200807 troubleshooting ii

Fast Track
to
Trouble
Shooting
Part II
By Team Digit

With valuable inputs from our Digit Forum Community -
thinkdigit.com/forum

Credits
The People Behind This Book

EDITORIAL
Robert Sovereign-Smith Assistant Editor
Rossi Fernandes Writer
Nash David Copy Editor

With special thanks to the thinkdigit.com/forum members
for their contribution to the Digit community

DESIGN AND LAYOUT
Vijay Padaya, U Ravindranadhan Layout Designers
Rohit Chandwaskar Cover Design
Harsho Mohan Chattoraj Illustrator

© 9.9 Interactive Pvt. Ltd.
Published by 9.9 Interactive
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form
or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher.

July 2008
Free with Digit. Not to be sold separately. If you have paid separately for this book, please
e-mail the editor at editor@thinkdigit.com along with details of location of purchase, for
appropriate action.

Introduction

Trouble In Paradise?
ll of us, whether Digit readers, or Digit writers, love our

A PCs. We care for them, upgrade them and guard them
ferociously with anti-virus and anti-malware apps.
However, as hard as we try to keep them healthy and happy,
every now and then they’ll catch a cold, cough, sputter and die—
for no apparent reason at that. One minute you’re happily
computing and the next you see errors, BSODs and hear terrible
beeping noises. Due to popular demand, we decided to publish a
second Fast Track to Troubleshooting, in the hope that we can play
a small part in keeping your PC healthy and happy.
In this book you will find a collection of the most common
niggles that you face on a day-to-day basis, with solutions
provided. You will also find some rare problems, some
buying/upgrading advice and even some preventive tips to keep
you from having to troubleshoot in the first place.
We would also like to give credit to our thriving 41,000+ member
Digit Forum (www.thinkdigit.com/forum) community for helping fellow
members out of a jam, and providing solutions to those in need.
When we found that a particular problem was asked and solved
on the Forum, we’ve included the answers from forum members as
the solution. If you see a Note: below the answers, that’s additional
information added by us when we felt it was needed.
This book has also been broadly categorised to help you find
solutions when you need them—Hardware, Windows, Linux,
Applications and Miscellaneous.
We strongly urge you to read this book, even if you don’t have
any troubleshooting to do right away, because not only will it
prepare you for those times when you need to solve problems,
but will arm you with the knowledge you need to help your
friends when they need assistance. Here’s looking forward to you
becoming a troubleshooting guru in your circle, and also
celebrating the first of many Colour Fast Tracks to come.
Write in to us with suggestions for topics you want to read
about, at editor@thinkdigit.com.

FAST TRACK 3

Contents
Chapter I
Hardware
Often, the problems we face are caused
by hardware. From PCs that refuse to
boot to weird BIOS errors, and faulty
drivers to dead hard drives, you're
bound to have one of these problems at
some point or another. Unlike software,
hardware needs your full attention to
detail to resolve conflicts and errors.
Here is a collection of some popular
and some weird hardware questions
we've received
Page 7

Chapter II
Windows XP
With the majority of the world
using Windows as their OS, it’s no
surprise that most problems
people have are Windows-related.
Here we’ll show you solutions to
some of the most common
Windows troubles
Page 40

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Chapter III
Linux
Whether you’re a newbie or a
seasoned Linux professional,
the very nature of Linux distros
is to allow you to tweak to your
heart’s content. Alas, things
often go horribly wrong with
such tweaking. In this chapter,
we aim to provide Linux
newbies with answers to
common questions.
Page 60

Chapter IV
Applications
We now move on to
troubleshooting the software
applications that are most
commonly used. When they
do occur, some of these problems
may end in hairloss or wrinkled
foreheads. We’ve compiled these
from the Digit Forum
Page 84

Chapter V
Miscellaneous
Here you’ll find problems that are so
weird that they don’t qualify for any
of the previous sections. The fact
that we’ve received these questions,
however, means that people out
there are facing such problems.
Solutions ahead
Page 117
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Hardware

ore often than not, the problems we face are caused by

M hardware. From PCs that refuse to boot to weird BIOS
errors, and faulty drivers to dead hard drives, you're bound
to have one of these problems at some point or the other. Unlike
software, where an uninstall-and-reinstall is a good solution, hard-
ware needs your full attention to detail to resolve conflicts and
errors. Here is a collection of some popular and some weird hard-
ware questions we've received.

I HARDWARE
TROUBLESHOOTING YOUR PC—PART II

Problem With Writer
I have a desktop with a Gigabyte 939 (GA-K8N51GMF-9) motherboard,
an AMD 3500+, 1 GB of DDR1 dual-channel PC400 RAM, a SATA 160 GB
HDD and a Sony DVD writer running Windows XP. The problem is that when-
ever I write on a blank DVD, although it seems to write, I cannot access the
written data later from Windows Explorer. Plus, the drive shows up as a CD-
ROM drive. I even re-installed Windows XP, but the problem continues. I even
installed my friend’s CD-writer on to my system, and it works fine.
Secondly, my DVD writer plays only a few DVDs well—for example, Digit
DVDs or DVDs that I wrote a month ago. My writer is just five months old, and
I have seldom written CDs or DVDs. My writer used to format written CDs and
DVDs as CDFS or UDF. However, lately it’s been writing in RAW format. I use
Nero to write my disks, and sometimes, I use ULead Movie Factory. The DVDs
written in RAW run on my DVD player, though.
Mandeep Singh Sandhu

It appears the problem lies in your DVD writer. Now that you have
tried your friend’s writer on your system, you should take your
DVD drive to your friend’s place to see if it works there. Your drive
isn’t very old, so it should still be within warranty. Data DVDs are usu-
ally burnt in the ISO format.

BIOS Problem
I have an original Intel 915GV motherboard (bought in August 2005). I
want to update my BIOS, but the problem is that the Intel site returns
about 4-5 (915 motherboard) similar options (I also don’t have an Internet
connection, but can easily download it on
to a CD / DVD at a cafe). Another problem
is that SiSandra Lite XII tells me that “the
BIOS surface mounted on an unsuccessful
flash may be fatal”. Also, is DDR2 memory
compatible with it (even without a BIOS
update)? If yes, then up to what frequen-
cy, given that the computer vendors in
Indore tell me it isn’t compatible. Please
give me a detailed explanation.
SiSoft Sandra gives you necessary
Rohit Tambe
information on your motherboard

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Do not bother updating your BIOS, if you don’t have a prblem
with your system. Any locking up during the flashing procedure
will result in a board that won’t work anymore. If you have to update
it, then get the exact model number for your motherboard. Be sure
that you are flashing the board with the correct BIOS for your exact
motherboard. Look for the motherboard packaging if you still have it.
You can also find information when the computer boots. SiSoft
Sandra can also help you find the exact model number. The 915GV
chipset supports both DDR and DDR2. DDR 400 and DDR2 533 are sup-
ported, but you cannot use both at the same time.

PC Configuration
I’m planning to buy a new PC. It would basically be a gaming rig (FPS
and racing games). Can you please suggest a configuration for this PC?
My budget is Rs 50,000-51,000. I would prefer it to be future-proof for at
least three to four years.
Would there be any significant performance gain (better gameplay) in
case of increasing the RAM from the current standard of 2 to 4 GB or 8 GB?
If so, what do you recommend?
Is there any need for having a separate sound card, or is the on-board
sound solution good enough for hi-fidelity sound experience in gaming
and music?
Siddharth Bhatnagar, Mumbai

A budget of Rs 50,000 should just about get you an Intel Core 2
Duo E8400, a P35-based motherboard from Abit, 4 GB DDR2 RAM,
a 640 GB Western Digital hard drive, a 22-inch LCD screen from Dell
and a GeForce 9600GT or a 8800GT.
Calling it future proof for three to four years might not be the
right thing to say. Games and hardware evolve so quickly that you
might find at least the graphics card getting outdated in just around
two years from now.
An onboard sound solution will do just fine for all the regular
games. But if you plan on buying headphones worth more than
Rs 4,000 or speakers over Rs 10,000 or more, then a dedicated sound
card is a must.

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Motherboard And Graphic Card
My first problem—I have a Lenovo Y500
notebook with face recognition feature.
Most of the latest games requiring NVIDIA
graphic cards are not supported by it. Is it possi-
ble to change its configuration? If not, then here
is my second question. I have a 4-year-old
Compaq Presario PC, and its motherboard does-
n’t have the required slots for a graphic card.
A GeForce 7600GT AGP card
Please tell me a suitable motherboard and will be a cheap yet a fairly
graphic card that can play games like Matrix, powerful upgrade
Lord of the Rings, Half-Life and other latest
games. My budget for now is Rs 8,000. Please help me, so that I can return
to my world of gaming again.
Akash Sharma

Laptops allow upgrading certain components like memory and
hard drives. A graphics solution is not possible on your laptop. If
you wish to play lots of games, then a complete overhaul is required.
If your Compaq Presario has an AGP slot, then you could look for an
AGP GeForce 7600GT. A motherboard change today would mean you
have to go for a new processor and DDR2 667 memory as well, and
then a new graphics card would be unavoidable.

Problem Playing High Resolution Videos
My computer has Intel Original 845GVSR motherboard, Pentium 4 2.4
GHz Processor, 256 MB RAM, 80 GB HDD. I don’t have an AGP slot. I’m
using Windows XP 32-bit. Recently, I formatted my system due to some virus-
es and made a new copy of XP. The problem
is that when I try to play XVID or AVI, hav-
ing resolution above 1000x650 (below
1000x650 resolution works well), the sys-
tem suddenly crashes showing a black
screen. I’m unable to operate anything. The
system still runs in the background. I have
Trying using third party
updated all my motherboard drivers, and applications like Media Player
also installed some codecs. These haven’t Classic and VLC Player for HD
playback

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been of any use. Before formatting, these videos played well on my system.
So what’s the problem in playing high resolution video files? I don’t want to
spend on any upgrade on my system. Please help me. Thank you.
Charan Reddy

Try installing Media Player Classic or VLC Media Player
(www.videolan.org). Your system might not be able to handle HD
resolutions very well. Try installing ffdshow from http://ffdshow-try-
out.sourceforge.net. If you are running H.264 content, then CoreAVC is
well known for being an optimised decoder. It is commercial soft-
ware, but a trial version and more information on it is available at
www.coreavc.com.

Help... Cannot Boot!
I have a desktop with Intel Core 2 Duo 2 GHz, Intel Original G965 board,
1 GB RAM, 160 GB HDD, with Windows XP SP2.
My problem is that whenever I start my PC with any external device
attached to the USB ports (like pen drive, Bluetooth dongle or a card
reader), it boots up nicely into XP, but as soon as I use my keyboard, it
hangs and I have to reboot the system once again. After the reboot,
everything works fine.
This is getting very frustrating. I reinstalled Windows XP, but the problem
is still there. Can you please suggest a way to solve my problem?
Syed Zubair, Bangalore

Make sure you have all the USB devices disconnected when you
boot your computer. Check if the computer hangs even when they
are disconnected. Install the latest drivers for the motherboard, and
also try changing the PnP OS support option in the BIOS.

Mac Book Or Laptop
I’m about to venture into the mass media realm, and had picked out a
very nice offering from the Dell XPS range for myself, for just under a
lakh. Since I would be working with a lot of graphic intensive applications
from Adobe, my friend suggested that I go in for a Mac Book. Now I don’t
know what to do. Please help me. My budget is a lakh, and I have a require-
ment of at least a 15.4-inch screen with an adequate graphics card to run

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some heavy rendering applications. I’m a complete newbie to OSX.
Rudresh Jariwala

A MacBook Pro is what your friend is talking about. The Dell
XPS will probably give you more power than an entry level
MacBook Pro. The MacBook Pro will also attract a lot more attention
among your friends than a Dell XPS. If you want the ultimate per-
formance for the work you do, then a proper performance desktop
is highly recommended.

Connect TV To PC
I have an Intel Pentium 4 HT, with an Intel D101GGC motherboard,
NVIDIA’s 6200 LE (256 MB) graphics card. How can I connect my PC with
my 21-inch Sony WEGA (HW21-M80) TV?
I want to do so to watch movies! Please help!
Avik Sarkar

Your graphics card may come with a TV-out feature, which should
allow you to connect to your TV. Most cards come with an S-Video
out but you may need to purchase a converter for S-Video to RCA or
component.

PCI Problem!
I have an IBM PC with 768 MB
of RAM with processor speed of
2.60 GHz Intel 865G chipset with 64
MB of onboard graphics. I recently
bought a GeForce 8400GS of 256
MB graphic card. But it didn’t fit into
my PCI slot. What’s the problem?
Please help me out and if possible,
also, suggest a compatible graphics
card for my PC. PCI-Express is a completely different
interface from the traditional PCI
Samonjoy Bhattacharya

We aren’t sure of what interface the card you just bought is. Your
Intel 865G based motherboard only supports AGP cards. From the

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HARDWARE I

sound of it, it seems you have bought a PCI-Express card, which is a
completely different standard, and it will not fit into your mother-
board. You need to buy an AGP card. Look for a cheap GeForce 7600GT
or maybe an ATI Radeon x1800 card.

Problem
My desktop configuration is as follows:
Intel 915 chipset, Gigabyte motherboard, 512 MB RAM DDR, 80 GB
Hard disk, DVD writer, and my board supports up to 4 GB.
I recently bought Transcend (184p DDR DIMM 128 M*64) 1 GB RAM
(64M*8 DDR400 3-3-3), and have installed it. I tried booting, but after power
ON, I see nothing on the monitor, except hearing a ticking sound from the
CPU. My old 512 RAM is Dynet DDR400(3) 512M*8
Salman Binali, Palakkad, Kerala

There are chances of compatibility issues between different RAM
sticks and that could be the problem. Unplug the older Dynet
RAM and try to boot with only the new Transcend memory in place to
see if it works. If it does, you’re going to have to get another 1 GB RAM
stick to run in dual-channel mode.

HDD Not Detected
I have 200 GB IDE
Seagate HDD. I was
using it on my computer, but
then removed it. Now I’m try-
ing to use it as an external
HDD with a 2.0 external HDD
case. It’s showing in the
device manager, but, it’s not
listed in My Computer.
I’ve also tried to connect
it directly to the CPU as an Computer Management displays all the disks and
partitions on them
internal HDD, but the same
issue continues. Please suggest, as I have some critical data in it. I use Windows
XP. And I have tried it in two different computers with NTFS partition.
Tirtha Basu

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Computer management application from Start > Control
At first, it seems like your drive may have failed. Start the

Panel > Administrative Tools. Go down to Disk Management
and look for your drive there. If there is no drive, then your drive may
in fact be damaged. If the drive shows up, but no partitions are visi-
ble, then you may have lost data and the partition information. You
should try using some data recovery software if you need to recover
the data and then re-partition your drive.

Help For AGP Graphics Card ATI Radeon HD 2600
I wanted to buy an AGP-based graphics card for my PC. Intel 865GBF
motherboard, Pentium 4 (2.4 GHz), 1 GB RAM. I think ATI Radeon HD
2600 XT is a good card. Is it better than HD 2600 PRO, x1800, x1900 modes
(which you mentioned in April 2008)? What are the prices of these graphics
cards? From where can I buy this graphics card?
Sameer Mahant

The ATI Radeon HD 2600XT is a superior card to the 2600 PRO, but
the x1900 is a faster card than the 2600XT. The only drawback of
the x1900 is that it is a hotter and a non-DirectX 10 card like the
2600XT.

CPU Auto Shutdown?
I have a Pentium 4 assembled PC with D101GGC motherboard, 256 MB
of RAM, and an 80-GB HDD.
The problem is that when the computer is running fine, there is a sud-
den tripping sound that my APC ES 500 UPS makes, and the monitor
screen goes blank, leaving the keyboard and mouse lights ON. Then to
turn on the CPU again, I have to turn off the UPS and then turn it ON
again. When turned ON, the CPU automatically powers ON, without any
need to press the power button. Is the power fluctuation a problem, or
the SMPS? Can you help me please?
And another small question... Can I install a Vista version on this moth-
erboard, if I upgrade to 1 GB RAM. Also, mention the version which will work
the best in 1 GB RAM.
Sagar Gholap

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HARDWARE I

It is likely that your UPS has a problem and you should try run-
ning your computer directly on the mains to see if it works flaw-
lessly. 1 GB of memory is a bare minimum for Vista to run. 2 GB is
highly recommended for Vista, so add in more RAM.

Graphics Card
I recently purchased an NVIDIA XFX 8600GT graphics card (512 MB
DDR2). Due to my busy schedule, I could not do much research before
buying. Later on, I came to know that 256 MB graphics card with DDR3 is
much better instead of 512 MB with DDR2.
One of my friends wants to purchase a graphics card very soon. Which
one should I suggest?
My PC configuration is as follows: Intel D101GC motherboard, 1.5 GB
Memory, 17-inch TFT Samsung monitor, Pentium 4, 2.66 GHz.
I’m very much satisfied with the performance of my PC and graphics
card, but I still want to know what exactly is the difference, when buying a
512 MB graphics card with DDR2 over 256 MB graphics card with DDR3.
Please reply as soon as possible.
Wamiq Maqbool

512 MB or 1 GB of graphics card memory does not do a lot for a
low- or mid-ranged graphics card. The big difference in these
memory standards is the bandwidth they offer, but that alone should-
n’t be a deciding factor for purchasing a graphics card. DDR3 RAM on
graphics cards is preferred, though on your PC, the graphics card is
already the fastest component. Unless you upgrade to a better CPU
and motherboard, you need not worry about DDR2 / . For those run-
ning 3D applications (3ds Max/Blender), more RAM is preferred.

Upgrade Issues
I’m using an LG MyPC, which has an Intel Pentium 4 processor, 2.0 GHz,
Intel 845G motherboard, 248 MB of RAM, 40 GB hard disk and Windows
XP SP2 running on it. I want to know if there is any good NVIDIA graphics
card for my motherboard. Also, if I want to upgrade my PC with an NVIDIA
motherboard and graphic card to play the latest games, how much will it
cost? My budget is around Rs 10,000 to 12,000. Help me please.
Ankit Sinha

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For playing games that have been coming out in the past year
or two, you should really consider a completely new system.
Your two big upgrades—keeping the rest of the system the same—are
the memory and graphics card. Add at least a GB of RAM and
upgrade to a decent AGP card, like a GeForce 7600GT or an ATI
Radeon x1800 or x1900 series. We’d still recommed a complete sys-
tem overhaul though.

Motherboard For PC Config
I want to upgrade my system with the following configuration:
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Processor, 2 GB DDR2 RAM Transcend. I’m
currently having 250 GB HDD + 17-inch monitor. I just want to know, which
motherboard is best suited for my configuration, as I don’t want to go for
graphics card right now. I selected the Intel G33 TL chipset, but according to
online surveys, it doesn’t perform too well. So please suggest a mother-
board, with an on-board graphics solution, that’s suitable enough to run
Vista Ultimate without problems. I do not want a gaming rig. Also, suggest a
motherboard that will be available in India over the next month. My overall
budget is Rs 20,000 (including Processor + RAM)
Aashish Jindal

Your processor and memory is more than sufficient to run
Windows Vista. The G33 might not have the best onboard graph-
ics solution, but adding a dedicated graphics card will increase the
performance phenomenally. You could also add another 2 GB of
memory. If you spend a lot of time gaming, then a GeForce 9600
GSO, 9600 GT or an 8800 GT would be great cards to buy. They are
priced between Rs 7,000 to Rs 12,000. If you just want something
that is Vista-compatible, then a GeForce 8400 GS or an ATI Radeon
2400 XT will do. Unfortunately, we cannot recommend that you use
onboard graphics with a Q6600 and 2/4 GB of RAM for Vista
Ultimate—that’s just criminal!

USB Problem
I have a problem regarding the USB slot of my PC, which I think you guys
will surely sort out.
Actually, the problem is, when I connect any pen drive to any USB port,

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either my system hangs or the CPU usage shoots up to 100 per cent (without
indicating any device connected). At times, I thought it could be a virus pres-
ent in those devices, but those same devices work absolutely fine on other
systems. But, when I connect some other devices such as my mobile or my
MP3, the device gets detected and runs fine. I have already formatted and
reformatted my system several times and reinstalled the drivers, but the
problem persists.
So, I request you guys to please help me out of this situation. Just
because of this problem, I still have to rely upon my CD writer to carry data
as I am not able to buy a pen drive for myself. Please help. My motherboard
is Gigabyte 845i and I use a Pentium 4 2.4 GHz processor).
Piyush Gurung, Dehradun, Uttarakhand

Be sure to install the latest drivers from the Internet for your
motherboard. An antivirus on Windows could also be locking up
the USB drive trying to scan it. If you can get your hands on a Linux
LiveCD, boot into it and try connecting your flash drive. See if the
drive is accessible. Try attaching the drive to some of the other USB
ports or detach all USB devices and use the flash drive.

