>Beep Codes

>

Standard Original IBM POST Error Codes
Code Description

1 short beep System is OK
2 short beeps POST Error – error code shown on screen No beep Power supply or system board problem Continuous beep Power supply, system board, or keyboard problem Repeating short beeps Power supply or system board problem
1 long, 1 short beep System board problem
1 long, 2 short beeps Display adapter problem (MDA, CGA)
1 long, 3 short beeps Display adapter problem (EGA)
3 long beeps 3270 keyboard card

IBM POST Diagnostic Code Descriptions
Code Description
100 – 199 System Board
200 – 299 Memory
300 – 399 Keyboard
400 – 499 Monochrome Display
500 – 599 Colour/Graphics Display
600 – 699 Floppy-disk drive and/or Adapter
700 – 799 Math Coprocessor
900 – 999 Parallel Printer Port
1000 – 1099 Alternate Printer Adapter
1100 – 1299 Asynchronous Communication Device, Adapter, or Port
1300 – 1399 Game Port
1400 – 1499 Colour/Graphics Printer
1500 – 1599 Synchronous Communication Device, Adapter, or Port
1700 – 1799 Hard Drive and/or Adapter
1800 – 1899 Expansion Unit (XT)
2000 – 2199 Bisynchronous Communication Adapter
2400 – 2599 EGA system-board Video (MCA)
3000 – 3199 LAN Adapter
4800 – 4999 Internal Modem
7000 – 7099 Phoenix BIOS Chips
7300 – 7399 3.5″ Disk Drive
8900 – 8999 MIDI Adapter
11200 – 11299 SCSI Adapter
21000 – 21099 SCSI Fixed Disk and Controller
21500 – 21599 SCSI CD-ROM System

AMI BIOS Beep Codes
Code Description

 Annonymity Of Proxy 2
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1 Short Beep System OK
2 Short Beeps Parity error in the first 64 KB of memory
3 Short Beeps Memory failure in the first 64 KB
4 Short Beeps Memory failure in the first 64 KB Operational of memory
or Timer 1 on the motherboard is not functioning
5 Short Beeps The CPU on the motherboard generated an error
6 Short Beeps The keyboard controller may be bad. The BIOS cannot switch to protected mode
7 Short Beeps The CPU generated an exception interrupt
8 Short Beeps The system video adapter is either missing, or its memory is faulty
9 Short Beeps The ROM checksum value does not match the value encoded in the BIOS
10 Short Beeps The shutdown register for CMOS RAM failed
11 Short Beeps The external cache is faulty
1 Long, 3 Short Beeps Memory Problems
1 Long, 8 Short Beeps Video Card Problems

Phoenix BIOS Beep Codes
Note – Phoenix BIOS emits three sets of beeps, separated by a brief pause.
Secure Computer: Bit Torrent Help
Code Description
1-1-3 CMOS read/write failure
1-1-4 ROM BIOS checksum error
1-2-1 Programmable interval timer failure
1-2-2 DMA initialisation failure
1-2-3 DMA page register read/write failure
1-3-1 RAM refresh verification failure
1-3-3 First 64k RAM chip or data line failure
1-3-4 First 64k RAM odd/even logic failure
1-4-1 Address line failure first 64k RAM
1-4-2 Parity failure first 64k RAM
2-_-_ Faulty Memory
3-1-_ Faulty Motherboard
3-2-4 Keyboard controller Test failure
3-3-4 Screen initialisation failure
3-4-1 Screen retrace test failure
3-4-2 Search for video ROM in progress
4-2-1 Timer tick interrupt in progress or failure
4-2-2 Shutdown test in progress or failure
4-2-3 Gate A20 failure
4-2-4 Unexpected interrupt in protected mode
4-3-1 RAM test in progress or failure>ffffh
4-3-2 Faulty Motherboard
4-3-3 Interval timer channel 2 test or failure
4-3-4 Time of Day clock test failure
4-4-1 Serial port test or failure
4-4-2 Parallel port test or failure
4-4-3 Math coprocessor test or failure
Low 1-1-2 System Board select failure
Low 1-1-3 Extended CMOS RAM failure

Secure Computer: Beep Codes

How To Update BIOS

BIOS Update Procedure

What is BIOS ?

