Troublershooting and Most Common Problems

Periodically pop the cover and wipe down the fans and vents with a lint-free cloth. Dust and dirt build up at an alarming rate on power supplies, fan intakes and wherever there's controlled airflow. Over time, this build-up can choke your system to the point where it overheats and dies. Also make sure you defragment your hard disk regularly. Otherwise, the more you use it, the slower it gets.

When trouble does strike, eliminate the simplest and most obvious possibilities first. Make sure all cables, both internal and external, are in good condition and that all peripherals are plugged in and turned on. Now, on to the problems, starting with hardware.

General Steps Diagnose Errors

1. To determine if it's a real mode driver or other conflict, rename the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files so they do not load at boot. Also remark out any load= and run= lines in the WIN.INI file to skip loading these devices/applications.  Remove all items in the StartUp Group (or just rename the \Windows\Start Menu\Programs\StartUp Directory).  Reboot the computer and test to determine if the results change.

2. To determine if it's another running application, hit CTRL-ALT-DEL to bring up the active task list.  End all tasks except Explorer and the program generating the error.  This will help narrow down if another application is conflicting with the program.

3. The Registry file is how Win95 installs it's 32bit device drivers and where installed software does the same.  When "Starting Windows..." is displayed on the screen, hit the F8 function key and select step-by-step confirmation.  Answer No to Load Registry and answer yes to all other prompts.  Run tests to determine if the results change.

4. The video mode and acceleration can also effect running applications. Open the Control Panel then the System folder.  Select Performance/Graphics and set the acceleration to none.  Run tests to determine if the results change.

5. To determine if it may be a Win95 setup issue, Let's use the Win95 Troubleshooting options will help us narrow it down. Open the Control Panel then the System folder.  Select Performance/File System/Troubleshooting.  Systematically disable each item to determine if any of these feature are at fault.  (I would disable all features/reboot normally and see if things work properly, if yes, try each one individually to determine which feature is at fault.)

1: Windows can't find my hardware.

Solution: Sometimes, Windows either fails to recognize new Plug-and-Play hardware or loses track of existing hardware after a crash or other problem. Check the manual to verify the device is installed correctly (plugged into the correct slot, powered on and so on).

If that's not your problem, right-click on My Computer and select Properties. Click on Device Manager and select the category and offending device (you may have to drill down a bit). If it's flagged with a red X or yellow exclamation point, use the Properties button to see what's causing the problem (e.g., a resource conflict).

If your hardware still won't work, click Remove. If Win98 asks to remove "files that are no longer needed" click Yes, and do a full power-off reboot. When you restart, Windows should redetect the hardware you just removed and install the proper drivers (it may ask for the hardware's setup disk). If it doesn't, use the Add New Hardware wizard to select the device and its drivers manually.

2: My Plug-and-Play hardware still doesn't play.

Solution: There's no doubt PnP has made upgrading easier. But even PnP hardware can cause IRQ conflicts. It's not uncommon for PnP to misdetect or even fail to detect new hardware, especially the first time around.

To give PnP a second chance, back up your hard disk and create an emergency boot diskette. Next, follow the steps detailed in Problem No. 1 (Windows can't find my hardware). If this too fails, you may have to resolve an IRQ or I/O port conflict. This is not for the faint of heart, or even the stouthearted beginner. But it can sometimes rescue an installation when all else fails. First, display Device Manager's hardware list, as before. Next, double-click a misinstalled device's entry. Click the Resources tab and clear the Use Automatic Settings checkbox.

In the Resource Type list, double-click the IRQs, I/O ports and upper memory blocks (UMBs) Device Manager tells you conflict with other devices. Then make new entries in the Edit Resource dialog. The dialog should restrict your choices to values your device supports, and advise you of any conflicts between the current resource assignments and those of other devices. Once you've made your changes, click OK in all open dialogs and reboot.

Existing ISA cards can also cause conflicts, as can motherboard resources. For example, your system BIOS may assign a PCI slot an IRQ that is already taken by an ISA card. If so, try turning off or reassigning motherboard resources through the BIOS. If your motherboard lets you use the BIOS to assign IRQs to PCI slots, this may also help you untangle things.

