Tech Tips

If you are trying to load windows NT 4.0 on a system with the Ultra ATA hard drive controller and are having trouble (Invalid boot device errors, boot sector errors, etc.), Download 7501599.EXE and install it. This file is the Windows NT 4.0 driver for this controller card.

1. Copy this file to a floppy diskette and double click on it to expand it.
2. Power down and insert the Windows NT Workstation Setup Disk 1. Boot the system and continue with setup.
3. When you reach disk 3, the setup screen will appear with a list of mass storage device drivers. Press the S key to specify an additional device.
4. With Other highlighted, press Enter.
5. Insert the driver disk you just created and press Enter.
6. The Promise Technology Inc. UltraDMA PCI EIDE Driver will appear in the list of available drivers. Choose the driver and press Enter.
7. After the files are copied, insert Windows NT Workstation Disk 3 and press Enter.
8. Continue from there with the rest of the installation.

If you're installing a game and it doesn't work properly, you may have the wrong version of DirectX installed. To check what version you have, perform the following steps:

1. Click on Start, Run, type explorer and press Enter.
2. Press F3, type ddraw.dll in the Named box and type C:\ in the Look in: box.
3. Click Find Now. Note: No Files are found, DirectX is not installed on your computer.
4. Right click on the Ddraw.dll file and choose Properties.
5. Select the Version tab.
6. Compare the version number on the File Version line with the following:
   
   

Version Number	DirectX Version
4.02.0095	Version 1
4.03.00.1096	Version 2
4.04.00.0068	Versions 3 or 3a









7. Cancel all screens without making any changes.

How can I update my current version of DirectX? You can locate it on Microsoft's website at the following URL address: http://www.microsoft.com/msdownload/direcx3.htm.

Portable Travel Tips

When traveling with your Gateway 2000 Solo 2100, 2200, 2300, or 9100 portable notebook, there are a few things to keep in mind.

First, before you hop on the plane, board the train, start the car, or say hello to the bus driver, make sure your battery is fully conditioned and charged.

Also, if you have a PCMCIA device installed, such as a modem or a network card, take it out if you don't need it. They use battery power even when they're not being used.

Set the Power Management in CMOS to Battery and Maximum Battery Life. To do this, boot your system and press F2 to enter setup. Using your arrow keys, highlight the Power menu and select PM Control. Use your spacebar to toggle through the options until Battery is displayed. Then, use your arrow keys to select Power Management and toggle through the options until Maximum Battery Life is displayed. Next, use your arrow keys to highlight the Exit page. Choose Save Changes and Exit Setup. The system will then reboot.

Finally, remember that moderation is an important key to long battery life. Any time you can use the AC adapter instead of the battery, do so. It allows the battery to recharge and conserves battery power.


How do I condition the battery on my Solo portable computer?

Our Solo line of portables can all support Lithium Ion batteries. This technology allows for a longer battery life. However, you will need to make sure the batteries are in tip top shape before you decide to take it on the road. The Lithium Ion batteries actually have a memory, meaning that they'll record what a full charge feels like and what an empty charge feels like. Once in a while, the memory needs to be "refreshed." This refreshing of the battery's memory is called "conditioning" the battery. Essentially, this means letting the battery re-familiarize itself with the difference between a full and empty charge. Follow these simple steps to fully re-condition your battery to get the best performance from it. NOTE: This is only for the Lithium Ion batteries and not the Nickel Hydride ones. Check to ensure that you have the Lithium Ion before proceeding.

1. If you have the original Solo portable, go to step 2. For any other Solo portable system (2100, 2200 or 2300), press F2 at boot to enter your CMOS setup. Use your right arrow key to highlight the Power menu. Near the bottom of this page you'll see "Battery Low Suspend." Use your down arrow key to highlight this option and press your spacebar until the option is Disabled. Press Escape, save your changes and exit, letting the system reboot.
2. Once the system reboots, let it run until the battery is completely out of power. A fast way to take care of this it to let the CD player run.
3. When the battery is drained, plug the AC adapter in and let the battery recharge for 6 or more hours, preferrably over night. The longer the better.
4. Repeat the process of draining and recharging the battery at least once, if not more.

If you have the Solo 2300 or 9100 portable, you can also use the software which accompanies either computer.

1. Connect the AC adapter to the system with the battery properly installed.
2. Power up your system and boot to Windows.
3. Click Start, Shut Down, and Restart the computer in MS-DOS mode.
4. At the C:\ prompt, type CD BATTERY and press Enter.
5. Type LEARNING and press Enter.
6. The process may take 12 to 16 hours depending on the battery's initial level of charge. The higher the charge in the battery, the shorter the learning cycle completion time. If you have two batteries installed in your notebook at the same time, the process time will double. No intervention is required during the learning cycle.
7. When the learning cycle is done, a success message will be displayed. This doesn't necessarily mean that the battery is fully charged. If the battery is not fully charged, leave your system connected to the AC power. You may use the system while the battery continues to charge.
8. Close the battery learning program at any time by pressing Ctrl+C and return to Windows 95 by typing Exit. To view the current battery charge status, press Fn+F2 or move the mouse pointer over the AC power plug icon on the lower right hand side of the screen.

