GRUB stores the details of your boot
partitions on your Master Boot Record
(MBR). But since you deleted the parti-
tions and created new ones, it has no rel-
evance now. Also, when you installed
Windows, it did not clear the MBR. So
the information is still present in a cor-
rupted manner. Flushing the MBR, and
installing Windows again can solve this
problem. The command to flush the
MBR using FDISK is f d i s k / m b r . Do this
using a boot floppy. This will clear your
MBR and after that, you can move on to
the Windows installation.
Bad cookies
How dangerous can cookies be, and
how does a hacker get information about
my computer using cookies?
Amit Dugar
In general, cookies are stored as text
files and can cause no harm to your PC
or spread viruses. Hackers—or rather,
commercially driven Web sites with no
regard for your privacy—surreptitiously
plant cookies and then retrieve them in
such a way that it allows them to build a
detailed profile of your interests, spend-
ing habits and lifestyle, making you a
prime target for e-mail based advertising.
infected files is to download the
removal tool from w w w . s y m a n t e c . c o m , or
from w w w . p a n d a s o f t w a r e . c o m. Execute
this program, which will analyse all
the files and remove all strains of the
virus from the machine.
JULY 2003
 FAQs
Help me with my help files
I use Windows XP with SP1. I am
unable to use the Help files from any
program in my PC. I tried opening the
*.chm help files but I get an error that
the file cannot be found, even though it
is present.
Nitesh Kisan Raut
The problem lies within your Win-
dows setup. The file winhlp32.exe is
probably corrupt. There might also be
corrupt Internet Explorer files present.
So, update your Internet Explorer or
simply rerun the setup available from
Microsoft’s site at h t t p : / / d o w n l o a d .
microsoft.com/download/ie6sp1/finrel/6_sp/
W 9 8 N T 4 2 K M e X P / E N - U S / i e 6 s e t u p . e x e . This
will replace winhlp32.exe, and the cor-
responding files necessary to run the
*.chm help files.
Unidentifiable files
In the recent past, I have found that
many *.gid files are being created in my
computer. What are these files for? I
hope they are not related to any virus.
I use a Celeron 300A processor with
128 MB RAM, running Windows 98.
Rakesh
There is no need to be alarmed.
These files are created every time you
use any of the Help files available with-
in Windows, generally as *.hlp or *.chm
Shutdown shortcut
How can I create a shortcut icon to
shutdown my computer?
Abhishek Srivastav
To create a shutdown shortcut,
right-click on the desktop and go to N e w
> S h o r t c u t. Then type ‘ c : \ w i n d o w s \ r u n d l l . e x e
u s e r . e x e , e x i t w i n d o w s ’ as the command
line—make sure you keep the spacing the
same. Give the shortcut a name, such as
Quick Shutdown and press Finish.
PC PlayStation
I have an Intel Pentium 4 system
with Windows 98 SE. I have some
PlayStation CDs that do not run on it.
How can I run them on my machine?
Rajeev Handa
You can get the CDs to run by
using a PlayStation emulator that can be
115
Unfortunately I have forgotten the pass-
word. How can I recover it?
files. These *.gid files are nothing but Rana Basu
pointers used by the above programs
for faster searches and sorting of Help There are many recovery software
databases. available on the Internet that you can
Yes, you can safely delete them. use. MSOfPass97 and Advanced Office 97
However, the .gid file will be re-built by Password Recovery 1.33 are a few of
the original Help file, the next time you the most popular ones. MSOfPass97 is
access it. Also, some Windows programs available at http://www.lostpassword.
require the .gid file to be present, so it’s c o m / m s o f p a s s 9 7 . h t m, while Advanced
better to let sleeping dogs lie. Office 97 Password Recovery 1.33 can be
downloaded from h t t p : / / w w w . s o f t p i l e . c o m /
Watching TV Utilities/Password_Recovery/Download_
I have an Athlon XP 2000+ with 128 00557_1.html.
MB RAM, 40 GB hard drive and an ASUS
A7N266-VM motherboard with Corrupted C
onboard VGA and sound. The operating Every time I try to boot into my
systems installed are Windows 98 and machine, it shows the error, ‘Unable to
Mandrake. I have a Pinnacle PCTV which read drive. Abort, Retry or Fail?’ I used a
works fine in Windows 98. How do I Startup disk, and booted into the DOS
watch TV in Linux? There are no Linux mode successfully. Now the data in drive
drivers bundled on the driver CD, or D is safe, but drive C is corrupted.
found on the Pinnacle Web site. I used some data recovery utilities that
Avninder Singh were bundled in the Digit CD, however, I
can see only unreadable characters
The Pinnacle PCTV card can be used instead of filenames.
in Linux, using the BT878 TV chipset Arvind Singh
support. This should be available as the
bttv kernel module. The application you This error appears because the File
need to use is called xawtv. Try running Allocation Table (FAT) of your C drive
xawtv from the command line to see if has been corrupted, or the hard drive
you have it installed. If not, download itself has gone bad. Firstly, you can try
an appropriate package for Mandrake diagnosing the problem with the hard
from h t t p : / / r p m s . m a n d r a k e c l u b . c o m / r p m s / drive. You will require a Norton Disk
mandrake-devel/cooker/i586/Mandrake Doctor floppy disk, or CD-ROM for this.
/RPMS/xawtv-3.88-1mdk.i586. html. Boot the computer using the Norton CD
or a Windows 98 boot disk, or a Win-
dows 98 CD. If you boot via a Windows
bootable, then choose the option to start
the computer with CD-ROM support.
Type ‘NU’ to start the Norton Utilities
Program. Once you get to the menu,
select 'Disk Doctor' and again press
[Enter]. Choose ‘Diagnose Disk’, select C:
and press [Enter] once more. In the event
that Norton is unable to revive your
computer, you can try recovering the
data from the hard drive, and formatting
and reloading the OS on the hard drive.
You can use programs such as Stellar
You can download the PlayStation emulator Data Shield or Easy Recovery Pro to
to run PlayStation CDs recover the data.
obtained at h t t p : / / w w w . g a m e - r e v o l u t i o n . Send your computing
com/download/emulator/playstation.htm. problems to sos@jasub-
hai.com or write to
Lost word Digit, D-222/2, TTC
I have Office 97 installed on my PC. Industrial Area, MIDC, MIDC, Nerul,
Navi Mumbai-400 706, and we may
Recently I password protected both the
answer it here!
read and modification options of a file.
JULY 2003
insight ■
■ troubleshooting
A file that needs to be locked away, an intriguing mark on the CPU, a motherboard that refuses to
recognise hard disks... Here’s the denouement to it all!
Windows 98 to XP
I was unable to install Windows XP Profes-
sional in the MS-DOS mode. I had to install
Windows 98 SE first, and then upgrade it to
Windows XP Professional. Is there a way to
install Windows XP Professional without
having to follow this procedure?
Mahendra
You can install Windows XP by exe-
cuting the winnt.exe within the i386
folder on the Windows XP CD. The setup
then asks for the path of the source files,
and starts the installation. Another alter-
native is to install it directly using a
Windows XP bootable CD. To change
the boot sequence, re-start your PC and
press [Del] (or [F2], or [F12], depending
upon your motherboard) to enter the
CMOS setup. Change the first boot
option to CD-ROM and keep the hard
disk as the second boot option. Now
boot your PC using the Windows XP CD.
The setup should start automatically.
Keep less work at startup
I get a USERINIT.exe error, whenever I
switch on my computer. The PC runs
Windows XP Home edition.
Deepak Dugar
This error occurs when Windows ini-
tialises the users environment. There
exists a way by which you can start a
106
program even before Explorer starts. This
feature is used by software such as
Norton AntiVirus, McAfee, etc., to exe-
cute the program automatically.
To eliminate the error, you will need
to change the settings in the anti-virus
program so that no virus scan is ini-
tialised at startup. Restart your comput-
er and the error should not occur again.
If it persists, then another application
may be causing the error. You will have
to find the program that starts at startup,
and disable it.
Upgrade to higher capacity drive
I wish to upgrade my PC’s BIOS to
allow it to recognise large hard disks. I
have a Pentium-II 266 MHz, 128 MB RAM,
4.3 GB hard disk, SG200A video card,
440LX motherboard, and the Award mod-
ular BIOS Version 4.1. I wish to have both
Linux and Windows on this PC. My prob-
lem is that although I am keen on using a
large hard disk, say 40 to 60 GB, my
motherboard manual says it will not
recognise hard disks beyond 8.4 GB. What
I can do to solve this?
V.A. Kowshik
This is a problem faced by many.
There are three methods to solve this
problem:
Update your motherboard’s BIOS.
Download the update available for your
motherboard model at the manufactur-
er’s Web site, and follow the steps given at
the site, to flash the BIOS. However, they
may not be an update available for your
motherboard, it being too old.
Get an add-on IDE controller. Pur-
chase an IDE controller card, install
the drivers, and connect it to the high
capacity hard drive. Though being an
expensive solution, it will surely solve
your problem.
Use utilities provided by your drive
manufacturer:
If you use a Maxtor hard drive, down-
load the utility at http://www.maxtor.com/en/sup-
port/ downloads/big_drive_enabler.htm
Seagate’s utility is available at http://www.
seagate.com/support/kb/disc/capacity/index.html
Maxtor’s Big Drive Enabler provides support for
larger hard drives
AUGUST 2003
Video memory size
I have a P4 1.5 GHz, 256 MB SDRAM,
40 GB 7,200 rpm hard drive and a 64 MB
SDR nVidia GeForce2 MX 400 graphics
card.
While fiddling about with my BIOS
recently, I came across an option wherein
the AGP aperture size is set to 64. I would
like to know whether this is applicable
only for integrated graphics chipsets. If
not, what does it mean for my system
configuration. Will increasing it to 128
increase my graphics performance?
Sai Krishnan
The AGP aperture is the portion of
the PCI addressable memory range that
is dedicated as graphics memory address
space. It determines the amount of sys-
tem RAM that can be allocated to the
graphics card for storing texture details.
It is recommended that the aperture size
be half of your system RAM. Typically,
set the aperture to 64 MB or 128 MB. As
the memory on the graphics card
increases, the system requirement
decreases. Hence there is no need to set
the aperture size to half the system
RAM. The aperture size is in no way
related to performance. Increasing it to
the largest setting would not result in
performance gains.
Can’t boot
I have a Pentium 4 processor, 128 MB
DDR RAM and a 40 GB hard disk. When
I boot up Windows XP, I get an error say-
ing, “Unmountable boot volume”
displayed on a blue screen. The error
directs me to remove recently installed
hardware or software first. Since I also
have Windows 98 SE in another partition
that works fine, how can I get rid of the
error message?
Arvind Kumar
This problem occurs when you have
a corrupted boot.ini file. Boot up
using the Window XP CD. Press [R]
when you get the Setup screen, to get to
a DOS-like mode. Here, type chkdsk /p
and press [Enter]. After it is done, type
fixboot, press [Enter], then [y] and then
again press [Enter]. After this, type exit to
reboot to Windows. This should solve
your problem.
If it doesn’t, boot into the CD again.
Type chkdsk /r to switch to the recovery
mode. When it is finished type exit to
reboot to Windows. This should defi-
nitely help you out.
107
Relay not allowed
The outgoing mail server for Dishnet
DSL and NOW no longer works. Their
help desk says that they have removed
the facility to send e-mails from a
domain account such as mine.
What do I do now?
Paradise
It appears that you
have an e-mail id on a
domain other than that
provided by Dishnet, or
NOW. Many Internet
ILLUSTRATIONS: Farzana Cooper
Service Providers such
as VSNL and Sancharnet, provide
SMTP solutions.
Under this service, e-mails from pri-
vate domains are relayed through their
SMTP server. Purchase one of those
gpedit not available
I tried to bring up the group policy
editor by typing the command gpedit.msc
in the Run dialog box in Windows XP. But,
the PC gave up an error message saying,
“Windows cannot find ‘gpedit.msc’ Make
sure you typed the name correctly and try
again”. I tried several times, but to no
avail. So, I tried to locate that file by using
the search utility. I found that there is no
file named gpedit.msc. Kindly help me!
Benenet
You probably have Windows XP
Home installed on your PC, under which
the gpedit.msc command is not avail-
able. Hence, you will need to upgrade
your operating system to Windows XP
Professional.
Graphics card or a processor
I have a PII 300 MHz system with 128
MB RAM and a 32 MB Sis 300/305 AGP
card. I have noticed that games such as
FIFA 2003, which run very slow on my PC,
run smoothly on my friend’s computer—a
The group policy editor comes with Windows
XP Professional
services depending upon
your need.
If you are
unable to send e-
mails through
your Dishnet or
NOW e-mail id, then
first check the pass-
word. If you are using the
correct password, then you
will need to contact the ISP
help desk.
Another solution is to get
SMTP services for your domain
from the Web hosting company
that is hosting your Web site. You may
also host your own SMTP server on a
system that is connected to the
Internet 24 hours a day. IIS under
Windows NT is one such alternative.
PIII 500 MHz system with only an 8 MB
AGP card. I want to know what affects the
graphics capability of a system—a proces-
sor faster by 200 MHz, or a graphics card
with 16 MB of extra RAM? Is there any
way I can improve the performance with-
out buying new hardware?
Piyush Mishra
Your friend’s PC is a PIII, which has
an optimised instruction set that han-
dles the graphics better than your PII.
The processing speed also cannot be neg-
lected; after all, everything depends on
the CPU’s processing power. Hence, a
surplus of 200 MHz processing power
will definitely make a difference.
Sorry, there is no way you can improve
you system performance without upgrad-
ing the hardware.
Crack game
I was using the trial version of the
7Tools Partition Manager 2003. Ever since
the trial period expired, I get an error
message about the expiry that waits for a
minute at the boot up screen, every time
I start the PC.
I also receive a message saying that a
CD is needed when I try to play Age of
Empires. This error occurred after installing
an update for the game, downloaded from
the Microsoft Web site.
Vinodh
Upgrade to the full version of the
Boot Manager. If you don’t want to buy
the program, un-install it and the mes-
AUGUST 2003
insight ■
■ troubleshooting
sage should go away.
The reason why Age of Empires doesn’t
work anymore is that you originally
installed the game from a pirated CD, or
copied a cracked version from a friend.
The crack modifies the game’s .exe file to
bypass the CD check. When you installed
the update, the cracked file got overwrit-
ten by the update and it started checking
for the original CD again.
The solution? None; one of the lessons
to be learnt of playing pirated games!
Not enough memory
I have a Celeron 1.2 GHz, Intel 810
motherboard, 128 MB RAM and a 40 GB
hard disk drive. I am a multimedia stu-
dent, and the software I use brings down
my system resources. Whenever I connect
to the Internet, I frequently get an error,
indicating that there is not enough mem-
ory. Sometimes, it even causes my PC to
hang. However, my friend’s PC that has
the same configuration with 64 MB RAM
faces no such problems. Why is this so?
Parivesh Jain
We assume that you are using
Windows 98, since this and the previous
versions are the main operating systems
that faced such problems. This happens
because browsers such as Netscape need a
lot of resources, and operating systems
restrict each application to a 64 KB limit.
These applications do not release unused
resources, and simultaneously demand
more resources thus resulting in crashes.
To over come this problem, you need
to install patches, or fixes available at the
browser’s Web site or upgrade the brows-
er to a newer, more stable version.
Real Jukebox
Every time I start my PC, I get a mes-
sage saying, “Error starting program, A
required .dll file, PNGU3263.dll, was not
Behind the firewall
eDonkey2000, installed on
my Windows 98 PC, does not
connect to any of the available
servers. Do I have to change some
settings for it to work?
Mandar Sawant
Check if your computer is
behind a firewall. If you happen
to be behind one, then you need to
change the proxy settings. You will
108
found.” How do I get rid of this message?
Manoj
This is a known problem with Real
Jukebox. You get this error when the
pngu3263.dll file is missing or corrupt.
The solution is either you re-install Real
Jukebox or disable it at startup. To un-
install it, go to Control Panel > Add/Remove
Program.
You can disable Real
Jukebox at startup
via regedit, or
msconfig
To disable the program from starting
automatically you have two options. One
is using the msconfig utility. Go to Start >
Run and type msconfig. Press [Enter]. Go
to the Startup tab, uncheck all the entries
related to Real Jukebox, press OK and
restart the PC.
The other option is to directly modify
the registry. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\
Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVer-
sion\Run, and delete all the keys pertain-
ing to Real Jukebox. Playing around with
the registry can cause Windows to crash,
so it’s a good idea to back up the registry
before you use regedit.
Can’t change BIOS setting
My PC restarts automatically ever
also have to
get the port
4662 opened
on the
Internet serv-
er. Check the
status of the
port 4662 at
the following
Web site:
http://www.preinheimer.com/cgi-bin/con-
nectiontest/connectiontest.cgi
since I upgraded from Windows 98 to
Windows XP Professional. If I try to enter
the BIOS setup, none of the configuration
options are highlighted, and I cannot
change any of the settings. Help!
Kabeer J Barooah
BIOS settings need to be highlighted
so that they can be changed. The reason
they are not highlighted is that someone
may have set up an adminis-
trative password without your
knowledge like maybe your PC
dealer. You will have to reset
the BIOS, either by removing
the battery or
changing the
jumper on the
motherboard so
that the CMOS
is reset. Refer to
the mother-
board manual
for the proper
jumper set-
tings. Be very
careful when
changing the
jumper settings, it being an intricate
process. You could always get a profes-
sional to do the needful.
Mark of the CPU
I have a PC with a Pentium 4 1.8 MHz
processor. It is shown as Intel Pentium (R)
4. Its L2 cache is 256 KB. This perplexes
me since I read somewhere that P4 has a
512 KB L2 cache. Also, why is that brack-
eted ‘R’ between Pentium and 4? Have I
been taken for a ride? Please comment!
Prasad
Don’t worry, your hardware vendor
has not duped you. In its initial stages,
the Pentium 4 was built with only
256 KB cache. Later on, it was revised to
include a 512 KB L2 cache. This can be
confirmed by taking a look at the CPU
packaging box. If it says that the CPU is
a Pentium 4 1.8 A, then must be a
512 KB cache processor whereas if it just
says Pentium 4 1.8, then it is a 256 KB
cache processor. As for the R, it stands for
‘REGISTERED TRADE MARK’. See?
Nothing to worry about.
Walk with the world
I have a PC with a Celeron 1.1 GHz
processor, 128 MB RAM, a 40 GB hard disk,
and an Asus motherboard. I have a sepa-
rate 6 GB partition for Linux. First, I
AUGUST 2003