Hardisk Problem
My problem is that my hard disk (WD-250GB) is detected as a removable
drive. Please help. My Configuration is AMD (Athlon) 5200+ Processor
and ASUS VM Board 1GB RAM.
Avin Tokade

The detachable drive is
to do with NVIDIA
drivers and Windows XP.
Try installing the latest
motherboard drivers.
There is a quick fix if the
problem isn’t solved. Start

clicking on Start > Run A small registry change can get rid of the
your registry editor by

> regedit. Browse to
removable disk icon for your internal drive

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServices

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nvata. Create a new DWORD called DisableRemovable and enter the
value as 1. Restart Windows to have the changes come into effect.

Faulty DVD Drive????
I have a HL-DT-ST RW/DVD GCC-4522B from LG DVD ROM. The problem
is that it can read the DVD from Digit and other original DVDs, but it
can’t read burnt DVD from Moser Baer (Rs 20 ones). I have burned DVDs on
my friend’s computer.
Cool Fellow

Many a times, DVD drives do not support all kinds of media from
the different manufacturers. One of the ways to fix this problem
is to flash the firmware of the drive. Look on the manufacturer’s site
for your model and check if there is any firmware release to improve
media reading capabilities. Also, there could be something wrong
with your friend’s DVD writer. Check the DVDs burnt on his PC on a
third PC, to make sure the DVDs haven’t become coasters.

SLI
I recently came to know that an SLI motherboard supports more
than one graphic card. Can you tell me how to connect the VGA cable,
since both the graphic card has VGA outlet.
Ashish Mathew

An SLI motherboard is meant to connect two identical NVIDIA
cards together to get better performance out of them. Usually,
any one of the cards can be used to connect to the display, but you also
need to use a bridge between the two cards inside your case.

High FPS On Slow system, Low FPS On High System
I have a laptop. Its configuration is Intel Celeron M Processor 1.40 GHz,
256 MB DDR SD RAM, 64 MB integrated video memory (Mobile Intel
915GM) and I also have desktop PC configuration—Intel Pentium 4 processor
2.6 GHz, 256 MB DDR SD RAM, 64 MB integrated video memory (Intel 82845G
Extreme Graphics). When I installed GTA San Andreas on my laptop, it runs
very fine on low settings. But when I run them on my desktop, the frame
rates are very low on low settings. What can I do to play GTASA on my desk-

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top PC with good frames? I’ve updated my video drivers, defragged my HDD,
and stopped unnecessary running programs from Task Manager, and even
stopped the anti-virus!
Puranjai Mall

The 915GM motherboard is a newer and a better graphics solu-
tion than the one on your desktop. 256 MB is too little to run
Windows XP and GTA: San Andreas on. Adding a dedicated 6600GT or
7600GT can improve performance but you also should add more mem-
ory—at least 1 GB of it.

PC Woes
I’m sending this mail
about my PC problem.
When I start my PC, it shows
the following message:
CMOS checksum error-
defaults loaded
Warning! CPU has been
changed, Please enter CPU
speed, CMOS setup and save

It asks me to press [F1] A small registry change can get rid of the
before exit.

to continue. Please give me removable disk icon for your internal drive
some suggestions about this
problem.
Anish Panicker

Enter the BIOS and reset the settings to default. Save and reboot
and look if the problem continues. If it does, the battery on the
motherboard may have become old and needs to be replaced.

Question
1. In my computer, folder option is there, but I cannot find the
option to show hidden files. How can I repair without formatting
the disc?
2. My motherboard is ASUS P5W DH Deluxe 975 chipset, its tempera-

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ture rises up to 55 degrees. Processor is Intel Core2 Duo 2 GHz. CPU
temperature is 16 to 21 degrees. What can be the possible reason for
the motherboard overheating?
RS Khiangte, Aizawl

The temperature of 16 to 21 degrees Celcius is very strange. You
should carefully reach in and touch the heatsink of the processor
to see if it really is that cold. Most Core 2 Duos running on the stock
heatsink run between 35 and 50 degrees Celcius on idle depending on
ambient temperatures. 55 degrees Celcius is high but you shouldn’t
be too worried. It is only when any of your components go over 65 and
70 degrees Celcius that you need to be concerned.

From The ThinkDigit Forum (thinkdigit.com/forum)

Moody Resolutions
I am using an LG Flatron L1752S (17-inch LCD) monitor with my PC
(845GVSR 2.4 GHz motherboard with a Pentium 4 processor). Recently,
I am suffering from display resolution problems. I used to set my resolution
to 1024x768. But when I restart my PC, then the resolution automatically
changes to 1280x1024.
So, I want to know whether there is any way to fix the resolution prob-
lem. If yes, please help.
flatron

17-inch non-widescreens have a native resolution of 1280x1024.
This is also a non-widescreen. Hence, it is recommended that you
use 1280x1024.
iMav

LCD should be used at native resolutions. For 17-inch monitors, it
is 1280x768. Stick to this resolution. Reinstall VGA card and mon-
itor’s drivers.
Desiibond

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How To Check RAM Frequency?
I have a Compaq Presario SR5250IL PC,
with 512 MB of DDR2 RAM, which is a
real bottle neck for now. I wanted to
upgrade my system. Can anyone tell me how
to check the RAM frequency? I am planning
to get a 2 GB kit and planning to use it along
the 512 MB. Is this a good way to go?

DigitDonz
CPU-Z is a compact little tool that
Install cpu-z (http://www.cpuid.com shows information on your
processor and memory
/cpuz.php) and you can see all techni-
cal info of your PC hardware including RAM frequency.

sanyaldk

Will 1 GB RAM work fine with 512MB?
I’m planning to increase my system RAM and planning to buy 1 GB RAM
for my PC. Someone told me that I can’t use both RAMs together. Please
tell me if this is true. My system configuration is:
Windows XP SP2, Intel Pentium 4 Processor, D865GSA Intel mother-
board, 512MB RAM, 80 GB Seagate HDD, Sony DVD-RW
Ashok Verma

If frequencies of RAM match, use the two capacities together.
xbonez

Yes. It will work. Just make sure it has the same frequency and
timing. Much better if it comes from the same manufacturer.
desiibond

Anisotropic filtering in games?
What is bilinear, trilinear and anisotropic filtering in games? Which
option must be used for best graphics and which must be used for
fastest performance? Do they need any special hardware like GFX cards?
Prakash Gourav

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Anisotropic filtering will give you better looks, but perform-
ance maybe hit. You need a graphics card that supports
anisotropic filtering.
nvidia

Bluetooth!
I’m using my cell phone’s Bluetooth to connect to the Internet. Is it true
that using Bluetooth a lot damages it? Internet is on at least 12 hours a
day, via GPRS through Bluetooth. So is it okay to do so? Will it not be dam-
aging to the Bluetooth device?
rahul_u_know_me

I don’t know about the Bluetooth system, but it will surely short-
en your battery’s overall life.
Krazy_About_Technology

Your overall battery life may go down. Instead of giving, say, 10
hours on 100 per cent life, it may go down to 7 or 6.
eggman

Please Help. “usbenchi.sys” Missing
When I connect my iPod (30 GB) to my computer (XP), the “DO NOT DIS-
CONNECT” screen on the iPod does not appear. Also in XP, only the mes-
sage “A high speed USB connected in a non-hi speed USB port”.
When I went to device manager, I saw a yellow question mark on the USB
mass storage icon. When I tried to install the driver, it asks for
“usbenchi.sys”. Can you guys tell me from where I can get the usbenchi.sys
file?
kerthivasan

You do not have USB 2.0 drivers installed, or the port you are con-
necting the iPod to is a USB 1.1 port.
Check if you have a USB 2.0 port on your computer and if you have
drivers installed.
kumarmohit
Note: You can search Google to find the file that you need, just make sure
it’s from a legitimate source

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PC Woes
A friend of mine is facing a
slight problem. I’d be grateful
if you can help in diagnosing what
the problem is. The problem is that
every morning after he starts the
computer, it restarts on its own
every 5-10 minutes, for 5 to 6
times at least. It has got worse for Intel Active Monitor is an application to
the last 6 months. The SMPS has monitor temperatures and fan speeds on
been changed and the engineer Intel motherboard
now says it’s a cooling problem.
The PC configuration is Pentium 4, 2.4 GHz, 512 MB RAM (256x2), 80 GB
HDD. It is 3 years and 3 months old.
Thanks for all the help.
godsownman

As an initial step towards nailing down the issue, I recommend
you to install this “Intel active monitor” software or any other
software that monitors the temperature of the processor to check, if
it is in fact, due to heating. If so, then, you might have to apply a fresh
layer of thermal paste between the heat sink and the processor.
legolas

Please Help Me… Strange Problem
Whenever I put any CD or DVD in my CD drive, then my computer dras-
tically slows down while copying files to my hard drive. I have a good
configuration, which can run such programmes easily. Is it due to a virus?
saubrl

Check if DMA is enabled for both your optical drive and hard
drive.

> Run >
abh1shek

devmgmt.msc), find IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers and double-click on each
Note: To do this, open device manager (Start

channel shown. Under Advanced Settings, if you see any channel set to run in
PIO mode, change it to DMA if Available.

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Compaq Beeping Sound
I have a Compaq desktop. Whenever I play any game, a beeping sound
starts up after about 5 to 6 minutes. Why does this happen? How do I
stop the sound?
sides

The beeping sound could be from the motherboard’s alarm due
to rising temperatures. Go to the BIOS and look at the tempera-
ture of your processor. If it is overheating, then you should attend to
it. If the alarm temperature is set to really low, then set the alarm tem-
perature to around 70. The beeping could also be from other applica-
tions running in the background.

Can I play 720p And 1080p On My PC?
My system configuration is
Intel Core2 Duo E4500 @ 2.2 GHz,
Kingston 2 GB DDR2 @ 667 MHz
NVIDIA 6200 LE, XFX 8800 GT Alpha Dog Edition
Seagate 320 GB SATA, 160 GB WD Cavair
amrawtanshx

Running HD media should not be an issue on your system. A dual
core processor itself should be just about sufficient to run the
videos.

Problem With ATP3
My ATP3 was running OK till yesterday. But today when I powered on
the speakers, and played a movie, the woofer was full of distortion,
although the satellites sound perfect. Then I brought the bass level to zero,
but still sound from the woofer is like a wet tabla. I felt the bass had gone,
only the vibration is there. I am very upset.
I purchased the Altec Lansing ATP3 2 months ago. At the time of pur-
chase, the production of ATP3 had stopped. So I searched every shop and
managed to get one. I had never imagined such sound quality, and was
extremely happy. I am a bass freak, so I started playing at full bass. Then
after some days, I kept the bass at 50 per cent and continued to listen at this
setting. I may have done a wrong thing at first when I played some of the

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sound testing files like ‘ultimate woofer test’, ‘deepest bass test’, etc. After
these, I felt the bass is distorting at high volumes, which it was not when I
first purchased the speakers. But I managed the problem as I don’t listen at
high volumes.
But the current problem was unbearable for me. I have tested everything
but no result. The woofer was unable to produce even slightest bass. Only if
I lower the volume level to 10 to 20 per cent, does the distortion reduce.
Please advice.
Gurujee

Sorry to hear about your problem. The ATP-3 is really nice for the
price. There are a few possibilities.
1. The woofer may have been damaged from the excessive bass
drives you subjected it to. The cone suspension may be torn, or
the coil suspension may be displaced. In such cases, replace-
ment or repair of the woofer is the solution. Problem is, a
matching woofer is probably difficult or impossible to get, and
repair can be done only by someone who’s experienced in doing
the precision work necessary.
2. The screws attaching the woofer inside the cabinet may have
been loosened by vibration.
3. The screws attaching the cover of the cabinet may have been
loosened by vibration, or the connector jack may be loose.
I have seen all of these problems happen with computer speakers.
pimpom

Changing A Laptop Graphics Card
I was thinking about ordering an XPS 1530 from Dell, but was thinking
whether it will be possible for me to change the graphics card later? I
know the RAM can be easily changed. But I’m not sure about graphics card.
Also, can I find a laptop graphics card in the market? Thanks.
aytus on Digit Forum

It’s not possible to change the graphics card. So go for a good one
like 8600MGT. Also retail laptop graphics cards are not easily
available here.
Hrithan2020

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Monitor System Temperature And Fan Speed?
Which software can I use to monitor parameters such as temperature,
fan speed, etc?
ramsingh

Use coretemp to monitor temps and speedfan to monitor fan
speed. Speedfan also tells you the temperature, but it’s inaccurate
at times.
amitash

Audiophiliac woes..
I currently own a Sony PSP for games and music, but the sound quality
is disappointing. Can you suggest a good cheap PMP with excellent
sound quality? I don’t need a screen or it to look cool or with excessive stor-
age (1-4 GB should be enough). I just need EXCELLENT SOUND QUALITY!
Please recommend something
less than Rs 5,000, because I
blew all my money on the PSP.
Also recommend a pair of good
earphones with I repeat,
EXCELLENT SOUND QUALITY. I
need good bass, good highs
and lows, good everything. I
have a budget of around Rs
1,500 for the earphones. I
looked at the Creative EP 550
or 600 something and they
were good, but not too great.
Can you recommend some-
thing better? I listen to a lot of
hip-hop / rock. Thanks
The Transcend TSonic T630 and the Creative
threeonethree EP630 combination give decent quality for a low
price

Transcend T-Sonic 630 and Creative EP630.
Cool G5

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Overclocking Failed. Please Help!
Configuration: Quad Core Q6600
ASUS P5K-VM MOTHERBOARD
320 GB WDC HDD
2 GB ZION SINGLE RAM
500 W SMPS

Problem: My system suddenly restarts and displays
Overclocking Failed! Please Enter Setup to re-configure your system
Press F1 to Run setup
Press F2 to Default Values and Continue.
I don’t know what to do. When I Press F1, it goes to BIOS. Then I don’t
know what to do.
Please help.
Any one knows how to overclock?
jerin3013 on Digit Forum

Just press [F2] to load default values (as you have said earlier, you
don’t know what to do in SETUP).
ashu888ashu888
Note: If you don’t understand the BIOS settings, why are you trying to over-
clock? Overclocking voids your warranty, and can damage your hardware, so
attempt such things at your own risk.

Monitor Problem
I have a Compaq Presario PC of model no. SR1105IL.
I’m facing a problem with my monitor, that is, the colour adjusting
bar appears automatically and fluctuates in itself, disturbing me and while
I’m trying to close, it reappears again.
Kindly send me a solution for this and also clarify whether it’s a virus or
a spyware or any problem related to hardware.
Subhransu Kumar Nayak

If you are talking about the colour bars on your display interface,
then it may be appearing on the screen as your monitor is really
old and the buttons could be damaged.

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Creative Elite Pro Sound Card
I have an ASUS P5B-VM motherboard, XFX 7900GS Graphics Card, 2 GB
RAM, C2D 6400 Processor system and Logitech Z5500 digital speaker
system. I am planning to buy Creative Elite Pro sound card.
The requirement of the card is:
Available PCI 2.1 slot for the audio card. What is this PCI 2.1 slot? Is it a
normal PCI slot? So will the sound card be compatible with my motherboard?
Temperworld

Yes, it’s the normal PCI slot.
infra_red_dude

Noisy Speaker
I have a pair of Creative SBS245 speakers. When I start my computer,
everything works fine, but after half an hour, disturbing chirping noise
comes from the speakers every time
I click on anything. The noise comes
even the media files can be played
due to this disturbing noise.
I have onboard SoundMax audio
with latest driver available on Intel’s
site. I have even tried to lower the
hardware acceleration level to 0.
Nothing works. Kindly help me out. I
have an Intel 865GBF motherboard, Disabling line-in and microphone can get
rid some of the disturbances emitted from
1 GB RAM, 80 GB hard disk, 2.4 GHz the computer and microphones
processor.
Fighter from Digit Forum

Options > Properties. Select line-in and mic. Mute them.
Double-click on the volume control icon in system tray. Click on

iMav

Laptop LCD Questions
I have an Acer laptop. I generally listen to music during the night.
However, I always have to keep the LCD screen open while listening to
music, to prevent it from going to standby mode instantly. I also download

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torrents throughout the night dur-
ing the free hours. For this also, I
have to keep the LCD open. Is there
any way or option by which your
laptop won’t enter the standby
mode with the LCD closed?
gurujee

Assuming you use

1. Go to Control Panel >
Windows,

Power options
2. Check “Do nothing when I
close the lid” in the option Laptop users get additional power saving
or in the Advanced tab. settings from Windows power management
Now your PC will stay ON
with the lid closed.
drgrudge

SMPS Query
Today I purchased the following:
Intel DG33FB motherboard LGA775, C2D 2.66 2x1 GB RAM, Sony 20x
DVD writer, XFX 512 MB 8600GT, Zebronics chassis. I asked the dealer to give
me a 500-W SMPS, but he insisted on 400 W (comes with Zebronics chassis).
Will this be sufficient for the above configuration?
tech_lover

450 W should be enough. But I’m not sure if you can do some over
clocking or over volting. You will be better off with a 500 W from
Zebronics. I have the same (Rs 1,400) in Bangalore.
Chichi

How To Make Anologue Videos Digital?
I had found an old Sony handycam, which my dad bought around 1995.
I had some priceless videos in it. So I wanted to ask you how I could con-
vert them to digital.
Hullap from Digit Forum

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Firstly, see if your computer has a graphics card (a simple TV
Tuner / capture card will suffice). Secondly, see if the handycam
has an S-Video port. If yes, then you need to buy an S-Video cable.
Connect the cable to the graphics card slot.
Run Windows Movie Maker v2.0 and capture the video from the
handycam. You should have sufficient space (20+ GB) in the HDD par-
tition that you would store the captured file. Save the captured file
(MPEG4 format) in the HDD. Run Nero and convert the captured file
to VCD / SVCD format and write it on a blank CD.
Addendum: Prior to start capturing, you should connect an audio
cable from handycam to the sound card of your computer to capture
the audio.
avik_chat

Urgent: System Crash!
I am getting the following message when I switch ON my PC:
Reboot and select proper boot device or insert boot media in select-
ed boot device. In addition, I’m unable to open C: from the recovery console.
I’m getting the following message: Fixboot cannot find system drive, or
the drive specified is not valid.
Ron

I think the HDD has gone kaput. First check whether the HDD is
properly detected by the system
BIOS. If it is, then it can be a case of
partition loss only. Otherwise, you’re
out of luck. Prepare to purchase a new
one. If it’s partition loss, try various
tools that are available both for free
and paid ones. I once lost my parti-
tions while installing Linux, I used
the Ultimate Boot CD. It contains a
utility called testtool, which is a text The Ultimate Boot CD has utilities
for recovering from system crashes
UI-based one, but works very nicely. and problems.
And yes, do check the data and power
cables of the HDD also.
Krazy_About_Technology

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If you have XP, use the bootcfg
command to fix your boot.ini
entries. However, since you say, you
couldn’t access C drive from the recov-
ery console, I’m afraid there are issues
with your hard disk.
The Windows Recovery Console
Legolas can be used to restore the boot
records and loader
Mouse produces a jerky movement
in game!
Recently, I got myself a new assembled PC. My configuration is:
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4 GHz
MSI P7N SLI Platinum
2 GB Corsair RAM
XFX GeForce 8800 GTS 640 MB DDR3
500 GB SATA hard drive
Windows Vista Ultimate SP 1
I am an avid gamer, and with a configuration as mentioned above, I
expect some decent gaming experience. However, ever since I got this PC, it
behaves worse than a Pentium 3! For instance, it hangs unnecessarily even
when I am surfing the Internet. However, coming to the major problem that
I am facing, while playing this game “Kane and Lynch”, the mouse produces
a jerky or slow movement when I move to look around. The same happens
with “Spiderman 3”. At some point, it behaves normally, but then it also pro-
duces a jerky movement. I have all the latest drivers required to run these
games, but the problem persists. I have been searching over the Internet for
quite sometime now, but can’t come up with anything specific.
Unfortunately, in all the forums that I went through, nobody it seems is
aware of the exact reason behind this problem. They say that by lowering
down the resolution in the game or turning off anti-aliasing will solve this
issue, but unfortunately, that also didn’t help. My PC has all the latest
Windows updates as well. Kindly help me, as I am still on my vacation and my
itchy fingers are dying to ram the keyboard with lots of gaming around.
Varun Kumar Sah

Firstly, we hope you have all the drivers for your motherboard and
graphics card installed. The locking up of the computer could be

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because of high temperatures. You have not mentioned what power
supply came with your system. We recommend a good power supply
of at least 500 W for your configuration. You mouse may be the cul-
prit as well—mice with low DPI might give you the impression of stut-
tering.

