Questions and Answers
SPCUG Answer Guys
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Questions and Answers
Here are highlights from recent Q&A sessions. Questions and responses have been edited for clarity and correctness.
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COMMUNICATIONS
Q: When I click on Netscape Communicator, a white screen comes up with a blue block on the left that says Look Smart, a message on the right that says "ERROR; No Selections" and, under that, a link to "Back to World." I have no idea where all this comes from and I can't seem to make it stop. Now it's always the opening screen.
A: My best guess is that your "Home Page" has changed for some reason. In Netscape, click on Edit, then Preferences. On the very first screen, in the middle, is a block where you can key in the URL of the page you want as your "Home Page." If you're already at the Web page you want to use when you open up Preferences, then all you have to do is to select "Use Current." Also, remember to select "Use a Home Page" and not a "Blank Page" from the upper section of that first Preferences screen labeled "Navigator Starts With."
Q: When I log into my ISP and go to Internet Explorer to access the Internet, two ISP home pages appear, one overlaying the other. I can't eliminate the second one. When I close the connection, both disappear. At the next log-in, both reappear. The browser appears to be opening twice. I think this is due to something I did two days ago but I don't know what.
A: Try using a different Web page as your home page. Some sites fire up another instance of your browser on access. I use a blank local HTM file as my home page (C:\Windows\blank.htm). Then I use "Favorites" to go where I want or search on other pages. If you're really running two copies of IE though, you should be able to right-click the button for one of the running copies on your Task Bar and select Close to shut it down.
Q: When I'm running Netscape and am on the Internet loading a site or page, it will load up completely, go down, and say "Done." But, then it jumps through and reloads all over again. The second time it loads, it takes about a second. Is that normal?
A: It's normal.
A: Other people say it's not normal. I think the answer is that it happens.
OPERATING SYSTEMS
Q: When I do a boot-up on my machine, there's this little flash that condenses from a full screen down to half-screen in about half a second (it looks like it would be a picture of the Earth), then it disappears, and Windows loads up. Everything works fine. Is that normal?
A: I would check the lines in your CONFIG.SYS file, which, believe it or not, is still used in Windows 95/98. See if you have anything extra that the company put in or someone put in from a third-party software install. You can REM those out and still run Windows.
A: You can check the LOAD line in the SYSTEM.INI file as well, but it's most probably something in the CONFIG.SYS file.
Q: While trying to set up Windows, I got an MS-DOS extender error. I've scanned for a virus, checked the sectors, but can't get Windows to set up. One weird thing: the drive type setting in the BIOS had changed. I had the drive's Type set to AUTO but when I checked it later, it was set to USER. Is it normal for the BIOS to do that?
A: Yes. The BIOS will "auto-detect" the drive and then put in, as USER settings, the appropriate cylinders, heads and sectors. Did you have Windows 95 or 98 installed on it before?
R: Windows 95 was on it but not running. I was upgrading it to Windows 98 when I got the MS-DOS extender error. When Scandisk runs, it says the computer is reporting more errors or more space than the hard disk has. It's a Maxtor or something like that.
A: Some Maxtors have an extended translation jumper in case your BIOS does not support more than 1024 cylinders. See if you can find the information on the drive. If so, pull off the appropriate jumper and then re-try the BIOS's "auto-detect" operation. If that doesn't cure it, make sure that you put in the exact cylinder heads and sectors in the BIOS manually. Those numbers are usually on the hard drive.
A: If they're not on the drive you may be able to get them off the Web site.
A: Some Maxtors require you to use their Maxblast software to install.
A: But only if your BIOS does not support the drive natively. And, make sure you don't have both schemes (BIOS and Maxblast) active at the same time. If your BIOS supports the drive directly and if Maxblast is installed as well, then you should remove Maxblast. You can do that using Maxblast itself.
A: I heard that Windows 98 installs a new boot record over the boot record that Maxblast puts on the drive which, essentially, would disable your hard drive. You then have to reload Maxblast to use your hard drive again.
Q: I want to take out the splash screen on the Maxblast 98 logo screen but haven't found how to do it. I tried to click on a couple of sites that I thought were going to give me the answer, but no luck.
A: The easiest way to do that is to download TweakUI from Microsoft. It has a check box to turn the splash off.
R: Will turning it off speed up the computer?
A: No. The splash screen is just there to let you know it's doing something. Otherwise, the screen would just be blank and you would wonder if the computer had crashed.
R: But wouldn't you see all those lines of code going by?
A: During start-up, when you first see the screen saying "Starting Maxblast 95/98," just press "Escape." You'll see all the commands and messages that are issued during the boot process.
R: I tried to open up the IO.SYS file on Windows 95C. It doesn't respond as text, it's just ASCII garbage.
A: IO.SYS? You should never touch that file. MS-DOS.SYS maybe.
R: You know how you could put, "WIN :" for 95C and get rid of the splash screen? You can't do the same with 98?
A: No.
HARDWARE
Q: I picked up a HP 820CSE that has a broken part in it. Is there a place where you can buy parts?
