Ashok Pothana
Your problem is essentially a result of faulty power connectors. The fault develops with Molex connectors over a period of time, usually if they are frequently removed from and attached to devices. We advise you get the power connectors replaced as soon as possible; faulty connectors can lead to hard drive errors and eventually drive failure.
Certification Obsession
Q. I have an NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 graphics card. The drivers supplied with it are not WHQL certified. When I try to install drivers from NVIDIA Forceware versions 77.37, 93.13, and others, I see an error like “No supported drivers found compatible for your GPU.”
Gaurav Warhekar
You can use unsigned drivers as long as you know where they came from
Go ahead and install the drivers that came with your card even if they are not WHQL certified. WHQL certification is not a prerequisite for the thing to work. The driver numbers you mentioned do not support GeForce FX 5200 GPU-based graphics cards. Download the latest NVIDIA drivers for your card from www.nvidia.com if you are experiencing any issues with the older drivers.
The Mother Of All Errors!
Q. When I switch on my computer, I see the following message: “Intel CPU uCode Loading Error”. Please help.
Vinay Tiwari
Your motherboard needs a BIOS upgrade. Visit the Web site of your motherboard manufacturer and download the latest BIOS for your motherboard-and also the utility to flash the BIOS. You might be able to flash your BIOS through Windows, but if it can only be flashed in DOS mode, you will need to boot using a Windows 95/98 bootable CD or disk.
Wired!
Q. My friend and I have computers with Windows XP SP2, and we have the same broadband ISP. Each of us has a static IP address. How can we remotely access each other’s computers?
Manan Pandya
Windows XP has a utility, called Remote Desktop Connection, which lets you access a computer remotely. You can use it to access your friend’s computer and vice-versa in the following way. First, enable Remote Desktop on both the PCs. Open System in the Control Panel and click the Remote tab. Check the box next to Allow users to connect remotely to this computer under the Remote Desktop section, and click OK. That’s it; you can connect to each other’s computers and view each other’s Desktops.
For those who do not have a static IP, there are other ways: register for free at www.LogMeIn.com, and download and install the application on the PC that is to be accessed remotely. The host PC does not require the application to be installed; all you need to do is log on to the site and sign in. You can immediately start accessing the Desktop of the target PC. This works even if either or both of the PCs is / are behind a proxy server.
Time To Upgrade!
Q. I have 3 GHz Pentium IV, a motherboard with SiS Mirage onboard graphics, 512 MB of RAM, and an 80 GB hard drive. I installed two games, Shadowgrounds and Lord of the Rings from your DVD, but when I start them up, the game window launches for a moment and closes automatically. I have Windows XP Pro SP2 and have even installed DirectX 9c.
Sameer Ahmed
The games you’ve mentioned require a DirectX 9c compatible graphics card, and the SiS Mirage graphics solution won’t do. Just installing DirectX 9c does not fulfil the requirements; the hardware needs to be fully compatible to be able to render the graphics in newer games. We suggest you upgrade to a newer graphics card such as the NVIDIA 8500 / 8600 series if price is of concern. If it’s not, you can opt for higher-performance cards such as the NVIDIA 8800 series. You will also need to upgrade your motherboard to be able to support one of these PCIe cards, so make sure your CPU is compatible with the motherboard you might upgrade to.
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A Meaner Tuner
Q. I have an Intel 1.1 GHz Pentium III with 256 MB of RAM and an 80 GB hard drive, along with a Tech-Com TV-Tuner. When I try to capture a TV program, it drops too many frames. Ankit Sarang The system configuration you have is more than enough to view TV using a TV tuner. But it is not enough to record live TV at high quality. You will be able to record in the MPEG-1 format (VCD quality) without dropping a frame, but if you try to record in MPEG-2 format (DVD quality), you will drop a lot of frames (the resultant captured file will be of poor quality). If you want to record in MPEG-2, consider upgrading your hardware to at least a 2 GHz Intel processor or a 2000 processor from AMD. To capture in MPEG-2 with a really good quality, you will require a TV-Tuner card with hardware MPEG capture capability, such as those from Leadtek Winfast. Check out the TV-Tuner comparison test in our April 2007 issue for more details about TV-Tuners.
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Q. What is VoIP, and software for it is available in the market? I have heard that one can call for free through VoIP anywhere in India and abroad. Is that true? I have a broadband connection. I have a 1.5 GHz processor and 256 MB of RAM, and I use Windows XP. Do I have to reconfigure my system for dialling abroad?
Tahir Hussain
VoIP stands for Voice Over Internet Protocol. It is a form of telephony that involves the routing of voice calls over an IP-based network (such as the Internet), thus making cheaper call rates possible. There are no providers offering free calls to India, but a few VoIP providers such as Globe7 at www.globe7.com, VoipBuster at www.voipbuster.com, and Gizmogear at www.gizmoproject.com allow you to call free to certain destinations, but only after you pay for a minimum amount of credit.
The minimum system requirements usually quoted by VoIP providers is a computer running Windows 2000/XP/Vista with a 300 MHz processor, 128 MB RAM, 10 MB free hard drive space, a full-duplex sound card, a headset, and at least a 64 Kbps Internet connection. You should have no problems with your configuration as far as VoIP is concerned. It does not require any special hardware. All you need to do is download the VoIP software client from the above Web sites, buy credit, and start calling.
Run Fun
Q. Each drive on a friend’s Windows XP computer has a unique icon, and a certain program runs when he double-clicks on them in My Computer. I am fascinated! How I can achieve this on my PC?
