Q: I have made a DVD by copying the Ultimate Boot CD. But to be able to test it my Windows XP Professional machine needs to start up from DVD. When I use F8 at startup so I can alter the BIOS, I can’t get into it. How can I access the settings?

A: You’re using the wrong key sequence. F8 will take you to the Windows Advanced Options menu to allow you to access Safe Mode among other things. The sequence for accessing the BIOS varies between manufacturers, often it’s Delete or F1. It should flash up on the screen as the system boots, if you can’t spot it there’s a list of the codes for various manufacturers at MyDigitalLife.

The boot device order is set in the BIOS but how you access it varies between systems

Originally featured in PCU 138

System: Dell Inspiron 531, Athlon 64 Dual Core, Windows 7 Home Premium

Q: When I try to run the Windows 7 Experience Index I get the following message: ‘The Windows Experience Index for your system could not be completed. Could not measure storage performance. Error: Failed to properly assess the disk. The parameter is incorrect.’ Can you please explain what’s going wrong?

A: This error usually means that the Experience Index is unable to access the disk for some reason. This could be because it’s being blocked by another application. The most likely culprit for this is a security program so try disabling your antivirus software and running the index again. Background defrag programs like Diskeeper can have a similar effect.

If it still doesn’t work then you need to check the disk for errors. Click Start/ All Programs/ Accessories, right-click on Command Prompt and select Run as Administrator. At the prompt type chkdsk /f /r and press Enter. This checks the disk for errors, bad sectors and corruption, the /f flag attempts to automatically fix file system errors and the /r flag will attempt to repair bad sectors. The process may take a while to complete. Once you’ve done that run the sfc /scannow command in the same way to check for and replace damaged system files. You can also try running a storage assessment from the command line as follows: winsat disk –seq –read –n 0 this is the technology underlying the Experience Index so if it works there’s no reason why it shouldn’t also run from the menu.

The Windows experience Index gives you an indication of your system’s performance

Originally featured in PCU 138

Q: My daughter who is disabled spends a lot of time in her bedroom and when able uses a desktop Vista PC, however the amount of disability paraphernalia has left no room for a printer. There is an HP 2575 printer downstairs connected to an XP system; both PCs have Internet access via a Sky Netgear router. The grandchildren use Vista and Windows 7 laptops, again gaining Net access via the Sky box, and connect to the printer using USB cables.

Is it possible to somehow connect the printer to the Sky system to allow my daughter to communicate with it and print? As they are not all that PC literate a detailed explanation would be appreciated.

A: Assuming both PCs are connected to the router for Internet access the easiest solution is to make the printer on the XP system a shared device. Click Start, right-click My Computer, select Properties and note down the name of the Workgroup. Go to Start again, click Printers and Faxes, right-click the icon for the printer and choose Sharing. In the Properties dialog select Share This Printer, give it a name and click OK.

Now go to the Vista machine, click Start and right-click Computer, in the Computer Name, Domain and Workgroup Settings area click Change Settings and change the name of the workgroup so that it’s the same as on the XP system. Reboot the system so that it adopts the new workgroup name. Go to Start, click Network and you should see your XP PC appear, double-click it to see the shared printer, right-click and choose Connect. You’ll be prompted to install drivers if required.

Having done all that you should now be able to access the XP system’s printer from the Vista box – and indeed from any other PC on the network. However, the drawback is that the XP machine will need to be switched on in order for the printer to be available to the other systems.

A more technically elegant solution is to connect the printer directly to the router – the HP 2575 should already have an Ethernet port to allow you to do this, you’ll just need to get a cable. You’ll then be able to access it from any PC on the network without needing to have another PC switched on. For a printer without built-in networking you can buy a wireless printer server for around £50 to allow you to attach it directly to a LAN.

Use the Add Printer wizard to link to a shared printer on another networked PC

Originally featured in PCU 138

System: Acer Aspire 7730

Q: My laptop is around two years old and has been intermittently temperamental for a while. Just recently it won’t charge and won’t boot up even when plugged into the mains. Is there anything that can be done or is this time to look for a new computer?

A: There could be a number of reasons for this so it’s down to some trial and error to try to pin down the cause of the fault. First of all plug the power supply into the mains and switch it on, but don’t connect the laptop. Does the LED indicator on the power supply light up? If it does then the PSU itself is probably OK. If you need a replacement you can pick up universal models suitable for most laptops for around £30.