All latest Motherboards today, 486/ Pentium / Pentium Pro etc.,ensure that upgrades are easily obtained by incorporating the system BIOS in a FLASH Memory component. With FLASH BIOS, there is no need to replace an EPROM component. Once downloaded, the upgrade utility fits on a floppy disc allowing the user to save, verify and update the system BIOS. A hard drive or a network drive can also be used to run the newer upgrade utilities. However, memory managers can not be installed while upgrading.

Most Pre-Pentium motherboards do not have a Flash BIOS. The following instructions therefore do not apply to these boards. If your motherboard does not have a Flash BIOS (EEPROM) you will need to use an EPROM programmer to re-program the BIOS chip. See your dealer for more information about this.

Please read the following instructions in full before starting a Flash BIOS upgrade:
A. Create a Bootable Floppy (in DOS)

•With a non-formatted disk, type the following:

format A:/s

•If using a formatted disk, type:

says A:

This procedure will ensure a clean boot when you are flashing the new BIOS.

B. Download the BIOS file

•Download the correct BIOS file by clicking on the file name of the BIOS file you wish to download.

•Save the BIOS file and the Flash Utility file in the boot disk you have created. Unzip the BIOS file and the flash utility file. If you don’t have an “unzip” utility, download the WinZip for Windows 95 shareware/ evaluation copy for that one time use from _www.winzip.com or _www.pkware.com. Most CD ROMs found in computer magazines, have a shareware version of Win Zip on them.

•You should have extracted two files:

Flash BIOS utility eg: flash7265.exe (for example)

BIOS eg: 6152J900.bin (example)

Use the latest flash utility available unless otherwise specified (either on the BIOS update page or in the archive file). This information is usually provided.

C. Upgrade the System BIOS

During boot up, write down the old BIOS version because you will need to use it for the BIOS backup file name.

Place the bootable floppy disk containing the BIOS file and the Flash Utility in drive a, and reboot the system in MS-DOS, preferably Version 6.22

•At the A:> prompt, type the corresponding Flash BIOS utility and the BIOS file with its extension.

For example:

flash625 615j900.bin

•From the Flash Memory Writer menu, select “Y” to “Do you want to save BIOS?” if you want to save (back up) your current BIOS (strongly recommended), then type the name of your current BIOS and its extension after FILE NAME TO SAVE: eg: A:\613J900.bin

Alternatively select “N” if you don’t want to save your current BIOS. Beware, though, that you won’t be able to recover from a possible failure.

•Select “Y” to “Are you sure to program?”

•Wait until it displays “Message: Power Off or Reset the system”

Once the BIOS has been successfully loaded, remove the floppy disk and reboot the system. If you write to BIOS but cannot complete the procedure, do not switch off, because the computer will not be able to boo, and you will not be given another chance to flash. In this case leave your system on until you resolve the problem (flashing BIOS with old file is a possible solution, provided you’ve made a backup before)

Make sure the new BIOS version has been loaded properly by taking note of the BIOS identifier as the system is rebooting.

For AMI BIOS
Once the BIOS has been successfully loaded, remove the floppy disk and reboot the system holding the “END” key prior to power on until you enter CMOS setup. If you do not do this the first time booting up after upgrading the BIOS, the system will hang.

BIOS Update Tips
note:
1.Make sure never to turn off or reset your computer during the flash process. This will corrupt the BIOS data. We also recommend that you make a copy of your current BIOS on the Bootable floppy so you can reflash it if you need to. (This option is not available when flashing an AMI BIOS).

2. If you have problems installing your new BIOS please check the following:

Have you done a clean boot?
In other words, did you follow the above procedure for making a Bootable floppy? This ensures that when booting from “A” there are no device drivers on the diskette. Failing to do a clean boot is the most common cause for getting a “Memory Insufficient” error message when attempting to flash a BIOS.

If you have not used a Bootable floppy, insure a clean boot either by

a) pressing F5 during Bootup

b) by removing all device drivers on the CONFIG.SYS including the HIMEM.SYS. Do this by using the EDIT command.

Have you booted up under DOS?
Booting in Windows is another common cause for getting a “Memory Insufficient” error message when attempting to flash a BIOS. Make sure to boot up to DOS with a minimum set of drivers. Important: Booting in DOS does not mean selecting “Restart computer in MS-DOS Mode” from Windows98/95 shutdown menu or going to Prompt mode in WindowsNT, but rather following the above procedure (format a: /s and rebooting from A:\).

