Scientific American Library The Universe: From Quarks to the Cosmos Read Me File This READ ME file contains important information on the following topics: 1. Problems installing this software: - Examining your hard drive. - Temporarily disabling other applications. - Checking your system hardware. 2. Problems running this software: - General Protection Faults. - Out-Of-Memory errors. - Special software that is not supported. - Windows 95 taskbar overlapping the program screen. - Conflicts with Screen Savers. - Minimizing Microsoft Office Manager. - Problems with graphic displays. 3. Problems using the web page link. 4. Performance Issues: - The program runs slowly. - Adjusting disk caching size for better performance. - Tips for all computers. - Choppy movie frames and sound. 5. CD-ROM Issues: - Increasing the CD-ROM drive reading performance. - Errors reading from the CD-ROM drive. 6. Video display issues: - Problem with DirectX and incompatible video card driver. - Basic display requirement. - Problems when running in 16 bit, 24 bit or 32 bit color mode. 7. Audio issues: - Conflicts with other applications. - Audio driver problems. - IBM Aptiva Mwave sound card. - Sounds play, but not very well. - Sound does not play at all. 8. Manufacturer's contact information for video display cards. 9. Manufacturer's contact information for audio cards. **************************************************************** 1. Problems installing this software: **************************************************************** If you encounter any errors during installation, please try the following: i) From 'System Tools' group, Click the 'Scandisk' icon to start. ii) Follow instructions to examine your hard drive. - If there is a problem in your hard drive, please consult your hard disk management manual before attempting to fix the problem. You may need to back up your data and other system files. - Temporarily disabling other applications. If you have any DOS TSR (Terminate and Stay Resident) applications (e.g. virus shield) or Windows screen saver running in the background, please temporarily disable it. You can enable it again after the installation. If you have other Windows applications running in the background, please close the ones you are not using. - Checking your system hardware. Please check your system hardware and make sure your machine is functioning properly. Any IRQ or DMA device conflict may create system instability, which will prevent software from functioning normally. **************************************************************** 2. Problems running this software: **************************************************************** - General Protection Faults. General Protection Faults may occur when the system is experiencing a conflict with particular software or hardware. A frequent cause of General Protection Faults is the use of incompatible outdated video or audio drivers. Check to make sure you are using the latest video drivers and audio drivers available from your computer, video card or audio card manufacturer. - Out-Of-Memory Errors. If you encounter out-of-memory errors, there is probably not enough memory available to the program. Consider doing the following to improve the memory usage. i) If your computer has only 8MB RAM, It is highly recommended that the system be upgraded to 16MB RAM. The basic memory requirement for this program is 8MB RAM; however, if you have more physical memory inside your system, Windows will be better able to manage memory usage. ii) Run a virus scanner program to determine if your system is infected by computer viruses. Most of the computer viruses consume memory space leaving insufficient memory for other applications. iii) Close all unnecessary applications. iv) Check the virtual memory setting. Try to use the Windows recommended virtual memory size; it may help to solve the out-of-memory problem. Please consult the Windows User's Guide for more information. v) You can also adjust any disk caching size to a minimum. Please read "Adjusting disk caching size for better performance" in Section 6 - Performance Issues below. - Special software that is not supported. This program does not support special software that assigns custom functions to simulate the left, right or center mouse button. These functions should not be used while running the program. - Windows 95 taskbar overlapping the program screen. If you find that the Windows 95 taskbar is overlapping the program screen, you can hide the taskbar by doing the following: i) Click the Start button. ii) Choose Settings. iii) Click Taskbar icon. iv) Check the Auto Hide box. v) Click the OK button. To see the taskbar again, move the mouse cursor to the edge of your screen where