Some Questions!
I have some questions and I would be highly obliged, if I could get the
answers.
1. My current configuration is Pentium dual core 3.0 GHz with 2 GB DDR2
RAM and GeForce 8600GT 256 MB. Transcend RAM, supported by a
965 motherboard. Is this configuration sufficient to run games like
DIRT?
2. Would a Core 2 duo processor (the basic versions) outperform a dual
core clocked at 3.0 GHz?
3. How much help would it be for gaming if I upgrade from 2 GB to 4 GB
of RAM?
4. Instead of RAM if I go for a 8800GT card, would it be a much better
option (my budget is limited)?
5. Would you recommend me upgrading XP to Vista for gaming?
Raunaq Sahay

Your system configuration should be able to run the game Dirt at
medium settings at resolutions of 1024x768 just fine. A Core 2
Duo and a GeForce 9600GT or one of the newly released cards—Radeon
4850 priced at around $200 from ATI should do much more. A Core 2
Duo running at 3 GHz can help further improve the performance. The
Core 2 Duo E8400 is one such processor that runs at 3.0 GHz. 2 GB of
memory is decent amount of memory to run Vista and games. 4 GB of
memory is just useful in making your system a little more future-
proof. 4 GB of memory means you would also need to get a 64-bit OS
to utilise the entire 4 GB. An 8800 GT is great value for money. With
the release of new cards from NVIDIA and ATI, it is a good idea to wait
a week or two till prices of the costlier 9800GTX or higher performing
cards, drop to around that of 8800GT. An XP to Vista shift will not
change your performance at all, so it is all up to you which OS you pre-
fer to use.

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One Long Beep, 2 Short Beeps
My old PC (bought it in 2006) configuration is as follows:
AMD 64 3200+ 939
ASUS A8N-SLI PE
7600GT
1 GB DDR400 Kingston
Antec SP-400W
Today, suddenly while it was running, I heard one long beep and two
short beeps continuously, with no display. Removing the graphics cards and
reinserting it makes no difference, and I hear the same beeps. I even tried
with a spare 6600GT. I still get the same beep codes. The 7600GT works fine
in another PC.
I removed all the memory, but still get the same beep codes. Even tried
with different combinations of memory and memory slots, to no avail.
I removed the processor and re-installed it back, but still have the
same problem.

Well, looks like it’s a motherboard problem.

realdan

There is some problem with the video interface on your motherboard.
That’s what the long and two short beeps mean. And as you are sure that
the card is ok, then surely the motherboard’s PCIE interface has some trouble.

Get it replaced if it’s still in warranty.
dOm1naTOr

Turn Off Cordless Mice And Keyboard
I have purchased Cordless Logitech Ex 90 (Mouse and Keyboard), and
installed two batteries in the mouse and also in the keyboard
I can’t turn off the mouse. I press the green button and remove the
receiver from the USB port, but still there is light in the mouse. Any idea,
why?
Also, any idea how many hours do the batteries work? If I use mouse for
five hours daily, then when will be batteries get drained?
AMITAGARWAL0

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The green button at the bottom of the mouse indicates the mouse
connection with the receiver. The only way to switch off the
mouse is to manually remove the batteries. The batteries should last
for about three months. Even I’ve used the Logitech EX-90, and at pres-
ent, I’m using a Microsoft Wireless keyboard and mouse. I’ve even
tried to remove the mouse battery to save battery power
assassin

Which router to go for—802.11n or 802.11g?
I wanted to buy a Linksys wireless ADSL router. Which one should I buy?
There are two technologies—802.11n and 802.11g. Can anyone explain
what’s the difference between them. Which one to buy and which one would
be expensive?
raja2281 from Digit Forum

If you can afford, then get the 802.11n router. You’ll get a higher
transfer rate and larger coverage area.
hellgate
My HDD crashed!
I have a problem with my PC. I wanted to repartition one of my drives
(it was empty then) and so used Paragon Partition manager for the
same. But during the process, a power shutdown occurred. After that, the
partition I worked on and two other partitions next to it were corrupted. The
other partition contains 30 GB of My Documents. I recovered the partition
with Acronis Disk Director (PMagic does not even start, says there is a prob-
lem in the Partition table info) and the data using Stellar Phoenix Windows
Data Recovery. But still some directories show up empty and not all files are
recovered. The other two partitions do not even show up. They are discov-
ered as RAW partitions. I know this is a long shot, but any suggestions as to
what can be done?
Aparajith from Digit Forum

You can also use this http://hddguru.com/content/
en/software/. Download partition find and mount software.
This allows you to recover deleted partitions. What’s special in this
program is that it allows you to mount lost partitions right into the
system, so the OS sees that lost partition like a good one.

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This software also has the possibility to create and mount images
of the entire hard drive or separate partitions.
chandal_keta
Computer OFF, Power Light Blinking
I have a desktop. Yesterday, I experienced a strange problem. My com-
puter had been ON for about two hours. I was accessing the Internet,
and Bitlord was running along with anti-virus and firewall. I left the comput-
er running and took a break. I had turned OFF the monitor.
After about ten minutes, I noticed the computer had shut down. But it’s
power light was blinking with an interval of about two to three seconds.
Everything else connected to the computer was OFF. Even the SMPS was OFF
and it’s fan wasn’t running. When I pressed the reset and power buttons,
nothing happened. I tried moving the mouse and pressing the keyboard keys,
but nothing happened. I eventually had to turn OFF the UPS to shut down
everything. The Windows Event Viewer shows nothing related to this prob-
lem. I have checked the power settings and everything seems fine. This prob-
lem has occurred for the first time.
What could have happened?
g_goyal2000

Doesn’t look good. I had this problem two months back. Would
return to find my PC in the same state as you mentioned. Had
problems with the SMPS, got it fixed. Then the SMPS got spoilt again,
bought a new power supply unit. Finally ended upgrading the proces-
sor, motherboard, RAM and hard disc.
NucleusKore
The problem was with SMPS. It’s fan, capacitor and a few PCBs had
gone nuts.
Got the SMPS repaired, problem solved.
g_goyal2000

Overclocking The 8600GT
I got an XFX8600GT 512 DDR2. I want to overclock it. I’m new to over-
clocking. stock- core clock-540. memory clock 400. When I change the
clocks using ntune to anything above 620 / 450, the system crashes. Why is
that? What else do I have to change in ntune? Never done this before. My CPU
is Q6600 and motherboard is DG31PR. Why can’t I overclock it to about 700

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/ 500 and keep it stable? It crashes if I increase it by 50 MHz.
kooki

Overclocking is not that difficult, but you got to be really careful and fol-
low some basic rules.
1. Be careful—overclocking can burn out your card, and damage your
hardware.
2. Tweak the setting a bit, and test it for 15 to 20 minutes.
Use ATI tools (works perfect with NVIDIA card) or RivaTuner. Tweak and
Test, Tweak and Test.
asigh

Will My Graphics Card Support Widescreen Resolutions?
I have a doubt that if I buy this or any widescreen monitor, my configu-
ration will not support the 1440x900 resolution that these widescreen
TFTs offer.
How do I make sure that my Graphics card will support this resolution?
I have checked My Computer > Properties > Settings, but the maximum it
shows is 1024x768 (Though I will recheck this). The documentation of
DG965ry says that it supports 2048x1536. Is there any alternative way? What
is the option, if it does not support? Also, I checked many local shops, and all
19-inch monitors have widescreen TFTs only.

ninadb

The GMA x3100 (on the 965 chipset) supports widescreen resolutions.
Go ahead and buy yourself a new TFT
infra_red_dude
Note: To check all resolutions, under My Computer > Properties > Settings,
look for the Advanced button. Click this and under adapter you should find a
choice to view all supported resolution by the camera.

Yellowish Display
Whatever image I see is yellowish, whether it is my desktop, during
bootup process,etc. In short, why are the colours not appearing like
they should.
I also connected another CPU on the same monitor, but it had the same

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problem. Now I think the problem is in my monitor only. And my comput-
er engineer said that the monitor needs repairing. Is there anything that I
can do?
khansaqib101 from Digit Forum

I guess the colour temperature of your monitor needs to be
changed. It’s set to 6500K most probably. You need to set it at
9300K. To change the colour temperature, use the controls in front of
your monitor.
narangz

A faulty VGA cable can also give you such problems. If you have a
cable that has been twisted for a long time, there is a chance of
such colouration. Check the cable and then proceed to calling your
manufacturer’s service personnel.

IDE Problem
I’m slightly confused. Will HDD and DVD ROM work in the same IDE
cable? My friend has only one IDE port in his motherboard.
Dhanusaud from Digit Forum

Yes it will work. Set the HDD to Primary Master and DVD ROM to
primary slave or you can set the HDD to primary slave and pri-
mary DVD ROM to Master. It’s your choice.
shift

Components Needed For Vista
My system configuration is mentioned below:
System Manufacturer: Intel
System Model: D865GBF Model 2004
On-Board Video memory: 64 MB
System Type: x86-based PC
Processor: x86 Family 15 Model 2 Stepping 9
Genuine Intel 2,793 MHz
BIOS Version / Date: Intel Corporation BF86510A .86A.
0060.P16.0404121116, 4/12/2004
SMBIOS Version: 2.3

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Boot Device: PATA1 80 GB DeviceHarddiskVolume1
Total Physical Memory: Slot1 DDR1 256 MB
I know that Windows Vista will not run on my system, until I upgrade the
system. If I will change only the below mentioned items in my system, will
Vista run on it?
1. One DDR1 RAM of 256 MB, that is, upgrade from 256 MB to 512 MB.
2. One 256 MB graphics card, that is, upgrade from onboard, 64 MB to 64
+ 245 = 317 MB.
One dealer told me that I have to change my D865GBF motherboard and
Family 15 Model 2 processor to Vista compatible. I know that my board is not
Vista compatible, but if I upgrade the RAM to 512 MB and VideoCard to 256
MB, will Vista run on my computer?
Also, what will be the LOWEST cost of the upgrade, that is, RAM and AGP
VideoCard?
emailaatif786 from Digit Forum

Yes, Intel 865G and above chipsets are officially supported by Intel
for Windows Vista. This means there are official and proper driv-
ers for it. No need to upgrade the CPU and motherboard, just get 1 GB
RAM and a GeForce 6200 graphics card with 128 MB RAM as mini-
mum. If you have the budget, then go for AGP GeForce 7300GT with
atleast 128 MB RAM. With 512 MB RAM and a graphics card, Vista will
run fine but 1 GB is recommended these days anyway. 865GBF has
four RAM slots, so you can increase RAM easily.
I’m right now using it on 865GBF motherboard with 1 GB RAM
and GeForce FX 5900XT graphics card. The lowest configuration I have
installed Vista Home Basic is Pentium 4 2.4 GHz with Intel 845GEBV2
motherboard with onboard graphics and 512 MB RAM. It runs fine
with the default drivers in Windows Vista for the chipset, etc.
gx_saurav

Error!
Sometimes when I start my desktop, the boot process only shows Intel
desktop motherboard’s screen. After sometime system says that boot
device not found and prompts me to restart the system.
I heard a ‘beep’ tone whenever I got ‘boot device not found...’ error!
quad_master

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HARDWARE I

I had the same problem in my computer (less the beep sound).
The problem was with the loose connection in the power / data
cable. Disconnect and reconnect the cables properly and see if it
works.
PcEnthu

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Windows

ith the majority of the world using Windows as their OS,

W it’s no surprise that most problems people have are
Windows-related. Here we’ll show you solutions to some
of the most common Windows troubles

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TROUBLESHOOTING YOUR PC - PART II
WINDOWS II

Administrator Problem
I bought a second hand computer. It has an administrator account, due
to which I can’t install any software or drivers. I see a message that
says, “you must have administrative privilege to install this software” or
“You can’t access this drive”
Please help me to make a new administrator account, so that I can install
software. Else, help me to modify the existing account.
Harshit Gautam

You should back up any data that you have on to flash drives or
CDs or DVDs. Format your drive and reinstall Windows XP. If you
want to avoid all this trouble, you can ask the previous owner for the
administrator password. Only an administrator can create new users.

Icon Problem
I’m trying to change my HDD icon by placing a .ICO file and creating an
autorun.inf file. However, after creating the autorun file, it disappears
in a few seconds. There
seems to be a problem
in my PC. I tried this on
my friend’s PC too.
Please help me out
and suggest me some
software for creating
icons.
Anurag

If you want to
create a shortcut
to your hard drive,
simply create it by

desktop. Click on New
right clicking on the

> Shortcut. Type
C: if you want a
IconPackager is a quick way to change the look of all shortcut to the C par-
the icons in Windows tition. Click Next,

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and continue to create the shortcut. Right-click on the shortcut, and
click on Properties. Click on the Shortcut tab, and then click the
Change Icon button. Click Browse and point to the location of the
icon. If you want more flexibility, change the icon of your hard drive
and other components using a software called IconPackager (www.
stardock.com/products/iconpackager/).

Start Up Error
I have a Compaq Presario V400 (Intel Celeron M 1.3 GHz, 512 MB RAM).
It has Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition installed. There are two
problems:
1. Windows gives an error at start up stating “Windows cannot find
C:windowsSVChost.exe Make sure you typed the name correctly, and then
try again. To search for a file, click start and then click search”. Here, I see a
second message stating “Could not load or run C:windowssvchost.exe spec-
ified in the registry. Make sure the files exist on the computer or remove the
reference to it in the registry.”
I don’t know what is wrong and how to fix this. Please help.
2. When I connect my laptop to a power supply, it gives a mild shock at
its metallic part. However, if I change the plug it doesn’t. Is this because of
improper earthing in the sockets? If this is the case, then how do I find out if
my power plug has proper earthing or not, and is suitable for the laptop to
be connected?
Please help.
Anshul Munot

Your first problem is most definitely a virus or worm. You need
to preferably install an antivirus or run an online virus scan to
look clean the worm or virus. Your second problem is because of
faulty wiring and you should try connecting the laptop and
the same adapter in some other place to see if you have problems
with it.

Stupid Hidden Folders
I have Pentium 4 2.26 GHz Processor on Intel original 845 mother-
board with 256 MB RAM and using Dual Operating System as
Windows 98 SE on C Drive and Windows XP Professional on D Drive. My

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problem is that I
have one hidden
folder on my D drive
(Windows XP
installed) namely
“System Volume
Information
_restore” with many
sub folders namely
‘Rp 107, Rp108 and
so on up to Rp 137’.
When I tried to scan
one of these folders,
namely Rp 126 with
Norton Antivirus
2003, my system
restarted by itself. Is
something wrong
with this folder? Turning off System Restore for all the drives can save
How are these fold- lots of valuable space
ers created? Also,
this folder ‘system volume information’ is quite huge (3.15 GB). Can I
delete it? Please reply. Also, my D drive (with Windows XP installed) have
some other hidden folders as ‘found.000, found.001, found.002, etc. up
to found.011’ and one other namely ‘MSOCache’ with a size of 526 MB.
How are these folders created? Can I delete them?
Manish Kumar Aggarwal

The System Volume Information folders contain all the system
recovery data, which are used when your OS gets corrupted, or

disable system recovery by starting System Properties from Start
when you lose some data. If you want to save that space, you can

> Control Panel. Click on the System Restore tab and then on
Turn off System Restore on all drives. Some drives can be disabled
individually by clicking on the drives listed below and then on the
Settings button.

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Task Manager Disabled
Hi, I have a laptop, but without an Internet connection. I visit Internet
parlours occasionally to download photos, and at times, themes for my
mobile. Last time my pen drive was infected with a virus. Whenever I create
a folder, automatically another folder gets created by the same name inside
my folder. It shows up as a Microsoft Windows Corporation folder in the sub-
title of the folder. The same thing happened on my laptop also. After that,
following things happened:
1. When I tried to access my C: drive, I couldn’t. It shows an hourglass
and nothing happens.
2. When I press [Ctrl] + [Alt] + [Del], it says “taskbarmanager has been
disabled by Administrator”. Since yesterday, my laptop is not booting up at
all. It shows up a welcome screen and stops at that.
I don’t know much about all these. Please help me out. I’ll be grateful.
Sagar Reddy

Your pen drive is infected with some kind of worm or virus. The
quickest way to fix this is to get a powerful antivirus such as
Kaspersky or NOD32. Update the virus definitions and clean your sys-
tem. Also, make sure to format the pen drive, so you don’t end up
infecting any more systems, including your own when you are done.
You should boot into safe mode to do the cleansing.

Boot Reboot
I have a serious problem with my PC. Whenever I try to boot my system,
it work fine for a few minutes and then automatically restarts in a few
minutes. I have installed SP2. Please help.
Anurag Sen

The problem could be with anything. It could be a corrupted
Windows installation if your XP doesn’t boot completely. If the
computer boots normally and then randomly reboots, it could be a
faulty power supply, or even a heating issue.

LAN Problem
I have two PCs running Windows XP SP2. I connected them with a PC-to-
PC LAN cable and shared their hard disks (in both machines).

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Everything seemed
OK, and I disabled
the firewall and
antivirus to play
games. To test, I
pinged them and
got a positive
result, I can also
play FIFA 08 and
can view the con-
tents of machine 2
from machine 1, but
when I want to see
the contents of
machine 1 from
machine 2, it says
Fix the network share accessibility problem by making a
//1 is not accessible, change in the Windows registry
you might not have
permissions to access this resource. Please contact your system administra-
tor. I tried Microsoft Help and Support, but didn’t find any solution. What is
the problem and what should I do? Please help.
Anindya Biswas

Right-click on the folders you have shared. Click on Properties,
and then on the Security tab. Make sure the necessary permis-

editor by clicking on Start > Run and entering regedit there.
sions are allotted to the users. If that does not work, open the registry

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEM
CurrentControlSetControlLsa and change the value of the
Browse to

restrictanonymous DWORD to 0.

A Crude Problem?

my C: drive.
I’m using Windows XP SP2. I inadvertently deleted the NTLDR file from

Now, whenever I try to restart my system, it says NTLDR is missing please
restart. How can I solve this problem? It’s very crude. Please help.
Anurag Sen

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II WINDOWS

NTLDR is the boot loader for your Windows XP. Fixing the prob-

into the Recovery console. Type COPY D:i386NTLDR C:. Where
lem is simple. Boot using the Windows XP installer CD and get

D: is your CD / DVD drive. Reboot the computer.

Using Vista or XP on my laptop
I am buying a
new laptop,
with Windows
Vista as part of
bundle, but I am
thinking of down-
grading to
Windows XP, after
experiencing the
performance of
Vista as it goes
really slow. Shall I
move down to XP
or are there any
ways to possibly to
enhance the per-
formance of Vista?
If so, kindly
provide me with a
few. This will be Vista can run just fine with 1 GB of RAM although 2 GB is
helpful, as I don’t most recommended
want to spend on
XP unnecessarily.
Akash Rana

As long as you have 2 GB of RAM, Vista runs well. 1 GB is a bare
minimum for it to run, but clearly you should have no problem.
Using Vista or XP is a personal choice.
If you have the option of choosing XP over Vista and saving money,
then opt for XP, since you seem to prefer it. If you’re going to have to
spend more to get XP, stick with Vista, it’s more secure.

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Cute Problems
I use Windows XP SP2 on my system. I had installed Creator Pro version
2.0 (build# 31). I tried to make a setup with it. At 99.99 per cent, the
setup creation process stopped and it displayed an error message. Can you
please help me? When I tried to install Windows XP SP3 on my friend’s PC, it
stops by displaying a message as shown in the attachmed picture. Can you
please solve the problem? Also, in the March 2005 edition, you have given a

Windows XP Service Pack 3 refusing to install unless all modifications are removed

way to integrate SP2 into Windows XP. Now can you please show me a way to
integrate Windows Vista SP1 to Windows Vista? Thanks
Chikku George Thomas

Most likely, the error is because the installer ends up being too
big. If you are using FAT32 partitions, then you are bound to get
this error. Use a NTFS partition and try again.
The reason your
friend is unable to
install Windows XP
SP3 is because he
has some kind of
enhancement utili-
ties installed for
the login screen or
for boot up screens.
Uninstalling these
applications and
restoring the
default Windows vLite like nLite, allows customisations to the Vista
files will allow you installation
to install SP3.
Vista integration can be done using software called vLite
(www.vlite.net), which is very much like nLite.

