MaximumPC 2004 03

Ask the Doctor Symptom Diagnosis Cure

HOSTS HOSED ME

CAN’T GET MY GAMES

OFF THE GROUND

I just built a PC using an Asus

P4C800 mobo, 512MB of RAM,

a Western Digital 80GB hard

drive, an ATI Radeon 9600, and

Windows XP. Whenever I start

to play a game, I get about two

minutes into the game and it

kicks me out to my desktop.

I start the game again, and it

happens again! Do you have any

idea what’s wrong?

—SAUL

Sometimes the Doctor feels like

he’s repeating himself. This kind

of “games work for a while, then

they crash/my machine reboots/the

elves in my computer go on strike”

problem is the most common com-

plaint the doctor receives. Almost

all these crashes, like the one Steve

describes, are caused by one of

three things: a heat issue inside the

case, a power supply that doesn’t

provide enough juice, or a user who

hasn’t installed his motherboard’s

chipset drivers.

The 9200 isn’t as power inten-

sive as some cards, and power

supply issues usually result in the

machine actually restarting rather

than just crashing an application,

so we’ll scratch the power supply

off the list. If you’ve installed the

latest chipset drivers from Shuttle’s

web site, we can safely assume

that your machine is overheating.

To verify a possible overheating

issue, run the machine sans case

door while playing a game. If your

game plays OK without the case

door on, you need to improve your

case’s airflow. Make sure you are

sucking air into the case at the bot-

tom and blowing it out the top, and

that there are no stagnant areas

around your videocard, CPU, and

RAM.

If that doesn’t work, try remov-

ing the CPU heatsink and fan, and

then use rubbing alcohol and a

paper towel to clean off any resid-

ual thermal compound from both

the CPU and the heatsink. Finally,

reapply new thermal compound

and reattach the CPU heatsink. If

that doesn’t work, you should try

upgrading to a bigger CPU heatsink

and adding another fan at the top

or rear of the case to help move

more air.

LEGACY APP WOES

I have used a database program

for years, but it won’t work

with Windows XP. It originally

was a DOS program, and there

is an updated version that

works with Windows 98. I have

tried to use the emulator in XP,

but the app just won’t run.

How can I get a Windows 98-

compatible program to work

with Windows XP?

—RICHARD FERN

Like Kenny Rogers sings, you gotta

know when to hold ‘em, and know

when to fold ‘em.... The Doctor

knows it’s difficult to bid adieu

to an application that’s served you

well for years, but Richard, it’s time.

The sad fact is, some applica-

tions work with the Windows

XP compatibility tools, and some

don’t. We recommend you find a

way to export your data from your

old database app into a more com-

monly recognized format. Almost

every application lets you import

from comma- or tab-separated text

files, so you should dump your old

database into a .CSV (comma sepa-

rated value) file from a Windows

98 machine, then import it into your

new database app.

MY TOWER THINKS IT’S

A DESKTOP

I built a mid-tower PC with

an A7N8X Deluxe, 1GB of

DDR PC2700, and an Athlon

2500+ Barton. I’m cooling the

Athlon with a Xaser Volcano

fan. It worked like a champ

for several weeks, then I left it

running while I was away one

afternoon and returned to find

it with a blank screen and an

audio message saying, “System

failed CPU test.” Power on/off

produced the same results:

no display on screen and the

repeated audio warning.

Following the instructions

I read on a support site, I set

the case on its side and tried

 MAXIMUMPC MARCH 2004

My rig was working fine, but lately I’ve had a

problem with Internet Explorer. I open it, but

can’t access any web sites. I look at the status

bar to make sure it’s trying to load a page, but

instead it says “Connecting to site 127.0.0.1”

and never loads anything. Am I going to have

to wipe my rig and start from scratch to fix

this problem?

—SGT. JAMES HOLLIDAY

The type of problem

you’re describing is

usually caused by either

a network failure or a

misconfiguration of a

special file called the

“hosts” file, or occasion-

ally the “lmhosts” file.

The hosts file can be

used for basic network

configuration, but most

users have a single entry

in it configuring their

machines to use the

local host IP address

of 127.0.0.1.

The Doctor’s

best guess is that

you’ve inadvertently

misconfigured your hosts file. Because typing any

URL into your browser directs you to 127.0.0.1, we

bet your hosts file is making your PC think that

every URL on the Internet is 127.0.0.1. In Notepad ,

open the hosts file (it’s usually in C:/Windows

someplace, but you may have to search for it) and

remove all the entries except for the “127.0.0.1

localhost” entry. Do the same thing for the lmhosts

file, if your machine has one, and then reboot your

PC. That should fix it.

The hosts file overrides any other domain name

information, regardless of its source. If you’ve misconfigured

the file, you’ll have a hard time connecting to the net.