Have you entered the full file name of the flash utility and the BIOS plus its extension?
Do not forget that often you will need to add a drive letter (a:\) before flashing the BIOS. Example: when asked for file name of new BIOS file which is on your floppy disk, in case you’re working from c:\ your will need to type a:\615j900.bin, rather than 615j900.bin only.

>How To Update BIOS

>BIOS Update Procedure

What is BIOS ?

All latest Motherboards today, 486/ Pentium / Pentium Pro etc.,ensure that upgrades are easily obtained by incorporating the system BIOS in a FLASH Memory component. With FLASH BIOS, there is no need to replace an EPROM component. Once downloaded, the upgrade utility fits on a floppy disc allowing the user to save, verify and update the system BIOS. A hard drive or a network drive can also be used to run the newer upgrade utilities. However, memory managers can not be installed while upgrading.

Most Pre-Pentium motherboards do not have a Flash BIOS. The following instructions therefore do not apply to these boards. If your motherboard does not have a Flash BIOS (EEPROM) you will need to use an EPROM programmer to re-program the BIOS chip. See your dealer for more information about this.

Please read the following instructions in full before starting a Flash BIOS upgrade:
A. Create a Bootable Floppy (in DOS)

•With a non-formatted disk, type the following:

format A:/s

•If using a formatted disk, type:

says A:

This procedure will ensure a clean boot when you are flashing the new BIOS.

B. Download the BIOS file

•Download the correct BIOS file by clicking on the file name of the BIOS file you wish to download.

•Save the BIOS file and the Flash Utility file in the boot disk you have created. Unzip the BIOS file and the flash utility file. If you don’t have an “unzip” utility, download the WinZip for Windows 95 shareware/ evaluation copy for that one time use from _www.winzip.com or _www.pkware.com. Most CD ROMs found in computer magazines, have a shareware version of Win Zip on them.

•You should have extracted two files:

Flash BIOS utility eg: flash7265.exe (for example)

BIOS eg: 6152J900.bin (example)

Use the latest flash utility available unless otherwise specified (either on the BIOS update page or in the archive file). This information is usually provided.

C. Upgrade the System BIOS

During boot up, write down the old BIOS version because you will need to use it for the BIOS backup file name.

Place the bootable floppy disk containing the BIOS file and the Flash Utility in drive a, and reboot the system in MS-DOS, preferably Version 6.22

•At the A:> prompt, type the corresponding Flash BIOS utility and the BIOS file with its extension.

For example:

flash625 615j900.bin

•From the Flash Memory Writer menu, select “Y” to “Do you want to save BIOS?” if you want to save (back up) your current BIOS (strongly recommended), then type the name of your current BIOS and its extension after FILE NAME TO SAVE: eg: A:\613J900.bin

Alternatively select “N” if you don’t want to save your current BIOS. Beware, though, that you won’t be able to recover from a possible failure.

•Select “Y” to “Are you sure to program?”

•Wait until it displays “Message: Power Off or Reset the system”

Once the BIOS has been successfully loaded, remove the floppy disk and reboot the system. If you write to BIOS but cannot complete the procedure, do not switch off, because the computer will not be able to boo, and you will not be given another chance to flash. In this case leave your system on until you resolve the problem (flashing BIOS with old file is a possible solution, provided you’ve made a backup before)

Make sure the new BIOS version has been loaded properly by taking note of the BIOS identifier as the system is rebooting.

For AMI BIOS
Once the BIOS has been successfully loaded, remove the floppy disk and reboot the system holding the “END” key prior to power on until you enter CMOS setup. If you do not do this the first time booting up after upgrading the BIOS, the system will hang.

BIOS Update Tips
note:
1.Make sure never to turn off or reset your computer during the flash process. This will corrupt the BIOS data. We also recommend that you make a copy of your current BIOS on the Bootable floppy so you can reflash it if you need to. (This option is not available when flashing an AMI BIOS).

2. If you have problems installing your new BIOS please check the following:

Have you done a clean boot?
In other words, did you follow the above procedure for making a Bootable floppy? This ensures that when booting from “A” there are no device drivers on the diskette. Failing to do a clean boot is the most common cause for getting a “Memory Insufficient” error message when attempting to flash a BIOS.

If you have not used a Bootable floppy, insure a clean boot either by

a) pressing F5 during Bootup

b) by removing all device drivers on the CONFIG.SYS including the HIMEM.SYS. Do this by using the EDIT command.

Have you booted up under DOS?
Booting in Windows is another common cause for getting a “Memory Insufficient” error message when attempting to flash a BIOS. Make sure to boot up to DOS with a minimum set of drivers. Important: Booting in DOS does not mean selecting “Restart computer in MS-DOS Mode” from Windows98/95 shutdown menu or going to Prompt mode in WindowsNT, but rather following the above procedure (format a: /s and rebooting from A:\).

Have you entered the full file name of the flash utility and the BIOS plus its extension?
Do not forget that often you will need to add a drive letter (a:\) before flashing the BIOS. Example: when asked for file name of new BIOS file which is on your floppy disk, in case you’re working from c:\ your will need to type a:\615j900.bin, rather than 615j900.bin only.

Reasons Why Computer Crash

Reasons Why Computer Crash

1.FATAL ERROR : The system has become unstable or is busy ,Like “ Enter to return to windows or Press Control-Alt-Delete to restart Your computer. If you do this you will lose unsaved data in all open application. HOW U ?

• Hardware Conflict
  The one reason why window crashes is hardware conflict. Each Hardware device communicates to other devices though an interrupt request channel(IRQ).These are supposed to be unique for each device. Each device will try to hog a single IRQ for itself (printer,scanner etc).
  If there are lot of devices,or if they are not installed properly,two of them may end up sharing the same IRQ number. When the user tries to use both devices at the same time, a crash can happen.
• So ,do Start-Settings-Control panel-System-Device Manager
  Often if a device has a problem a yellow ‘!’ appears next to its description in the Device Manager. Highlight Computer(in the Device Manager) and press properties to see the IRQ numbers used by your computer.
• If the IRQ number appears Twice, Two devices may be using it.
• Sometime a device might share and IRQ with something described as “IRQ holder for PCI steering”, This can be ignored.
  The Best way to FIX the problem is to remove the problem device and reinstall it.
• Sometime you may have to fined more recent drivers on the internet to make the device function properly. A Good resource is WWW.DRIVERGUIDE.COM .If the device is a sound-card, or a Modem it can Often be fixed by moving it to a different slot on the motherboard.
• When working inside the computer you should switch it off,unplug the mains lead and touch an unpainted metal surface to discharge any Static electricity.
• Bad Ram
  Ram (Random Access Memory) problems might bring on the blue screen of death with a message saying FATAL EXECPTION ERROR.
  A Fatal Error indicates a serious hardware problem. Sometime It means a Part is damaged and will need replacing.

But a fatal error caused by ram might be caused by a mismatch of chips .For example ( different Ram ) mixing 70-nanosecond (70ns) Ram with 60ns Ram will Force the computer to run all the Ram at the slower speed.This will often crash the machine if the Ram is overworked.

• So ,the One way is , Enter the BIOS settings and increase the wait state of The RAM.This can make it more stable. Another way to troubleshoot a suspected RAM problem is to rearrange the RAM chips on the motherboard, or take some of them out. When handling RAM try not to touch the gold connections , as they can be easily damaged .
• BIOS SETTINGS
  Every motherboard is supplied with a rage of chip-set settings that are decided in the factory. A Common way to access these settings is to press F2, or DELETE button during The first few seconds of a boot-up.
  Inside the BIOS, care should be taken. It is a good idea to write down on a paper all the setting that appear on the screen. That way, If you change something and the computer becomes more unstable,you will know that settings to revert to a common BIOS error concerns the CAS latency. This defers to RAM .Older EDO(extended data out) .RAM has a CAS latency of 3.newer SDRAM has a CAS latency of 2.Setting the wrong figure can cause the RAM to lock up and freeze the computer’s display.
• HARD DISK DRIVES
  It is a good idea to derangement the hard disk every week or so, to prevent the disk from causing a screen freeze. Go to START-PROGRAMS-ACCESSORIS-SYSTEM TOOLS-DISK DEFRAGMENTER
  This will start the procedure.
• START-SETTINGS-CONTROL PANEL-SYSTEM ICON -PERFORMANCE-FILE SYSTEM-HARD DISK.
  Hard disk will slow down and crash if they are too full, Do some housekeeping on your hard drive every few months and free some space on it. Open the windows folder on the window drive where you install the operating system and find the temporary Internet files folder.Deleting the contents(NOT FOLDER) car free a lot of space. And Also Empty The Recycle Bin