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II WINDOWS

HAL.DLL
When my PC boots up, an error message appears some times.

is missing or corrupt: <Windows root>system32hal.dll.
The message is “Windows could not start because the following file

Please re-install a copy of the above file.” but when I again restart the
problem doesn’t appear. My system configuration is Intel DG33FB moth-
erboard, Core 2 Duo 2.66 GHz processor, 2 GB DDR2 RAM, XFX 8600 GT
GEFORCE, 160 GB SATA hard disk, Creative sound blaster Audigi sound
card. Please help me out.
Sayandeep De
Your hal.dll file has been corrupted or has got deleted. Boot using

Type EXPAND D:i386hal.dl_ C:WINDOWSSYSTEM32
the Windows XP installer CD and get into the Recovery console.

hal.dll (if D: is the CD/DVD drive). Reboot the computer.

Help
Can you please tell me how to implement the “shutdown” button on
the desktop as an icon, instead of “Start” in the status bar how my
name can be displayed? For example, instead of “Start”, I want my name
“BULU”.
Alok Nath

Creating a shutdown icon is easy. Simply create a shortcut by
right-clicking

then on New >
on the desktop and

Shortcut. Enter
shutdown –s and
continue to finish
the shortcut.
Double-clicking on
the icon will shut-

Shutdown –s –t
down the computer.

10 shuts the com-
puter down in 10 A quick shutdown shortcut can be used to shutdown the
seconds. system without any confirmation windows

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Problem in dual booting
I have the following configuration for my desktop:
Pentium D820, Intel D945GNT motherboard, 2 GB DDR2 533MHz RAM,
17-inch LG CRT monitor, 500 GB and 160 GB HDD. I installed Windows XP
Professional in a 500-GB drive and Windows 2003 server in 160 GB drive.
When I connect both hard disks and switch ON the system, it displays boot-
ing display screen with both OSs with server 2003 as first one. When I select
server 2003, it works normally, showing both hard drives partitions starting
from 160 GB to 500 GB. But when I select Windows XP, the XP logo screen
displays for around 10 seconds, then the system restarts and shows the
booting screen again. When I remove the 160 GB HDD and switch on the sys-
tem, XP works normally. I want to make it dual boot with options, such that
when I select server 2003 it should show 160 GB HDD, and when I select XP,
it should show 500 GB HDD. At least, XP and Server 2003, both should run
when I connect both HDD so that I have the option of dual boot.
Edwin Paul Menezes

The problem you are facing is because of confusion in boot
records written on each of the drives and OSs installed on the
larger drive. With the 160 GB connected, make sure you have the cor-
rect drive booting up from the BIOS. You can also edit the boot.ini file
on each of the drives and correct the entries so that you have the right
partition and Windows installation booting up.

XP Not Installing
My hard disk had crashed, so I bought a new Seagate 160 GB hard disk
for my laptop. When I tried to install XP, it said that it did not detect any
hard disk. I used active boot disk to format it, and created three partitions.
Also, it said no hard disk detected. I tried to install Vista, but I get I/O inter-
face errors. Please tell me how to install XP again urgently.
Gaurav Kenue

Your Windows XP refuses to install, most likely because of
Windows XP not having the necessary drivers for the SATA con-
troller on the laptop. Download the drivers you’re your laptop or
motherboard manufacturer’s site. You need to use a floppy to install
drivers when the Windows XP installation begins. You can also use

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II WINDOWS

the mode of the SATA controller to IDE in your BIOS by pressing [F2]
nLite to slipstream the drivers. Before all this, you can try changing

or [Del] when the PC starts.

System Slow
I have a computer with a configuration as follows:
Intel Pentium4 3.00 GHz with HT
Intel 915GAG chipset motherboard
Two DDR 512MB Ram (1 with 333 MHz and the other 400 MHz)
Seagate hard disks (80 GB PATA and 160 GB SATA)
XFX NVIDIA Geforce 8800GT graphic card
Cooler Master 600 W SMPS
Windows XP Professional
Some days back, I found Trojans on my system using True Sword Trial
Version (win32.backdoor.haxdoor, winfixer, win32.backdoor. IRCBot,
HDAudPropShortcut.exe).
I formatted C:, the primary partition and installed Windows again, as the
system was very slow. After installation, I rechecked for Trojans and
removed them using True Sword. However, my system is still not performing
as per expectations. It takes around three to four minutes to start up
Windows. Is this normal? Also, tell me ways to avoid such Trojans that are not
detected by free software like Spybot Search and Destroy. I used the trial
version of True Sword to get rid of theses Trojans. Can system overheating
be the reason for slow performance? I checked the temperature of the
processor from BIOS and it ranges from 55 to 64 degrees and with both Zone
1 and Zone 2 around 45 degrees. Is this normal?
Nilesh Thakur

True Sword is a software meant to remove trojans, spyware and
adware, but isn’t really an antivirus. Your processor temperature
of 64 degrees is high, but shouldn’t cause significant slowdown. Three
to four minutes is way too long for a Windows startup. Check to see if
your hard drive has any problems. You can check for this by copying a
large amount of files from one partition to another. Also from device
manager, make sure that all drives on the system are running in DMA
mode. Sometimes Windows sets drives to run in PIO mode which caus-
es major drops in performance.

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From The Forum - thinkdigit.com/forum

XP SP3 upgrade
I have genuine version
of XP SP2 and auto-
matic updates are on. Now,
that SP3 is launched,
should I manually down-
load it or has automatic
updates done it for me?
The System Properties windows displays like the
How do I determine? version and license of Windows installed
I came across an arti-
cle on the Internet that installation of SP3 on computers running the Norton
antivirus face problems due to errors created in the registry.
Sridhar_Rao

That’s easy. Press [Windows] + [Pause/break], or right-click
My Computer > Properties. In the system properties, you
should see:
System:
Microsoft Windows XP Professional (or Home)
Version xxxx
Service Pack 3 or 2 if that’s installed.
If your SP is still 2, visit windowsupdate.microsoft.com in IE and
run Windows Update manually, or just download the EXE file for IT
professionals and developers in www.microsoft.com/downloads. If you have
already installed SP3, then no problem.
dheeraj_kumar

XP on 4 GB?
Will XP Professional support 4 GB RAM?
mannrak2003

Is it 32-bit version or 64-bit?
If it is 64 bit, then it will support 4 GB.
khansaqib101

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How To Verify When The PC Was Last Used?
How can I see when
my PC was last used?
ra_sriniketan

If you just want to
know when it was
last booted, in the com-
mand prompt window

net statistics
type:

The net statistics shows the current system uptime workstation
saROMan

Hibernate
Every time I boot, a hibernate file gets created, despite having been
deleted both manually and by tune up utilities 2008. I want to disable
it permanently—is there any way around?
manishjha18

I think the hibernation option is itself not turned off, and
so the hiberfil.sys is continuously getting recreated. Please dis-
able hibernation from power options in Control Panel and recheck.
debsuvra

NTVDM CPU has encountered an illegal instruction
Whenever I try to execute Turbo C++ , I get the following message:
16-bit MS-DOS Subsystem
Turbo C++ IDE, The NTVDM CPU has encountered an illegal instruction.
CS:0000 IP:0077 OP:f0 37 05 0e 02 Choose ‘Close’ to terminate the
application. Help me out.
ddpatel78

That’s XP’s fault trying to emulate DOS applications.
Change compatibility mode to say Win 98 in properties and it
should work fine.
rayraven

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WINDOWS II

Ditch Turbo C++, and use Relo (http://www.fifsoft.com/relo/) along
with Borland’s free C++ Compiler (http://www.codegear.com/downloads/
free/cppbuilder)
Zeeshan Quireshi

How To Change Default
“My Documents”
Location?
Can someone tell me
how to change the loca-
tion of “My Documents” in
Windows XP.
Arnold

To change My
Documents location:
1) Right-click on My
Documents
2) Click Properties
3) And enter your
desired location in target.
Third Eye The My Documents folder can be shifted to
other locations on the hard drive
Help Installing XP SP2
I have a Compaq laptop worth following configuration
Intel Dual Core 1.66 GHz
Intel mobile 965 with integrated graphics
160 GB SATA HDD
It came with Vista. But I want to install XP SP2. So when I try to install XP
SP2 through a bootable CD, it does not show any HDD. The same problem
came when I tried to install XP SP2 in a desktop with Intel G965 chipset
motherboard. But there’s a setting in the BIOS, which was needed to be
changed to install XP SP2. In the laptop, there is no such setting. What should
be done to install XP SP2 in the laptop. Please help.
Note: The BIOS setting in the Intel G965 board was some thing related to
HDD, which I changed to IDE.
atino_ansari

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Two options:
1. Try to find the SATA driver for your HDD and slipstream it to
your XP CD, or keep it handy in a floppy or CD and use it when the XP
setup asks you if you want to install any third party drivers.
2. Simple method: Go to your BIOS and disable SATA support. If
this option is not there, then disable AHCI in your BIOS. You would
lose the advantages of SATA by this method, but these advantages are
negligible and do NOT in any way decrease HDD speed, reliability or
anything else. I’m currently using it this way only.
prasad_den

BOOT.INI Shows Three Entries
I have a doubt. Two years ago, I formatted my friend’s PC due to exces-
sive spyware. I formatted C drive, and then reinstalled XP on the same
drive. The same problem occurred and he cleaned the infection and installed
XP on his D: drive. Now while booting, it shows three operating systems
1) Windows XP (installed on the D: drive, currently in use)
2) Windows XP (doesn’t boot)
3) Tune Up backup (already uninstalled)
How do I remove this? (from boot.ini?)

Start > Run > msconfig. Press [Enter]
Click on Boot.ini tab
Click on Check All Boot Paths.
If any invalid entries are there, Windows will notify you and you
may remove those entries.
it_waaznt_me

Install Vista Over XP
I’m planning to install Vista over XP. Can I just install Vista in another
drive? Will it work properly? I have read so many threads regarding it,
but didn’t understand properly. Please help. I think my system is incompati-
ble. Please check.
1 GB RAM
Intel G965 Express chipset family
250 GB (SATA) + 40 GB hard disk (IDE)
I currently use XP SP3

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Processor is Intel Core 2 Duo 2.2 GHz E4500.
I want to dual boot XP and Vista.
Roonie

Yes, install it on a separate partition and it will take over the boot
loader, giving you both OSs to boot from.
Once you are done, download EasyBCD on Vista and edit your Boot
options easily.
iMav

If your partition is Fat32, then first convert it to NTFS. Then insert
the Vista DVD, run the DVD without booting from it. Run the setup
directly through the PC. During the setup wizard, there will be an
option called express settings or custom settings Caution: Do Not
Select Express Settings, and choose Custom Settings, or else it will
install Vista on your current XP partition.
Varad Dilip Choudhari
Restore Show Desktop Icon
Can anybody tell me how to restore the Show Desktop icon to Quick
Launch bar?
Most Wanted

In Notepad, type the following text on individual lines:

[Shell]
Command=2
IconFile=explorer.exe,3
[Taskbar]
Command=ToggleDesktop

top as Show Desktop.scf. Notepad might automatically append a
On the File menu, click Save As, and then save the file to your desk-

file name should be Show Desktop.scf. Move this file to the Quick
TXT extension to the file name. Remove this extension if present. The

Launch toolbar.

regsvr32 /n /i:U shell32
Another way is to run the following command:

pushkar

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Can’t Delete Vista
I installed Vista by mistake on another partition and now I have had to
delete all the files myself. I have been able to delete almost all the files
except a few including the Program Files and Windows folders. I keep getting
warnings about not having the proper permissions to delete the files. What
do I do?

The quickest and simplest way to get rid of these files and folders
is to delete the files using a program called Unlocker. It is free
and can be downloaded from http://ccollomb.free.fr/unlocker/. The pro-
gram works with other Windows operating systems too.

Should I Go Back To 32-bit Vista?
I am currently using 64-bit Vista on my computer, and there a few pro-
prietary applications made for 32-bit OSes related to security that I can
use. I have been wondering if it is worth going back to 32-bit, without seeing
any drastic performance drop.

There is no real visible difference in a 32-bit and a 64-bit OS and
even in Vista. The only big difference is that you won’t be able to
use all of the 4 GB memory. Having said that, 32-bit applications you
need to use will run fine on the 64-bit Vista installation. If it doesn’t,
then you should probably switch back to 32-bit Vista.

DPI Issues With Vista!
I was using Vista on my large LCD TV and I decided to change my DPI
settings for my display on it. I now have extremely large fonts. I can’t
see all the buttons to revert to my original settings. What should I do?

If you remember each slider, you can try using the tab key on the

boot Vista into safe mode by pressing [F8] during bootup, and you
keyboard to change the DPI back. If that is too confusing, simply

should be able to make the changes.

Running Applications Quickly

ly by clicking on Start > Run. While some of the applications can be
I run Windows Vista and I have noticed that I can run applications quick-

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run simply by entering name of the executable, some don’t run and instead
Vista starts looking up information on it on the Internet. Why does it do that
and how do I fix it?

If you use certain applications, you can simply pin them up to the
start menu, so you can quickly gain access to them. Right-click on

still want to use Start > Run to launch the programs, create a short-
the application you want to run and click on Pin to Start menu. If you

Windows folder. You can now use the Start > Run method to
cut for the application first and copy the shortcut into the

quickly start up applications.

Vista Crashing Because Of A Network Adapter
I have two network adapters, one integrated on my motherboard and
an external one using a PCI interface. While using Vista, I have occa-
sional crashes—while booting up and only if I boot up using Safe mode with-
out networking, it starts up fine. What could be wrong?

The culprit is likely to be your network adapter. You may need to
download the latest version of the drivers for the network
adapter for Vista. You can start by diagnosing which of the two
adapters is causing the crash. The simplest way is to go to the BIOS and
disable the onboard network adapter. If the system boots properly, the
onboard network solution is to blame. If it continues crashing, then it
most likely is the PCI network card, so try unplugging it and see if it
works fine.

Removing Preview Pane In My Folders
In my Vista installation, there is a preview pane for every single folder
that I open. Is there no way to disable this pane?

Click on Organise on the left top of the screen, then layout and click
Preview Pane.

Network Goes Dead After standby mode
I have Windows Vista on my laptop. Whenever my laptop goes into
standby and returns, the network connection gives me a Limited con-

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nectivity alert. I need to reboot the laptop for the connection to work again.
What could be wrong?

Somehow Vista is not reinitialising the network adapter when it
returns from standby. This could be to do with the power saving
settings for the network adapter. To fix this, start Device Manager
from the start menu. Under Network adapters, look for your adapter.
Double-click on it. Look for a power management tab and uncheck
the option for Switch off the device to save power. This should fix
the problem.

Upgrading Vista
I have some machines with Vista Home Premium and I have recently
bought Ultimate licenses for them. When I try to upgrade from Vista
Home Premium, it refuses to, with an error stating that I cannot upgrade
from a staged build to a non-staged version. I have 32-bit versions of Vista
and the same problem occurs with and without SP1 installed. Why is this hap-
pening?

You will have to do a clean install for this. For OEM versions of
Vista, there is an upgrade option built into the OS.

Tweaking Cleartype
I have used Cleartype fonts on Vista for my LCD display. The fonts look
too fat and ugly and they are getting a little irritating to read. Is there
no tweaking software for it?

There is an online Cleartype tweaker available on Microsoft’s site.
The page is meant for Windows XP, but it works on Vista as well.
Visit http://www.microsoft.com/typography/cleartype/tuner/tune.aspx. Choose
to enable Cleartype and then follow the steps in the wizard.

Where’s The Sidebar?
I remember disabling sidebar immediately after installing, but now
when I try to turn it on, it doesn’t come back. It gives me an error say-
ing Windows sidebar is managed by the system administrator.

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One of the simplest ways to fix this problem is to get a software
called Winbubble. Once installed, run it and click on the
Optimise tab and click on the checkbox for Disable Windows sidebar.

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Linux

hether you’re a newbie or a seasoned Linux profession-

W al, the very nature of Linux distros is to allow you to
tweak to your heart’s content. Alas, things often go hor-
ribly wrong with such tweaking. In this chapter, we aim to provide
Linux newbies with answers to common questions.

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How Do You Login As Root In Ubuntu?
I want to login to my Linux machine to the root, but it won’t let me.
What do I do?

into root in Ubuntu. It’s part of a security feature. Use sudo to do
There is no password set for root and you should not try logging

whatever you need to do. If you try to run X through root, you might
face more problems in the future with other user accounts.

How to Load Evolution Automatically?
I use Ubuntu and I want to have my Evolution mail client start up auto-
matically when I login into my account.

Go to System > Preferences > Sessions > Startup
Programs. Click on New, and then enter evolution as the appli-
cation launch name.

RSS Feeds Crashing Evolution
I have certain feeds that make Evolution crash. What do I do?

A new update for Evolution fixes the problems faced in Ubuntu
8.04. You can download the DEB file at http://packages.
debian.org/sid/i386/evolution-rss/download

Damaged Partitions
I used a disk-partitioning tool and somehow lost partitions. Gparted
shows the disk as empty unallocated space. Have I lost all my data?

Try using Testdisk (www.cgsecurity.org). If it is just the partition
table that was tampered with, then you should be able to see it
using Testdisk.

How Do I Get Back To The UI?
I somehow managed to get myself stuck in the text console using [Ctrl]
+ [Alt] + some function key. Now, how do I go back to the graphical inter-
face?

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switch between these text consoles by pressing [Alt] + [F1],
Linux gives you multiple consoles to work and you can quickly

[F2], [F3], etc. To get back from these terminals, press [Ctrl] +
[Alt] + [F7].

Clear Bash History
All of my commands are stored and I use my direction keys to scroll
through my bash history. Is there any way to clear them, in a way simi-
lar to how I clear my browser cache?

To clear the cache of your own user account, start a console or a

default. Type rm .bash_history.
terminal. Go to your home folder, which you should be in by

Java Update
I have been trying to update Java, as I have a problem with Java-based
applications locking up. I have already installed JDK 6 through Sun’s
Web site, but it still doesn’t help.

You should try updating java-6-sun using the following com-

sudo update-java-alternatives -s java-6-sun
mand.

Disable Ubuntu Updates
I like the Ubuntu feature of having constant updates for its applications,
but it gets very annoying, so I want it disabled. How do I go about doing
that?

First go to System > Administration > Software Sources.
Click on the Updates tab and uncheck the updates you don’t want
anymore.

Forcibly Delete Files From The Trash Bin?

Since 8.04, the trash is kept in /home/username/.local/
Ubuntu stores all the files in the home folder of each user account.

share/Trash. How do I delete them?

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cd
To forcibly delete the files, start a terminal and browse to the

home/username/.local/share/Trash. Then, type sudo rm -rf
home folder. Now type

* to delete all the files. Make sure you’re in the right directory, or you

directory. Use sudo commands with care.
could seriously screw things up by deleting all the files in the wrong

Fedora-XP Dual-boot
I want to install Fedora, without disturbing my files and XP, with a
dual boot option. I really don’t want to format or repartition. Please
don’t tell me this is impossible. I just don’t want to lose my data, but want
to experience open source. Also, please tell whether I should go for
Ubuntu or Fedora.
Deepak Kumar

Both the distributions are equally good, but Ubuntu is what most
people usually use to start with Linux. You need to partition your
drive to be able to use it.
All you need to be sure about is what partitions you have data on
before formatting and installing. Make sure you make space for an
extra partition and you should be able to go through the installation
without losing any data.
Check out Wubi, which is an installer that runs on Windows. You
will find it in the latest version of Ubuntu 8.04.

WinRAR On Linux
I have some RAR files I received from my mail. They work fine on
Windows, but I cannot uncompress them on Linux. What am I doing
wrong?

can do this by starting a terminal and typing sudo apt-get
For RAR files to open, you need to install the unrar package. You

install rar unrar.

Applications > Accessories.
Once that is done, start up File Roller or the Archive Manager from

Your RAR files should open without any problem now on.

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I Hate ./
It is irritating having to type ./ every time I want to run a software. Can’t
I simply run the binary without the ./ like in the DOS prompt?