Poorly constructed PCI cards may also cause problems. If they don't adhere to the PCI 2.1 spec, they may play games with IRQs or do other unorthodox things. If you suspect your hardware of being flaky, test it on another machine, if possible. No-name motherboards with low-rent PCI controllers or BIOSes can also be at fault. In such cases, replacement is the only solution.

3: My SCSI scanner won't scan.

Solution: Your host adapter configuration may be at fault. Turn the PC and scanner power off and all other external devices on. Physically remove the scanner from the external chain of SCSI devices and make sure the last remaining device is properly terminated. If the scanner is the only external SCSI device, connect a terminating plug to the external SCSI connector.

Now reboot and make a note of the displayed SCSI ID numbers for whatever devices are still installed, and make sure all such devices-internal and external-are listed. Turn off the PC again and reconnect the scanner at the end of the external SCSI chain. Make sure the scanner is properly terminated, and if some other device in the chain was terminated previously, remove that termination. Be sure the scanner's SCSI ID number doesn't conflict with any number already in use, and don't use SCSI ID 7 (this is reserved for the internal SCSI host adapter).

Turn the scanner on, reboot and watch for a message to press Ctrl+A (or some other combination) to launch the host adapter configuration utility. Look for a SCSI Device Configuration option, select it and find the column that begins with the SCSI ID number assigned to the scanner. Change the Maximum Sync Transfer Rate to the lowest available number. While you're at it, change any options labeled Yes or Enabled to No or Disabled. Save all changes, exit the utility, press any key to reboot and again watch the opening messages, which should now include the correct SCSI ID number for the scanner.

If Windows detects the scanner, it may prompt you for a vendor-supplied driver. If so, follow the vendor's directions for installing the software, reboot when prompted to do so, and when Windows restarts, go to Device Manager. The scanner should now appear in the list of devices under the Computer icon. Highlight it, click Properties and make sure no problems are listed. Exit Control Panel and run whatever diagnostic utilities came with the scanner.

4: My PC and I disagree on how many drives I have.

Solution: If you try to access your D: drive and Windows tells you you don't have one, or you see a drive listed that you know doesn't exist, you may have a CMOS problem. In the case of a missing diskette drive, open a DOS window and try to log onto that drive. If it's unavailable, run your PC's CMOS configuration utility, usually by pressing the Delete key when prompted to do so during bootup. Make sure the status for each installed diskette drive is correct, then reboot. You may be able to view the configuration from within a DOS window by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Enter or a similar key combination. This is handy for verifying the configuration, but you should make all changes from outside the Windows GUI, and follow up with a reboot.

Once all drives are available from a DOS command prompt, run Windows' Tweak UI applet, select the My Computer tab and make sure all drive letters are checked. Or, run RegEdit and open the following Registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\ Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

If you see a NoDrives entry, you should see either 00 00 00 00 or 0x00000000 (0) in its Data column, indicating no drives are disabled. If a nonzero value appears, double-click the NoDrives entry and change the values to all zeros. A disabled drive may cause odd side-effects, such as grayed-out Open and Explore options on the Start button's Context menu, so make sure all drives are enabled, even if you don't have a drive B:, for example.

5: Windows Explorer keeps trying to read my floppy drive.

Solution: A Registry setting is the likely culprit. Run RegEdit, open the key listed in Problem No. 4 and check the NoDriveTypeAutoRun entry's Data column. If the first number is XY, where Y is hexadecimal 0, 1, 2, 3, 8, 9, A or B, Explorer will try to read all removable drives every time it opens. Change the number so that Y is 4, 5, C, D, E or F. Or, set it to 95, the Windows default.

If that doesn't work, search the Registry's Data column for a:. If you find a reference to a:\filename.ext, some active app may periodically try to find that file on the diskette drive. Be on the lookout for a drive letter entry in any key whose name doesn't contain the initials MRU (for most-recently used). If you can locate the diskette with that file on it, uninstall and reinstall the app associated with that diskette. Select its Custom option (if available) and rewrite all path options to point to locations on your hard drive. Check INI files, too, for references to a removable drive. If you're still using a CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT file, make sure there's no PATH statement in either one that cites a removable drive letter.

6: Windows won't wake up.

Solution: Many consider this Win98's No. 1 shortcoming: After going into Suspend or Hibernation mode, the OS wakes up slowly or not at all. The problem results from subtle conflicts between Win98 and vendor-specific implementations of the Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI). In theory, if the hardware and BIOS are both ACPI compliant, power-saving Suspend and Hibernation modes will work fine with Win98, which also is ACPI compliant. But theory and practice can be worlds apart.

Many systems now in use were designed for the older Advanced Power Management (APM) technology. They may require, at a minimum, a BIOS or driver update to work properly with the newer technology. Visit your hardware vendor's site to see what's required to make your system fully ACPI compliant.

And perhaps by the time you read this the Win98 Service Pack will have solved the OS parts of this problem: Run the Update Wizard (C:\WINDOWS\WUPDMGR.EXE) or visit http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com to ensure your copy of Windows is up to date.

If none of this cures your PC's sleeping sickness, the only partial workaround is to turn off all BIOS-level power-management functions so Win98 can attempt to manage all power functions on its own.

7: Windows won't shut down.

Solution: You should probably close all your apps yourself before you shut down Windows, but if you let Windows close things down and you never make it to the "It's now safe to turn off your computer" message, there are two ways to fix things, depending on your symptoms:

If the hangs are intermittent, press Ctrl+Alt+Del when your system hangs to bring up the Close Program box. (Note: Some third-party apps, such as virus scanners, run in the background and can prevent your system from shutting down. First, try disabling the app. If that doesn't work, uninstall it.) If an item is flagged Not Responding, select it and click End Task. If that doesn't work, or if nothing is flagged Not Responding, try the Shut Down button. If that also fails, power off your system. (Note: Run ScanDisk when your reboot.) Try to notice patterns to your intermittent hangs. Is the same app or subsystem hanging? If so, check the vendor site for a patch or update.

If your system hangs every time, you're probably running Win98. Win98 uses a Fast Shutdown process whereby it sends a shutdown signal to all running apps and services, and then proceeds without waiting for a response. Some apps and subsystems respond too slowly or require an additional step before completely shutting down. This can foul up the shutdown sequence and result in a hang. The solution is to disable Fast Shutdown. To do that, run MSCONFIG.EXE, click Advanced and check Disable Fast Shutdown. Click OK twice and reboot. Win98 will now shut down in Win95's slower but sometimes more reliable fashion.

Some implementations of Win98's ACPI hang if you disable Fast Shutdown. This is a bug for which Microsoft is developing a patch (see http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles /q196/0/08.asp). If disabling Fast Shutdown makes things worse, put them back the way they were by repeating the steps above, unchecking Disable Fast Shutdown and rebooting. If your original shutdown problem recurs, your only option is to wait for the patch and try disabling Fast Shutdown again once you install it.

8: My system hangs at random intervals.

Solution: Many things can contribute to intermittent problems, including defective RAM and unstable power supplies. But often flaky drivers are to blame. In their haste to bring the latest and greatest hardware to market, many vendors take shortcuts in the device driver development and testing phase. The result is often a bug-ridden first-generation driver. Some vendors release hardware without drivers, forcing you to make do with older, often 16-bit DOS-based drivers.

To solve these problems, first back up your hard disk, then create an emergency boot diskette. If you're running Win95, be sure to place your CD-ROM driver and MSCDEX.EXE file on your diskette (Win98's Emergency Boot Diskette Wizard adds these automatically). Next, check the Web site of your computer vendor, the device vendor or Microsoft for new drivers. The drivers that ship with hardware are seldom up to date. In almost all cases, you can find newer, less buggy versions.

Next, search your CONFIG.SYS file for DEVICE= lines that load 16-bit device drivers. These driver files usually have SYS extensions, but DRV or other extensions are also possible. If you find such a line, comment it out by inserting REM at the beginning of the line. Save the new CONFIG.SYS file and reboot. If all goes well, your computer may inform you it's found a new device, and ask you to insert your original Windows or hardware CD to obtain newer, 32-bit drivers. If your computer fails to boot, or a device no longer works correctly, you'll have to restore the DEVICE= lines and reboot. It's then time to complain in earnest about the lack of proper drivers or purchase newer hardware with better driver support.

9: When I installed an app, another one suddenly stopped working.

Solution: Your computer may have come down with a case of DLL Versionitis.

DLLs (Dynamic Link Libraries) are disk files containing portions of programs. Breaking big apps into several parts allows each part to be loaded into RAM only when needed. And several apps can simultaneously access the program snippets stored in a single DLL. This reduces the amount of disk space and RAM each app requires, and allows several apps to be upgraded simultaneously by replacing a DLL they share.

