however, speed ultimately depends
on the spindle speed of the drive
and the size and type of disk cache.
Your motherboard’s BIOS
should have a setting to control the
boot order between the parallel
and Serial controllers. Check your
mobo’s documentation for the full
scoop on your particular board.HTML DESKTOP SNAG
I HTMLified my Desktop using
the instructions in the July
2003 How To, but I’ve hit a
snag. I couldn’t figure out how
to make the HTML links that Isaved on my Desktop directly
open programs. Can you please
tell me how to do it, if it’s even
possible?
—ZACHARY GLAZERWell, Zachary, you’ve hit the same
snag we did when working on the
How To. Try as we might, we
couldn’t get a program to actually
run from a link on our Desktop. If we
pointed the link to an executable,
we got just the download prompt. If
any readers have suggestions, shoot
an e-mail to doctor@maximumpc.
com with the deets.MYSTERIOUS DURON
MEMORY
I have a main board with a
Duron processor marked “tmf
m21 94v-o.” That’s the only
identifier on the board aside
from a logo (triangular with
circles inside). It has a 128MB
memory chip in it, and I’d like
to upgrade to another 128MB.
I don’t have the manual, nor
can I find the manufacturer on
the web. I wonder if you might
have any idea who the maker
is, where I can find the manual,
or how I can identify the type
of memory I have so I can buy
another stick.
—SEAN TYSONYou haven’t given the Doctor much
to go on. “TMF M21 94V-0” seems
reminiscent of an old 486 mother-
board, but that’s impossible if you
have an AMD Duron processor.
So, given the dearth of informa-
tion, the Doctor suggests that you
examine the memory. There are
two possibilities: either you have
PC100/PC133 SDRAM or DDR200/
DDR266 RAM. Pull the module out
of the slot and look at the edge that
plugs into the motherboard. If it has
two physical cuts (keys) in it, it’s
SDRAM. If it has only one cut, it’s
DDR. The Doc recommends buy-
ing another 128MB or 256MB stick
of RAM. Don’t get greedy and buy
a 512MB piece of RAM, because
there’s a chance your old mother-
board may not support it.When you’re down, and troubled, and you need a helping
hand, and nothing, whoa nothing is going right with your
PC, fire off an e-mail to the Doc. He’ll come a-run-
ning to fix that PC problem right up. The address is
[email protected]. Unfortunately, due to the
volume of e-mail he receives, he can’t respond to everyone.
Make sure to include your full name and phone number!AUDIO AGGRAVATION
My PC’s audio suddenly began to sound
horribly distorted, but only in certain
circumstances. For example, the audio
in the introductory screens of games
sounds like it’s coming out of a garbage
disposal, but the audio for the game
itself is fine. I can play back DVDs
without any problem, but downloaded
trailers are unlistenable. I didn’t install
anything new. I don’t think I’ve installed
anything at all for a while. I’m using
Windows XP.
My soundcard is a Creative Labs
Audigy (the original, not the Audigy
2). I’ve tried adjusting the levels in my
mixer, but the result is always the same.
The volume lowers, but the distortion
remains exactly the same. I’m going
crazy trying to figure out what’s wrong!
—HIRO KIKOSHIMABecause DVD audio is fine and game audio
doesn’t come off sounding like Einstürzende
Neubaten, the problem isn’t with your hard-
ware. With that possibility eliminated, we
look to the fact that compressed video (such
as introductory game video) and downloaded
movies don’t sound right. It sounds like you
have a bad audio codec.
A codec (short for encoder/decoder)
compresses audio and/or video so it will fit
in a smaller space. Windows Media Video 9
is an example of a video codec, while MP3 is
an example of an audio codec. These codecs
can often be mixed and matched; so a videomight use the popular
maverick Xvid codec in
combination with the
MP3 codec for audio
and an AC3 filter for
Surround Sound. If one
or more of these codecs
becomes corrupted,
you’ll get poor sound,
poor video, or no sound
or video at all.
Here’s how to root
out the offender in
Windows XP. Right-click
My Computer, select
Properties, click the
Hardware tab, and then
click Device Manager.
Within Device Manager,
click the plus sign next
to “Sound, video, and
game controllers,”
double-click “Audio
Codecs,” and select the
Properties tab. You’ll
see all the codecs
installed in your system.
Starting from the top, double-click each
codec, and you’ll get a dialog box that allows
you to disable the codec. Disable it, and test
your sound with a file you know to trigger
distortion. If that doesn’t solve the problem,
re-enable the codec, and target the next one
in line. Keep going until you’ve pinpointed
the culpable codec. Once you’ve disabled the
bad codec, write down its name, and then
try your test file again. Your sound may workfine. If your media player, however, says it
can’t find the right codec, enter the codec
name in Google and find another source for a
new or updated version of the same codec.
In the future, be especially wary of codec
“packs” offered on the web and USENET that
promise to install current versions of all the
codecs you need for media playback. The
included codecs may be buggy, or worse yet,
may even contain malicious code.Device Manager allows you to prioritize, selectively dis-
able, or adjust the settings for each of the audio codecs
on your system.continued on next page78 MAXIMUMPC DECEMBER 2003