Monday, March 24, 2003		Dr Tribune

Q. I have an assembled PC having configuration: P III 733 MHz, Phoenix motherboard, 128 MB RAM, 20 GB hard disk, Sony floppy drive , ATX cabinet, Samsung monitor, Samsung 52 X CDROM. My problem is the computer does not boot when I try to start. It only starts when a beep sound comes otherwise it doesn’t boot up. When it does not boot hard disk led keeps on blinking but there is no display on the monitor. When the computer boots up and I work in any program it automatically boots after some time. I had changed my SMPS but the problem is still not gone. Please advise what should I do?

A. Your problem is associated with the faulty RAM. The RAM in your system has gone bad, which is causing you all this problem. Try changing the RAM for effective solution of your problem.

Q. I have PC with configuration- Processor Celeron 733 MHz, motherboard 810-E (Vintron), 128 MB RAM and 20 GB hard disk. Recently my system has started working slowly. I deleted all my .jpg, .tmp, .avi, and .gif files and run scandisk too but it didn’t work. Then I tried to run defragmentation but it gave the message, "Your computer does not have enough free memory to defragment this drive. Quit one or more programs, and then try defragmenting this drive again." Please tell me the solution.

A. From the description of your problem it appears that there is some program installed in your system, which is causing memory leak. Normally, 128 MB is good enough to run any computer application and unless the memory is not drained out you should normally not get this kind of error message. Please check whether you have any 16 bit or older version of a program installed. Commonly this error occurs with the older versions of games. I am sure removing the older version of program, which is causing memory leak, would solve your problem.

Q. I have a PC with the following configuration. P IV, 1.5GHz, 256 MB RAM and Alligator motherboard. I have installed Windows ’98 and XP. My problem is the monitor screen flickers randomly for 1-2 seconds but it does not disturb my running application. It does not behave like this during booting. This problem is there ever since I purchased a PC. Please solve my problem.

A. Please check the power supply for any possibility of spikes, which might be causing this problem to you. Also please ensure that you should not keep any electronic gadget etc. close to the speaker, which has electromagnetic field. These are the common possible reason for this kind of problem. However, even despite taking care of both these points, your problem still persist, then you should contact the hardware dealer for some hardware related problem like weak capacitor etc.

Q. I am using P IV @ 1.7 GHz with 128 MB RAM, Intel motherboard, 40 GB HDD and other standard accessories with Windows 2000. Whenever I start my computer, I receive a message, "Windows File Protection Files that are required for Windows to run properly have been replaced by unrecognised versions. To maintain system stability, Windows must restore the original versions of these files. Insert your Windows 2000 Professional CD ROM now." Then, if I insert the Windows 2000 Professional CD into the CD ROM, the message disappears but after one or two days, the same message appears again. Please help and provide some remedy for it.

A. From the description of your problem, it is clear that the system is infected by virus. Please check your system with an updated virus scanner and try removing it. But beware, do not open any attachments, even if they appear on your desktop and show zero KB data. Also take care to disconnect the PC from network and take a backup on external media like CDs before taking any remedial action.

Q. My PC configuration is P III-800MHz, Intel 815E motherboard chipset, 256 MB SDRAM, 40 GB HDD, 15" monitor, 56 KBPS Motorola internal modem and Windows 98 SE as the operating system. My problem is that during startup when the system tray is loading the modem icon (in the form of a telephone) fails to appear and after that when all other icons have appeared in the tray, whenever the right mouse button is pressed, with the cursor being anywhere on the desktop, the system stops responding after which I have to restart the PC either manually or by pressing Ctrl+ Alt+ Del. The same problem resurfaces after restarting and it is only after one more restart that the modem icon appears and the system starts functioning normally. The above happens quite frequently and hinders normal functioning. I would like to inform that I have PC cillin 2000 anti-virus software installed. Is that the cause of the problem?

A. Your problem could be due to three possible reasons. First one is the modem driver is conflicting with some other program driver and causing the conflict, which in turn is disabling the modem and causing the system to halt. Second possible reason is that there is IRQ conflict, which may also cause this problem. Under the third possibility, it is possible that your modem driver is corrupt. Try sorting out these problems one by one and your problem would be solved. However as the logical step you should first remove the modem from device manager and then restart your system and let Windows reload the driver for it and resolve the conflict if any.

