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Category : Systems Engineering

Question : Hi Paul,

I have netzero at home and would like to get into my e-mail at work which is on a County network. Can this be done?

Answer : I have not used netzero (it's a free service I understand - advertising bar and all that) but the best way to find out if it supports email from another place is to set it and try to get in from another site.

The main pieces you'll need are:

*incoming server*
pop.netzero.net

*outgoing server*
smtp.netzero.net

*your user id on netzero*
ID

*your password (it will prompt for it when you try to access)

If you have Outlook Express installed it has a nice feature I've come to like (used to use Netscape exclusively for email) - Under the menu Tools/Accounts click on the "Mail" tab and then at the top-right click Add/Mail.

Once in there put in the information above and then try the Send/Receive mail button back on the main screen at the top-right (it has a drop-down field with other choices so yours may not say Send/Recv at the moment). be sure while you work inside the accounts to set which will be your default since this will determine the "reply-to" address that will put into the email. That lets you control which account will be the recipient of replies to emails you send, no matter which one you *sent* from.

Good luck

Paul Doherty

P.S. here is NetZero's web page on email config with some step-by-steps for popular email clients:

http://www.netzero.net/customer/email/email_setup.html
Rating : 5


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QAId : 168970
Asker : Mama_Ev
Subject : mouse doesn't work
Private : No

Question : Hi,
I'm new at this so hope I'm asking it ok here. My mouse doesn't work because the guy at the computer shop disabled Com 2 when putting in my sound board. I was told it's just a setting fix and if someone could help me I would be grateful... I know I can take it back to the computer shop but I can't do that till Monday and I was hoping to get my mouse working soon :) My son taught me how to use the tab to run my stuff but it doesn't work like a good ole' mouse ya know So thanks to anyone who can help me out here and if I didn't leave enuf info I'm sorry I'm not sure about how else to explain this.

Answer : When powering up your machine you will see a prompt for "Entering the BIOS" or something along those lines. Usually it's the DEL key or the F2 key that will enter the BIOS. Once you hit the proper key this will interrupt the boot sequence and you will be in a text menu environment. Find the menu option for "Integrated Devices" or something similar. Once you find that menu you will see options for COM or SERIAL ports. If all you need is COM2 to be active then find the second serial port item and use the PAGE UP/PAGE DOWN keys to move among the choices. Here are the standard settings for COM1 and COM1:

COM1 - 3F8 - IRQ4
COM2 - 3E8 - IRQ3

So you will want to set the second serial port to 3E8/IRQ3. Then hit ESC back to the main menu and select "Save Changes and Exit" with your mouse plugged in, and when the system reboots you should be back in business.

Paul Doherty
Rating : 0
End :


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QAId : 169005
Asker : deedee3
Subject : SVGA1280x1024 high color
Private : No

Question : I need high color on my vga card. I have a Trident Super VGA 1280x1024.How do I get this?Can I downlode a update?

Answer : To get to "high color" - defined as a color depth of 16 bit or higher - requires only one thing. Enough memory to do it at the resolution you want. For example if you have a 2MB graphics card (likely in this case - may even be only 1MB) and want to test to see if you can do a particular resolution and color depth grab a calculator and follow along - it's easy:

Let's say we want to see if our 2 MB card can handle 1024x768x24 (that's 24-bit color, or 16.7 million colors available in the palette). To figure it we first multiply the pixels across (1024) by the pixels down (768) which yields 786,432. That's the total number of pixels on the screen. (for those who are not up on a pixel it's short for "picture element" and it's the smallest addressable piece of an image). Now we multiply this total number of pixels by the total number of bytes of information PER PIXEL. Since we are in 24-bit mode that means each pixel is defined by 24 bits of information (which is what gives us all the color choices). A byte is 8 bits, and 8 goes into 24 three times, so we have 3 bytes per pixel being used for color information at 24-bit color depth. So now we multiply

786,432 x 3
(remember that's 3 BYTES per pixel - 24/8)

for a total of:

2,359,296

Our 2MB (2,097,152 - 1024x1024 = 1MB; * 2 = 2MB) card cannot hold this much information so we will not be able to do 24-bit color depth at 1024x768. But how about 16-bit color (65,535 colors)? I think the answer will be yes since we will only be changing one of the variables - can you guess which that is? We will be reducing our color depth from 24-bit to 16-bit - meaning we can take our original number of pixels in a 1024x768 screen (786,432) and multiply it by the number of bytes per pixel (16 bits/8 bits per byte = 2 bytes). You can probably already see that we have reduced our memory needs by a third, from 3 bytes per pixel of storage to only 2, and since we were pretty close to our memory maximum of 2MB (didn't go over much) we will likely be successful here. So we just mulitply:


786,432 x 2

for a total memory need of:

1,536,864

Well within our 2MB card's memory capabilities. What else can you do to get high color modes? Well the other variable open to tweaking is of course the resolution itself since it determines the number of pixels that will need storage space. So if you only have 1 MB of RAM or less you can try 1024x768, 800x600 or 640x480 and see which is the higest resolution you can get the color depth that you want.

Below are links to Trident's drivers and a utility for identifying your card (that may well tell you the amount of memory on your card - may report in "K" so for instance "2048K" = 2MB)

Paul Doherty

Utilities/Chip identifying:

http://www.tridentmicro.com/html/driver/utilities.htm


Drivers for your card are likely to be here:
http://www.tridentmicro.com/html/driver/tgui_tvga.htm


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QAId : 186001
Asker : Anonymous
Subject : no performance
Private : Yes

Question : I have MB Commate S7AX,AMD K62 400MHz,
chipset Ali V 1542/1543,64MB SDRAM
CDROM 44xUDMA,HD 10.2GB UDMA.I benchmarked
my computer on www.winmag.com/wintune and
found out that especially L2 and SDRAM memory is very
slow.What should I do to improve the performance?

Answer : There are some tweaks in your BIOS (for cache and SDRAM latency) but I'd suggest you tread carefully with tweaking them. And make note of what they were before you tweaked them in case you want to put them back (there's always the "load failsafe" or "load setup defaults" but you may have other areas successfully tweaked and not want to (or remember how you did it) re-do those again.

As far as your cache performance there isn't much you can do - your cache *is* slow compared to a lot of systems out there. The Pentium II, Pentium III, and Celeron machines you are being compared against all have high(er) speed cache than your AMD K6-2 has. A K6-2 has very little cache "on-board" - about 32 or 64K is all - equally divided into datat and instruction cache (1/2 for each). This is your L1 cache and here the situation is nearly identical with all the CPUs I've mentioned. Then we get to the all-important L2 cache (important because it's the largest of the CPU caches and because that's where the differences lay). A K6-2 has completely off-board L2 cache stored on the motherboard; usually 512k or more of it. The problem here is that for the CPU to get at it it must go through the motherboard chipset circuitry across at most a 100Mhz system RAM bus. The only real speed advantage this L2 cache has over main memory is perhaps a refresh rate advantage (it may refresh faster than the SIMMs or DIMMs in your RAM slots) giving it a slight performance edge. Other than that, however, there is litle performance gained by using this cache. In fact you could argue in some cases it's actually slower than just directly getting the info from RAM, since there is overhead on the part of the cache controller, which has to search for a cache "hit" through that 512K or 1MB (or even 2MB!) of cache before letting the CPU go ahead and get it from main RAM. In the days of slower RAM (today's RAM is as fast as some of the cache used on older Socket 7 motherboards) this cache design made some sense. Now it just doesn't.

Now contrast that cache design with that of a P2/P3 (non-Coppermine). The P2/P3 both have 512K of cache (fixed amount) but it is on the same board as the CPU itself, with a 64-bit 1/2 core speed bus to get to it across. So instead of a 100Mhz bus a P2-450, for instance, has a 225Mhz bus. So all things being equal it sends and receives data over twice as fast as the 100Mhz K6-2 cache controller. Now compare that design to the even better Celeron and P3 Coppermine CPUs which have their L2 cache on the same die as the CPU with a full-speed bus to access that cache memory. A Celeron has 128K of this high-speed memory, while the new P3-Coppermines have 256K of it. Both run at the full speed so a P3-600 Coppermine has 256K of L2 cache being accessed at 600Mhz. You can see the obvious benefits I hope to this design and why it's so superior in speed (and why your K6-2 would show up the way it is in comparison.

Paul Doherty

FUQuestion : I have the motherboard Commate S7AX with
chipset Alladin V M1542/1543.I have CPU AMD K6-2 3DNow
400 Mhz.
I did WinBench 99 v.1.1 CPU Mark99.I reached 17.9
I compared the result with another AMD CPU computers.It is same performance as AMDK6-266.
WinBench do not recognized amount of L2 cache and
type.
May you tell me what is wrong and what should I do?


Thank you

Answer : I'm not sure you need to *do* anything... WinBench is a composite of a lot of factors in your PC, including CPU, memory, video and hard disk IIRC. Any of these factors can vary so you shouldn't expect your machine to perform at any particular level when comparing to other machines. If there's nothing broken don't worry about it.

Paul Doherty


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QAId : 196802
Asker : micro_mike52
Subject : making a boot disk
Private : Yes

Question : Hi my name is Mike and I have been trying to make a boot disk for my IBM Aptiva computer with windows 95. I go to "control panel" than open "add and remove programs" and click on the tab create disk. I than put in a empty floppy disk and I click "create" and it starts than stops and says that I can not create it becuase I need 1.2 MB disk? I do not what to do to make it work, can you help me? GET BACK TO ME SOON!!
THANK'S
From Mike

Answer : Forget that automated garbage - creating a boot disk is a perfect excuse to get down-n-dirty with your least-favorite environment - the DOS prompt.

Open a DOS prompt under Windows and type the following:

format a: /u
sys a:

Voila! Bootable floppy. Now, if you want it to do anything besides boot, you will need to add a CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT to the floppy to load the proper components. Want a mouse driver? Grab a .COM mouse driver (search here for "mouse.com and I'll bet you find some - http://ftpsearch.lycos.com/). Then add the following line (after copying mouse.com to the floppy) to the AUTOEXEC.BAT:

\mouse.com

Need access to a CD-ROM? Find the proper .SYS driver (or download one at http://members.home.net/iqueue/idecd.sys) and add the following to CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT:

CONFIG.SYS:

device=\idecd.sys /d:mscd001

AUTOEXEC.BAT:

\mscdex.exe /d:mscd001 /l:f

(don't forget to copy the idecd.sys and mxcdex.exe files to the floppy too! MSCDEX.EXE is in the \WINDOWS\COMMAND dir))

Any other tools you might need should be copied to the floppy too - if you need the disk to setup your hard disk for new OS installations you will also want some or all of the following (all found either in \WINDOWS or \WINDOWS\COMMAND):

attrib.exe
fdisk.exe
format.com
xcopy.exe (need both)
xcopy32.exe (need both)
deltree.exe
sys.com
smartdrv.exe (get himem.sys too if you want drive caching)
edit.com
scandisk.exe

That should do it!

