Monday, July 9, 2001		Dr Tribune

Q. I have recently purchased an assembled P III 667 with 128 MB RAM, 20 GB Samsung HDD and Azza 815 TM Motherboard. I have both Windows ’98 and Windows 2000 professional on two different drives since I am learning Oracle 8i and have loaded Oracle Enterprise Edition on drive containing Win 2000. My problem is that the CD accompanying the motherboard does not have the video display drivers for Windows 2000 and hence I am able to see only 16-colour output. My vendor also does not have the drivers and the Aazza Web site is also not functioning yet. Can I download these drivers from anywhere else? My other problem is that the computer does not produce audio output of '.midi' files although Winamp shows that the file is running. In the Volume Control dialog box Options; the Properties do not list the 'Midi' option. I need to use midi files quite frequently for my slide presentations and hence need them urgently. Kindly advise.

— Dr S.P. Singh

A. You must first check, whether you have the VGA card inbuilt on your motherboard. If it is not inbuilt on your motherboard, then you will not find driver for it on the motherboard CD. Thus if a VGA card has been installed separately on your system in the PCI slot, then you should search the driver for it on the CD, which you must have received with your VGA card. Please check your motherboard specifications and write back to me. Regarding your second problem, it appears that you have not installed the multimedia drivers for audio devices on your PC. These drivers are being installed at the time of installation of your operating system. Now, if the still gives you warning for installation of these drivers, then you must install it first else you will have to first detect the device and then install the driver for the same. This can be done from Control panel> System

Q. What is an IP address? How it is used to locate a particular machine on the Net? I have read that IP address can be used to identify the location of machine in case of any illegal operation, for example hacking. How?

A. IP address is the short form of Internet protocol address. This is the basic address, which is being used in the Internet for accessing a site or a server. Just like you have house number for identification of your house in the real world, similarly you have IP address as your address in the virtual world or the Internet. It is true that the using the IP address the machine, from which has used the particular IP address can tracked down. It is quite simple, as you get the IP address through your ISP and which in turn has the details of login ID and other details of user who is logging on. Thus it is possible to track down the location of the machine, which has used a particular IP address. As far as hacking is concerned, though the IP address is a basic requirement, but it is not the only thing, which is being used in hacking.

Q. I have P III 733 MHz with 20 GB HDD and Motorola 56 internal modem, Win Me OS. My problems are when I use the Internet for some time it gives error "Windows Protection Error. System Halted. You need to restart computer." I downloaded system mechanic from the Internet and changed my startup menu screen of my choice. After that I was unable to restore it. Please tell me how to restore it.

A. Regarding your first problem, there could be many reasons responsible for this kind of problem. For example, this problem could occur, when your computer loads or unloads a virtual device driver (VxD) or if there is a conflict between a real-mode driver and a protected-mode driver or if the registry of your computer get damaged. Other reasons could be in case if either the Win.com file or the Command.com file are infected with a virus, or if either of the files are damaged or if there is a physical input/output (I/O) address conflict or a random access memory (RAM) address conflict or if there are incorrect CMOS settings for a built-in peripheral device (such as cache settings, CPU timing, hard disks etc. Even a problem in your motherboard could also give you this problem. There could be many more reasons for this error, however in order to resolve them, you may opt to reinstall the Windows using the setup /p I command if you are using a plug and play monitor. You must also verify that the computer's CMOS settings are correct and it should match the specifications set by the hardware manufacturer. For your reference you can refer to the motherboard manual for settings. If this problem still persists, then you can install a clean copy of Windows in any empty folder. This should solve your problem.

Q. When I try to enter a chat room of Yahoo! it gives the following error. "Your current security settings prevent running Active X control on this page as a result this page will not be displayed." I have checked the setting and reduced the security level, otherwise my system is running properly. My system configuration is P III 600, Win ’98 SE Internet Explorer 5.

A. You need to reset your Internet Explorer security level. The default does not allow ActiveX components to be downloaded. Reducing the security level may though bad ActiveX components to enter your computer, but if you are using an application, which uses Active X control, then the security level needs to be lowered. Thus in order to get rid of your problem, just lower the security level to Medium or None. You can also overwrite the file in the root of C:\ called MESSAGE in order to solve your problem.

Q. I am having a PC of following configuration — P III, 650 MHz, 810 E Intel Motherboard, 64 MBRAM, 10 GB HDD, 52X CD ROM. I want to know that whether networking is possible in DOS or one can do it only in Windows, Unix or Linux. If yes, please tell how. I am having the Ethernet card installed in the PC that is having Windows ’98 SE installed in it. We are already having a network of 50 computers in the company.

A. Though networking is possible in DOS mode also, but it is not very extensive. You can use software like Laplink to do networking in DOS mode, but it does not offer you features, which are otherwise available in networking through Windows, Unix, Linux etc. Thus if the option is there then the networking should be preferred in windows/unix./Linux environment. However, if you have to do networking in DOS mode you will have to install software like Lap link etc.

Q. I have a computer with Windows ’98 and 10 GB hard disk. I have a game on a CD ROM and I installed it to my hard disk. That still requires CD ROM. So, I copied all data of CD to my hard disk. Still the game is not working. Please tell me how could I play it without using CD.

A. Simply copying all files from CD ROM to your hard disk is not sufficient enough to run the program from the hard disk, as there are many hidden files present on your computer, which are not copied by simple copy command. Moreover there could be some long executable files also, which are not copied to your hard disk. Thus it creates problem in running the program from the hard disk. However, as a possible solution, you can try copying the files by giving the Xcopy command.

Q. I have a PC having AMIBIOS. For the past few days I have been receiving message at the startup that the CMOS settings are wrong and "Press F1 to run Setup and F2 to load optimal settings and continue." On pressing F2, the system starts up normally. If I enter the set up, load optimal settings from there, save the settings and then exit. There is no change. I have tried to rectify the error by removing the CMOS battery too but the problem persists. I shall be obliged if you solve my problem.

A. You need to give us complete details of your hardware and operating system, as it is necessary for solving your problem. However generally speaking, it appears that you need to upgrade your BIOS for the ultimate solution of this problem. However you may also try to solve it, by restoring the default settings in your BIOS setup. Restoring default settings would take care if there were any problem in settings, otherwise you may even opt to change the CMOS battery, because if the battery has gone weak then also you may get this problem. However, if none of these solutions works then you may have to upgrade the BIOS.