ActiveWin: Ask AW

Welcome to AskAW! This section of our web site lets you submit questions about any problems/queries that you may have about Windows. Be it from a little icon that annoys you to hardware freezing your PC, we will try and help you out. You can submit your questions by e-mailing us at askaw@activewin.com. You can browse through previous questions over at our Archive Page. Who knows what you might find.

Here are the answered questions for 05-04-2001

Question	Submitted by: Gordon
hello and where do i download the newest explorer 6.0 i have the one from two weeks ago, i hear there is another one out! also i signed up for your news letter and have not recieved a single issue
Solution 1	Answered by: Jordon
www.savagenews.com/software/ie6beta/ie6beta.html

Question	Submitted by: Jim
I downloaded Outlook 98 a loooooooong time ago when it was free. I have all the downloaded files, but when I try to run setup windows tries to download it form MS. Of course the program has long been off MS's server. Is there any way to reinstall Outlook 98 from the cab files that are archived on a CD? Thanks Jim
Solution 1	Answered by: Candy Baker
You need to purchase the CD. The .cab files are not the complete program, and you cannot make an installation with just the .cab files. Microsoft Outlook 2000 is for sale and has many new features from the version you are used to using.

Question	Submitted by: Shirley Rimmer
Hello, I am Shirley Rimmer. I have recently had a problem with my computer monitor going Black for no reason what so-ever. This has only happened when I have been on the Net. Tonight for example, I was just using the scroll bar at the side of the page when next news, my screen was pitch Black and the only thing visible was the mouse!! What happened and why? Can it be fixed? I await your reply with interest.
Solution 1	Answered by: Charles Putnam
Can you provide a little more info on your computer hardware and software? There could be several issues. First impression might be the video card drivers need to be updated.

Question	Submitted by: Bill
My Me Image Preview will no longer print my images from MY Picture folder. When I click the printer icon or when I use the print command from the dropdown menu(print command is backlighted) there is no response from my printer. My other programs print well including any images I open with other viewers. How can I get back my printing feature for Image Preview?
Solution 1	Answered by: Candy Baker
Right click Start button on Taskbar, click on Explore and open. On the View menu, click Thumbnails then close. If this doesn't help then uninstall your Printer and shutdown and when computer is in windows turn off the Printer and then reinstall your Printer.

Question	Submitted by: Derek
I have some legacy DOS software that read and writes to the COM ports. These programs run OK from a DOS prompt on a Windows 98 machine, but I would like to run them under Windows 2000. When I try to run them on my Win2k machine they are unable to communicate through the COM ports. It is as if the COM ports don't exist. If I boot to a DOS floppy the programs run fine on the same machine. I have tried manipulating the AUTOEXEC.NT and CONFIG.NT to eliminate any incompatibilities there, but it just seems as if the Command Prompt window can't access the COM ports. Could you provide any insight or help?
Solution 1	Answered by: Stefan
Windows 2000 doesn't allow you to access your hardware directly, it hall has to go through the Windows 2000 drivers. So you'll have to rewrite your application, I'm afraid.

Question	Submitted by Lawrence
I unloaded [deleted] a games program recently and accidently also deleted the autoplay for my CD Rom when I was asked if I wanted everything on the particular programe deleted. Now when I put CD's in the CD Rom the program will not start by itself. I have to click on the particular program in the start menu to open it. Is there something that I can doo to recover the data from my original Windows 98 CD or is this, no doubt, little part of the windows configuration lost for ever. Any advise you can give would be appreciated. Lawrence
Solution 1	Answered by: Jordon
go to control panel then system then device manager then pick your cdrom and then properties then settings. and put a check inn the auto insert notification slot
Solution 2	Answered by: Mean
Of course I have seen situations where the above has still not worked (rare but true) and what helped me there was tweakUI. Download it from MS.

Question	Submitted by: Don
When I click on START, then PROGRAMS, no programs appear yet all of my programs are on the computer. The only connection I see to this problem is that I installed Quick View software and then uninstalled the program. How can I get all of the programs to appear without going to Start Menu Properties?
Solution 1	Answered by: Candy Baker
Reinstall of Windows will fix the problem. If you have some programs that do not show up under the Start - Programs then do the following: To add a shortcut to the Start or Programs menu Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Taskbar and Start Menu. Click the Advanced tab. Click Add, and then follow the instructions in the Create Shortcut wizard.
Solution 2	Answered by: Mean
I do not think a reinstall of Windows will help at all as a dirty reinstall will continue with the same start menu. Either you manually add the programs or you reinstall each software to add the start menu shortcuts. If there aren't too many entries there in any case you can make your own toolbar with shortcuts to all your programs.