IRQ Locking
I am unable to install the SBLive
CT4830 sound card in Windows 2000,
but the same hardware works fine in
Windows 98. I think the problem lies in
the IRQ sharing. I wish to know how I
should lock the IRQ for my sound card.
Another problem is that whenever I
burn a CD, it gets burned at a maximum
speed of 8X, even if the CD supports 24X.
If I try to burn the CD at a speed exceed-
ing 8X, it gives an error message saying,
“Buffer under run”. Why is that so?
Tamal
To manage IRQ settings for the
sound card, right-click on My
Computer and go to Manage > Device
Manager. In the right pane of the win-
dow, double-click on Sound, Video and
Game controllers. Now right-click on
the appropriate sound card driver, and
select Properties > Resources. Here you can
change the IRQ settings for the device.
To manually set the IRQ settings, first
Resolve resource sharing conflicts by changing the
IRQ settings
installed Mandrake 8.2 without any prob-
lem whatsoever. When I tried to install Red
Hat Version 7, I got a message indicating
that the disk space is not enough. 256 MB
for Swap, 4.5 GB for Root (/), and 1.2 GB
for home. When I tried to install Red Hat
9.1, the system hangs after 7 per cent of
the installation. At my workplace, the same
version installed itself smoothly without any
glitches. Will you kindly help me?
G.Harish
Do make sure that your distribution
109
FAQs
un-select ‘Use automatic settings’.
Under Resource Type, select IRQ and
hit Change Setting. Now select the
IRQ you wish to bind the sound card
with.
The hard disk is unable to provide
data to the CD-Writer at the speed
that it is required to. This may occur
due to many reasons—the hard disk
maybe slow, or other applications Password protect your documents, using Secure
might also be accessing the hard disk Files 2.8
at the same time, or the data might be
fragmented, or CPU utilisation by other
programs maybe very high. To reduce
such errors, use such tools as scandisk
and defrag. Try not to run other appli-
cations while your CD is burning.
It is also possible that you maybe
using an early version of a CD-Writer
that does not support buffer under run
protection. Hence, it maybe time to buy
one of the latest models that support it.
Locking files in a Safe
I wish to know how to password pro-
tect my important files and folders so .dll file - DEC2MIME.DLL not found.”
that no one can peek into them?
Brajesh Manohar
There are many utilities such as
Secure Files 2.8, FileVault 2.7,
bProtected 2003, noDelete 1.51, etc.
to achieve this. Secure Files is one of icons.
the best. With this utility the files
remain protected even if the appli-
cation is not running. Add the files
to be protected, add the password
and close the application. That’s it!
The files are protected. They can
only be retrieved after you start the
application and provide your pass-
word. As soon as you stop the appli-
cation from running, all the files
is indeed Redhat 9.1. The Red Hat site
lists Red Hat 9.0 as its latest stable distro.
Running Red Hat 9.0 on your system will
be quite torturous as the minimum sys-
tem requirement is 128 MB RAM. The
Red Hat 7 installation should work fine
(even a Red Hat 8 needs 4 to 5 GB of hard
disk space for a typical install). The low
disk space warning could be because you
allocated separate space to /home but
not to the other directories such as
/boot, /usr, /etc, and /var. Try allocating
just the swap space and the / partition—
marked for protection just vanish from
their locations. They are visible only
when the application is running. It also
has an icon, which when pressed, clears
the recent file list.
DLL file missing
My Windows 98 SE PC has an Intel
815 motherboard and a PIII 933 proces-
sor. After updating the audio driver for
my motherboard, I found that it is throw-
ing the following error message at start-
up – “Error starting program; a required
Due to this missing .dll file, the startup
programs such as MusicMatch, Norton
AntiVirus, Task Scheduler, Intel active
monitor do not appear on the system
tray and task bar. The programs work
fine when activated, using the desktop
S.S.Samanta
The missing .dll file—
DEC2MIME.DLL—is actually a
Symantec decomposer file, which
belongs to one of the recently installed
Symantec products. What you can do is
reinstall that Symantec product. It
should solve your problem and your
system tray icons will reappear.
don’t give a separate /home partition`.
Allocating separate space for /home does
not really make much of a difference on
a home PC as the number of users will be
very less.
Send your computing
problems to sos@jasub-
hai.com or write to
Digit, D-222/2, TTC
Industrial Area, MIDC, MIDC, Nerul,
Navi Mumbai-400 706, and we may
answer it here!
AUGUST 2003
insight ■
■ troubleshooting
Haunted computers, cameras that don’t work, CDs that refuse to run, computers that won’t shut
down, or just upgrade advice... Tell us about it and we’ll help you solve it
Camera can’t find file
I recently bought a Sony DCR-
TRV355E USB and a Sony DSC-P8
USB camera. When I restart the machine,
after installing the required drivers, I get
an error message saying, “File USB-
NTMAP.SYS is missing.” This happens
for both the cameras. Can you tell me
what I’m doing wrong?
Abhinav
Since the message says that the cru-
cial file is missing or corrupt, the solu-
tion would be to replace the needed
file—all you have to do is copy the file
from the original Windows CD. Look
for the file named driver.cab in
Windows XP and 2000, or base2.cab in
Windows 98 and Me, and extract and
copy it. If you do not have the original
CD, or if you can’t find the file, go to
http://www.usb-drivers.com/ driv-
ers/49/49917.htm and download the file
of the same name for the version of
sos@jasubhai.com
E-mail us your computing
problems, and we may
answer them here! Since we get more
mails per day than we can handle, it may
take some time for your query to be
answered. Rest assured, we are listening!
128
Windows you have installed.
Time for action
Whenever I try to explore any folder
including my CD-ROM drive, Windows
displays an error message saying, “A run
time error has occurred. Do you wish to
Debug? Line: 0 Error: Type mismatch:
‘KJ_start’’.” Can you help me?
Sharma Gourishankar
Uh-oh! Looks like your machine is
infected by a virus; you’ll have to
delete all the files with the ‘htt’ exten-
sion. The easiest way is to go Start > Find
(or Search in case of Windows XP), type
‘*.htt’ as the criteria and start searching.
Once the search is complete, select all
the files in the search window and
press [Delete].
Now that you’ve learnt your lesson,
go to your anti-virus vendor’s Web site,
download the latest update and scan
your hard drive.
Where’s my graphics card?
I have a PC with a Pentium 4, 1.5
GHz, 128 MB DDR RAM, a 40 GB
Samsung hard drive and a Mercury KOB
845G/GL NDSMx motherboard with an
Intel chipset, and onboard sound and
video. My problem is that whenever I try
to install Linux 7.2, it does not recognise
my video card. Linux 7.2 does not list my
motherboard in the list of in-built drivers.
Where can I find the required drivers for
my video card?
Saumik Pal
The KOB 845G/GL NDSMx motherboard is
supported by newer versions of Linux
If you are really attached to your
version of Linux, and do not want to
upgrade to a later version, you can
download precompiled binaries in the
rpm format from ftp://aiedownload.intel.
com/df-support/6080/eng/dripkg-1.
0-4.i386.rpm. If you want to compile the
code yourself, go to ftp://aiedownload.
intel.com/df-support/6185/eng/20030425-
i386.tar.gz, and get the readme file from
ftp://aiedownload.intel.com/df-sup-
port/6080/ ENG/readme.txt.
On the other hand, since your PC
configuration is definately good
SEPTEMBER 2003
enough, you can run newer versions of
Linux that have the drivers for your
motherboard and graphics card. These
distributions are available on the DVD
provided with the August 2003 issue
of Digit.
Faulty CDs
I have a Compaq Presario with a
Pentium III 1 GHz processor, 256 MB
RAM and 20 GB hard disk running
Windows XP. Recently, I got a book called
Red Hat Linux 8 Bible, which bundled
three CDs for installing the operating sys-
tem. Whenever I try to install Linux from
these CDs, it gives me an error message
that says, “The second stage of the install
which you have selected does not match
the boot disk which you are using. This
shouldn’t happen and I am rebooting
your system now”. Can you help me
solve this problem?
Amita
Unfortunately, you can’t—not using
those CDs at least. The problem is that
your CDs have the publishers edited
version of Red Hat 8 with incorrect
file sizes. What you can do is
download the correct version from
http://www.wiley.com/legacy/compbooks/
errata/redhatpubed/.
You don’t even need to do that; just
get the Digit August 2003 issue that has
a DVD, with the best Linux distribu-
tions, including Red Hat 9.
Misinformation
I have a problem with the Frontech
Classycam digital camera that I bought
about two weeks ago. My computer is a
Pentium 4, 1.5 GHz with 256 MB RAM
running Windows XP. It said on the box
that the camera works with Windows XP,
but when I installed the driver provided
with the camera, I got a warning that the
The Frontech Web site clearly states that there
are no Classycam drivers for Windows XP
129
A Boot for a boot
When I create a bootable CD using
Nero, the system prompts me to
insert the bootable Windows 98
CD. So I need to make, is a
bootable Windows 98 CD. How
should I go about doing this?
Atul Jain
To create a bootable Windows
98 CD, you need the Windows 98
installer CD, as well as a bootable
floppy handy. What you need to
do is insert the bootable floppy,
and then start Nero. Select ‘win98’
ILLUSTRATIONS: Farzana Cooper
CDROM (Boot) as the type of CD to f o l d e r
create and specify A: (or whatever from the Windows 98 installer CD to
your floppy drive is called) in the your new compilation, add any files
‘Bootable logical drive’ box. Copy the that you want and write the CD.
software was not designed to work with In Windows XP, the computer
this OS, and may not work. I decided to reboots automatically when a fatal error
continue installation anyway. occurs. If that fatal error only occurs
Now, when I try to download when you’re shutting down, the system
pictures, I get a series of five errors, reboots automatically. If you haven’t
starting with ‘Failed to get USB device’. changed any of the system failure set-
Can you please tell me the solution tings, you should be able to see the
to this problem? error in the Event Log—right-click on
Abhinav Sharma My Computer and go to Manage > Event
Viewer > System.
Looks like you’ve been duped! The This can also occur if the Logitech
Frontech ClassyCam does not offer iTouch software version 1.5, or earlier is
drivers for Windows XP, nor are any installed for some Logitech keyboards,
available on the Internet. In order to such as the Cordless Freedom models.
use this camera, you’re going to have to Install the latest iTouch drivers from
connect it to a machine running www.logitech.com.
Windows 98, 2000, or Me.
No can hear
Never shuts down I have a Pentium 4 with 128 MB RAM
I have a Pentium III, 800 MHz and a 40 GB hard disk, running Windows
processor with an 810e motherboard, Me. About a month after installing Power
128 MB RAM, and two operating Screensaver Builder, I began facing a
systems—Windows 98 and Windows XP. problem with the sound. I got an error
The problem is that my Standby option message that said “MMSYSTEM266 the
has been greyed out, and if I select Shut device could not be loaded, verify that
down, the computer just restarts. The the driver is installed correctly”. I tried
problem exists in Windows XP only, and
not with Windows 98. I even checked the
power options in the BIOS and Control
Panel—they all seem to be OK. Then, I
tried to disable restart from System
Properties > Advanced > Startup & Recovery,
but got the Error; “0x0000007E
(0xC0000005, 0xFC7F1945, 0xFC9589B0,
0xFC9586B0) kbdclass.sys - Address
FC7F1945 base atFC7F1000, DateStamp
36d82f3”. I have to reboot in Windows 98
just to shut down. What should I do? Use System File Checker to replace missing
Nitin system files
SEPTEMBER 2003
insight ■
■ troubleshooting
Boot the multi-boot menu
I have an Intel 933 MHz on an Intel
MB815e motherboard, and an ATX
power supply, running Windows 98 SE
and Windows XP. The PC works perfect-
ly except that when it shuts down it
displays “It’s now safe to turn off
your computer”, instead of directly
shutting down.
My second problem is that I have
formatted my D drive, where Windows
XP was installed, but still get the menu
to choose which operating system
to boot from. How do I solve these
problems?
Ruhit
Ok here’s what you have to do; to
fix the shutdown problem, go to the
CMOS BIOS settings by pressing
[Delete] when the PC boots. Go to the
Power Management option in the
BIOS menu and enable ACPI, press
[Esc], save changes to CMOS and exit
the BIOS screen.
Now, for your second problem,
right-click My Computer and go to
Properties > Advanced and click on
Settings in the 'Startup and Recovery'
section. Here, set the 'Default operat-
ing system:' to Windows 98, and set
the 'Time to display list of operating
systems:' to zero. The boot menu
option will not be displayed thereafter.
A definitive solution involves modify-
ing the boot.ini file. Click on Edit in
the same tab to open the Boot.ini file
in Notepad. Here, change the default
entry to default= c:\, and delete the line
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WIN-
DOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional"
referring to Help but everything seemed
to be in order. I re-installed the software
but the problem persisted. I am able to
play my sound files in all other programs.
Dev
This error is caused if any or all of
the following files are missing or cor-
rupted: Msvideo.dll, Dciman.dll or
Mciavi.drv—all located in the Windows
System folder. Reinstalling a multime-
dia component from Control Panel >
Add/Remove Programs does not replace
these system files. You will have to run
Windows Setup from within Windows,
as then you are prompted to choose
130
FAQs
/fastdetect. This successfully clears the
boot menu.
Windows XP doesn’t install
I have a Pentium III 933 MHz with
Intel 815EEa2 computer. My problem is
that I cannot install Windows XP. When
I restart, it shows an error stating
“error: unmountable_boot_volume”. I
recreated the partition and then for-
matted the hard disk, but still it did not
work. What should I do?
Ryan
40-conductor cable
80-conductor cable
Use an 80-conductor cable to connect
UDMA drives, instead the standard
40-conductor cable
This occurs if your computer uses
an Ultra Direct Memory Access
(UDMA) hard disk controller, and
the following conditions are true: You
use a standard 40-conductor connec-
tor cable to connect the UDMA drive
to the controller, instead of the
required 80-conductor cable, and the
basic input/output system (BIOS) set-
between running a complete set up and
copying all the files again—choose the
‘Copy all files again’ option and your
problem will be fixed.
Another way to do this is to extract
only the files you need from the
Windows CD, using System File
Checker (SFC). To start SFC, go to Start >
Run, type ‘sfc’ and press OK. Next, click
on ‘Extract one file from installation
disk’, type the file name ‘Msvideo.dll’ and
press Start. The next screen will show
you where to ‘Restore from’ and the
location to ‘Save file in’—press OK.
Repeat the steps for all the files men-
tioned above.
tings are configured to force the faster
UDMA modes.
Replace the 40-conductor cable with
an 80-conductor UDMA cable. Simulta-
neously, in the BIOS settings for your
computer, load the ‘Fail-Safe’ default
settings and then reactivate the most
frequently used options such as USB
Support.
I lost my Red Hat
I run Windows Me and recently
installed Red Hat Linux 7.2, after which
it showed the LILO boot menu. Next,
I installed Windows XP but the LILO
boot menu disappeared. Now, I have to
use a Linux boot disk just to run Linux.
How do I fix this?
Seejo
You can repair your LILO boot manager
from within Linux
There’s no need for concern—
Windows always overwrites other boot
loaders. To fix your system, you have
to boot into Linux using the boot disk
you have. Login as root and go to the
command prompt and type ‘lilo’ and
press [Enter]. You should see some-
thing like ‘DOS added’ or ‘Linux
added’. Now restart your PC, and the
problem will be fixed.
PC to PC
I want to know how to connect my
PC to my friend’s PC, who lives around
2 Km away from my house. We both
have phones and modems, and do
not want to buy any extra hardware.
We both run Windows 98. Can we
do this?
Vishal
Sure you can. Just go to Start >
Programs > Accessories > Communication >
Hyper Terminal on both PCs. Now either
you or your friend can call each other
using your modems, and transfer data
just as if you were on a network.
SEPTEMBER 2003
Web camera stopped working
I have Windows 98 installed on my
machine. The Web camera installed on my
system was working perfectly until recent-
ly—it just doesn’t activate anymore. I tried
re-installing the drivers, but the installation
failed. The camera is not detected when I
plug it in either. I have checked the BIOS,
and found the USB port is enabled. I also
tried installing another camera, but even
that wasn’t detected. Finally, I installed my
camera on another system and found that it
works perfectly. What do I do?
Narender Negi
Now that you’ve narrowed down the
possibilities, we suspect that the USB port
is the culprit. As you have already
checked it is enabled, the port is probably
malfunctional. To be doubly sure, you
can install a version of Windows with
better USB support, such as Windows XP.
If the problem persists, your USB port is
definitely kaput! You are then left with
two options—either buy new USB ports
with cables that connect to the USB
header on your motherboard (if your
motherboard has such headers), or buy a
USB PCI card for new USB ports to con-
nect your devices to.
1/2 pageH AD
131
Tweaking Windows XP
I have an AMD Athlon XP 1700+
with Asus-A7V8X motherboard, 256 MB
DDR 266 RAM and run Windows XP as the
operating system. The problem is that my
machine takes a very long time to boot up.
Santosh Choudhury
Anytime an operating system is
booting up, it requires time to load
device drivers, start-up programs, etc.
The loading time is further dependent
on devices being initialised by their
drivers. Sometimes a slow device
such as an external modem can
increase boot up time. Windows XP
is a big step forward from previous
versions—it brings along a lot of
excess baggage in terms of services that
start when you boot. To reduce the
boot up time, you can use tweaking
utilities such as bootvis, available at
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/hwdev/
platform/performance/fastboot/bootvis.
mspx. If you want more information
on how to tweak Windows XP to
improve performance, take a look
at the Tips & Tricks special that
came along with the June 2003 issue
of Digit.
Too many drives
I have a Athlon XP 2000+ processor, 40
GB Seagate hard disk, 128 MB DDR RAM,
ASUS motherboard and run Windows 2000
Professional. I also have a Sony 52X CD-
ROM and an LG 48X CD-Writer. Recently, I
bought a 16X DVD-ROM. The problem is
that my vendor says it’s not possible to
install all three at the same time, reason
being that the PC won’t be able to locate
both, the DVD-ROM as well as CD-ROM at
the same time. Is this true? If yes, what is
the solution?
Dipanshu Banerjee
PCs are normally limited to four IDE
devices. From the information that you
have provided, you already have a hard
disk, CD-ROM and CD-Writer installed.
This leaves one IDE connector to which
you can connect your DVD-ROM. If you
do not have a free IDE connector, then
you need to buy a combination drive that
accommodates both a CD-Writer and a
DVD-ROM. Use of a splitter in case you do
not have a spare power connector for the
drive. Also, you might run short of drive
bays. Some cabinets have only two bays
for optical drives. If so, you will have to
buy a new cabinet with three bays.
SEPTEMBER 2003
insight ■
■ troubleshooting
Want to play games? Find out a shortcut? Retrieve a password? Tell the difference
between master and slave? Read on...
I want shortcuts
I have PIII 1.13 GHz processor with
Windows 98 SE and Internet Explorer 6.
When I want to type a site name, I have to
type ‘www.yahoo.com’ to open it, but on
another PC, I can just type ‘yahoo.com’ and
press [Enter] to open it. What is the solu-
tion?
Pradeep Gade
You don’t even need to type site-
name.com for sites that begin with
‘www.’, and end with ‘.com’, like
www.yahoo.com; just type ‘yahoo’ and
press [Ctrl] + [Enter]. IE6 will fill up the
rest. Depending on the browser you use,
there are different shortcuts for Web
addresses.
Back home
I have a PIII 500 MHz system with
64 MB RAM and a 10 GB hard drive with
three partitions, running Windows 98 and
Mandrake Linux. I want to change the file
system of the Linux partition back to
FAT32. When I run Partition Magic, it gives
sos@jasubhai.com
E-mail us your computing
problems, and we may
answer them here! Since we get more
mails per day than we can handle, it may
take some time for your query to be
answered. Rest assured, we are listening!
112
the message ‘disk geometry error’. How do
I convert the partition?
Sumit
Oops! Looks like you botched the
partitioning process. Relax, it’s possible
to make amends using the latest version
of Partition Magic, viz., Partition Magic 8
(www.powerquest.com). Alternatively, you
can even begin the partitioning process
from scratch. Note that since Linux uses
the EXT3 type partition to function, you
stand to lose all your data when you con-
vert the partition.
Forgot something
I have a Pentium III 850 MHz comput-
er with 128 MB SD RAM, 20 GB Seagate
hard drive, running Windows 98. When I
start Windows, I get an error message that
‘A required .DLL file, IMBROWSE.DLL is
missing.’ Please tell me how to rectify the
problem.
Srikanth
The file probably belongs to an appli-
cation you have recently uninstalled or
re-installed. Start Windows in Safe Mode
(Press [F5] when starting), go to Start >
Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs, and
remove all unnecessary programs. If that
doesn’t work, go to Start > Run and type
‘regedit’. Press [F3]
to bring up the Search box, type
‘IMBROWSE.DLL’ in the box, and remove
all instances that are found. Restart
your computer.
Some play, but some do not
I have installed quite a few games
such as Max Payne, Need for Speed: Hot
Pursuit 2, Quake III, etc. Quake III works
fine, but when I run Max Payne, or Need
for Speed, my computer restarts and
I see the paths ‘D:\windows\minidump\
mini072303-01.dmp’ and ‘D:\documents\
SPF743~1.sen\local~1\temp\wer6c.tmp.dir00
\sysdata.xml’ mentioned. D: is the parti-
tion I have installed Windows XP on.
I also have a problem playing files that
I saved from CDs in Winamp 3. Strangely,
I have no problem playing the same files in
Winamp 2.8. Please help!
Nabarun Sengupta
Your computer could be acting up for
various reasons. There could be a problem
with your drivers, or with DirectX. Since
Quake III uses OpenGL, it might not face
the same problem. Update its drivers for
all your hardware, and then upgrade the
DirectX version to 9.0b.
This can also happen if you possess a
high-end video card, but a weak power
supply. If you have such a card, make sure
you have a power supply of at least 300
Watts to eliminate this problem. Also,
remember to re-install the games after
updating your drivers, so as to replace any
corrupted files. ➜
OCTOBER 2003
insight ■
■ troubleshooting
We suggest you stick with Winamp
2.8, as it is known to be more stable. To
enable enqueuing in Winamp 2.8, press
[Ctrl] + [P] to enter Preferences, move
to ‘File Types’, and check the ‘Enqueue
as default action’ checkbox in the
bottom right.
Graphics card for game
I just bought an old Hercules Stingray
PCI 128/3D model S3318 card, and
would like to know the Web site from
where I can download its drivers. Also, do
let me know if I can play Grand Theft Auto
3 using this card.
Sanjana Sinha
Visit http://us.hercules.com/support/old
_driver.php3 to download the drivers for
this card. Click on the appropriate
operating system to get the drivers.
Unfortunately, you will not be able to
play Grand Theft Auto 3, as the card does
not meet the minimum requirements for
the game.
Expired, but locked
I have installed a shareware version of
Style XP to enhance the look of my XP.
Now, the software has expired the trial peri-
od, but my XP was not restored to the older
condition. The Fast user switching remains
disabled, and it prompts for administrator
password each time I try to log off, by dis-
playing a message that my computer is
locked. What can I do to restore my XP to
the original default settings?
Ram Kishore
In most cases, uninstalling the pro-
gram should restore your system set-
tings. You’ll need to boot into Safe
Mode—press [F8] at startup and choose
‘Safe Mode’. Then go to ‘Add/Remove
Programs’ in the Control Panel.
Windows XP offers the ‘System Restore’
option in Safe Mode. If you haven’t turned
Use System Restore to revert to a stable,
previous state
114
Word, Excel and Outlook crash
I have a Pentium III 500 MHz,
256 MB Ram, 20 GB hard disk,
nVidia TNT 64 graphics card and run
Windows Me. I have also installed
Office 2000 Professional and Vcom
System Suite along with many other
freeware and shareware programs. I have
the latest Windows and Office updates.
Of late, when I start either Word, Excel or
MS Outlook, I get this error message:
‘Excel (Word or MS Outlook) has caused
an error in MSO9.DLL. Excel (Word or
MS Outlook) will now close. If you con-
tinue to experience problems try restart-
ing your computer’. When I start either
PowerPoint or MS Access, this problem
does not occur. I have tried repairing the
Office application, but to no avail. I have
run the Office SR patches and tried
removing the MSO9.DLL file, but still the
problem persists. What do I do?
Parin A Jhaveri
The procedure is pretty simple, just
make sure you follow it carefully. For
the feature off, you’ll be able to restore
your system to the exact state it was in
before you installed the program. Simply
select the corresponding restore point.
Misleading information
I recently purchased a Samsung 40 GB
hard disk, but it does not get detected in
the BIOS. When I refer my motherboard
manual, it says that my system chipset is
‘Intel 82440ZX PCIset (82443ZX +
82371EB) w/AGP solution’ and also men-
tions ‘Dual ultra DMA/33 IDE ports sup-
port greater than 8.4 GB HDD’. Why is my
40 GB hard drive not getting detected?
Rahul A Kavthankar
Your manual only mentions ‘greater
than 8.4 GB’, what it doesn’t tell you is
that it cannot support hard disks above
the 32 GB limit. Your 40 GB hard disk has
a jumper setting at the back that says ‘32
GB clip’. Setting the jumper to this posi-
tion will let your motherboard detect the
hard disk. Remember, enabling this also
sets your hard disk to the slave position,
so ensure that it doesn’t clash with anoth-
er device on the same channel.
Bad is really bad
Though my computer is only a year
old, my hard disk has already developed
ILLUSTRATIONS: Farzana Cooper
Windows Me, go to Start > Search > For
Files or Folders, and type ‘mso9.dll’. In the
Look In box, select My Computer, and
click Search Now. When the file is
found, right-click on it, and select
Rename. Change the extension of the
file to .old (mso9.dll.old), press [Enter],
and close the Find Files window. Go to
Start > Settings > Control Panel > Add/Remove
Programs, and select Microsoft Office.
Click on Add/Remove, and in the pop
up box, select Repair Office. Now, click
'Repair Errors in my Office 2000 installa-
tion', and click Finish.
You could also try un-installing
and then reinstalling Office.
bad sectors. I am surprised that computers
in cyber cafes are used extensively and do
not get such problem, yet my sparingly
used hard disk does. What is the main rea-
son for bad sectors in hard disks?
Vijayananth
Bad sectors are the bane of our exis-
tence. They can be caused by a myriad of
reasons such as a malfunctioning device,
a failing magnetic medium, severe jerks
during transportation, etc. Voltage fluc-
tuation and power outages can also
result in the head touching the disk sur-
face and causing physical damage. Please
do check your mains for any voltage
fluctuations, and verify whether you
have a 350 Watts of power supply.
I am stuck with 580 x 600
The current resolution of my com-
puter is 580 x 600 with 16 colours.
Whenever I change my display settings,
it prompts me to restart the computer
though I have set it to ‘Change settings
without restarting’. Even after I restart, I
get an error message that says, “There is
a problem with your display settings.
The adapter type is incorrect, or the cur-
rent settings do not work with your
hardware”. How do I fix this?
Gurpreet Singh Kalsi
OCTOBER 2003

Lost partition
I have Intel Celeron 1.7 GHz proces-
sor, with 128 DDR RAM and a 40 GB hard
disk, running Windows 98 and XP. The
problem is that when I boot my system
into Windows XP, it shows four partitions.
However, when I boot into Windows 98, it
just shows three partitions. It omits the
partition in which Windows XP is installed.
What should I do?
Soman Dubey
Soman, you will need to purchase a
utility called Paragon NTFS for
Windows 98 (http://www.paragongmbh.
com/n_ntfs.htm), which will mount the
Windows XP NTFS partition in
Windows 98. Alternatively, you can re-
install Windows XP and convert the
partiton into FAT32.
What’s the name again?
I installed Red Hat Linux 8.0 on my pc.
While installing, I was asked to enter root
password, I entered it as ‘mahendra’. Then
I was asked to make users, but I didn’t.
Now when I boot my PC, I am asked to
enter username and password, since I had
not created any user. What should I do?
Mahendra
The fault, Gurpreet, lies with your
graphics card’s drivers. An incorrectly
installed driver can cause this problem.
You haven’t specified your system con-
figuration, so you’ll have to locate your
manufacturer’s Web site and download
the latest drivers for your operating sys-
tem from there.
Buying a RAM
I have a Compaq system Celeron 333
MHz, with 64 MB SD RAM and Windows
Me. My computer is very slow, so I have
decided to increase the RAM. Are there
any technical specifications that I have to
note before buying the RAM? I’m not sure
about my motherboard, but I found
(using Dr.Hardware), that my mother-
board uses the Intel 440EX PCI chipset.
Vinay Nair
The specifications you need to keep in
mind are the RAM type and its speed. In
your case, the type is SDRAM, the speed
could be 66 MHz or 100 MHz. Look for a
100 MHz module for the upgrade. In case
you decide to keep your old stick, remem-
115
FAQs
Don’t worry, Linux
always creates a root user
that acts as the administra-
tor of the computer.
Simply enter ‘root’ as the
username, and ‘mahendra’
as the password.
Where is DMA?
I use the Parashar
Jyotish software, but
when I try to print a page
it shows box like charac-
ters, instead of actual font.
I have installed the soft- Access the DMA settings in the Advanced Settings tab
ware in all the versions of
Windows—Me, 98, 2000 and XP.
I am yet to find a solution. Can you
help me? Also, I want to know
where the DMA option is located in
Windows XP.
Krishn Kant Pandey
To access the DMA option in
Windows XP, go to the Control Panel
and double-click on System. Go to
Hardware and click on Device Manager.
Double-click on the ‘IDE ATA/ATAPI
Controllers’ category, and then double-
click on ‘Primary IDE Channel’ to
ber to buy the same speed RAM or else
system conflicts will occur. You can buy
RAM on a testing warranty basis to check
for system compatibility.
Who came first? Master or slave
I have a Pentium III 1.13 GHz machine
running Windows 98 SE and Windows XP.
My hard disk is connected as secondary
master. When I connect another hard disk
to my PC (as secondary slave), it does not
boot from my secondary master hard disk,
and boots from secondary the slave
instead. CMOS setting shows first boot
device as HDD0. Please give me a solution.
Pradeep Gade
First, connect the hard drive that has
your operating system to the primary
IDE channel, and configure it as your
primary master. Next, connect the other
drive to the secondary channel and con-
figure it as a secondary slave. This will
solve your problem.
Dreaded blue screen plague
I have a Pentium IV with Windows XP
bring up the Properties sheet. In the
Advanced Settings tab, you’ll find the
necessary settings. Access the DMA set-
tings for ‘Secondary IDE Channel’ in
the same manner.
Regarding your problems with the
printout, it is program plus printer
specific. Most likely, the program uses
a font that the printer doesn’t support.
Check the printer’s Web site for updat-
ed drivers. Alternatively, you may
contact the software manufacturer to
check if they have a software update for
the application.
Professional and 512 MB RAM. For months
now, I have been plagued with a recurring
problem that leaves me frustrated. Every
now and then, my PC crashes, leaving me
with the dreaded blue screen saying, “A
problem has been detected and Windows
has been shut down to prevent damage to
your computer”. This is followed by some
generic advice about how to fix the prob-
lem. Further, two important things that
show up are: a program called win32k.sys
along with a memory address, and second,
‘IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL’. How can I
fix this problem?
Mark
The problem can occur due to rea-
sons, such as incompatible hardware or
software, or a conflicting device driver.
Pin-pointing the exact cause is difficult
since you have not mentioned the exact
error message. However, you can visit
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/de
fault.asp?url=/technet/prodtechnol/winxppro/r
eskit/prmd_stp_hwpg.asp for the detailed
steps to help you diagnose and rectify
the problem.
OCTOBER 2003
insight ■
■ troubleshooting
Hard disk woes
I recently partitioned my 40 GB HDD using
fdisk from DOS. The partition structure of my
hard disk is as follows C: (Fat32), D: (Ext2), E:
(Linux Swap), F: (NTFS), G: (FAT32), H: (FAT32).
I had installed Windows Me on the C drive, Win-
dows XP on the F drive, and Linux on the D
drive. After repeated attempts I was unable to
install X-Windows in Linux, so I removed Linux
and re-installed Windows Me. Now my boot
loader shows Windows XP and Windows Me, but
boots only to WinME. ‘fdisk’ does not run and
hangs the machine. I tried loading Partition
Magic 6.0 but this shows an error ‘Disk Geome-
try error. Partition’s drive letter cannot be iden-
tified’. Please help me solve this problem.
Amit Paul
Nothing to worry about Amit, just use a
Windows XP bootable CD to repair the
Windows installation. If that doesn’t solve it,
run the XP setup and delete the Linux parti-
tion when you are prompted to partition your
hard disk. XP will automatically detect previ-
ous versions and configure the boot loader
accordingly.
Speed Boosters
I have a Pentium III 933 MHz PC with 128
MB SD RAM. My computer takes a long time to
start. Secondly, the CD-ROM drive takes a long
time to access when I click on My Computer. I
want to make my PC faster, is there any software
available that will do this?
Nitish Trikannad
Tsk, Tsk! Always remember to mention the
operating system you use. In general, unin-
stalling all unnecessary applications, closing
all background programs, and deleting
unused fonts from the ‘Windows\Fonts’
directory will speed up your computer. You
can use ‘msconfig’, an inbuilt utility to do
most of this (go to Start > Run and type
‘msconfig’, and press [Enter]). As for your CD-
ROM, it probably has a faulty lens and there-
fore takes time to identify CDs. Replace the
drive if it’s within the warranty period.
Graphic Card for Game
I have bought an old Hercules stingray PCI
128/3D model S3318 card. Can you please tell
116
me the site from where I can download the driv-
ers of the card? Also tell me if I can play Grand
Theft Auto 3 using this card.
Sanjana sinha
The drivers for this card can be found at
http://us.hercules.com/support/old_
driver.php3. Click on the appropriate operat-
ing system to get the drivers. Unfortunately,
you will not be able to play GTA 3 as the card
does not meet the minimum requirements for
the game (16 MB 3D video card).
Ring tone on Infrared
I have a Nokia 8250. It has an infrared com-
munication system. I would like to send Ring
tone from PC to my mobile. What are the things
I will require.
In order to send a ring tone from your PC,
you must first connect your phone to it. This
can be done either via a data cable or using an
infrared port. So you need to purchase a com-
patible data cable or get an external infrared
port if your PC does not have one. You will
also need connectivity software such as Nokia
PC suite. Once connected, depending on the
software you use, you will be able to send a
ring tone across. If you use a Nokia PC suite,
you can compose your ring tone and click on
the ‘Send to phone’ button
www.Blank.page
Whenever I try to open Web pages (both
offline or online), the Internet Explorer 6 win-
dow appears blank, but I can see the title and
icons. I have a Pentium III, SM56 Motorola Inter-
nal modem, and runs Windows XP Professional.
Sudeep
This problem occurs due to a rendering
fault with IE. Try installing an alternate
browser, such as Opera, to see if it persists. If
Opera works well, then you need to re-install
Internet Explorer.
OCTOBER 2003
insight ■
■ trou-