Every week to free more space. Hard Drive should be scanned every week for error or bad sectors,

Go To START-PROGRAMS-ACCESSORIES-SYSTEM TOOLS-SCANDISK

• Fatal OE exceptions and VXD errors
   Fatal OE exception errors and VXD errors are often caused by video card problems.These can often be resolved easily by reducing the resolution of the video display. Go to START-SETTINGS-CONTROL PANEL-DISPLAY SETTINGS
   Here you should slide the screen area bar to the left. Take a look at the color settings on the left of that window. For most desktops, high color 16-bit depth is adequate.If the screen freezes or you experience system lockups it might be due to the video card. Make sure it does not have a hardware conflict. Go to

• Start-Settings-Control Panel-System-Device Manager

Here, select the + beside Display Adapter. A line of text describing your video card should appear. Select it (make it blue) and press properties. Then select Resources and select each line in the window. Look for a message that says No Conflicts.

If you have video card hardware conflict, you will see it here. Be careful at this point and make a note of everything you do in case you make things worse.

The way to resolve a hardware conflict is to uncheck the Use Automatic Settings box and hit the Change Settings button. You are searching for a setting that will display a No Conflicts message.

Another useful way to resolve video problems is to go to

• Start-Settings-Control Panel-System-Performance-Graphics
   Here you should move the Hardware Acceleration slider to the left. As ever, the most common cause of problems relating to graphics cards is old or faulty drivers (a driver is a small piece of software used by a computer to communicate with a device).

Look up your video card’s manufacturer on the internet and search for the most recent drivers for it.

• Viruses
   Often the first sign of a virus infection is instability. Some viruses erase the boot sector of a hard drive, making it impossible to start. This is why it is a good idea to create a Windows start-up disk. Go to

• Start-Settings-Control Panel-Add/Remove Programs
   Here, look for the Start Up Disk tab. Virus protection requires constant vigilance.A virus scanner requires a list of virus signatures in order to be able to identify viruses. These signatures are stored in a DAT file. DAT files should be updated weekly from the website of your antivirus software manufacturer.

An excellent antivirus programme is McAfee VirusScan by Network Associates ( http://www.nai.com). Another is Norton AntiVirus 2000, made by Symantec ( http://www.symantec.com).

• Printers
   The action of sending a document to print creates a bigger file, often called a postscript file.Printers have only a small amount of memory, called a buffer. This can be easily overloaded. Printing a document also uses a considerable amount of CPU power. This will also slow down the computer’s performance.

If the printer is trying to print unusual characters, these might not be recognised, and can crash the computer. Sometimes printers will not recover from a crash because of confusion in the buffer. A good way to clear the buffer is to unplug the printer for ten seconds. Booting up from a powerless state, also called a cold boot, will restore the printer’s default settings and you may be able to carry on.

• Software
   A common cause of computer crash is faulty or badly-installed software. Often the problem can be cured by uninstalling the software and then reinstalling it. Use Norton Uninstall or Uninstall Shield to remove an application from your system properly. This will also remove references to the programme in the System Registry and leaves the way clear for a completely fresh copy.

The System Registry can be corrupted by old references to obsolete software that you thought was uninstalled. Use Reg Cleaner by Jouni Vuorio to clean up the System Registry and remove obsolete entries. It works on Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 98 SE (Second Edition), Windows Millennium Edition (ME), NT4 and Windows 2000.

Read the instructions and use it carefully so you don’t do permanent damage to the Registry. If the Registry is damaged you will have to reinstall your operating system. Reg Cleaner can be obtained from http://www.jv16.org

Often a Windows problem can be resolved by entering Safe Mode. This can be done during start-up. When you see the message “Starting Windows” press F4. This should take you into Safe Mode.

Safe Mode loads a minimum of drivers. It allows you to find and fix problems that prevent Windows from loading properly.

Sometimes installing Windows is difficult because of unsuitable BIOS settings. If you keep getting SUWIN error messages (Windows setup) during the Windows installation, then try entering the BIOS and disabling the CPU internal cache. Try to disable the Level 2 (L2) cache if that doesn’t work.

Remember to restore all the BIOS settings back to their former settings following installation.

• Overheating
   Central processing units (CPUs) are usually equipped with fans to keep them cool. If the fan fails or if the CPU gets old it may start to overheat and generate a particular kind of error called a kernel error. This is a common problem in chips that have been overclocked to operate at higher speeds than they are supposed to.

One remedy is to get a bigger better fan and install it on top of the CPU. Specialist cooling fans/heat sinks are available from WWW.COMPUTERNERD.COM OR WWW.COOLIT.COM

CPU problems can often be fixed by disabling the CPU internal cache in the BIOS. This will make the machine run more slowly, but it should also be more stable.

10 Power supply problems

>Reasons Why Computer Crash

>

Reasons Why Computer Crash

1.FATAL ERROR : The system has become unstable or is busy ,Like “ Enter to return to windows or Press Control-Alt-Delete to restart Your computer. If you do this you will lose unsaved data in all open application. HOW U ?

• Hardware Conflict
  The one reason why window crashes is hardware conflict. Each Hardware device communicates to other devices though an interrupt request channel(IRQ).These are supposed to be unique for each device. Each device will try to hog a single IRQ for itself (printer,scanner etc).
  If there are lot of devices,or if they are not installed properly,two of them may end up sharing the same IRQ number. When the user tries to use both devices at the same time, a crash can happen.
• So ,do Start-Settings-Control panel-System-Device Manager
  Often if a device has a problem a yellow ‘!’ appears next to its description in the Device Manager. Highlight Computer(in the Device Manager) and press properties to see the IRQ numbers used by your computer.
• If the IRQ number appears Twice, Two devices may be using it.
• Sometime a device might share and IRQ with something described as “IRQ holder for PCI steering”, This can be ignored.
  The Best way to FIX the problem is to remove the problem device and reinstall it.
• Sometime you may have to fined more recent drivers on the internet to make the device function properly. A Good resource is WWW.DRIVERGUIDE.COM .If the device is a sound-card, or a Modem it can Often be fixed by moving it to a different slot on the motherboard.
• When working inside the computer you should switch it off,unplug the mains lead and touch an unpainted metal surface to discharge any Static electricity.
• Bad Ram
  Ram (Random Access Memory) problems might bring on the blue screen of death with a message saying FATAL EXECPTION ERROR.
  A Fatal Error indicates a serious hardware problem. Sometime It means a Part is damaged and will need replacing.

But a fatal error caused by ram might be caused by a mismatch of chips .For example ( different Ram ) mixing 70-nanosecond (70ns) Ram with 60ns Ram will Force the computer to run all the Ram at the slower speed.This will often crash the machine if the Ram is overworked.

• So ,the One way is , Enter the BIOS settings and increase the wait state of The RAM.This can make it more stable. Another way to troubleshoot a suspected RAM problem is to rearrange the RAM chips on the motherboard, or take some of them out. When handling RAM try not to touch the gold connections , as they can be easily damaged .
• BIOS SETTINGS
  Every motherboard is supplied with a rage of chip-set settings that are decided in the factory. A Common way to access these settings is to press F2, or DELETE button during The first few seconds of a boot-up.
  Inside the BIOS, care should be taken. It is a good idea to write down on a paper all the setting that appear on the screen. That way, If you change something and the computer becomes more unstable,you will know that settings to revert to a common BIOS error concerns the CAS latency. This defers to RAM .Older EDO(extended data out) .RAM has a CAS latency of 3.newer SDRAM has a CAS latency of 2.Setting the wrong figure can cause the RAM to lock up and freeze the computer’s display.
• HARD DISK DRIVES
  It is a good idea to derangement the hard disk every week or so, to prevent the disk from causing a screen freeze. Go to START-PROGRAMS-ACCESSORIS-SYSTEM TOOLS-DISK DEFRAGMENTER
  This will start the procedure.
• START-SETTINGS-CONTROL PANEL-SYSTEM ICON -PERFORMANCE-FILE SYSTEM-HARD DISK.
  Hard disk will slow down and crash if they are too full, Do some housekeeping on your hard drive every few months and free some space on it. Open the windows folder on the window drive where you install the operating system and find the temporary Internet files folder.Deleting the contents(NOT FOLDER) car free a lot of space. And Also Empty The Recycle Bin

Every week to free more space. Hard Drive should be scanned every week for error or bad sectors,

Go To START-PROGRAMS-ACCESSORIES-SYSTEM TOOLS-SCANDISK

• Fatal OE exceptions and VXD errors
   Fatal OE exception errors and VXD errors are often caused by video card problems.These can often be resolved easily by reducing the resolution of the video display. Go to START-SETTINGS-CONTROL PANEL-DISPLAY SETTINGS
   Here you should slide the screen area bar to the left. Take a look at the color settings on the left of that window. For most desktops, high color 16-bit depth is adequate.If the screen freezes or you experience system lockups it might be due to the video card. Make sure it does not have a hardware conflict. Go to

• Start-Settings-Control Panel-System-Device Manager

Here, select the + beside Display Adapter. A line of text describing your video card should appear. Select it (make it blue) and press properties. Then select Resources and select each line in the window. Look for a message that says No Conflicts.