The simplest way to be able to run applications without a ./ is to
install or copy the binaries into the /usr/bin directory. You can
also add a custom path with your applications by editing the .bashrc
file in your home directory. Add an entry export export
PATH=/home/your_username/your_path:${PATH}
/home/your_username/your_path is the path to where you have
where

installed the binaries.

Firefox Doesn’t Open URLs In Mails
The links in my mails aren’t clickable. I can click on them, but nothing
happens. I end up copying the URL and pasting it on my browser—
Firefox. How do I get Firefox to automatically open the links when I click
them?

Firefox hasn’t been set as the default browser, and therefore, isn’t
picking up on any of the Web links you click on. To make Firefox
your default browser, first start Firefox. Now open up Firefox’s
Preferences. Click on the Advanced tab and check the box for Always
check to see if Firefox is the default browser on startup. Click the

If this doesn’t work, click on System > Preferences >
Check now button.

Preferred Applications.
Make sure Open link in default browser is checked.

Convert NTFS To EXT3
I have a 50 GB NTFS partition that I want to be an EXT3, so I can use it
within Linux. How do I do it?

Boot into the LiveCD and use Gparted from the LiveCD on the
NTFS partition. Just make sure you backup all your data from the
NTFS partition, because once you format you will not be able to recov-
er any of the data.

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Transparent Panel
I set the colour of the panel to transparent. Instead, it ends up bluish.
I have tried using a transparent PNG image as the background, but
nothing changes. I use Ubuntu 8.04 along with Compiz-Fusion.

Try disabling the rendering of the wallpaper in Nautilus, or it
might be using an earlier background.

Compiz Crashes Ubuntu 8.04 64-bit
When I try to use rotating cube, it works perfectly fine, but the moment
I have active applications on the desktop, it crashes and I have to login.
It only works properly if the windows are minimised.
I’m using the 64-bit version of Ubuntu, with all the latest updates.
Reinstalling the OS hasn’t helped either.

Try disabling 3-D effects and it should work fine. Keep updating
with latest patches.

From The Forum—thinkdigit.com/forum

Restart Services
How do I restart a particular service in Linux?
Nach

/etc/init.d/servicename restart
Mehulved

Disable Sound Card In Ubuntu
I have dual boot XP / Ubuntu, Two soundcards, One Creative Cambridge
Soundworks and ASUS motherboard onboard sound. In XP, the onboard
sound is not good as Creative. I have the creative drivers for XP, which makes
the sound good. In Ubuntu, Creative doesn’t give 4.1 sound (out of the box
installation). Therefore, I need an on-board card to be used by default. When
I make it default in Linux, it keeps loosing its setting and switches back to
Creative sound card instead. Do I need to install special Creative drivers? Will
it then give me 4.1 sound? How can I disable the Creative card from Linux, so

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that it’s not detected on boot up, thus giving sound from the on board card?
I can’t disable it from BIOS, as I need both of them as 1 in XP 2 in Linux.
ranjan2001

/proc/asound/modules’. (In my case, the output will be
1. To determine the name of the sound cards, type ‘cat

‘snd_emu10k1’ & ‘snd_intel8x0’.)
2. Open the file ‘/etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base’.

options snd_emu10k1 index=0
3. At the end of this file, add

options snd_intel8x0 index=1
Here ‘snd_emu10k1’ and ‘snd_intel8x0’ are my two cards
(Creative and onboard, respectively). After doing this, the card which
is given index = 0 (snd_emu10k1 in my case), will become the default.
I think this will solve your problem. Even if the Creative card is not
giving 4.1 sound, you can still use it instead of the onboard card, in
Ubuntu.
unni

Right-click volume control in the Taskbar, open Volume Control
> Edit > Preferences. Now select surround and wave surround
from the list. Finally, adjust the front and rear speakers. This should
give you 4.1 sound.
ranjan2001

Failed To Reserve Range
I have latest version of Firefox 3 through Ubuntu updates, but it has
been crashing for me.
gary4gar

Have you got flashgot installed? Disable automatic download
manager detection.
Mehulved

Thanks! That solved my problem. Disabled “automatic download manag-
er detection” in flashgot settings.
gary4gar

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Auto Mount Drives

open files on my E: drive within GIMP on Ubuntu. There I don’t see the
I can bring the icons of disk to desktop open from there, but I need to

drives at all, I tried dragging the files, but that also doesn’t work.
C: Vista sp1
D: data
E: data
F: Ubuntu Ultimate 1.8
All drives are NTFS
Need some direction.
ranjan2001

Install NTFS-3g or NTFS-config from Synaptic Package Manager.
rahimveron

Desktop Keyboard Shortcut On Ubuntu
On Ubuntu, what is the keyboard shortcut for show desktop and to show

hidden and I need to use keyboard. I am used to [Windows] + [D] and
the application menu? When I auto hide the bar, then show desktop gets

[Windows] + [E] to do the above task.
ranjan2001

Application Menu – [Alt] + [F1]
Show Desktop – [Ctrl] + [Alt] + [D]
chandru.in

Go to Application > System > Preferences > Keyboard
Shorcuts.
rahimveron

Ubuntu resolution problem
I’ve installed Ubuntu on my old system. It stays in 1024x768 resolution
and my monitor doesn’t support it. However, I think there’s a way to
change the startup resolution in recovery text mode. I need the command.

blademast3r

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III LINUX

Well, the native screen resolution tool reports the wrong fre-
quency with a proprietary NVIDIA driver. Check “NVIDIA-set-
tings” to see the correct resolution and other details.
praka123

“Out Of Frequency” in Ubuntu 8
I have ATI radeon Xpress 200, which is an onboard graphic card in Intel
D101GGC motherboard. I’m using a Viewsonic VA1930WM widescreen
monitor. The problem is when I try to install most of the Linux distros like
SuSE, Ubuntu and Mint after the boot screen when we press install. The mon-
itor shows an error message as “OUT OF FREQUENCY”.
Vamsikrishna919

Sudo pig-reconfigure deacon and select medium or low

anything in xorg.conf. But it respects xorg.conf though.
In addition, this bulletproof X is very confusing. It leaves hardly

praka123

Installing 32-bit Skype on 64-bit Ubuntu 7.10
Can any one tell me how to install 32-bit Skype version on 64-bit Ubuntu
7.10 version?
kin.vachhani

sudo apt-get install ia32-libs lib32asound2
wget -O skype-install.deb http://www.skype.com/go/
getskype-linux-ubuntu
sudo dpkg -i —force-all skype-install.deb;
FilledVoid

Software like access
Can you tell me about software for Linux similar to Microsoft Access?
abhijangda

Open Office Base
hullap
Kexi (http://www.kexi-project.org/)
mehulved

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Reinstalling XP After Linux
I have Fedora 8 and Windows XP installed on my PC. I need to reinstall
Windows XP. If I do it directly, will it create problems with my Linux
installation? I don’t want to do that. In fact, I did it once and ended up
installing XP and Linux again, which took me 3-4 hours. How to reinstall XP
with Linux? Is there any way to do it?
ninad_mhatre85

1. Install XP as usual
2. Boot from a Linux Live CD, run the terminal and type: grub-
install —no-floppy /dev/sda
Qwerty Maniac

Ubuntu Sticks
I’m back with another Ubuntu question! Last week, I upgraded to the
latest version of Ubuntu. However, my PC gets stuck and does not
respond after some time (the interval changes). Nothing works. I have to
press the power button to restart or shutdown. What could be the reason? Is

binations (like [Ctrl] + [Del] + [Alt] in Windows?
there any way to kill the processes that are not responding by any key com-

shobankr

Restart X server by [Alt] + [Ctrl] + [Backspace].
When your system gets stuck,

Press [ALT] + [F1] and check for error messages (if any). If none,

Lastly, safely reboot your PC by pressing [ALT] + [Print
then you can login and stop the process via kill command.

Screen] + [R] + [E] + [I] + [S] + [U] + [B].
gary4gar

MTNL Triband In openSuSE 10.3
I have MTNL’s Triband Night Unlimited plan, which connects via
Ethernet. How do I configure it in SuSE 10.3?
Zegulas

try browsing? If it does not work, Open YaST > Network
If there is no dialler, then it should be the same in SuSE. Did you

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Devices > Network Card. Select your card and click Configure.

enter nameserver1 as 208.67.222.222 and nameserver2 as
Click on Hostname / DNS tab, uncheck update DNS via DHCP and

208.67.220.220. Click on routing tab and enter the default gateway
as 192.168.1.1 (the IP of your router). Click Finish
NucleusKore

Hide Folders
How can I hide folders in Linux (Mandriva)?
Lucky Rathod

Give it a . (dot) prefix.
.Foldername will be auto hidden.
QwertyManiac

Multimedia Keys
How can I use the multimedia keys on my keyboard in Linux I am using
Mandriva 2008?
Lucky Rathod

Install and configure Keytouch.
QwertyManiac

Hardware Compatibility
My friend has the following configuration:
Processor AMD Athlon 64 X2
Motherboard ASUS M2N8-VMX, NVIDIA-based
He has a problem in installing Linux [Fedora, Ubuntu] with ACPI enabled.
He gets an error message. We were able to work with Linux when we tried
ACPI disabled. Is this the problem with only that specific piece of mother-
board or is it general? I am planning to buy the same
gk2k

noapic
I have the same board. At install, give the extra parameter

NucleusKore

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ISO Software
I want an application that can make and burn ISO image files. If possi-
ble, the software should have a GUI, and should be minimal in features.
I already have k3b, so don’t recommend that.
Hullap

ISO master
Brasero
TD159

Long Bootup Time In Ubuntu 7.10 (MTA Error)
I find it’s taking longer than earlier, to boot into the desktop. On closer
inspection, I find the following. As soon as I select the OS (Ubuntu), a
Ubuntu loading bar shows up. When that bar is about to be filled, the inter-
face changes to DOS mode and shows the following message “Starting MTA”.
On displaying this, it just hangs and after about two minutes, it boots into the
desktop. On doing a Google search, I came to know it’s something termed as
Mail Transfer Agent.
I remember the problem began since I started using Cron/gnome-sched-
ule for scheduling downloads.
What can be done to avert this message while booting up?
cool_techie_tvm

System > Administration > Services > Mail
Uncheck this

Agent(exim4)
gary4gar

Want To Hibernate
I’m unable to hibernate my Ubuntu 7.10 system, whenever I try to hiber-
nate, my system goes into sleep mode. I’m having 256 MB RAM and 314

example, I want [Alt] + [+] to open xmms
MB swap. In addition, how can I assign short cuts to open an application? For

saurabh kakkar

May be more of swap is needed
For the shortcuts, try this

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gconftool-2 -t str —set /apps/metacity/global_key-
bindings/ run_command_9 “<Alt>+”
gconftool-2 -t str —set /apps/metacity/keybind-
ing_commands/command_9 “xmms”
praka123

Can’t Detect HD In DSL

works well in XP though. I tried fdisk –l, but it’s not listed. Can it be
When I boot my PC through DSL, it doesn’t detect the hard drive. It

because it’s SATA? What is the solution?
romeo_8693

Could be probably because it doesn’t have SATA modules or
maybe it doesn’t recognise your SATA controller.
Mehulved

Does that distro have a 2.4 kernel? Better, get a 2.6.15+ kernel dis-
tro.
praka123

No dpkg

1. When using the command sudo dpkg -i <any debian
I’m using Ubuntu 7.10

package>.deb, it says dpkg: status database area is locked
by another process. What should I do? I even tried alien but the
same error.
2. Till yesterday, everything was fine with Ubuntu. It was automatically
mounting all NTFS as well as FAT32 partitions, and was showing on my desk-
top. I rebooted twice, and in both instances, it wasn’t able to mount them
automatically.
I tried to mount them manually, and it didn’t give any error. When I
checked the mount points, I found that NTFS partitions were not mounted
and only two FAT32 partitions were mounted where as I have more. However,
all the mount points were shown and the ones that were not mounted prop-
erly were having a cross on their icon. Pen drives work fine.
Ishan

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Sometimes when you don’t shutdown Windows properly, Ubuntu
might not mount NTFS partitions. Therefore, boot it into

mount everything again. Have you installed ntfs-3g? Do you still
Windows and run chkdsk, then boot into Ubuntu and it will surely

have the folders in /media?
As for your first query, only one package manager should be run-
ning at one time, among Synaptic, Update Manager, Add / Remove or
dpkg.
Rahimveron

GNOME Problem after Ubuntu / Sabayon Dual-boot
I recently installed Sabayon Linux 1.1 Professional edition from a
LiveDVD on my PC, which already has Ubuntu 7.10 installed. I shared a

After editing menu.lst and /etc/fstab, I managed to get both distros
common /home partition between both distros under different user-names.

working fine. But now, whenever I boot into Ubuntu, I get the following error

No exec line in session file kde-3.5.Running fail-
just before Start-up music plays:

safe GNOME session instead. Any insight on this error?
shady_inc

/home/ partition. I suggest you run “gconf-cleaner”
It will be a mess with gconf for two distros residing in one

praka123

Got over the problem pretty easily! Just had to re-login and select
GNOME session from the login screen and make it the default for
Ubuntu. Same went for KDE and Sabayon
shady_inc

Help!
I have mistakenly disabled all the services from System > Services

working. Also I’m unable to open System > Services. I get an error in
in my Ubuntu 7.10. Now my Internet and many other services are not

the lines of “You don’t have the permission to open…”

Saurabh Kakkar

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Open a terminal and run the code provided below for your

sudo service networking restart
Internet connection:

Now you can connect. Once connected, “sudo apt-get install
sysv-rc”.
After installing, open a terminal and run “sudo sysv-rc” enable
wanted services. Do not edit other services, because as you can see, it
shows “don’t mess with this” messages.
praka123

Problem solved! I have successfully solved the problem by issuing

sudo /etc/init.d/dbus start
this command in the terminal

Saurabh Kakkar
Mount
Yet another problem with Ubuntu, my NTFS partitions are not showing
abhi_10_20

Boot into Windows, then back into Ubuntu to display them. This
is caused by improper Windows shutdown.
shady_inc

Swap Deleted
I have Ubuntu 7.1 installed on my system. Today, I accidentally deleted
the swap partition for Ubuntu. Now every time I boot into Ubuntu, it
asks me to manually repair the file system. Can anyone help me in doing so?
P.S.: I had two swap partitions, one of which was from the previous
installation of Ubuntu, which was on my old hard disk (the one that got delet-
ed). The second swap is still there.
Purujitb

/etc/fstab
There is no need to have two swap partitions. Append this to your

/dev/<partition> swap defaults 0 0
Replace <partition> by your second swap partition

Anantkhaitan

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Unable To Log In
I’m unable to log into my Ubuntu account. Whenever I try to login,

GDM. Could not write to your authorisation file.
Ubuntu gives the following error:

This could mean that you’re out of disk space and your
home directory cannot be opened for writing. In any
case, it’s not possible to login. Please contact your
system admin. This happened when I transferred lot of data in my small
Ubuntu partition.
Saurabh Kakkar

Using a Live CD, free up space in the Ubuntu Partition
MetalheadGautham

No Net
I’m using MTNL Triband here. Earlier, I had installed openSuSE 10.3 and
I had some bad problems with it. Firefox wouldn’t open any site other
than Novell.com. Google, Wikipedia, etc would not open in FF, but they would
in Konqueror (but not all the time). I was really fed up, and decided to install
Ubuntu. However, the problem remains. I just can’t open any site. I just did a
reinstallation (thinking that something might go right by fluke). When I ping
the sites using Network Tools, it shows success, but the sites won’t open in
FF. I was just about to give up, when I decided to try out thinkdigit.com, and
it worked. (What luck, eh?)
I had earlier tried to go by the instructions given by desertwind (on the

further. Typing system-config-network-gui in the terminal isn’t
forum), but then, after I set it to the static IP address, nothing would work

working either—it says command not recognised. I did it through System >
Administration > Network. As I was saying, even pinging would fail.
Also, my router is a D-Link 502T, so I had a hard time there too). By default,
the Network shows something like Roaming Enabled. But if I select
Automatic Configuration (DHCP), or Static IP, all Net activities stop.
Apt-get isn’t working. Nor can I do anything with the Synaptic
Package Manager. The sound is horrible. It’s really small. You’d have to
listen very carefully to hear it. At least SuSE was better in this aspect. It
also played MP3s.
What could be wrong? Ubuntu doesn’t pack much of a punch without an

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active Net connection. This is not a fault of the LAN card driver I presume,
because I can ping. (well... I can’t ping microsoft.com).
Anyway, here’s my configuration that you may need to know:
ASUS P5K-VM motherboard (Intel G33 chipset) with an Intel Core 2 quad
Q6600, Marvell Yukon 88E8056 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller, Realtec
ALC883 sound card, 2 GB RAM
It’s an x86_64 version of Ubuntu. But yesterday, I had installed the 32-bit
version from the Digit DVD.
I really miss the days when the Net worked on Linux on my old PC. I loved
it when SuSE automatically configured the connections with kinternet, when
I was using raspppoe on Windows. I just needed to click on the plug icon to
get going.
Sreevirus

You definitely need to do a sudo apt-get update first and
then try installing those stuff. It doesn’t have an updated list so
it’s not finding anything at all.

1. Do sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/aliases (or your pre-
Also, disable IPv6 entirely by following this:

2. Find the line: alias net-pf-10 ipv6
ferred text editor)

3. Change it to: alias net-pf-10 off
4. Save the file and reboot
This should fix the slow connections and DNS issue. Also, do try
working with OpenDNS to see if the problem lies with your ISP’s DNS.
QwertyManiac

.CHM Files In Linux
How can I read e-books of CHM format in Linux. Which software is need-
ed for it?
cool_callis

GnoCHM or xCHM should do the task.
QwertyManiacInstall
GnoCHM from Synaptic or thru apt-get, if on Debian / Ubuntu.
Otherwise, search for the rpm of that software
infra_red_dude

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Can’t Edit wvdial.conf
I can’t edit wvdial.conf in Ubuntu, it says permission denied. Please help
me
Gigacore

sudo nautilus
Open terminal and type:

In the window that opens now, navigate to the file and happy editing
iMav
hddtemp Problem (FC 8)
Fedora noob here.
I had installed gnome-applet sensors and hddtemp. I have added
hardware sensors monitor to the panel. Now under the sensors applet pref-
erences tab, I find only libsensors. It should display libsensors and hddtemp.
How can I invoke this hddtemp?
Previously I was on Ubuntu, I remember that after installing hddtemp, a
wizard came forth, and allowed me to configure it (like startup at boot). On
Fedora, nothing of that sorts happened.
I hope my query is clear enough. Please help me.
cool_techie_tvm

Make sure you have installed smartmontools and make sure your
HDD is smart capable and enabled. Install hardware-monitor or
computertemp, if sensors applet is not working
praka123
Need Help
I have installed Fedora core, I already have Windows XP on my C: drive.
Now whenever I start my system, it gives me a screen where I have to
hit a key to reach another screen, where I can select which OS I want to boot.
Is it possible that instead of the first screen, I get the second screen where I
can choose the OS? I want to boot and the first screen gives me only 2 sec-
onds.
vicky_l7

Yes, just try to boot into Fedora before grub MENU appears. The

Press [Alt] + [F2] to get a run dialog. Now insert the following
solution is:

command to open grub.conf

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gksu gedit /boot/grub/grub.conf

In the editor, search ([Ctrl] + [F]) for the word hiddenmenu.

