Dual Boot Woes

To access boot.ini, you need to boot into Windows XP. Go to Start > Run, type in “%systemdrive%/boot.ini” without the quotes, and press [Enter]. The boot.ini file will open in Notepad. You can now edit it; but be aware that messing up with system files such as boot.ini without knowing exactly what you’re doing might cause the computer to not boot at all.

Memory Problems
Q. I have an Intel Pentium IV 1.70 GHz with 256 MB of RAM and Windows XP Professional SP2. I have the following problems in my system:
(a) When I add an additional 128 MB of RAM, it becomes 128 256 = 384, but the system keeps restarting.
(b) I have only 8 MB share of VGA. How can I increase it?
Vibhav V H, via e-mail

As far as your first problem is concerned, the newer RAM module you installed does not match with the older RAM module, so the system keeps on rebooting. You’ll have to get the newer RAM module replaced by a module that is compatible with the older module.

Since you have not mentioned whether you are using onboard graphics or a separate AGP card, we’ll provide you with solutions for both alternatives. If you are using onboard graphics, you may be able to increase the shared memory size of the onboard VGA in the BIOS. Enter the BIOS, and go to ‘Integrated Peripherals’. Here you’ll be able to modify the amount of memory shared by your onboard VGA. Again, this depends on the motherboard and BIOS version, so it may or may not be present in your case.

If you’re using a separate AGP card, there is no way of increasing the share memory, since AGP cards have dedicated onboard memory. You may be able to increase the AGP aperture size using the CMOS setup (by going to ‘Integrated Peripherals’.) In either of these cases, since you have only 128 MB of system RAM, avoid setting the shared memory or AGP aperture size to more than 32 MB, as this will degrade your system performance.

Noisy PC
Q. I have a Pentium IV 3.0 GHz with HT, an 80 GB ATA Seagate hard drive, and 512 MB of DDR2 RAM on an Intel 915GAV motherboard. Whenever I open a game, my processor’s fan speed increases, and is very noisy. What should I do? Also, my retailer told me that I can’t install Windows 98 on my system. Is that true?
Ankit Mathur, via e-mail

The new generation of Intel processors heat up too quickly – especially on load – and need a high-rpm fan. However, since a higher-rpm fan makes more noise, Intel introduced a smart fan that throttles the fan rpm as per the need. When you’re gaming, the processor is under high load, so the fan spins at its maximum rpm and could be noisy. One way of controlling the noise is proper ventilation of the cabinet near the processor area so the temperature is maintained, and so the fan won’t throttle to higher speeds.

The Intel 915GAV chipset does not support Windows 9x/ME, and you will not be able to install these OSes on motherboards based on this chipset.

I want it Back!
Q. I have a 40 GB Seagate hard disk. I installed Red Hat Linux on one partition that Linux created during the installation. After a few days, I decided to remove Linux. When I started fdisk, it said my hard disk had only 30 GB, with the 10 GB Linux partition not showing up. I later installed Windows 98 SE (on the 30 GB partition). Then I used Seagate Disk Manager (DM), but DM shows the error “BIOS.ovl file couldn’t open”. How do I reclaim the full 40 GB capacity of my hard disk?
Vikram Dan, via e-mail

You should be able to reclaim the full 40 GB using Seagate’s Disk Manager. If you do not have the latest version of the Disc Wizard Starter Edition (DWSE), download it from the Seagate Web site. Run the downloaded file to create the DWSE disks – you’ll need two floppies for this. When the bootable DWSE disk is created, you will be able to boot with the floppy, and the Disk Manager will start. From here, you will be able to use the Disk Manager as you have done before.

The “BIOS.ovl file couldn’t be opened” error that you encounter is due to the file ‘BIOS.ovl’ not being properly copied onto the DWSE floppy, which could be due to bad sectors on the floppy.

The error “Unmountable Boot Volume” occurs while booting into XP when the boot.ini file is corrupt. You will require a Windows XP installation CD to correct this error. Boot using the XP installation CD, and when you see the “Welcome to Setup” screen, press [R] to repair XP. You will get a DOS prompt. Here, type in “chkdsk /f” without the quotes and press [Enter]. This will start the Check Disk utility, which will check the system drive and automatically repair any errors it encounters.

Next, type in “fixboot” and press [Enter]. This will write a new boot sector to the system partition. Now type in “exit” and press [Enter]. The system will now reboot into Windows.

Moving too Fast
Q. I have Windows 2000 and Windows XP installed on my computer. All programs are running well on both systems but the problem is that when I play an MP3, MPEG, DAT or any other sound file, it plays fast, as though it’s fast-forwarding. I’ve formatted the disk and again installed the OS, but the problem persists.
Kanchan Subba, Nepal
 
It seems you’ve installed the audio or sound card drivers before installing the Intel chipset software. Whenever you install Windows, you must install the Intel chipset drivers before installing any other drivers. You will now need to uninstall the sound card drivers and then install the chipset drivers. After a reboot, install the audio drivers, and sound files will play normally.