If you have video card hardware conflict, you will see it here. Be careful at this point and make a note of everything you do in case you make things worse.

The way to resolve a hardware conflict is to uncheck the Use Automatic Settings box and hit the Change Settings button. You are searching for a setting that will display a No Conflicts message.

Another useful way to resolve video problems is to go to

• Start-Settings-Control Panel-System-Performance-Graphics
   Here you should move the Hardware Acceleration slider to the left. As ever, the most common cause of problems relating to graphics cards is old or faulty drivers (a driver is a small piece of software used by a computer to communicate with a device).

Look up your video card’s manufacturer on the internet and search for the most recent drivers for it.

• Viruses
   Often the first sign of a virus infection is instability. Some viruses erase the boot sector of a hard drive, making it impossible to start. This is why it is a good idea to create a Windows start-up disk. Go to

• Start-Settings-Control Panel-Add/Remove Programs
   Here, look for the Start Up Disk tab. Virus protection requires constant vigilance.A virus scanner requires a list of virus signatures in order to be able to identify viruses. These signatures are stored in a DAT file. DAT files should be updated weekly from the website of your antivirus software manufacturer.

An excellent antivirus programme is McAfee VirusScan by Network Associates ( http://www.nai.com). Another is Norton AntiVirus 2000, made by Symantec ( http://www.symantec.com).

• Printers
   The action of sending a document to print creates a bigger file, often called a postscript file.Printers have only a small amount of memory, called a buffer. This can be easily overloaded. Printing a document also uses a considerable amount of CPU power. This will also slow down the computer’s performance.

If the printer is trying to print unusual characters, these might not be recognised, and can crash the computer. Sometimes printers will not recover from a crash because of confusion in the buffer. A good way to clear the buffer is to unplug the printer for ten seconds. Booting up from a powerless state, also called a cold boot, will restore the printer’s default settings and you may be able to carry on.

• Software
   A common cause of computer crash is faulty or badly-installed software. Often the problem can be cured by uninstalling the software and then reinstalling it. Use Norton Uninstall or Uninstall Shield to remove an application from your system properly. This will also remove references to the programme in the System Registry and leaves the way clear for a completely fresh copy.

The System Registry can be corrupted by old references to obsolete software that you thought was uninstalled. Use Reg Cleaner by Jouni Vuorio to clean up the System Registry and remove obsolete entries. It works on Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 98 SE (Second Edition), Windows Millennium Edition (ME), NT4 and Windows 2000.

Read the instructions and use it carefully so you don’t do permanent damage to the Registry. If the Registry is damaged you will have to reinstall your operating system. Reg Cleaner can be obtained from http://www.jv16.org

Often a Windows problem can be resolved by entering Safe Mode. This can be done during start-up. When you see the message “Starting Windows” press F4. This should take you into Safe Mode.

Safe Mode loads a minimum of drivers. It allows you to find and fix problems that prevent Windows from loading properly.

Sometimes installing Windows is difficult because of unsuitable BIOS settings. If you keep getting SUWIN error messages (Windows setup) during the Windows installation, then try entering the BIOS and disabling the CPU internal cache. Try to disable the Level 2 (L2) cache if that doesn’t work.

Remember to restore all the BIOS settings back to their former settings following installation.

• Overheating
   Central processing units (CPUs) are usually equipped with fans to keep them cool. If the fan fails or if the CPU gets old it may start to overheat and generate a particular kind of error called a kernel error. This is a common problem in chips that have been overclocked to operate at higher speeds than they are supposed to.

One remedy is to get a bigger better fan and install it on top of the CPU. Specialist cooling fans/heat sinks are available from WWW.COMPUTERNERD.COM OR WWW.COOLIT.COM

CPU problems can often be fixed by disabling the CPU internal cache in the BIOS. This will make the machine run more slowly, but it should also be more stable.

10 Power supply problems