your taskbar is located. - Conflicts with Screen Savers. It is recommended that you temporarily disable screen savers of any kind while running this program. Some screen savers may have conflicts with the program and cause General Protection Faults. - Minimizing Microsoft Office Manager. If you have Microsoft Office installed (either the standard or the professional version), you should minimize the Microsoft Office Manager (MOM) toolbar while running this program. The presence of the toolbar can cause colors to be distorted. - Problems with graphic displays. If you see any unusual graphic displays from the program, please use the standard font size or small font size in Windows 95. To change the font size: i) Double-click the 'Display' icon in 'Control Panel'. ii) Click the 'Settings' tab. iii) Click the 'Font size' pull down button to select 'Small Fonts' or 'Standard Fonts'. iv) Click 'OK' to confirm new settings. **************************************************************** 3. Problems using the web page link. **************************************************************** You must have an internet web browser installed before using our web page link. Any web browsers that support standard HTML will be able to view our web page link. **************************************************************** 4. Performance issues: **************************************************************** - The program runs slowly. If you find this program runs slowly, your system may not be optimized for the best performance. Consider doing the following to improve the system performance: i) If your computer has only 8MB RAM, It is highly recommended that the system be upgraded to 16MB RAM. The basic memory requirement for this program is 8MB RAM, however, if you have more physical memory inside your system, Windows will have to rely less on virtual memory. Virtual memory uses part of your hard drive as physical memory for Windows applications, and creates rapid reading and writing to the hard drive, which is the cause of delay. ii) Defragment ("clean up") your hard disk by running a defragmentation program. - Adjusting disk caching size for better performance. You can adjust caching size for your hard drive and CD-ROM drive in 'File System Properties'. In 'Control Panel': i) Double-click 'System' icon. ii) Click 'Performance' tab. iii) Click 'File System' button. click the 'CD-ROM' tab and you can adjust the supplemental cache size. However, if your machine has only 8MB RAM, it is better to have a smaller cache size for your CD-ROM drive, since the system physical memory will be used for caching data from the CD-ROM drive. - Tips for all computers. Some computers may still be using a display driver, audio driver and CD-ROM driver that came with the system. Those drivers are probably the earliest releases, and may not be optimized for the best data transfer and hardware utilization. Please check with the manufacturer for up-to-date device drivers. Using the native Windows 95 32-bit device drivers for your sound card and CD-ROM drive may increase performance on your machine and make programs run smoother. - Choppy movie frames and sound. This program reads most of its movies and sound data from the CD-ROM. If choppy movie or sound still occurs after you have optimized your system, including updating the CD-ROM driver and sound card driver (read the following sections for details), this is due to the nature of your CD-ROM hardware and CD-ROM interface card (including sound card that comes with a CD-ROM interface). Some earlier CD-ROM drives and CD-ROM interface cards may be a bottleneck preventing optimal data transfer, which is something that cannot be fixed by software. **************************************************************** 5. CD-ROM issues: **************************************************************** - Increasing the CD-ROM drive reading performance. Make sure the 'CD-ROM Optimized Access Pattern' in 'File System Properties' is set up properly for the type of CD-ROM drive you have. e.g. if you have a Quad-speed CD-ROM drive, you should have the CD-ROM Optimized Access Pattern set up for Quad-speed or higher. Try to use the native Windows 95 CD-ROM driver for your CD-ROM drive. Using the CD-ROM DOS driver in Windows 95 may result in slower performance. The CD-ROM DOS driver may also impede full 32-bit file system access. The file system performance may vary if it is not in full 32-bit pattern. Make sure that your CD-ROM drive is at least an MPC2-compatible. An MPC2-compatible drive has an average seek time of less than one second and can transfer data from the compact disc at 300k per second while using less than 40% of the CPU bandwidth. Check the documentation that came with