The next step is to connect the power to the laptop and make sure the connection is firmly seated, if the power comes on when you press or move the connector then it’s the connection socket that’s at fault. This may well mean a new motherboard. If you get no joy there try removing the battery, see if the PC will work from the mains without the battery installed. If it will then you may simply need a new battery – though it’s worth cleaning the contacts on the old one and retrying it. A replacement will cost you £50 or so depending on the model. In order to get the maximum life from a laptop battery you should run the system without the mains and allow it to completely discharge from time to time. A regime of partial discharges and recharges will shorten the life of the battery and the run time you can get from a full charge.

If none of these things work there’s probably a fault inside the PC, most likely with the motherboard. Laptops are notoriously hard to disassemble so it’s best to take it to a qualified repairer, though it may be cheaper to get a new PC. Depending on the model of laptop the hard drive is usually quite easy to access via a plate on the underside should you want to retrieve any data from it to transfer to another PC.

You can buy laptop batteries and chargers online but make sure you get the right one for your PC

Originally featured in PCU 137

System: Acer Aspire M1610

Q: I have been fortunate enough to be given a computer, but I don’t have any other equipment at present. Apart from a monitor, mouse and keyboard what other equipment do I need, eg printer, cables, leads, etc? Could you please advise me?

A: In order to get the machine working all you need is a monitor, keyboard and mouse. These should come with their own cables to connect to the system unit. The M1610 has four USB ports on the rear plus four on the front – or two if it has a built-in card reader – so you can use a USB keyboard and mouse. However, depending on how the PC was previously configured you may not be able to access the BIOS settings unless you have a PS/2 keyboard (with a purple multi-pin connector). The machine should have Windows XP or Windows Vista installed depending on how old it is.

The standard graphics should be adequate for day-to-day use but if you want to play games or edit videos it’s worth adding a separate graphics card. You’ll need one made to the PCI Express X16 standard.

In order to generate hard copy you’ll need a printer. Most now attach via USB and don’t come supplied with a cable so you’ll need to buy one separately. The PC has onboard 7.1 audio, so for sound output you’ll need some speakers – or you could look for a monitor that has speakers built-in.

If you want to access the Internet you’ll need an account with an ISP. The motherboard has a built-in dial-up modem but you’ll need a cable to connect it to a telephone socket. It’s worth looking to Acer itself for this as pin-outs on modem connections vary and a cable made for a different system may not work. There’s also an onboard Ethernet port which you could use to connect to a router should you have broadband.

Manuals for this system along with the latest drivers and BIOS updates are available to download from the  Acer website.

Manuals and drivers for Acer systems can be downloaded from the company’s website

Originally featured in PCU 137

System: HP Pavilion t3200, Windows XP Home SP3

Q: I have recently encountered a Windows startup problem following my attempt to reduce the system’s start up time. In Msconfig having de-selected a program in the Startup list and clicked on Selective Startup in the General tab, Windows now starts but only shows about half of the icons I normally have in the task bar, but everything else appears to work normally. When I try to return to my previous set-up, by selecting normal start-up in Msconfig and then re-starting, it still starts with the reduced number of icons in the task bar.

I have tried System Restore, which restores my task bar icons and all seems to be well, until I restart, when again it starts with the reduced task bar. This suggests that future restores (for other reasons) may not hold. I am at a loss to know where to look next and hope that perhaps you can throw some light on the problem.

A: When you deselect an entry in Msconfig’s Startup tab that program will be prevented from launching when Windows boots. You don’t need to enable Selective Startup for this to happen. Selective Startup allows you to stop all or most of the startup items in order to diagnose problems.

Setting Startup back to Normal should launch everything except programs you’ve specifically excluded on the Startup tab. The fact that you can get your icons back with a System Restore but that they disappear again on reboot implies that changes to the registry aren’t being properly saved. Start the PC in Safe Mode – by tapping F8 as it boots – and run System Restore from there. Before rebooting check that Msconfig is set to Normal Startup and that only the specific programs you don’t want to run are deselected on the Startup tab.

If that still doesn’t fix the problem run Regedit and navigate to the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools\MSConfig\state. Delete all sub-keys found within this folder. Then do the same for the following three keys:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools\MSConfig\services

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools\MSConfig\startupfolder

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools\MSConfig\startupreg

Reboot the system after making any changes. If you don’t feel confident editing the registry, try downloading Taskbar Repair Tool Plus which should be able to fix the problem.

Msconfig’s selective startup allows you to diagnose problems when booting

Originally featured in PCU 137

Q: Where I am located in the UK, we are now faced with the forthcoming digital TV switchover. No problem is expected with my TV’s as they are already digital, or, for the ones that are not; include set top boxes to convert them.

The problem lies with my computers of which I have two. One of them is running Windows XP and the other Vista Home Premium, and both have Windows Media Center on them.

