My computer suddenly shuts down after a few minutes of activity. My service engineer checked everything including the heatsink and fans, but found nothing wrong. He replaced a few capacitors on the motherboard, but the problem persists.
J Ramesh
Since you’ve already gotten everything checked, our guess is that your power supply is at fault—either it is not able to deliver enough power to your PC, or there is some other problem with it. Get it examined and possibly replaced. You could go through our December issue for an idea about what kind of PSU you need.
Playing With Partitions
Q. I am aware that there is a partition resizing utility in Vista, and I want to try it out, but I’m a little afraid because of the risks involved. Please tell me what I need to know.
Ankit Pathak
The Disk Management Utility in Vista is an upgrade over that in XP; it can resize disk volumes (partitions). Before getting into it, do back up all your data, because although it can resize partitions keeping the data intact, there is always the risk of data loss in the case of a sudden interruption (such as a power failure).
Open the Control Panel and type Partition in the search box. Click on Administrative Tools: Create and format hard disk partitions. To shrink a volume, right-click on the partition to be shrunk (in Disk Management) and select Shrink Volume. You will be able to see the current size, space available to shrink, a dialog box to enter the amount to shrink by, and the volume size after shrinking. Enter the amount to shrink (in MB) and click Shrink. Similarly, to extend a volume (increase the size), right-click on the partition and select Extend Volume; the Extend Volume Wizard will start. Here, you can specify the amount that you want to increase the partition by. Click Next, then on Finish to start the process.
It’s Just The Drivers
Q. I’m having a problem with the game Gangland. I’ve played the demo earlier, but now the full version I bought gives this error:
===== Console::Initialize() =====
Compiled Sep 27 2005 10:58:36 (release build)
Renderer rejected: RendererD3D.DLL
Renderer found: RendererOGL v. 1.3 (release build)
RendererOGL::GLInitialize(): Using Microsoft Corporation GDI Generic
RendererOGL::GLInitialize(): OpenGL version 1.1.0
RendererOGL::GLInitialize(): Card doesn’t support GL_EXT_texture_compression_s3tc
Error creating renderer instance
What should I do? I’m using an ASUS V9400 Magic graphics card.
Vijesh Vijayan
Your graphics card is based on the NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 4000 chipset. The error message indicates that your OpenGL renderer does not support S3TC (S3 Texture Compression). The error message also indicates that the game is trying to use the graphics renderer from Microsoft and not from NVIDIA, so your OpenGL file could be corrupt, or there could be a problem with your graphics drivers. Since your graphics card supports S3TC, we suggest you install the latest reference drivers for your card from www.nvidia.com. Your problem should be solved now.
Back From The Future
Q. I upgraded from XP to Vista and I want to get back to XP. How can I do it without losing any of my program settings?
Manu Shastry
Currently, it is not possible to downgrade from Vista to XP and retain all program settings. You would have to do a clean format of the partition and install XP. We’d advise our readers to dual-boot between Vista and XP (instead of upgrading) if they just want to get a taste of the new OS. Assuming Vista is installed on a partition different from where XP is installed, do the following to uninstall it. Boot into XP. Insert your Vista DVD into the drive or load the image in DVD emulation software. Run X:\boot\bootsect.exe /nt52 ALL /force where X is your Vista DVD drive letter. Restart the computer and you will find that the old XP boot menu has returned. Format the partition where you’d installed Vista, and remove Boot.BAK and Bootsect.BAK. That’s it!
Machine Language
Q. Whenever I restart my Windows XP computer, I get this error message: “Stop 0xC000021A”.
Bhavesh Shah
This happens if the Wbemprox.dll library is prematurely unloaded. You need to download and install the hotfix from http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=6294451 (http://tinyurl.com/34jrgl). Restart your computer and you should find it’s OK.
Unpacking The Service!
Q. I recently installed SP1 on Windows XP and then used System Restore to revert Windows to the previous state. I am now not able to create a network connection.
Ram Kapadia
If you reinstall SP1, the problem will be solved, but if for some reason you don’t want to install SP1, there is a workaround. Open the Registry Editor and go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\RasMan. Select File > Export, type EXPKEY in the File Name box, and click Save. Double-click on the ObjectName String Value in the RasMan key, type LocalSystem in the Value Data box, and click OK. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\RasMan\PPP\EAP\25 and delete the key. (Click Yes to confirm.) Do the same with HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\RasMan\PPP\EAP\26. Restart your computer. You should now be able to create a network connection.
Beep No More!
Q. I want to turn off system beeps, but I don’t want this to affect any other audio settings on my computer.
S Gopal
To disable system beeps, open the Registry Editor and go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\ Sound. Modify or create the String Value Beeps in the right pane and set its value to 0. Restart for the setting to take effect.