When upgrading your total memory to more than 16 MB on an older 486 system, you may find that the BIOS will only count to 16 MB. The reason for this is because in some older motherboards, when the BIOS SHADOW is enabled in the CMOS setup, the BIOS information from the video and the motherboard were stored in high memory to free up low memory, allowing the system to run faster. In order for the BIOS to count more than 16 MB, you must disable the BIOS SHADOW in the CMOS setup. Reboot your system and bring yourself to a C:\> Prompt. Press Ctrl+Alt+Esc, which will produce the system CMOS setup. Page Down to see the second menu. Find the BIOS SHADOW option DISABLE it as per the instructions at the bottom of the Screen. Save changes and Exit. When you reboot, you'll notice that the beep you once heard sounds slower, and you may notice a small performance degradation. There are programs available which allow you to re-shadow the BIOS, so to speak, with software instead of the firmware. Programs such as QEMM, or EMM386 from later versions of DOS have this option. Windows NT won't be affected by the lack of shadow, as it basically ignores the system's BIOS when operating.


Q. My modem is too loud when I dial and connect to my ISP. How can I turn it down?

In the Control Panel, double click the modem icon. Select the modem properties tab and adjust the volume slidebar to the left. You can also select the Advanced button under the Connection tab and add either L0 or M0 to the Extra Settings. Restart the computer.

Before making any changes to the registry, it's a very very good idea to back it up.

1. In Windows 95 Explorer, select Options under the Veiw pulldown menu and take the dot out of the Hide File of These Types options. Click OK. Press F5 to refresh the Explorer window.
2. Right click the \WINDOWS\SYSTEM.DAT file and choose Properties. Take the checks out of Hidden and Read Only and click OK.
3. Repeat this with the \WINDOWS\USER.DAT file to remove the hidden and read-only attributes.
4. Copy the 2 files to a formatted floppy disk, and also copy them somewhere on the hard drive if you want to be sure.
5. Remove the attributes of the \SYSTEM.1ST as you did with the other two files above and copy it to the same location. The SYSTEM.1ST file is a copy of the first SYSTEM.DAT file created when Windows 95 was installed. If you need to troubleshoot a problem, you can rename this file to system.dat and restore it the Windows directory instead of restoring the more current version on the diskette.
6. When you're finished copying these files to your diskette, restore the attributes to each file by reversing step 2.

If you ever need to replace these registry files, perform the following steps:

1. In Explorer, right click on each file and remove the attributes as shown above in step 2.
2. Right click on the file again and choose Rename. Rename the extension of each file (.dat) to xxx.
3. Copy the User.dat and System.dat files from the diskette to the Windows directory, and you may restore the Hidden and Read Only attributes if you wish.
4. Restart Windows and the new .dat files will take affect.

Want to increase the speed that Windows 95 downloads information at from the Internet? It's possible with just a bit of tweaking of the Registry. Make sure that you have a backup of the registry before you modify it in any way, including the following way.

1. Click Start, Run, type regedit and press Enter.
2. Click on the "+" sign in front of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.
3. Click on the "+" sign in front of "Enum", then "Root" and then "Net".
4. The "Net" subkey will have one or more subkeys under it with names such as "0000", "0001", and so on.
5. Click on each key and a string of the associated values will appear on the right side of the window. Find the one with the name "DeviceDesc" with the value of "Dial-Up Adapter" listed in the "Data" column.
6. Click on the "+" sign in front of this particular key (with DeviceDesc in it) and click the Bindings subkey. In the right hand window you will see a string name listed like "MSTCP\0000". Take note of that 4-digit number for the next step.
7. Proceed to the "Network" key under "Enum", expand that and then expand the "MSTCP" key. Click on the 4-digit key with the same number as the one you noted earlier.
8. In that key, in the window on the right, there's a string called "Driver" with a value resembling "NetTrans\0002". Take note of the 4-digit number.
9. Under the "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE" folder, click on the "+" next to "System" to expand the folder. Under that folder, click the "+" on "CurrentControlSet," "Services," "Class," and finally "NetTrans."
10. Click on the 4-digit key (not on the "+" sign) with the same number as the second one you noted. You will see a list of string values with names such as "IP address" and "DriverDesc".
11. With the 4-digit number still hightlighted, under the Edit Menu, select New/String Value. Name the new value "MaxMTU". Hit "Enter" to finish.
12. Right-click on the new string name and choose "Modify." In the "value data" field type the 576 and press Enter.
13. Close the Registry Editor. Exit your programs and reboot windows (Tip: If you hold down the shift key while clicking "Restart Computer" in the Shutdown menu, the system will restart Windows without restarting the whole computer).

Q: I just loaded the video drivers for Windows 95 and my video adapter. What monitor should I select for the Crystal Scan 500 or 700 or the Vivitron 500 or 700?

A: For the Vivitron 500, use either Crystal Scan 1572FS or the Vivitron 15. For the Vivitron 700 (or the Crystal Scan 700), use either Crystal Scan 1776 or Vivitron 17.


You may notice that the 3D screensavers in Windows 95b don't always function like they should, and they seem to act rather erratically at times. The problem is probably related to your virus scan program, as it's trying to scan files while the screensaver is running. To get rid of the problem, try the following:

1. Right click on the desktop.
2. Choose "Properties".
3. Choose the "ScreenScan" tab.
4. Find "Enable scanning while in screen saver mode and remove the check.
5. Click "OK".