Haunted computer place! The solution is actually quite

Over the past few days, simple. You are probably using
whenever I move my Microsoft Office XP with
mouse, the pointer starts Speech Recognition
running by itself and enabled. The problem is
opens unwanted appli- that you haven’t con-
cations. At first, I figured the Speech
thought that it might Recognition, which
be some often results in
sort of virus, so I ‘haunted computer’
formatted and rein- syndrome. There’s no
stalled with an up-to- need to go about un-
date version of Norton installing Speech
AntiVirus 2003, but I Recognition either, as
still face the same you might want to use
problem. I have even it at a later stage.
removed and re- What you can
installed my mouse do immedi-
driver. It worked for a ately is dis-
while, but started acting up able it, and
again. What’s wrong with my PC? later if you want, you can configure it
Praveen Tanwar to your voice. To disable it, go to Start
> Settings > Control Panel > Regional and
Calm down Praveen, there’s no Language Options, in the applet go to
need to go chasing mice all over the Languages > Details, and check the

117 OCTOBER 2003

insight ■
■ troubleshooting
Web camera stopped working
I have Windows 98 installed on my
machine. The Web camera installed on my
system was working perfectly until recent-
ly—it just doesn’t activate anymore. I tried
re-installing the drivers, but the installation
failed. The camera is not detected when I
plug it in either. I have checked the BIOS,
and found the USB port is enabled. I also
tried installing another camera, but even
that wasn’t detected. Finally, I installed my
camera on another system and found that it
works perfectly. What do I do?
Narender Negi
Now that you’ve narrowed down the
possibilities, we suspect that the USB port
is the culprit. As you have already
checked it is enabled, the port is probably
malfunctional. To be doubly sure, you
can install a version of Windows with
better USB support, such as Windows XP.
If the problem persists, your USB port is
definitely kaput! You are then left with
two options—either buy new USB ports
with cables that connect to the USB
header on your motherboard (if your
motherboard has such headers), or buy a
USB PCI card for new USB ports to con-
nect your devices to.
1/2 pageH AD
118
Tweaking Windows XP
I have an AMD Athlon XP 1700+
with Asus-A7V8X motherboard, 256 MB
DDR 266 RAM and run Windows XP as the
operating system. The problem is that my
machine takes a very long time to boot up.
Santosh Choudhury
Anytime an operating system is
booting up, it requires time to load
device drivers, start-up programs, etc.
The loading time is further dependent
on devices being initialised by their
drivers. Sometimes a slow device
such as an external modem can
increase boot up time. Windows XP
is a big step forward from previous
versions—it brings along a lot of
excess baggage in terms of services that
start when you boot. To reduce the
boot up time, you can use tweaking
utilities such as bootvis, available at
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/hwdev/
platform/performance/fastboot/bootvis.
mspx. If you want more information
on how to tweak Windows XP to
improve performance, take a look
at the Tips & Tricks special that
came along with the June 2003 issue
of Digit.
Too many drives
I have a Athlon XP 2000+ processor, 40
GB Seagate hard disk, 128 MB DDR RAM,
ASUS motherboard and run Windows 2000
Professional. I also have a Sony 52X CD-
ROM and an LG 48X CD-Writer. Recently, I
bought a 16X DVD-ROM. The problem is
that my vendor says it’s not possible to
install all three at the same time, reason
being that the PC won’t be able to locate
both, the DVD-ROM as well as CD-ROM at
the same time. Is this true? If yes, what is
the solution?
Dipanshu Banerjee
PCs are normally limited to four IDE
devices. From the information that you
have provided, you already have a hard
disk, CD-ROM and CD-Writer installed.
This leaves one IDE connector to which
you can connect your DVD-ROM. If you
do not have a free IDE connector, then
you need to buy a combination drive that
accommodates both a CD-Writer and a
DVD-ROM. Use of a splitter in case you do
not have a spare power connector for the
drive. Also, you might run short of drive
bays. Some cabinets have only two bays
for optical drives. If so, you will have to
buy a new cabinet with three bays.
OCTOBER 2003
insight ■
■ troubleshooting
Weird resolutions, truant system files, the dreaded Blue Screen, Linux problems,
whatever your problems, chances are they’ll be answered here...
Missing system files
I get the following error message
when running the demo version of
SuperBike 2000 on my Windows 98 SE
system: ‘Error starting program: The
IMM32.DLL file is linked to missing export
USER32.DLL: User32InitializelmmEntry
Table. A device attached to the system is
not functioning’. Please help me.
Saktidip
A corrupt or missing instance of the
files you’ve mentioned might be playing
spoilsport! Replace them using the
‘System File Checker’. Click on Start >
Run, type ‘sfc’ and press [Enter].
Choose ‘Extract one file from installa-
tion disk’, type ‘C:\windows\system\user32.
dll’ and click Start to begin the process.
System file integrity checker in Windows 98
103
You’ll need the original Windows 98
CD, or the location of the CAB files from
where you installed the operating system.
Repeat the procedure for imm32.dll,
which is also located in the Windows Sys-
tem folder. If that doesn’t work, try un-
installing and then re-installing the game.
Trouble with monitor resolution
I have a Pentium 4 1.8 GHz PC with
512 MB DDR RAM, an nVidia GeForce4
440MX graphics card and a 14-inch
Samsung Samtron 45Bn monitor running
Windows XP Home Edition. Whenever I
try playing Warcraft III Reign of Chaos, the
startup video runs smoothly, but when the
game begins, the monitor goes blank, its
power LED starts flashing and I can only
get sound. It returns to Windows normal-
ly when I press [Ctrl] + [Alt] + [Del]. I
tried changing the resolution and
refresh rate of the monitor, but that
didn’t help. Help!
Girish Joshi
The monitor blanks out
because the game switches to a res-
olution and a refresh rate that it
does not support. You’ll need to
reinstall the game, and set its reso-
lution to a lower value. Also, set
your desktop resolution to a low
value, say, 800 x 600 x 16, before
you run the game.
While you’re at it, upgrade your
graphics card drivers, and install the
latest version of DirectX from
www.microsoft.com/directx.
Deadly blue screens
I have an AMD Athlon XP 2400+, 512
MB DDR RAM, a Radeon graphics card and
an Asus A7V8X motherboard running Win-
dows XP Professional. The problem is that
whenever I play a game, I get a blue screen
error asking me to disable cache and shad-
owing, or remove any recently installed
software or hardware. Also, does my moth-
erboard have any compatibility issues with
my graphics card as far as the supported
AGP voltage is concerned?
Sachin Siva
Boot the system and press [Del] to
enter the BIOS. Here, go to the Advanced
Settings option—you will find an option
to disable video cache and shadowing.
Also, you can try lowering the AGP
Aperture size to the minimum (generally
4 MB) and the AGP speed from 8X to 4X
or 2X.
As for incompatibility in terms of volt-
ages, your PC wouldn’t boot if there was
one! So relax, Sachin, your system is fine.
What is System Zone2?
I have a Pentium 4 2.4 GHz proces-
sor on an Intel 865GBF motherboard. I
get a message from Intel Active Monitor
while playing games such as Need for ➜
NOVEMBER 2003
insight ■
■ troubleshooting
Speed 2 or Project IGI, stating that System
Zone2 has exceeded its temperature
limit. What is System Zone2 and how do
I solve the problem?
Ashish Yadav
System Zones refer to specific areas on
your motherboard where important chips
are located. System Zone1 refers to the area
near the PCI expansion slot, and System
Zone2 refers to the area where the system
RAM is located. The error message occurs
if the warning temperature for the Active
Monitor program has been set too low for
your system. You need not worry as long as
your PC doesn’t crash after playing games.
Simply set the warning temperature a little
higher in the monitor program.
3D device missing
I have an nVidia Riva TNT2 graphics
card on my Pentium 4 1.5 GHz system with
128 MB SDRAM running Windows XP. I can
play Cricket 2002 and Fifa 2000 properly on
my system. However, ever since I changed
my cabinet’s position, all my games showed
up error message saying that they required
graphics acceleration. Also, though the
Device Manager lists the graphics card, it
does not show up in the 3dsetup of the
games. Installing the latest drivers did not
help. What do I do now?
Rakesh Khan
Incorrect temperature readings
I have a Pentium 4-based PC with an
Intel D850GB motherboard. During nor-
mal operation, Intel Active Monitor shows
the 65 C - 66 C temperature in System
Zone1 whereas the safe temperature indi-
cated is 50 C. What needs to be
done to reduce the tem-
perature? I have an
ATX cabinet and
I have an addi-
tional fan
installed next to
the SMPS but
apparently, it
does not circulate
much air.
Murli
ILLUSTRATIONS: Mahesh Benkar
You are fac-
ing this problem because of the older
BIOS that provides incorrect informa-
tion to the Intel Active Monitor. You
need not worry about your system being
overheated unless the system shows any
104
Looks like you will have to go
in for a clean install of your graph-
ics drivers. First un-install them
from Start > Settings > Control Panel
> Add/Remove Programs, reboot your
PC, and when Windows prompts
you, select your card type as ‘Stan-
dard VGA’.
Now, restart the system, install
the latest drivers and reboot. Next,
install the latest version of Direc-
tX and reboot your system one
last time.
Since you’ve changed the You can turn off File Protection by editing the registry
location of your unit, there’s a
possibility that the jerks it experienced
might have loosened a card or two. So,
check the RAM sticks and AGP card to
make sure they’re seated firmly.
Turning off Windows file protection
I have a PC running Windows XP Pro-
fessional. Instead of using Style XP, I
replaced Windows uxtheme.dll and also
the system32.dll.
When I rebooted my computer, a Windows
file protection error message appeared, stat- by editing a registry value. Be very careful
ing that certain files that were required to when you do this.
run Windows properly had been replaced
and needed to be restored. Thereafter, it
asked for the Windows XP installation CD. I
cancelled the message and ever since then,
I get the same error whenever I reboot my
odd behaviour, such as frequent system
crashes. Update your BIOS from the Intel
Web site (www.intel.com), and the prob-
lem should be solved.
As for keeping the system cool, just
ensure that you are using a good-quality
SMPS such as
Antec, and
always opt for a
large and
roomy cabinet.
Check the orien-
tation of the
installed fan.
One fan should
expel hot air from
the case, while the
other draws in air
from the outside. If disk as the second boot option. Now boot
both the fans drive air in your PC using the Windows 2000 CD.
the same direction, it’ll actually increase
the internal temperature. Clear the air-
flow path of the processor fan by secur-
ing the IDE and power cables with a
rubber band or string.
PC, or try to access the CD-ROM drive.
Sigh… Do I have to live with it all my life?
David Lalsama
No David, you don’t. The best option
here is to load the Windows XP installa-
tion CD when prompted, and allow Win-
dows to restore the missing files. Of
course, you can also disable Windows File
Protection—the system that prevent users
from deleting system and program files
Go to Start > Run and type ‘regedit’,
navigate to the SFCDisable key in
‘HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft
\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon’ and
edit it to hold the value ‘0xFFFFFF9D’. If
you want to re-enable File Protection, just
reset this value to ‘0’.
Installing Windows 2000 Professional
I am unable to install Windows 2000
Professional in MS-DOS mode. I had
to install Windows 98 SE first, and
then upgrade it to Windows 2000 Profes-
sional. Is there a way to install Windows
2000 Professional without having to fol-
low this procedure?
Amey
Yes, there is. You can install it direct-
ly using a bootable Windows 2000 CD. To
change the boot sequence, re-start your
PC and press [Del] ([F2], or [F12], depend-
ing upon your motherboard), to enter the
CMOS setup. Change the first boot
option to CD-ROM and keep the hard
The setup should start automatically.
If you do not have a bootable Win-
dows 2000 CD, you can still install it
using a bootable Windows 98 CD. First,
boot into MS-DOS using the Windows 98
CD. Next, swap the Windows 98 CD with
NOVEMBER 2003
your non-bootable Windows 2000 CD
and then type ‘drive: \i386\winnt.exe’ at the
prompt. This starts off the installation in
MS-DOS mode.
Retrieving Linux partition
I have a PIII 933 MHz system with 128
MB RAM and a 20 GB hard disk. I have two
Windows partitions and one Linux parti-
tion. I run Windows XP and Mandrake 8.1,
and the dual boot system worked fine.
However, the boot option disappeared
when I installed Windows 98 on the Win-
dows partition, and the Linux partition is
inaccessible. How can I boot into Linux and
retrieve my Linux partition?
Arindam Sarkar
The Windows 98 installation flushed
the Master Boot Record, and hence you
lost the boot loader (LILO or GRUB) that
was installed by Mandrake 8.1. There are a
number of ways to restore the boot loader.
One of them is to use a utility called
LOADLIN that is present in the Linux
CD under the DOS utilities folder. Copy
this utility into a folder called, say,
LOADLIN in the C drive. Next, boot to
Windows 98 in MS-DOS mode and type
‘C:\LOADLIN> LOADLIN vmlinuz /dev/hdb1 ro’
at the command prompt. Here ‘vmlinuz’ is
the Linux kernel image that’s located in
the DOS utilities folder of the Linux CD
and ‘/dev/hdb1’ is the location of your
Linux partition. The kernel should be
available in the same directory as that of
LOADLIN. This loads the Linux operat-
ing system, and then type ‘LILO’ when
you get to the Linux command prompt.
If this does not fix it, do a minimal
install of Mandrake 8.1 using the instal-
lation CD. Here, choose to upgrade when
you get the install options, but don’t
select any files for upgrading. This way,
the setup installs the boot loader and the
whole installation finishes in about 10
minutes.
CPU cooler for AMD
I own a Compaq Presario S3010IL PC
that has an AMD XP 2000+ processor.
SiSandra2003 reports that my CPU fan is
spinning at 981 rpm only, and the system
fan speed is 1,850 rpm. I verified this with
the BIOS information, and found them to
be the same and that’s the reason why the
system becomes hot after a few minutes of
operation. I would like to know the recom-
mended fan speed for the AMD Athlon XP
2000+.
Devasish
105
AMD overclocking.
I just upgraded my PC to an AMD
AthlonXP 2000+, Asus Nforce mother-
board and a 40 GB hard disk. I heard that
the Athlon XP2000+ can be safely over-
clocked up to 2 GHz.
How do I do that?
Girish Kulkarni
AMD processors
can be overclocked
easily, but do bear in
mind that doing so
reduces their life.
Start the system, press [Del] to enter
the BIOS and increase the FSB of the
processor by a small step, say, 1
MHz in the Advanced Chipset
features. At the same time, also
increase the memory speed in the same
way. Keep doing this until you have a
stable system. Frequent crashes after
tweaking the system indicate that it has
been overclocked above limits. You will
have to decrease the above-mentioned
FSB speed.
You also need to have some of the
SiSoft Sandra does not measure the
fan speed; it just takes the data available
from the BIOS and displays it. Also, the
BIOS is often incorrect in measuring the
actual fan speed, temperature, etc.
Hence, you cannot take its word for the
spinning speed.
Open the chassis and check the speed
of the fan. As a thumb rule, if you can
make out or read the name written on
the fan, then, yes, it’s slow. However, if
it’s blurred out and the green AMD logo
looks white, then the fan is running at
the right speed. It is just the BIOS that is
reporting the wrong speed, for which
you can ask Compaq support to provide
you with an updated BIOS. The recom-
mended fan speed for the Athlon XP is
approximately 5000 rpm and it is always
good to go for a faster one, say the Vol-
cano series from Thermaltake.
Can’t delete from floppy
While formatting a floppy, I received
a message that it was already formatted.
However, it would not let me store a
500 KB file on it saying that the drive
was full and I needed to insert another
floppy. I did so and the error appeared
yet again. So, I tried deleting the files,
but even that did not happen. I bought a
following accessories to ensure that you
don’t blow up the processor. The first
and foremost is a quality heat sink and
fan combination—ideally, a copper heat
sink with a high-rpm fan on it. Second-
ly, you need a spacious cabinet with
adequate ventilation for the
circulating air to bring down the tem-
perature within the cabinet.
As said earlier, overclocking tends to
reduce the life span of all the compo-
nents and it also makes your warranty
void. Indeed it’s risky; so don’t do any-
thing unless you know what it is you
intend doing.
new floppy drive and installed a new
cable, but it was of no use. However, the
disk worked fine on my friend’s comput-
er. I think the motherboard has some
defect and needs to be replaced. Also, are
there any IDE cables that work with
floppy drives?
Akash Chhibber
Akash, had there been a problem
with your motherboard, the floppy drive
would not have turned up in Windows
Explorer. Since you can see it there,
nothing is wrong with the board. Check
the ‘Standard Setup’ in the BIOS settings
to see if the floppy disk type is set to
‘1.44 MB’. Also, the ‘Floppy Disk Con-
troller’ in the ‘Integrated Peripherals’
menu should be set to ‘Enabled’. In
‘Advanced BIOS Setup’, set ‘Boot up flop-
py seek’ to ‘Enabled’. This forces the
BIOS to check for a working drive every
time it boots.
Try deleting the contents of the floppy,
by getting into DOS mode and typing ‘a:
DEL *.*’ at the prompt, or format it in the
DOS mode using ‘format a:’.
Floppy drives use their own connec-
tors and cables. They do not use an IDE
interface and consequently, do not work
with an IDE cable.
NOVEMBER 2003
insight ■
■ troubleshooting
Sound problem with games
I have a P-III 1 GHz, 128 MB RAM
and a KOB 815etfsx Mercury mother-
board. I use Windows 98 as well as Win-
dows XP. My problem is that whenever I
play 3D games, sound becomes scratchy
and later it just stops sounding right.
I have to restart my PC to rectify this.
Is there a solution?
Harpreet Singh
Since you haven’t mentioned
which 3D games you run, we assume
the problem occurs in all of them.
Scratchy sound is usually a result of
outdated or corrupt sound drivers.
Update them to the latest available
version. You’ll need to refer to your
manual to figure out the codec you’ve
installed, in case you’re using the
onboard sound. You could also down-
load and install DirectX 9.0b from
Microsoft’s Web site
(www.microsoft.com/directx).
Configuring MailWasher 2.0
I have a problem related to Mail-
Washer 2.0.40 beta. During the
installation process, it gave me a message
stating that I should give the address of
the SMTP and POP server. How do I do
that?
Pratyesh Somani
It is a must to enter the addresses
for the incoming (POP) and
outgoing (SMTP) mail servers, else
RPC error
I use Windows XP Professional. While
working, I get a Remote Procedure Call
(RPC) error and my PC starts a shut-
down procedure by showing a
countdown of 1 minute, after which
it actually restarts! This happens quite
often. Help needed, sincerely!
Kalpesh Gajjar
Yikes! It’s the win32.Blaster
worm that’s infected your system.
Here’s how you manually remove
this worm from your system. Press
[Ctrl] + [Alt] + [Del] to bring up the Task
Manager and remove any currently
running instance of msblast.exe.
Enable the Internet Connection
Firewall in Windows XP. Go to
Control Panel > Network Connections,
106
FAQs
Configuring MailWasher 2.0
MailWasher won’t filter out the spam
messages. Obtain them from your e-
mail client settings. In the case of
Outlook Express, go to Tools > Accounts.
Here, select the account name, click
Properties and go to the Servers tab to
get the above-mentioned addresses.
Playing trailer videos
I have a Pentium 4 with 128 MB RAM
and a 32 MB S3 Savage4 graphics card,
running Windows Me and Windows XP
Professional. The trailers of games and
films on Digit CDs do not play on either
Windows ME and Windows XP.
Also, I am unable to play games
such as Quake III ever since I installed
DirectX 9 drivers on Windows Me.
Malkeet Singh
right-click your Internet connection and
select Properties. In the Advanced tab,
under Internet Connection Firewall,
This is the error message that MSBlaster brings up
Most of the trailers provided on
the Digit CDs are in DivX format so as
to reduce the file size while maintain-
ing video quality. You need to install
the DivX codec, which is on the
Mindware Digit CD, to play these files.
The Divx video encoder
Download the latest drivers avail-
able for Savage4 from
www.s3graphics.com for Windows Me. If
this does not fix it, revert to the older
version of DirectX using System
Restore. Go to Start > Programs > Acces-
sories > System Restore. Select a restore
point prior to installing DirectX 9 from
the list. This restores your system to the
previous DirectX configuration.
check ‘Protect my computer and network
by limiting or preventing access to this
computer from the Internet’ to enable
the firewall. Now, apply the security patch
available for this worm at the Microsoft
Web site.
A detailed description about the worm,
its solution and update is available
at http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?
scid=/directory/worldwide/ja/kblight/t009/7/
02.asp.
sos@jasubhai.com
E-mail us your computing
problems, and we may
answer them here! Since we get more
mails per day than we can handle, it may
take some time for your query to be
answered. Rest assured, we are listening!
NOVEMBER 2003
insight ■
■ troubleshooting
Installation problems, games going haywire, CD-ROM problems,
missing drivers, etc. You name it, we solve it
Game for an error
I have a 633 MHz CPU, on an Intel
82810e motherboard with in-built VGA
and sound, running Windows Me. I get
the following error message when trying
to install Delta Force: “Intel® 82810 E
graphics controller. This video card does
not support HWT &L (Hardware acceler-
ated transform & lighting). Delta Force
has been optimized for cards supporting
HWT &L and therefore will run slower on
your hardware. The resolution has failed,
please make sure that you have the latest
drivers for your video card and run the
video test again.”
Please help me solve this problem,
and if possible include the latest drivers in
the forthcoming CDs.
Praveen S Bohra
Whoops! Sorry Praveen, the problem
is not with the graphics drivers; the bit-
ter truth is that your hardware is just not
good enough. What you need is a better
graphics card, at least a GeForce2.
Unfortunately, since you have an i810-
based motherboard, you probably don’t
have an AGP slot. Though it hurts, both
your pocket and your heart, you’re going
to have to do a massive system overhaul
if you want to play any of today’s games.
Height of AI
I have a Pentium III 1.13 GHz,
256 MB RAM, 80 GB hard disk and an
159
ASUS V8170 64 MB graphics card, run-
ning Windows XP. I have installed games
such as The Hulk, GTA: Vice City, Enter the
Matrix, etc. The problem is, I can’t seem
to control the characters, they just move
left or right on their own. I don’t have
this problem with The Age of Mythology.
What do I do? Also, your Mindware and
Playware CDs do not autorun on my
computer.
Somesh
Check ‘Auto Insert Notification’ to enable autorun on your
system.
The most basic problem could be a
malfunctioning keyboard. Check to see
that the arrow keys, or whichever keys
you have configured to move left and
right, are not stuck—a few sharp taps on
these keys will unstick them.
What’s more probable is that you
have installed, but not configured, some
other input device such as a joystick or
gamepad. This may cause a conflict and
can cause your game to go haywire. Go
to your game’s control options
and disable the use of joysticks.
If the CDs do not autorun,
but you can still browse
through them, it means that
the autorun function has been
disabled on your PC. Double-
click on My Computer, right-
click on your CD-ROM drive
and select Properties. Now,
click on the AutoPlay tab and
then click on ‘Restore
Defaults’. This will turn the
auto play function back on,
and you can enjoy our CDs.
Too many restarts
I have an 8 GB hard disk
with two partitions, a 2 GB one
and a 6 GB one. My problem is
that whenever I run either
ScanDisk or Disk Defragmenter
on my C drive, it runs properly
for a couple of minutes and
DECEMBER 2003
 insight ■
■ troubleshooting
Musical computer
I have a Casio synthesizer with
a midi port, and my computer
has a sound
card with
midi/game
port. How can I
connect both of
them to create
great music?
Saurabh
First you
need to con-
nect the two
together with a suitable ILLUSTRATOR: Mahesh Benkar
connector, which should
have come bundled with
your synthesizer—if it isn’t, you’ll have
to buy one. You haven’t specified
whether your sound card is integrated or
1 col AD not; if the MIDI port is integrated into
then restarts. The reason that appears for
the restart is ‘Drive Contents Changed’.
This is really driving me mad. I run
Windows Me. What should I do?
Dhananjay Gupta
ScanDisk restarts when it detects a
program writing to the disk. Therefore,
before you start Scandisk, ensure that
all other programs are closed—especial-
ly the ones in the System Tray, such
as anti-virus programs, system moni-
tors, firewalls, etc. You can press [Ctrl] +
[Alt] + [Delete] to bring up the End Task
box. This lets you see all programs cur-
rently running on your system.
If this fails to work, reboot into Safe
Mode (press [F5] before Windows starts)
and run ScanDisk. This will almost
certainly solve the problem, but will
make ScanDisk run rather slowly.
Intel or AMD?
I have a Pentium III 800 MHz with
256 MB RAM. I want to upgrade my
processor, as I can’t run the latest games
smoothly. Please suggest what I should
buy—AMD or Intel? Is the latest software
compatible with AMD processors?
Harsimranjit
OK, we’ll say it again: please write in
and give us entire PC configurations if
you want us to solve your problems
properly. Now, since you haven’t men-
tioned the most important gaming com-
160
the motherboard, you’ll need to check
the BIOS (generally under Integrated
Peripherals) to see whether the
port is enabled and has
an address. Next, you
need to add the hardware
into Windows. The proce-
dure varies by OS version; a
common method is to use
the ‘Add Hardware’ wizard
from the Control Panel.
Once the device is
installed, check if it
shows up in Control
Panel > Multimedia
Devices.
Finally, you’ll need
software that can handle an
external synthesizer, such as Cakewalk,
although there are plenty of alternatives.
Now, you’re all set to make cool
digital music.
ponent—the graphics card—we have to
assume you don’t haveone. Instead of
spending on a PC upgrade, you should
buy yourself a good graphics card. For a
Pentium III 800 MHz, a GeForce4 440MX
or GeForce FX 5200 should do nicely.
These cards cost about Rs 2,500 andRs
5,000 respectively.
If you just have to upgrade, we sug-
gest an AMD-nForce combination. This
will save you money, as you will not
have to buy a separate graphics card.
Three times the problem
I have three questions:
Is there a way by which we can
retrieve a forgotten password for a pro-
tected Excel worksheet?
Recently, I partitioned my hard disk on
my home PC. I run Windows XP and Win-
dows 98 SE. Is it possible to operate a
Video Mate TV tuner card in Windows XP?
I can’t find the required Windows XP driv-
ers. The instruction manual doesn’t men-
tion the manufacturer’s Web site. Where
can I find original or compatible drivers?
I am not able to type the ’@’ character.
When I press it, I get an ‘a’.
P. P. Chaukimath
Yes, there are tools for recovering
passwords of protected Excel files. One
of them is Excel Key. A demo version
can be downloaded from http://www.
lostpassword.com/excel.htm. Another utili-
ty is Accent Office Password Recovery
DECEMBER 2003
LT; the trial version can be downloaded from http://www.pass-
wordrecoverytools.com/store/aofpr_setup.exe.
As you haven’t specified the manufacturer of your TV tuner
card, we presume it is a Compro VideoMate TV. This card works
perfectly with Windows XP. You can download the drivers from
http://www.comprousa.com/download/index.htm#VMTV
The ‘@’ problem is caused by incorrect settings for the key-
board layout. In Windows 98, go to Start > Settings > Control Panel
and double-click on Keyboard. Select Language and click on
Properties. Select ‘United States 101’ from the drop- down menu
and click OK. This should solve your problem.

