Monday, December 30, 2002		Dr Tribune

Q. My system configuration is P III, 866 MHz, 128 MB RAM and Windows Me as OS. My problem is, whenever I connect to the Net through Microsoft Internet Explorer after some time an error message appears-"Iexplore has caused an error in CRS32.DLL. Iexplore will now close. If you continue to experience problems, try restarting computer." After clicking on close, the system hangs. Please help.

A. This error is specific to a game demo 3d asteroid impact. Thus for the permanent solution of this problem remove this game and also delete this file from your system.

Q. I have P 4, inlet d84wn Motherboard, internal modem 56k and Windows ‘98. Sir, I will be grateful to you if you could kindly give me detailed steps of networking. If I want to connect to my friends computer who stays near my house through modem and can also guide me for direct cable connection.

A. For dial up networking you can use Hyper Terminal to share the resources between you and your friend’s computer. Hyper Terminal is a simple application; where you have to enter the telephone number of your friend also select the port or modem, which would be set as default and auto configured if you have one modem on your system.

In case of direct cable connection, you will need to have a cable for connecting the parallel/serial port of the two computers. Remember a printer cable or a normal serial port cable e.g. modem cable etc. will not work, as it should have the same kind of socket at both the ends. After connecting the two computers either on parallel or serial (both computers should be using the same interface), you have to make one computer Host, while the other computer will be guest. Host computer would be the one, whose resources are to be shared by the guest computer and the guest computer is the one who accesses the resources of the host computer. Then in the Network properties, in the Control panel, then right click on the network icon and then click on its properties. In the network properties, select Windows logon and you should also keep the same work group on both the PCs, which by default would be set to WORKGROUP. Now simply restart your PC and a direct cable connection would be established between your PC.

Q. I have P4 128 MB DDR RAM, 40 GB Samsung HDD, Intel Webcam, Samsung CD-RW and OS Windows ME and XP and have 4 partitions of 10 GB each. My problem is when I am working in Win Me and using the Internet my computer suddenly hangs and then I have to restart the computer. Then the scandisk runs and computer runs fine. I experience this almost everyday when I read the log file. It says error in FSINFO sector. Everyday it shows the same error. I have also run the scandisk in the thorough mode and didn’t have any bad sectors. What should I do? Please advice.

A. FSINFP is actually X font server information utility for displaying information about an X font server. It is used to examine the capabilities of a server, the predefined values for various parameters used in communicating between clients and the server, and the font catalogues and alternate servers that are available. However, there could be many errors related to this. Therefore, in order to help us solve your problem you need to mention the problem clearly for accurate solution.

Q. I have P4, 1.5GHz, Mercury P4 M266 NDFSMX motherboard, LG 563A studioworks 15" monitor. While I boot my PC a message appears, "OUT OF FREQUENCY :HF-15.8Khz,VF-56hz. Recommended s HF:-30-61Khz, VF: -50-120hz." There is a reference to this problem in instruction manual that says, "This message appears when video card is out of frequency. Here it is out of horizontal frequency. It says configure your monitor again." But there is no way to configure frequency in monitor, as HF of video card is less than the limits of monitor. Also video card is on board and not on expansion slot. Please tell me the solution. Also, I have Linux on 40 GB HDD. But I am interested to know more about its installation and software compatible with it. From where can I get this information? Kindly suggest a book on installation.

A. Regarding your first problem, you would need to reconfigure your VGA adapter in sync with the monitor. Ideally, you should choose the optimal setting in the VGA adapter setting or a refresh rate of 60 Hz. Also lower down the video acceleration slider one step left for proper functioning. I hope choosing these settings will solve your problem.

Regarding your query related to Linux, the best way to learn Linux is to learn it through some book. The best book I found on Linux are; Red Hat Linux Bible, Teach Yourself Red Hat Linux, Installing Linux on your system. Here I would like to mention that these days Red Hat 8 is the latest and is quite good. Other good versions of Linux are Mandrake 9 and Suse 9.2. Regarding the software for Linux, you can download and install Open Office from www.openoffice.org and use it in Linux. This is a free and excellent Office application suite. Default Installation of Linux includes, Koffice- including all office application, Aby word – an excellent word like application and also open office. There are also lots of games, utilities, software like GIMP etc. loaded with default installation of Red Hat Linux 8. If you want any more information on Linux, then you can find it on www.linux-delhi.org

Q. I have OS Windows 2000 pro. I want to apply password on a folder so that it cannot be opened by any other person. Can I do so? Please advice.