your CD-ROM drive to make sure it meets these requirements. Any CD-ROM drive below the requirement will slow down the performance of the program. - Errors reading from the CD-ROM drive. If your system has errors reading from the CD-ROM drive, please do the following checks: i) make sure the disc surface is clean. ii) Look to find out if there are any visible scratches on the surface of the disc. iii) check the documentation that came with your CD-ROM drive or contact the company that supplied the drive in order to find out if your CD-ROM drive is functioning properly. Do not remove the CD-ROM while the program is running. If the program cannot find the data files that it needs from the CD disc, you will see a message that tells you that your computer cannot read from the drive letter of your CD-ROM. If you have an external CD-ROM drive, make sure the drive is connected to your computer, plugged in, and turned on. If you still see the error message after checking the points above, check the documentation that came with your CD-ROM drive or contact the company that supplied the drive. **************************************************************** 6. Video display issues: **************************************************************** - Problem with DirectX and incompatible video card driver. This program does not use DirectX. However, if you have Direct Video and Direct X installed on your system, please make sure that you are using a DirectX compatible video card driver. If your system is using a video card driver which is incompatible with DirectX, you may see unusual video playback and graphics distortion in the program. You may also encounter system freezes or errors loading program during program startup. In such cases, please refer to your video card and DirectX documentation for information on how to correct this problem. - Basic display requirement. The program requires a video card that supports at least 640 x 480 resolution with 256 colors. - Problems when running in 16 bit, 24 bit or 32 bit color mode. If there is a problem with movie playback and graphics--such as skipping frames and palette flashes, consider the following solutions: i) Set the screen resolution back to 640 x 480 with 8 bit color mode (256 colors). Please consult your video card user's manual on how to change your display resolutions. ii) Update the video card driver. Make sure you are using the most recent video driver available for Windows from your video card manufacturer; earlier releases of video drivers may not be optimized for best display performance. Please consult your video card user's manual on how to obtain the latest driver. Most of the video card manufacturers provide BBS, WWW and FTP sites for downloading updated drivers. **************************************************************** 7. Audio issues: **************************************************************** - Conflicts with other applications. Audio problems can have many causes. Other applications that play sounds may interrupt sounds in this program. Most sound cards cannot play sounds from two different applications simultaneously. In some cases, playing sounds from two different applications simultaneously can result in a system crash or freeze. However, a few applications that play sounds, such as some screen savers and desktop toys may remove audio capability from all other Windows applications; if this is the case, you may see this program start up without any sound. If you suspect you have such a situation, quit the program and turn off these applications before launching this program. - Audio driver problems. If you experience problems with audio, you may need to update your sound card driver. It is always a good idea to use the most recent driver. Contact the manufacturer of your sound card to find out how to obtain a new driver. - IBM Aptiva Mwave sound card. If you own an IBM Aptiva Mwave sound card and are experiencing 'looping' or 'repeating' audio playback, please contact IBM to update the sound card driver. - Sounds play, but not very well. Sounds that are distorted or "fuzzy" have several possible causes. The most likely one is simply that your speakers are not of high quality. It is also possible that the software settings on your sound card are causing distortion. For example, if the sound card volume or "WAVE file output" is set to near its maximum, it will produce amplification distortion, just as it would on a stereo system. To find out how to change your sound card settings, check the documentation that came with your sound card. - Sound does not play at all. If you do not hear any sounds, make sure that the volume for your speakers is set to an audible level. If the volume is set to an audible