Save settings of Outlook

I want to format my hard drive and reinstall Windows. How do
I back up Outlook’s User Account Settings and Mail Message Rules?
Michael Jeyabalan

Go to File > Import and Export > Export to a file > Personal Folders
File (.pst), and select the folders to be backed up, as well as the
save location. Remember the password so you can open it later.
To save rules, go to Tools > Rules Wizard and select the rule you
have created. From ‘Apply rules in the following order’, click
Options at the bottom right corner, click on ‘Export Rules’ and
save the rules to a separate partition. After reinstalling Win-
dows, you can import these PST files and rules.
1/2 V Ad
Floppy drive flop
Of late, I can’t read the contents of floppies. I get a pop-up
box that says that the disk is not formatted. The same floppy
works in other drives, and Inever got these messages before.
What’s the problem?
Swadhin Sahoo

Update, date no update

My system configuration is: Pentium III 450 MHz,
DirectX 9.0, VIA VT82C693 Apollo Pro Plus motherboard
chipset, 128 MB SDRAM. I have a SiS 6326 graphics card (8
MB video, 32 MB AGP) running Windows 98. Recently, I
purchased a game (Cricket 2002), and installed it. I then
updated my old SiS driver (dated 03/15/2001), and the
game started, but there was a problem with the display. I
decided to update the driver again, but the driver shows the
same, old date (03/15/2001), and the game still refuses to
run. Should I change my graphics card?
Pradeep

There’s nothing
wrong with your
graphics card
Pradeep, except for
the fact that it’s out-
dated. Cricket 2002 is
a fairly recent game
and thus requires a
good 3D accelerator
card. To play the game,
you’ll need a slightly high-
er powered card, at least
a TNT2 or GeForce2.

161 DECEMBER 2003

insight ■
■ troubleshooting
Disappearing CD-ROM drive
I have a Pentium III 450 MHz proces-
sor running Windows 98. When I boot,
my CD-ROM drive is detected, but later
on the icon disappears. I reinstalled the
OS, but the same thing happens again.
What do I do?
Misbah Munnawer
To solve your problem, right-click
on My Computer and choose
In the Settings tab, you need
to set the value of Dual IDE
Channel Settings to ‘Both IDE
Channel setting enabled’
The answer’s simple really—your
floppy drive just died, or is too dirty to
operate. First, clean the drive with a
floppy drive cleaning disk. If this does
not solve your problem, get the drive
repaired, or just buy a new one.
MS-DOS programs refuse to run
I can’t run DOS-based programs
in Windows 2000. I was told that
editing the system.ini file to show the fol-
lowing settings, works for Windows Me,
98 and 95:
[386Enh]
PerVMFiles=250
PerVMBuffers=40
ebios=*ebios
For Windows 95 or 98, the config.sys file
was edited to reflect:
FILES=200
BUFFERS=40
What are the equivalent settings for
Windows 2000?
Arif N Khan
For running legacy DOS-based appli-
162
FAQs
Properties. Go to Device Manager >
Hard disk controllers > PCI bus master
IDE controller, and click on Properties.
Now, go to Settings and set the Dual
IDE Channel setting to ‘Both IDE
Channels enabled’. Just click OK
and restart the PC, and your problem
is solved.
Legally free?
I recently purchased an assembled
Pentium 4 computer for my home. The
motherboard driver CD contains the PC-
Cilian2002 anti-virus. I want to know
whether I can register it with the compa-
ny for upgrades and
latest anti-virus defi-
nitions. What is the
legal position of this
product?
Rajesh Kumar.
Don’t worry, you
stand on solid
ground legally.
You’ve purchased a
hardware product
that included soft-
ware as part of the
package. This
cations in Windows 2000, edit the
‘config.nt’ file located at C:\winnt\
system32\config.nt. Add these attributes
at the end of the text:
files=250
buffers=40
This will solve your problem.
Between dealer and compatibility
I have an Athlon XP 1700 on a KM133
DFI motherboard. Recently, I bought a
GeForce2, but now all my games hang
the system and the monitor flickers every
few seconds. I went to the motherboard
dealer, and he says it’s a compatibility
problem. Is he right? If he is right, then
please tell me why this happens, as I have
a 4x AGP slot. The dealer who sold me
the GeForce2 card is not ready to take it
back. What can I do?
Shantanu joshi
Motherboards based on VIA chipsets
generally have certain stability and
compatibility issues that can be solved
by installing the latest drivers.
First, download the Hyperion drivers
means that you’ve bought the right to
use that software product as well.
Therefore, you can go ahead and regis-
ter on the Web site without any fear.
Internal modem in Windows XP
I have a 900 MHz CPU, 128 MB RAM
and a Motorola SM56 PCI 56 Kbps inter-
nal modem. This modem runs properly
with Windows Me, but not with Windows
XP. I get an error message saying,
“Modem is not digitally signed”. When I
force the driver to install by clicking Con-
tinue, the modem does not work.
Abhay Rana
To use your Motorola SM56 modem
in Windows XP, you need to install the
proper drivers. As Motorola has stopped
its support for this modem, there aren’t
any certified Windows XP drivers avail-
able. First try the Windows 2000 driv-
ers. Remove the modem from its cur-
rent PCI slot, so as to completely delete
the old driver files. Try any of the
following drivers: http://modemsite.com/
56k/_downloads.asp?dl=xflt/sm56/
sm56xp8440.exe,ftp://ftp.dell.com/comm/
ZBRCFE11.EXE or http://www.motorola.com/
softmodem/data-fax-voice.htm#DFVwinXP.
from www.viaarena.com. These are impera-
tive for a stable system. Now, download
and install the detonator drivers for your
operating system from www.nvidia.com.
If the problem persists, set your card
to lower speeds for more stability. Go into
the BIOS, and in the ‘Advanced Chipset
Features’, look for ‘AGP Bus Speed’ and
‘AGP Aperture Size’ and set them to the
minimum level.
As a last resort, visit your mother-
board manufacturer’s Web site, down-
load the latest BIOS update and flash
your BIOS. Remember, flashing your
BIOS is dangerous and may render your
motherboard useless if not done cor-
rectly—preferably, get your mother-
board dealer to do this for you.
sos@jasubhai.com
E-mail us your computing
problems, and we may
answer them here! Since
we get more mails per day than we can
handle, it may take some time for your
query to be answered. Rest assured, we
are listening!
DECEMBER 2003
insight ■
■ troubleshooting
Here are the remedies for Knoppix headaches, faltering game frames, nasty bootups,
nastier errors and cellular annoyances…
Linux not booting from disk
While re-installing Windows 98 SE on
my PC that also runs Red Hat Linux 9.0, I
received a warning about modifying the
boot sector. Upon restarting, I found the
LiLo boot menu missing. I tried the solution
given in one of your earlier issues to a sim-
ilar problem, but Linux would not boot
from my boot disk. SOS!
Nikhil
Use the loadlin program to boot into
Linux from DOS mode. loadlin is located
in the dosutils directory on the Red Hat 9
Installation CD. Copy loadlin and vmlin-
uz—the Red Hat 9 image file—located
under the autoboot directory onto your
Windows partition. Restart in DOS mode,
and type loadlin C:\vmlinuz root=/dev/hdXX
at the command prompt. Replace XX in
hdXX with the location of the Linux root
(/) partition, e.g. hda1. This will boot you
into Linux. Modify the /etc/lilo.conf file to
reflect Windows by adding the following
entries to the end of the file:
other=/dev/hda1
optional
label=Windows
Here, change ‘hda1’ to your Windows
drive. Now, type ‘lilo’ at the command
prompt to place the Linux loader in
the MBR.
Red Hat not playing MP3s
I am unable to play MP3 files ever since
I installed Red Hat Linux 9. I downloaded
119
and installed the latest xmms (1.2.8) from
www.xmms.org, but MP3s just won’t play.
The progress bar moves quickly and the
speakers emit nothing! My sound card is
configured properly, since I can play audio
CDs.
I don’t know how to play VCDs either. I
am unable to find software that plays
.dat files.
My PC is a Pentium IV 1.5 GHz that has
128 MB RAM, an 845 motherboard and an
AC97 onboard sound card.
Ashish Mehta
Unfortunately Ashish, Red Hat 9
does not support MP3s anymore since
the codec is no longer free. However,
there are a few workarounds. One is
to use the encoder library from an
older Linux installation. Copy
libmpg123.so located in /usr/lib/xmms/
Input/ from a PC running Red Hat 7.3 or
older, to the same location on your PC.
Else, download the source rpm for an
older version of xmms, preferably
xmms-1.2.7-2.i386, from http://www.
megaloman.com/~hany/RPM/libmpg123.so.h
tml. Next, run the rpm -ivh xmms-1.2.7-
2.src.rpm command. Replace xmms-1.2.7-
2.src.rpm with the name of the down-
loaded file. This installs the source code in
usr/src/redhat/SOURCES/. ‘cd’(change to a
directory) to this directory and unzip the
xmms file with extension .tar.bz2, using
the bunzip2 filename.
This replaces the .tar.bz2 file with a
new .tar file. Uncompress it using tar xvf
filename.tar.
This creates a new directory contain-
ing the xmms source code. ‘cd’ to
this directory that has the name of the
tar file and type ‘./configure’. Next, ‘cd’ to
the sub-directory named ‘Input’, and
type the following commands one after
the other:
make
make install
This compiles the MP3 libraries
and installs them in /usr/lib/xmms/Input.
You should be able to play MP3s
after this.
Check if the library is installed prop-
erly. Open XMMS, right-click on the main
Open XMMS and right-click on the main
window to access Visualization.
window, and go to Visualization > Visualiza-
tion plug-ins, or use the shortcut [Ctrl] + [V].
Click on the Audio I/O Plugins tab and
check if MPEG Layer 1/2/3 Player 1.2.7
[libmpeg123.so] is listed and enabled in
Input Plugins.
As for playing .dat files, use mplayer,
which you can download from
www.mplayerhq.hu. ➜
JANUARY 2004
insight ■
■ troubleshooting
Fatal error with .exe
I developed a software application in
Visual Basic 6.0 with Oracle as a back-end
and Windows 2000 Server. I receive a fatal
error when I try to execute the .exe file of
the application in Windows 98 or 95. How-
ever, it runs fine in Windows XP. Can you
help me find a solution to this?
Silishi M
Check whether the program gener-
ates errors after installing Visual Basic
6.0 on a Windows 98 PC. If it does not,
then you need to install the Visual Basic
Runtime Setup, downloaded from
www.microsoft.com, on the Windows 98
and 95 machines that execute your
program.
Setup goofups
I have a P4 1.6 GHz, nVidia Riva TNT2,
128 MB RAM and a 40 GB hard disk run-
ning Windows XP Home. DirectX 9.0b is
installed. I had initiated the setup for an
application that automatically downloads
Bits or bytes?
I bought a data cable for my Nokia
7250 to connect to the Net, but it turned
out to be a serial cable. I cannot use the
Nokia software since it works either using
infra-red or the DKU 5 USB data cable.
Some third-party software allow for trans-
fer of files, but I cannot access the Internet.
Is there a way to make this serial cable
work? Are there any USB converters that I
can use? Will they work? And lastly, will
the Internet speed be better than dial-up?
It takes me 20 to 30 seconds to
download a ring tone of 7 KB
- 10 KB on my phone.
Ishaan
The cable you pur-
chased is a DKU-3 cable
that provides serial connec-
tivity, while the DKU-5
cable provides USB connec-
tivity. That is the only differ-
ence. Once the mobile is con-
nected to the PC, it appears as
a modem. You can then use
any dialer, including the Windows dial-
up connection, to connect to the
Internet.
As for the speed of the GPRS, it is
4.0 KBps. The difference between Kbps
and KBps is that b indicates kilo ‘bits’ per
second, while B indicates kilo ‘bytes’ per
120
files from the server. However, I cancelled
that and installed it later from an offline
setup pack. Now, whenever Windows starts
up, it prompts me to connect to the Inter-
net. On clicking Cancel, it indicates that the
auto setup failed and a complete setup icon
is placed on my desktop.
Also, while playing The Hulk, I get
a DirectX error even before the main
menu loads.
Shitanshu
You have described the problem too
vaguely for us to determine the cause of
the Internet connection error message.
Assuming that the auto setup you’re
referring to is the Windows Update Web
site, you could try turning off Auto
Update to resolve it. To do this, go to
Control Panel > System and click on
‘Automatic Updates’, and uncheck the
‘Keep my computer up to date’ box.
Your system does not meet the mini-
mum requirements of The Hulk. You need
a graphics card such as the ones from
second. A byte is made up of 8 bits and
requires a few error or parity bits. Hence,
a single byte of data uses at least 10 to 12
bits. Thus if the bandwidth is 43 Kbps,
then, in terms of bytes, it is 4 KBps. It
should provide 4 KBps bandwidth, but
as a general observation, speeds of more
than 2 KBps are not available. Hence the
Net speed is far inferior to the dial-up
speed. The newer GSM phones support
Enhanced Data rates for Global Evolu-
tion (EDGE) that gives you download
rates of 21 KBps.
ILLUSTRATOR: Mahesh Benkar
Finally, you can use Nokia PC Suite
on your mobile since it does not depend
on the type of connectivity used.
You may also like to try Oxygen
manager software (www.oxygensoftware.
com) that has most of the features of
Nokia PC Suite.
GeForce2 that supports hardware trans-
form and lightning, and 256 MB of RAM,
to play the game smoothly.
Deleting games
How do I delete the default games that
come with Windows 2000 Professional?
Vibhor Mangla
Use Notepad to open the Sysoc.inf
file that’s located in c:\winnt\inf\ sysoc.inf.
Remove ‘HIDE’ from the line
‘Games=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,games.inf,HIDE,7’
and ‘AccessUtil=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,accessor.inf,
HIDE,7’, and save the file.
When you open the file in Notepad, it will look
as shown. To enable uninstall for a particular
program, just remove the word ‘HIDE’ without
disturbing the rest of the file
Next, go to Add/Remove Programs > Win-
dows Setup > Accessories and Utilities, de-select
the Games option and click Apply.
Not smooth with games
I have an AMD Athlon XP 2400+ on an
MSI KM266 chipset-based board with 256
MB DDR RAM and a GeForce2 MX graph-
ics card. My PC does not run smoothly
when playing Quake III Arena. It also takes
a lot more time to load Windows 98 SE
than my older PIII 1.0 GHz with 128 MB
SDRAM and an 810E chipset. Another
problem is that my processor heats up to
over 53 degrees and often crosses 56
degrees when playing games.
Dhananjay Kulkarni
Jerky game frames could be due to
various reasons—application conflicts,
dated drivers, etc. Close all background
applications, especially virus scanners,
while playing games. No other program
JANUARY 2004