Question	Submitted by Unknown
Hi I have several computers with win2000 on them and they all run fine, I have tried to make emergency repair disks for each computer , but get the same results when i tried them out to see if they work, I get NTLDR is missing, I have made upgrade installs and clean installs all give the same results, the contents of win2000 CD is on second drives on each computers. I have checked each of the drives containing the win2000CD and they have the NTLDR file.. Can this file be copied to the main drives and in what folder should it be placed to make it work. I have made the 4 bootup disks and they work, and it takes me to a point where im asked to repair or reinstall,is NTLDR in the bootup disks also... thanks!
Solution 1	Answered by: Brian Lyttle
NTLDR is the bootstrap for Windows NT and Windows 2000. It should be placed in the root directory of the boot drive. You should be able to copy from your original disks, the NTLDR file which is required. Make sure you copy a the correct one. eg. Don't mistake a Windows 2000 one for a Windows NT one. If you still have problems, boot your Windows 2000 Cd and select the repair option.

Question	Submitted by Unknown
i do not want anyone to download anything from internet to my computer...( i mean i want to cancel downloading) how can i do this....? i have window 98 second edition thanx Unknown
Solution 1	Answered by: Jordon
i don't think it can be done, in essence even visiting a webpage is downloading files to your computer.
Solution 2	Answered by: Marc
With Zone Alarm Pro http://www.zdnet.com/downloads/partners/zonealarm/download.html you can select what application's can have access to the internet. This program can also be password protected. I think this is the best you will be able to do.

Question	Submitted by Laura
Hello I have Win98SE installed and I would not use any other OS. I love it. I had it on my computer for almost a year and things started getting glitchy. So, just figured it was time for a clean up and formatting. I also had Active desktop set so that I could view my wallpapers and not view the desktop icons. When I do any saving or downloading I always make it to my desktop. Anyway. I formatted and reinstalled everything, but now my active desktop does not work right. If I set it to "view as a web page, I lose the icons (that is cool) but also lose my desk top wallpaper and that is not cool. I have checked the places I know and I just don't know where else to go to fix this problem. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Solution 1	Answered by: Marc
Hi Laura! I am thinking that there must have been a problem with the installation. Have you tried re-re-installing? Also, you should be sure to go to windows update site and get any updates for your operating system. Good luck

Question	Submitted by Brian
HiI have installed ICSMGR so that I can connect to the internet with another PC on my network through my main PC. Now everytime I go to SHUT DOWN my main PC I get an error message box described below. I have also found that should I try and unload ICSMGR I get the same message. Can you shed some light on this error. This program has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down ICSMGR caused an invalid page fault in module KERNEL32.DLL at 0187:bffc05f7. Registers: EAX=012c0014 CS=0187 EIP=bffc05f7 EFLGS=00010286 EBX=013bffec SS=018f ESP=012c0000 EBP=012c001c ECX=00000000 DS=018f ESI=00000000 FS=3ca7 EDX=bff76855 ES=018f EDI=bff79060 GS=0000 Bytes at CS:EIP: 55 8d 6b 10 ff 54 8f 04 5d 5e 8b 5d 0c 0b c0 74 Stack dump: 00000000 012c001c 012c00ec 8177bc28 013bffec 012c00ec 012c0108 012c0040 bff76849 012c00ec 013bffec 012c0108 012c00c4 013bffec bff76855 013bffec
Solution 1	Answered by Charles Putnam
Is this a third-party application? If so, there may be an update to it. If I recall, Win98SE supported Internet Connection Sharing. Check w/ MS to see if they have a similar utility. Usually, with an error such as this, it's simply a case of bad programming (poorly written application).
Solution 2	Answered by: Marc
ICSMGR is part of Home networking wizard provided by Microsoft. I have the same issue from time to time running WinMe. This issue only happens on occasion to me and after a re-start it will go away. I would recommend that you try to run the connection wizard again and ensure all the settings are correct. This driver could have be conflicting with some other loaded driver on your system. Try removing programs that run in the background one by one to find the culprit.