level, you can perform a simple test by using the Windows Media Player to play a .WAV file. If you still hear no sounds at all, something may be wrong with your sound card setup. Check your sound card IRQ and DMA settings, make sure those settings are not in conflict with other hardware devices. Also, check to see that the driver is installed correctly and, if necessary, reinstall it. Refer to the documentation that came with your sound card for more information on installing audio drivers. Please note that this program requires a 16-bit sound card to be installed and is not intended to run with any drivers that simulate the sound card functions, such as the unsupported "PC Speaker" driver. Such drivers will in most cases not play any sounds. If you have both a sound card and the PC Speaker driver installed, it is preferable to un-install the PC Speaker driver. ***************************************************************** 8. Manufacturer's contact information for video display cards: ***************************************************************** ATI Technologies Tech Support: 905-882-2626 BBS: 905-764-9404 Web: www.atitech.ca Boca Tech Support: 407-241-8088 BBS: 407-241-1601 Cardinal Tech Support: 717-293-3124 BBS: 717-293-3074 Celerite Graphics, Inc. Tech Support: 510-226-6390 BBS: 510-226-7851 Cirrus Logic Tech Support: 408-435-8808 BBS: 510-440-9080 Web: www.cirrus.com Diamond Multimedia Tech Support: 408-325-7100 BBS: 408-325-7175 Web: www.diamondmm.com Genoa Tech Support: 408-432-8324 BBS: 408-943-1231 Hercules Technology Tech Support: 510-623-6050 BBS: 510-623-7034 510-623-7449 Matrox Electronics Systems Ltd. Tech Support: 800-462-8769 BBS: 514-685-6008 Microsoft generic SVGA 640 x 480 256 color driver BBS: 206-936-6735 Web: www.microsoft.com Number Nine Computer Corp. Tech Support: 617-674-0009 BBS: 617-862-7502 Oak Technology Tech Support: 408-737-0888 BBS: 408-524-9014 Orchid Tech Support: 510-683-0323 BBS: 510-683-0327 Paradise Tech Support: 800-832-4778 BBS: 415-968-1834 Sigma Designs Tech Support: 510-770-0100 BBS: 510-770-0111 STB Tech Support: 214-234-8750 BBS: 214-437-9615 Web: www.stb.com Swan Technologies, Inc. Tech Support: 800-468-7926 BBS: 814-237-6143 Trident BBS: 415-691-1016 ***************************************************************** 9. Manufacturer's contact information for audio cards: ***************************************************************** Creative Labs (Sound Blaster) Technical Support 1523 Cimarron Plaza, Stillwater, OK 74075. USA. Voice: (405) 742-6622. FAX: (405) 742-6633. BBS: (405) 742-6660. Web: www.creaf.com Turtle Beach Customer Support Voice: (717) 764-5265. FAX: (717) 767-6033. (Attn.: Customer Support) BBS: (717) 767-0238. (9600 Baud+, 8N1). BBS: (717) 767-5934. (2400 Baud, 8N1). CompuServe: 71333,2432 ESS No Consumer Support Line ESS does not manufacture cards, only distributes OEM chips. Users with an audio card using an ESS chip should contact the manufacturer of their card. Roland Corporation US 7200 Dominion Circle Los Angeles, CA 90040-3696 USA. (213) 685-5141. Adlib Gold Tech Support: (418) 529-6252 IBM Customer Support US Customer Support: (800) 772-2227 Canada Customer Support: (800) 465-6666 Web: www.ibm.com The Microsoft Corporation (Windows Sound System) Microsoft FastTips, (800) 936-4200 CompuServe, go Microsoft, or go mask (Microsoft Knowledge Base). Microsoft Download Service: (206) 936-6735 8N1 (905) 507-3022 (Canada) Web: www.microsoft.com FTP: ftp.microsoft.com Technical Voice Support: (206) 635-7040 (905) 568-3503 (Canada) Disney Sound Source Disney Software Attn.: Customer Service 500 South Buena Vista Street Burbank, CA 91521-6385. Voice: (818) 841-3326 BBS: (818) 567-4027 8N1 Media Vision (Pro Audio Studio 16, Win Sound System, Jazz) Customer Support: Voice: (800) 638-2807 (510) 770-9905 BBS: (510) 770-0968 (2400 Baud, 8N1) (510) 770-0527 (9600+ Baud, 8N1) Web: www.mediavis.com Logitech (SoundMan Wave) Product Support: Voice: (510) 795-8100 BBS: (510) 795-0408 FaxBack: (800) 245-0000. Packard Bell (Sound 144) Customer Service: Voice: Hardware (800) 733-4411 Software (801) 579-0161 (800) 263-0099 (Canada) Fax: (801) 579-0092 (905) 564-1142 (Canada) Auto Phone: (800) 733-4411 BBS: (801) 250-1600 8N1 (905) 542-7359 8N1 (Canada) Mediatrix Peripherals, Inc. (AudioTrix Pro) Voice: (819) 829-TRIX (800) 820-TRIX Fax: (819) 829-5100 BBS: (819) 829-5101 © Copyright 1997 Byron Preiss Multimedia Company, Inc. All rights reserved. Digital Bauhaus is a trademark of Byron Preiss Multimedia. Made with Macromedia Director. Macromedia and Director are registered trademarks of Macromedia Corporation. Macintosh, Power Macintosh, and QuickTime are registered trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc.