PC hangs, reboots or gives "Fatal Exception ..." while playing a Wave file

Reason The sound card may be conflicting with your computer

Solution

• Click Start, point to Settings, click Control Panel, then double-click the System icon. Click Device Manager tab, then double-click Sound, Video, and Game Controllers.

• Double-click the sound card that is installed, click Resources tab.

• Double-click Direct Memory Access, and then change the setting to any other available setting. Click OK and restart

Game quits, sound quits

Reason Sound card drivers are not current

Solution

• Install the latest sound card drivers (as explained before) and if the game uses DirectX, make sure you’re playing the game with the right version of DirectX. Otherwise, install the correct or an updated version

• Some rogue games don’t free up the sound device after quitting. In this case, play any Wave file through the Microsoft Media player after you quit the game. If that doesn’t work, contact the game designer for an upgrade or a patch to fix your problem

Sound card not detected automatically

Reason Sound card may conflict with other devices or may not be Plug-n-play

Solution

• Click Start, point to Settings then select Control Panel. Double-click the Add New Hardware icon, and press Next. Choose Yes to have Windows search for new hardware. If Windows finds the hardware, select Next to continue and insert the Windows installation CD, when prompted

• If Windows hasn’t detected your sound card, repeat the above step, but when Windows asks if it should search for new hardware, select No. Select the type of device, in this case, Sound devices and then select Have Disk. Insert the sound card driver CD or floppy, if you were provided with one. You could even download the new versions of a driver from the sound card manufacturer’s Website

"Cannot play back the audio stream..." in Windows Media Player

Reason Sound card may not be properly installed or may be in use by some other application

Solution

• Make sure you can play the Wave files and other audio files through another application. If you can’t, the sound card could be conflicting with other devices or the sound card may not be installed properly (see tip "No sound from sound card speakers")

• Shut down all other running applications, including screen savers

• Click Start, point to Settings, click Control Panel and then double-click the System icon. Click the Performance tab, click Graphics, and then move the Hardware acceleration slider a notch closer to None. Click OK followed by Close. Press Yes to restart the computer. Once Windows is loaded again, try playing a file in Windows Media Player. If it’s still not working, repeat the process until the Hardware acceleration slider is set to None

PC doesn’t recognize the drive

Reason CD could have scratches. But there could be other reasons as well like the CD head could be dirty, or there could be some loose cable inside your PC

Solution

• Try another CD and see if it works

• If this doesn’t work, try cleaning the head with CD-drive cleaning kit available in the market. In case even this doesn’t work, call the service engineer

The drive doesn’t eject the CD

Reason The drive may be reading the CD

Solution

• Wait till the drive slows down and the flashing light goes off

• If this doesn’t work, the tray mechanism may be damaged. Call your vendor to set it right

A read-error message on inserting a new disc with the screen color blue

Reason You get the blue screen when the drive is reading data from the disc and you push the eject button to insert a new CD. Read-errors can also be attributed to damaged or dirty discs

Solution

• Press ‘Esc’ to return to Windows or put the CD back into the drive and press ‘Enter’

• If the CD is dirty (with oil or greasy stains) you can wash the disc with mild soap water (do not use a rough detergent or you’ll scratch the disc). Wait for it to completely dry before you insert the disc

Noisy CD-ROM drive

Reason The CD may be bad or scratched. It may also be because of the normal tendency of many drives to do some amount of correction while reading the disc, which creates noise

Solution

• If CD is damaged, try using another CD

• To remove scratches use a scratch removing kit

The drive letter keeps changing

Reason A CD-ROM drive is allotted a letter by its software driver. In Windows, by default, the drive takes up the next unused drive letter available on the system. On adding a hard disk, making a new partition in your hard disk or adding a new removable disk whose driver loads before the CD ROM’s driver, the CD-ROM drive letter will be moved up to the next one in alphabetical order

Solution:

• Choose a high drive letter such as H: or L: in Windows so that even if you add other devices, the CD-ROM drive letter won’t change

• Click on My Computer, choose properties-Device Manager-CD-ROM and then click on your CD–ROM drive model

• Go to Properties-Settings section. Change the name reserved drive letters settings to suit your preference of a drive letter

Keys get stuck

Reason Coffee or soft drink may have spilt on the keyboard or there could be dirt

Solution

• Switch off the PC. Take out the problem keys with the help of a key extractor or a thin screwdriver. Be careful not to crack the keys. Wash the keys and let them dry completely before putting them back on

• Clean the keyboard with a vacuum cleaner

Jerky mouse movement

Reason The roller ball may be dirty. Alternatively, Control Panel settings or support may be improper

Solution

• Turn the mouse upside down. Take off the cover and the ball. Clean the three directional rollers inside the mouse. Take a cotton bud and gently clean off the dirt or grime off the roller. Clean the ball with a soft cloth. Put in the ball and replace the cover

• Another reason for jerky motion could be improper settings in the Control Panel-Mouse properties. You can change the settings under the Motion Tab

• Get a good mouse pad, preferably one with a smooth surface for the mouse

PC reboots many times before stabilizing

Reason It’s most likely to be an overloaded UPS

Solution

• Try attaching the monitor though a separate power cable and switch on the monitor first and then the CPU. This way the starting load is minimized