#hiddenmenu
Comment out (#) hiddenmenu as shown below:

In addition, you can make the timeout value to be 20 seconds:
Search for and replace the value of timeout.
Timeout 20
praka123
Printing
I want to purchase a Linux-compatible printer preferably with scanner.
I have a budget of about Rs 5,000. I have in mind HP LaserJet 1018 or
1200. The other alternative is Samsung ML 1610. Which one would work well?
As an alternative, I may take inkjet MFD (Printer + scanner) from HP. Will the
scanner work on Linux (openSuSE 10.2). Could some one suggest a model?
chinna_saeb

Check for Linux-compatible printers at http://openprinting.org
praka123

Keyboard detection

é,á,?,í,ó,ú Ä,Ë,ï,ö,Ü
My keyboard prints these

Strange and irritating, as I am unable to type programs quickly while
using ¨ or ´...as each have to be pressed twice to print them...my keyboard
was detected as US: International during installation. This is the first time I
have faced this problem. In addition, this is not there in Windows, only in
Ubuntu.
Vivek788

Under Administration, see Language Support. Check your Locale
and set it to US.

edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf to read:
QwertyManiac

Section “InputDevice”
Identifier “Generic Keyboard”

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Driver “kbd”
Option “CoreKeyboard”
Option “XkbRules” “xorg”
Option “XkbModel” “pc104”
Option “XkbLayout” “us”
Option “XkbOptions” “lv3:ralt_switch”
EndSection
praka123

Harddisk Sectors

running fdisk in it for partitioning, gave ‘fdisk /dev/hda’ command
I believe my friend’s harddisk is corrupted! I run Ubuntu liveCD in his PC for

and then ‘p’ for printing the harddisk’s partition table, it showed no partition,
but only the headers. So I tried creating a now partition using ‘n’, as it asked
me I created new primary partition starting from sector 63 to some 10**7. I

creating partition when I pressed ‘p’ for printing the partition table. It showed
don’t remember exactly, but it was the default values. It showed up now after

me the first /dev/hda1 partition with default sector size, which I entered.
However, below it was written in a note: “partition 1 is crossing
the sector limit” or something like that. Without giving it importance,
I tried to save the partitions by commeang ‘w’, but it gave me error “unable
to write /dev/hda”. In addition, somewhere in between, it gave the error
that harddisk’s sector size is 2048, it should be 512. Hence, nothing was saved
in the partition table. What’s the problem? How to change the sector size?
Ishan

You may need to fix some fs errors. Run fdisk -v -y -f
/dev/sdxx, where /dev/sdxx is the partition, which gives error.
Superblock fixing-you should see fdisk -l o/p for more
details.
praka123

Is there any scanner software for suSE
I’m having an HP PSC 1315 MFD. Is there any software for Linux /
suSE10.3 through which I can use the scanner feature? I need software
to scan documents and images in Linux.
bharat_r

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Sane-utils. You need to install. I use Debian and Ubuntu. Search
sane in yast2 and install. Scanners are supported.
http://en.opensuse.org/YaST_Scanner
http://www.sane-project.org/
http://hp44x0backend.sourceforge.net/
praka123
There’s XSane and Kooka you can try out.

SANE stands for—Scanner Access Now Easy
QwertyManiac
NVIDIA Driver
I’m new to Linux. I just downloaded NVIDIA driver for my Go 7400 card
and tried installing it. An error message saying root permission is dis-
played. I have no idea of how to change the permission. I’m using Ubuntu.
deepakprabhakaran

System > Admin > Restricted Drivers Manager > tick
you graphics card
kalpik
Can’t Install Mandriva, SuSE or Fedora
I’m unable to install Mandriva 2007, SuSE-10, Fedora-6 on my system—
Core 2 Duo 2.0 GHz processor with an Intel 965 motherboard. When I try
to install the Mandriva-07 it will show the error, “unable to find the CD-ROM
device”. When I try with the Knoppix liveCD, then it show the error like the
filesystem is not found.
thecreativeboy

Try a distro with kernel 2.6.19 or higher. If possible, try Sabayon.
It seems you have some controller, which isn’t supported.
mehulved

As Mehul pointed out, the 965’s I/O controller hub (ICH8 doesn’t
have native PATA support. Therefore, a third party JMicron IDE
controller is used, which isn’t supported by some older distros. Hence,
it doesn’t detect your CD / DVD drive (which I presume is PATA).
You may try the following, failing which, you’ll need to go in for a
newer distro.

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First disable AHCI in the BIOS and set it to EIDE. Then boot your
distro with the following parameter Linux all-generic-ide
sashijoseph
No Cursor
I had installed FC7 and Red Hat Linux 5 on my system, which has
MSI K8NGM2 motherboard
1 GB RAM
NVIDIA chipset
160 GB SATA
AMD Athlon 64
My problem is that both OSes installed OK. However, I didn’t see my cursor—
my mouse is working properly, but there is no cursor. In addition, I changed
my mouse, but problem persists.
chahal63

Are you using a USB mouse? Try plugging and unplugging for
udevd to get the mouse detected. Another chance is wrong dis-

/etc/X11/xorg.conf pasted in http://pastebin.ca or similar
play size / driver set. May be you can show us your

sites and link here. Also post your monitor model display resolution,

You should also check GNOME Menu Preferences > Mouse >
etc. If gpm is enabled, this may interfere with X too.

Pointers for some options. If everything fails, use the swcursor
option in /etc/X11/xorg.conf in the Section device part.
Option “SWcursor” “yes” or Code: Option “HWcursor” “off”. That may
help after a gdm restart. You may need a display driver for NVIDIA.
Either open source “nv” or proprietory 3d driver from NVIDIA!
praka123
$PATH Environment
I installed gEDA suite from it’s ISO image. All went perfectly well, but it
said in the end that I need to set my $PATH variable to some directory
and some LD_LIBRARY_PATH to the same folder. How do I do that?
aditya.shevade

$> PATH=xyz:$PATH
In the command line,

$> LD_LIBRARY_PATH=xyz:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
Sykora

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Unable To Lock Passwd File
When I’m creating a user using useradd, it prompts an error “unable to
lock passwd file”. I’m using Redhat 9.0 and logged in as user root.
asdfgh2

Useradd is a raw command. Which distro are you using? Also, you
need to be root (admin) user to do that. Try as root. Remember
useradd needs many things (mostly auto set) like the default
/home/user directory, shell, your details, etc. There are GUI tools avail-
able in most modern distros like Debian or Fedora.
praka123

I have deleted /etc/passwd.lock file and now its working
asdfgh2

Voice Chat
Is there any application that allows voice chat and has cam support
with Yahoo! messenger or Google talk?
gpraveen
Skype and gyach
Mediator

You can try kopete. If you only want voice chat for Gtalk, you also can
try tapioca.
LEARNER_LEARNER

Application Installation
In Ubuntu, I used synaptic package manager to install Azureus, but I
failed to notice that the version installed was 2.5.0.0. Therefore, I unin-
stalled it and downloaded 2.5.0.4. I extracted it to a directory and I could it
run from there.

Applications > Internet menu. In addition, I could run Azureus just
Now my question is, while 2.5.0.0 was installed, there was a file under

by typing the name from any path in the terminal. Now, I have to go to the
path and do it. Can you tell me how to do these two things?

legolas from Digit Forum

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menu System > Preferences > Menu editor. Create a short-
You can make a menu listing for your Azureus installed locally. Go to

cut. If you have extracted Azureus to ur /home/user/azureus directory.
Just give the full link to app fully. You can use run dialog [Alt] + [F2]
and run “alacarte” for menu editing. Better, go with Ubuntu Azureus.
Remove your current local install completely. Azureus can update locally to

~/.azureus.
the current version when it is connected and stores the files in

Don’t worry, remove the mess completely. Apt does the job well. At the
end, you’ll get the latest version of Azureus as updates are installed in
~/.azureus. Remove the local install completely and don’t try to install soft-
ware from source and from Internet in Debian and Ubuntu. The package
managers do the job well. For source compilations, there are distros like gen-
too, LFS, etc. Your distro (debian-based) got the best package management
at present. So enjoy!
praka123

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Applications

e now move on to troubleshooting the software applica-

W tions that are most commonly used. Although a rarer
occurence, when they do occur, some of these problems
may end in hairloss or wrinkled foreheads. We’ve compiled these
from the Digit Forum

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Connect Counter-Strike Steam Over Proxy…
I have installed a copy of Counter Strike with steam on my laptop. I use
my laptop to connect to the Internet via my desktop through a proxy. If
I plug my laptop directly to the BSNL router, CS works fine, but when I con-
nect counter-strike through the proxy, it doesn’t connect.
Does anyone know how to connect steam counter-strike over proxy server?
tweety_bird_bunny

Real-time games, especially shooters like Counter Strike, are not
meant to be played via Web proxy servers. You need a direct con-
nection to play on CS servers. You should check which ports your
games use and grant direct access to you laptop over those ports.

Download Videos From YouTube, In Firefox And IE
I wanted to know
how to download
videos from YouTube
and other similar sites
in Firefox and IE. It
could be through any
plugin or any stand-
alone software (free OR
if worth it then paid)
beanstalk_230

This is an addon
for firefox... Sites like Viddownloader allow users of any browser to
https://addons.mozil- download Flash videos from sites like YouTube
l a .o rg /e n - U S/f i re fox /
addon/3006
Kenshin
Note: For those who want to download YouTube and videos through any browser
without installing a plugin, there is a site www.viddownloader.com, which lets you
do just that.

“?????????” Displayed Instead Of Text
Question marks, is what I get so see in place of text when I open some

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blogs. What’s the cause and what would be the solution?
Rudick

Its not a browser related problem. May be you do not have the
required font. So please check if you have all the basic fonts installed.
rohan_shenoy

Reseme µTorrent Downloads
I had to replace my motherboard (Intel 845GV) and reinstall my OS (Win
XP). Now, when my desktop was working well, I was downloading stuff
and most of them were almost complete (97 per cent). What I want to know
is if there’s any way by which I can resume from where I left off. I have
already backed up my partially downloaded files to another drive. If possi-
ble, how do I do it? Help me out guys. Thanks in advance.
apoorva84

I have downloaded a torrent file, but only 80 per cent is completed. This
happened on my cousins PC, now I brought those files (the ones in
downloaded folder) to my house and copied them to my PC! How can I down-
load the rest of the file? Can anybody please help? I tried copying it in my
downloaded folder, but it doesn’t show up in the torrent engine. What do I
do? I use utorrent.
bhadkow

You will need µTorrent, and also the same torrent file (some KBs)
that you were downloading. Now do the following:
1. Place all the contents (the incomplete downloaded files) in a
folder that you want to download to.
2. Double-click on the torrent file, and if µTorrent is your default,
it will ask you where to save the download.
3. Point it to the same folder where the partially downloaded
files are. The µTorrent application will start checking the files (in per-
centages), and will continue from where it left off.
ashu888ashu888
Note: The same should also apply for other Torrent clients. just make sure to
keep a backup of your partial downloads, just in case.

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TATA Sky to PC!
Can I record Tata Sky channel programs on my PC using a TV tuner card?
solomon_paulraj

You can do it by connecting the output from STB to your TV
tuner’s AV-in.
narangz
You can capture channels using the TV tuner card by connecting
using AV or RF code, one channel at a time.
Carnage13
Note: You cannot use the advanced features of the TV Tuner software though,
to record from a particular channel at a certain time when you’re out, or to get
the TV Tuner to change the STB to the right channel on it’s own. With a lot of
manual intervention, however, it’s perfectly manageable.

PlayStation 2 on PC
I need software (freeware) so that I can play PlayStation 2 games on my
PC. My system configuration is:
Intel Pentium 4 Dual Core 1.60 GHz
1 GB RAM
160 GB Hard Disk
NVIDIA Geforce 7050 / NVIDIA nForce 610i
19-inch TFT monitor
Please reply
Safika Ahmed

PCSX2 although still in development allows quite a few PS2 games to be run on the PC

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PCSX2 is the most well known PS2 emulator for the PC. It has
been development for a long time and in recent times, they have
been able to run quite a few games with decent performance and few
bugs. PCSX2 can be freely downloaded from www.pcsx2.net.

Requesting Help
Ever since I have upgraded my computer, I am facing a problem. My ear-
lier configuration was too slow to meet my movie editing requirements.
That is why I have upgraded it to a more powerful configuration. My partic-
ular problems are:
1. I have been using Pinnacle Studio Version 8.1 to edit my home movies.
Now, I cannot shut down my computer after installing the software. It re-
starts repeatedly. The Error Signature is shown as: BCCode: 1000000a BCP1:
000000B0 BCP2: 00000002 BCP3: 00000000 BCP4: 804EF13C 05Ver
5_1_2600 SP: 2_0 Product 256_1. I have already removed and re-installed
three times but the same problem happens.
2. The same problem (re-starting while shutting down) happens when I
install the software that comes with my handy cam Sony DVD 805 (which did
not happen with my earlier computer).
3. Therefore, I tried to edit the movies in Window Movie Maker. Later, the
problem appears with the message “Window Movie Maker has encountered
a problem and needs to close. Tell Microsoft about this problem” and then
the program closes without a chance to save my work. The Error Signature
report contains: AppName: moviemk.ex , AppVer: 2.1.4026.0, Modname:
ntdll.dll ModVer: 5.1.2600.2180 , Ofset: 00018fea.
Please help…
My computer configuration is:
Mother Board: ASUS P5K Premium
Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600
Graphic Card: NVIDIA GeForce 8500 GT
Ram: Kingston 2 GB dual-channel at 667 MHz
OS: Window XP with SP 2.
Temsula Lemtur

There is a good chance that you have faulty memory. If you have
two sticks, then try removing one of them and look if the prob-
lems persist. Do the same with the other stick. You can also try run-

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ning Memtest86+ (www.memtest.org). Download one of the images from
the site and burn it on a CD. Boot using the disc and run a thorough
memory test to look for issues with your RAM modules.

Oblivion Crashes
I have an assembled PC with an ASRock ConRoe865GV motherboard
with a Pentium 4 processor, 1 GB RAM, GeForce 6200 AGP graphic card
running on Windows XP. I recently bought Oblivion, and played for it for a
couple of minutes. However, the system crashes with a blue screen and some
weird figures, numbers and letters appearing. Well, they do make sense, but
pass away in a flash. This happens every time. Help!
Vipul Hembrom

Try updating the drivers for your motherboard and the graphics
card. The problem could be related to the power supply. Look for
heating issues with the processors. Look in the BIOS for the tempera-
tures of the processor.

Pixelshader 2.0 Not Found
My PC details: Motherboard Intel 82945G
RAM: 1 GB
Hard Disc: 160 GB
Processor: Pentium Dual Core 2.0 GHz
My motherboard is Intel 82945G and it has 128 MB video memory + pix-
elshader v2.0. (I have confirmed this by running PC wizard 2008). Now when
I try running “Hard to be a god demo” it says pixelshader 2.0 not found.
When I run “Pro evolution soccer 2008”, it shows the same message with an
additional ignore button, which if I press, the game runs. Additionally, GTA:
San Andreas and NFS Pro Street also crash after a black screen.
I have the latest video and audio drivers and DirectX 9c. What should I
do? I have recently upgraded my computer. Should I call the computer ven-
dor? (I don’t think he is such a geek). Should I reinstall Windows XP?
Prakash Gourav

Your onboard graphics solution is supposed to support
Pixelshader 2.0, but there are many reported cases where games
refuse to run on it. You should try installing the latest DirectX redis-

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tributable runtime. The latest one was released in June and can be
found in this month’s DVD.

How To Convert Songs From MP3 To RM
I have Intel Core 2 Duo with 1 GB RAM, running Windows Vista Ultimate.
I have audio songs in MP3 format, and I want to convert them to RM. Is
there any way?
Mohit Shah

There are software available to convert MP3 and other audio for-
mats to RealAudio. Audio Tools Factory’s MP3 RM Converter
(www.audiotoolsfactory.com/mp3rmconverter/mp3rmconverter.htm) is commer-
cial software, but a trial version is available on the site.

PC Problems!

I’m using any Web browser (Opera Beta and IE5), on pressing the [A] or
I’m having strange problems with my PC since the past 2-3 days. When

The on-screen keyboard can help determine whether the keyboard is at fault

[X] key, it takes me to the previous Web page. It’s happening with both the
Web browsers. Initially, I thought it was a problem only in the Web browsers,

subfolder open, pressing [A] takes me to the previous folder!
but the same problem occurred when I was using Windows Explorer—with a

Another strange thing that’s happening is that when I press [1] on the

delete it using backspace, and press [1] again, it outputs “1000”! This is not
main keyboard that is above the qwerty line, it gives an output “0001”. If I

happening with the other numeric keys—either on the main keyboard or the
num pad.
Why does this happen? How can I revert to normal? Is it a virus attack? I

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have the following software installed:
AVG 7.5 Free version, Ashampoo antivirus (from your May CD), Comodo
firewall Pro. My PC Configuration is: Windows XP professional Version 2002,
SP2, Intel Pentium 4 1.8 GHz, 384 MB of RAM
Shivalik Daga

It could possibly be a keyboard problem. There are a few things
that you need to check. The simplest would be to get a different

onscreen keyboard in Windows. Go to Start > All Programs >
keyboard and see if the problem continues. You can also try using the

Accessories > Accessibility > On-Screen Keyboard. If pos-
sible, try booting with a Linux LiveCD or into DOS and see if the prob-
lem persists. If it does, then you might need a new keyboard.

.NET Framework Issues
My name is Chirag and I’m hav-
ing some issues with .NET
framework, which is installed on my
PC. They are as follows:
1) I have to click on my user
account on the welcome screen, even
though I’m the only user and do not
use any passwords.
2) Windows Media Player 11 does
not play DVD movies when this .NET
framework is installed.
My system configuration is:
ASUS M2NPV-VM motherboard
2 GB RAM .Net Framework
Liteon LH20A1P DVD drive
Seagate Barracuda 250 GB Hard Disk Drive
Windows XP SP2
This is the most annoying part, as I want to use Google Sketchup that
you’ve provided. It needs the .NET framework installed. Besides, I even have
some DVDs to play. Please help. Thank you in advance!
Chirag

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Start > Control Panel > User Accounts and uncheck the
To have Windows auto login, the quickest way is to click on

box for Users must enter a user name and password to use
this computer.
.NET Frame should have nothing to do with to do with DVD play-
back on your PC. Try using some other player for your DVDs to see if
it works. Try Media Player Classic or VLC Player (www.videolan.org) if you
have to play DVDs. You can also try uninstalling Windows Media
Player 11 from the Add / Remove Programs feature in the Control
Panel. Make sure to check the box for Show Updates. Under Windows
XP updates, you should be able to remove Windows Media Player 11.

WMV > DivX
Please suggest software to convert WMV files to
DIVX. Do mention if they are available on any
Digit DVD / CD, since I am unable to run it on my
computer (550 MHz, 128 MB RAM, 32MB VRAM).
Arighna Mitra

A free Open source software called all-
toavi should be able to help you convert
WMV files to AVI using any supported
codecs. It is available for download on
http://alltoavi.sourceforge.net.

Slide Show
I had taken photos on a DSLR, each with a size of around 1 MB. After
making a slide show with embedded music, the file size of 20-22 photos
becomes some KBs. Also, while viewing on full screen, pixels are visible as
the quality degrades while preparing the slide show. I tried Nero, Windows
Movie Maker and Picture Project software that came with Nikon D 40X, but
with the same problem. I do not want to change the quality / resolution of
my photos. Which is the best software available for this purpose?
Shrinivas Bhatawadekar

Most likely, the video or slideshow you have made has resized
the image down to low resolutions, which should explain the

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size and the pixilation. It could even generate thumbnails of the
images. If you are planning to make a VCD or DVD, you will see a big
drop in quality, just because of the resolution limitations of the for-
mat. While your photo might be of a resolution of well over 3072 x
2304, a DVD video resolution is around 720 x 480. The best solution
to preserve quality would be to use some kind of image viewer such
as Irfanview to view images from a CD on a computer.

.PST Password Recovery
I have forgotten the password to my .PST file. How do I go about
recovering it? Is there free software available for this? I have tried
demo versions of various software. But they are not very helpful. Please
help. The file contains some important mails.
Sujit N. Pawar

The only solution for password recovery we can give you is to try
more such software. PstPassword is one such freeware, which can
be downloaded from www.nirsoft.net/utils/pst_password.html.

Converting Real Player Recordings
I have recorded video using Real Player 11 Gold Edition. It has record-
ed as “.IVR”. I can’t convert this file into .AVI file using total video
converter. Is there any way to convert that file? If so, please tell me how
to convert it.
Vinoth Kannah

.IVR formats cannot be converted to AVI’s but there is a
workaround for it. You can burn the video to a DVD using the
Real Player application itself. The burnt DVD can be ripped using a
DVD ripping software to an AVI or any other format for that matter.

PCSX2 Emulator
I had downloaded the pcsx2 (the PlayStation emulator) from the site
and installed it. After installation, I inserted the PS2 game DVD. When I
clicked on File > RunCD/DVD, it reported an error saying it cannot load BIOS
“can’t run without that!” What should I do! Please help me!
Pankaj Patel

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For the PS2 emulator to run games, a system BIOS file is
required. A BIOS dumping utility is available on PCSX2’s site
that can grab the BIOS for you.