Question	Submitted by Unknown
hello, my problem is my digital camera please can you help. I am running windows me every time I try to install my camera a list of cameras appears but mine does not seem to be among them my camera is a fugifilm finepix 2200 I am not sure weather windows me recognizes this model. its driving me nuts I cant download my pictures please help thank you.
Solution 1	Answered by Charles Putnam
Check the camera mfg's web site for a driver. WinMe didn't include drivers for all cameras. Hopefully, there should be on Fuji's web site.
Solution 2	Answered by Mean Drake
See if the driver disk has the WinMe drives on it. In the window that shows the list of cameras click the have disk button....And then browse to WinMe drivers folder. If there are no WinMe drivers then Download from Net if available

Question	Submitted by George
I am receiving an ERROR STARTING PROGRAM. A required.dll file, MSVCP.DLL, was not found. This message pops up every time I boot up. How can I solve this problem. Using Windows 98.
Solution 1	Answered by Charles Putnam
It sounds like there is/was a program that was installed, but removed. There may still be a copy of the startup file in the Start Up folder. Check to see what's there and remove it.
Solution 2	Answered by Mean Drake
Run the msconfig tool to see what all is in the startup and then remove the reference to something that might be listed there but has been uninstalled by you.

Question	Submitted by Lesley
I have Amdk6/2, Win.98, Creative Riva TNT, Soundblaster AWE 64, MS Intellimouse and Epson 600 printer. When I turned on today my display had reverted to 600/400, there was no sound, the mouse wheel wouldn't work, there was no volume control on sys. tray and when I tried the printer got a message saying it wasn't installed! Tried to change the display back to 800/600 but only 256 and 16 bit colours were available and on restart it was back to 600/400 Reinstalled the soundcard software but setup told me it was already installed and the volume control didn't reappear. In Multimedia/devices the preferred devices section is all greyed out. In Display properties the Riva TNT tab is missing although the software is installed, After reinstalling the Mouse software mouse went back to normal. The printer has always worked perfectly well with the Win98 drivers (the printer software is older than Win98). Tried running the Add New Hardware wizard but it didn't detect anything. It is as if windows is not recognising the soundcard, videocard or printer. Would be grateful for any suggestions - would rather not reinstall Windows as I have a lot of uptodate downloads (eg. Direct X, Shockwave, Realplayer, MS MediaPlayer etc which ideally should be uninstalled before reinstall of Win98 - it would be very tiresome having to download all over again!!)
Solution 1	Answered by Charles Putnam
Two thoughts: 1. Did you receive an e-mail with an attachment or download/install a program before this occurred? It sounds like a possible virus. 2. Did you install/uninstall a program prior to this problem? Run a virus scan first. Then back up your data. You may be forced to do a reinstall (sorry)
Solution 2	Answered by Mean Drake
And why download again? Always keep a copy of your downloads. If you do not have access to sources like Zip drives or CD-Rs, even keeping them on a different partition of the same hard disk is enough as even if you go to Format c:, these remain safe.

Question	Submitted by M.D.
Hi all. I wonder if you could please help me. I'm running windows 2000 Professional on my work system.The display card that i'm using is a SIS 5598.The problem that I'm having is that I can only set it as a 256 color and not higher.Is it the card that is faulty or am I missing a setting. Please help.
Solution 1	Answered by Charles Putnam
Did you check the mfgr's web site for Win2000 drivers? If there aren't any for this card (sorry, don't recognize it offhand) you may need to opt for one that does have Win2000 drivers available.
Solution 2	Answered by Mean Drake
If you have installed the proper Win2k compatible display drivers, then you need to check out how much video memory this card has. Some cards with low Video memory will not let you set high colour mode with screen resolutions of 800X600 or higher.

Question	Submitted by keshav
Hi I need clarification on dual boot i.e. is it possible to install first windows-2000 or nt4.0 then win98 or 95 Thanks & regards keshav
Solution 1	Answered by: Ashton
If you want to do dual boot, it is a good idea to install the oldest operating system first. For example, install Windows 98 and then 2000 and multi-boot will work fine.
Solution 2	Answered by Mean Drake
Not only a good idea but the only idea. If WinNT/2K are put in first, when win98/95 is installed, the boot files are overwritten and the system will not boot to WinNT/2k. It will in essence be just a single boot system.