Enable registry Editor
Q. Whenever I try to run the Registry Editor, a message appears saying the registry editor has been disabled by the administrator.
Mudresh Tripathi, Jhansi

Open Notepad and type in the following in the text file.
[HKEY_CURRENT_USERSOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionPoliciesSystem]
“DisableRegistryTools”=dword:00000001
Save this file and change its extension from .TXT to .REG. Now double-click on this file and when prompted about whether you wish to add the information to the registry, click ‘Yes’. Restart Windows, and the Registry Editor should be enabled.

Capturing Issues
Q. I have a P IV 3.2 GHz, an Intel 915-based board, 256 MB of RAM and a 60 GB hard disk. I have installed Windows XP SP1. I have a Frontech TV tuner card based on the Philips HLL7130 chip. Recently, after installing DirectX 9.0b, I have begun experiencing problems with my TV tuner card – my screen looks black and I am unable to capture anything. Should I uninstall DirectX 9.0b?
Ankur Patil, Malad

It is not necessary to uninstall DirectX 9.0b. DirectX 9.0b causes several TV- Tuner capture card/driver combinations using video formats other than NTSC (NTSC-J, PAL, SECAM) to not initialise correctly on Windows 2000, XP, and Windows Server 2003. The symptoms include loss of capture functionality and potential inability to set/retain device capture settings. There are two solutions for this problem, the first of which is to install DirectX 9.0c. You will also need to download and install the latest drivers for your TV tuner card from the manufacturer’s website. If you do not wish to upgrade DirectX, Microsoft has addressed this issue via a hotfix, which you’ll have to download and install:
http://download.microsoft.com/download/f/c/9/fc9b3b60-d7d4-42c6-ac64-f28ea70fabb9/DirectX9b-KB825116-x86-ENU.exe

Terrorised
Q. Two files – ‘folder.htt’ and ‘desktop.ini’ – are appearing in each and every folder of my computer. This is making it run very slow. I think it’s a virus. If I delete all the files, they reappear after a few days. My OS is Windows 98SE, running on a Pentium III 650 MHz with 192 MB of SDRAM.
Rohan Mondal, via e-mail

Your machine is infected by VBS.Terrosist, which infects HTML files. It targets files that have the .htt, .htm, .html, .asp, .php and .jspin extensions. In addition to other things, It also modifies the %WinDir%WebWebview.css, %WinDir%WebDesktop.ini, %WinDir%System32Desktop.ini and %WinDirÞsktop.ini files, so the file ‘Folder.htt’, which is a copy of the virus, is executed when the folder is viewed in Explorer. It replicates itself in each folder that you view later. The system slows down noticeably.

To get rid of the virus, simply scan your computer thoroughly using an anti-virus such as McAfee or Norton, with the latest updated virus definitions.

This error indicates that there is a memory corruption in a driver, or that the Page Frame Number (PFN) is corrupt. Such an error is usually seen on systems under heavy stress. In such a case there is nothing that can be done to stop the error. The error also occurs if a RAM module is bad – in such cases, changing the RAM module(s) will solve the problem.

Media Issues
Q. I have a Sony DRU-710A DVD-Writer. I have a DVD which has Fedora Core 4 (in four ISO images) on it. Please suggest a method as to how I can write all these four images onto a single DVD. I am aware that there are many software available for extracting ISO image contents, but I do not know how put the contents of each ISO on a single DVD.
My second problem is that I have huge collection of videos in VCD (DAT) format which I wish to convert to DVD format. I have a bundled edition of Nero 6. When I try to make a DVD of these videos in Nero Vision Express, it shows me an estimated encoding time of approximately 26 hours. Please tell me if there is DVD burning software available that can decrease the encoding time.
Kuljit Singh , Via e-mail

The Fedora Core 4 ISO images provided on the Digit DVD are meant to be burnt on CDs, as these are CD images. There is no way to convert these images to create a Fedora Core 4 DVD. Even if you extract the contents using software, the DVD that you might create will not be bootable and will not be able to install Fedora.

Encoding to DVD video format means encoding to the MPEG-2 format, and this takes a lot of time. This encoding time depends to a large extent on the power of the CPU, so even if you use any other software, the time it will take to encode will remain more or less the same.

Infected
Q. Of late, my computer has slowed down a lot. I found ‘my_picture.scr’, ‘pic.scr’ and ‘see_this!.pif’ in the root of my C drive. I suspect my computer is infected by a virus.
Mahesh Bangare , Via e-mail

Your system is infected by WORM_MYTOB.AC, a worm that sends a copy of itself as an attachment to e-mails, which it sends using its own SMTP engine.

The worm can be removed quite easily. Bring up the Windows Task Manager and navigate to the ‘Processes’ tab. Find ‘rnathchk.exe’, click on it and click ‘End Process’. This will remove the worm from memory. Now delete the files you mentioned from the C drive. Also delete the file ‘rnathchk.exe’ from the Windows System32 directory. Install a good anti-virus such as Trend Micro AntiVirus or Norton AntiVirus with the latest updates and run a thorough system scan to completely remove the worm.