Paul Doherty


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QAId : 204119
Asker : jlong@...
Subject : clicking noises
Private : No

Question : I bought a new computer(my first)just before Christmas.I bought it from Axisystems in
California,by mailorder.Right out of the box it didn't work right.Every time I tried to run a program on the CDROM I got error mssgs.It took me over a month but I finally got in touch with tech.support.They decided my CDROM drive was bad and sent me a new one which I installed.They then told me I should completely wipe everything out on the computer and reinstall windows 98 SE.With their help over the phone thats what we did.It took over three hours,and they hung in there and led me through it.Now everything works except I no longer have My Briefcase on my desktop or anywhere else that I can find and now when the hourglass icon comes on or goes off I get this clicking or snapping noise.When an ad banner on a web site changes it also makes the noise.It's very annoying.I've tried re-installing the sound card,I think I'm doing it right,but it doesn't help.I've been trying to get back in touch with tech.support at Axissystems with no luck.All I get to do is be put on hold and listen to an LA radio station.It's not even a good station.Any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks-Jim
jlong@hypertech.net

Answer : Sounds like a serious hardware anomaly, likely with the motherboard chipset and Windows. Ask Axis Systems if they have any Windows 98 patches for that motherboard that were installed in their shipped install that would now be missing in this install they walked you through.

Paul Doherty

FUQuestion : Thank you Paul,I cut and pasted your reply in an email to Axis Sytems.I will wait for their reply.-Jim
Rating : 5
Declined (Reason) : No problem - hope they have what you need - let me know.

(No question asked so declined)

Paul Doherty


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QAId : 207036
Asker : Mashy
Subject : Buying a new Pc and getting the best deal!
Private : No

Question : Me again!

I live in NE Philly, Pa
I just found a site called Value America that looks good. I can get a scanner and a web cam with the PC deal. I tried those build your own set ups but they don't let me build it exactly how I want it. If you can find me a real good deal and e-mail it to me, I would appreciate it. I want something like the Gateway offer I sent you previously;however, I've seen adds that include more for that price. If you can send me good deals, great!

Answer : Just be careful of what you consider "good deals" as Value America doesn't ring any bells for me as a provider of PCs and the quality of components chosen may take a nosedive on one of these "deals"...

Paul Doherty
End :


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QAId : 208331
Asker : PaulB8
Subject : Quicken data file recovery
Private : No

Question : I think that my FATs decided to take a vacation. I have a 4 gig drive with the usual household stuff on it. The only thing I REALLY need to get off of it is my Quicken99 data. The drive is mechanically fine, and Ontrack's Easy Recovery listed the QDATA file, but when it was copied to another drive, Quicken couldn't open it. I tried the Validate program in Quicken, but got no change.

Advice?

Answer : Sounds like the file is boogered up (sorry for the techie term there :-). Unfortunately even with a recovery program some of the clusters may have been wiped over or damaged so parts of the file can be filled with erroneous information. So Quicken is rightly reporting a problem loading the file as somewhere along the contents the formatting falls on it's face. Best thing to do here is make a *new* Quicken file with almost no data or perhaps a single piece and save it alongside the old recovered one. Then use a hex editor like Hex Workshop (http://www.hexworkshop.com/) to examine the file contents and see if you can ferret out what the format is supposed to be and where it went bad. Barring that or assuming you are not successful you could talk to the makers of Quicken, tell them your predicament, and ask them to help you with repairing the file - I doubt it's the first time they'll have been asked and they may have a good answer for you.

Paul Doherty
Rating : 4


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QAId : 211039
Asker : wb5421
Subject : power down
Private : No

Question : Win98 in control panel has a "Power Setting".
One can set the time for both the monitor and
the system to power down when not in use.
I set the system to power down after 1 minute and the monitor after 2 minutes.
The monitor power down but not the system.

Answer : Check your BIOS settings to be sure you have power management enabled. Monitors will power down with nothing more than a blank video signal but the system will not.

Paul Doherty


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QAId : 212242
Asker : ladee2001
Subject : yahoo email
Private : No

Question : Help! For some reason I can no longer get to yahoo's home page. That means that i can't get my email. Is something wrong with yahoo or my computer? (Mac OS 9, G3, 56K, 128 RAM)When I type in the address it says that it is connecting, but it never does. Please respond if you can help me. Here is my freinds email address, you can contact me there:
loyk@uakron.edu
Thank you,

Carrie

Answer : Since you asked this question today I will suggest that there have been problems today on some of the major backbone providers (uunet) and that many sites are inaccessible -for instance I have been able to play BattleZone online with no problems but my Yahoo Messenger and http://www.won.net online gaming do not work. Try tomorrow and you'll have better luck once they get these problems resolved.

Paul Doherty
Rating : 2.8
Rating : 2.8


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QAId : 213789
Asker : micro_mike52
Subject : Memory
Private : Yes

Question : Hi my name is mike and I would like to put in more system memory in my computer. I have a IBM Aptiva with Windows 95 and it's about five years old. All of my SIMM sockets are but my DINN socket is not and I would like to fill it up. I don't know what I should Buy that would bring my memory up 64 but also I want to buy it for a good price.
I hope you can help me.
Thank's
From Mike

Answer : Considering that this is a 5 year old system it is unlikely to need be a system that uses a 100Mhz FSB. Nonetheless since 64Mhz memory is increasingly rare, and PC100 memory is quite cheap (and can be used in your next, faster machine) a PC100 DIMM is your best choice.

Assuming both the DIMM slot and the SIMM slots can be populated simultaneously (check your motherboard manual or call the manufacturer for confirmation) you can pick up a 64MB DIMM for cheap here:

http://www.pricewatch.com

On the main page, thrid column from the left under "Memory" click on "System". Then on the next page click on PC100 64MB to get a list (in ascending price order) for 64MB DIMMs for sale. Warning! This site as mentioned sorts providers of parts by price - this has engendered a kind of dishonest policy with many vendors whereby they will ratchet the price down to get listed at the top with the "lowest price" but they will nail you on shipping costs. I mean get serious - one of the listed 64MB DIMMs has a shipping price of 30 dollars! The thing weighs about 3 ounces and is barely 6 queare inches! So call around to their 800 numbers or find one that is listing their shipping costs right there and order from the best *combined price*.

Good luck,

Paul Doherty


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QAId : 261223
Asker : drphil
Subject : advanced power management (APM)
Private : No

Question : i am using windows 98 - i mistakenly deleted the APM from my laptop (i was having problems with the laptop waking up from sleep mode). is there an easy way i can reinstall it again? thanks

Need More Information : When you say you "deleted" the APM, does that mean you no longer have a power management icon under your control panels (Start/Settings/Control Panels)?

Paul Doherty

FUQuestion : thanks for helping - the power managment control panel is still there, i deleted APM from the device manager - so i don't have "sleep" show up on my shutdown choices anymore.

Answer : Ah I see - you deleted it from Device Manager. Ok you can very likely get that back by running the "Add new hardware" control panel item and letting it scour for "new" devices (which your APM should be since you nuked it but the BIOS is still supplying it).

Paul Doherty
Rating : 4.9
Rating : 4.9


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QAId : 269053
Asker : Anonymous
Subject : Keeping Computer Cool
Private : No

Question : Cool
Question:
I have a new 600 Mhz Gateway computer. However, it is placed in a non-airconditioned room,with just a ceiling fan. There are times the room temperature will max out at ninety degrees. Would I be doing more harm than good by placing a small fan outside of the processor grill and gently blowing air into the computer via the perforations in this grill to assist the computer fan in keeping the system cooler?

May I have your thoughts/comments.

Thanks.

Answer : No, even in a 90-degree room you will likely still be helping as, with the ambient temperature being 90, the inside of the case will get hotter still. Most cases have a mounting point at the front-bottom of the case for an extra case fan, and most motherboards have extra power connectors for such fans available - look for a 2 or three pronged orange plug on the motherboard.

Paul Doherty

FUQuestion : Thanks for your quick and detailed response. But if I did blow air from the outside would I be at risk of blowing dust in that could foul up the system? In other words, I don't want to do any harm. Your thoughts, please.

Answer : Dust is a minor issue - if you are in a dusty environment you may want to blow the inside of the system clean periodically with compressed air. You, however, do not exclude cooling to avoid dust. Dust will settle on the syetem components and insulate them, making heat dissipation harder but that takes months in a normal environment - but not cooling can have the same effect and act much quicker (say hours).

Put some fans on it and blow it out every other month and you should have no problem (unless the ambient goes much above 90).

Paul Doherty
Rating : 5
End :


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QAId : 270815
Asker : jimls
Subject : When I download from the wed, videos, music, etc.how do I open the program. I have Real Player hardware, so I assume this set up has capability to do this. I am new[three months] to the computer.
Private : No

Question : when i download from the web, videos,music, etc.how do I open the program. I have Real Player hardwars, so, I assume this set up the capability to do this. I am new[three months] to the computer

Answer : I have never heard of Real Player hardware - there is a RealPlayer *software* program that allows you to play video and audio off the web, and I suspect this is what you mean. During the install of RealPlayer associations for your web browser are made and thereafter anytime you click a link with the proper extension (like .RA or .RAM) the proper action (playing it with the RealPlayer) is taken automatically.

So just install the software with your browser closed, then open your browser and go to:

http://realguide.real.com/live/

The above link has some content so you can test the functionality of the software.

Have fun...

Paul Doherty

Paul Doherty


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QAId : 273854
Asker : Anonymous
Subject : web page
Private : No

Question : i have a web page at: www.geocities.com/dobroman3
i put a java script on it and then noticed none of my graphics were working .i took the java off but they still dont work.. on other computers they do,,just not mine. i have a new hewlett packard with ie 5.can you help me with this?


dobroman3@excite.com

Answer : Sounds like image showing is disabled on your web browser - go to Tools/Internet Options/Advanced/Multimedia and ensure the box is checked on "Show Pictures".


Paul Doherty
Rating : 5


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QAId : 280480
Asker : Anonymous
Subject : Sleep/Standby Mode
Private : No

Question :
My new computer's literature suggests using the sleep/standby mode to minimize wear and tear on the computer and monitor when stepping away for periods of one or two hours.

My question: What has been YOUR experience with sleep/standby mode, has it been a favorable one and do you believe it will lengthen the life of my system if used regularyly?

Answer : I disagree - leaving the system on is the only way to maintain a constant temperature in the case, and temperature changes are bad for electronics. When the systems idles or sits turned off it comes down to equilibrium with the rest of the room. then when you power it up it gradually heats up over the course of an hour or so. This cooling down/heating up cycle makes solder joints brittle, not to mention the shock of applying power to the system from an unpowered state. Best bet here is to leave the system on, set the monitor to go to a blank screen svaer after about 30 minutes - also setting the power down of the monitor to 30 minutes, and if you feel you must (preserves drive bearings some say) set it to spin down the hard drive. With the monitor down your system power consumption is about cut in half and your system will last longer without the contant reboots (plus you don't have to wait to use the system - just move the mouse or hit the SHIFT key to wake it up).


Here is another similar question asked of me in another category - you may find it useful:

http://www.xpertsite.com/ViewAnswer.asp?vid=196896

Paul Doherty
Rating : 5


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QAId : 285808
Asker : STEVEWIN
Subject : HARD DRIVE
Private : No

Question : I HAVE A LOW LEVEL FORMATTED HARD DRIVE IS IT POSSIBLE TO RESCUE IT AND RESET IT UP
+HOW

Need More Information : What kind (IDE/SCSI) and what manufacturer? How did it come to be low-level formatted, and any other pertinent history?