Yogesh Bhuskute
The icon displayed for each drive in My Computer is due to the presence of an Autorun.inf in the root of the drive. This is exactly the same as in the case of the autorun feature of a CD or DVD. Autorun.inf is an instruction file associated with the Autorun function. A simple autorun.inf file looks like so:
[autorun]
open=autorun.exe
icon=autorun.ico
Here, autorun.exe is the executable file that is launched when the CD is inserted, and autorun.ico is the icon file that gives the CD its icon. In case of a disk partition, this file executes when you double-click the drive icon in My Computer. Sometimes an executable file or a DLL that might contain an icon is also used instead of an icon file.
You can also try a freeware Autorun file editor such as the one from http://autorun.moonvalley.com if you wish to play around with autorun files.
How Do I Tell?
Q. I recently bought a PC with Windows XP Professional SP2 from a local PC assembler. He says the Windows is legal and is pre-activated. Please tell me how I can ascertain as to whether I have a legal and pre-activated copy of Windows.
Mayur Patel
To check whether your Windows XP is already activated, open the Run dialog box, enter oobe/msoobe /a and click OK. If your copy is activated, you will be greeted with a “Thank you” screen; if not, you will be prompted to activate Windows.
To ascertain whether your copy of Windows XP was legally purchased, use Microsoft’s online validation process: try to download any of the Genuine Windows downloads from the Microsoft Download Center. You will be prompted to validate your copy online; simply follow the instructions and you will be able to verify within a couple of minutes whether your copy of Windows is legal. For more information about this, go to www.microsoft.com/resources/howtotell/ to learn about how to tell whether a Microsoft product is legal or pirated.
Back To Square One
Q. My Windows XP computer is in a bad state, and after searching for all possible solutions, I’ve found that reinstalling Windows is the only way out. Please explain the process of reinstalling Windows-many people like me are afraid to try it because of the fear of losing data.
Parag Shah
You are right-sometimes the only solution is to reinstall XP. Actually, this is better than doing a fresh install, which takes longer because of the need to install everything, from the drivers to the software; besides, you need to reset the data settings.
Regarding reinstallation, you can reinstall XP right over the existing setup to repair most problems. Before starting the reinstallation, we advise that you back up important data.
There are two ways to do it. If you are able to boot into Windows, simply pop the XP CD into the drive and select Install > Upgrade [Recommended]. This will install XP over the previous installation and repair most problems. If you have an OEM version, this option will not be available, and you will need to reinstall using the second method, which we will explain shortly. Also, if you have an XP CD with a version lower than that of your existing OS (that is, if you installed service packs), you will get a message stating that a newer version of Windows was found and that you will not be able to run the upgrade. In this case, too, you’ll have to use the second method, but bear in mind that you will lose any service packs you installed.
In the second method, boot using the XP CD. Press [Enter] when at the setup screen and press [F8] when you see the License Agreement screen. You will be presented with the option to either do a fresh (clean) install or to repair the selected Windows XP installation. To run a Repair Install, press [R]. XP will copy the necessary files to your hard drive to begin the installation and will reboot. When prompted to “Press any key to boot from CD”, do not press any key, and let the PC continue booting. You will see the usual Windows XP setup screens. After the installation is done, you will find all your previously installed programs and settings intact. Reinstall all service packs and security updates.
Q. I am not able to play the trailers and movies you give out on your DVDs. Please tell me what video format they’re in and how I can view them.
Hassan
The videos on the Digit DVDs are usually in the DivX video format; some might be in the QuickTime or MP4 formats. To view these videos, you can either install the DivX codecs (for DivX movies) and QuickTime for Windows (for QuickTime movies), or you can install and use VLC Media player, which is given out on every Digit CD (under Essentials )
Go Away!
Q. My Add/Remove Programs window shows a blank space and I am not able to uninstall most of the programs I had previously installed. I am running Windows 2000 Standard Edition.
Rajnish Barot
Locate the file Mshtml.dll and ensure that its permissions are set to Full Control. Open the command prompt and enter the following commands.
regsvr32 /u c:winntsystem32 appwiz.cpl
regsvr32 /u c:winntsystem32 mshtml.dll
regsvr32 /u “c:program filescommon filessystemole dboledb32.dll”
regsvr32 c:winntsystem32appwiz.cpl
regsvr32 c:winntsystem32mshtml.dll
regsvr32 “c:program filescommon filessystemole dboledb32.dll”
If this does not solve the problem, you may need repair your XP installation. We have covered that aspect as well in this section.
De-Moded
Q. I recently bought a DVD-Writer, the Sony DVD-RW DRU-820A. DVD reading is very slow; it reads DVDs at just 0.85x. While creating a DVD image using Nero, the maximum speed it could achieve was 1150 KB/s. What could the problem be?
Bhuvnesh Agrawal
Set the transfer mode to DMA in Device Manager
The drive is most likely running in PIO mode rather than DMA. You can check for this thus: open the Device Manager by running devmgmt.msc. Under IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers, check the properties of all the channels, and in each case, check in the Advanced Tab whether the Transfer Mode is set to DMA or PIO. Set it to DMA if it happens to be PIO. Restart your PC. If that doesn’t set it to DMA mode, delete that particular channel from the Device Manager and restart your computer. This time, the channel should be re-detected, and the DMA mode should be enabled. If this doesn’t work for you, the drive is faulty.
You can use unsigned drivers as long as you know where they came from