So It’s A Coaster…
Q. Whenever I try to install ASHAMPOO WIN OPTIMIZER 2007 from the Digit CD, it shows the following error message: “An I/O error occurred while installing a file.” When I abort it, a message says “corrupt installation file.” How do I install it?
Sunney
Like the error message says, this happens when the installer file is corrupt or damaged, and that often happens often when the media itself is damaged.
Please e-mail help@jasubhai.com for a replacement.
Slo-Mo
Q. I have an Athlon XP 3000 , an ASUS V82-m motherboard, and 512 MB of RAM. My problem is that Quake 3 runs very slowly.
Shakti Dash
Check whether the latest ForceWare drivers are installed; they are available at www.nvidia.com.
Also, try playing the game at lower resolutions and turn down the effects.
It Won’t Work…
Q. I recently got myself a Tata Indicom Walky phone with a cable to connect it to the PC. I configured everything as told, but cannot connect to the Internet. When I try to view the modem diagnostics, I get an error.
Rajnish Mathur
Your PC is not able to communicate with the modem in your phone. Check in the Phone and Modem Options in the Control Panel to see if you’ve installed a generic 33.6 Kbps model rather than a 56 Kbps modem. Access the modem properties and enter the initialisation settings as AT CRM=1. This is assuming you’ve created the dial-up connection and are dialling the number “#777”. The username and password are to be entered as “internet”. In the phone, using the menu, you can access the modem settings; select the modem speed as 115 Kbps. You should now be able to connect.
Game Over—For Now
Q. I have an Intel 915GAV chipset motherboard. When I start playing The Sims 2, I get the error message “ialmrnt5 display driver has stopped working normally”, and I have to reboot the computer.
Eklavya Ashar
This error is due to a bug in the Intel graphics driver. Install the latest drivers from downloadcenter.intel.com. If you still get the error, right-click on the The Sims 2 icon, select Properties, and add the switch -w to the end of the target field so it looks something like “C:\Program Files\EA GAMES\The Sims 2\TSBin\Sims2.exe” -w. (The actual path may vary depending on where the game’s been installed)
Direct Connect
Q. I have a cable internet connection that requires me to dial using PPPoE. I recently installed a 4-port router and configured it to dial directly to my ISP. The problem is that it is not able to connect despite my having correctly configured the router to use PPPoE and entering the correct username and password.
M Krishnamurthy
It looks like your ISP has locked your account to the MAC address of your network card, so you can only dial through that card. First, find the MAC address of your network card by typing ipconfig /all in a command prompt window. Copy that MAC address. Launch the administration page of your router and search for the option to set the WAN MAC address (sometimes referred to as “WAN MAC Address Cloning”). Enter the MAC address of your network card here and save the settings. This will set the MAC address of your router to the same as that of your network card, and it will seem to your ISP’s server that the number is being dialled through your network card. You will then be able to connect to the Internet via the router.
Dead On Install!
Q. I tried to install the Adobe GoLive! Tryout and Adobe Illustrator Tryout from one of your DVDs. They got installed, but when I try to run them, I get a message saying the products have expired, even though I’ve never installed them before.
Sabyasachi Sadhu
Some software can work in the demo version mode only for a limited period of time (like three months) from the date of release. Usually, after this period, a newer trial or demo version of the software is released. Get it from www.adobe.com.
Wired—But Not Quite
Q. I own a cyber-café with five computers running XP connected to an 8-port switch and one server. I am not able to access any of the five computers from any one of them. I can still ping them one from the another. What could the problem be?
Abhishek Gupta
This often happens when File and Printer Sharing is disabled or if the Guest account is disabled. Open Network Connections, right-click on the network connection being used, and click Properties. Make sure the box next to File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks is checked. Click OK.
You might be prompted to reboot the computer—do so. Open User Accounts in Control Panel and click Guests. In the next window, click on Turn On the Guest Account. This should solve the problem.
Cyber-Empty-Space
Q. I can connect to the Internet but I can’t open any Web sites on my Windows 98 SE PC.
Sunil Bihari
Ping any site—ping www.yahoo.com in a command prompt—and if you get a reply, your browser is corrupt, and reinstalling it is the solution.
If you do not get a reply, run winipcfg. Click on the More Info button and verify that a DNS is specified. If the DNS is blank or 0.0.0.0, the computer is not being assigned a DNS address.
Close winipcfg. Disconnect from the Internet. Double-click on Network in the Control Panel, highlight TCP/IP > Dial-Up Adapter, and click Properties. Click on the DNS Configuration tab and verify that Disable DNS is selected.
If this was already selected, then contact your ISP to verify if any DNS settings need to be set up.