To reach Game Options, you need to click on
setup and then Game Options after starting
Quake III
should be running when you
play Quake III.
Update your graphics drivers to pro-
vide a boost in performance.
Decrease the game resolution in Quake
III by going to Setup > System > Graphics.
Next, just leave the Simple items options
enabled in the Game Options menu and
turn off the rest.
Your OS could be taking a longer time
to load due to the presence of several
Startup items, a large number of fonts,
fragmented files, etc. Uninstall unneces-
sary applications, and run Scandisk and
Disk Defragmenter to speed up disk
access. As for the CPU temperature, 53 to
56 degrees is quite normal for the AMD.
Just make sure you have a good quality
fan to dissipate the heat.
Knoppix headaches
I have a Compaq PC that has a Pentium
III 733 MHz and 64 MB RAM. I use a Knop-
pix CD to run my system. Booting from that
CD is very slow. Can I install Knoppix on the
hard disk and boot from it instead? If yes,
let me know the steps to do so.
Narender Kumar Kalra
Narender, don’t expect a Knoppix
CD to boot at the speed of lightning
on a PC with 64 MB RAM! You
need to have at least 128 MB for a
speedy bootup.
Here’s how you install it onto your
hard disk. Boot via the Knoppix CD and
wait till the OS is loaded completely.
Press [Ctrl]+[Alt]+[F1] to reach the console.
Type ‘knx-hdinstall’ and press [Enter]. Fol-
low the installation wizard till it reboots.
If the language is not set properly, go
to Control Center > Personliche Einstellungen
> Land und Sprache. Here, choose ‘locale
and language’ as ‘English’. Click
Andwenden and restart the Control Cen-
ter to get the change effected.
121
An incompatible chipset
I have an HCL BusyBee that
comprises a Pentium 4 1.7 GHz,
128 MB SDRAM, Intel 845G/GL
chipset and a 40 GB hard drive.
The sound card did not get con-
figured when I installed Linux
Red Hat 8.0. According to my
system administrator, the
845G/GL chipset does not sup-
port version 8.0. Do I upgrade
to a higher version? Also, can I
use Windows XP along with Red
Hat 9.0 without any hiccups?
Dipti Ranjan Nayak
You can use Red Hat 9.0 along with
any version of Windows. Sound drivers
You may also refer to the exten-
sive documentation available at
http://www.freenet.org.nz/misc/knoppix-
install.html and http://librenix.com/?inode=
3250 to install Knoppix.
Too much memory is too less
I have a Pentium IV 1.8 GHz, a 40 GB
hard disk, 128 MB DDRAM and an nVidia
graphics card running Windows 98 and
Windows 2000 Server. I have VB.Net
installed in Windows 2000. I get a mes-
sage that says, “Your Computer Virtual
Memory is too low” when trying to load
VB.Net applications. The partitions on my
disk are as follows C: has 10 GB, D: has 20
GB, on which I installed VB.Net, E: has 5
GB and F: has 5 GB. The minimum paging
file size is shown as 192 MB, and maxi-
mum is shown as 384 MB under D:. The
other fields are kept vacant. Can I use this
option to increase the virtual memory set-
ting? What is the maximum level that I
can set it to? Will it affect the normal
working of the system? Will it load the
VB.Net project files without any problem?
Currently, the system slows down when
doing so. Help!
Another problem is the execution of
the project file in VB.Net. I created a short-
cut for the .exe file on the desktop and
executed the same without any problem
in Windows 2000. However, when I copy
it to Windows 98 and try executing it, I
get a message saying that mscoree.dll is
not found. Where can I get this file and
where do I copy it to? The .Net project
uses an MS Access database that is avail-
able under both OSes.
Venu Gopal S
for 845G/GL motherboards are includ-
ed in Red Hat 9.0. However, if you
want to use Red Hat 8.0, download the
necessary drivers from www.linux-driv-
ers.org.
You can increase the size of
virtual memory page file manually.
The maximum value that it can be
set to is the amount of free space
on the drive. You can even allot
space on more than one drive for
the page file. However, before you
look at increasing the size of the
page file, try to reduce the number
of running applications, and stop
all unnecessary services, including
IIS. Virtual memory page files are
very slow to access. Ideally, you need
to have at least 256 MB of RAM to
use VB.Net.
Programs written in VB 5.0 or
VB 6.0 need the VB Runtime files
to be present on the computer that
they are running on. Similarly,
applications written in any .Net lan-
guage require the .Net Runtime to be
installed. The Runtime files are about 20
MB, and are present on the VB.Net
installer CDs.
Changing shut down message
I have a Pentium III 600 MHz, a 10.2
GB hard drive, 64 MB RAM and an ATi card
running Windows 98 SE. How do I change
the default shutdown message?
Gurpreet Singh
That’s simple! Open C:\Windows\
logos.sys in MSPaint, modify the message
in the .bmp file and save it. Shut down
the PC to see the new message. As a
precautionary measure, back up the
original file. You may also use any
picture available in the .bmp format as
a shutdown screen.
JANUARY 2004
insight ■
■ troubleshooting
Boot failure
I have a Pentium III. Using the steps
given in the magazine, I burnt the Red
Hat 9 ISO images present on the Linux
DVD, onto three CDs, and changed the
BIOS settings. However, I get a message
indicating boot failure at startup. Is there
any method to make these CDs
bootable? Also, is it necessary that they
be bootable?
Prasann Vyankatesh Nadgauda
Once you start Nero, click on File, then on Burn Image
and finally the image to burn
The CDs have to be bootable. The
CD-Writer may not have burnt the
images properly. Open Nero and go to
An error unknown...
I have a PC that comprises a Pentium
4 1.7 GHz, a VIA motherboard and a 120
GB hard drive running Windows XP SP1. I
installed a GeForce 4 440 MX graphics
card and 256 SD RAM to play Age of
Mythology. However, a message stating
that an unknown error has occurred
appears while playing Age of Mythology,
and the game quits. The error also comes
Modify the logo.sys file to change the
shutdown message
122
FAQs
File > Burn Image. Select the ISO file and
press Open. Next, click Write to burn
the image.
Memory dilemmas
I own a PC with a Pentium 4 1.4 GHz,
an Intel 850 chipset and 128 MB of
RDRAM. I want to upgrade my memory
to 256 MB and make use of a graphics
card. A hardware vendor told me to pur-
chase a single 128 MB memory stick,
while another said that I need
two 64 MB sticks. I have two
free slots on my motherboard
and two 64 MB RAM sticks
already on the board. How do
I go about doing this?
Raj
RDRAM modules
need to be installed
in pairs. This means
that either you install
two 128 MB sticks, or
four 64 MB sticks.
Since you already
have two 64 MB mod-
ules, the cheapest
option would be to
buy and install Take a backup of the virus definitons before you
another two of the format your hard drive
same capacity. Ask the retailer
to fit the modules onto your
motherboard.
up while playing Command & Conquer.
Downloading drivers from the Internet did
not help. I even replaced the graphics card
with the GeForce 4 440 MX SE, but the
problem persisted.
Prasanchandra Lakhani
The reasons for the error can be
many. There could be a problem with
your drivers, or with DirectX. Update all
the hardware drivers, and then update to
DirectX 9.0b. Visit www.viaarena.com to
download the latest 4-in-1 Hyperion
drivers for the VIA motherboard. Also,
update your sound drivers.
Reason number two can be insufficient
power. This can happen if you possess a
high-end video card, but a weak power
supply. A supply of 300W would eliminate
this problem.
Run a check on all the fans installed in
your system to make sure they’re running
at full speed. Play with the system case
Backing up Norton
I have an Intel Celeron 1.10 GHz, 160
MB RAM and a 40 GB hard drive, run-
ning Windows XP.
I updated the virus definitions for
Norton Anti-Virus, but lost them all when
I formatted the system. How do I
backup virus definitions and restore
them after formatting and installing
Windows afresh?
Giri Giri
All virus definitions reside in
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec
Shared\VirusDefs. Copy them onto a CD
or a floppy disk before formatting, and
then copy them back to the same loca-
tion. Alternatively, download the
standalone .exe file from www.syman-
tec.com, and double-click it to update
the virus definitions.
open to ensure the best ventilation. Re-
install the games after updating the driv-
ers to replace any files that may have
been corrupted.
Enter the BIOS by pressing [DEL] or
[F2] at bootup. Here, in the Advanced
Chipset Features menu, set the AGP aper-
ture size to the lowest value, typically 4
MB. Next, reduce the AGP bus speed to
2X. Also, disable the Enable 4X AGP set-
ting. AGP 4X needs more bandwidth and
hence, more resources than AGP 2X. As a
last resort, check for a BIOS update on the
manufacturer’s Web site.
sos@jasubhai.com
E-mail us your computing
problems, and we may
answer them here! Since we get more
mails per day than we can handle, it may
take some time for your query to be
answered. Rest assured, we are listening!
JANUARY 2004
insight ■
■ troubleshooting
A network drive with hiccups, a short-sighted screen, upgrade troubles, lame Autoruns
and sick CPUs... queue up now to get it all fixed
Yahoo! It’s up again
I recently installed Windows
XP on my PC. The configuration is
Celeron 733 MHz, 128 MB RAM
and an 8 GB hard disk. Whenever
I try to access the site http://
groups.yahoo.com I get the follow-
ing error:
“Gateway Timeout
The following error occurred:
A gateway timeout occurred. The
server is unreachable.
Retry the request.
(GATEWAY_TIMEOUT)
Please contact the administrator.”
All other Web sites open fine.
What do I do?
Avinash
Don’t worry. This happened
because the government of India
banned the Web site for a short while.
Click the Yahoo! Link on the top right corner of the page to move ahead
141
er), but it didn’t start. Is there any way to
open SFC in Windows 2000 professional?
Amish Mehta
Don’t be alarmed. The fact is,
Windows 2000 only has a DOS-based
SFC. To start it, go to the command
prompt, type ‘sfc’ and press [Enter].
Here, you’ll find some help on how to
use sfc.exe, and the syntax to use.
Moody network drive
I run Windows 2000, and whenever I
start Adobe Photoshop, I am unable to
Click the Groups link on the Yahoo! Groups page access a Mapped Network drive; it gives
the following error message: “Insufficient
You should be able to access the site quota to complete the requested service.”
now. If you still face problems, go to If I close Photoshop, I can access the drives
www. yahoo.com, click on Mail, and log again. Only rarely can I access network
in with your username and password. drives while using Photoshop.
Now click on the Yahoo! link on the Shiva Pillai
top right, and when the page loads,
click on the This problem is caused by either a
Groups link. corrupt TCP/IP protocol, or a memory
leak problem. Firstly, try to re-install
Where’s the SFC? the TCP/IP protocol—go to Start >
I have a Pentium Settings > Control Panel, right-click on
III with a 20 GB Network and select Properties. Now
hard disk, an 810e select TCP/IP, and remove it.
motherboard, 128 Remember to note down the configura-
MB RAM and a Sav- tion settings before you remove it, as
age display card. I you will need these settings again while
recently installed re-installing. Now restart you machine,
Windows 2000, and and reinstall TCP/IP.
tried to run SFC The actual problem occurs when the
(System File Check- Windows I/O operation fails due to ➜
FEBRUARY 2004
insight ■
■ troubleshooting
The error that appears when attempting to access a
network drive
insufficient system resources, which
means you may have a memory leak. As
a system’s resources vary from one
moment to another, you actually might
be able to access network drives after a
few minutes or seconds. An immediate
solution is to close unimportant appli-
cations to free some resources, and try
accessing the files again.
If this does not help, or if you have
nothing else open anyway, the next best
thing is to restart Windows. For a more
permanent solution, you need to find the
Enlarge my X screen
I recently installed Red Hat Linux 9.0,
and noticed that the X-window GUI
screen occupies less than my monitor
viewable area—an inch on both the left
and the right. I have an ASUS mother-
board with an Intel 845GL chipset,
128 MB of DDR RAM and on-board 8
MB VGA. My monitor is a 15-inch LG
Studio-works 520Si. Are there some
extra parameters to be given in
XF86Config?
Sandeep
The problem is that the screen
Illustrations: Mahesh Benkar
resolution is too high—reducing it to
1,024 x 768 or 800 x 600 will solve your
problem. Since you’re using Red Hat 9,
you don’t have to worry about adding
extra parameters to the XF86Config
file—this was the only way out with
previous Red Hat versions. Red Hat 9
has an excellent GUI configuration tool
called ‘redhat-config-xfree86’ that can
be invoked by typing the same at the
142
faulty module, program, appli-
cation, or driver that is causing
the memory leak. The leak is
caused because of a driver or an
application that uses the mem-
ory to function, but does not
release it as soon as the work is
complete. This builds up over
time, until all the system
resources are utilised, causing
errors. This is why the problem
is temporarily solved when you
restart—the memory is cleared
and reallocated.
You can use Performance
Monitor to detect faulty appli-
cations, or use Poolman.exe to
detect driver problems—this is
found in the \Support\Tools
folder on the Windows CD-
ROM. If you find a program that’s caus-
ing the problem, make sure to remove
any service related to that process.
Next, remove any other program or
application interacting with the same
process, and finally, remove the faulty
process itself.
You should also send a detailed e-
mail to the vendor or manufacturer of
that application to inform them of your
problem. Hopefully, they will find a
solution, and prevent others from fac-
ing the same.
command
prompt. You
can also type it in the dialog
box that comes up after clicking on the
Run… option under the Main Menu, or
go to Main Menu > System Settings >
Display. Adjust the resolution using the
drop-down box, and then restart the X
server by either logging in again, or by
using [Ctrl] + [Alt] + [Backspace]. This will
solve your problem.
Adding more cards
I have a Pentium IV 1.8 GHz Processor
and an 845 GLVA Intel original mother-
board, which has inbuilt audio and video.
I want to know if I can install external audio
or video cards on this motherboard, and
whether I need to change any BIOS set-
tings. Is there any way of knowing the
speed of the DDR-RAM that my system cur-
rently has?
Tathagata Ray
Sorry, your motherboard does not
have an AGP slot, so you’re stuck with
the integrated graphics chipset. If you
want, you can install a PCI video card
such as a TV-tuner card to get better
graphics. For a better sound solution,
you can use an add-on PCI sound card,
and all you need to do is disable the on-
board sound card from the BIOS.
Windows does not provide a reliable
utility to check the RAM clock speed, but
you can see it when you start your system.
At the first screen, where you see the RAM
count taking place, you can also see the
RAM clock speed. Another option is to use
a freeware utility called WCPUID (www.h-
oda.com), to see the RAM clock speed.
Driver shop
Two months ago, I bought a new
PC with a Pentium 4 2.4 GHz processor,
512 MB of DDR RAM, an 80 GB Seagate
Barracuda, on an ASUS P4S533 MX
Motherboard. I bought an nVidia Riva
TNT 2 graphics card with 32 MB of video
RAM. I want to know whether my card
supports OpenGL. Also, my ASUS moth-
erboard has the SoundMax Sound
chipset. The drivers provided with the
motherboard CD are incorrect. Where can
I get the latest drivers?
Anshuman
The nVidia TNT2 card that you have
on your PC has full support for OpenGL.
Install the latest drivers from
www.nvidia.com for maximum game per-
formance. For better performance, we
suggest a new generation graphics card,
based on the GeForce or Radeon chipset.
You can get the latest SoundMax driv-
ers from http://www.asus.com.tw/support/
download/item.aspx?ModelName=P4S533-
MX&Type=Latest.
Long story short
I recently upgraded my home PC, tak-
ing your advice for the latest motherboard,
processor and graphics. My configuration
FEBRUARY 2004
is: an MSI KT4 Ultra SR, 333 FSB mother-
board with VIA Technologies Inc VT8377 Temporary Linux
chipset, Apollo KT400 CPU to PCI Bridge, I run Windows XP, and want to
A6590VMS V1.1 091102 AMIBIOS Version know how to run Linux without
3.31a, an AMD Athlon XP 2600+, 2.083 overwriting XP. Can I run it off the
GHz, 333 MHz FSB processor, Kingston CD without installing it, or do I
DDR 512 MB, 333 MHz RAM, Seagate Bar- require a bootable CD?
racuda ST380011A, 80 GB, 7,200-rpm Mahesh I
hard drive, SMEDIA nVIDIA GeForce MX
440 SE, 64 MB DDR w/TV, AGP 4X graph- Yes, you can run Linux with-
ics card—all running Windows 98 (C Drive) out installing it. If you have the
and Windows XP (D Drive). I also have an August 2003 issue of Digit, use the
ibox cabinet, a 300 W power supply and an Linux DVD to create a bootable
APC Back-UPS UPS. CD of Knoppix—a Linux distribu-
The problem is that my AMD Athlon tion meant for users who want to
XP 2600+ runs only at 1.90 GHz, when it try Linux without taking the risk
should run at 2.083 GHz. The CPU per- of installing it. Just pop the bootable etc). Once you’re convinced that you
formance is also at par with an Athlon XP Knoppix CD into your drive, and boot want to run Linux, take a look at the
processor running at 1.90 GHz, which I into Linux. However, you cannot do ‘Boots in Control’ article on page 137 of
tested with the SiSoft Sandra 2003 this with any of the other Linux distri- this issue to learn how to install both
Standard software I got from your June butions (Red Hat, SuSE, Mandrake, Linux and Windows XP safely.
2003 CD.
In the BIOS setup (AMIBIOS New Setup
Utility 3.31a), the current values set under The older models clocked 2.13 GHz, but to these files, thus allowing you to
the ‘Frequency / Voltage Control’ sub- ran at 266 FSB with 256 KB of L2 cache. download them. Make sure you’re not
menu are as follows: Check the AMD processor box, and you violating a site’s copyright, or breaking
Spread Spectrum: Disabled (other avail- will see the clock speeds in the fine print any piracy laws by doing this. Read the
able options: ±0.25, ±0.5, ±0.75), CPU FSB near the bar-code. The Athlon XP 2800+ fine print on the site to be sure.
Clock: 280 MHz (100 to 280 - in steps of 1) runs at 2.083 GHz.
CPU Ratio: Auto (x6.0 to 12.0 - in steps of
0.5, 14.0, 15.0, 12.5x13.0) Downloading
CPU Vcore (V): Auto (1.625, 1.650, 1.675, tutorials
1.700, 1.725, 1.750) I want to learn
DDR Voltage (V): Auto (2.6, 2.7, 2.8) 3D software such
Termination Voltage (V): Auto (1.27, 1.29) as Maya, 3D Studio
AGP Voltage (V): Auto (1.6, 1.7, 1.8) Max, Softimage,
I have also observed that when the etc. I have visited
CPU FSB Clock speed was set at default many of the tutori-
value of 100 MHz, the processor was being als sites on the
recognised as an Athlon 1.25 GHz; and Net, which have
when the speed was set at 266, the proces- online tutorials in
sor got recognised as an Athlon 2000+, the form of Quick
1.67 GHz. Now the CPU FSB Clock speed Time movies. How
is set at the maximum available option of can I save or down-
280, and the processor is recognized as a load these movies
2600+, running at 1.90 GHz. to view them later?
Tell me how to get my processor to Sunil
work at its designated speed of 2.083 GHz.
S. Sinha This is easily
done by using
Wow! Now that’s a complete list of such programs as
specifications if we ever saw one. You D o w n l o a d
certainly did your homework, and all the Accelerator
troubleshooting possible. Here’s the (DAP), down-
dampner—there’s nothing wrong with loadable from
your processor. It’s running at the correct www.downloadac-
speed. There are two versions of the celerator.com. DAP
AMD Athlon 2600+ available in the mar- operates in the
ket. You have the latest version with 333 background, and
MHz FSB and 512 KB L2 cache; this runs traps the Web
at a clock speed of 1917 MHz or 1.9 GHz. links that point

143 FEBRUARY 2004

insight ■
■ troubleshooting

Stop, spam!
Recently, I signed up for e-mail from
certain Yahoo! Groups. I provided them
with two e-mail IDs, one Rediffmail and
one Sancharnet. Now, I get too many e-
mails. I figured out how to block these e-
mails in Rediffmail, but Sancharnet has
no block option. How do I stop them?
Atul Shinde
Unsubscribing from a Yahoo!
Group is really simple. Just send a blank
e-mail to <groupname>-unsubscribe@
yahoogroups.com. Here the <groupname> is
the name of each group you wish to
unsubscribe from. If the e-mails still
don’t stop, send a complaint to
<groupname>-owner@yahoogroups.com.
The group owner will receive your mes-
sage, and manually remove your address
from the list.
Bypass CD-Writers
In your August 2003 issue, you pro-
vided Linux distributions. I want to know
how to install Linux, as I don’t have a
CD-Writer. I also want to know how to
create CDs for the same.
Sumeet Srivastava
FAQs
To create CDs from the
DVD, you have to use CD-
burning software such as
Nero, and use the ‘image
burn’ feature. To burn an
image in Nero, go to File >
Burn Image. To burn CDs in
Linux, you need to use the
‘cdrecord’ command. For
more help on the syntax,
refer to the man pages by
issuing the ‘man cdrecord’
command in the terminal
window.
Even if you don’t have The mouse cursor changes to a typing cursor when you
a CD Writer, but have a move it over a text field
DVD-ROM drive, you can
install Linux directly from the DVD. fields—the mouse cursor changes
Visit http://www.thinkdigit.com when you move over it. If the
/howto.html for a detailed procedure. form you downloaded happens to
have such fields, you can fill it up,
Online forms print it and fax it. However, you won’t
I have a PDF form that I want to fill be able to save the form, or fax it from
up. Is there any software that I can use? your computer.
I have Acrobat Reader installed on my If the PDF file doesn’t have special
machine, but it is unable to write to entry fields, as seems to be the case
the file. with your form, your only option is to
Kali Dass print it, fill it in by hand and then
Sometimes, a PDF file has special fax or post it.

Bootable CD
I have problems making a bootable CD.
My PC consists of an Intel Celeron 1.3 GHz
processor, running Windows 98 and Nero
for CD writing. Can you tell me the step-
by-step process for creating a bootable CD
with Nero?
Pratik Netake
Before you start, make sure you have
the Windows 98 bootable floppy. Start
Nero and press New—close the wizard if
Nero starts in wizard mode. Select the
‘CDROM Boot’ option and set the
Bootable Logical Drive to ‘A’. Insert the
bootable floppy into the floppy drive,
and press New. Now copy the data files of
your choice to the CD, and finally, press
the burn button to burn at the speed
you want.
Autorun can’t run
I can’t use my Digit CDs (September
2003 and October 2003). I get the follow-
ing error: “mshta.exe file is linked to miss-
ing export advapi32.dll: free library”.
I searched my computer for these files, and
found them in the \Windows and \Win-
dows\System folders. The older Digit CDs—
October 2002 and November 2002—work
fine. My PC is an Intel Pentium 4 2.4 GHz
with 256 MB RAM, 48 GB hard disk running
Windows 98 SE.
Antariksha Das
Download a fresh copy of the required
DLL file from http://www.useyourbrain.
co.uk/missing-dll-files/advapi32.zip. After
downloading, copy the same into your
\Windows\System32 and \Windows\System
folders. Restart your computer.
Good old PCI
I have an Intel 815 EGEW board, an
800 MHz Pentium III processor, 128 MB of
RAM, and onboard Intel integrated graph-
ics. I can’t play games such as Quake III
Arena and UT 2003; games such as FIFA
2003 and Need For Speed HP2 are quite
sluggish. I don’t have an AGP slot, so I
can’t install an AGP graphics card. Can I
add a PCI graphics card to play these
games? If so, please give me a list of the
best cards available.
Ravi.
Unfortunately, PCI 3D accelerators
have been dead for quite some time now.
Hardly anybody buys them, as AGP has
completely overtaken the graphics card
market. You’ll really have to search hard
to find a suitable card.
Some time ago, Visiontek offered a PCI
card based on the GeForce2 GTS chipset.
This would do nicely for the games you
wish to play. Another PCI card worth look-
ing for is the PowerVR Kyro. Happy hunt-
ing and best of luck!
sos@jasubhai.com
E-mail us your computing
problems, and we may
answer them here! Since we get more
mails per day than we can handle, it may
take some time for your query to be
answered. Rest assured, we are listening!