FUQuestion :
I will start at the beginning I have a IBM PC I was looking to upgrade the ram when upon my motherboard decided to totally lock up I changed the motherboard for a similar one + resetup win95 I then was getting the loads of problems so formatted the hard drive again were i low level formatted it i have managed to resetup win95 again I am still getting the same errors as follows rundll32 caused a general protection fault in module -----all different exe registers
Any ideas would be appreciated

Answer : It doesn't sound as if the hard drive is your peoblem here. If you're getting these errors it means the drive is partitioned, formatted and has an OD installed on it. So now the problem you are describing is coming from a misconfiguration or a wrong (or one in need of update) driver. Obtain the latest drivers for your video and audio and install them. Also if you are running an older version of Windows 95 (right-click My Computer, select Properties and on the resulting screen you will see Windows 95A or Windows 95B - you want B) you may want to obtain an "OSR2" version of use Windows 98 as the Windows 95A had loads of problems.

Paul Doherty

Answer : Don't forget to rate the answers you receive on AskMe.com


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QAId : 292715
Asker : fourrats
Subject : IRQ not configured
Private : No

Question : Little fingers were at the keyboard yesterday. Today while the PC is booting, an error is raised: "Warning: IRQ not configured- PCI display controller BUS:00, DEVICE:14, FUNCTION:00"

I press F1, Windows starts and everything appears to be ok (although, my printer is timing out, rather than printing). Any idea how to correct this?

Compaq 4540, AMD K6, 32Meg, Windows95 -- and I would really hate to have to put that restore CD in!

Thanks

Answer : This looks like the type of error that occurs on some K6-2 motherboards when you have done a straight install of Windows 95/98 (which on most Intell chipset systems is all you need to do) but have not *also* installed any patches that came with the CD packaged with the motherboard. Since this is a prebuilt system from Compaq see if they either A) have a CD that came with your machine and if so does it offer and patches to Windows 95 for this motherboatd or B) Check their web site for those same patches.

Paul Doherty
Rating : 3
End :


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QAId : 294248
Asker : Anonymous
Subject : hard drive question
Private : No

Question : I'm trying to load Windows 98 on a pc that has an empty hard drive and a new cd rom.I got Windows loaded on a similar machine by typing d:\setup and the machine accepted that command,now the other wont.I was wondering if there was a way to view help by typing in a help command?Any other tpye command suggestions would be appreciated.Also when I put my startup disk into the floppy drive it reads,abort not ready.Is there a way to see if my a drive isnt working?

Answer : It sounds to me like you have a CD-ROM driver for the first machine, but not for the second. So the CD-ROM is never being loaded on the second machine and that is why you can't execute the setup.exe to start the install.

Following is the text from a question I've answered on here about how to create a startup disk to bring your CD-ROM online. Follow these steps and you will be able to run the install the same on the second machine. the CD-ROM driver referenced is a universal IDE CD-ROM driver and will bring up any IDE CD-ROM drive without further modification.

http://www.xpertsite.com/ViewAnswer.asp?vid=51748

Paul Doherty
Rating : 4


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QAId : 305948
Asker : axxel
Subject : uninstallshield
Private : No

Question : Hi Paul,I have a problem with uninstallshield.When I try to run setup on any program I get a message reading:(setup has detected that uninstallshield is in use.please close uninstallshield and restart setup).It gives an error432.Please tell me how to disable or correct this problem.I am running under Windows 98.I have heard the same problem is happening on winNT.

Answer : It looks like deleting the file UNINST.EXE from your C:\WINDOWS directory will straighten this out. The file may be oddly protected and that may be why you are getting the message. Windows NT users do indeed see this too - they need to be logged in as administrator-equivalent to use installshield so this is a different issue for them.While you're at it open a DOS prompt and do the following to find all the UNINST.EXE files that may be lurking on your system:

C:
cd \
dir UNINST.EXE /a /s /p

For the one(s) found note the directory they were in then:

cd \that_directory
attrib -r -h -s UNINST.EXE
del UNINST.EXE

Paul Doherty

Answer : Don't forget to rate the answers you receive on AskMe.com


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QAId : 319719
Asker : bigbuddha
Subject : batch file to check directory's files' dates against current system date
Private : No

Question : I want to create a batch script that goes into a directory, compare the files' dates with the current system date, and then delete them if they are more than 1 day old. should i create a batch script for that or a VB exe?

Thanks,
helen

Answer : I would write an EXE for it under Windows/DOS - under UNIX, where you can use the output of one command as the arguments of another you can do the following and avoid writing a full EXE:


ls -l | grep "DATE" | while read entry
do
rm $entry
done

where "DATE" is the formatting for the date of the ls command (I'm not near a UNIX machine as I write this). Since we can't do this in DOS I'd suggest you create a VB (or better WinBatch - http://www.windowware.com) executable for this. If you send me a box of candy I may do it for you... I like nuts and caramels :-)

Paul Doherty



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QAId : 330038
Asker : galactose@...
Subject : Alt-tab in Win98
Private : Yes

Question : Whenever I use alt-tab (Win98) to try to switch from a particular program (WarII BNE), that program will freeze. I know that it is not a defect in the program because it works on another computer I have with Win98. I think it is a problem with either Win or possibly my video card (Voodoo 2 3000), because I have plenty of mem for the program. I have tried reinstalling Windows+ searched for other ideas but I so far I have not found any useful information. Can you help me?

Answer : You didn't detail what this program is, but I'm going to bet it is a DOS-based application. If this is the case then your problem is easily solved. With the application open press ALT-ENTER to get it into a windows (if it's running full-screen). Then click the top-left icon of the window and select "Properties". Then select the "Misc" tab and uncheck "Always Suspend" under "Background". This will keep the app running even when you cycle apps (which puts this one in the background).

Paul Doherty

FUQuestion : Yes- this is a game. It is a classic- so it requires very liitle to run, but it is a recently updated version for Win98. I also just noticed that another similar program, but more complex, did the same thing (also made by Blizzard). So I am almost positive that it has to do with my system, not the app. I have had no trouble using alt-tab with these apps on any other system. (While in the program I cannot use alt-enter)

FUQuestion : I just solved the problem by moving the graphics hardware acceleration to one above the minimum. I am curious though as to why this is nescesary, and what other effects this change may casue. Thanks for your help.

Answer : You're welcome

PD
Rating : 5


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QAId : 343754
Asker : ssnt1129
Subject : hard drive partician
Private : No

Question : I have recently put in a new Maxtor 20.4 g hard drive.

I had some trouble getting the hard drive to recognize the cd rom but finally it did and I installed win 95.

When doing this I am only getting 7 gig out of my hard drive.

One of my problems in installing winn 95 is that it said that I needed to make a ms-dos bootable partician.

Do you know the process that I should take to get the full copacity of my hard drive?

Answer : There are two potential ways to get it - but before you do either one ensure you have the drive parameters correct in the BIOS. Reboot and on reboot hit DEL (or whatever other key is indicated) to enter the BIOS setup screens. Once in go to the harddrive parameters section and write down what you have for the Primary IDE Master disk (first hard drive). After noting the current settings if necessary change the settings to either "AUTO" in all available areas or set it to "LBA" mode. Note - if you do end up changing these settings you will likely have to repartition with fdisk and reformat with format and do your install of Win95 again.

Now if the settings were either AUTO or LBA and you still saw no larger than 7 (or 8) GB then you can try one of two things:

1) Update your BIOS to the latest one - if flashable. So for instance if you have an AMI BIOS go to http://www.ami.com/ and grab the latest BIOS for your motherboard. You didn't say what motherboard (or CPU even, as this is a good clue to age) you're running so I don't know whether an old BIOS is your problem yet. But if it is old enough to have this 8GB limitation then this may well fix it.

2) Use the MaxBlast software that came with your hard disk. Boot from the floppy and install MaxBlast, which will reside permanently on the disk and will trick the BIOS into resporting the correct number of cylinders, heads and sectors-per-track so the OS can properly utilize the full size of the disk.

Take the steps in the order I've described as this last step is one I usually attempt to avoid where possible since it introduces a layer of software into your hardware.

Paul Doherty

FUQuestion : I have ran maxblast and it does partician it to many drives but when I install windows setup it formats the hard drive again and gives it only one drive. and then it is not at full capacity.

Need More Information : I'm not quite following you here - are you saying you made multiple partitions with MaxBlast and when Windows installs it *remakes* the partitions and makes only one?

I would suggest you make only one or two partitions from this disk.


Here is some more info on MaxBlast from Maxtor's website...

http://www.maxtor.com/maxblast/index.html
Rating : 5


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QAId : 345972
Asker : lyle31487041
Subject : My "Age of Empires 2" CD won't run
Private : No

Question : I got a burned copy of Age of Empires 2, and I put it in the computer and it won't run. I don't know what to do. The setup file says that it is not a valid Windows program or something like that. Could you help me please. Could you email me @
lyle314@hotmail.com
I would really appreciate it.
Thank you
Lyle Boudreau

Answer : Sounds like your autorun isn't functioning right. Hold down the left SHIFT key while you put the CD in and wait until the drive has been "looked at" by Windows. then let off the SHIFT key and open the My Computer icon on your desktop. Right-click on the Age of Empires 2 CD and select 'Explore' from the menu that appears. Then find the SETUP.EXE on the root of the CD and double-click it to start the install.

Paul Doherty


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QAId : 350426
Asker : the_flying_dude
Subject : hard drive backup to orb
Private : No

Question : I recently purchased a Castlewood Systems Orb so I could make a complete back up of my hard drive. I have used my Quickcopy utiltiy (part of Nuts & Bolts 98) to copy the contents of each folder from my hard drive onto the Orb disk, however, when I try to copy the contents of the Windows folder (5800+ files), I reach a point with 2190 files left where a Quickcopy dialog box pops up indicating:
"C:\WINDOWS\WIN386.SWP - This file is being used by another application". The only option is to click the box marked "ok" and after doing so, it pops back up until it's clicked the third time which stops the copying process altogether. This has been the only folder that I've been unable to copy in its entirety.

I have also tried copying the Windows folder by just right-clicking the folder icon, choosing "copy" and then trying to paste the folder onto the orb disk, but the same thing occurs at the same point (about 5 minutes into the process).

I'm using Windows 98 on a PII 450 Dell PC with 128 MB RAM. I've used approx 3 GB of my 12 GB hard drive. My Orb is USB connected through a USB hub and seems to operating normally.

Any suggestions for this novice user? Thanks!

Jim

Answer : The file you are trying to copy is the Windows swap file, and is always open for file operations by the OS and thus you cannot access it. Simply exclude this file (and perhaps a few others if you encounter more errors) from your backup as the first time you reboot with a restored version of this backup and the swap file is absent, the OS will create a new one based on the same parameters (size).

Paul Doherty

FUQuestion : Paul,

Thanks for your prompt response. As a follow-up to my original question, how do I specifically exclude that file from the copying process? I was trying to copy the Windows folder to the Orb, but Quickcopy simply asks which file or folder I want to copy and where do I want it copied. The Windows folder contains over 5800 files, so it doesn't seem prectical to copy each one individually.
Rating : 4

Answer : I've never used an Orb so I can't give you detailed directions on how to exclude a file - but that is what you need to do, not backup every file individually. you will select the whole directory *except* the one or two files that cause trouble. Dig around in the manual or in the interface for the backup program and I'm sure you'll find it. I haven't seen a backup utility yet that doesn't allow you to include/exclude files.