Wireless Problem
I have a Dell 6400 Inspiron series laptop and it has Intel pro-wireless
3945ABG card. From the past few days, whenever I stop browsing for
about an hour, Internet stops working and when I try to repair the con-
nection, it is unable to get the IP address. The only solution is to restart
the system. I have tried reinstalling the driver, but of no use. This is the
latest driver for the device. I have also scanned the whole system and did
not find any virus.
Ankur Jain

The problem could be on your end or maybe even on the wireless
router, if you are using a wireless connection. If the router
belongs to your office or your ISP, then there is a chance that there is
a timeout period set for the connection.

network adapter by clicking on Start > Control Panel >
Instead of rebooting your system, try disabling and enabling the

Network Connections. The problem could be on your ISP end.

Fast Torrent Download
I am downloading some data from a torrent site, and getting a down-
loading speed of 8-10 kbps. I have heard that through torrent, we can
get more than normal downloading speed. I use BitTorrent 6.0.3. Could you
please tell me how I can increase downloading speeds? I have a BSNL broad-
band connection.
Vishal Bhatia

Using BitTorrent doesn’t mean that you can get more speed than
your connection is meant to deliver. A BSNL broadband connection
means you should have a 2 Mbps or an 8 Mbps connection, which means
speeds of well over 200 Kbps. It is recommended that you use uTorrent as
your torrent client and set a healthy upload speed for your connection.
If you have an ADSL router, make sure that you have your port for-

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warding settings set up properly to allow incoming connections from
the Internet. First set a port on which your uTorrent will run from the
Preferences and allow that port to be forwarded to your computer.
uTorrent has a port checking page, which allows you to see connec-
tions that can be sent to your PC from over the Internet.

Nero A Problem
My brother erroneously tried to install Nero 7.0.1.2 in Vista and ended
up with some error. He said the installation just crashed and gave some
message. Now I purchased Nero 8 and tried to install it on Vista, but after
starting, the installation gives a message that Nero 7 is detected on the sys-
tem. If you want to install Nero 8, press OK to automatically remove Nero 7
or press cancel to remove it manually. But when I press OK, the program
gives no action and just vanishes. I tried to manually uninstall the same
through add remove programs, but failed. Nero is listed in the add remove
program list, but not elsewhere, even in program files folder. I also down-
loaded Nero general clean tool from the Nero site, but it’s not detecting it.

Solve registry issues with the help of ccleaner

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Please help me for removing the older version of Nero from Vista and
install Nero 8.
Sujith Sugathan

The program may not have been uninstalled completely, so a few
files and registry keys are bound to still be on your Windows
installation. Use a registry cleaning utility such as CCleaner to unin-
stall the remainder of the program and clear out your previous ver-
sions of Nero. If that doesn’t work, first backup your registry and
then try searching for Nero registry keys and remove them manual-
ly. Also, ensure that the Nero installation folder from your PC has
been removed.

DLLs Missing
I have a 200-GB hard drive, 1.8 GHz Intel Pentium dual core processor
and 2 GB RAM on a 945GC-M7 TE main board with XP SP2 installed in it.
Of late, I installed Comodo firewall and Ashampoo antivirus. Yesterday, I ran
a full system scan and deleted all the viruses showed in the scan. Now the
system is taking ages to startup. It also shows ardpjdrk.dll and tfqxmbnf.dll
as missing.
Manish Hemnani
When you installed the Ashampoo antivirus and scanned your
system for viruses, it removed the virus files but the links to these
files still exist. Use CCCleaner to remove all unwanted registry keys
and links.

Copy Error
I’m trying to copy a movie CD on my PC, but an error occurs as “Invalid
MS-DOS Function”. The CD is fine, because no error occurs while copy-
ing it on other PCs. Please help me.
I use Windows XP2, 512 MB RAM, P4 Intel processor configuration
Amit Singh

Certain discs, especially movie discs come with copyright protec-
tion, which will not allow you to make copies of it. The Invalid
MS-DOS function error message could be the result of that protection.
It could also be a problem with your drive not being compatible and

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finally it could also be the disc itself being scratched or damaged.

Hanging Problem
I have a Dell Optiplex 755 PC. My configuration is as follows:
Intel vpro, Core 2 Duo E6650 @ 2.33 GHz, 1.96 GB RAM, GeForce
7300 GT 512 MB RAM, Creative Audigy Value soundcard. I am using Windows
XP and Vista, but mostly XP. There seems to be a problem in some of the
games that I play, such as in the case of Gears of War, the play speed is fine,
but the PC seems to hang occasionally and I have to turn it OFF and then ON
again. It so happens that if I play it again, it hangs again not necessarily at
the same place. As Gears of War is a heavy game, I would like to mention that
I played the Simpsons game, which is very light, and that also hangs my sys-
tem and it freezes. This is not the case with other games that I play, such as
NFS: Most Wanted or Carbon, etc. However, occasionally it also may hang
while playing them, even after long play times. Kindly help me. Is it a prob-
lem with my graphics card or what? How can I deal with it, I have the latest
drivers installed as well.
Saurav

The lockups could be because of drivers. Update drivers for your
motherboard and graphics card. If the problem exists in both
Windows XP and Vista, then there might be a problem with your
graphics card heating up. Download a heat monitor such as Speedfan
and monitor temperatures for the card and processor.

IE 8 Restarts
I use Windows Vista Ultimate. My configuration is Intel DG33FB mother-
board, 4 GB RAM, Core2 Quad 2.4, NVIDIA GeForce 7200GT, 250 + 80 GB
hard disk and a broadband connection. I use IE 8 Beta 1. Every time I right-
click on IE, I get an error and IE restarts. It happens every time I connect to
the Internet. Please help me with this problem.
Partha Sardar

bility issues with it. A fix could to be click on Tools > Manage
Internet Explorer 8 is still in beta and there are bound to be sta-

Addons. Look for all the currently enabled addons and turn off the
addons one after the other to see which one caused the crash.

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Help Please
1. I use IE 7 and a message box pops-up every time I close the browser.
2. I get the “rundll” error at every start up. I use 1 GB RAM, 160 GB
HDD and a Pentium 4 processor. Help to rectify this annoying pop-up!
3. I want to create a backup of all the automatic updates that are
installed on my system through the Internet. I want to do this because you

year. Also, I found the setup files for the updates in the /windows/soft-
might know that Microsoft will be stopping its support for XP on June 30 this

ware/distribution/download, are these the setups? How can I do
that?
Shreyo

1. The Internet Explorer 7 crash could be because of faulty mem-
ory in which case you should run Memtest86+ (www.memtest.org).
You should also update your motherboard drivers.
2. You have some kind of malware on your system. Fortunately, one
of the easiest ways to uninstall this is to go to Add/Remove Programs
from the Control Panel. Look for an application called new.net and
uninstall it. You should install an antivirus or use a free online scan
to get rid of it completely.

DOWSSoftwareDistributionDownload. Back up the files in it to
3. Microsoft XP downloads all the updates to the folder—WIN-

a CD or DVD for later use.

Upgrade
I have a desktop with a 17-inch monitor, 80-GB hard drive, Intel Pentium
4 2.8 GHz, ATI Radeon Xpress 200 Series, 1 GB of RAM and Windows
Vista Home Premium OS. Every thing was running fine. I even have installed
the Spider Man 3 game successfully. However, when I start the game, I get
the sounds but no display. So will a graphics card solve my problem, or I need
some other remedy. Please resolve the problem under Rs 10,000.
Rajesh Ranjan

Spiderman 3’s minimum system requirements state that the
graphics card should support Shader Model 3.0 which your
Radeon Xpress 200 solution does not. You need to invest in a graph-

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ics card. Invest in a graphics
card such as GeForce 8800
GT or something a little
cheaper such as a GeForce
9600 GT or 9600 GSO. It
would be better if you
update to a new system with
a dual core processor. If you
aren’t plan on upgrading
very soon, then a GeForce
8600 GT will suffice. Boost your gaming experience with a
reasonable graphics card

One Key Recovery
I have a laptop, a Lenovo 2048-22Q. There is a OneKey Recovery func-
tion on my laptop that can recover my C partition. One day, I formatted
my hard-disk and the function got disabled. I tried to enable it but I simply
can’t. What can I do to solve this problem?
Kedar Kulkarni

OneKey Recovery is a third party application that runs on the
Lenovo laptop but formatting your hard disk would have removed
the feature from the laptop. You should reinstall OneKey Recovery
again if it has been supplied on one of the discs. Create the necessary
backups once that is done.

Problems Installing Software
I am experiencing some problems with my computer. Whenever I try to
install a program, it gives me an error. It reads “The system DLL

The relocation occurred because the DLL C:WINDOWSSystem32
user32.dll was relocated in memory. The application will not run properly.

SHELL32.DLL occupied an address range reserved for Windows system
DLLs. The vendor supplying the DLL should be contacted for a new DLL.” I
cannot install any application which comes as an executable. but programs
run fine. My computer configuration is:
Intel Pentium D 820 processor, Intel i945G motherboard, 80 GB HDD,
Windows XP SP2. I have also installed Flyakite OSX 3.What steps should I
take?

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Athreya Rao

Installing Flyakite OSX 3 is causing that error to pop up.
Uninstalling Flyakite OSX 3 will fix the problem, but there is also
a Microsoft fix which can be downloaded from
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/935448/.

Restrict Browsing
My friend has an Internet café. He recently installed a 2.5-GB download
Limit, BSNL Broadband Connection. How can he restrict video and soft-
ware downloads by any means with a specific quota per PC, and with a down-
load reading software.
I don’t know about Ethernet sharing. Please suggest some effective
proxy servers that restrict certain sites, for example, pornographic sites and
downloading.
Please guide me on how I can share the Net via an Ethernet proxy serv-
er. I have an ADSL 2+ modem with 4-Ethernet ports.
Dileep

Certain ADSL routers can allow you to block access to sites direct-
ly through the router’s interface. If you run Linux on the main
gateway server, Squid is the best solution you can use, which has built
in bandwidth throttling and restriction features. There are also stand-
alone bandwidth throttling software such as Netlimiter which can be
installed on client machines and allow remote access to the speeds
allotted.
Orkut Help
I want you to help me out as I am having problems with Orkut. My Orkut
account keeps on redirecting. Also, it shows a message that the SSL cer-
tificate has expired or not yet valid.
Kohli Radu

Orkut had a temporary issue, which would have led to the SSL cer-
tificate expiry error. If the problem still persists, clear the cache
on your browser. If that doesn’t, try a different browser to see if you
face the same problem.

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From The Forum - thinkdigit.com/forum

Record Streaming Radio
I just wonder whether it could be possible to record online streaming
radio. I used to listen to a weekly pod-cast on http://www.hit967.com/.
Sometimes, I miss the show due to my schedule. I would like to know if
there are any programmes available which grab the show from this sta-
tion and store it on my system, so that I can hear it later in the day—its a
two-hour show.
Keves

You may try this freeware called screamer radio. You can also
record. www.screamer-radio.com
Ramakrishnan

Check Video And Audio Quality?
Suppose I download a video of XVID AVI format, how can I know the
quality of audio and video? The problem is that one can stretch the
actual video and make its size bigger. So, one may convert a DVD-quality
video to an HD-DVD quality and then it will be hard to detect the difference
by watching the video. So, is there any way to know the actual size of the
video and actual bit-rate of the audio?
Udaya Maurya

Open with Media Player Classic. [Shift] + [F10] > Details
shift
You can also use GSPOT codec finding tool, which gives all the
information about the file
New

Can’t Play Games
I’m not able to play the following games:
Call Of Duty 4, NFS Pro Street Demo, Crysis Demo, Stranghold, The
Witcher Demo or any big games that I have got on Digit DVDs.
The installation succeeds without any problem, but the games are not
running.
Ashok Verma

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Your system is just not powerful enough to run those games. To
play the above mentioned games, you need at least 1 extra GB of
RAM and a decent graphics card
latino_ansari

How To Add Software To XP Installation CD To Installs
Automatically?
I have just customised my XP installation looks and background. I wish
to add software to install automatically during the XP setup. Could
someone please help?
Anjesh Shekhar

Use nlite. nlite is the best way to add software, drivers, updates,
etc to your XP installation. It gives you the freedom to edit the set-
tings prior to installation.
sabot and Techtronic

New Folders
The folders ff0f0a219308ae522998da6110d119af and MyWorks have
been created in my G: drive. What are they?
I never added any items to it nor installed any software having path G
drive. Then how did they appear?
Let me tell you that my system has five partitions and G is empty. I never
added any thing to it. However, when I just opened it today, this is what I saw.
The ff0f0a219308ae522998da6110d119af folder contains many files,
while the My Works folder is empty. When I try to open any file, it says access
denied! What is the reason? How did all this come there? Should I delete
them? I scanned the partition with Nod 32 but it does not show any virus and
most of the files cannot be scanned, or are denied scan. There are lots files
in it. Something like asferror.dll, audiodev.dll, mediareceiverregistrar wmd-
bexport wmp11 wmp.dll wmpband.dll wmpencen.dll wmpnscfg
life31

It seems you have an incomplete installation of Windows Media
Player 11. Reinstall wmp11, and when its fully installed and can-
not delete the folder, try this:

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Install Unlocker, right click that folder and click Unlocker. Click
“Kill Process” or “Unlock All” or reboot if it says “delete at next
reboot”.

Set IE As The Default Browser?
Currently I have Firefox as my default browser. I need to set IE as the
default. How can I do this?
Sarincv

Go to Tools > Internet Options > Programs > Default
Web Browser.
sanyaldk

.CHM E-books To Other Formats
I have some e-books in CHM format. I don’t like this format because I
can’t increase the font size and it’s difficult to read them. How to con-
vert these CHM format books into other formats such as PDF or DOC?
kantiman

Hey, I too had some problems with them and I tried many soft-
ware. Those which worked for me are:
Help and Manual4, and CHM to PDF converter pro
I used both of them to convert to PDF. It’s easy to use both of them.
Just open a CHM file. Then, the software will decompile it. Finally,
save it to PDF.
rajdeepsingh86
Enable Autorun Without Reloading Windows?
When I insert external storage devices like CD, DVD or a pen drive,
autorun / autoplay is disabled. Is this because of a virus? Can I enable
it without reloading my Windows? I’m using Windows XP SP2. Please help.
Hluachawngthu

Try right-clicking on the DVD drive icon and go to properties.
Click on the second tab Autoplay and select ‘prompt each time’.
ayush_chh

You can re-enable it using TweakUI. Believe me, you are better off

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with autorun disabled. In fact, I’ll recommend disabling autorun on
removable drives also. These days, pen drives are the most common
channel of spreading viruses.
it_waaznt_me

HD Conversion
This is a question which has plagued many of us since we saw HD con-
tent. How are normal movies converted to HD? Is it a software process
or some special hardware is needed? If a software, then please name it.
Hope to get some quick and good replies soon
Rudick

Those movies are shot at much higher resolutions and they scale
down to fit DVDs. It’s much easy for them to release the HD ver-
sions. Nowadays, most of the movie cams are capable of shooting at
much higher resolutions than 1080p and are saved in RAW formats.
They can later just encode it to whatever formats they need, in
order to fit in corresponding discs like BD, DL DVD, DVD, etc. In fact,
there is much more, but we don’t need to know all these. The best
quality copy we can get on the market is 1080p on a BD or HVD disc.
dOm1naTOr

All In One Client
Instead of GTalk, Yahoo!
and MSN Messenger, is
there any software from which
we can access all the accounts
and chat from our desktops?
Rudick
There are many of
them. For example, pid-
gin: http://www.pidgin.im
/download/windows/
iMav

Note: Some other options are
Miranda (www.miranda-im.org),
Pidgin Trillian

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Trillian (www.trillian.cc) and Digsby (www.digsby.com).

What Is My IP?
I’m a BSNL Dataone home user with a 500 plan. I login to my modem
settings using the IP 192.168.1.1. In Windows, my IP address in the
TCP/IP properties in the network settings is 192.168.1.136. When I open sites
such as www.portforward.com, it shows my IP as 117.XX.XX.something. Which
of these is my actual IP address? Then what are the other two IPs? Do I have
a dynamic IP?
ajaybc

The 192.xxx.xxx.xxx IP address is your local IP for your LAN.
The 117.xxx.xxx.xxx IP is your external Internet IP that is
reported by the site you have mentioned. Most ISPs allot dynamic
IPs to their clients.

Wedding DVDs
I need to join three wedding files from three different CDs. I need to
make an autoplaying DVD.
mkmkmk

To make a continuous DVD, you do not need to join the video
files. If you do so, it will unnecessarily take a long time. Just
use any DVD authoring software like Nero vision to make a DVD
with menus.

Cool Buddy
You can use DAT Joiner (http://www.321slideshow.com/dat-joiner.htm)

KoolKid
DVD Using A UIF File?
I have a UIF File of around 3.17 GB. How can I write it on a DVD? Nero is
unable to do that.
satyamy

I guess you can use MagicISO image file. You can use it for burn-
ing as well.

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Choto Cheeta

Find MAC Address Of LAN Card
I have a PC running a LAN Internet connection. Now I need to run the
same Internet connection on my laptop. For this, I manually need to
change the MAC address of the LAN to that of my PC. How can I do this? How
can I find the MAC address of my PC? I used ipconfig /all, but I’m confused
because it gives a 10 to 15 line reply. Which one is the MAC address?
satyamy

It’s the one with the following form: 01:23:45:67:89:ab
preshit.net

For changing (spoofing) the MAC address, you may use the free-
ware program MAC makeup from http://www.gorlani.com/publicprj/mac-
makeup/macmakeup.asp
Ponmayilal

Cassettes To CDs
Tell me how to convert CDs. What are the requirements? Please tell me.
Please explain it to me in detail.
JohnephSi
First, check that your tape has line-out pins. Then buy a cable hav-
ing two line-out and one mic-in for your PC. Connect your tape’s
line-out with your PC’s Mic-in pin through the cable. Start your tape
and record the voice in any recording software.
If you have problem finding the cable, just get your tape and go to
any TV / electronics repair shop. You will get the cable for about Rs 30
to 50. This way, you will get good quality in audio.
parthbarot
Machine Image To CD Or DVD
I have recently formatted my machine, and do so frequently. So I heard
about taking the image of the computer in a DVD or CD and putting it
back when ever needed. Can any body help me out in this? I have an 80-GB
machine with a single C: drive. Suggest a good one.
jayanbhm

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With Acronis True Image, you can easily make disc images.
Acronis also allows you to split the image to fit in optical discs.
But a single 80-GB partition image will take you around 18 DVDs!
slugger

Reduce GIF Files
How do I reduce a GIF animation size?
Rockstar11

Use Imageready. Delete some unnecessary frames, and reduce the
dimension.
Lucky_star

Yes, Imageready is the best and is easy to use. Delete the frames
which you don’t need and speed up or down as you want.
ax3

Extract 5.1 Audio
I have an original DVD having 5.1 channel audio. I want to extract audio
for one of the songs in 5.1 channel format only. How can this be done?
rak007

DVD audio ripper Extract AC3 soundtrack from DVDs.
http://www.dvdripperwizard.com/dvd-audio-ripper.html

Rockstar11
Automate Downloading
Hi. I am a frequent downloader of big files using Torrent. Now I have a
BSNL 500 plan, that is, unlimited from 2 to 8 am. It is troublesome to
wake in the night, go to PC, start it, wait for the link, then connect, start the
torrent and sleep!
Shutting down is not a problem, but the main thing is to wake up at night.
Is there any software which can self connect to the Net, using the present
connection at a pre-determined time, and then start the torrent software. I
have to only turn the PC ON and modem for say between 11:00 to 12:00 pm.
In case the PC restart or link gets broken it should be able to reconnect.
ayushman9

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I am looking for a tool
to turn on Windows at
a specific time, but didn’t
find any. Please help me if
you find any. Thank you in
advance.
Rakesh Rao

The software I used
are: Flashget from
www.amazesoft.com for http Auto Power-on and shut-down allows
/ ftp downloads. uTorrent automatically turning on and off of your
from www.utorrent.com for computer
bittorrent. Activate and
configure scheduler in both. System Scheduler from www.splinter-
ware.com will help with scheduling. Auto PowerOn and ShutDown
from www.lifsoft.com for waking from hibernate and shutting down.
dheeraj_kumar

CD Problem
I use windows XP (Home edition, SP2) and I am using Nero 5. I have
recently added a combo drive (DVD reader + CD writer) of IBM. Now my
Nero doesn’t accept it and I can’t burn any CD. Is it due to a virus problem or
Nero needs to be upgraded?
Bishwadeep Bagchi

