this!zine issue 1 Trouble Shooting Guide for Windows 3.1 ------------------------------------------------------- (c) Big Hand Asia Pacific Pty Ltd Level 2 26-32 Pyrmont Bridge Road Pyrmont NSW 2009 AUSTRALIA tel: +61 2 566 1388 fax:+61 2 566 1322 email: thiszine@bighand.com.au ------------------------------------------------------- CONTENTS A Minimum Requirements B Installation - Windows 3.1 C General Troubleshooting Q&A D Known Hardware/Software Conflicts ------------------------------------------------------- A MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS You need to have at least the following bits to view this!zine issue 1 on your Windows PC. * a 486DX66 CPU. * Windows 3.1 and MS-DOS 6.2. * a double-speed CD-ROM drive. * an 8-bit sound card. The zine will not run on PCs without a sound card. * an SVGA colour monitor with a video card capable of supporting a resolution of 640x480 with 256 colours. * Apple QuickTime for Windows 2.1. This is included on this CD-ROM. * at least 5Mb of available memory. Given that the Windows takes up a bit of memory whenever your PC is running, this means you need to have all up at least 8Mb. ------------------------------------------------------- B INSTALLATION - WINDOWS 3.1 Follow the instructions below to prepare your computer to run this!zine. This installation procedure will lead you through the process of putting the necessary Apple QuickTime system software components onto your hard drive. These software componenets will enable your PC to playback QuickTime format video & sound. This installation process does not copy any of the this!zine files onto your hard disk. As a result, you will still need the this!zine CD every time you want to view the zine. As a result, you will also not have to put up with 600+Mb of data on your hard disk. Stick the CD into your CD-ROM drive. (Remember, you have to turn the computer on first before you can get the CD-ROM drive tray open. While on the subject, you also need to turn on your machine to view the zine). Start Windows (at the C:\ prompt, type WIN and hit the Enter key). Go to the top left corner of the menu bar. Click on the word File, scroll down and choose Run... At the dialog prompt, type D:\QTINSTAL.EXE (if D is your CD-ROM drive. Otherwise it could be F or G or... just ask somebody else.) and click okay. (Please note that if your CD-ROM drive letter is A, B or C; this!zine will not run.) YouÕll have to get someone knowledgeble to fix this one. The Installer program will start up. Follow the on-screen instructions to install (or upgrade) QuickTime on your PC. Remember, no QuickTime, no this!zine. When the installation is complete, the installer will open up a sample QuickTime movie. If this plays, then QuickTime has been installed properly. Restart Windows. (Please note that if you upgrade Windows, you must re-run the installer as it installs different versions of the QuickTime software depending on which version of Windows you have.) To run the zine, open up Program Manager, select Run... under the File menu and type in the following: D:\THIS_1.EXE (if D is your CD-ROM drive etc....) Please refrain from ejecting the CD when this!zine is running. That is, don't play with that nice button on the front of your CD-ROM drive. The contents of the zine are much much more interesting. Promise. ------------------------------------------------------- C GENERAL TROUBLESHOOTING Here are answers to some common problems. Q: The program runs okay, but I can't hear any sound. A: Have your hearing checked. Otherwise, check any of the following: * is the volume turned up? * have you got earphones (which you are not currently wearing) plugged into the back? * have you got the latest drivers for the sound card? You should be able to get the latest version from the people you bought you sound card from. Q: Why are sounds/movies jerky and unclear? A: Have you got enough memory for Windows? You can try setting a higher virtual memory setting, or buying more RAM. (The minimum RAM required is 5Mb free which means with Window's overhead you need at least 8Mb). You should also make sure that no other applications are running in the background. Especially if you have a lower end machine. Another possibility is that your CD-ROM drivers are not up to date. You should be able to get the latest version from the vendor. Note that your CD-ROM drive should be a double-speed one at least. Q: The sound skips a lot when I'm runniong this!zine. A: Find the Accessories group in Program Manager and double click on the Control Panel icon. Then double click on the Drivers icon. From the list of drivers, select MCI CD Audio and click the button lebelled Settings. Change the length of time to 9 seconds. Q: The graphics/movies are jerky and slow. A: There are 3 possibilities for this problem: * you have a low-end machine and it just can't cope