This! Zine 1/THISZINE1.iso/pc/winread.txt

Text File | 1996-04-10 | 15KB | 403 lines

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: [phone]
fax:[phone]
email: [e-mail]

-------------------------------------------------------


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.) You╒ll 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

-------------------------------------------------------