Paul Doherty


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QAId : 358327
Asker : snicklefritz
Subject : fax programs
Private : No

Question : I recently discovered I could put Windows Fax on my system from my windows98 2ed disc. I did and it keeps telling me that 'AWFXCG32.DLL file linked to missin MAPI32.DLL:23' I went to the Microsoft knowledge base and printed article #q229210 about MAPI problems after installing window office 97. It said something about the Office version being wrong. I did system file checker and it appears I have the correct version 1.0.2536.0 installed. It also has given the error AWUTIL32.DLL file is linked to missing export file MAPI32.DLL:136. Should I just give up on Microsoft Fax and look for one of the others out there, or will I still get the same problem? To run AWFAX it said I have to have Outlook 97, etc and I do. In the Office 97 program when I tried to fax it kept bringing up my e-mail server; is that what it is supposed to do? I don't understand how these fax programs work and I'm still new enough to computers to be dangerous. I have only had it since the end of January so you must be very specific when you answer. Saying get this file from here and install it won't help unless you tell me step by step how to get a file. Another article from Microsoft KB told me to extract the MAPI32 file but wasn't specific enough in telling me how.

Answer : The fax programs work by emulating a printer driver so that when you print from a program you can select the fax as your printer choice.

You didn't mention how you installed the fax program - that could be part of the problem.

As far as extracting the mapi32.dll file here's how to get at any file inside Windows' install files.

1) Find the location of the *.CAB files on your system - they may be in \WINDOWS\OPTIONS\CABS or they may be on the CD-ROM. Wherever they are make note of the path.

2) CD to where the CAB files are at.

3) Execute the following commands, replacing "C:\WIN98KIT\CABLIST.TXT" with the path where you want this file to be stored. This file will be a table of contents for you later so put it somewhere so you can find it again.

extract /a /d win98_22.cab > C:\WIN98KIT\CABLIST.TXT

The command above does a couple of things - first it creates a new file, CABLIST.TXT, that contains as it's contents the results of the command - next the command generates a list of all the files in the CAB file WIN98_22.CAB *and* all the files in that "chain" which is from WIN98_22.CAB through WIN98_69.CAB with that one command.

Now we will collect the rest of the chains in the same way:

extract /a /d BASE4.CAB >> C:\WIN98KIT\CABLIST.TXT

Notice the difference now is the ">>" instead of the ">" redirection parameter. This new one is the "append" redirector. It tells the command processor that we expect to put the contents from the current command at the end of a file that already exists without disturbing the contents already there. If we had run this command with the ">" the command processor would have created a new file by the same name, thus wiping out the work from the first command. So all subsequent command from here on out will use the ">>" parameter.

extract /a /d CATALOG3.CAB >> C:\WIN98KIT\CABLIST.TXT

extract /a /d CHL99.CAB >> C:\WIN98KIT\CABLIST.TXT

extract /a /d DRIVER11.CAB >> C:\WIN98KIT\CABLIST.TXT

extract /a /d MINI.CAB >> C:\WIN98KIT\CABLIST.TXT

extract /a /d NET7.CAB >> C:\WIN98KIT\CABLIST.TXT

extract /a /d PRECOPY1.CAB >> C:\WIN98KIT\CABLIST.TXT


Your list of CAB files may be different but as long as you run each command above for the first of each sequence you'll get what you need.

And that's it - a one-time effort and now you can use EDIT C:\WIN98KIT\CABLIST.TXT or open it in Notepad and see that the contents of all the CAB files is there and easy to use. Now you can search using your favorite method and find MAPI32.DLL. Once you find it using the search function then just scroll up until you see the title of the CAB file that was being listed. In my case it MAPI32.DLL was in the file NET7.CAB.

So now to get that file - here's how.

extract /e NET7.CAB MAPI32.DLL

Now you have a copy of MAPI32.DLL fresh from the source files. You can now copy it over the one at \WINDOWS\SYSTEM - if you have trouble because the file is in use just restart in DOS mode, copy it over the one there now (back up the one there now first with COPY MAPI32.DLL MAPI32.BAK), and reboot into Windows.

Paul Doherty

FUQuestion : First, I originally installed by going to the disc in Windows98/tools/message/us/awfax.
Now for the questions.
1. How do I find where the *.cab files are on my system?
2.What do you mean by CD where the CAB files are at, the install disc?
3.When you say to execute the command in step #3, where am I executing them from?

I did warn you that I'm very inexperienced. My computer knowledge has been limited to work previously, where system administers handle all the problems.
How do you know if you have a fax modem; I just assumed all the new ones were. Mine is an AOpen 56.6K Flex v.90 w/Voice modem.

Sorry to be such a bother.

Answer : 1) You obviously have the Windows 98 CD as you said you used it to install the fax software If you want to check on the drive first, however, here is an easy way. Open a DOS prompt and type the following, hitting ENTER at the end of each line:

C:
CD \
DIR *.CAB /S /P

and see if any of the WIN98_22.CAB type files show up.

2) On the Windows 98 CD is a directory called \WIN98 (I think that's it). Inside it are all the CAB files I referred to above. If your CD is drive D: and the dir \WIN98 is right then you will simply use "D:\WIN98" (without the quotes) in each extract command like so:

extract /a /d D:\WIN98\win98_22.cab > C:\WIN98KIT\CABLIST.TXT

3) From a DOS prompt. Go to the Start menu, then to Programs, then select the red icon that says "MS-DOS Prompt".

I agree - almost all modems in the last 5-7 years have fax ability. I'd be highly surprised if your wasn't fax-capable. Try it and see...

No problem... I'm glad to help!

Paul Doherty

Rating : 4.9
Rating : 4.9


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QAId : 375031
Asker : kthomps5
Subject : pr4 file extension
Private : No

Question : I received a file that has an extension of pr4 and I can't figure out what type of file it is -- I had expected a PowerPoint file -- but this won't open and I don't know what program is needed to look at the file. Thanks for any help you can provide

Answer : I have never heard of this file type either. I'd ask the person who sent it to you to check it out - have them load it (by double-clicking it) and see what app they have registered to handle .PR4 files. Then you will know what it is.

Paul Doherty


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QAId : 381018
Asker : claire1941
Subject : missing boot record for CD-ROM & Floppy disk
Private : No

Question : When I turn on computer I get this message:
SEARCHING FOR A BOOT RECORD FOR CD-ROM; NONE FOUND.
SEARCHING FOR A BOOT RECORD FOR FLOPPY DISK; NONE FOUND.
SEARCHING FOR A BOOT RECORD FOR IDE-O; OK.
How did I lose the boot record for the above 2 items?????
How can I "build" a boot record for the above???
I have glaucoma and cataracts; do not see well, and maybe deleted them by error??????
My son usually helped me with computer, but he is now working in Milan Italy.
Any help provided will be super. claire1941@aol.com

Answer : This is not an error condition so don't worry. All this is saying is that both of these potentially bootable devices (if a disk is even even present in the drives) are not bootable. Most CDs (like you get programs on) are not bootable and floppy disks are not either unless you make them bootable. These messages are just indications that the BIOS is stepping through your bootable devices, in order, looking for one that has bootable media.

Paul Doherty
Rating : 5


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QAId : 390058
Asker : HOTROD75
Subject : MCSE logo download.
Private : No

Question : I am trying to download the Microsoft Logo (EPS format) to be used on my CV, but just seem to get a load of code but no logo. My CV is on the desktop, and I have downloaded the logo file also onto the desktop. I then cut and pasted the logo file into my Word document. No such luck! Feel like I'm making a mountain out of a molehill, so any help would be appreciated..
Cheers Chris.

Answer : What did you cut and paste? Can you view the logo (double-click it to view -it will open with whatever you have registered as a handler of EPS files)? If so open it in a viewer and cut and paste the actual image (not the file) it into a running Word that has your CV on it.

Paul Doherty

Answer : Don't forget to rate the answers you receive on AskMe.com


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QAId : 411304
Asker : Rick.Cle42551
Subject : Upgrading from Windows 95 to Windows 98
Private : No

Question : I have a PC with the original version of Windows 95. I am trying to upgrade to Windows 98. I can place the Windows 98 CD in my IDE CD ROM and it will start to boot, but my C drive is too full. Besides I really want to do a from scratch install. If I reboot the PC, it starts to boot from my IDE CD ROM but part way though the boot process it attempts to continue booting from my SCSI R/W CD instead.

Answer : You will need to remove the existing install of Windows to do a from-scratch install of 98.

deltree c:\windows

will do it - make sure you really want to do it, that you've backed up, and that your 98 CD is not an "upgrade only" CD as if it is, and you have no previous OS (or at least a 95 CD handy) you will be able to install.

An easy fix for your CD problem is to disconnect the CDRW drive from the SCSI ribbon cable (data cable) and finish the Win98 install, then turn the system off, plug it back in and voila!


Paul Doherty

Answer : Don't forget to rate the answers you receive on AskMe.com
Rating : 4


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QAId : 426956
Asker : Anonymous
Subject : trying to Upload windows 98
Private : No

Question : Ok here is my problem i am trying to upload windows 98 i have an old computer that the only way to get to windows. 3.1 is that it started up in Dos. and type win. now i figured all i had to do was delete all of the files on the comp. and start fresh with windows 98 but it is not accepting the D drive Disc or even an a drive boot disc for the Dos. what can i co all i have is the startup for the comp and that s it it says to hit space bar and then load disc, i do that and it says system failure reinsert disc and start again i keep getting the same message any ideas.

Answer : I will refer you to one of my FAQ answers where I go into exacting detail on how to prepare and begin installing Windows 95/98:

http://www.askme.com/ViewAnswer.asp?vid=52211

Paul Doherty

Answer : Don't forget to rate the answers you receive on AskMe.com


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QAId : 444399
Asker : erict
Subject : Industry stanard times for tasks
Private : No

Question : Are there any industry standard benchmarks for how long it should take to do common IT tasks (installing hardware, software, making configuration changes, etc.)?

Thanks.

Answer : I have never heard of any - I assume you mean these as analogous to the ones auto mechanics use in shops to bill for repairs? Like a transmission takes X number of hors and that's what they charge whether it takes them X-2 or X+2 hours to actually do it?

With computers I'd think there are far too many variables for this to exist in any kind of meaningful fashion, but one could exist and I could be wrong.

Paul Doherty


Rating : 3


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QAId : 461568
Asker : slpearce_98
Subject : missing export?
Private : No

Question : Just recently, whenever I start up my computer, a message appears [THE POPEXAM.DLL file is linked to missing export MFC42.DLL:6467.]. What does this mean and what do I do about it? Thank you-slpearce_98

Answer : Try extracting a new copy of MFC42.DLL and copy it over the original (may have to do the copy from DOS after extracting as it may be in use). Grab your Win98 CD (or 95) and issue the following from a DOS prompt:

C:
CD \
md stuff
cd stuff
extract /e d:\win98\win98_54.cab mfc42.dll

(Start/Shutdown/Restart in DOS)
cd \windows\system
copy mfc42.dll mfc42.bak
copy \stuff\mfc42.dll .


Here also is a document by MS discussing this error...

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q184/7/99.ASP?LNG=ENG&SA=ALLKB&FR=0


There you go... a new copy. Hope that helps!