144 FEBRUARY 2004

insight ■
■ troubleshooting
MIssing L2 caches, installer problems, Explorer crashes, Firmware upgrades,
DOOMed installers, etc. You’ve got a problem? We’ve got the solution
Where’s my L2 gone?
I want to know what the L2 cache
memory is, and why it is marked as 0 MB
on my system. I have an Intel Celeron
1.7 GHz, 128 MB SDRAM, a 40 GB
Seagate hard disk, a Mercury KOB82845
G/GL NDSMx motherboard with the
Intel 845 GL chipset, onboard VGA
and sound.
According to your October issue, a
Pentium 4 has 256 KB of L2 cache, but
my machine has 0 MB. I asked my com-
puter vendor, but he knows nothing
This chart shows the different combinations of processor and cache
that are available
111
about it. My friend’s PC, a Pentium 3, [Pause] key when your system’s hard-
shows 256 KB of L2 cache. The perform- ware information is displayed. This
ance of his computer is good. information appears as a table just after
I used the ‘trial-and-error’ method you’ve switched on your PC, and just
on the external cache option provided in before Windows starts. You’ll need to be
the BIOS, but there was no performance a little quick, or you’ll miss the screen.
difference. My friend’s PC has DDR RAM. Look at this table, and you’ll be able to
Is the L2 cache dependent on the type of view the correct system information.
RAM? Please help.
Gaurav Malji Unhandled Exception while
installing
All CPUs have an inbuilt L2 cache, and I have a Pentium III 450 MHz com-
it isn’t dependent on the type of system puter with Windows 98 SE. The problem
memory you have, or is that recently, I tried to install the demo
anything like that. version of Clive Barker’s Undying. The
The L2 cache, which installer for the game comes with the
increases the CPU’s Install Shield Wizard—the newer one,
performance, is with the soft-blue icon. The installer
inbuilt in the proces- showed that it was reading the packages.
sor. Then, a box popped up showing that
A Celeron 1.7 setup was preparing the Install shield wiz-
GHz processor ard, along with the progress bar. Every-
should have 128 KB thing was fine until this point. Then, a
of L2 cache. There message box popped up saying, “Unhan-
are two possibilities: dled Exception”. The exact error message
the first is that the said: “Error number: 0x80070725
L2 cache in disabled Description: Incompatible version of the
in the BIOS, in RPC stub Setup will now terminate”.
which case you’ll Another interesting fact is that this
have to enable it. now happens for every installer that uses
The other possibility Install Shield. I’ve installed the game
is that the program before, and It ran fine then. Also, the disks
you’re using reports I installed from were clean, so the error is
the cache status not with the source.
incorrectly. To verify I updated my drivers, and reinstalled
this, press the DirectX9. There was no change. The one ➜
MARCH 2004
insight ■
■ troubleshooting
thing I could not do, is use an older back-
up of the registry, as I’d just taken the
backup that very day. I tried it out
though, but it didn’t help.
Kaisar
This error is caused by an incompat-
ible version of a DLL that was installed
on the system, such as Oleaut32.dll,
Olepro32.dll, Asycfilt.dll, or
Stdole2.tlb. For example, version 3.50
of Oleaut32.dll is installed and used
only by Windows XP. So, you get this
error if it is installed on a machine run-
ning any other operating system.
There are three fixes you can try. Choose
the appropriate for your computer:
If you have Microsoft Office or an
Office 2000 component installed,
install the Office 2000 Service Release 1.
You can use this solution for any oper-
ating system.
If you do not have Office 2000 or an
Office 2000 component installed, down-
load and install the mcrepair.exe tool
from http://download.microsoft.com /down-
load/msninvestor/patch/1.0/win98/en-
us/mcrepair.exe. When it prompts you to
overwrite newer files, make sure you
click ‘Yes’ for each file. You can use this
solution for any operating system.
If you’re using Windows 98 or 95, the
error is due to a bad version of
User discipline
I have five PCs running
Windows 2000 Professional
connected over a LAN. I cre-
ated user accounts with group
membership as Guests so as to
prevent users from installing
software without my permis-
sion, though they should be
able to download software,
MP3s, video, etc. However,
users can still install software
at will. I run a cyber café, and
it’s really difficult to spy on
each and every person who
Illustrations: Mahesh Benkar
walks in.
Hari
If your file system is NTFS, then
the simplest way about it is to provide
write permission for the entire C: drive
to the administrator only. Right-click
the C: drive, select Security, and here
remove all groups with the exception
of the Administrators group. Check
the ‘Inherent to sub-folders’ checkbox,
112
oleaut32.dll. To correct this problem,
follow these directions to remove the
old file and reinstall it. First, download
the file appropriate to your operating
system to your desktop, but do not exe-
cute it. The download locations are:
For Windows 98: http://support.install-
shield.com/ kb/files/Q108188/dcom98.exe
For Windows 95: http://support.install-
shield.com/ kb/files/Q108188/dcom95.exe
Now go to Start > Shutdown > Restart in
MS-DOS mode. At the command prompt,
enter the following commands on sepa-
rate lines as shown:
CD c:\windows\system
rename oleaut32.dll oleaut32.old
exit
Now Windows will restart. Ignore the
error message: “A required .DLL file,
C:\windows\system\oleaut32.dll, was
not found.” Double-click the file you
downloaded to your Desktop earlier.
Click Yes at the dialog that opens. The
dcom.exe file installs a new oleaut32.dll
file. After DCOM has been installed,
restart the system.
If this procedure results in your PC
getting even worse, simply go back to
the MS-DOS prompt, and rename the
oleaut32.old file back to oleaut32.dll.
You’re mistaken, mister
and press OK to set the new permis-
sion. Now, the guest user won’t be able
to install any software. Next, create a
common folder wherein users can
download software. This folder should
have read and write permissions for
all, and can be on the C: drive or any
other partition. Alternatively, you can
get the users to download software
onto a floppy disk.
You gave the Linux version of DOOM
in the previous CD, but I’m new to Linux,
and don’t know how to install it on
Red Hat Linux 9.0.
Hira Nand Prasad
The version of DOOM supplied on
the CD in the February issue is neither
for Windows nor for Linux. It’s for a
Mobile, i.e., the Symbian Platform. It’s
a Java-based application; you need to
attach the mobile phone to the com-
puter, and transfer the application to
the mobile, in order to use it. But this
version is meant only for the Symbian
platform, so you’ll be able to use it only
if you have a mobile running the
Symbian OS.
I need a service centre
I stay near Charni Road, Mumbai.
Could you please recommend a good
service centre or technician who won’t
insist on me signing a yearly contract to
make home visits?
My system is three years old, and it’s
been showing the wrong time for the
past two months. I believe this problem
can be solved by replacing the CMOS
battery. But according to my vendor—my
system is assembled—this is a crystal
oscillator problem. Is that true? Can a
motherboard fault cause the wrong time
to show up in the system tray?
I’ve not signed a yearly contract with
my vendor, so he won’t send a technician
for inspection of the fault.
Ashar Bhavesh
Firstly, sorry: We can’t recommend
any company or individuals to you.
But regarding the CMOS battery, you
can boot your machine without the
CMOS battery. The only difference
would be that the machine will gener-
ate a CMOS checksum error, and you
would have to press [F1] each time
you restart. Also, if CMOS battery is at
fault, it will not be able retain the
changes made to the time.
Replacing the battery is not difficult.
Open the cabinet, locate the old bat-
tery, remove it, and insert the new one.
A CMOS battery costs around Rs 20.
If the problem is not rectified after
replacing the battery, then it might be
due to the oscillator, in which case
you’ll have to take the motherboard to
a service centre.
Windows Explorer keeps crashing
MARCH 2004
 My Windows Explorer keeps crashing
whenever I do a search, or use Explorer
for a long time. I’m running Windows XP
+ SP1. To zero in on the problem, I mon-
itored Task Manager to see the cause of
crash, and disabled all startup programs,
including antivirus software. I found a
program, Dr. Watson, which starts imme-
diately and causes Explorer to freeze, and
then it crashes, and closes all Explorer
windows, including Windows Explorer.
I’m really frustrated. I tried searching
the Microsoft XP online database for
a patch, but none was available. What’s
the solution?
Shankar
It’s not necessarily Dr. Watson that’s
causing the problem. When an
error is reported, Windows starts
Dr. Watson, which creates a log file.
This log file comprises the current
state of the machine. This file can then
be sent to the Microsoft technical
support for help. Alternatively, you
can configure Dr. Watson to create
a crash dump file, a binary file that
can be analysed with the help of
a debugger.
By default, the log file created by Dr.
Watson is named Drwtsn32.log, and is
saved in the C:\Documents and Settings\All
Users. WINNT\Application Data\Microsoft\Dr
Watson\ folder.
Check the log file for the program
that’s causing the error. If it’s Windows
At http://www.thinkdigit.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=2 you will find the QNA section where
you can discuss your problems
113
Fan in another fan?
I have a 1.5 GHz
CPU with an Intel
845GBV mother-
board, a 40 GB hard
disk, an nVidia
GeForce4 MX 440
graphics card and
a Creative Sound
Blaster Live DE
5.1 sound card.
Can I use anoth-
er fan for the
graphics card
instead of its
own fan? If so, what kind of fan should I However, you can increase the number
use? Will it enhance my card’s perform- of fans in the cabinet, as it might
ance? improve the cooling system, and there-
Udayan by increase the lifespan of the compo-
nent. Make sure you have a better fan
The fan that comes with the card is to keep things cool in case you wish to
more than enough! You need not overclock your graphics card for better
change or add any more fans to it. performance.
Explorer that’s causing the problem,the Second, is it possible to use a 40 GB
fastest fix is to re-install Windows. hard disk on a 486 system? If yes, how?
Lastly, is there a Web site I can go to,
Help on the Internet for suggestions on these matters?
My first question is whether it’s possi- Manoranjana Mohapatra
ble to download attached e-mail files
directly from the server—Hotmail or For your first question, if you mean
Sify—using FTP commands from within downloading attachments from e-mails
Windows, using the e-mail ID and pass- in your Hotmail or Sify mailbox, then
word, without using a browser? you can’t. You can download attach-
ments only after logging in via the
usual interface. You can, however,
download your Hotmail e-mails direct-
ly using e-mail clients such as Outlook
Express or Outlook.
Now for your second query: Yes, you
can, with the help of utilities you can find
on the hard disk vendor’s Web site. For a
Seagate hard disk, go to www.seagate.
com/support/disc/drivers/, and for Samsung
drives, go to www.samsung.com/Products/
HardDiskDrive/utilities/index.htm.
To answer your last question: We
have a forum at http://www.thinkdigit.com
/forum/viewforum.php?f=2 to discuss such
issues. You are more than welcome to
join us.
Firm wary
I have three questions: What is a
firmware update, and what does it do?
Which of the following needs regular
driver and firmware updates for optimal
functionality: Motherboard, chipset,
graphics card, sound card, hard disk,
MARCH 2004
insight ■
■ troubleshooting
Read carefully
My CD-ROM drive is driving me nuts.
It reads every software CD as an audio
CD. How do I put some sense into it?
Yudhveer Singh
Such drives can be so irritating! The
problem lies with the CD-ROM lens
that is functioning erratically. Clean
the CD-ROM lens using a lens-cleaner
disc. Get it serviced at the nearest repair
centre if the problem persists.
Boot out the choice
I have Windows XP Professional
loaded on my C: drive. Some time back,
I installed Windows 98SE on the D: drive.
This gave me a dual boot option. How-
ever, recently I formatted the D: drive
and created a new partition after remov-
ing all traces of Windows 98SE. In spite
of that, I still get a dual-boot screen
asking me to choose between Windows
XP and Windows 98. How do I get rid
of that?
Tehseen Ali
Open the boot.ini file using
Notepad, delete the following line:
C:\=“windows 98” and then save the
file. The option will not appear the
next time you boot your PC.
processor, modem, monitor, or the TV
tuner card?
Lastly, I intend buying a PC, primarily
to play games. Which OS should I opt
for—Windows XP Professional or Windows
XP Home Edition?
Akhil Bahri
Firmware is software that’s embedded
in the hardware. It’s accessible through
specially written applications that can
write or read from the ROM chip, where
the firmware resides. For instance, the
BIOS on the motherboard is the
firmware. As and when manufacturers
discover bugs in the hardware, they put
up specific updates to overcome them.
Firmware updates can also help overcom-
ing hardware limitations.
Assume that your current AMD board
supports a 166 FSB processor. Later, if AMD
releases a 200 FSB CPU, then the mother-
board manufacturer may release a firmware
update so that your board also supports it.
114
FAQs
Restoring data
I am using Windows XP Professional
on a Pentium 4 system. Recently,
my display and sound drivers were
acting nasty. Hence, I reinstalled them,
but to no avail. I then restored the
system to an earlier time, and lost
valuable software that I installed
after the restoration point. There was
no point available for the restoration
when I tried to undo the changes.
I don’t have the CDs of the aforemen-
tioned software, so I can’t reinstall
them either. Is there any way to get back
that software?
Shailesh
As the name suggests, ‘Undo my last restoration’ helps you recover data that is lost due to a
prior restoration
In the case of such cards as TV-tuners, the
manufacturer may release an update to sup-
port a new motherboard. Motherboards
often require firmware updates for sup-
porting newer features and hardware.
Finally, load Windows XP Home on
your PC if gaming is your main need. It
shores up to the needs of most games and
is easy on the pocket too.
Dreadfully blue
I have an Intel Pentium 4 1.7 GHz
with a VIA P4M266-8233 motherboard,
an S-Media GFX 5200 128 MB DDR
graphics card, a 40 GB hard disk with dual
operating systems—Windows 98 and
Windows XP—and 256 MB SDRAM. I get the
following blue-screen error message when
uninstalling Realtek AC ‘97 for VIA audio driv-
ers in Windows 98 to update them: “A fatal
error has occurred at 0028:ff066a7b in vxd
portcls(05) + 00003afb, the current applica-
tion will be terminated.” What do I do?
Neelonjon Goon
Whenever you restore the system to
an earlier point, Windows XP creates a
restore point, and then proceeds with
the restore. To undo the change, go to
Accessibility > System Tools > System Restore
and select ‘Undo my last restoration’. If
the restore point is not present then you
might have disabled the system restore
functionality. If so, then, pal, you have
our condolences! You won’t be able to
go back to the said state.
Try using recovery software such as R-
Fat, but it’s doubtful whether you will ever
retrieve the files since recovery is possible
only until the physical location where the
files are stored remains unused.
Looks like driver corruption is at
play here. Here’s what you do: Hold
down the Windows key and [Pause] to
access the Properties of My Computer.
Flip over to the Device Manager. Here,
right-click Sound, select Properties and
choose Update drivers. If this does
not even allow you to overwrite the
newer drivers, then restart your PC,
go to the BIOS, disable Sound and
then uninstall the old drivers. Restart
again, enable sound in the BIOS and
then reinstall the drivers.
sos@jasubhai.com
E-mail us your
computing prob-
lems, and we may
answer them here!
Since we get more
mails per day than we can handle, it may
take some time for your query to be
answered. Rest assured, we are listening!
MARCH 2004
insight ■
■ troubleshooting
PCs lying about their disk space?
Refusing to talk sans a password? Here’s how you get them to behave!
Auto-p
power does not work
I have a few problems. Recently, I
installed Windows XP Professional alongside
Windows 98. Now, I see three options in the
boot menu: Windows XP Professional, Win-
dows XP Professional and WINDOWS 98.
How do I remove that extra Windows XP
option? By the way, XP is loaded in C:\Win-
dows.000 and 98 in D:\Windows.
Also, the machine doesn’t power off
automatically when using Windows XP.
This is not so with Windows 98. As I have
an ATX power supply, I guess by default it
should turn off automatically. Please help
me solve these problems.
Tapas Kumar Mahata
Check the ‘Enable Advanced Power Management support’ option to
take advantage of APM and at the same time save on electricity bills!
111
For your first problem, open the file program is needed for opening files of
c:\boot.ini using Notepad. You will type ‘Application’. Location of SirC32
observe that it has two rows with .exe.C://’. The error message box has
Windows XP Professional mentioned. three buttons: OK, Cancel and Locate.
Keep the following line: What should I do?
multi(w)disk(x)rdisk(y) partition(z)\win- Ashwin Doshi
dows. 000="Microsoft Windows XP Professional"
Delete the other row, save the file and The filename is that of a virus that
restart your PC. infected your PC. Norton scanned the
As for your second problem, you need machine and deleted it. However, its
to enable Advanced Power Management residue effect is still present and that is
(APM) for your system. To do so, go to the cause of the error message. The sim-
Control Panel > Power Options. Here, click on plest way out is to download and exe-
the APM tab and select ‘Enable Advanced cute the virus fix. Norton has one such
Power Management support’. Once done, fix available at http://www.sarc.com/avcen-
your PC should shutdown automatically. ter/ FixSirc.com.
Files deleted Connecting computers in the
by anti-virus same locality
software
I have a Pentium 4 2.6 GHz, 512 MB
I have a Windows RAM and a GeForce4 128 MB video card.
98 PC that uses a Cyrix My friend also has the same configuration.
Media GX processor, We would like to play multiplayer games,
64 MB RAM and runs but our Internet connection is too slow. Is
Norton AntiVirus Soft- there any hardware upgrade possible that
ware. It deleted certain will connect our PCs directly? We would
files while scanning for prefer something that does not need a tele-
viruses. Soon after that, phone line. My friend’s house is just a five-
several programs failed minute walk away from mine. Also, do let
to open and I get the us know the costs involved.
following error: Rahul
‘Program not found.
Windows can not You will get a better performance if
find SirC32.exe. This you connect to your friend’s computer ➜
APRIL 2004
insight ■
■ troubleshooting
directly using a telephone line. In this
case, instead of you and your friend
dialling out using two different tele-
phone lines to connect to each other via
the Internet, you use just one telephone
line to dial straight to your friend. This
cuts down phone bills by half.
Alternatively, if you and your friend
stay within 150 metres from each other,
consider using a cross-over cable.
Beyond that you will have to make use of
repeaters and you need to find a feasible
intermediate location to attach the
same. You will have to spend around
Rs 900 for two LAN cards, about Rs 800
per repeater and Rs 10 per metre of
cables used.
Opt for an ‘Always On’ service
provider if your locality has one. These
connect PCs to a small network and
thereby provide Internet access to the
PCs. In this way you could get connected
on a LAN and then play games.
Another alternative is to set up a Wi-
Fi network but this is possible if you and
your friend stay in line of sight. This solu-
tion also depends on a lot of environ-
mental factors. Typically, you will need a
wireless LAN card plus a couple of high-
gain antennas. You could buy a high gain
antenna or make one yourself. You will
find lot of stuff on the Internet in this
regard. The total cost of this solution
should be around Rs 15,000.
A VGA compatibility issue
I have a Pentium 4 1.6 GHz CPU and a
VIA motherboard. Now, I wish to upgrade
Negotiations between 98
and 2000
I have set up two Windows 2000
Professional PCs and two Windows 98
PCs on a LAN. I am asked for a user-
name and password while connecting
from a 98 machine to a 2000 system.
This does not happen when
accessing the Windows 98
PCs from a Windows 2000
PC. How do I get the Win-
dows 98 computers to
access the Windows 2000
computers?
Ashutosh Chatterjee
Create a user
account on both the
112
the VGA card, but I don’t know which one
to opt for? My friend also has a VIA moth-
erboard and a GeForce4, but it causes a lot
of problems while playing games. My deal-
er recommends the Max Force GeForce4;
should I buy that?
Rohit Singh
Yes, there are a lot of issues with the
VIA motherboard and the GeForce4, so
before buying beware. To counter the
problems that arise, you need to con-
stantly look out for BIOS and mother-
board updates and install them as soon
as they are released. If possible, get the
motherboard replaced and then think of
buying a new VGA card.
DAT, .INI and .DLL
Of late, I’ve been facing several prob-
lems. My configuration is a Celeron 466,
128 MB of RAM, an 8.4 GB hard disk, and
Windows 2000 Professional. Here’s what’s
been happening:
I can’t play .DAT files off my CD-ROM.
They run from disk, though. I tried re-
installing Windows but it didn’t work.
Ican’t find the boot.ini file on my hard
disk. I’m able to open it in Notepad, but
after I’m not able to save it after modifying
it’it says that I "need to change the Read-
only Attribute." In order to do this, I do a
search for the file, but it doesn’t show up in
the results.
On a system with a VIA chipset Trident
motherboard, 128 MB of RAM, a 20 GB
hard disk, and a P-III 1 GHz, I’m not able to
install three OSes. I have three partitions’
2000 computers and specify a pass-
word for each. To do so, go to Control
Panel and click on ‘Users and
Passwords’, to add new users. Use these
accounts to connect from the
Windows 98 system.
Illustrations: Mahesh Benkar
a 5 GB, another 5 GB and a 10 GB. On the
first I have Windows 98, the second one is
for Red Hat Linux 9, and the last is for XP.
Without Linux, the other OSes used to run
fine, but after installing Linux, when I try to
boot into XP I get this message: "HAL.DLL
is missing or corrupted." I tried the SFC on
Windows 98, found the HAL.dll file, and
extracted it from my XP CD to put it in the
proper location, but it didn’t work.
Any answers?
Mayukh Chowdhruy
If you are able to copy the .DAT
movie file from a VCD to your hard disk
and play it, the problem is clearly hard-
ware related. Older CD-ROM drives may
have problems reading non-original CDs
properly. The drive must retry reading
multiple times before it picks up error-
free data. This means that the data flow
is slowed, and the drive may get very
hot. To play back a movie smoothly, data
flow should not be interrupted in this
manner. You may try a "Lens Cleaner"
CD, but in all probability this problem
will only be fixed by a new CD Drive.
There’s no doubt that your boot.ini file
is in C:\. You can’t find it because it’s hid-
den, and you can’t save it because it’s
read-only. To view hidden files,
start Windows Explorer, and go to Tools >
Folder Options > View. Select ‘Show hidden
files and folders.’ Now you’ll be able to
see the boot.ini file. Select the file, right-
click it, and choose Properties. Here, uns-
elect ‘Read-only’ and click OK. Now you’ll
be able to modify the file as well.
To recover the HAL.dll file, boot from
your Windows CD and choose the
‘Repair’ option. This will prompt you for
the Windows installation to use. Supply
the Administrator password, and you’ll be
able to restore any file you want to. Now,
execute the following command at
the prompt:
expand x:\i386\hal.dl_ y:\windows\sys-
tem32\hall.dll. Replace ‘x’ with the drive
letter of your CD-ROM, and ‘y’ with the
letter of your Windows XP partition.
Restart the machine, and you’ll be able
to boot into XP.
Norton error
Whenever I install Norton AntiVirus
2004 Professional on either Windows Me
or Windows XP, I get an error message say-
ing "Norton antivirus has encountered an
internal program error (4002,517)". I
downloaded the 15-day trial program from
APRIL 2004
Symantec’s Web site and activated it as well
as updated the virus definitions. Now, what
should I do?
Kabir
This is a known issue and its
solution was provided in one of
the updates. To install the update,
start Norton AntiVirus, run Live-
Update, download all available
updates, and then restart the computer
when prompted.
If the error still persists in Windows
XP, go to Start > Run, type ‘msconfig’ and
click OK. The System Configuration Util-
ity appears. Here, click the Startup tab.
Now look for the ccApp entry and ensure
that it’s checked. Next, click the Services
tab and under the Service heading, locate
Symantec Event Manager and Symantec
Settings Manager and click the checkbox
in front of these entries. Finally, click
Apply and then OK. Restart the machine
if prompted to do so.
For Windows 98/Me, go to Start > Run,
type ‘msconfig’ and click OK. Click the
Startup tab, look for the entries for
ccSetMgr, ccApp and ccEvtMgr and
ensure that they are checked. Click
Apply, and then click OK and restart
the machine.
If the above process also fails to solve
the problem, then download the
Symevent installer file Sevinst.exe
(ftp://ftp.symantec.com/public/english_us_cana
da/symevnt/sevinst.exe) onto your computer
and execute the following command at
the MS-DOS prompt:
C:\sevinst.exe /r
Finally, restart the computer. Get in
touch with Symantec support if the prob-
lem still persists.
The ASR wizard helps you create a rescue disk in Windows XP
113
Why am I cheated on the There are a couple of reasons as to
size? why the hard drive loses some space.
The manufacturers themselves specify
I have a Celeron 1.1GHz with 128 the size in decimal notation instead of
MB SDRAM, an 810BU Tomato Intel the binary notation used by PCs. In
chipset motherboard and an binary notation, 1 KB stands for 1,024
7,200-rpm 80 GB Seagate bytes and not
Barracuda hard drive. While
creating a partition
through Windows XP
Professional, the drive
capacity was shown as
80 GB. However, after
the partition, it shows
its space reduced to
74.5 GB. I am
quite surprised at
the loss of 5.5 GB. 1,000 bytes, as is the case
Where did it go? What is the real prob- in decimal notation. Hence,
lem? Is it possible to recover this lost the computer perceives the size to be
space? lesser than the specified value.
Tsering Ngodup Another factor that brings down the
size of the hard disk is the file system
The problem is not with your hard overhead. As a result of both these
drive. By default, it will report the disk factors you get approximately 95 per
capacity to be approximately 74.5 GB cent of the size specified by the manu-
for an 80 GB hard drive, just as it facturer, which is the same in your case.
shows 18.64 GB for a 20 GB and 37.26 Thus, you can’t do anything to recover
for a 40 GB drive. this space.
98 after XP plete. So, use the rescue disk to get back
to Windows XP, open the boot.ini file
I have Windows XP Professional cur- residing in the C: drive using Notepad
rently installed on my PC and I wish to and add the following line under ‘[oper-
install Windows 98 on it as well. How do I ating system]’:
do that? My hard drive has two partitions. c:\="Windows 98"
Deepinder Singh Mann Save and close the file, and that’s it!
You’re done.
Ideally, you should be installing
Windows 98 first, on one partition, and Data’s encrypted
then Windows XP on
the other partition. I had some encrypted data on my sys-
However, as you have tem running Windows XP, and I’m not able
already installed to use that data now. Please help!
Windows XP, create a Praveen Tanwar
rescue disk for
Windows XP by going If you have used the encryption built
to Start > All Programs > into Windows XP, then there is hope,
Accessories > System Tools provided that you have backed up the
> Backup > Tools Menu > private key used to encrypt the file. Visit
ASR Wizard. Once the http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid
disk is ready, verify it by =kb;EN-US;223316 for information on the
booting the computer encryption process as well as steps to
with the floppy. Now, decrypt the file. However, if you do not
install Windows 98 on have a backup of the key, then all we can
the other partition. You do is give you our condolences for your
will not be able to boot data loss! When you lock something
to Windows XP once away and lose the key, you are just as
the installation is com- locked out as any potential thief!
APRIL 2004
insight ■
■ troubleshooting
Machine auto-shuts down
in a minute!
I run Windows XP Professional, and
I’ve recently gotten a broadband con-
nection. I didn’t have anti-virus software
when I got the connection. Now, all of a
sudden, I’ve started receiving a message
that says, "NT Authority/system call,
Remote Procedure Call service terminat-
ed. The system will shut down within one
minute." I installed Norton AntiVirus
2003, but it isn’t working at all. I then
tried to run navdx.exe in DOS mode, but
it doesn’t detect a virus. What might the
problem be?
Saptarshi
The solution to your problem
involves three steps. First, download
the virus removal tool for the Blaster
virus—this the virus that has infected
your machine—available at http://secu-
rityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/FixBlas
t.exe. Second, the virus may return if
you do not patch your Windows, so
install the Windows patch available at
http://download.microsoft.com/dowload/9/
8/b/98bcfad8-afbc-458faaeeb7a52a983f01
/WindowsXP-KB823980-x86-ENU.exe.
Opening ISO files
I have a Pentium III 866 MHz,
Windows 98 SE, 256 MB of RAM, Award
BIOS, and a 20 GB hard disk. I often save
images of CDs on my hard disk using
Nero 5.5. What software should I use for
opening these image files, which are in
the .iso format?
Abhinav
There are many applications that
open ISO files. Some of them are
WinISO, available from www.winiso.com,
UltraISO from www.ultraiso.com and
WinRAR available at www.rarlab.com.
No display
I have a Pentium III 800 MHz with Win-
dows 98 SE and a Mercury 810 mother-
board. My problem is that there is no
display on my monitor. As I boot up my PC,
the monitor goes into standby and there is
no activity at all. Please help me.
Tejas
114
FAQs
The final step is to download the
latest virus definitions, located at
http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcen
ter/download/us-files/20040311-033-
i32.exe. If the shutdown error message
occurs while downloading any of the
fixes mentioned above, go to Start >
Run, type ‘shutdown -a’ and press [Enter]
to get rid of it temporarily.
Reducing flicker
Ever since I upgraded to Windows XP,
the refresh rate of my monitor has
become exceptionally slow. It refreshes
slowly when I try to scroll down the
screen. Can you help me resolve this?
Milan
All you need to do is increase the
refresh rate. Right-click anywhere on
the desktop and select Properties. Go to
the Settings tab, click Advanced and
switch to the Monitor tab. Here, set the
‘Screen refresh rate’ to the highest pos-
sible value. For a 17-inch monitor at
1024 x 768, the maximum refresh rate
is around 85 Hz while it is 70 Hz for a
15-inch monitor at 800 x 600. These
settings do vary from model to model
First, verify if the monitor is working
properly. Remove the display cable from
the VGA port at the back of the cabinet.
The monitor should then display a mes-
sage that reads something like this:”No
connection, Check signal cable”. Older
monitors may not display anything.
Connect them to another working com-
puter to test their functionality.
The next step would be to check
whether the SMPS is working. If its fan
is not working then the problem is
with the SMPS. You will have to get
it repaired.
If all’s well with the SMPS, then
check the internal speaker. To do that,
remove the RAM chips from the mother-
board and boot up the PC. The speaker
should generate some sound, if not then
get a proper working speaker, as it’s an
important component in the trou-
bleshooting process. If the speaker works,
and yet you hear no beeps indicating the
removal of the RAM, then the motherboard
or processor is at fault. Get them serviced.
and vendor to vendor.
Also, do use the VGA card drivers
provided by the vendor for better hard-
ware acceleration in the display, making
it scroll faster. You may also reduce the
number of colours your display is set to
in the Settings tab.
Works in one, but not in the
other
Somehow my Riva TNT128 AGP card
does not install properly in Windows 98.
The display goes blank once I reboot it
after the driver installation. I have a dual-
boot PC that runs Windows XP and Win-
dows 98 on a BXv98-AT board with 128
MB RAM. The card works fine with Win-
dows XP, though. I am using the drivers
CD that was bundled with the card.
Pradip Srivastav
Ensure that the appropriate driver
files are selected while installing the
driver in Windows 98. If there is no
wrong being done in the driver file
selection, then probably the drivers
themselves are corrupt. Download and
install the detonator from http://www.
nvidia.com/object/LO_20010606_3499.html.
However, if the speaker does beep
then insert the RAM back into the slot
and remove the display card. Now the
speaker should beep again. If it doesn’t,
then there is a problem with the
motherboard. If the speaker beeps then
the display card is at fault; get it replaced
or repaired, insert the new or repaired
display card and the monitor should
work fine.
The last step would be to check if
the CPU fan is working. If it isn’t,
then again the motherboard is at fault.
Verify the working of the fan using an
alternate computer.
sos@jasubhai.com
E-mail us your
computing prob-
lems, and we
may answer
them here! Since
we get more
mails per day than we can handle, it
may take some time for your query
to be answered. Rest assured, we are
listening!
APRIL 2004
insight ■
■ troubleshooting
A screen screaming blue, a partition giving you the blues. Resolve them, and with
your work, get glued!
Recover registry in XP
One fine day, as I started up my com-
puter, I got a message that said, “Win-
dows XP could not start because the
following file is missing or corrupt: \WIN-
DOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM”. What
do I do?
Badri Narayan
To start up your machine without re-
installing, you need to execute some
commands at the recovery console. To
get to the recovery console, boot with
the help of a bootable Windows XP CD,
and press [R] when prompted to enter
the recovery console. Select your Win-
dows folder, and enter the adminis-
trator password.
Once at the console prompt, the first
thing to do is back up the existing file;
you do so by executing the following
commands at the prompt:
md tmp
copy c:\windows\system32\config\system
c:\windows\tmp\system.bak
Now you need to replace these files
with the proper, non-corrupt files,
which are in the repair folder in the
Windows directory:
copy c:\windows\repair\system c:\win -
dows\system32\config\system
Now you can boot into Windows XP,
but, as this file was backed up when
Windows was originally installed, any
changes and settings after that are lost.
139
If System Restore is enabled on your
system, you can get back to the last
restore point.
To do this, boot into Safe Mode with
administrator privileges, go to the drive
where Windows XP is installed, and look
for the ‘System Volume Information’
folder. Look for a snapshot folder—for
example, C:\System Volume
Information\restore{C0B08955-BE89-4849-
ABC0-715FCDE6CE4A}\RP3. Copy the _REG-
ISTRY_MACHINE_SYSTEM file to the ‘tmp’
folder by typing in ‘copy _REGISTRY_
MACHINE_SYSTEM c:\windows\tmp\_REG-
ISTRY_MACHINE_SYSTEM’.
Go to the recovery console again,
using the Windows XP boot disk,
and copy this file over the existing one
by typing ‘copy c:\windows\tmp\_reg-
istry_machine_system c:\windows\system32\
config\system’.
Restart Windows normally, start
System Restore and restore your
machine to any point you wish.
Project home studio
I want to set up my own home
studio. Can you tell me the best PC con-
figuration to do so?
Rajieve Tanck
For a home studio PC, we suggest you
buy a Pentium 3.2c, an Intel 875PBZ
motherboard, 512 MB or more of 400
MHz DDR RAM, a 7,200-rpm Samsung
hard drive—80 GB or more, a 9600 Pro
graphics card, an Audigy2 sound card, a
19-inch monitor, a floppy disk drive, a
keyboard, an optical mouse, etc. If you
want a better graphics card, opt for a
9800 Pro XT, 5900 or 5950—which will
cost about Rs 35,000.
8X on 4X
I have an Intel D845GBV motherboard
with Intel Extreme Graphics and a 4X AGP
slot with the 1.5 V specification. Will an
8X AGP card fit and work properly in my
4X AGP slot? I want to buy the latest
GeForce FX series card. Can you suggest
which one?
My 40 GB hard disk is split into four
partitions, with C allocated 11 GB, while
D, E and F have 9 GB each. Earlier, I had
Windows Me on the C drive and Windows
XP on D. The D drive is in NTFS format,
and I have now loaded Windows 98 on
C. How do I access my D drive when
working in windows 98? I have the Win-
dows XP Pro CD.
Jimmy Varghese
Yes, you can use an AGP 8X card
in an AGP 4X slot. AGP 8X supports
1.5 volts, but you won’t be able to
experience the full power of the card.
The GeForce FX from Compro is a
good choice in the GeForce series,
and has won the Digit Best Value
award in 2003.
MAY 2004
insight ■
■ troubleshooting
You can’t access your D drive from
Windows 98. There are a few third-
party utilities that will allow you to do
this, but these are not recommended.
You will either have to boot into
Windows XP to view your data on the
D drive, or convert your D drive to
the FAT32 format.
Internal and external
conflict
I download e-mail from my server
using a pop puller, and forward it
to the respective mailbox on my local
exchange server.
Some users access their mailbox
directly from the external mail server. Say
my external mail server has the domain
name abc.com, and the internal domain
name is xyz.com. If I create a new
internal domain abc.com, and host my
exchange server on it, would I be able to
forward e-mail of non-existing e-mail
accounts from the internal server to the
external server?
Sanket Shah
You can’t have the same name
assigned to an internal as well as
external mail server. There is an MX
record associated with each domain
name, which points to an IP address.
Password hacking
Recently, one of my friends changed
my Yahoo! password. When I tried to
make my profile, I saw his ID in the alter-
nate ID location. Now, each time I
change my password, a message is sent
to his account as well. Is he spying
on me? How did he change the pass-
word? Tell me how to remove his ID from
my profile.
Rahul Sarma
Quite often, we inadvertently give
out our passwords. You may have men-
tioned it in a chat to someone, and the
chat was logged. Even more
common is using a pass-
word that is easy to guess
in less than 10 attempts.
If you keep your moth-
er’s name as your pass-
word, you can be sure
that almost all your
friends can guess it!
Once a hacker
logs into your
140
You can’t have abc.com pointing to two
different IP addresses. If your external
server is abc.com, you need to have a
sub-domain such as internal.abc.com
for your internal server.
Kabhi on kabhi off
I have an AMD K6 processor, 64 MB
of SD RAM, a SiS 530 motherboard and a
10.2 GB Seagate hard disk. Recently, my
PC started giving me error messages
saying, “Fatal exception error in vxd...
press any key to continue.” When I press
a key, the system comes back to normal,
but only for a few seconds, and then I get
the same message again.
I think it might be due to a virus, but
I can’t do anything, as my system only
works for two to five minutes at a time.
I formatted, and tried re-installing
Windows 98 SE, but the problem per-
sisted. Finally, I installed Me, to no effect.
I need to leave the system off for over five
minutes to be able to use it.
V Shankar Iyer
Since the problem exists even after
re-installing the OS, it looks like you
have a hardware issue. You say that
leaving the system off for a while seems
to temporarily solve the problem. This
indicates a cooling problem. Check
account, he or she can do everything
that you can—check your mails, change
your preferences, etc.
To remove the alternate ID, go to
Mail Options > Account Information, and
click Edit. This is located beside the
Member Information option. Change
the alternate e-mail ID to one of your
own and press Finished to save the set-
tings. Now he won’t get any of your
mails, and you’re free to change your
password to something he’ll never
guess.
Mahesh Benkar
your cabinet’s fans. Make sure all of
them are running.
The next suspect is RAM. Try and get
a friend’s RAM chip (make sure it’s com-
patible with your system), and check
stability using that. It could just as well
be a bad hard drive or motherboard
chip, so check these in turn.
Startup woes
Often, when I boot up my computer,
it hangs. If I press [Ctrl] + [Alt] + [Del], I
find a few additional entries that are not
present when the computer is running.
These are: scanregw, rnaap, smc and
dbhelp. I can’t see them in msconfig
either. I want to disable these programs
permanently. How do I do it?
Shirish
rnaap is notorious for causing your
type of problem. Uninstall and re-
install Dial-up Networking, and if the
problem persists, get your modem
checked.
If the modem hangs when rnaap is
initialising it, your system is likely to
hang as well.
What’s my voltage?
How do I check the voltages of an ATX
power supply. My power supply outputs
about 4.5 volts at PS_ON, 5.2 at SB and
0.8 at PG. Please help me check the cor-
rect voltages of a power supply before
connecting it to my motherboard.
Nasiruddin
The SB (purple wire) voltage should be
5 V. In the PS_ON state, red and white
should read +5 V and -5 V respectively.
Yellow and blue should have +12 V and -
12 V respectively. Finally, orange should
read +3.3 V, and black is the common wire.
XP tyranny
I have a Pentium 4 2.8 GHz PC running
Windows 2000 and Fedora core Linux.
Recently, I installed Windows XP Profes-
sional. Ever since then, I can’t boot into
Linux. When I start my PC, it gives me an
option between Windows 2000 or Win-
dows XP, but no Linux or DOS option. How
do I get it back?
Amit.
Boot your PC with the Linux CD.
Type ‘linux rescue’ at the boot prompt,
and press [Enter]. Once you reach the
command prompt, type ‘chroot
/mnt/sysimage’, and press [Enter]. Here
MAY 2004
type ‘lilo’ if your boot loader is lilo, or
‘grub-install’ if the boot loader used is
grub, and press [Enter].
Dial-up hackers
I’m worried about my dial-up Internet
connection. What happens if someone
knows my username, and tries to guess
my password over and over again? Will
this lock my password? If so, how do I
prevent this?
Binod
When someone tries to hack your
password using the brute force tech-
nique—trying each possible combina-
tion—the account is suspended for a
preset time period. After 10 or 15 min-
utes, you should be able to use your
account again.
Some ISPs, such as VSNL, offer a fea-
ture where you can lock your account
usage from a specific phone number.
This is good, because unless the hacker is
sitting in your house, or hacking your
phone line, he or she cannot access your
account.
Choosy CD-ROM
I have a Compaq Presario computer Most packaged CDs are pressed, not
with Windows XP Home Edition and a burnt. These pressed CDs are made so
48x CD-ROM drive. The problem is that that they work on all CD drives.
the CD-ROM drive only reads the CDs Certain CD-Rs may not be compatible
that came with the computer—the OS with your drive. Check your drive by
CD, drivers CD, etc. It completely attempting to use CD-Rs from other
ignores other CDs, even when there’s a manufacturers. If this fails, send your
CD in the drive, it asks to insert one. drive to a service center, as the prob-
I have tried about eight CDs, all lem is a faulty lens.
unscratched. I also installed Nero Burning Nero is CD-writing software, and
ROM 5 and Image you have a CD-ROM drive not a CD-
Drive. The help Writer, so its normal to get
and support errors when using Nero.
says that there
is a SCSI
problem,
while proper-
ties in device
manager
reports the
device to be working perfectly.
I’ve tried reinstalling XP
without format-
ting. Please help.
Siddharth

