Monday, July 2, 2001		Dr Tribune

Q. I have an assembled computer, Pentium – III processor with 750 MHz speed, 64 MB RAM, 20 GB hard disk, operating system Windows ’98. I bought this computer a few months ago. Sometimes my computer hangs on exploring window and performs illegal operation also. I do not know why. No bad sector appears during the scan. Please tell me the reason and solution of my problem.

A. In order to solve your problem we need to know the exact error message. The error message contains all necessary details about the problem and is thus essential for finding a solution. Moreover there could be several reasons for the messages like Illegal error, therefore please write back the exact error message for the solution of your problem.

Q. Well, I've been having some problem with my hard disk. It has developed bad sectors. When I run scandisk, it shows 4096 bytes in bad sectors in C: drive. I have heard that these bad sectors expand and ultimately crash the hard disk! (I've 2 partitions C and D in Windows ’98 & 1 in Linux 7.0). Someone told me to locate the position of bad sector and make a new partition containing that and never use it.

A. You can use Norton Disk doctor to isolate bad sectors. These bad sectors cannot be confined in one partition and thus cannot be segregated. Once bad sectors develop in the hard disk, there is always a risk of getting them spread.

Q. I have Celeron 633 processor with Windows ’98 OS. My problem is that whenever I enter in Windows media player to open a movie file from the CD ROM drive (CD) it gives the message: "the exclusive semophore is owned by another process." If I open a movie file from the hard disk it works well. Please tell me what's the problem?

A. It appears that your CD driver is either corrupted or needs to be updated. Please reinstall the updated CD driver for the solution of this problem.

Q. I have Celeron 533 MHz CPU with 128 MB RAM, 17 GB hard disk, 56 Kbps Motorola internal modem, Intel 810i Azza motherboard and use Windows’98 (first edition) as operating system. I have two problems:

1. Whenever I disconnect, the computer stops displaying pages but the telephone line still remains engaged.
2. When I boot my PC for the first time the sound does not play. I have to shut it down and restart after a few seconds and then it plays very well. I have reinstalled drivers (ALC 100), changed motherboard four times and reinstalled Windows (same copy) several times but all in vain.

A. Regarding your problem of line remaining engaged, it is common in cases when too many browser Windows are being viewed simultaneously. However, this phenomenon lasts only for a couple of seconds. Thus after a few seconds, the line gets disconnected. So there is nothing to worry about. If in your case, the disconnection takes longer than a couple of seconds, you may change your dialler and try and install a new dialler.

Your second problem is a typical case of sound card driver mismatch problem. Either you have an old driver installed in your system or it’s not the correct version. Please update your driver in order to troubleshoot this problem. You neither need to change the motherboard nor reinstall the Windows.

Q. I have a P III, 550 MHz, 64 MB RAM, 8 GB HDD and Windows ’98 and Windows 2000 Professional operating System. I purchased it a year ago. The performance of my PC was good earlier, but now I feel that the performance is going down day-by -day. I performed defrag some 15 days ago. How can I check performance of My System. Secondly, each time when I connect to the Net and open IE first time it gives a warning: "This program has performed an illegal operation and will be shutdown."

A. For checking the performance of a PC, there are several benchmark tests. These tests are designed more for testing the processor. However, at the home-level these tests are not always viable. As a bypass route to these tests, you can check the performance of your PC at sites like www.pcpitstop.com. On this site you can gauge the performance of your PC and also get it rated vis-à-vis other PCs. Thus you get reasonably good idea about the performance of your PC and also the possible solutions, if at all, needed to boost the performance of your PC. The tests at this site include full test, security check, Internet test, hard disk test etc. Regarding defrag, it is important to understand that if you use your PC extensively and feel that the performance is low, then you can increase the frequency of defrag from 15 days to 7 days or so and perform it after running scandisk. Regarding your second problem, I would suggest you to upgrade your browser to the recent version. This should solve your problem.

Q. I want to know about some sites from where I can download dictionaries of following categories: English to English, English to Hindi, Hindi to English.

A. Some of the dictionary sites available on the Internet are www.wordcentral.com, www.onelook.com, www.dictionary.com. Moreover for Hindi dictionaries you can log on to www.worldlanguage.com/products/hindi/dictionaries/page1.htm.

