Q. I have an assembled PC (Celeron 400, 96 MB RAM, AGP card, SiS 6326 8 MB, Sound card, Yamaha OPL, 3 SAX, Azza-Motherboard). Whenever I run Quaqe 3 arena it gives an error "Could not open ‘open GL sub system.’" Some other 3D Games also do not run well my PC. Is my AGP card not good? If so kindly tell me which is a better and economical video card.

A. It appears that your open GL system is either corrupt or not functioning properly. OpenGL is a cross-platform standard for 3D rendering and 3D hardware acceleration. The software runtime library is being shipped with all Windows, MacOS, Linux and Unix systems. Now in order to solve this problem you can download OpenGL v1.1 libraries in the form of self-extracting archive file from the Microsoft Site.

However, for your particular 3D hardware accelerator board, you may also need an OpenGL hardware driver for your particular 3D hardware accelerator board. Regarding your current AGP card, if your AGP card is on board on a 400 MHz Celeron processor, then it is most likely to be a basic card. Please check the details from the manual of your motherboard and also the compatibility of other advanced cards.

Q. I have assembled PC with the following configuration: Pentium III, 500 MHz, Mercury motherboard, 64 MB RAM, Windows ’98 SE and Internet Explorer 5.5. My problem is that I am not able to chat from my system. Whenever I log on to Yahoo! Chat it does not show the person’s name in the list. When I write a message it shows the following error "General chat error. Please try again." Please help.

A. The problem in your case is probably because the Yahoo! Chat applet has failed to either download or initialise successfully. Now in order to solve this problem, firstly try to remove the downloadable chat software and have it automatically reinstalled when you go to a chat room again. If this solves your problem, then you will be able to chat normally. However, if this does not help then you can download an updated version of the Microsoft Java Virtual Machine (VM) from Microsoft. For removing the chat software from your computer, open the Internet Options window. Now choose Tools and then Internet options from the browser's menu. This will open the Internet Options window on your screen. Now in the Internet Options window, click on settings option of Temporary Internet Files section. Click on View objects. This will open a downloaded program window. Remove any versions of Yahoo! Chat that are listed by clicking on the name using the right mouse button and selecting remove from the menu that is displayed. After you have removed all versions of Yahoo! Chat software, press cancel in each of the windows to close them, and then try to enter a voice chat room.

Q. I have an assembled P III 866 MHz, 128 MB RAM, 20 GB HDD, 52X CD drive, D-link internal modem drive has operating system Win ’98 SE. I have a problem running scandisk. It gives message "Scandisk has restarted 10 times because Windows or another program has been writing to this drive. Quitting some running programs may enable scandisk to finish sooner. Do you want to continue receiving this warning?" Meanwhile no program is running and screen savers are off. Scandisk has no problem in other drives. Scandisk runs well in DOS mode. What is the reason and remedy for this.

A. This is a common problem faced by many readers. However, there is a simple solution for this. All you need to run ScanDisk successfully is go to Start >Run and then type msconfig in the Open: box. Now on the General tab, uncheck all items listed under Selective startup (make sure that Selective startup is selected). Now click on apply and press OK. Now restart Windows. This will start Windows with the basic items only that will ensure nothing will interfere with ScanDisk or even defrag (f your run it). Now run scandisk and you will find that the problem you were facing is gone. In order to restore the previous settings, repeat the previous steps and in the msconfig select Normal Setup. Then restart the Windows again.

Q. I have an assembled Pentium III, 500 MHz machine that I am using at 533 MHz, 64 MB RAM by increasing its speed using CMOS options. Most of the time when I start my PC it gives the message — CMOS settings wrong, press F1 to run set up or press F2 to load default settings. On pressing F2 the system runs at 333 MHz. Please tell me what should I do. I am using Windows 2000 and Windows ’98 operating system.

A. Using the wrong CMOS settings in an attempt to overclock your processor, which could be a risky business. Moreover changing the CMOS settings to detect a higher frequency processor is not likely to yield any results. Thus in order to solve your problem, you must restore default settings in your CMOS settings. Otherwise this problem will keep coming. However, if restoring default settings does not solve your problem, then you must check the correct jumper ( Dip Switch ) setting on your motherboard for your processor.

Q. I have an assembled PC with 8 GB HDD, 433 Celeron processor, 32 MB RAM and operating system Windows ’98. I am facing a problem. Whenever I start my computer, it mostly hangs and gives a blue screen saying, ‘A Fatal error has occurred in 2637:0002362. Press Ctrl + Alt + Del to restart or press any key to continue. When I press the key, it doesn’t restart. I have to press the reset button on UPS.