with the huge amounts of video data required. Remember the minimum configuration required for the zine is a 486DX66. * you have a slow video card. There's only one solution for this, buy a faster video card. * you may also have an old video card driver software. Installing the latest version may help. You should be able to get this from the vendor. Q: Why can't I see any of the videos? A: Have you installed QuickTime on your computer? If you've run the installer (as described at the beginning of this document, if you'd bothered to read it) then QuickTime should be installed. If this is so, go to the Control Panel (in the Main group) and open the QuickTime icon. Click on the More button on the bottom to bring up the tabs along the top. Select the tab labelled Video. Go to the list named Draw Method and change the setting from the default Video Driver to Bitmap(BMP) and try running the zine again. Q: I get a General Protection Fault error when I startup the zine. A: A General Protection Fault is usually caused by a conflict between an application and a driver. Most General Protection Faults are caused by a conflict with the video display driver. To fix this you can try installing the latest version of the driver. You should be able to get this from the vendor. You can also try switching to Microsoft's generic SVGA video driver. (See Q: How do I switch to Microsoft's generic SVGA video driver? somewhere below.) Q: When I start up the zine, it tells me it needs 256 colours to run. What does this mean? A: For nice looking graphics, your video card and monitor need to be able to show 256 colours at the same time. Standard VGA only shows 16 colours. You need to check the documentation which came with your video card to see if it supports the SVGA resolution of 640x480 with 256 colours. This is sometimes written as 640x480x256. If it does and you have a colour monitor then simply switch the display mode to 640x480x256.(See Q: How do I switch to Microsoft's generic SVGA video driver? somewhere below.) Q: The zine runs okay but the screen looks small and is centred on my monitor. Why? A: You are probably running your video card at a higher resolution than 640x480. (Probably 800x600 or larger). Simply switch the video display mode to 640x480 with 256 colours. (See Q: How do I switch to Microsoft's generic SVGA video driver? somewhere below.) Q: How do I switch to Microsoft's generic SVGA video driver? A: Open the Main group and double-click on Windows Setup. Go to the Options menu and choose Change System Settings... Look at the line labelled Display and write down the current setting. This is important should you need to reset this setting. Pop up the Display list and choose Super VGA (640x480, 256 Colours). Click okay and let Windows restart. Q: When Windows restarted after I changed the Display setting, the monitor went black and nothing happens. Arghhhhhhhhhhhh! A: Your video card is prabably unable to support the SVGA 640x480 256 colours standard or it is incompatible with Microsoft's generic driver. If the latter is true, contact the video card vendor to get a driver which works or buy a new SVGA video card. You can also try any other available 640x480 256 colours drivers to see if they work. To do this, (or to set the video driver back to what it was so Windows will work again) you need to first go out to DOS. Reboot the machine and stay in DOS. (If your machine starts up Windows as soon as you reboot, then startup with an MS-DOS floppy disk in drive A.) In DOS, change to the Windows directory by typing CD C:\WINDOWS and hit Enter. Then type SETUP and hit Enter again. The Windows setup program should start up. Using the arrow keys, scroll up to the line labelled DISPLAY and hit Enter. You will go to the next screen. Again using the arrow keys, scroll up and down until you find the driver whose name matches the one you scribbled down. Then just keep hitting Enter until you go back to the DOS prompt. Windows should now be back to what it was before. If nothing seem to work, the very basic VGA 640x480, 16 Colours option should work. Q: While trying to switch to Microsoft's generic SVGA video driver, Windows asked me to insert the disk containing the drive. What's up with it now? A: When Windows was first installed on your computer, the generic SVGA driver may not have been installed. So now Windows need to load it from the original floppies. Just follow the instructions and insert the appropriate disks. (You DO have the original disks, don't you...?) Q: When I ran the QuickTime Installer, I got a Disk Space Error even though I have lots of space left on my hard disk. What should I do? A: Run File Manager and search for a directory called "QTTEMP~", delete it and run the installer again. Q: How do I find out what kind of video card I have so I can contact my vendor to get a video card driver update? A: