Monday, June 18, 2001		Dr Tribune

Q. I have a PC without CVT and want to connect it to my home inverter. Please tell me is it safe. I also want to purchase a CD drive. Please guide.

A. It is not a good idea to put your PC on an inverter. Technically, your PC needs electricity in sine wave format, which is generated by online UPS and CVT whereas the inverter generates pure square waves that is not a good wave format and can affect not just your PC but even other electronic gadgets. So, for the sake of long life of your PC, it is not advisable to out it on inverter. Regarding, the CD drive there are many brands and models available in the market and you can choose the appropriate one depending upon your budget.

Q. I want to ask how to connect my friend’s computer through dial-up-networking. Someone told me that Unix provides free operating system on the Net in which we can do some modifications. I want to know how can I download it from the Net.

A. Every operating system has these kinds of basic features, which you are looking for. So, for simply connecting two PCs through dial-up networking, you need not go for Unix. Windows is powerful enough for handling such requests. Moreover I am not aware of any such operating system from Unix.

However, before suggesting you a solution, it is important to know the purpose of connecting your friend’s computer with your computer. If it for sending and receiving files, then hyper terminal is good enough or Pro Comm could be a good solution. If you want to use it for some other purposes like chatting and remote control operations, then PC Anywhere is one of the best solutions.

Q. I have an assembled PC (Celeron 500 Mhz, 64 MB RAM, 810 motherboard, 10 GB HDD). My problem is that MS-DOS prompt is not working. Whenever I click on MS-DOS shortcut in Start Menu it pops error "A device attached to the system is not functioning".

A. It is always better to mention the details of your operating system. However, in the absence of this information, I would suggest you to recreate a fresh short cut to the DOS prompt and delete this one. For creating a new short cut, close all your open Windows and right click anywhere on the desktop. This will open a drop-down window on your computer screen. Now, choose the option short cut. This will open a new Window on your computer. Enter command.com in the box and press next. This will create a new shortcut for MS DOS prompt on your desktop.

Q. I have an assembled PC with configurations Pentium III, 500 MHz, 20GB hard disk, Motorola 56 Kbps internal modem, 52 X Asus CD drive and Windows ’98 (not 2nd edition). The problem is that whenever I start computer a box appears with the message "A required .DLL file, OLEPRO 32 DLL, was not found". Each time I try to connect to the Net, this message appears. I installed Gozilla software but it has not been activated and gives the same error. Please solve this problem.

A. It appears that you are using the older version of Internet Explorer. This problem has been reported in many cases, out of which older version of Internet explorer is most common. Thus for solving this problem, try installing the newer version of the Internet explorer. However for repairing your current error, you can download the compatible version of this file from www.topfile.com/dll.

Q. I have Cerelon 466 MHz computer, 64 MB RAM and 8.4 GB hard disk with Win ’98 OS. I have got Oracle 8i and Visual Basic downloaded. I find no difficulty while running these programs independently. But while connecting Oracle database program with Visual Basic, the computer fails to function indicating, "ODBC connection failed". Is it due to the fact that I have a smaller hard disk (8.4 GB)? Is 20 GB hard disk essential for it? Also, I do not have Windows NT on my computer. Is there a site through which VB Script can be learnt easily and properly? Please guide me.

A. Regarding problems related to hard disk space it would depend how much free hard disk space is available with you. If the free space is too less then there could be a problem running your programs. However, I do not think that the error "ODBC connection failed" is due to the hard disk capacity of your computer. As far as the question of Windows operating system is concerned, NT or Windows 2000 is certainly a better choice, but even Windows ’98 Second edition is also quite powerful enough.

Q I have a P III, 500, 64 MB RAM, 10 GB hard disk, 48x CD-ROM PC. The problem is that the sound recorder in the accessories has stopped working and these days I am unable to record it. Please tell me how to come out of this problem.

A. Please write back your problem in detail like what do you exactly mean that your sound recorder has stopped working along with the necessary information about the operating system. From your mail I have not been able to understand, whether you get any error message or there is some other problem. If there is an error message then please write it in full and exact.

Q. I have PIII 800, Intel 815 motherboard, 20 GB Hard disk, 128 MB RAM, Windows ’98 SE when I run defrag it gets completed up to 60 per cent after that it starts defragging again. In the May 21 edition you mentioned about registry cleaners. From where can I get these? Please guide me.

A. Regarding your problem related to defragging, please run scandisk before running defrag. Also close all open programs before you run defrag to avoid this and other problems. Regarding the registry cleaners, there are many programs available on the Net. However, some software is available at www.tweakfiles.com/registry/regcleaner.html, NBG Clean Registry available at http://ftpdem.ubi.pt/tucows/preview/74286.html etc.

Q. I have a PC P III 650, 20GB HDD, 64 MB RAM. The problem is whenever I install Xing player for watching movies it get installed without any problem but whenever I run some movie from it, I do not get any picture. However, sound keeps coming. Reducing the hardware acceleration to nil solves this problem. Can you tell me is there is any other way to solve this problem.

A. This kind of problem normally occurs, when you have an onboard video card and install another PCI video card in your system. Normally, if the card is not installed properly, then this kind of problem could occur. However, in order to solve this problem, please reinstall your Video card properly and also check and adjust the properties of DirectX driver.

Q. Our organisation has 200 PC XT’s/286/386 running in DOS environment. Our problem is related with boot sector virus. Our endeavour to remove virus results in reformatting the hard disks again and again. Please let me know the solution and anti-virus software that can solve our problem.

A. Please send us the name and details of the boot sector virus as there are many boot sector viruses known.

Q. I have a problem with my personal computer. I have Celeron 533 with 10.2 GB Hard disk and 64 MB RAM, Windows Me as operating system. Sometimes when I am working on my computer it starts giving the error of kernl386 and provides with an option to close the running program. Sometimes it restarts the PC. I run scandisk many times but the problems persist.

A. The information furnished by you is quite insufficient to solve your problem, as there could be numerous errors associated with kernel 386. In order to help us solve your problem, please send us the exact message, as it is very crucial for us to first identify your problem and then find a solution for it.

Q. I have a Vintron computer with following configurations: Intel Celeron 600 MHz, Intel 810 motherboard, 32 MB RAM, 10.2 GB HDD, 50 X max CD ROM drive with Window '98 as operating system. My problem is that it often hangs. When I press Ctrl +Alt + Del, it gives a message: "System is busy. Press any key to continue", but on pressing the key, keyboard and mouse stops responding and ultimately I have to reboot the computer (that means switch off the power). And this happens every time. I have run scan disk in DOS mode also and no bad sectors are found on hard disk. I have not done any partition on hard disk and also have not installed much software on it.

A. If you do not get any error message before your computer hangs, then firstly you should reinstall the Windows operating system. However, if the problem does not get solved by this, then you must get your motherboard checked for error. Since, you have already checked your hard disk for bad sectors and have found none, it appears that there could be some problem with your motherboard.