Aeronutz
Billion Dollar Brain
PC
issues.
The
following notes are a reminder to myself, you are welcome to learn from these
but I cannot answer any questions – I am not a computer technician. If you
bugger up your PC don’t blame me! But then again if it is not working anyway
you have nothing to loose?
Despite
having the latest Norton AntiVirus we have been having problems with email and
Norton itself.
For
example, the PC could not down load five emails, on three occasions, over two
days. It either froze up or the connection to the server was lost
To
resolve these mysterious problems a new hard drive was acquired so it can run
as a separate replacement to the original. All the software for it would be
loaded up from original discs so there should not be any errors or viruses etc.
Installation
of the new drive and its formatting was easy, just follow the instructions.
Loading up Windows 98 SE was no problem despite a warning that the system was
already using an operating system – presumed to be the new hard drives own
system??
But
- The new drive does not now have the driver for the modem. The modem was
investigated and it’s make and type found. The manufactures web site with
drivers was found and a generic driver down loaded.
The
Windows on the new hard drive said it could not find the existing modem and
gives a list of ports available as COM 1 and COM 2. The modem is in COM 3. The
BIOS software used when booting up the PC says the modem is indeed in COM 3
which is the card slot next to the screen driver card.
So
we cant use the original modem because we don’t have the exact driver.
Note
! It now seems that Windows only says the Modem is in Com3 when the correct
driver is installed
By
definition the old hard drive must have the modem driver on it somewhere but
this could not be found. In looking for the modem’s driver files a file
(lmouse.drv) seems to have been lost but the mouse works ok? Also the original
modem no longer works and the existing problems continue.
So
a new modem was purchased, now we have the correct driver for it. After much
confusion it turns out that this new modem is a Fax modem, which was not stated
on the packaging! A test showed it did seem to call up a fax number Ok but not
a phone line number! This new modem was very cheap so this was not too much of
a problem.
A
second new modem was purchased which specifically says it is for Fax, Data and
voice. It’s suitable for Win 98 SE too.
This
has been fitted and after a brief struggle its driver is loaded and the modem
is now working. Windows now says the Modem is in Com3.
On
dialling out, the second new modem can’t connect to the server ……. No reason
given.
The
troubleshoot guide for the modem suggests using the Microsoft HyperTerminal
software to manually phone out via the new modem – to check the modem is working
OK. This HyperTerminal is on the Windows 98 SE disc and has to be loaded
specially. It is run via Accessories, Communications. It turns out that the modem
can connect to the server if you do so manually, through the hyper terminal. But
it does not want to connect to the server through the normal Windows dial up
software.
So obviously
the problem is with the Windows dial out software – sure enough it was.
Although
the dial up details say use the dialling area code the system did not do so.
This was corrected by adding the area code to the server’s local phone number! SO
now there is a local area code in the local phone number and also in the box
marked Aero Code.
There
is some suspicion that Windows thinks it is in the US, despite being told its
is in the uk. This is because the keyboard and spell check both came up as US
after Windows was re installed?
Maybe
Windows is confused about using it’s area code as a result?
So
now we can dial out and get an update for the browser which is required because
Anti Virus needs a more recent version than supplied on the Windows 98 SE disc,
this new version of Internet Explorer was about 13 Mb so it look along while to
down load and crash the PC while it was updating the files too.
Norton
Security was installed and recent updates loaded up, one at a time to avoid
loosing too much if the system freezes up.
Now
the new hard drive is basically working Ok but the browser down loads web pages
but the PC screen is displaying them as crude low resolution images.
Presumably
this low quality image problem is due to the driver for the screen, I think
this is part of the motherboard system so it might be possible to copy the
files from the original hard drive to the new hard drive.
I
have not tried using the speakers yet, maybe the driver is missing for those
too.
The
mouse works OK !
I
will not try fixing the PC’s monitor problems until after the next news letter
is finished, which is being done on the original hard drive.
Sometimes
Anti Virus says it is not working, there can be several reasons for this and
does not necessarily mean it is no actually working. One report said that the
system had not done a recent scan check and another was because the files where
not the latest updates.
So
to summarise up to date.
If you do have a problem and decide to delete and re install everything on your hard drive
to resolve problems make sure you have the software/boot up discs for Windows
and the hard drive itself. These should be on A drive floppy discs while the
main software is probably on a CD disc.