Answer : Don't forget to rate the answers you receive on AskMe.com


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QAId : 493101
Asker : Vampirol21976
Subject : PC Error Problem
Private : No

Question : First Hi! and tanks for read this.
My problem is that my pc send me and error when I insert any cd in my cdrom (but not all the cds others run but not install all the componets of the cd) , when it go to autorun it send the error and when I only click in the setup to install the software it send and error saying that ( ISSE_SE in module Setup.exe have an error at 001:00003540). It happend whit the Norton Antivirus 5.0 cd, a Learn French cd, a Software to create music and I buy the game The Sims and It autorun but when I want to install it send me the error box.

If you have any idea of what happend I will thanks a lot.
THANKS, BYE.

Answer : Do this:

1) Hold the left SHIFT key down

2) Put the CD in the drawer and close the drawer.

3) Let Windows sniff out the CD and after it's done let off the SHIFT key.

4) Open My Computer, right-click on the CD-ROM drive and select Explore from the menu.

5) Locate the SETUP.EXE on the root of the CD and run it.

Paul Doherty

P.S. If you do not discover what is causing the autorun errors disable it as it's really superfluous and not worth the headache. Here's how:

1) Right-click My Computer and select Properties

2) Open the Device Manager tab

3) Open the CD-ROM tab and double-click your CD-ROM inside when it expands to show the devices in the list

4) Open the Settings tab and uncheck the Auto Insert Notification

Answer : Don't forget to rate the answers you receive on AskMe.com
Rating : 1


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QAId : 501212
Asker : jblaze_07
Subject : cd rom drives won't recognize cd's
Private : No

Question : My cd-rw drive won't recognize any cd's I put into it, i know it's connected to the computer because it says it's working properly on the system devices screen. When I try to access it it says D:/ drive not accessible, it doesn't work with either any type of cd. My dvd rom drive recognizes normal cd's but not cd-r's. Both were working properly because I was burning a lot of cd's from tracks I had, and now nothing works. I tried restoring my registry and nothing happened. I also downloaded and installed the latest drivers for both drives but it didn't change the status at all. I would appreciate your help. Thank you

Answer : Are the disks you're trying all CDRs? I have a CD-ROM drive that will not read *some* types of CDRs (namely some gold lame Maxell and Memorex ones). Try putting in an audio disk or a retail data CD and see if it can read that.

Also try accessing this drive from pure DOS if you still can't read them. Perform the following steps to make a boot disk you can test with:

Open a DOS prompt under Windows

Put a floppy in the drive (blank or that you don't care about)

format a:
sys a:
edit a:\config.sys

(enter the following line then hit ALT-F to bring up the File menu and select X or use cursor keys to exit and say Y to save)

device=\idecd.sys /d:mscd01


Now edit a:\autoexec.bat

\mscdex.exe /d:mscd01

Now reboot with this disk and a CD in your CD-ROM drive - watch the messages as the CD-ROM driver loads and see if it gets detected. then try and do a dir of it - like so:

dir d:\

if D: is the letter.

If you can't get to the CD-ROM under DOS either your have a cabling problem (installed any new cards recently?) or the drive is dying/dead. You can get the idecd.sys file from http://members.home.net/iqueue/idecd.sys

Paul Doherty


Rating : 5


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QAId : 504892
Asker : Anonymous
Subject : whatever you say
Private : No

Question : For several weeks whenever I turn on my computer
it automatically connects to the Internet. Some-
times I can cancel the attempt and sometimes I
can't. More often than not and attempt to cancel results in the computer freezing and I end up having to turn it off and start over. After I finally get it off the Internet I don't have any problems just working out of Windows. However, a later attempt to connect to the Internet is almost always unsuccessful, and freezes the computer again. So I have to turn it off without shutting down and let it connect automatically when turned on again (which is what it wants to do anyway!). How can I fix this?

Answer : You might want to disable the auto-dial fuction. Open the Internet control panel (Start/Settings/Contrl Panel)m open the Connections tab and check the box for "Never dial a connection". Then when you *do* want to connect you can launch the connection icon from the My Computer/Dial-up Networking folder. (better yet is what I used to do - right-drag the connection icon from there to the desktop and select Make Shortcut Here, then right-click that new shortcut and select Properties and assign a keyboard shortcut of CTRL-ALT-I so you can launch the Internet connection with this keypress from any app without having to go to the desktop.

Paul Doherty

FUQuestion : Thanks for your quick answer. However, I could not find any option called "Never dial a connection."
I went through the Internet folder and went through the Connection Wizard several times, also looked in anything I thought might have related options. I never could find it. Can you suggest another option?
In the course of looking, I managed to uninstall something called "Connections Manager" from the
Install/Uninstall folder. Do I need to get this back, and how? I went ahead and tried to create a shortcut as you suggested, and think I did, but how do you actually launch once you've created the shortcut?
Yes, I am a real computer dummy! Thanks so much for your help.=)

Answer : That's the way it appears in Windows 98 - you may be in 95 (you didn't specify). try looking in ALL the dialogs in the Modem control panel and see if the auto connect settings are in there.

The method of invoking the shortcut to login to your ISP once made is above - read it again and follow the directions. The relevant section reads:

"then right-click that new shortcut and select Properties and assign a keyboard shortcut of CTRL-ALT-I so you can launch the Internet connection with this keypress"

Paul Doherty
Rating : 2


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QAId : 522554
Asker : abohadi
Subject : MCSE preparation tests details
Private : No

Question : Dear IT professional,

I started already my first step to take MCSE test. what test preparation software companies offer free demos of the exam or in reasonable prices.

MCSE stands for Microsoft Certified System engineer.

Regards

Answer : Here's one:

http://certify.com/default.htm

Paul Doherty

Answer : Don't forget to rate the answers you receive on AskMe.com

Paul Doherty, CNA, CNE, MCP+I, MCSE, B.A.
http://members.home.net/iqueue
Rating : 1


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QAId : 535104
Asker : spize
Subject : irq steering
Private : No

Question : How do you get windows to allow you to change the irq in windows as 4 devices are using irq 11 they are irq to pci steering, voodoo3, mirodv300. also how do you disable acpi power management.

thanks

Answer : Disabling power management is a two-step operation. First do it in the Windows "Power Management" control panel. Then enter your BIOS and disable it in there as well (usually DEL at boot enters the BIOS menu).

The IRQs used by PCI devices can go two ways:

1) The BIOS does it and Windows accepts what the BIOS gives it.

2) Windows handles it and can change devices around during boot.

#1 is preferable since all will be settled before *any* OS loads (DOS, BeOS, OS/2, Linux, Windows).

If you have more than one device living on an IRQ and don't like it (it's usually not a problem - most devices can successfully share an IRQ without trouble) you will have to relocate one of them to another slot. Each PCI slot can use a small subset range of the systems' total IRQs and some of these are shared between PCI slots. move one of the devices that is sharing to a new slot and see if it doesn't obtain a new one. A good thing to do before doing this is to disable (from the BIOS) the parallel port, USB's usage of an IRQ, or any serial ports that you are not using. This will ensure you have at least one free IRQ for the device to move to...

Paul Doherty

Answer : Don't forget to rate the answers you receive on AskMe.com


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QAId : 543888
Asker : Anonymous
Subject : sore eyes?
Private : No

Question : I want to get into the field of computers, more than likely something to do with web design, my first question is what is a good career move to do with the web that will pay off now and way down the road, retiring young?

second question is i can only look at the my screen for a few hours then my eyes start to water continuously, i get head aches sometimes,its unbearable that I have to turn it off or walk away for an hour or so, please help!!!!


thank you for any help! jay

Answer : Have you had your eyes checked by an opthalmologist?

The best advice I can give you is, if you get uncomfortable with the computer screen - get away from it! You don't want to go blind now, do you?

Think about upgrading your monitor - you may a cluncker that is making it worse (or worse yet - may be entirely responsible - without it you may have no trouble at all). I currently have a nice Hitachi SuperScan Elite 751 19" model on one of my systems that I can heartily recommend as an excellent monitor with good refresh rate support (100Hz at 1024x768 - which is where I'm at now - always run at the fastest refresh rate you monitor and card can do - reduces strain on your eyes). This monitor can be had for 454.00 or so.

Paul Doherty

Answer : Oops - forgot to answer question #1

I would suggest you focus on the ASP/JavaScript end of web design as it is at the heart of the database interactions that make ebusinesses work. As far retiring young you'd best IPO soon... ;-)

Paul Doherty
Rating : 4


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QAId : 546205
Asker : gary.eve54642
Subject : Novell Webserver
Private : No

Question : Hi Paul,

I have 2 questions for you.
i)I have recently setup my first Novell Server running Intranetware 4.11. This all works fine, though now I want to setup up the rest of my Pc's on the Network to access the Internet via this server. How do I do this?

ii)Probably a very easy question.When I go into NWAdmin, I get a question mark next to 'Create 95 Application'. If I log onto another PC NAL does not load automatically, but if I load it through NalDesk in the Novell Directory it works fine. Why is there a question mark (I presume it is a snapin of some sort)? and how do I get NAL to load automatically?

I would be more than gratefull if you could help me with these problems!!

Thanx
Gaz

Answer : You will want to install Novell's NAT (Network Address Translation) most likely.

You can get it from:

http://support.novell.com/cgi-bin/search/download?/pub/updates/ic/ics/nat09.exe&sr

How to install/configure:

http://support.novell.com/cgi-bin/search/search.pl?database_name=kb&type=HTML&docid=%03%81%01F125649%3a955116834%3a%20%28%20nat%20netware%204%2e11%20%29%20%20AND%20%28%20productClass%20%3d%20%28%22NetWare%22%20%22Novell%20Directory%20Services%22%29%20%29%20%20AND%20%28%20docGroup%20%3d%20%280%29%20%29%20%20%07%01%00&byte_count=12805

As far as question #2 goes here is what I dug up since I've not encountered this situation (don't use NAL):

http://support.novell.com/cgi-bin/search/search.pl?search_term=question+mark+windows+95+NAL&field.docGroup=0&field.productClass="NetWare"+"Novell+Directory+Services"

Paul Doherty

Answer : Don't forget to rate the answers you receive on AskMe.com


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QAId : 553220
Asker : joeale
Subject : windows 98
Private : No

Question : how do i copy windows 98 cab files to my hardive

Answer : Put the CD in (access it - either through DOS or Windows) and copy the CD's \WIN98 directory to your C:\ drive.

In DOS:

xcopy d:\win98\*.* c:\win98\*.* /e

That's it.

Paul Doherty
Rating : 1.5
Rating : 1.5


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QAId : 553239
Asker : kevinjk
Subject : linux on 800 mb harddrive
Private : Yes

Question : I want to know how to get linux on a secondary harddrive that is 800 mb big. It is an option for me to download linux and burn it on a cd. I know close to nothing about linux, so I will need a discription of the whole process. Thank you.

kevin

Need More Information : Are you asking how to download a distro to burn, or how to install to an 800MB disk after downloading and burning?

Paul Doherty

FUQuestion : Well, both. I just want the easiest way to install linux. If some other way is easier, tell me that way. I would like you to suggest a FREE distro that I can get. Is there more than one installer thing I may have to put on the disk if I choose that option? The easiest way is what I want. I will also need to know how to get everything off the 2nd harddrive which is the 800 mb one. It has windows 3.1 on it which I can certainly get rid of. Ok?


kevin

Answer : The easiest way to rid yourself of the data on the second drive is to fdisk it.