Exit to DOS and type MSD at the prompt. MSD stands for Microsoft Diagnostic Tool. Once the program has started up, choose the Video button and the computer will list the manufacturer and model number of your video card. Q: When I try to start up this!zine, Windows exits immediately to DOS. What's happenning? A: This is a known problem with some PCs equipped with ATI Mach 64 video cards (especially Gateway 2000 PCs.) If you have an AT Mach 64 video card, try the following. Use the Windows Notepad accessory to open the file C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM.INI and look for a section named "MACH" or "MACX". A line somewhere within this section should read DeviceBitmap=OFF. If you can't find the section with "MACH" or "MACX", and you have an ATI card, add a new section at the end of the file with the line DeviceBitmap=OFF Save the file and reboot your machine. If you continue to have problems, contact the technical support line for the video card. They are aware of this problem. When asked, tell them the program causing the conflict is a multimedia application created using Maromedia Director. Q: When using the zine, I crashed out into DOS and got some sort of EM386 error? How do I stop this? A: This is probably again a conflict with an ATI graphics card. According to ATI technical support, there are a few versions of the card each with different fixes. So you should try the follwing combinations and hopefully one of them will work. Use the Windows Notepad accessory to open the file C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM.INI and find a section with "MACH" or "MACX". Try adding either one of the following lines: DeviceBitmap=OFF DeviceBitmaps-OFF Of course, if either of these lines exists already, just make sure they are set to OFF. If the above did not work, you can also try changing certain Control Panel settings (which the person who supply me with this data could not remember). Call ATI's technical support who chould be able to help. You can also find a list of the latest drivers for various video card models at http://www.atitech.ca Q: I can't get this!zine to run under the Windows emulator in OS/2 Warp? A: this!zine is not compatible with OS/2 Warp. So there. Q: this!zine appeared to start up okay but as I started to move through the zine, graphics started to overwrite each other. What can I do? A: This is a known problem between Windows for Workgroups and Cirrus Logic video cards. Here're a couple of things you can try. 1. Open the Main group in Program Manager. Find an icon whcih looks like a 386 chip and double click it. This will run the program called Enhanced. Click on the button labelled Virtual Memory, and then click on the button labelled Change. The bottom of the dialog will now show the settings chosen for your system. Ensure that both the 32-bit file access and 32-bit disk access boxes are unchecked. (Windows 3.1 users will only see one of the two check boxes). Click okay, agree to change the Virtual Memory settings and restart Windows. 2. If the above did not work, use the Windows Notepad accessory to open C:\CONFIG.SYS and look for a line which refers to IFSHLP.SYS Type the word REM followed by one space at the beginning of the line. So now it should look like this: REM IFSHLP.SYS Save the file, exit out of Windows and restart your PC. Q: When openning the zine, I keep getting an Error: DCIMAN.DLL. How can I prevent this? A: This signals an outdated video card driver. Try swithcing to the Windows generic SVGA driver or contact your video card vendor to obtain the latest copy of the drivers. See elsewhere in this Q&A to find out how to do either of these things. Q: Why is the Macintosh Read Me file much smaller than the Windows version? A: Because Mac systems tend to be more consistent in behaviour across the board and therefore have significantly less conflicts. So there again. ------------------------------------------------------- D KNOWN HARDWARE/SOFTWARE CONFLICTS The following information has been compiled from various sources, including notes from Tech Support calls and memos from other users of Macromedia products. The drivers and hardware items listed below is not a complete list. Rather, the list is continually being revised as conflicting drivers are either discovered or dealt with. With each new version distributed, new information will be added or removed. VIDEO DRIVERS -- Cirrus Logic Video Drivers (CL-GD5422/5424) -- ATI MACH 64 Video Drivers PRINTER DRIVERS -- HP Deskjet 5 -- Bitfax FAX driver -- Adobe Acrobat 2.0 -- Texas Instruments PS17 OTHER DRIVERS -- F-Prot Professional (disable this item in config.sys) -- OLE Version 2.02 (upgrade to OLE 2.03) VIDEO CARDS -- Compaq Presario 720 on-board video -- ATI Graphics Ultra Pro Card -- Some Diamond Stealth video cards -------------------------------------------------------