As you may be aware, Media Centre will only download analogue channels, so I can only receive the main terrestrial channels without the added benefit of any additional Freeview channels. This is where the problem starts, as it is not possible to convert them with a set top box, as computers do not posses a SCART connection. When the switchover date arrives, my computers will not receive any TV channels at all.

Are you aware of any hardware available that will make this conversion possible, or am I missing something obvious here?

A: All you need is a DVB compatible tuner to replace your analogue one. These are available as PCI cards, but the easiest solution is to get one that plugs into a USB port. The drivers supplied with most hardware should allow the digital signal to be viewed via Windows Media Center.

Take a look at the Hauppauge Win-TV-Nova-T (around £30 from Ebuyer). Or the K-World UB499-2T which has dual tuners so you can record one channel while watching another (again around £30 from Ebuyer).

You can receive digital TV on a PC by adding a suitable USB tuner

Originally featured in PCU 137

System: Dell Precision T3500, Intel Xeon W3520, 4GB RAM, Windows 7 Professional

Q: I recently purchased a new Dell PC with Windows 7 Professional and once delivered I started putting my software from my old PC on to the new one. One application I tried to install was Iomega QuikSync 3, which was software I got approximately seven years ago when I purchased a Zip Drive. QuikSync 3 was a type of back up software which I found to be fantastic as every time I saved a document it automatically saved it on to an external hard drive, and would also have the last ten versions previously saved, this was a setting you could change.

I found this to be good software and it gave me great peace of mind when working on projects. After getting the new PC I discovered it won’t work and I can’t get a version that will work on Windows 7, nor can I find a software application like it anywhere. Could you give some advice on an alternative application please?

A: The one that springs immediately to mind is Dropbox. It saves to cloud storage and it only protects one folder, but otherwise it does exactly what you want in terms of automatically saving changes and tracking previous versions so that you can recover to an earlier copy if need be.

If you’d rather have something that backs up to a local drive try the free Yadis! Backup. This does backup on change and saves previous versions, it will also remember changes made when the backup destination is unavailable and catch up next time it’s connected. It’s also worth taking a look at ViceVersa Pro, this isn’t free but you can get a 30-day trial version.

Yadis! Backup saves when changes are made and keeps previous versions

Originally featured in PCU 136

Q: Being a long time reader of PCU I have a question about my CD R/RW drive, a CyberDrive Cw088D. Over the last month are so I have been experiencing a problem where I cannot burn discs or read ones which I have burned from time to time back. I have some stored CDs that will read but the ones I have tried to burn just won’t burn and ones I have burnt just won’t read. Do you have any suggestions as to what my problem is?

A: If older discs read but you’re having problems with newer ones then the first thing to look at is the media. Try a different brand of discs and see if they make a difference. Normally we’d suggest updating the firmware to see if that helps, but this is a fairly old drive and the only version we could find was this one which dates from 2002.

It may be time to admit defeat and buy a replacement drive as they’re relatively inexpensive, you can pick up a DVD rewriter for under £15.

With newer optical drives it’s worth checking the manufacturer’s site for updated firmware

Originally featured in PCU 136

Q: Is there any software for converting music from LP records into the computer from my turntable so the music can be listened to in digital form or burned to a CD? I’d appreciate any help.

A: Converting from vinyl to MP3 isn’t hard, it’s just time consuming because you’re constrained by the analogue format which means you have to record in real time. Which way you approach it really depends on how easy you want to make the process. Organising the hardware is usually the most difficult part. If you have a lot of old music and want an off-the-shelf solution that provides everything you need, including a cable to connect up your turntable, then MAGIX Rescue Your Vinyl and Tapes looks attractive at £49.99 (www.magix.com). There are also a number of USB turntables on the market from around £50 upwards depending on the number of features they offer (see the Ion Profile from www.firebox.com for example).

For a DIY solution you need a recording and editing tool such as Audacity. You’ll also need to get a cable to connect your turntable output to your soundcard’s Line In port. Getting the levels right on this connection usually calls for some degree of trial and error. Start with the turntable volume very low – especially if you’re connecting via an amplifier – and record a short portion to see how it sounds.

Once you’ve found a workable level the easiest way to proceed is to record one complete side of an LP in a single pass. You can then use the silences between tracks to split up the file into individual songs. You can also use Audacity’s editing functions to remove unwanted hiss and clicks from the recording. Save the individual tracks as MP3s, you can then employ a tagging tool such as TigoTago to label the tracks so that they show up correctly in media players.

USB turntables like the Ion Profile are designed to connect directly to your PC (Image courtesy of Firebox.com)

Originally featured in PCU 136