Well-behaved installation programs place shared DLLs in the \WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory, ensuring only one copy of a DLL resides on your hard disk. This not only saves disk space; it guarantees all apps use the same version of the DLL. But some setup programs create private copies of shared DLLs, so your hard disk may contain more than one version of a single DLL.

When an app executes a routine stored in a DLL, Windows first searches RAM for a previously loaded copy of the DLL. If that search fails it searches your hard disk. As a result, if one app loads a private, out-of-date copy of a shared DLL, all programs running after that will use the private DLL because it's now in RAM. If these programs require a newer version of the DLL, they may crash or behave erratically.

To avoid this, make sure only one copy of each shared DLL resides on your hard disk. It should be the newest version, and should be in your \WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory. Start with a utility like WDLLFnd (Treeless Software and Design, http://members.aol.com/TreeLessSW/wdllf2.htm), which searches your hard disk for duplicate DLLs. Right-click on each DLL's icon and select Properties to examine its file size and version information.

If all copies of a DLL are the same, move one copy to your \WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory and delete the rest. If you have more than one version of a single DLL, save all older versions in a temporary hard disk directory or on a diskette and move the newest version to your \WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory. Finally, reboot and test all apps.
 

10: Windows doesn't see all of my large hard drive.

Solution: If you're using a large drive you may need a new BIOS access method. Drives between 504MB and 8.4GB require a method known as Logical Block Addressing (LBA). Drives larger than that require a revised LBA.

To view and change the way your BIOS accesses your hard disk, run your computer's CMOS Setup program. If you see an access mode such as CHS (Cylinder, Head, Sector) or Large Drive, try changing the setting to LBA. Save your change to the CMOS settings and try partitioning your hard disk again. If your problem goes away, you'll know your BIOS supports the LBA required to access your entire drive.

If your problem doesn't go away, you may be able to get an updated BIOS from your PC vendor. If not, look for a driver that came with your hard drive or PC. Many vendors include OEM versions of Micro House Solutions EZ-Drive (http://solutions.microhouse.com/products/ezdrive) or Ontrack Disk Manager DiskGo (http://www.ontrack.com). If so, install it and partition your drive. Otherwise, you can buy either one from the companies' Web sites for about $20 or $30.
 

11: Some of my files suddenly become corrupt, unreadable, or even disappear.

Solution: Many file system mysteries are caused by bugs or user error (accidental deletions, renaming and so on). But if these problems occur often, your file system may have become corrupted.

Many things can cause file system corruption-power failures; system hangs during a disk write; bugs in apps; intermittently defective RAM, hard disks or hard disk controllers; even Windows itself. A file's directory entry can be overwritten, causing it to vanish. Or the data the file contains may be unexpectedly altered, causing program crashes and data loss.

To fix these problems, and prevent their spread, run a file system integrity check program such as ScanDisk (Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools).

ScanDisk performs two types of checks. The Standard Test examines every directory entry on a disk, detecting and correcting corrupted or invalid file names, modification and creation dates, and file sizes. It also examines the disk's file allocation table, correcting errors such as disk regions neither allocated nor free, or both allocated and free. The Thorough Test reads every sector of a disk, both allocated and unallocated. If it can't read a sector because of a disk surface flaw, ScanDisk attempts to recover the information from the bad sector by reading it repeatedly. It then moves the information to a spare sector.

You should run ScanDisk often- ideally once a day. Win98 and the Win95 Plus Pack include a program called System Agent, which lets you schedule tasks like ScanDisk to run at set intervals.

12: My favorite app keeps crashing.

Solution: Sometimes, a crash is just a transient problem remedied by a reboot. But if a problem persists (for example, if you crash at the same point in an app or process every time), or if your app won't run at all, what then?

First, make sure the problem isn't the result of malfunctioning software by checking the vendor's Web site for patches or updates. Next, try a simple reinstall over the existing app. In most cases, this preserves any settings changes you made but will correct erroneous settings and replace corrupted DLLs.

If a simple reinstall doesn't work, try completely uninstalling the errant software, then rebooting and reinstalling from scratch. A clean start will often correct pernicious problems.

13: Every time I open Windows, it tries to dial out.