Blue screen advertisements

I have a dual-boot PC running Win-
dows Me and Windows XP. Recently, I
started getting an error message during
bootup. I took a screenshot of the error.
What is the problem?
Agk Nair
The application specified in the error
message—CD_LOAD.EXE—has been
installed by Cydoor’s adware applica-
tion. It downloads advertisements to
your computer as soon as you go online.
Search for the application, and delete it.
Also, load an anti-spyware application to
keep your computer from facing this
problem again.
I can’t write
My Sony CD-RW CRX175A1
24x/10x/40x shows the ‘Power calibra-
tion‘ error when writing, and stops. What
is the problem? Do I have to change the
CD-RW?
Ravi S
Power Calibration is controlled by
the recorder. Before any write operation,
all recorders must do a 15-step power test
to determine the optimum power for
writing to the CD—this is called
Optimum Power Calibration (OPC).
During a write, it continues to do this
test to get the best write throughout the
whole CD—this is called Running
Optimum Power Calibration (ROPC).
This whole process is controlled by the
recorder, but is initiated by programs
such as Nero. There is an area on the
inner part of the CD for the test and test
data information to be stored. You can
use this area up to 999 times.
So, when you receive the ‘Power Cal-
ibration Error’ or ‘Power Calibration Area
full’ error message, it’s because of poor
media, poor power, or a defective
recorder. Most often, it’s due to bad
media, so try using better CD-Rs.
Break the partition
I have a 20 GB Seagate hard drive,
which has two partitions of 10 GB each.
Since I wanted one single partition
of 20 GB, I went through fdisk and
deleted the primary and the extended
partition. However, the partitions still
exist. I also tried deleting them with the
help of the disk manager provided by
Seagate, but they are stubborn. What
should I do?
Y S Samyal

Yes, parting with partitions can be

very frustrating. To delete the partition,
Use anti-spyware to protect your PC from nasty errors such as this one by Cydoor adware first go to the BIOS, select the hard disk