Question	Submitted by Jennifer
Hello: I recently bought a new Dell computer with Windows ME installed. I have problems in my applications with fainter than usual print, with a slightly out-of-focus look to it. It is not so bad that I can't read it, but it is hard on the eyes after five or ten minutes use. Also, when I boot my computer, after the Dell logo appears and the Windows ME screen is supposed to appear, instead I get a black screen with white snow, and horizontal wavy purple and gray lines rolling on the screen. This is very annoying. Could this be a software problem; Dell has replaced my tower and my monitor, but I am still experiencing the problem. Any suggestions?
Solution 1	Answered by: Marc
This sounds very odd, perhaps its a video driver issue, nonetheless you should make Dell fix this issue if you are under warranty.

Question	Submitted by Lisa
using search engine I found an entry that sounds like my problem. "leave my computer (P3 650mhz 20gig 250mbram) for more than 3 hours it completely freezes up and I get the following message fatal Exception 0E at 0167:BFF9DFFF. ... " but when I use the link to get to it, I can't find that entry. I would really like to know what the answer was to that problem. I also have machines that get this fatal exception as it just sits there. no screen savers are on and no activity for a period of time. Any info you have would be greatly appreciated.
Solution 1	Answered by: Candy Baker
It sounds like a protection fault error with .dll file. You need to find out why this is happening. You need to check your energy saving feature setting and make sure none of your power schemes are set to shutdown or go into a stand-by mode. Go to Settings > Control Panel > Display. Open Screen Saver settings. The schemes include preset time settings that turn off computer components or put your computer in a low-power usage state. You can create your own power schemes or use the ones provided with Windows. You can also adjust the individual settings in a power scheme. For example, depending on your hardware, you can: Turn off your monitor automatically. Typically, you would do this for a short period to conserve power. Put the computer on standby. If you plan to be away from your computer for a while, you put your computer on standby. I suggest you leave this on. Put your computer in hibernation. You would do this when you’ll be away from the computer for an extended time or overnight. Hibernation turns your computer off, but when you restart the computer, all programs and documents that were open when you turned the computer off are restored on the desktop. Change the Settings to turn off hard drives never. Turn off monitor never. System Stand-by make sure it is set to never. Be sure your screen saver is off and see if this makes a difference.

Question	Submitted by: Robert
My OS is Win 98 and I use IE 5.5. To defragment I reboot in safe mode, ran scandisk full version then ran defrag and it will go to 28% and hangs up. or stalls. I waited for an hour and went to start, shutdown and I get an IE window that reads THIS PROGRAM HAS PERFORMED AM ILLEGAL OPERATION AND WILL BE SHUT DOWN. I click on close and the win comes back up over and over. I can not shut down computer so I press on/off button and restart manually. Do you think my problem is Windows or IE? Also, any idea on how I can defragment my Harddrive? Thanks for any help you can give.
Solution 1	Answered by: Ashton
Delete everything in your Windows Temp directory, clean out you Internet Explorer cache. Reboot into safe mode and do a thorough scandisk of your hard drive.Then you should be able to do a defrag without any problems.
Solution 2	Answered by: Mean
In addition to this you might also Use CTRL-ALT-DEL to shut down all other programs other than Explorer and Systray.

Question	Submitted by: Chris
Hi, Im trying to figure out if there is a key in Windows ME that when I start up it wont start all the programs in my sys tray. Most often when I have a crash or something and I need to use my computer for one specific reason I will want to reboot in order to clean up the crash and then I sometimes don't want all those programs to start in my systray but on a normal boot up I do want them there. at this point if I want to do that I have to go start run msconfig and uncheck the boxes under startup for my programs that run at startup. Then once I am done I either have to go back and check the boxes again and reboot or start the programs manually. Is there a button or something I can hold down to make ME start without all the programs running automatically? I have already added the BootKey=1 to my msdos.sys file which now allows me to hold down the shift or control keys and one makes it boot to safe-mode(which I dont want to do) and the other just gives me a boot menu. Please Help
Solution 1	Answered by: Candy Baker
Go to the path C:\Windows\Start Menu\Programs if you want to remove the Programs that automatic startup. Once on the initiate the ones you want active. There is no one key you can hold down to accomplish this. To remove a shortcut from the Start or Programs menu Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Taskbar and Start Menu. Click the Advanced tab, and then click Remove. Click the item you want to remove, and then click Remove

Question	Submitted by Unknown
For the last few days I have not been able to open any secure sites through the IE5. I go to check my Hotmail and it will let me go as far as sending my password then says page won't load. There are quite a few others. I've gone to the add/remove programs and repaired the browser if it did anything. Still nothing. Please help. I can receive all my e-mail through Out Look Express. Thanks Unknown
Solution 1	Answered by: Jordan
under tools internet options security, move your slider to medium.