A. The problem mentioned by you is basically for a specific memory address and therefore I would need exact message that you get. Please be particular in writing the memory address clearly for exact solution of your problem. So please write us back your query with exact error message, which you get.

Q. I have an assembled PC with following configuration — P III, 600 MHz, Intel 810 Motherboard, 64 MB RAM, 17 GB HDD, Vintron 56 K Internal Modem, Satyam Online Connection, Window ’98 SE as OS. My problem is that before Win ’98 SE, I had Window Me installed on my PC, but on Window Me I am unable to run the Internet. For running the Internet, I had to format my PC two times and install Window Me two times from different CDs, yet all in vain. Both times in Window Me when I tried to install Satyam dialler, I got the message: "Dialup Networking is not configured or installed properly." After checking DialUp Networking in Windows Set up from Add/Remove program, it is properly configured, but occupies 0 MB space. Please help to solve this problem because I want to install Window Me again on my PC. Secondly, I want to know how to configure Outlook Express for receiving and sending e-mails.

A. This is a simple problem of Windows setup. In order to solve this problem all you need is to open control panel and then Add/Remove program. Now click on the Windows set up tab in the Add/Remove program window and look for the Dial up networking. As you said you can find it there, but it occupies 0 bytes. Now remove dial up networking from the Windows set-up and restart the Windows. Now restart Windows, follow the same procedure again, install Dial up networking afresh and restart your system again. Now this time you will find it installed properly. Regarding your query for configuring Outlook Express, it is a self-help exercise and all you need to know is the POP and SMTP addresses of your ISP. If this is the first time you are using the Outlook Express, then on opening it you will be asked to configure your account first. Follow the instructions, which are simple and use the POP and SMTP address of your ISP at proper place (POP is the incoming mail server address and SMTP is the outgoing mail server address). Your e-mail account in Outlook Express will be configured automatically.

Q. How can one download software from the Net such as Visual Basic, Oracle and Java? Kindly suggest some good sites.

A. The software mentioned by you are proprietary software and are not available as free downloads. You will have to buy them in order to use it on your computer.

Q. I have Win ’98 computer with P III, 128 MB RAM, 20 GB hard disk. My problem is that whenever I try to open any window explorer file, for example, any image that I download from the Net (.jpg), the files doesn’t open and gets converted into DOS .exe extension files. Even the items in control panel don’t open up and after sometime, the computer gets slow and then hangs. How can I rectify this error?

A. It appears that the program associated with the files is wrongly selected. Please change it with the correct option. You can do it by right clicking on the file simply and choosing the properties. Now click on the type of the file and then associate it with the right type of program. Regarding your second problem, please check your computer thoroughly for any virus in your computer. For checking the viruses, you must first clean boot your system either with a bootable CD or with a clean and uninfected floppy disk drive and then check for viruses. Most probably, your problem could be related to some virus in your system. However if no virus is found, then try restarting your system in safe mode. If your problem is not reflected in the safe mode then it means that there is some installed program or a component that is interfering with Windows. Now restart your system again and load windows by step-to-step confirmation and locate the problem in your system. Most likely this will solve your problem. However, if by any way this problem still persists, try reinstalling Windows again.

Q. I have PC Pentium III, 500 MHz with Windows ’98 and an earlier version of Windows as well. Earlier, I also uninstalled McAfee anti virus program from explorer. But now, when I boot my computer it gives the message, "Can't find a device that may be needed to run Windows or window application. The window registry or System.INI file refers to this device file. But the device no longer exists. If you delete file on purpose try uninstalling it. If you still want to use application associated with this device file, try reinstalling that application to replace the missing file C:\ Program~1\ MCAFFE\ MCAFFE~2\ SAFE & s~1\ FBWIN95.VXD. Press any key to continue." By pressing the key system boots, I also reinstalled Window ’98 set up but could not get rid of the problem. Suggest how to remove the problem so it does not give message again. Secondly, what is the function of a disk cleanup?

A. As a first step for solving this problem, reinstall the program McAfee Antivirus program or its content, whatever is causing this error. After installing afresh, uninstall using the uninstall tool or add/remove program option in Control Panel. Now since you are getting this error for .vxd file also, thus it means that there is some problem in your registry also as it points towards a driver designed for use with Windows ’95 and is referenced in the registry. However, registry editing involves some risk and troubleshooting could be a risky affair for those who are not expert. Without involving any risk also you can solve this problem by simply reinstalling the Windows again. This will solve your problem, as fresh installation will correct this problem of registry automatically.