• If that doesn’t help, remove external equipment like speakers from the UPS

Mouse doesn’t work in Windows

Reason It may not be connected properly

Solution

• Check that the mouse is attached to the computer

• Ensure that the proper mouse drivers are installed. To do so, you might have to boot in Safe Mode (Press F8 when the computer shows Starting Windows 95/98). Once you’re in Safe Mode, install the mouse drivers from the driver CD or floppy and reboot

• If problems still persist, change the com port to which your mouse is attached

All keyboard LEDs light up when starting the system, but the keyboard doesn’t work

Reason This usually happens when your system puts a lot of load on your UPS or the CVT and the voltage dips

Solution

• Try to connect the monitor separately. Switch on the monitor first and then the CPU. Otherwise try to minimize the load on the power supply

• This can also happen when you have improper voltage supply—where the voltage dips as soon as you start the system. Consult an electrician to get the problem solved

Static noise when setting the volume

Reason There could be dust in the speakers or they may not be connected properly

Solution

• Dust in the speaker volume control switch can be cleaned with some switch cleaning oil, available at any electronics repair shop

• Dirty or improperly connected speaker jacks. Ensure all connections are properly seated and contacts well established

Power fails, UPS fails

Reasons The battery may be old

Solution

• The average battery life of a UPS is 1.5 to 2 years so if you’ve had one for that long and it’s giving this trouble, it’s time to get new batteries

• Your battery may not be charging properly or there may be too many deep discharges. If you suspect improper charging, contact your vendor. If you drain the battery too many times leading to deep discharges, it’s capacity will diminish considerably

No prints

Reason Power may be off, or due to improper connections or printer setting selections

Solution

• Check to see if the printer is powered on

• Check if the printer cable is attached to the printer and the computer

• Check for paper in the printer tray and toner or ink in the printer. Also check that the printer is in Online mode (check your printer documentation for detailed instructions)

• Check that the printer you’re trying to print from, is installed on that computer and that you’ve chosen the same while issuing the print command

• Ensure that the printing is not paused. Go to Start-Settings-Printers. Choose your printer and from the Print menu, see that the Pause printing option is not checked. Similarly, check the Document menu for the check sign in the Pause Printing option

Junk characters get printed

Reason Connections may be improper or the drivers may be corrupt

Solution

• Ensure that you have chosen the correct printer when issuing the print command

• Ensure that the printer cables are connected properly

• A possible reason can be corrupt printer drivers. If everything else seems to be in order, reinstall the printer drivers. If the printer persistently gives trouble, visit the Website of the printer manufacturer and check for new or updated drivers

No dial tone

Reason Modem may not recognize the dial tone from your particular exchange

Solution

• Tell the modem ignore the dial tone altogether. Go to Start-Settings-Control Panel-Modems

• Click on Properties and the Connection tab

• Clear the checkbox that says "Wait for dial tone before dialing"

Watch out If your phone line is dead or it gets pulled out of the modem, the modem will still keep dialing.

Dials, but doesn’t connect

Reason Modem isn’t dialing or the phone line is noisy

Solution

• Try calling the number from a regular phone. If you hear the modem at the other end, yours probably isn’t dialing

• Your exchange may not support tone dialing. Go to Start-Settings-Control Panel-Modems-Dialing Properties and make sure that the Pulse dial is selected

• See the tip on "No dial tone" and try again

• If there’s a lot of noise, as the modem tries to connect, but it doesn’t succeed, make a regular voice call. If you hear a crackle or disturbance, that’s the culprit. Get your line fixed. Poor wiring, loose joints and too many extensions can cause noisy lines

• Your modem could also be faulty—first try changing the power supply of the modem (if external) and then try with another modem from the same phone line

Connects, but nothing happens

Reason There could be a temporary problem or incorrect settings in dial-up networking

Solution

• If this is only occasional, do nothing

• Open the Dial-up Networking folder from My Computer

• Right-click on the icon of your connection and click on Properties

• Click on the General tab and make sure that the correct modem is selected

• Click on the Server tab. The server type should be PPP, Internet Windows NT Server, Windows 98 (the exact words could be different but PPP is the important factor)

• In the network protocols, only TCP/IP should be ticked—clear the other boxes

• Clear all Advanced Options

• Click on the button TCP/IP settings and ensure that the server addresses as provided by your Internet Service Provider are entered correctly

Watch out If you’re working on a LAN, don’t fiddle with anything without talking to your network administrator.

Connects, but then disconnects

Reason Your telephone line may be too noisy or getting disturbed

Solution

• See the tip on "Dials but doesn’t connect"

• If somebody picks up an extension while you are connected, the connection is likely to drop

• If you have call waiting enabled on your phone, incoming calls could break the connection. Disable call waiting by dialing 119 and enable it again by dialing 118 (these numbers may be different for your exchange)

• Some of the older telephone exchanges do not support modem communications. For the same reason, these exchanges are unable to connect to digital numbers. Talk to your telephone exchange—they can often fix this problem for individual lines