Solution: Any number of things can cause this. First, make sure your Startup folder doesn't contain a shortcut to an app that automatically dials your ISP for you, as will happen if the app is configured to check for updates each time it's used. In case of doubt, remove faxing and other modem-related apps from the Startup group until you find the culprit, especially those with names like Windows Update, Live Update or similar.

If this doesn't help, open the Registry's HKEY_CURRENT_USER and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE keys one at a time. Drill down to the \Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion \Run subkey in both, and the\RunServices subkey in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.

If you see an Internet-related app in the Name column, export the key, then delete that line. Keep an eye out for EXE files whose names you don't recognize; they may indicate a virus.

If this resolves the problem, you can probably reconfigure the app so that it stays away from the modem until you instruct it to make a connection. If so, make the appropriate configuration change and import the exported subkey to restore the former configuration.

It's possible an app listed on the run= line in WIN.INI is causing the problem, in which case the same general procedures should help to resolve it.

14: My network won't work.

Solution: Often, Windows networking can mysteriously die, especially in upgrades where non-Microsoft networking clients, protocols and services previously were installed. Everything appears to be installed and configured properly, but the Windows client just can't see the server or peers on the network. Networking problems can also cause subtle and hard-to-diagnose trouble with dial-up access.

A kind of networking housecleaning may fix things. First, make note of any networking settings so you can properly recreate them later, then use Control Panel's Network applet to remove all clients, protocols, adapters and services. If Dial-Up Networking is also a problem, delete all DUN connections after noting their settings.

Now reboot, reenter Control Panel, and reinstall all the necessary clients, protocols, adapters and services in the Network applet. Reboot again and rebuild your DUN connections.

This process-laborious but not difficult-refreshes all the elements of your networking plumbing and ensures all your drivers and clients are from the same release of Windows.

15: I can't log on to the network.

Solution: With so many components in the chain-NICs, cables, hubs and OS drivers-troubleshooting network connections is never easy. You have to approach the problem systematically. First, check the obvious. Make sure all cables are securely connected to their ports in the NIC and hub, link /activity lights are on, and all equipment is compatible (i.e., 10Mb per second NICs with 10Mbps hubs, 100Mbps NICs with 100Mbps hubs). A lot of equipment can operate at both 10Mbps and 100Mbps, so if the equipment doesn't autosense the speed, make sure you manually set it on all devices in the connection. Some older auto-sensing 10/100Mbps NICs choose a speed, and are locked into it until you power down and back up again. So if you manually switch hub speed from 10Mbps to 100Mbps and experience problems, turn off the machine with the NIC and turn it back on again.

The cable may be your problem, even if all link/activity lights are on. Ethernet wires are crimped into RJ-45 jacks, and they can slip enough to break the connection. Test them with an Ohm/Power meter set to indicate when there's continuity between the pins on each side of the wire. This also helps you verify the wires are pinned straight through, not crossed.

If all's well on the physical side but problems persist, use WINIPCFG.EXE (IPCONFIG.EXE in NT) to ensure the OS knows the NIC is operational, and that the proper protocols (IP/IPX and so on) are loaded and bound to the NIC. NICs that aren't loaded properly won't show up here. If everything checks out, use PING.EXE to test communications with other machines (preferably local) using TCP/IP, or with machines that are reliably up on the Internet (make sure you dial into your ISP first). For instance, "ping ftp.somewhere.com" will report a series of "reply" messages with response time in milliseconds. If you know the actual IP address (www.xxx.yyy.zzz) of the machine you're trying to reach, use that instead of the qualified domain name. This eliminates the possibility of a faulty DNS setting. If you don't know one, ping a server by name and ping will give you the IP address. If pinging an IP address doesn't work, remove the NIC's network configuration entry and reboot. Windows should recognize the NIC and reinstall it for you. You may need to reinstall and reconfigure your TCP/IP protocol settings as well.

16: Large Problems Sometimes Stem From Small Causes

Large problems sometimes stem from ridiculously small causes. For example, cables, cards and chips can work themselves loose over time or develop bad connections from oxidation on their contacts. CPU cooling fans can die or malfunction, and dust can block air intakes or exhausts, leading to heat problems and erratic performance. To avoid all this, make sure all cables- inside the case and out-are properly inserted. Ensure that all socketed chips are firmly seated, that your fans are working and that your system case has unobstructed airflow.