Log in ....Tribune-- Dr Tribune

Monday, May 7, 2001		Dr Tribune

I have an assembled P I 300 MHz with the following configuration:
TX-100 AMI Bios Motherboard; Cyrix M-II, SIS 6215 PCI-VGA card 1 MB; RAM 32 MB; 4.3 GB HDD; 52X Creative CDROM; Creative SB16 full duplex sound card; 56 KBS internal Motorola modem card, OS Win ’98. Initially when I installed the modem card on my PC, the sound of dialling and handshaking used to flow through the SB 16 card as these were audible from the speakers attached to the sound card but later due to some reason I had to reinstall Windows ’98. Since then the sound of the handshake and dialling etc doesn’t flow through the sound card but is faintly audible on the small speaker on the internal modem card. I tried reinstalling the modem card and uninstalling the Infrasuite software but of no use. Now the Infrasuite software also gives problem and doesn’t load at the startup. My computer hangs up during boot.

— Gagan, Ambala Cantt

Dr Tribune: There is absolutely no problem in your case. You can still get the sound from your internal modem on your PC speakers easily. All you need to do is look behind your PC and locate the modem card from outside. You will find two sockets on it — one for the microphone and the other for the speakers. Insert the speaker pin into the speaker’s socket and switch on the speakers. Now whenever you will dial modem, you will get dialling and hand-shaking sound from your PC speakers. Regarding your other problems, you can run scandisk from the DOS mode. This will take care of all minor problems. However, if the problem persists, then please run Windows in step-by-step confirmation option. This will precisely locate the problem in the booting process. For loading Windows in step-by-step confirmation option, hit F8 immediately before the Windows start loading and choose the correct option from the list.

I purchased a new system two months ago with P-III, 815 EEA Board, 20 GB HDD, Windows 98 OS and I am facing a problem while restarting the system. When I restart the system, screen hangs with the message "restarting the system." After this I have to reset the system, while the "shut down" function works properly. I got Windows ’98 installed again on my system and the problem was same and again I installed Windows Me. The problem persists.

— Hardip Singh, SAS Nagar

Dr Tribune: Please check the anti-virus system installed on your system. It appears that it is quite old. Either remove it from your system or upgrade it. I think this will solve your problem.

I plan to open a cyber café. Kindly tell me the configuration of the server. I cannot afford DSL lines and can only use a Satyam and Glide password.

— Deepak Sharma, Ludhiana

Dr Tribune: Now since Intel has reduced the prices of its latest powerhouse Intel Pentium 4 processors, so you can go for Pentium 4 in your server with 256 MB RAM. However, a good Pentium III, 1 GHz with 256 MB RAM will also be sufficient for your purpose.

I want to install Linux on my PC (P III, 600 MHz, 20 GB (with 3 FAT 32 partitions)) Please provide the guidelines.

— Rohit Mittal

Dr Tribune: As mentioned previously also installing Linux may require some online help, as its installation procedure is not as smooth as Windows, though the online instructions are being provided along side. Therefore the best way to install Linux is to keep a reference manual with you while installing Linux. There is a good book by BPB Publishers on installing Linux, which also has installation CDs of Linux.

I have a Pentium III, 500 MHz processor, 20 GB hard disk, 52x CD-ROM Drive, having Windows ’98 OS. Whenever I run the Norton Speed Disk for defragmenting the Hard Disk, or when I play games (Super Chix 76 or Midtown Madness) a typical siren like sound/alarm starts coming out of the speaker inside the CPU and continues even when I restart the computer. But when I shut down the system and reboot after a few minutes, the problem disappears.

— Aseem Mehta, Hisar

Dr Tribune: There appears to be some problem with your VGA card. Please get it checked with your hardware vendor. By all chances your problem would be solved by getting VGA card checked, however, if the problem still persist, then please write back the details of your motherboard also.

What’s to be done (software if any to load) to share two remote computers (wholly or through the network neighbourhood)?

— Kuljit Singh, Mullanpur, Ludhiana

Dr Tribune: For sharing two computers not situated close by, say in the same building or in the LAN limits, the most common method is connecting through dial-up networking. And I have found that PC Anywhere is the most user-friendly software for remote networking through dial-up networking. Using this software you can also remotely control the other PC. Moreover it also has a fast file transfer utility. Overall it is the best remote networking software, though there are some other programs like remotely anywhere also available.

I had installed Linux on my computer hard disk and assigned one partition of about 1.5 GB to this. I had enabled the boot from the floppy option. To run a computer by Linux OS, I use to boot from floppy. Otherwise for Windows I booted from the hard disk. My bootable disk has broken and I do not have the bootable CD from where I installed Linux. Now I want to reclaim the space allocated to Linux and put Windows on that. Windows OS does not recognise the Linux partition so it cannot be used to do that.

Next I tried the disk manager. With that also I have not been able to reclaim the space allocated to Linux. Please tell me what should I do to get Linux out of my system without bootable Linux CD and floppy.

— Pradeep, Gurdaspur

Dr Tribune: You have not mentioned which Windows operating system you use and also which Linux operating system you installed. Providing adequate information helps me in solving your problem in a better way. However, with the given facts there are two solutions to your problem. First solution is that you download the bootable files of the particular version of Linux you are using from the Internet and store them on a floppy disk and then use it as a bootable floppy. As per second solution try using disk boot manager programs to facilitate booting from Linux. There are many such programs available on the Internet like Partition Magic. Boot Part that you can install to boot from the operating system of your choice. However, here you will have to see the compatibility of the program with your operating system. Once your Linux operating system is up and recognised you can do whatever you want.

Recently I have bought a computer with 8X Samsung DVD Rom drive. My problem is that whenever I copy something from a CD, which is a bit used up, it gives error in copying. My vendor has told me that DVD ROM are not able to read CDs with even little scratches. But earlier in your supplement you had written that DVD Rom can read even through scratches easily. Also please tell me how to make best out of my DVD ROM.

—Gurvinder Singh, Karnal

Dr Tribune: It could be because of some confusion that you have understood that the DVD ROM can read easily from the scratched CDs. A DVD can read CD but if the CD is scratched then it would be as difficult to read it in case of DVD as it would be in case of CD ROM. Data of a CD is recorded in the form of tracks and the scratches actually damage these tracks. Therefore if the track gets damaged wholly or partially, then it would create difficulty in reading the data from it. In this case it really does not matter whether you are accessing the data on the scratched CD from a CD ROM or DVD ROM. The lost data would not be accessed from either of them. Thus it is a wrong notion that DVD can easily read the data from scratched CD. Similarly it is also not correct that if the CD is only a bit scratched then DVD cannot read it.