A FREE distribution can be had for almost all major versions of Linux at:


ftp.linuxberg.com

under /pub/ISO or /ISO

These are CD images and will require a burner to produce a working disk. The same singel-CD distros can be had at http://www.cheapbytes.com for a few dollars (literally 2 or 3 dollars).

Paul Doherty

FUQuestion : I'm getting Corel Linux, but it says it will take about 48 hours. I'll keep plugging away on it when I am connected.

I'll need to know how to use fdisk, but I have a thing that may work. The 800 mb is a secondary drive, so can I boot to the primary one and format it in "my computer" from there? I don't know. Whatever you say. I want to know how to use fdisk.

Do I just download the iso file and burn it, or do I have to do some extracting thing?

kevin

Answer : You'll just burn straight from the ISO file.

fdisk is for partitioning disks and will not run under Windows. You will need to stop a boot by pressing F8 and selecting Safe Mode Command Prompt Only. Then run fdisk and *be sure you only nuke the second 800MB disk* if that is your intention. Once you have fdisk'd the drive then reboot and you can format that disk (do a dir of the drive letter first to ensure you are formatting the right onw - it *should* fail - as in DIR D:). However you may not want to format it if you want Linux to use it - it's better off as free space so in that case in fdisk you may want to remove the existing partition from the 800MB and *not* create another one.

Just burn the CD, put it in your CD-ROM drive and reboot onto the CD (if your PC supports this).

Paul Doherty


Rating : 5


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QAId : 556684
Asker : reeftank
Subject : vcache
Private : No

Question : I have AMD K-6/2 500, 224mb PC-100 Ram, 13.5 gig IBM 7200 Ultra 66, STB Lightspeed 3300 16mb video card. What can you tell me about vcache and how the line should read. I have heard anywhere from MaxFileCache=56000 to 524288 and the MinFileCache @ half of each. Please help, I love to tweak. Tweak me to death my friend. Thanks John

Answer : I tend to like Windows to remain in homestasis, so to speak, so I tend to set both swap space and cache sizes to the same minimum and maximum.

Your numbers are way off unless you have gigs of RAM - the max number above of 524288 indicates a maximum disk cache size of 524MB! :-)

A good value for both these is 16384 (16MB) or 32768 (32MB) as in:

[vcache]
MinFileCache=32768
MaxFileCache=32768

On swap size - same thing

Min - 128MB
Max - 128MB

This has a couple of advantages over letting Windows handle it:

1) Less disk thrashing as Windows resizes the swap file *and* uses it

2) Once defragmented the swap file never changes in size, thus it never becomes fragmented and you maintain maximum speed (the best way to setup the swap file is to first set both min and max to 0, then reboot, then defrag, then set to 128/128 - that way the swap is nicely contiguous on the disk).

Paul Doherty

FUQuestion : Thanks. Why do I read the swap file should be 2.5X the size of your Ram which in my case is 224mb ram = 560mb swap file. Also I have a second hard drive that is an IBM bigfoot 5400, any advantage to placeing the swap there, also any advantage to disabeling FIFO.
Thanks again, John

Answer : The old 2.5x RAM thing is old news - used mostly in the Win 3.1 days - it doesn't really apply these days. Stick with a RAM disk equal to your physical RAM up to a max of 128MB. Anything more is just wasting space.

Putting the swap on a different disk (espcecially if it's on another IDE channel) is a very good idea for performance.

FIFO (First In, First Out) just refers to how the cache (not sure which you're referring to here) operates, not whether there is one or not. In this case it may also be a toggle - where is this setting?

Paul Doherty

FUQuestion : There is a program called WinBoost 2000 taht allows you to make all kinds of changes FIFO and alot more check it out.Thanks for the help!! John

Answer : You're welcome... don't forget to rate the answer - it's quite important.

Paul Doherty
Rating : 5


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QAId : 558208
Asker : cyricist60499
Subject : Programming vs. Networking
Private : No

Question : I'm a freshman in College. My major is Computer Science with a minor in Telecommunications.
My question is: Which is better? easier? more ludcrative? and more fun? Programming or Networking?

Answer : I tend towards comp sci as it involves programmable devices. Telecommunications is fun and a necessary part of the whole computing experience but in all most telecom devices (for networking, anyway) are pretty much plug and play - very little is ever done to them. Pretty boring if you ask me. It's likely an excellent layout you have with a minor in it - if you decide you like it better later you can concentrate more on it then.

They both make good money although I fear programming jobs are in major jeopardy due the *two doublings* of the H1B Visa quotas by Congress. They are allowing over 200,000 high-tech immigrants into the USA specifically to do jobs like programming. They are beholden to the sponsoring company and end up working for less than a US worker would accept. Since programming jobs don't require a lot in communications with other people programming jobs are especially a threat to US jobs from these type of immigrants. My own opinion but this cap-raising for H1B's is a push by big business to artificially hold down IT salaries instead of letting the natural market forces regulate them - IOW people who were in IT before the boom are not seeing as much of the benefits as they should due to this kind of artificial labor pool manipulation. The natural response would be - salaries go up - people already in the industry benefit - others see the jobs and salaries and switch/choose the field - salaries slow down due to influx of new candidates.

Paul Doherty

Paul Doherty
Rating : 4
Rating : 4


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QAId : 578541
Asker : JF
Subject : NDS
Private : No

Question : I'm running a large Novell network. Mainly 4.11, DS 609.
I'm having a partion problem.
Dstrace is showing...
Purger: end backlik obit for[]<server> failed, err = -634.

What might this be?
How might I fix this?

Answer : I have never seen this error or one like it.

Novell's support database indicates this error is a tree-walking error where there is no server holding a replica for the object found. Here is a link to a listing of the NDS errors - just do a find on "634":

http://www.novell.com/documentation/lg/nwec/nwec_enu/nwec_nds_error_codes.html

Paul Doherty
Rating : 5


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QAId : 581149
Asker : robin72009
Subject : Computer network engineering
Private : No

Question : Dear Mr.Doherty,

I would like become a computer network engineer. I would like a complete list of the materials I will need to learn networking and to prepare for the certification tests at home. The only program I am aware of is mcse. Is this the most practical? Is it too limiting? I would greatly appreciate any help you could provide me.

Thank You,
Robin

Answer : There are lots of certifications for various IT jobs. The main ones for System Administrators is the MCSE (Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer) from Microsoft and the CNE (Certified Novell Engineer) from Novell. Both of these require several (6 or 7) exams with appropriate preparation. You can do this with a combination of any or all of the following:

1) Novell or MS-approved courses at training centers - both Novell and MS have info on their education and certification pages pertaining to these providers. These classes have the advantage or being fairly quick (usually a week long, 8 hours a day) but that can also be a disadvantage as you have to learn fast. Another advantage is you will get hands-on with servers during this time without the need for the purchase of extra hardware and software for your home.

2) Self-study with books or video tapes. This can take a lot longer than the courses but is a lot cheaper.

3) #1 or #2 can be supplemented with practice exams that simulate the style and amount of the questions on the real exams.

Here is a goos site for info and test prep software for both the MCSE and CNE:

http://www.certify.com/

Paul Doherty

Answer : Whoops - mean to mention that also associated with #2 is the need for you to have access to, or build at home, a full network environment. Preferably with a server and at least two workstations so you can practice in a real-world installation.


Paul Doherty
Rating : 5


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QAId : 604549
Asker : CrystalMeth0d69
Subject : how can i learn more about S&E
Private : No

Question : I want to learn everything there is to know about computers but where do I start at?

Answer : Tear yours apart, both hardware and software-wise - assuming you can deal with it if you cause some problems. Then start answering *other* people's questions (like on here :-) and watch as your knowledge base expands even more.

The phrase is so true... "The best way to learn something is to teach it to someone else"

Paul Doherty
Rating : 4


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QAId : 607781
Asker : vhl1
Subject : software problem
Private : Yes

Question : Hi,

WHile I was surfing the Net using Nescape I got an alert message containg this:

"this program has performed an illegal opearation and will be shut down - <Close button>

If the problem persist, contact the progam vendor
<details> button"
then the Nescape shut down

click the <Details> I got a message:

"NETSCAPE caused an invalid page fault in
module KERNEL32.DLL at 0177:bff87eb5.
Registers:
EAX=c002f8d4 CS=0177 EIP=bff87eb5 EFLGS=00010212
EBX=02edfb1c SS=017f ESP=02ddff98 EBP=02de0004
ECX=00000000 DS=017f ESI=815e7dec FS=3bb7
EDX=815e7df4 ES=017f EDI=01f4e740 GS=0000
Bytes at CS:EIP:
53 56 57 8b 30 83 7d 10 01 8b 4e 38 89 4d f8 75
Stack dump:"

I fact, I could not close this message unless I restarted the computer.

What could I do to overcome this problem?

Thanks for your instruction

Answer : This error generally appears when you have file corruption of some kind (either of the program you are runnings' support files, or the kernel32.dll file itself). Since your error seems confined to Netscape I'd suggest the former is at work. Uninstall Netscape (backup your bookmark.htm and newsrc files if you want to save them) and then reinstall the latest verstion (4.72) from the Netscape web site - http://www.netscape.com


Here's a link with some info on Internet Explorer crashing with a similar message:

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q155/1/16.asp?LNG=ENG&SA=ALLKB&FR=0


If this doesn't rid you of the problem you may want to extract the original KERNEL32.DLL file from the Windows CAB files. If you need help with this write me another question and tell me what version of Windows you are running and whether you have the CD available.

Paul Doherty

FUQuestion : Thanks fo rthe answer

Yes , I would liek to learn a little more. my computer is running Win98, an dI have the disk, please teach me how to extract the original kernell.dll.

regards

Van

Answer : OK assuming that your CD-ROM drive is letter D: here is how to do it...

Open a DOS prompt and type the following:

md c:\stuff
c:
cd \stuff
extract /e d:\win98\win98_33.cab kernel32.dll

Ok Now go to Start/Shutdown/Restart in MS-DOS mode and when you get to DOS perform the following:

c:
cd \windows\system
ren kernel32.dll kernel32.bak
move \stuff\kernel32.dll .

Ok - now just press CTR-ALT-DEL to reboot and the file is not replaced (and the one that was in place is now backed-up as \windows\system\kernel32.bak in case you need to put it back).

I hope that straightens things out for you... don't forget to rate your answers on AskMe.com - a lot of us that answer questions like to know whether we've helped or not.

Paul Doherty

FUQuestion : Thanks Paul,

your instruction was clear but I got trouble restarting my pc after extracting kernel32.dll from the disk. the auto-restart function did not work so I had to restart the pc manually and got to the window instead of MS-dos mode. I kept following your instruction anyway by going back to the MS dos mode and type the command.

I pushed <enter key> after typing 'ren....'.the message appreared was 'duplicate file or file in use'.

after typing 'move...' the message I got was 'required parameter missing'

I thought I made a mistake somewhere

Could you tell me?

Thank

Van

Answer : You'll get the duplicate file name message if the file already exists by that name - IOW you already have a file named "kernel32.bak" there. Delete it first then rename kernel32.dll as kernel32.bak.

Also on the move command notice after the "move \stuff\kernel32.dll" there is a space followed by a "."