Question	Submitted by Gordon
Hi! I have a new Dell 1.3 gihz P4 with 256K ram using Win Me. I usually login to it as "default" not using the network it is attached to(ethernet). When I log into the network using the correct user name and password, I get my login desktop, but the modem icon does not work, The explorer and Word 2000 icons work fine, and my voice recognition program loads fine but does not recognize my voice even though it is showing that it loaded my settings. How can I get the modem to work and the voice program to use all my "default" settings properly?
Solution 1	Answered by: Marc
Right click on my computer, select properties, and then go to the device manager tab. Look down the list for your modem. I would try removing the modem from device manager and then re-boot. WindowsMe should find your modem as a new device and re-install it. This process may also ask you to insert the software disk that came with your modem. This should eliminate and possible conflicts you are having. Also I recommend that you go to the web site for the manufacturer of your modem and download then install the most current drivers. Good Luck.

Question	Submitted by Walther
Hello, do you know where I can download zh latest OHCI1394.sys file. A new release will go with the SP-2 (Q268347). but is there a way foe a single download. Thanks for your reply in advance Regards Walther
Solution 1	Answered by: Marc
I found your file at this location: http://www.ramelectronics.net/download/1394/drivers-ohci%20card/ I do not take responsibility for any issues you might have putting this file on your system.

Question	Submitted by: Robert
I have been trying to install some practice exams from a cd. The program runs alongside a dos prompt. When I install it looks fine but when I try to run It the dos prompt has the following error "exception in thread "main" Java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: main". I though it was my browser so i went and downloaded the latest one but that didn't clear up the problem. Would appreciate some advice.
Solution 1	Answered by Marc Strickland
I do not know if this will help you, however, you an read up on this error at this location: http://www.tml.hut.fi/Opinnot/Tik-109.450/1999/harj/jdk1.1.7B/docs/api/java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError.html

Question	Submitted by Unknown
I need a manual for IE5 to give out to my fellow co-workers, if you can point to website where I can download the manual, or any other way to acquire it would be greatly appreciated. As you can tell from my question my need to stop the kind of questions am getting now is great. Unknoiwn<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>
Solution 1	Answered by: Charles Putnam
You can spend the bucks for a book on IE5, or check out http://www.microsoft.com/windows/IE/ for some basic info from Microsoft.

Question	Submitted by Louise
win95 asking for wininit.exe on startup Any help will much appreciated.
Solution 1	Answered by: Charles Putnam
Most likely, there's a program in your Start Up folder that references this. Delete it.

Question	Submitted by Craig
I have an ATI TV WONDER USB tv tuner. I am running W2K SR1, and have an ATI 3D RAGE PRO PCI video card. The drivers for the TV WONDER USB tuner installed clean. It detected all of the TV (digital cable) broadcast stations. The problem is that when ever I launch the TV application, it starts clear, I can watch any/all stations, but after approx. 30 seconds to 1 minute (every time) the TV application display freezes and the generates an error message which says that "... and unexpected error was enountered by the TV and an error log is bring created" (or something like that). The disk drive on my system will have continuous activity, and I cannot stop the application even with Task Manager. The only way to resolve the problem is to restart the system. However, the primary problem is why the TV application freezes and has the error. I have 256mb of RAM on my system, which is an AMD 800mhz T-BIRD processor (homebrew). Need help to know what to tweak so that the TV application doesnt get hosed up!!!!
Solution 1	Answered by: Charles Putnam
Check with ATi for updated drivers. ATi makes some good hardware, but sometimes their drivers are less than acceptable.