A: I think you can go into the HP Web site support area and order parts for just about anything. They don't have a separate catalog. It may require a phone call. They might fax you a schematic and you pick which part you want to order. The site's pretty good.
A: There is a company here in town called CPR, Computer Printer Repair, on Auburn between Watt and Fulton. It has a lot of parts. It's HP authorized. I don't know if it would have your part though.
A: At least they would have the schematics so they could tell you what part you need.
Q: I have a 486 PC running Windows 95. The BIOS only handles a 540Meg hard drive. I loaded something to make it go to a 1.2 gig hard drive. If I switch to Windows 98, will it automatically take care of that?
A: Windows 98 will work with the drive overlay software it sounds like you loaded. The upgrade will work.
R: I'd like to clear all the stuff off the drive. I thought about doing a low-level format on the drive. What kind of problem would I have?
A: Low-level formats are where you'll run into problems. You only need to do a high-level format.
A: You don't want to low-level an IDE drive anyhow.
Q: A friend with Windows 98 on his computer keeps coming up with a VxD dynamic call error. I believe it says, "Item 3 on System B." In trying to fix it, I used FDISK, reformatted, and loaded Windows again. It would go all the way, reload until it says, "Restarting ...," then it would restart and show the error again. It would almost start, then jump back into another start.
A: Perpetual motion.
A: Hardware can cause that problem or your CAB files could be screwed up on the disk itself. The first thing I would do is try another copy of Windows.
A: The VxD's are the drivers themselves. They control everything to do with hardware.
A: You could easily have a RAM or motherboard problem.
R: I ended up using another motherboard and everything ran fine with all of his cards.
A: That definitely points to a hardware problem.
R: I just wondered if you knew what it specifically was, a chip or the motherboard itself.
A: You really need to run a DOS-level diagnostic program to check the hardware.
R: The computer screen comes up with giant magnification. I'm sure there's a switch somewhere, but the desktop and all the windows that open up are huge and I can't get it to scroll up.
A: It's probably a video driver problem. If you can, switch video cards. Windows will automatically detect the new card and install the right drivers for it. That may cure the problem.
Q: I have an old LaserJet 3P that died a few weeks ago. When I try to print, it starts up but then quits. The indicator reads Error 52. I looked it up in the manual and it is something about scanner error or failure. Is that something that can be fixed and is it worth fixing?
A: Well, it's a 3P, so it would probably cost you $100 to get it repaired. It's the fuser section that is going bad.
A: It could also be the power supply.
CHEAPER COMPUTERS
Q: I'm wondering how proprietary some of the cheaper computers are nowadays, like the E-machine. Can you switch parts? Is it open architecture?
A: If you're after the low-level machines, what you see is really what you get. If you want to expand it later, go to a more expensive machine. To cut costs, they cut corners everywhere they can. Generally, everything is on the motherboard without plug-in slots. It can be difficult to disable that section when you decide you want a better video card or something like that. If you ever anticipate moving up, just spend the bucks now.
R: Is Compaq doing the same with lower-end machines?
A: The lower-end machines generally don't have any free slots on them. Everything they can put on the motherboard is on the motherboard.
A: An upgrade to a low-end machine is a chip that maybe increases the video RAM or something, and that's about it.
A: Intel has a new chipset, the 810 that has the graphics built in. So, we will see everyone adopting the 810 and that means no slot for fast graphics. It can be disabled, but then you put a card in the PCI slot and it's not going to be very fast. What you really want to look for is an AGP slot, which is a fast graphics slot. If you really care, look for the 2x or 4x ones that are coming out. If you think you want to play 3D games, look for an AGP slot.
A: I'd like to disagree with earlier remarks about the E-machine. I bought an E-machine and upgraded memory, added a network card, a graphics accelerator and another hard drive. The graphics card was PCI. The network card was an IDE.
A: It wasn't an AGP slot, so it isn't a fast gaming board.
A: The AGP slot is made specifically for a graphics card that runs very fast-as fast as the processor.
A: For the record, what you're saying is you bought an E-machine, it's upgradeable, and you're happy with it.
A: It does have an AGP card. The point is that you said you couldn't add anything.
A: In general. I suspect that you bought it six months ago, right? I suspect that if you bought one today, you'd find it didn't have any expandability because they have changed.
A: The new ones are more expandable. It's the total opposite of what you're saying.
A: E-machines makes a broad line of systems. Some of them are upgradeable. I think the E-1, which is an all-in-one clone of the Apple iMac, has one slot in it that's available for expansion. It's no different from the low-end Compaq. They are good machines.
A: Look at the PC Magazine reviews and make a decision before you buy, because they tell you if there are empty slots.
A: One of these Web-store models is advertised as a $300 PC, but it doesn't have a CD-ROM or a floppy drive. They do give you a year of free Internet service. Three different motherboards are used in the models they're shipping. I got lucky and got the one they use in their $800 models. It has an AGP slot. Some of the others didn't. You really have to check it out.
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