Paul Doherty
Rating : 5


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QAId : 615319
Asker : reeftank
Subject : over clocking
Private : No

Question : Can you tell me how to overclock my AMD K6/2 500 on a Gigabyte GA-5AA motherboard

Answer : I'm guessing that CPU by default uses a 100Mhz FSB (Front-Side Bus) speed to derive it's clock signal. So to overclock this chip you will need to go above 100Mhz. Doing so will increase not only the CPU speed but also your RAM and your AGP slot.

To set to speeds above 100Mhz set the jumpers as follows:

O = ON (jumper is on the pins)
X = OFF
1-2 = pins 1&2 jumpered
2-3 = pins 2&3 jumpered

JP2_____JP1_____JP14_____JP16
1-2_____1-2_____1-2_____X_____105Mhz
1-2_____1-2_____1-2_____O_____110Mhz
1-2_____2-3_____1-2_____X_____115Mhz
1-2_____2-3_____1-2_____O_____120Mhz
2-3_____1-2_____1-2_____X_____125Mhz
2-3_____1-2_____1-2_____O_____130Mhz

I don't recommend you trying speeds above 130 as you will probably start cooking your RAM and AGP video card (if you have one).

You will see speeds that are 4.5 X the Mhz rating shown above - so for instance at 115 Mhz you will be running the CPU at 517.5 Mhz

Have fun,
Paul Doherty


Rating : 5


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QAId : 624824
Asker : Anonymous
Subject : x/Open System Verification Suite
Private : No

Question : Looking for a site/location where I can read results from the test suite mentioned above: X/Open System Verification Suite(vsx4). It basically tests for performance of system calls and libraries for Unix 95/98. Also wanted to know if there are people out there who could share their experience with me in running this product?

Answer : I think this might be the site you need:

http://www.opengroup.org/public/test/testsuites/vsw5.htm

Paul Doherty
Rating : 2


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QAId : 624984
Asker : reeftank
Subject : over clock
Private : No

Question : HI Paul, OK I have this thing set from 2.2v to 2.4v, 4.5 multiplyer, 120mh FSB, AMD K6/2 from 500 to 550. What do you think, will I burn up. Thanks, John

Answer : Definitely a burn-up on re-entry kind of situation... hehe

No, I think if you can run for 24-48 hours of normal use without any lockups or strange anomalies you'll be OK.

Have fun with your free speed increase!
Paul Doherty


Rating : 5


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QAId : 629324
Asker : Ashriel
Subject : Supercomputers
Private : No

Question : Hi,
I am supposed to be writing an essay on Supercomputers. However, I don't know a thing about them and most of the resources on the net provide little or no basic information on supercomputers.
Just a few of the things I would like to know are - what exactly is a supercomputer? Is there a formal definition for supercomputers? Very basically, how do they work? How is that different from regular PCs? What does the term 'parallel processing' mean and what does it have to do with s.comps? What are s.comps used for? What are their capabilities? What basic hardware and software is normally used in a s.comp system?
I have a thousand other questions, but I would probably overwhelm you if I asked them all :) I probably just want to know the basics so that I can understand and do my own research from there.
Hope to hear from you soon.

Answer : There is no real definition of a "supercomputer" other than it is among the most powerful available at a given time. The configuration can change too. While Crays and their ilk used to be the only supercomputers, employing esoteric techniques such as highly parallel systems and liquid cooling these days some of the fastest supercomputers are built... out of PCs! It's been found that many PCs (sometimes 100-300 of them) connected by high-speed networking gear can perform as fast as many traditional supercomputers. Most of the ones I have seen used Linux and Beowulf (clustering software) to create these clusters of PCs. Each PC performs part of the work required so everybody goes home early. The downside to these clusters is the hugely magnified points of failure - you have multiplied the number of system components that can faily by the number of machines in the cluster so reliability becomes an issue.

Supercomputers work like any other computer, usually just faster. You're basically talking about degrees of speed or application of esoteric techniques (and cost) when discussing supercomputers.

Parallel processing is the ability to have more than one CPU at work on a given problem simultaneously. In a standard CPU on a PC there is a level of parallelism in that the CPU itself (these days) can operate on multiple instructions at once with parallel execution units. Even a few years ago this wasn't feasible without multiple actual CPUs. Now you can multiply the effect by using SMP (Symmetric MultiProcessing - fancy term for parallel processing with more than one CPU).

Supercomputers can generally perform in the GigaFLOPS range (billions of floating point operations per second) and are benchmarked with software that will tax their highly parallel architectures. Here is the list of the top 500 fastest supercomputers in the world:

http://www.netlib.org/benchmark/top500.html

Paul Doherty
Rating : 5
End :


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QAId : 642600
Asker : soulchi
Subject : Internet connection sharing
Private : No

Question : I am trying to configure a network in which I share an DSL internet connection throughout the network. I have one NT 4.0 Server and several NT 4.0 Workstations how will I be able to share a DSL internet connection?

Answer : You're in luck with a dedicated server onboard. Install two NICs into the NT Server - one goes to the DSL modem and the other goes to the same hub or switch that the workstations plug into... then verify from the server that you can ping the default gateway at the ISP *and* can ping internal workstations (also set the default gateway on the ISP NIC to be the default gateway at the ISP (and set that NICs IP to be the one given to you by the ISP), and the default gateway of the internal NIC to be blank). Remember to use non-routable addresses (10.x.x.x works well here with a 255.0.0.0 subnet mask) on the workstations and the internal NIC on the server. Once this is all done go to http://www.sybergen.com from the server and download and install Sygate - a NAT (Network Address Translation) implementation. This will afford you transparent access to the net for all machines and act as a natural firewall to some degree since no internal machine (besides the server) is directly addressable from the outside and the NAT will drop incoming requests to initiate connections.

Paul Doherty
Rating : 1


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QAId : 649756
Asker : awake_atnight@...
Subject : Iexplore never ending error
Private : No

Question : Every now and then (6-7 times a day)
internet explorer dies on me. Fatal error and program will be closed. After the inital error msg. I get a new one saying there was an "internal error" and that the program will be closed.

And then the error msg. never goes away. "Fatal error" keeps returning no matter how many times I try to click OK.

The msg. is that iexplore has created a fatal error on browse.dll or kernel.dll.


Anyone got a suggestion on how to fix this?


Chris

Answer : Have you tried hitting the Windows Update on the first screen of you Start menu to see if there are any IE updates?

Paul Doherty
Rating : 1

FUQuestion : yes! having a 2MBit connection kinda makes that option easy :)


Chris

Answer : Indeed it does...

Make sure all drivers are up to date (video, audio and NIC).

Browse.dll is not even a file on my Windows 98 install - where did yours come from? Perhaps this is an internet utility you've installed that is now interfering with your normal operation? Try renaming the browse.dll to browse.bak, rebooting and then seeing if the errors persist.

Paul Doherty

Answer : Please what? There is no such file in a Windows 98 install. Unless you typo'd (or for some reason abbreviated)

The only ones close to your stated "browse.dll" are:

browseui.dll
browselc.dll

You won't get many answers from experts on this site with an attitude. Even an unhelpful answer is worth more than you paid for it.

FUQuestion : Excuse me? What attitude?

The file I was refering to was browseui.dll.

Chris

Answer : If you'll read your original question you stated "browse.dll" - if you meant something else I'm sorry, I can't read your mind.

The attitude I was referring to was the "1" rating with a "Please!" comment as if my answer was so far off-base you felt compelled to comment.

With this new information (browseui.dll) I have found a fe relevant things you may want to try:

This one shows how to initiate the IE 5 repair tool:

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q194/1/77.ASP?LN=EN-US&SD=gn&FR=0

If you use a Diamond video card here's another reference that may help:

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q225/0/40.ASP?LN=EN-US&SD=gn&FR=0

Paul Doherty

FUQuestion : Thx. for the info, didnt help me but thx. anyway .

As far as the comment is concerned I am new to this system and was about to type "Please! I am not that helpless etc..." and then clicked on one of the rating stars.

You are one of the first experts I have tried in on this site and if my failure to oblige as a "commoner" didnt suit you, well sorry thats the way I am.


Chris
Declined (Reason) : No question asked


----------------------------------------------------------------------
QAId : 656805
Asker : reeftank
Subject : overclock
Private : No

Question : Hi Paul, still screwing around with this damn thing. I had to reload windows because it got so messed up win would not load, blue screen of death. Working good ok now @ 523/115 but not tried flight sim yet. I am not sure what to think. Oh well. Thanks, John

Answer : Welcome to the wonderful, wacky world of overclocking madness. It's not all fun and games as some people suggest. :-)

Paul Doherty
Rating : 4.6
Rating : 4.6


----------------------------------------------------------------------
QAId : 677539
Asker : Stikka
Subject : FireWire
Private : No

Question : What is a FireWire?
What does it do, and what is it connected to?

Plz tell me all about it, and what it is related to.

In front of your answer: Thank's!

Answer : It's a high-speed serial bus also known as IEEE 1394. It's generally used to connect digital video devices (cameras, video capture devices) to the computer. It moves data at a maximum speed of 400mbps (megabits per second). This is 40 times faster than standard 10BaseT Ethernet LAN network technology. Below are some sites with more information:

http://developer.apple.com/hardware/FireWire/
http://pavo.com/ieee1394/faq/1394faq.htm

Paul Doherty
Rating : 4


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QAId : 688610
Asker : ishehome46632
Subject : certifications
Private : No

Question : I was on microsoft's website today reviewing the retirement schedule for their exams. All the NT4.0 exams that are scheduled to be retired on 12/31/00 must be replaced by 12/31/01. Does this mean that all my current NT 4.0 certs are valid untill 12/31/01, or do my certs retire with the exams.

Thank's

Jason Matthews

Answer : It is my understanding that the current MCSEs (myself included) will expire if you do not take the needed exams at the end of 2001.

Paul Doherty
Rating : 4.6
Rating : 4.6


----------------------------------------------------------------------
QAId : 717812
Asker : vhl1
Subject : win 98
Private : Yes

Question : HI, Paul

I am Van again

while waiting for your answer to my question posted 2 days ago I report another problem I encoutered recently. since I sent the last answer ( about 2 day ago) My PC often gets an error message ( ussually with the MS explorer) ST like : ... illegal operation, and then asked to shut down the browser. the Desktop is also unstable and needs to be restored afterward.

What's wrong with it.

LAst time, when such thing happened I did delete the kernell32.dll then rename *.bak *.dll ( My theory is delete a corupted fiel and use the new one instead is it right or just leave *.bak and it will work by itself.

Actually, If such thing happens more often , I am about to reinstall win98 but frankly I don't know how to do it and even not know whether there will be a better option.

Thanks for your instruction

cheers

Van

Answer : Man your system has some problems... Try visiting the Windows update icon on your Start menu's first screen. This would be the last-ditch effort - if it still is doing all these unwanted behaviors it's time to reinstall.

Paul Doherty
Rating : 4
End :


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QAId : 719424
Asker : reeftank
Subject : cpu temp
Private : Yes

Question : Hi Paul,
I have the same cpu running @ 550/120, 2.5v and very stable. My question is where in my AMI Bios do I find my cpu temp. etc.
Thanks, John

Answer : Not every motherboard is equipped with temperature sensors, but if yours is here are some Windows utilities that can read the sensor for you right from the desktop so there's no need to have to reboot into your BIOS screens:

http://winfiles.cnet.com/apps/98/system-analyze.html

Paul Doherty
Rating : 5

FUQuestion : I also bid on a AMD K/6 3 450, and a NVIDIA Riva TNT 2 23mb Video card. Tell me what you think. Thanks, JOHN

Answer : TNT 2 (Ultra especially) is an excellent card - second only to the GeForce-based cards IMO.