You should upgrade your Nero to a newer version to add support
for your drive. In the meantime, you can also try some other free
alternatives like CDBurnerXP (http://cdburnerxp.se)

Install MySQL
I’ve bought a domain name and Web space for my Web site. It’s a
Windows server for hosting. I have built a Web site with MySQL data-
base. Now, the problem is that, there is no MySQL server installed on the

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Web server. I must have
MySQL installed on the
server to run the Web site.
Similarly for Tomcat, I
made JSP pages, which
need Servlet engine to
parse. Normal Apache serv-
er can’t parse JSP files. So,
can I installed Tomcat serv-
It is worth trying free alternative disc burning
er on that server (or on dif- software like CDBurnerXP
ferent port)? Otherwise, I’ll
have to convert all my JSP
code to PHP or ASP. I have FTP access to the server, that is, I can download
and upload files on that sever. Any way out? Please help.
Garbage

Do you own the server? I think only if you have access to the serv-
er personally or have some way to install MySQL on the server
itself, can you have MySQL on the server.
If you just bought Web space from some provider, then all you can
is to request the provider to install MySQL for you.
debsuvra

Make ISO files From Nero
I have Nero 7 essentials, which came with my DVD writer. I want to make
image files with it, but can’t find any option to do so. So, I think Nero
doesn’t have the facility to make ISO files, and if some of are aware of a way,
then please tell me how to do it.
khansaqib101

Nero 7 Essential will allow you to save the image as an ISO file. All
you need to do is save it as an image. Check this box, everything
else is the same.
Slugger

Where’s FrontPage 2003

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I have installed Office 2003, but can’t get to start FrontPage. In fact the
shortcut is missing from the Start menu itself. I thought it is automati-
cally installed with Office package (I did a complete installation). Do I have
to install it separately? I searched my drives, but didn’t find anything at all.
karnivore
FrontPage 2003 is
not included in the
Office 2003 Package and
is available separately.
debsuvra

Virtual Printer
I need a virtual printer soft-
ware, which converts my
HTML files to PDF, text, GIF
and Word and vice versa.
It is worth trying free alternative disc burning
Thanks in advance. software like CDBurnerXP
Ismart

novaPDF, only converts to PDF format
pushkaraj

doPDF is a good start.
koolbluez

I’ve been using cutePDF and it works fine.
Zeeshan Quireshi

Software
I want to browse a particular Web site offline. I want to download the
whole Web site and browse it offline later with full functionality. I mean,
if I click on a link on the main page / subsequent pages, it should direct me
to the link instead of saying it as error. Is there any software like that? I want
to buy it. It should be simple, effective, and fast. It should not be too cum-
bersome. Waiting for a reply. Those who have used similar software and feel
that it’s the best, kindly give me the name of that software.
mayneu

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Use WebDumper!
Vaibhavtek

Free Download Manager also lets you download an entire site.
asnvin

Blocking Flash Advertisements
Those of us using broadband Internet know the value of bandwidth. The
flash animated advertisements download quickly due to faster connec-
tions, but at the same time consume from the allotted bandwidth. I am an XP
user with IE7 and want to restrict these bulky flash files from playing.
Can anyone here, out of personal experience suggest me a good way to
overcome this problem? The flash files have become “necessary evils”, as
they are sometimes compulsorily required. Disabling ActiveX in the setting is
not an option, as they block all flash files. Is it possible to selectively disable
advertisements only?
Sridhar_Rao
F l a s h b l o c k

(http://flashblock.mozdev.org)
on Firefox
kalpik

FTP Downloads Using
Batch Files
How to schedule FTP
downloads through
batch file creation? I know
there are third party soft-
ware that help us do this Flashblock is one of the Firefox addons that
automation, but I want to do blocks flash elements in a page
it through BAT files, which I
can schedule and have my
purpose solved.
Parminder001
Why don’t you just use the schedule feature in FDM? It supports
both—scheduling the start and stop of downloads.

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slugger

Torrents Blocked?
I’m not able to download
any torrents since the past
two weeks. None of the clients
Azureus, Bitcomet or uTorrent is
working. I tried forwarding the
ports. Whatever the number of
seeds, speeds don’t exceed 2-5
KBps, while they used to stay
around 29-31 KBps earlier. But
there is no problem in http or
ftp downloads.
I have a 256 kbps Cable DSL
connection from Ortel
Communications, here in
Bhubaneswar. My friends who
Free Download Manager like other download
have the same ISP are also fac- managers can schedule downloads
ing the same problem, while
BSNL guys are having full
fledged downloads. I think, my ISP has blocked torrents. Is it possible?
Please help.
Lucky_star

Try encryption in utorrent and see if that helps.
varunprabhakar

Your ISP is blocking all ports now. Call them up and ask them to
open some port for you.
QwertyManiac

Opera Icon
My computer doesn’t show Opera’s icon for HTM and HTML files,

gram. Correcting it from Folder Options > File Types doesn’t
although it does show Firefox’s icon if that is made the default pro-

help either. What is the problem?

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Cool Buddy

Same thing happens with me with Flock. Delete the existing HTM
and HTML extensions in file types. Then add same extensions
HTM and HTML, and now associate the new file type with Opera.
asnvin

Maximum Capacity
I have a Kingston Data traveller 100. It’s a 4 GB pen drive, but only show
3.73 GB. So, I’m missing a good 200 MB! How can I gain that? I tried con-
verting it into FAT system, but I couldn’t.
chichi

FAT16 or simply FAT doesn’t support partitions over 2 GB, so you
can’t use FAT for your pen drive. You’ll have to use FAT32.
4 GB = 4,00,00,00,000 bytes. 4,00,00,00,000 bytes (divide by 1024) =
39,06,250 KB = 3814.7 MB = 3.73 GB. So this is the maximum you can use.
gagandeep
Converting MKV files to AVI format
I’ve downloaded some video files using Azureus Java Bittorrent client.
Almost all the files available there are in MKV format. I can’t play them
in my DIVX capable DVD player. Are there any freeware available to convert
MKV to DIVX? Is there any other method to convert them?
Writealexthomas
Well I had the same issues some time back. ConvertXtoDVD
(www.vso-software.fr/products/convert_x_to_dvd/) solved them all. The
best part of it is that it also compresses the 4.4 GB MKV file to 2.1 GB
with all the chapters and stuff (complete DVD layout). It is amazing,
and also burns the movie in a DVD in the end.
MKV file was using AC3 codec and H264, so it was not that easy for
a DVD player to read that format straight away. Hence, convert X2DVD
was the thing, which worked out for me.
akshaykapoor_3

Bad Video

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This is my configuration:
P3 @ 700 MHz, 256 MB SDRAM,
Intel 810 chipset with onboard graphics.
I’m unable to playback XVID and DIVX
videos with resolutions more than 720x576,
videos higher than this resolution keep get-
ting stuck, and the video totally lags with
the audio. I use XP and Gomplayer and have
even tried Media Player Classic, but to no
avail.
I face more problems when playing
H264 videos (can’t play even 480i videos).
What can I do to get smooth playback.
Rahul

On my PC, it plays XVID DIVX @ 480 just fine. However, it cannot
play H264 files smoothly, if the resolution is a little higher. WMV
files @ 480 runs like slow motion.
Hackattack

H.264 processor requires a pretty high end processor, and a decent
amount of RAM to run. A complete upgrade for your system is long
overdue. H.264 is used in HD resolutions.

Playlist Transfer
I’m planning to reinstall my OS and happen to use Media monkey to play
my music. I was just wondering if I could save my current playlists and
then import it into the media player once I reinstall it. I don’t like the idea of
selecting songs and making the playlists again. Please help. Thanks in
advance.
jambay19

Copy contents of My MusicMediaMonkey folder before rein-
stallation of OS and put it back after reinstallation
asnvin

Upload Flash

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How to upload flash file on a Web site? For example, when we upload
a file from many images uploader like imageshack, tinypic, etc., is
there any way to upload a flash file also?
Boosters

You can upload it on YouTube and embed the URL? Isn’t that sim-
pler?
legolas

Yahoo! Messenger Font Problem
I just installed Yahoo! Messenger
9.0 beta (Indian edition). Now
when I run the programme, the screen
shows rectangles instead of charac-
ters.
amit_stg

I think it’s because you may
not have the required fonts.
Control Panel > Regional and lan-
guage settings > Advanced. Scroll
down to 57002 and check All

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IV APPLICATIONS

Indian languages. You might need your Windows CD.
dheeraj_kumar

SWF As Screensaver
How can we set an SWF file (flash) as a screensaver in Windows XP Pro.
Please give me the details for it.
vagish
Use this: http://www.instantstorm.com/
Embed flash in an HTML file, and set the HTML as your back-

<embed src=”whatever.swf” width=”800”
ground (make sure active desktop is enabled)

height=”600”></embed>
dheeraj_kumar

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Miscellaneous

ere you’ll find problems that are so weird that they don’t

H qualify for any of the previous sections. The fact that we’ve
received these questions, however, means that people out
there are facing such problems. Solutions ahead

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Broadband Connection Problem
I have a “Compaq Presario SR 1931 IL” desktop with Pentium D proces-
sor, 512 MB RAM, 256 MB ATI Radeon Xpress Graphics Card. Recently,
from April 24, 2008, I got a BSNL Dataone broadband connection with
UTStarcom ADSL 2+ Modem / Router.
The problem is that it connects occasionally even though it stays con-
nected for a few minutes. Often, it does not connect at all. Sometimes from
10 AM to 3 PM it connects with good download speeds. However, if it’s a
weekend then there is simply no chance of establishing a connection. I
contacted many BSNL personnel, but ultimately didn’t get a good response
from them.
It shows the following errors:
1. Error 678: The remote computer did not respond.
2. Error 619: Disconnected. A connection to the remote computer could
not be established, so the part used for this connection was closed.
3. Error 718: The connection was terminated, because the remote com-
puter did not respond.
4. Error 676: The phone line is busy.
Most often, I face “Error 676: The phone line is busy.”
Razesh Pediredla

The instability in the line and speed means that the problem
could be with the phone line itself. If possible, check for distur-
bance in the line.

Files Problems
I use Windows XP Home original version in my PC. I tried to install
Ubuntu Linux 7.10, but it destroyed the Windows XP (NTFS) partition
because I tried the default setup. I connected to broadband using Ubuntu,
and installed VLC player and some codecs to play media files. I lost my C:
drive and the entire data of C:. Later, I recovered the lost partition and lost
data. However, the problem is that most of the files (DOC, XLS, JPG and oth-
ers) have not been opening. It is showing some junk characters. Some files
are working well.
Badal Chandra Mondal

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MISCELLANEOUS V

Data recovery never accurately recovers all the data. There is
always going to be some corruption and that’s exactly what has
happened to all the documents you had.

Lease Line Bandwidth
I am a subscriber of Digit, and have some queries for which I would like
to get your valued feedback.
I have taken a leased line connection of 1 Mbps (1:1) using RF technology.
1. What is the download speed we should get on a standalone machine?
2. What is a fool-proof way of checking the bandwidth that we are getting?
Vipul Patel

A 1 Mbps line should give you download speeds of around 125
KBps. The simplest way to check your download speed would be
to download a substantially large file to your PC without a download
manager. You should get close to 125 KBps. After that, also use a down-
load manager and see the increase in speed. The speed does not only
depend on your ISP, but also on the hosting used by the server you are
downloading from and the state and traffic of the connection route.

BSNL billing problem
I have a question, is it possible for someone to use my BSNL broadband
service from another computer (telephone), without me knowing?
Because although I don’t use much for downloading the contents, but I do
use it for skype while talking to one of my friend in Denmark. I still have been
getting a large bill for the past two months. Besides, I didn’t use more than
1000 MB. However, on checking on the BSNL Web site, I was surprised to see
a usage of 2509 MB. So, I thought if some other person is using it with my
username and password. I would like to know what could be the problem. My
telephone bill previously with using broadband (with Skype) was Rs 650-750
only. I use the Rs 250-per-month BSNL plan with 1 GB download free. Now
since two months I’m getting a bill above Rs 3,400.
Vivek Mandre

There are many reasons your download bills might be going up.
Skype being a high quality voice chat software uses a fair bit of
bandwidth. Download a bandwidth monitoring application such as

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V MISCELLANEOUS

NetMeter (http://readerror.gmxhome.de/) and monitor how much band-
width is being used constantly. You should be able to get a fair idea of
how much bandwidth your applications are using.
One of the other possibilities could be a virus or a Trojan, which
could be randomly sending and receiving data from the Internet. You
should also change your password periodically to prevent anyone else
from using your account.

Canon Digital IXUS 970 IS vs. Canon Powershot SX100 IS
I’m planning to buy a digital camera and am confused as to which to
buy, Canon Digital
IXUS 970 IS or Canon
Powershot SX100 IS? By
the way, what are the
differences beyond
zoom?
Pavan Kumar Gurrala

The two cameras
are aimed at
completely different
types of users. If you
want something, you
can stick into your
pocket, then the
Canon IXUS 970 IS is
what you should get.
The PowerShot SX100
IS is a bulkier, but has
a larger optical zoom
and is also much
cheaper than the
IXUS 970 IS. It is how-
ever, an 8 MP camera
compared to the 10
MP 970IS.

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MISCELLANEOUS V

Urgent
I am your regular reader and a longtime subscriber of Digit. Lately, I
came to my hometown (UP) on vacation. Since the Internet connection
at home is BSNL 750UL+, which runs at 256 Kbps, I tried using my own com-
pany’s account (Punjab), which is a Business 15000 account that runs at 8
Mbps. I entered the username and password for my company’s account, but
it shows authentication failure.
Please note that Business 15000 is multi-user account, which I can con-
nect easily in Punjab and it runs over multiple systems. I tried different set-
tings in Router (Siemens SL141_121), but it just didn’t work.
I hope you guys will surely help me out of this. The slow speed is killing
me. It’s my first technical help related e-mail to you.

Sayeed

It could possible that the multiple connections are only allowed
from within a state or district. You should call up the ISP and ask
for more clarity on this.

From the Forum—thinkdigit.com/forum

Actual Speeds
I am using a Tata Indicom broadband connection, which has 3 months
validity at 256 Kbps at a cost of Rs 3,203. (About Rs 1,100 per month
with no download limits at 256 Kbps). The actual download speed is about 30
Kbps (As shown by download managers). It takes nearly 1 hour for a 100 MB
file to download. Is this the normal speed? Then what does 256 Kbps mean?
Aanand

Basically, the speeds you should be getting are 256 Kilo bits per
second (Kbps) / 8 = 32 Kilo Bytes per second (KBps). And you’re get-
ting 30 KBps, which is quite normal.
Rayraven

Cell Phone Camera As Web Cam?
How can I use my N70-1 phone as a Web cam to my PC?
vamsikrishna919

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http://www.motvik.com/download.php
Download the wwigo software for your mobile and enjoy.
rajhot

What’s Better, MP3 Or OGG Vorbis?
I don’t mind the file size or compatibility issue. Which has got a better
audio quality?
sarincv

For PC, it would be FLAC all the way, because it uses lossless com-
pression, and is as good as, if not better than the proprietary codecs.
Anurag_panda

Low ping error!
I can’t play Call of Duty 4 online. So I tried some servers using Xfire to
play. But when I start, I get the error, “Server is for low ping player only!”
Please help me. I installed the latest update ver 1.5 for it. SP is working fine.
ajaybc

Some servers have been set up to not allow users with a high ping.
The server you might be connecting to maybe giving you really
high pings, which is why you are being disconnected. Try connecting
to servers closer to India, or ones that have no ping restriction.

Canon A560 Dying
I purchased a Canon A560 digital camera a few weeks back. I used the
bundled “Panasonic Industrial Alkaline” batteries and took around 150
snaps with them!
After getting “Change the batteries” message, I promptly removed those
batteries and replaced them with a new pair of “AA Alkaline” type Eveready
batteries, but to my surprise, the batteries lasted only for 5 snaps! I thought
it might be a problem with the batteries, so I again replaced them with a new
pair of “NIPPO” batteries, but it was the same story again...
They just lasted for 5-6 snaps and the camera switched off and I got the
message “Change the batteries”... Is it the problem with the camera? or
should I use more powerful NiMH or NiCD type of batteries?
jack_the_ripper

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MISCELLANEOUS V

Too many
batteries being
used for your
digital camera?
Buy rechargeable
batteries instead
of scores of
normal AA
batteries

Yes, you need to get better batteries. Get some NiMH batteries
with at least 2000-2500 mAh capacity and a charger. Won’t cost
you much. Each battery would cost around Rs 80 or so. You can get it
from camera shops or electronics shops.
gulgulumaal

How To Check Download Limit?
I have a BSNL Dataone 256 kbps (night free) plan. As the download is
limited to 2.5 GB per month, is there any way to check how much I have
downloaded out of 2.5 GB until now?
PunjabiPRO
Visit www.dataone.in.
If you are a Firefox user, then you can use datafox to check
your usage. Visit Datafox at http://thegoan.com/datafox/
nvidia

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How To Make A Poster?
I have designed a poster for an exhibition at my college. Now I have to
print it. It takes a lot of money to print large images as it can’t be print-
ed in normal printer available at my college.
So I intend to split the image into small parts (A4 sized) print it and then
join them to make the poster. That way we can print it in normal printers.
Now my problem is I need to know if there is any software to split it into
several A4-sized parts? I searched for them online, but found that they were
not designed for this purpose. Many of them are used for just dividing the
image, such that it loads on Web pages faster.
Ajaybc

Block Posters (www.blockposters.com)
This free online tool will split the uploaded image and allow
you to download PDF files of that.
blueshift

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MISCELLANEOUS V

Connectivity Problems
Although my Compaq C754TU is connected to the Internet via a USB
modem (Tata Indicom’s Plug2surf), I cannot view any Web page in my
browser(s), an error
message is displayed
“Server cannot be found.
Check your connection
and then try again”. And
even if a few Web sites
open up, they take ages
to load. I know this isn’t
a broadband, but it isn’t
a dialup connection
either. Is it due to a prob-
lem on the server?
Cannot be, as
people from customer
care came and checked
it, and found nothing was
wrong with the signal. Is
it due to wrong settings,
but then how do I get
connected. Nothing is All Network Connection Status boxes will tell you
wrong with the USB how many packets are being sent and received. If a
lot of data exchange is happening, and you’re not
modem either. really using the network, beware of viruses!
GP P

Check your computer for any viruses or worms. Look at the speed
at which the connection is uploading and downloading. Go to a
different location and see if your connection speed improves. Also, try
visiting some Indian sites and see if you do get better speeds.

LAN issue
I have an HP Pavilion Laptop (Model No dv1624tn). Everything works
fine except LAN. Earlier it was working fine, but now from past few days,
whenever I insert the LAN cable, it says limited connectivity. Else, it gets con-
nected. However, I couldn’t surf the Net and it doesn’t open any Web page.

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Whenever it says limited connectivity, I restarted the modem several
times. It still has the same problem. I have seen that the green LAN LED
always glows. The red LED, which is normally indicative of being busy, but it
sometimes blinks or sometimes periodically like every after 3 seconds.
I have installed all the LAN drivers. In my laptop, the Intel Pro/100 VE
Network LAN connection is there. I don’t know how to check whether my LAN
has gone or what? I have tried all the possibilities, but it doesn’t connect at
all. I have a 2 Mbps connection. My WiFi works just great. However, LAN has
the same problem.
Other than driver what would be the problem in my LAN? Can anyone
please solve my problem? I will be very thankful to them.
Nkparsana

Call your ISP and ask them to check the connection.
aswin1

Go to IP v4 properties in network setting (LAN) and assign IP address
as 192.168.1.2 and the netmask as 255.255.255.0. Reboot the modem
and PC. Then go to ADSL modem properties by opening 192.168.1.1 (or
what ever your router’s IP) on your browser and see if DHCP is
enabled. This will help.
nish_higher

150 feet, can I create a LAN?
My house and my friend’s house are 150 feet apart. We want to make a
LAN. Is this possible with an RJ45 and CAT5? If yes, tell me what we
need? If not possible, then tell me any other way to make it. If possible, tell
me approximate expenses.
Tech.Masti
Nothing extra is needed. This is a small distance only. Just con-
nect directly. Don’t forget to get the PC-to-PC Ethernet cable
(cross-over cable if connecting PC-to-PC) or else get the normal cable if
you are using a router to connect the PCs.
The network will be good when you have a router that becomes
hassle-free. Else, you have to deal with small problems in directly con-
necting two PCs over LAN
DigitalDude

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200807 troubleshooting ii

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