A. If you’re using NTFS, you don’t have to password protect the folder. Just set the permissions to whichever users you want to have access to the folder. However if you are using Fat 32 file system, then you can use third party software like Magic folder (www.magicfolders.com) to password protect and hide your folders. There are many more software like this available on the internet, which you can download and use.

Q. My computer is a Pentium 166, Motherboard AI5TV Intel 82430VX Chipset, HDD 3 GB Quantum Maxtor fireball (with two partitions: 1 GB, 2 GB), 32 MB RAM, Cirrus Logic VGA card with 2 MB Video RAM, Creative Soundblaster SB16 sound card, CD ROM 52X Samsung, CD Writer BenQ 24x10x40. The OS is Win ‘98. The system works fine except that lately the HDD has started making noise and severe vibrations that can be heard and felt even on the computer table. This goes on for about 2 to 3 hours, after which the noise and vibrations fade out. The system works fine otherwise even during the vibrations. Scandisk reveals no error on the HDD. Norton anti-virus 2002 updated also reveals no virus. Could you please tell me as to what could be the problem with my HDD. I bought this HDD second hand. It was working fine till now. I would also like to add the original HDD (Seagate, 2 GB) also as a slave. There are no additional power outlets for this and I will need to use parallel power cables/plugs for this. Already I have done this for the additional CD Writer. Is it safe to do so without causing harm/ overload to the power supply?

My second query is regarding another HDD (Seagate 2.1 GB), also bought second hand. Scandisk shows no error, I formatted it and reinstalled Win ’98 on it. It used to give echo off message initially when I bought it. On formatting this disappeared, however. I need to switch on and off the computer five or six times till HDD is recognised, and then it works fine. But half of the time it is not recognised, neither as a master nor as a slave. But when it is recognised, it works fine as if nothing has happened. Please advise.

A. Noise in the hard disk is explainable, but the vibrations in the computer are unexplainable. Unless, of course, you have put a printer on it. In case, you have not found any problem in your hard disk, you can ignore the noise, but for the vibrations, you must consult your hardware vendor or a hardware engineer for working out the correct problem. Regarding your second query, you should change the jumper setting on the back of your hard disk, for making one hard disk as a primary master and the other one as Primary Slave or Secondary Slave. Since you are telling that you have a CD writer installed so I assume that it is on IDE 2 or secondary IDE channel, thus making it the secondary master. Regarding the power cable, you should take only the power cables coming out of the power supply and from no other source. Use any power socket available and you can add another hard drive on your system, without causing any damage to your system or compromising with the anything. Regarding your next query, you must get the hard disk detected in the BIOS feature setup and then save it. Once the hard disk is detected, it will not give you any problem.

Q. I have an assembled PC with configuration Celeron 1.1 GHz, Mercury KOB 810e2 TFST motherboard, 128 MB RAM, 40 GB Seagate HDD, LG ROM etc. My HDD and CD-ROM are connected in parallel with the motherboard through the same data bus. I bought my PC nearly six months ago. When I started my PC, generally a Mercury logo appeared. Earlier, by pressing ESC key, it disappeared. But now it takes at least 15 seconds to go. I also mailed Mercury technical staff, but all in vain. One thing to be noted is that when I connect HDD and CD-ROM with the motherboard with two different data buses, it works properly. I know it may be due to improper setup settings but please tell me in detail which setting is to be changed as for optimal setting, problem still exists.

A. Ideally, if you have one hard disk on your computer along with a CD ROM or CD Writer, you should connect both these devices on different IDE Channels, i.e. you should connect hard disk on the primary IDE and CD ROM on secondary IDE. This will involve use of two separate connectors. Now, if you wish to have it on a single channel i.e. the primary IDE, then you should make sure that your hard disk is primary master and the CD ROM is primary slave, if by any chance this setting is not there then you are likely to face problems mentioned by you. Now, for a complete solution, put the two on separate IDE channels and connect the Hard disk on Primary IDE, while the CD ROM on Secondary IDE. However, if by any reason it is not possible for you, then you should connect the end of the connector ribbon (the other end of which is connected to the Primary IDE socket of motherboard) to the CD ROM and the one in the middle to the hard disk. Then in the BIOS features setup detect your hard disk and load the optimal settings.