Question	Submitted by Mickey
Hello, I found your tips&tricks nice. Here is something with some challenge. I wonder if you know the registry tweak that will enable me to set the maximum port speed of my modem to values bigger than 115,000. I found it once on the net but lost it together with the source address and my entire Hard Drive. Thanks and regards, Mickey
Solution 1	Answered by: Jordon
setting it to higher wont result in speed increase and may result in slowdown as data may be lost be trying to take it in to fast

Question	Submitted by Unknown
im trying to install win 98 and keep getting message: can not decompress system cab files will not continue set up i have reformatted my computer and i am trying to install win 98 Unknown
Solution 1	Answered by: Charles Putnam
Can you provide a little more information on your system? Also, is the version of Win98 you're trying to install the full version, or an OEM version or ???

Question	Submitted by George
I'm experiencing a problem with Windows Explorer in Windows 98 First Edition on an HP Pavilion 450mhz Intel machine. When just browsing a directory of .jpg files, the system halts with an internal systems error. Most attempts to End Task freeze up the computer, forcing me to manually power down. I can reliably reproduce this error using Explorer, but when using a graphics editor like Print Shop Pro or PictureIt99!, I have no problems. Is there a patch for this problem? Thank you.
Solution 1	Answered by: Charles
Windows Explorer under Win98 was kinda finicky. Run Windows Update (go to the MS website) to see updates are available.

Question	Submitted by Unknown
I am running a DSL connection to the internet and IE5.5 won’t display the DSL provider login screen using DSL where it worked satisfactorily using a dial up connection (the “cannot display page” dialog screen is displayed). Netscape Communicator 4.7 will display the DSL provide login screen reliably. Any help would be appreciated.
Solution 1	Answered by: Charles
urmmm....I guess I'm a bit confused. I've configured a couple of DSL installs and none required a login (similar to dial-up). About the only thing that was needed was the correct TCP/IP settings. Did you check with your DSL provider? Also, which version of Windows are you running?

Question	Submitted by Unknown
Hello Activewin, Last week after many years of saving pictures from the internet in its original format, I notice that I only have bmp as the save as file type extension. I used to be able to save any picture from any webpage using its original format, but now the only option I get is the bmp format. What happen and why am I not given the option anymore? I would really appreciate it, its driving me crazy. I would appreciate it if you could help me with this issue. Thanks Unknown
Solution 1	Answered by: Jordon
I had this issue as well it fixed itself when i upgrade to ie6 beta and use the new pic grabbing thing it has.

Question	Submitted by Unknown
hello, how can i create a bootdisc for ms-dos ?
Solution 1	Answered by: Charles Putnam
What version of windows are you using? FWIW, do a search for boot disk. There are several sites where you can download the files to make one.

Question	Submitted by Tom
Hi, My room mate is running 2000 and I'm running ME. We'd like to be able to browse each others shared drives using a peer to peer connection. So far we've failed. Any hints Thanks Tom
Solution 1	Answered by: Charles Putnam
The main problem may be that the Win2000 machine is formatted in NTFS. WinMe can't read NTFS. Beyond that, make sure that you are using the proper protocols and, if it's a direct connection, using a crossover cable.

Question	Submitted by Mike
AW, I have installed had Win2000 for some time and have recently had to remove an old sound card and install a Creative Live Value. It seemed to install OK but as the machine restarted it hung...or appeared to with Explorer taking 99% of the CPU time. If I stop explorer then I can look around the system for a limited time then Task Mgr takes up the CPU time to 99% Can you please suggest how I can fix this as I can't get the system booted to remove the sound drivers. Thanks Mike
Solution 1	Answered by: Charles Putnam
You may need to reinstall the old soundcard, and then uninstall the drivers first. Check to make sure there's nothing in the autoexec.bat or config.sys files.

Question	Submitted by Unknown
Hi! My crappy old (but reliable) ISA ESS 1868 card was working OK in my Win98SE system. I stupidly installed what I thought were new drivers for it, and proceeded to nicely eliminate any signs of the card from my system. After many attempts to remove and re-load some other drivers, I can't get the Control Interface (WDM) drivers installed.The "view drivers" box is greyed out under the "driver" tab in the Control Interface Properties window. The Audiodrive PnP drivers seem to go in OK, but without the Control Interface one(s), no sound card appears in my system (although the Control Interface reference does show up in Device Manager). Any ideas? Thanx! Unknown
Solution 1	Answered by: Charles Putnam
I'm assuming you installed either WinMe or Win2000 as you're using the WDM drivers. If you know which drivers the sound card used, remove those by hand. Then, make sure you download the correct drivers. A little bit of work is going to be involved. Power down the machine. Remove the soundcard, then restart so that the OS recoginzes that there is no soundcard. Power down, reinstall the soundcard, and restart. Hopefully, the OS will recognize the new card and ask for the drivers. The only other solution would be to install a different card that WinMe/Win2000 has the drivers for.