Q. My system configuration is P III 800, 128 MB RAM, OS are Windows ’95 and Windows 2000 Professional. I normally use Windows 2000 for all my Internet-related activities. Now this virus has attacked my boot sector and cannot be removed by Norton 2000 also. I need your advice on the same.

A. You should boot your machine with a clean virus free floppy and then run a virus scanner to troubleshoot this problem. Otherwise, without booting it with a clean bootable disk, be it a floppy or a CD, this problem cannot be solved.

Q. My computer configuration is 700 MHz, Intel Pentium III processor, LG CD ROM, 64 MB RAM, 20 GB hard disk, Windows ’98 OS, 810 Intel motherboard. My problem is that I am not able to change my desktop themes (I did all possible tasks). My second problem is that my Internet connection is fast (connection is from Glide). Please tell me the way to fasten my computer. My hard disk is hardly 4 GB full and had 4 partitions — C: 12 GB, D 3GB, E 3GB, F 2 GB. My main part is C: from where all system operates. I have installed only one game in C: part. Please help me solve my problem.

A. For changing the desktop theme, try to change it with MS Plus. However, some times these themes create problems in your computer as they may carry viruses. Your problem could be due to a virus in your system. Please check the hard disk for the possibility of any virus. Regarding your query for improving the Net connection, you must not use too many extensions on your telephone line and should use heavy copper wire for this. In your modem settings, you can also disable the hardware compression and log on to network for better Net experience. Also make sure that the speed of your .com port is set optimally, i.e. 1,15,200. You can enhance the performance of the Internet by adding more RAM in your PC and also by increasing the paging file size. However, if you still want more, then try USB modems. I have found them giving better results than the normal modems in some cases.

Q. I have P III computer (Oscar), 650 MHz, 64 RAM under Windows ’98 OS with 810E motherboard. It often gives siren inside the CPU whenever I use it in the evening. Is this fault because of temperature or voltage fluctuations?

A. The reason for siren like sound could be many. Normally the siren like sound could be associated to faulty RAM or any other card like VGA or Sound card installed in your system. However, the important thing in this case is what problem does it create. If your system works normally and slows down a bit then it could be because of rising temperature. However, if it hangs, then it could be due to problem in RAM or the PCI cards. For this problem, get your hardware checked.

Q. I have computer with 64 MB RAM, 10 GB HDD with Win ’98 SE. As advised by you regarding my scandisk hang problem, I completely reinstalled Windows and also got my motherboard (Priya) changed. Now I have two partitions C: and D: When I scandisk C: (even from DOS mode - c:\ scandisk c:) it hangs again. When I saw its properties, I was shocked because it shows that "you last checked drive C: For errors 845 days ago" as I bought my computer in January 2000. The scandisk of drive D: works well. Sir I want to ask is there any virus that can harm scandisk. If yes, could you tell me the solution? Also tell me the appropriate DOS command of scandisk (I use c:\ scandisk c).

A. The hanging of system while running scandisk could be due to bad sectors in your hard disk. You must check for bad sectors first before going in for any solution for your problem. If you are not able to run scandisk successfully even from the DOS mode, try running CHKDSK command at the DOS prompt. This will solve your problem. Reinstallation of Windows would not help if there were bad sectors in your hard disk. Thus, as a first step, hunt for bad sectors on your hard disk. If you are not able to find bad sectors, then the needle of suspicion could point at the presence of some virus in your system. But, it may not be significant if there are bad sectors in the hard disk. Regarding the message "you last checked drive C: For errors 845 days ago", you need not be shocked as it could be due to the fact that when you last performed scandisk, there could have been some wrong date set in your PC clock. By mistake, if the date set is of previous date and year, then the scan disk will log it as per same date only. However, it does not represent a problem. Regarding the appropriate command for scandisk, you must first change your directory to the one, where Windows is installed. Normally this is C:\ Windows. Here you must run command scandisk C: If you wish to check for any virus, then you must boot your computer from a fresh virus free bootable disk, which could be a floppy or a CD and then run a virus scanner to check for the viruses in your system.