Q. I have a PC with following configuration- P- III 1 GHz processor, millennium motherboard with Intel’s 810E chipset, 128 MB RAM, 40 GB hard disk, 15 inch LG Studioworks 563N monitor with Win ‘98 operating system. The problem began when I uninstalled a program named registry guide and I wanted to delete all the entries manually from the registry and I did the same but by mistake some wrong entry was deleted from the registry. To overcome this problem I restarted my computer in DOS mode using the command /restore" and I successfully restored the directory to previous day’s. The problem began after this, I got the message "windows is restarting" in DOS mode. After sometime, my monitor started giving "out of frequency" message and nothing was visible on the screen and after 17 seconds the monitor switched off. After this I restarted my computer in safe mode and removed the monitor and graphics driver from the device manager and restarted the computer. The computer started normally and Windows gave message "Windows has detected a new hardware and is locating software for it as there is no driver provided for monitor to along with the monitor. I selected the option "search for the best driver and windows gave message "Windows has found best driver for your device and is installing it " and the graphics driver was loaded from the motherboard’s driver CD. Then I restarted the computer. The same message "out of frequency" by the monitors’ power was given by the management. Earlier also the same problem appeared and I consulted my Hardware vendor he suggested me to start the computer in safe mode and remove the graphics driver and monitor and reinstall them and then reduce the hardware acceleration to none and start the computer in normal mode. After starting in normal mode increase the hardware acceleration to full and then again restarting the computer. Earlier this method worked fine but this time it did not work. Please solve my problem.

A. Your problem is basically related to the display driver only. Try reloading the display driver afresh and set the refresh rate to either 60 MHz or optimal as the case may be in your display adapter properties. This will set your problem right. From the description of your problem it appears that the refresh rate is too high or the driver is not exactly matching with the hardware. There is no other reason for this problem. Thus taking care of these two points will solve your problem.

Q. I have PC with the following configuration:

1. Operating system is Win ’98

1. Celeron 1.1 GHz

2. 810 motherboard

3. 20 GB hard disk (Samsung)

4. 128 RAM

5. ATX CABINET

6. Hard disk is c:, d:,e and f

7. System supports USB PORT

Whenever I try using Webcam during chatting through Yahoo! messenger, I face this peculiar problem that the other person is able to see me. But when he or she sends an invitation to view him, I’m not able to see. Within a few seconds of my accepting the invitation (to view other party Webcam) an error message crops up on my screen. "Using incorrect version of software. Please update your software." At the same time, I can view the person, if I log on to MSN networking. Is there some problem with my Yahoo! messenger video settings? Please solve my problem. I wish both of us are able to view each other simultaneously while in Yahoo! (messenger) as both have Webcams installed with respective computers. I have tried installing different Webcams and tried with number of persons and face the same problem. They can view me but I cannot view them.

A. The solution to your problem is simple. The installed version of Yahoo! messenger in your computer is quite old, which is causing this trouble. Download and install the latest version of Yahoo! messenger and your problem would be solved.

Q. I have 40 GB HDD (Maxtor) and have bulk of space in it. I had loaded Win ‘98 on C:. I had faced many problems relating to slow surfing on the Internet. My friend has OS Linux 7.2 Red Hat and has Connect connection but his connection gives better response. I also have the same connection, same phone number and almost the same PC configuration. I had also checked modem configuration and set it to the highest speed. I had already cleared the cookies and sites stored on HDD. My PC has 128 SD RAM and 1.1 GHz. processor. Sir, can different operating system make better connection for surfing better. Please suggest.

A. The speed of the Internet connection is a result of a lot many factors. Having the same configuration and operating system, does not mean that the Internet speed will also be same. Other than your hardware and modem settings, Internet speed also depends upon the telephone line conditions and the type of telephone exchange your service provider is providing. For example, EWSD exchanges are better for Internet as compared to E10B. However E10B is still better than other older exchanges. So there could be many reasons, which might be out of your control but may affect the Internet speed. All you can do is take care of those things, which can be done at your end. For example, use latest and correct driver, set the modem optimally, do not use too many extensions on the line you wish to surf the Net. Replace the line with too many cuts and joints. Use proper connectors for joints, remove fax machine from the line on, which you are using modem etc. These precautions can improve the Internet experience. As far as the query related to different operating systems is concerned, I would say practically you would not find much difference between different versions of Windows (Windows ’98 SE) onwards, but surfing on Linux is really better and more trouble and error free.