Question	Submitted by Me
I currently have a new computer running Windows Me, with a 30 GB hard drive with FAT32. Is switching to the NTFS mandatory? Would it perform better than FAT32? What do you recommend?
Solution 1	Answered by: Charles Putnam
Windows Me only supports FAT32. Win2000 supports either FAT32 or NTFS. If you opt for Win2000, NTFS handles clusters better and provides slightly better driver performance and better security.

Question	Submitted by Mikey
I would like to know if there is any possibility to install the Sidewinder software ver 3.02 in win2k without having to install Win9x first then upgrading it to Win2k. I currently have the version 4 software installed, and it doesn't support my old racing wheel. Although the forces and the wheel itself work in Win2k, I miss being able to create profiles and macros for my Sidewinder Gamepad too. Any help would be much appreciated... Thanks!
Solution 1	Answered by Charles Putnam
Unless you can get a copy of the ver. 4 software, then there is most likely no other way. FYI, I have their latest USB joystick that came with the ver 4 software and it works fine under Win2000.

Question	Submitted by Unkown
I'm using Windows XP (beta 2) as my operative system. We are trying to use our HP ScanJet 4p, our devices are installed correctly and the system does not recognize the scanner. The program give us the message that "SCANNER NOT RESPONDING". HP web site offers some drivers but it doesn't solve the problem. Is there any "special" configuration or settings to solve this? Thank's for your help Unknown
Solution 1	Answered by Charles Putnam
PERSONAL OPINION - HP's support is pathetic. That being said, chances are that if WinXP doesn't include the drivers, the scanner will most likely not work. You can try either the WinNT drivers or the Win2000 drivers. If those don't work, nuthin' will.

Question	Submitted by Unknown
Hello, I have Windows 2000 Pro SP1, and I am wondering how do I release and renew my network adapters if my cable modem gets suspended (@home!). Under Windows 98/Me, I just go to start, run, and “winipcfg”, but under Win2k it is not there. I imported winipcfg from Win98 but it does not work under Win2k. Please help me, thanks.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office
Solution 1	Answered by Charles Putnam
Same as WinNT - IPCONFIG

Question	Submitted by Jon
I just built myself a new system with an Asus A7V133 Mainboard (Rev 1.01), KT133A, Athalon 1.2GHz 200MHz FSB, 256MB PC133, Guillimot/Herculese 3D Prophet II Pro, WD 20GB ATA100 HDD. Am using only the built-in USB Ports and have not installed the Daughterboard for the extra two USBs. BIOS updated to Rev1.04 with AFlash. Problem: I have tried two new USB Modems, A Dynalink 56k, and a Netcomm 56. Both modems installed OK and I was able to connect to my ISP.After 5 minutes or so the USB Port just drops out and the modem lights go off. Windows still thinks that the port is open and tries to talk to the modem... then the TAPI process hangs and after 10 minutes of three finger saluting and killing processes I am able to reboot the machine and the USB port comes back to life along with the modem. If I don't connect to the internet then the modem will sit on the USB port all day with the lights on... until I connect and then the drama happens again. When I first built the machine I was using Win98SE. I got the SE USB Patches from Microsoft and Asus that was supposed to fix some squirely USB behavior but these did not work. Upgraded (used advisedly here) to Win Me... but the problem still persists. Both USB modems work fine on an older Celeron machine. "Help" from Asus has been a bit difficult to get as they are pretty busy and have a bit of a language issue (I am dealing with the Taiwanese group). Any help you can offer would be appreciated.
Solution 1	Answered by Charles Putnam
You've done a good job in testing everything to make sure that it's not the modems. Based on the info, and posts that I've seen elsewhere (Asus' forums and CNET's Help.Com), the motherboard is most likely defective. Hopefully you can exchange it at the place of purchase. It seems the VIA chipsets are hit and miss - some work and a lot don't.

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