Personally I stay away from AMD for compatibility reasons (their chipsets are lacking) so I would say do not continue bidding on that system. Buy a Celeron-based system - you'll get better performance from it's on-die full-speed cache and you can overclock them a lot.

See the URL below for a *guaranteed* overclocking Celeron to 550Mhz *with cooling system* - both warranted to run at 550Mhz for life for $156.00 bucks (today's price).

http://www.step-thermodynamics.com/InternetSpecials.htm

Paul Doherty

FUQuestion : You are right but until I can afford to build a " New " system, the AMD K6 3 is the fastest socket 7 chip out there I think

Answer : OK then... good luck with it my friend.

Paul Doherty


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QAId : 738543
Asker : dvallier72351
Subject : Hosting Web Sites
Private : Yes

Question : Hello, I would like to know if it is possible to host web sites using Windows 2000 Advanced Server, I currently have a continous internet connection with Knology, (512kbps), with a static IP address, one extra PC, and one extra IP address, if so how, or is this too complicated to be discussed over the internet?

Thanks

Dave Vallier

dvallier@knology.net

Answer : You certainly can - you're all set with the equipment you have now - IIS (or at least Personal Web Server) ship with both the workstation and server forms of NT (and I think with 2K). Get that installed and you're ready to go - just pop your index.html into the root of your web dir. If you need for people to find you from the net (without having prior knowledge of it's existence) you may need to register a DNS domain name (like dvallier.com).

Paul Doherty

FUQuestion : Ok, so when network solutions asks for DNS server info what do I put for an answer? Do i put my ip addresses or do I have to use knology's, they refuse to assist me in this.

Answer : Who are "knology" and "network solutions"? I'll assume they are one and the same and are your ISP.

If they ask *you* for DNS info they are probably expecting you have already registered a domain name - and they want that comain name and the IP address of the machine that will answer to that name.

Here's one site that offers to setup domain names for you...

http://www.optisoft.com/

Paul Doherty
Rating : 1


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QAId : 763197
Asker : russp@...
Subject : Moore's Law
Private : No

Question : Moore's Law slows to doubling every two years. How long does it take for complexity to increase by the square root of 2?

Need More Information : What are you asking? Moore's Law as I understand it states *computing power*, not complexity, doubles every 18 months. So are you saying that Moore's Law is being show wrong and that computing power is doubling now at a 24-month cycle? That's a statement (not verified by me - what is your source) - not a question, so what is your question? If it is how fast the complexity of computing circuitry increases I do not have that information.

Paul Doherty

FUQuestion : If, Moore's Law slowed to a doubling every 2
years, how long would it take for comlexity to increase by the square root of 2?

Answer : I don't believe you can answer the question with that statement. The doubling of computing power (Moore's Law) is not necessarily linearly-related to the increased complexity that goes along with it...

Paul Doherty
Rating : 1

Answer : Doh, I should know better - I deserved a lame rating on this one as I went back after this discussion and refreshed my understanding of Moore's Law and the question is correct as stated - Moore's Law *does* deal with complexity of circuitry, rather than computing power as I stated. So this is a legitimate question, and as I stated in my original answer's last statement I don't have that information.

Sorry for the lame answer...

Paul Doherty


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QAId : 810569
Asker : Anonymous
Subject : installation of certain s/w winnt4.0 macs
Private : No

Question : While installation of certain s/w like antivirus updates which write to the system files we need to login as an administrator on winnt 4.0 system.

But for a huge network of 2000 users we can not keep going to every pc for installation of updates & other softwares.

Do we have some practical solutions so that we can allow user to install s/w without administrative login.

Answer : Have you looked into SMS? It has the ability to add software in an automated fashion.

http://www.microsoft.com/smsmgmt/default.asp

Paul Doherty


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QAId : 827797
Asker : Anonymous
Subject : Starting Computer, something is wrong
Private : Yes

Question : I have Windows 98 2nd edition, windows 98 came on my computer installed, it is a Compaq 5304, purchased new in September '99 from Circuit City. It is a Lucient Win Modem, Internet Explorer 5 browser, 60.OMB RAM, Cyrixinstead, Cryix M ll(tm), System Resources 83% free, file system 32-bit, virtual memory 32-bit, disk compression - not installed, PC Cards - no p[c card sockets installed--------------NOW - Yesterday when I cut computer off and cut it back on, for some reason it reloaded in safe mode. I finally managed getting out of that, but still when I turn computer back on it starts, that I have to choose the way for it to start up, normal, safe mode, etc. - not automatic the way it always had. Also, the color seems to be off at times, I went back in and changed back to 256 and that seems to have helped that mostly. I tried running my Compaq Diagnostic tool, but it came up with an illegal operation pop up window "cpqdiag illegal operation - CPQDIAG caused general protection fault in module CQ_ID.DLL at 009:00000ad7. Registers and I didn't write the rest of it down. Everytime I tried to run this, it came up with a different error popup window, always the illegal one. So far I'm still able to log on to the internet and check email, all that seems to be okay. I just haven't been able to figure it out. Hope one of you can help me!!!! Thanks

Answer : You can get rid of the boot menu by editing the hidden file C:\MSDOS.SYS.

To get at this file do the following:

1) Boot system and at beginning (right after self-test) start holding the CTRL key - when the menu appears choose "Safe modem command prompt only".

2) Issue the following commands:

attrib -r -h -s c:\msdos.sys
edit c:\msdos.sys

Now add/change the items below to be as the following:

(these are under the [Options] section)

BootFailSafe=0
BootMenu=0

If BootFailSafe is set to 1 that makes the system come up in Safe mode always.

If BootMenu is set to 1 it makes the boot menu appear even if you didn't hit F8 or hold CTRL during the boot.

Paul Doherty

Rating : 5

FUQuestion : Paul,
I had been trying to get some other things worked out with my computer. As it turned out had to install a new driver for the printer, too. Now back to the boot problem. As the computer screen comes on the menu is there; To open in normal, Safe Mode etc. and to choose one of them to open.
If I open in the one you say to "Safe Modem Command Only", then when I type the command on you recommended, Does the next thing "Options section" come up automatically? Then do I just change those two options? Please explain step by step as I've never changed anything like this before. I don't want to mess things up to where I can't even get logged on to the internet and my e-mail etc.
Thanks for your help.
Ruth

Answer : Sure thing - the two commands:

attrib -r -h -s c:\msdos.sys
edit c:\msdos.sys

are to get you into editing the file. once you hit enter on the line "edit c:\msdos.sys" you should be seeing a blue-screened editor with the contents of the msdos.sys displayed. Using the up/down arrow keys you can scroll up and down through the text. When you find the line that contains:

[Options]

look below that line (up until the next bracketed section heading) for either of these two lines:

BootFailSafe=0
BootMenu=0

If either exist, change the 0 (zero) to a 1.

Then press ALT-F to bring up the File menu, select Exit and answer YES to saving the changes while exiting.

Then reboot and see if that fixes your problem.

Paul Doherty
http://members.home.net/iqueue

FUQuestion : Paul,
When I typed the - "attrib-r-h-s c:\msdos.sys" and hit enter to type the "edit c:\msdos.sys" ------
First question: On the same line was C:\> or something similar to that and right after that I typed the attrib thing. When I hit enter so as to type the other thing - The message came on: Bad command or file name. Was that suppose to? and then the same C:\> came up underneath that.
So I stopped and got out, I was afraid I was going to screw up.
Earlier, I had opened my Msdos file through notepad and it had this:
;Sys
[Paths}
WinDir=C:\WINDOWS
WinBootDir=C:\WINDOWS
HostWinBootDrv=C

[Options]
BootMulti=1
BootGUI=1
DoubleBuffer=1
AutoScan=1
WinVer=4.10.2222
;
;The following lines are required for compatibility with other programs.
;Do not remove them (MSDOS.SYS needs to be>1024 bytes).
Then it had;xxxxxx (lots of xs with a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h,i,j,k,l,m,n,o,p,q,r,s after each line)
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN TO YOU, AND IS IT STILL THIS THAT HAS THE BOOT MESSED UP SOMEWAY?
Sorry to be such a pest and dummy.
Thanks, I'll be waiting to hear from you before I attempt the boot thing again.
Ruth

Answer : Use Notepad again since you know how to open the file in there and add the lines under [Options]:

BootFailSafe=1
BootMenu=1

It appears however since they did not exist that this was not the problem, but try it anyway.

Paul Doherty

FUQuestion : Paul,
That did no good, no change it seems at all! Now what can the problem be? Something like this just irritates me to no end, when I can't fix it!! Do you have any other suggestions? Didn't I see where this thing is your specialty? Please help!!
Thanks, Ruth

Answer : And why would my not being able to remote control your PC and troubleshoot it essentially by email on this one particular problem call my expertise into question? I'm getting fairly tired of people acting as if it's as easy to trobuleshoot across AskMe.com as it is in person. I'll be glad to do what I can but some problems are not common ro experienced by me, and if they are not, I either have to go through lengthy back-and-forths or discontinue the question. Since you provided me with the additional information so we could rule out the MSDOS.SYS we have moved along to other possibilities.

Another two things you can try:

1) Open a DOS prompt and refresh your Master Boot Record with the following command:

fdisk /mbr

2) Follow the step-by-step instructions on this web page that discusses Windows 98 Startup problems - open the page do a CTRL-F to search for the string "Windows 98 Starts in Safe Mode" (without the quotes of course).

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q188/8/67.ASP?LN=EN-US&SD=SO&FR=0

Paul Doherty
http://members.home.net/iqueue

FUQuestion : Paul,
I didn't mean that to be a sarcastic remark! Listen I'm a dummy when it comes to computers. I just meant that I read that you knew a lot about the Msdos thing, and that if that was the problem (the Msdos thing) you should be able to find or know the solution. I didn't mean for it to be a sarcastic remark. I meant it as a compliment!!!
Anyway, I don't know what you mean about opening the Dos Prompt and refreshing the Master Boot Record with that command. I'll need more step/step information on that. In the meantime, I'll go to the website you gave me and see what I can figure out.
Sorry for the misunderstanding and thanks for the help.

FUQuestion : Paul,
Guess what? I think the website page you gave me, I was able to fix it. I had to go with the Boot B section. When I first logged back on to tell you, just as I began to type the screen went black, and came back on with a fatal error or something to that affect, I had to type ctrl, alt, delete to shut computer off, then it scanned Drive c. I connected back though and then logged back on here and now it all seems to be fine. See, it is your speciality after all!!!!!! Now, doesn't that make you feel good, I hope it does. I won't sign out by ending my questions, until I hear your reply. You are great, I've been fiddling with this thing for about a week now, and it took you to finally get it back in order!! Thank you so much.
Ruth

Answer : I'm glad that fixed it for you - and I'm sorry for the misunderstanding. I guess I've gotten a bit sensitive to that kind of thing being on here.

Paul Doherty
http://members.home.net/iqueue

Need More Information : Since you got in successfully with the "B" config that seems to indicate a problem with your config.sys or autoexec.bat files. Can you paste the files:

C:\CONFIG.SYS
C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT

(load them with notepad and copy/paste their contents into the reply). Your machine is working but I'd like to see what you have in there - maybe we can fix it rather than have it work around t