141 MAY 2004

insight ■
■ troubleshooting
Crawling computer
I recently installed Windows 2000 Pro-
fessional and Office XP on one partition,
and Windows XP and Office XP on
another. I have a Pentium 4 processor,
850 motherboard and 128 MB RD RAM.
When I open Windows 2000, the response
becomes slow, and after clicking the
toolbar and opening Task Manager, I
found Rscmpt.exe consuming 99 per cent,
or more CPU time. Please tell me how to
get rid of Rscmpt.exe.
GK Chakraborty
This is a known problem for nVidia
display cards, but all you have to do to
remedy it, is install the latest nVidia
drivers. You can download them from
www.nvidia.com.
Broadband on landline
Recently, I have seen many advertise-
ments about broadband on landlines
(ADSL) from MTNL. What is the major
advantage of this over others, and what is
the minimum hardware requirement. Is it
true that we can achieve speeds as fast as
256 Kbps on our landlines?
Siddharth Menon
Yes; you can achieve 256 Kbps, or
even more on your phone line. The
biggest advantage of ADSL is that you
can even receive telephone calls while
surfing the Internet, as the data is
transferred on a different frequency,
and change its mode from LBA to
normal. Now, let the PC boot up, run
fdisk and delete the partitions. This done,
go back to the BIOS, and change the
mode back to LBA.
The notorious SM56 modem
I have run Linux for over two years,
from Red Hat 7.3 to Fedora Core 1.
I can’t install drivers for my modem—
D-Link with a Motorola SM-56 chipset.
I use kppp to dial my connection. What is
the solution?
Naimish J. Makwana
Motorola provides universal modem
drivers for all versions of Windows and
Linux. They are available at www.motorola.
com/softmodem/sm56_download.htm
142
FAQs
which is inaudible. As far as the hard-
ware is concerned, all you need is an
ADSL modem, which your ISP will
rent to you.
Monitoring the Internet
I work as a network assistant in a com-
pany, and we have provided everyone with
Internet access. The problem is that some
of the staff misuses this facility. They down-
load at will, and also visit indecent sites.
How can I keep a check on them?
Zahir Ahmed
Since you haven’t specified the soft-
ware you’re using to share the Internet
connection, we’ll have to solve your
problem by assumption. If your Internet
server is Windows-based, you should
use proxy software such as WinProxy or
Sygate. If your server is Linux-based, you
can try qmail, which can give you mon-
itoring capabilities after a few patches.
Create boot CD?
How do I create a Red Hat Linux-9
bootable CD?
Sumeet Saha
There’s a command in Red Hat called
mkbootdisk that does this. Use it to cre-
ate an ISO image of the bootable disk,
and use cdrecord, Nero, etc, to create the
bootable CD.
To create the ISO image, you’ll need to
know the kernel version—issue the ‘ker-
Increase the power
I have a Pentium II 333 MHz, a 440 ZX
motherboard, 64 MB of RAM and a
6.4 GB hard drive. I want to upgrade
the processor and memory. Can I do
that on the same motherboard? In all,
there are two memory slots, so how
much memory can I add? Also, if I
change my hard disk, what drive capacity
will be supported?
Arvind
You are in a difficult position, to say
the least.
First, the maximum processor upgrade
that the 440 ZX motherboard will sup-
port is limited to one with a speed of 450
MHz. That is hardly an upgrade.
Secondly, the RAM you need should
nelversion’ command in a terminal
window. Now verify that the folder with
the version exists in /lib/modules. If you
find that the folder name in /lib/modules
is bigger than that specified by the ‘ker-
nelversion’ command, use the ‘fullname’
switch instead.
To create the ISO image, issue the
‘mkbootdisk --device boot.iso --verbose --iso
<full kernel version>’ command. Once the
ISO image is ready, burn it with the help
of CD-recording software, and voila, you
have a bootable CD!
Bad sectors
When I try to install Windows XP, I
get an error that says, “Setup has deter-
mined that drive C: is corrupted and
cannot be repaired”. The hard disk does
contain some bad sectors. I have a Pen-
tium 4 1.6 GHz, VIA VT8751 (P4M266)
and Windows 98 SE. I have a Samsung
hard disk with four partitions—C(37.2
GB), D(9.19 GB), E(9.19GB), and F(9.45
GB). What do I do?
Jarnail Singh
You need to ensure that the hard disk
has bad sectors. Download and run the
disk utility for this purpose by Samsung
from www.samsung.com/Products/HardDisk
Drive/utilities/hutil.htm. Execute the pro-
gram, and let the utility test the hard
drive. The program will tell you if the
drive is usable or not. If not, then you
have to get a new one.
be of the 66 or 100 MHz variety, which is
very difficult to procure. These memory
sticks are available in capacities of 64,
128, 256, and 512 MB.
As for your last query, the mother-
board can support a 40 GB hard drive.
sos@jasubhai.com
E-mail us your
computing
problems, and
we may answer
them here!
Since we get more mails per day
than we can handle, it may take
some time for your query to
be answered. Rest assured, we
are listening!
MAY 2004
insight ■
■ troubleshooting
NTFS and FAT blues, hyperthreading hype, vanishing displays—it’s all in the game.
Everything has an answer—seek, and ye shall find!
The first seven steps
Some time after installing Windows
XP, there was a problem and some files
went missing. I was asked to load the
missing files from the original CD. While
doing so, somehow, I loaded the entire OS
again. Thus, there were two operating sys-
tems on my C drive.
Now, when I scanned my drive for
viruses, a series of events took place, and I
got a message that said I couldn’t have
the same OS, on the same drive, twice. I
had to re-format the C drive.
Even after this, I was unable to load
the OS. So I choose the D drive to install
it. I did not get a boot disk with the OS
CD. Can you to tell me how to partition
my hard disk, and format it with the NTFS
file system, step by step.
Dr K P M Prabhu
Follow these guidelines for the first
seven steps after booting from the
Windows XP CD:
First, press [Enter] for a new installa-
tion. Next, press [F8] for agreement
acceptance. You can choose [R] for
repair, and [ESC] for a new installation;
select New.
If you already have partitions on your
disk and want to re-create those, delete
each by selecting and pressing [D]. Press
[L] to re-confirm your selection.
Start creating a partition by pressing
172
[C]. Enter the size of the partition. For
example, a 20 GB drive can have a 8 GB
and a 12 GB partition. You can permute
and combine as you wish. However, as a
general rule, leasing too much space for
the C drive is not advisable; the C drive
should only be used for the operating
system and program files.
Once the partitions are created, select
C: and press [Enter].
Here, you can select between FAT and
NTFS. Whichever you select, make sure
you don’t select the ‘Quick’ option.
Hereafter, the installation should be sim-
ple to complete.
TV tuner settings
I have a Pentium 4 2.4 GHz, an Asus
P4B533-VM motherboard and 128
MB of DDR RAM, running
Windows 98 SE; I have Goldwave
installed. I recently installed a
Mercury TV-tuner card. When I ran
the program, there was sound, but
it disappeared when I recorded a
sample video!
When I changed the source in
Goldwave to Line-In, the recording
had sound. Also, I found that
changing the Line-In volume in
Goldwave had the same effect on
the recorded video, whereas the
Line-In volume in the volume panel
had no effect. I uninstalled
Goldwave, but found that the recorded
volume was the same as before. Changing
the Line-In volume in the volume panel
did not have any effect on the recording.
Please help.
Deepmoni
For Live TV, as well as recording,
your input source should be configured
to Line-In. Also, check that the Audio
Out settings have your sound card
as default.
Now, to control the recording vol-
ume, start Volume Control from
Accessories. Go to the Options menu,
then to Properties, select ‘Recording’
and press [Enter]. Now, move the vol-
ume bar for the Line-In to change the
Click on recording,
then OK, and
then modify the
recording volume
➜
JUNE 2004
recording volume level. Check your
recording and adjust this accordingly.
Pages that do not open
I have an Athlon XP 2.4 GHz PC con-
nected to a LAN, running Windows 98 SE
and Internet Explorer 6 with SP1. The
problem is that when I visit any of the
Web sites such as Indiatimes, Yahoo! India,
Rediff, MSN India, or others that contain
ActiveX control (.ocx) files, I get a security
alert message saying, “Your Current
Moving the bar up and down controls the
security
A virus despite anti-virus
I have a PC with Windows XP. I
recently bought an Internet connection
pack, but before installing the pack, I
installed McAfee Virus Scan Professional
Edition. Now, whenever I connect to the
Internet, I get the message that
says,”This system is shutting down.
Please save all work in progress and log
off. Any unsaved changes will be lost.
This shutdown was initiated by NT
AUTHORITY\SYSTEM. Time before shut-
down: 1 minute. Message:
Windows must now
restart because the
Remote Procedure
Call(RPC) service termi-
nated unexpectedly”. I
have tried to detect a virus,
but to no avail. What might
be the problem?
V Madhav Rao
173
Security Settings Prohibit Running ActiveX
Controls on this page, so the page may
not display correctly.” What do I do?
Abhijit Mukherjee
To get over the problem, open up
Internet Options in the Control Panel,
and change the settings bar in the
Privacy tab to Medium. If you wish to
customise the settings, you can do so in
the Security tab by clicking ‘custom
level’ and defining your own settings.
The Disk Management window shows you the
disk status
Vanishing act
I have a 40 GB hard disk, split into
three partitions. One of the partitions is
13 GB.
Last week, I reinstalled Windows XP
on my system. After installation I seem to
have lost the 13 GB drive—only two drives
appear. What do I do?
Girish Cariappa
You are infected with the blaster
worm. Download the fix from
http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcen
ter/venc/data/w32.blaster.worm.removal.to
ol.html. You need to frequently update
your virus definitions. Also keep
Windows updated with the security
patches that are released by Microsoft
from time to time. If you do so, you’re
less likely to get caught up in the Web
of viruses and worms.
Illustrations:
Mahesh Benkar
Right-click on My Computer and
click Manage. Now, click on Disk
Management, and then verify that the
13 GB partition is formatted—that is, it
should show the status as ‘healthy’. If
not, then right-click on the partition
and select format. Now, you should be
able to see the partition.
Spyware in file system
How can I convert an NTFS partition
into a FAT32 partition?
Every time I shut down my PC, I get
an error message saying, “Ending
Program - wupdater.exe.” What is the use
of this exe file? How can I get rid of this
message permanently?
When I open Internet Explorer, every
time a Web site with the address
http://searchcentral.cc is opened. I tried the
‘Use Blank’ option in Internet Options, but
it isn’t working.
Sumit Goel
Use Partition magic (www.pow-
erquest.com) to convert NTFS to FAT32.
As far as wupdater.exe is concerned,
it is spyware. Go to Start > Run, type
‘msconfig’ and press [Enter] and de-select
the file. It shouldn’t auto-start the next
time Windows boots up. Delete the file if
you want to, but that might crash the
software that installed it.
Finally, the IE problem is also due to
the spyware in your system. There are
spyware removal tools such as Spybot
(included in this month’s 101 Freeware
CD), which reduce the trouble involved
in manually searching and removing
each one of them.
Is /boot necessary?
Can I install Linux without creating
partitions for /boot and swap? If so, where
will the boot loader install?
S. Mohammed Riyazudeen
No, you can’t install Linux without a
swap partition, but you can skip the cre-
ation of a separate /boot partition. In this
case, the boot files will be stored in the
/root partition.
Windows is not ready to
install
I have a Celeron 1.2 GHz, an Intel i810
motherboard and a 40 GB Seagate hard
disk. Earlier, my PC was running Windows
98; while installing ELX Linux, I corrupted
my FAT partition. So I removed all the par-
titions and re-created them, but now even
JUNE 2004
insight ■
■ troubleshooting
after many attempts I am unable to install
Windows 98.
After a couple of reboots, it starts exe-
cuting scanreg and then hangs. When I
boot the system with a bootable floppy,
scandisk gives an error saying, “Some of
Windows files have been allocated to
invalid partitions/locations,” and a
prompt such as ‘Fix it’ or ‘Don’t Fix It’.
Even after I choose ‘Fix It’, the problem
isn’t resolved. What do I do?
Amit Gupta
There are only two possibilities—
either the RAM or the hard disk is faulty.
As a first step, get a working RAM mod-
ule from a friend’s PC and try the instal-
lation. If it works, just get new RAM. If it
doesn’t, then get the hard disk checked
thoroughly at a service centre.
Can’t find root
I am totally new to Linux. Whenever I
try to install PCQ Linux 2004, I get an
error saying the root partition is not
defined. What is a root partition? I have an
80 GB Samsung hard disk with four FAT32
partitions: The C: drive is 10.7 GB, and has
Windows XP installed. The D: drive is 11
GB, E: is 28 GB and F: is 26 GB.
I want to install PCQ Linux 2004 on
the D: drive with the dual-boot option.
Ashish Jha
While installing Linux, you need to
create the ‘ext3’ and swap partitions.
At this point of time, specify the
mount point for the ext3 partition as
‘/’, without the quotes. You won’t get
the error message.
Make sure all connections and
modules are tightly fitted
174
Where is my display?
I have a Pentium 4 system with dual-
boot, i.e., Windows 98 SE and Windows
XP. In Windows 98, I right-clicked on the
desktop and changed the resolution.
Now my computer does not show up the
display in Windows, and instead shows
up the message ‘Out of frequen-
cy’. What’s the problem?
Where I can find details
about files such as boot.ini,
io.sys, config.sys and autoex-
ec.bat?
Bikrant Rana
To set the display
right, boot into
Windows 98’s Safe
Mode, by pressing [F8]
while Windows is just
about to start. In safe
Hangs at power on
My PC just doesn’t boot. What I mean
is that the PC starts normally, I can hear
a single beep, then the PC shows the sys-
tem configuration, then, ‘updating
ESCD’, and that’s it—nothing on the
screen after that. A cursor blinks but the
OS doesn’t start. I had Windows 98 on
my machine.
Afiya
If you are well versed in PC hard-
ware, open the cabinet and tighten the
connections: the hard disk and CD-
ROM connectors, etc. Press the RAM
module gently. Also, verify the boot
sequence in the BIOS; the first in the list
should be the hard disk. Finally, use a
boot floppy and check the partition
table using ‘fdisk’ for irregularities; a
bad partition table can cause such prob-
mode, change the resolution to a
lower one such as 640 x 480, and
then restart the computer. As far as
information about Windows files is
concerned, visit www.support.microsoft.
com, and search for the specific file
details you need.
lems. If ‘fdisk’ does not give an error,
call an engineer.
Is CD NTFS or FAT?
I downloaded data from the Internet
on a machine running Windows
2000/NTFS, and burned it on a CD. My
home PC runs Windows 98/FAT, so natu-
rally it’s unable to see the CD files, and
hangs. Is there any software available to
view or extract the files from the CD and
convert them to FAT?
Some Niyogi
CDs have a file system of their
own—CDFS. It does not matter if the
host file system is NTFS or FAT. If the
CD was created successfully without
any errors, it should be read in
Windows 98 too. A weak lens might be
the culprit, but to verify this, just read-
ing the CD in another drive using
Windows 98. If the CD works, then the
drive is faulty.
What is HyperThreading?
I would like to know what
HyperThreading is. I have heard a lot
about this new product from Intel. I
have an assembled PC that comprises an
Intel D845GEBV2 motherboard (which
has an external AGP slot and Extreme
Graphics onboard as well), an Intel
1.7 GHz, 512 MB RAM and a 80 GB
Seagate Barracuda hard disk.
I would like to exchange my current
motherboard for Intel’s new Hyper-
JUNE 2004
insight ■
■ troubleshooting
Msvcrt.dll revisited
I am unable to set up some soft-
ware on my computer. The error mes-
sage I get is, “The MSVCRT.DLL file is
linked to missing export NTDLL.DLL
rtGetNtVersionNumbers.”
Sudhanshu Bhasin
The problem is simple, the soft-
ware you've installed isn't meant for
Windows 98. Certain software were
designed for Windows 2000 and later,
and won't run on windows 98.
However, it's also possible that the
program you're trying to install now
isn't the culprit. If you tried to install
software earlier that was meant for
the NT platform, it could have cor-
rupted your MSVCRT.DLL file, or
installed the wrong version.
To fix this, you need to extract the
MSVCRT.DLL file from the CD, and
overwrite the one in the
‘\Windows\System\’ folder. This should
solve the problem.
Threaded one. Do you recommend the
exchange, or should I make do with my
present configuration? I intend switching
to a HyperThreaded motherboard since it’s
relatively faster, and supports multitasking.
Can you recommend motherboards
that are better than the one I have in
mind. If so, please suggest some that
have an external AGP slot, as I have a
graphics card. Also, please let me know
the cost involved.
Siddharth
Intel’s HyperThreading technology
pertains to processors and not to
motherboards.
Intel’s latest CPUs have this feature,
and nearly all new motherboards for
Open the store location in explorer and copy the files
176
FAQs
Unwanted visitors
I have a Windows 98 SE machine. I
use Internet Explorer 6. One day after
browsing a few Web sites, my home-
page became ‘www.4-counter.com’. I
replaced it with ‘about:blank’, and also
reset all Web settings to their defaults.
But after rebooting, the default home-
page again became www.4-counter.com.
What is the problem? How can I reset
my homepage to a blank page?
Raj
To solve the problem, you’ll need
to modify the registry. This is a risky
affair, so be careful. Open the Registry
Editor by executing ‘regedit’ at the
Run prompt. Now search and delete
each key that has a value of
‘http://www.4-counter.com’.
Alternatively, you can search and
remove spyware applications using
spyware removal tools such as Spybot
(included in this month’s 101
Freeware CD).
the Pentium 4 platform support it.
As far as performance goes, there will
be a marginal gain, and that, only with
applications optimised for
HyperThreading. Unfortunately, as of
today, there are very few such applica-
tions. Another good point to note is
that, some applications actually see a
performance drop when used with
HyperThreaded processors.
However, you have a pretty decent
machine and there is absolutely no reason
to shift to a newer configuration as of now.
Back up Outlook Express files
I have Window 98 SE and Outlook
Express 6. I need to know how to save, or
copy my e-mails from Outlook to a CD.
Neeraj Mishra
To back up files,
first start Outlook
Express, then go to
Tools > Options, and
click on Mainten-
ance. Next, click on
Store Folder, copy
the path, and paste it
into Windows
Explorer. Finally,
Summer heat
I have a system with an AMD
Athlon 1800 MHz, an ASUS mother-
board, and 256 MB of DDR RAM. The
problem is that the CPU fan overheats.
How can I rectify this?
S Palani
Only use the original fan and
heatsink that was provided with the
CPU. If need be, you can purchase
better cooling solutions from third-
party vendors.
As a precautionary measure, veri-
fy that excessive amounts of dirt
haven’t accumulated on the fan
blades. You may need to clean the fan
carefully with a paint brush. If you
have to remove the fan to clean it, be
careful and snap it out carefully.
Use thermal paste to increase heat
dissipation—remember, too thick a layer
of thermal paste can act as an insulator
and make matters worse. Sometimes,
keeping the cabinet open may help.
copy all files to the backup location.
Restoring is simple: copy the files
back to the original folder.
Monitor starts!
We switch off the monitor when lis-
tening to music or running anti-virus soft-
ware. However, to our surprise, the system
automatically shuts down when we switch
it back on. How do we solve this problem?
Arnab and Smita
Get your power supply checked at a
good service centre, as it’s faulty. It’s
unable to take the load when you start
the monitor, thus triggering off a
restart. You may even need to replace
the SMPS with another with a higher
power rating.
sos@jasubhai.com
E-mail us your
computing prob-
lems, and we
may answer
them here! Since
we get more
mails per day than we can handle, it
may take some time for your query
to be answered. Rest assured, we are
listening!
JUNE 2004
insight ■
■ troubleshooting
Lost all MS Office data. Windows doesn’t load. Deleted the only XP user account...
Hang on, don’t press the panic button. Here’s your way out
Files will be back
I have a Celeron 1.7 GHz with a 40 GB
hard disk. After I ran disk defragmenter, I
lost all my MS Office documents (Word,
Excel, PowerPoint, etc). I even lost data on
my D and E drives. How do I retrieve
all my lost data?
Pankaj Singhai
Use R-Studio (www.r-tt.com)—it’s one
of the best data recovery software avail-
able. Ideally, load R-Studio onto another
PC, connect your hard drive to it (pre-
ferrably as a slave) and then restore data.
Note that once you detect the data
loss, do not install, copy or move soft-
ware or data on the drives in question,
and keep disk activity at a minimum, so
that lost files don’t get overwritten.
Also, be very careful when recovering
data; don’t recover any data onto your
Right-click on the additional drive and click scan to
start the process
114
hard drive itself—instead, recover the
data to the other PC you’re connecting
your hard drive to. Once that is done,
copy all the recovered data back.
Error loading Gdi.exe
I recently installed Windows 98 Second
Edition. My computer is an Intel Pentium
III, 256 MB SD RAM, and a 20 GB Seagate
hard drive. Whenever I switch on my
machine, it automatically boots into Safe
Mode. Then I get a message that says,
“Error Loading Gdi.exe. You Must Reinstall
Windows” and the computer shuts off
automatically. How do I fix this?
Abhijit Mukherjee
The error appears as a result of either
improperly moving the Fonts folder of
Windows or by corruption of some font
files. The simplest option is to re-install
Windows again.
If you don’t want to re-install
Windows, be prepared to execute
some commands at the DOS
prompt. First boot the computer
via the Windows 98 CD-ROM, and
select ‘Windows 98 Startup disk
with CD-ROM support’. Now exe-
cute the following commands one
after another:
md c:\windows\fonts
attrib +s c:\windows \fonts
extract/a d: \win98\ win98_22.cab
*.fon /l c:\ windows \ fonts extract /a
d:\win98\win98_22.cab *.ttf /l
c:\windows\fonts
Now, reboot the computer. If your Fonts
folder exists, then the problem is caused
by corrupt fonts, namely Vgasys.fon,
Vgaoem.fon and Vga850.fon. All you
need to do is extract these files from the
Windows CD-ROM, using the following
commands:
extract /a d:\win98\win98_22.cab vgasys.fon
/l c:\windows\fonts
extract /a d:\win98\win98_22.cab
vgaoem.fon /l c:\windows\fonts
extract /a d:\win98\win98_22.cab
vga850.fon /l c:\windows\fonts
USB ports to transfer files over
telephone lines
I have an old computer: a Pentium 233
MMX, 32 MB of RAM and Windows 98SE,
but without a USB port. The Device
Manager shows two devices of the device
type USB Controllers—SIS 7001 PCI to
USB Open Host Controller and USB Root
Hub. First, what are these? Second, using
these can I install a USB port? If yes, how?
And finally, is it possible to create a network
between two computers using their
modems and a telephone cable?
Arun Das
The two devices you mention are
USB controllers. This means your moth-
JULY 2004
erboard supports USB. You’re probably
just missing the cable that connects from
the motherboard to the back of the PC,
to give you USB headers where you con-
nect USB devices.
Buy one, and attach it to your moth-
erboard. Of course if you don’t know
how to, we suggest you get an engineer
to do so. Also remember that once you
do this, you’ll still need to install USB
drivers for any device you attach in
Windows 98.
Yes, you can connect with the help of
Hyper Terminal. It comes bundled with
Windows. Keep Hyper Terminal in wait-
ing mode on one computer by going to
Call > Wait for a Call, and the other com-
puter makes the call. After the connection
is complete you can transfer files as
required.
Alternatively, you should set up
connectivity using serial or parallel cables
and get a much higher rate than other-
wise. Refer to this month’s QuickStart
(30 Minutes Expert) on Page 105 to set up
such a connection.
Fails minimum system
requirements
I have a Pentium 4 1.4 GHz machine,
running both Windows 98 and Windows
XP professional. The display card is SiS630
on a Vintron motherboard. When I play
Back Alley Brawl, I get an error that says I
don’t have the latest version of OpenGL.
Where do I get this?
Jayharsh Krishnakumar
SiS630 is a PCI-based display card,
which lacks hardware support for
OpenGL. The minimum requirements
are an AGP card for the game to run in
OpenGL. One of the cheapest solutions
is the GeForce MX 440, which costs
about Rs 1,700.
Combine the powers of two
dial-up connections
I have a computer with two modems,
each with a separate telephone connec-
tion. I want to combine the speed of both
connections to surf the Internet. Whenev-
er I try to dial the second line, the first gets
disconnected. How do I solve this?
Saurabh
You need to use gateway software
such as Sygate Manager. Install Sygate
Manager, and set it up to manage both
connections. Enable the ‘Auto dial
additional line’ option. It will now
connect both connections when you
tell it to. If you download two files
simultaneously, Sygate forwards the
request of one file on one connection
and the other on the other connection.
If you add a third download, it is
sent to the connection with more
available resources. So, individual files
aren’t really downloaded faster, but
multiple files will be.
Random IP addresses
Whenever I connect to the Internet,
Internet Explorer opens some random IP
address. Even after deleting the addresses
from the registry under ‘HKEY_LOCAL_
MACHINE/SOFTWARE/MICROSOFT/INTER
NET_EXPLORER/MAIN’ and ‘HKEY_CUR-
RENT_USER’, the problem remains. Fur-
thermore, an unknown toolbar tries to
install itself. What do I do?
Deep Kamal Gohain
You seem to have a problem with
spyware or adware. The best way to get

Invalid page fault in Paint

When I start MS Paint, my computer shows an error
message: “MS PAINT caused an invalid page fault in module
MFC42.DLL…”. What do I do?
Bharat Shah

This error message is caused by corrupted registry

entries for MS Paint. To resolve this problem, you have to
first uninstall Paint, then delete the registry keys and
finally reinstall Paint.
To do this, go to Start > Settings > Control Panel, and then
double-click on ‘Add/Remove Programs’. Click on the
Windows Setup tab, click on Accessories, and then click on
Details. Uncheck the Paint checkbox, and click OK twice.
Now, go to Start > Run, type ‘regedit’ and press [Enter].
Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Win-
dows\Current Version\Applets\Paint, and delete all the
keys there.
1/4th AD
To reinstall Paint, go back to the Windows Setup tab,
and check the Paint option we asked you to uncheck in the
first step, and click
OK twice.
Warning: Be very
careful when editing
the registry, and
remember to back up
your registry before
making changes to it.

Illustrations: Mahesh Benkar

115 JULY 2004

insight ■
■ troubleshooting
rid of these programs is to install
an anti-spyware tool such as Spybot
to clean your system. Get it from
www.download.com.
Trial vs Full
I purchased a CD with Norton Antivirus
on it from a local contact. When I installed
it, it worked fine for a few days, and then
began displaying the message ‘Trial ver-
sion,’ and expired. I had to buy another
pack which is working fine. I want to know
how to distinguish between the two so that
one is not taken for a ride.
Rakesh K
If the version of Norton you bought
is 2004, you shouldn’t forget to activate
the product using its activation process;
if you don’t, it will expire. If the problem
occurs even after activation, you should
contact Symantec. By default, you get a
year’s free subscription with the pack.
But if you bought a pirated pack there’s
nothing much you can do about it.
Errors in opening Web page
When I run a Java applet in IE6 it says
“alt=”Your browser understands the
<APPLET> tag but is not running the applet
for some reason.” Your browser is com-
pletely ignoring the <APPLET> tag!" How
can I can run my Java file, applet.htm,
through IE6?
Jayantadeep
As a first step, download the Java
Runtime from www.sun.com and install it.
This should solve the problem. Also,
you should install the latest service pack
for IE (www.microsoft.com/downloads).
Alternatively, it could be a problem with
the Java applet code in the .htm file,
which you will have to debug for it to
run properly.
Internet sharing
I have five PCs connected in a LAN with
one running Red Hat 9 and the others run-
ning Windows XP. I have two LAN cards on
the Linux machine. I’d like to connect to
the Internet through DIAS (cable connec-
tion). The phone line is attached to eth0
on the Linux machine, and the second LAN
card is used for the local network. The
address for DIAS line is: IP: 10.70.0.1; Sub-
net Mask: 255.255.255.0; Gateway:
61.3.129.194; Primary DNS: 61.0.128.65;
Secondary DNS: 61.0.0.5. How can I con-
figure my Internet connection and how can
I share the connection with the other
116
Deleted the only user account
I run Windows XP, and recently
deleted the only user account. I have
disabled the Guest account, so I can’t log
on to Windows XP. I didn’t provide any
password for ‘Adminis-
trator’, but I am unable
to logon using adminis-
trator credentials. It says
‘Could not log on. Make
sure the domain name
and password are in cor-
rect case’. Is there any
way to retrieve the
password or account
that I had deleted?
Prakruti V. Vora
machines?
Sukanta Hui
First, you can’t attach a phone line to
eth0; only an RJ45 connector can con-
nect to the LAN card. Next, the cable
connection would have an RJ45 connec-
tor, and not an RJ11, which is what you
have connected to the eth0, and that is
right. Now, to share the Internet connec-
tion, install Squid, and configure the
proxy port. By default, the port is 3128.
Go to the Control Panel, then to Internet
Options, then to Connections, and finally, to
‘LAN settings’
You can change this if you want to. As
one LAN card is connected to the cable
from your Internet service provider,
specify the IP, subnet mask, gateway, and
DNS of the LAN card as specified by the
operator 10.70.0.1. For the other LAN
card, specify the IP address of your local
LAN. Typical local LAN IP address range
from 192.168.0.1 to 254; use an IP from
amongst these for each of the five PCs
you have. Finally, in the Internet options
on the Windows machines, set the proxy
Boot your computer in Safe
Mode, then log on using administra-
tor credentials. After that, enable
a guest account and/or create a
new account.
settings as the local IP address of the
Linux machine and the port as 3128,
unless it’s been changed. Refer to the
Squid workshop in the Linux Works sec-
tion of this issue for the exact steps.
Virtual memory is full
I have Windows 98 on my C: drive. The
C: drive is 4 GB, and it has 1.5 GB of free
space. But whenever I start using any pro-
grams, the swap file consumes all the free
space, i.e., 1.5 GB. At the same time, Win-
dows says the C: drive is full. I cannot use
any programs because it shows a message
saying something like "Virtual Memory is full.
Try after closing any opened programs."
Unnikrishnan Bhaskaran
Keep in mind that the swap file size
changes dynamically because Windows
is auto-managing the file. The first thing
you can do is set an upper limit to the
size of the file by going to My Computer >
Properties > Performance > Virtual Memory.
Here, select ‘Let me specify my own vir-
tual memory settings,’ and set the maxi-
mum file size.
Windows starts using virtual memory
when there’s a shortage of physical RAM.
If you use too many applications or mem-
ory-heavy applications, virtual memory
comes into play. The more the RAM you
have, the less dependent Windows would
be virtual memory.
One point of caution here is that one
of the applications you’re running might
be causing a memory leak. If this is the
case, then you won’t be able to get rid of
the problem even by increasing RAM and
virtual memory. You’ll have to first find
the application causing the problem, and ➜
JULY 2004
insight ■
■ troubleshooting
More the RAM, better the
performance
I am in the process of finalising the
configuration of my new PC, and want to
know whether 512 MB of RAM is suffi-
cient to run Maya, or should I opt for 1 GB
of RAM?
Kumaresh
Minimum memory requirements
depend on the applications you use. For
office applications 256 MB is enough; for
2D image editing tools 512 MB should be
sufficient, while for AV and 3D, a mini-
mum of 1 GB is necessary. Basically, as
much RAM as you can afford and cram
into your system is recommended. Maya
will definitely run with 512 MB of RAM,
but will be sluggish.
Free e-mail via POP3
I wanted to know if there are any free
POP3 e-mail Web sites. I am sick of using
Hotmail and the like, as they are too
slow.
Nikhil
then either get a patch if available or get a
newer version of the software.
Protection error
I have a Motorola SM56 PCI speaker-
phone modem. Whenever I connect to the
Internet, the connection gets disconnected
and the system display reads, “Windows
protection error. Press any key to continue”
and then it shuts down. The only advice I’ve
received is to format my hard disk. Also, can
you let me know where I can find the driv-
ers for Windows XP for the modem?
Karthik
The drivers for the Motorola
SM56 PCI card are available at
http://www.motorola.com/softmodem/sm56_d
ownload.htm. Depending upon the
modem, for example, if the modem is
Data/Fax/Voice, Data/Fax, etc, choose the
file to download. Actually, the Web page
offers drivers for all operating systems
and for both ISA and PCI modems.
Choose the proper file.
Designers’ choice
One of our clients wants to purchase an
AMD Athlon 64-based system. He is a
118
FAQs
Most free e-mail service providers
do not provide POP3 mail access. Some
providers such as Spymac.com,
Myrealbox.com, etc, offer POP3 access. Of
course, they charge a premium for this,
for example, Rediffmail.com. You can also
try Yahoo! Pops (http://yahoopops.source-
forge.net), which lets you download e-
mail via POP3 from the popular and
free e-mail provider, Yahoo!. Download
the free tool and install it on your
machine. Now configure your
POP3/SMTP server address in your e-
mail client to 127.0.0.1. Also you need
to change the timeout in the advanced
settings to three minutes or more, oth-
erwise the e-mail client will keeping
getting disconnected and no mails will
download.
One OS in dual boot failed
I have both Windows 98 and Win-
dows XP installed on my system. For
some time now I’ve been having prob-
lems with Windows Explorer whenever I
start Windows 98, I get an error that says,
graphic designer, and uses Photoshop most
often, working with files of sizes in excess of
500 MB. What system would be ideal here?
I downloaded Microsoft XP, the 64-bit
edition. Does it give good performance
with the Athlon 64? Also, how should I con-
figure the system for best performance?
Krishna Prasad
You should opt for an Athlon 64. It
gives better performance than the Intel
Prescott. Also, in memory-intensive
applications like Photoshop, an Athlon
64 will give much better performance, as
the memory controller is within the CPU,
as against the Prescott, where the memo-
ry controller resides on the Northbridge.
The second factor is memory. The RAM
needs to be high enough, say 768 i.e. 512 +
256 MB.
Fibre optic vs WiFi LAN
I have a five-PC network on a CAT 5
cable and a hub. What do I need to set up
a fibre optic cable network. I’d also like to
know what’s needed to set up a WiFi net-
work, and the approximate costs involved.
Anil Gupta
Setting up a fibre-optic LAN would be
“Explorer has performed an illegal opera-
tion and will be shut down”. If I format
and re-install Windows 98 SE, will my
Windows XP install be affected?
Soummya Seal
It all depends on how the OSes are
installed. If both Windows 98 and
Windows XP exist on the same parti-
tion, you’ll have to delete the Windows
98 ‘Windows’ folder. Next, you’ll have
to modify the boot.ini file, and remove
the line corresponding to Windows 98.
Your safest bet is to reinstall Win-
dows 98 with the Upgrade option. After
this you need to boot via the XP
bootable CD, select the Recovery Con-
sole option, login via administrator priv-
ileges and execute the fixboot.exe and
fixmbr.exe commands. However, If both
OSes reside on different partitions, all
you need to do is format the partition
that contains Windows 98, reinstall it to
the same partition and modify the
boot.ini file as mentioned earlier.
a very costly affair, and also a tedious
and complicated process. You’ll need a
LAN card with optical fibre cable con-
nectors, an optical fibre switch, an opti-
cal fibre patch cable and connectors.
You will also need equipment to con-
nect the cables to the connector, etc,
basically, lots of costly equipment.
Fibre-optic connectivity is used to set up
a high-speed backbone, while WiFi is
used for connecting people on the
fly. WiFi is simpler and also compara-
tively less expensive, but definitely
more expensive then a wired LAN.
You will need a WiFi access point,
which would cost around Rs 10,000,
and five WiFi cards costing around Rs
3,000 each. The software needed to set
up the access point comes bundled
with the hardware.
sos@jasubhai.com
E-mail us your
computing
problems, and we
may answer them
here! Since we
get more mails
per day than we can handle, it may take
some time for your query to be
answered. Rest assured, we are listening!
JULY 2004