 Heavy Sleeper |
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If you've ever tried waking your desktop PC (with Windows 98) from standby mode, only find that the entire system has frozen on you, you're not alone. Chances are you'll also get a dialog box saying the system has stopped responding, and asking whether you'd like to disable the standby feature in the future, none of which you can respond to due to your comatose PC.
This common problem has several possible causes but, basically, one or more components of your PC -- some software, a hardware driver, or even the BIOS -- isn't functioning in perfect harmony with your PC's power management scheme. Hard to believe, eh? When it comes time for your PC to wake, one of these components is down for the count. Most systems use one of two possible power management standards, the older Advanced Power Management or the more recent Advanced Configuration and Power Interface. Most newer systems use the latter. (Ignore the Advanced Power Management title in the warning dialog; it's not an accurate reflection of which standard a system uses.) As in the early days of Plug and Play, lots of systems have slightly imperfect implementations of ACPI, resulting in conflicts. To resolve these conflicts, your best first step is to upgrade your system's BIOS to its latest version. Check with your PC's vendor for instructions on how to do this. And the same goes for most of the device drivers used by Windows -- make sure you have the latest versions. Of course, locating all these could take days, depending on how many devices you have. For help figuring out which component may be causing the conflict, run the Windows 98 Power Management Troubleshooter utility, pmtshoot.exe. You'll find it on the Windows 98 CD-ROM in the tools/mtsutil/pmtshoot folder. Dial E for Enough Already Do you have trouble connecting to your ISP via Dial-Up Networking? Because phone lines were designed for voice communications, line quality inadequate for data may be causing busy signals or otherwise preventing you from connecting. Instead of constantly clicking the Connect button, let your computer do the redialing. Open My Computer, then Dial Up Networking. Select Connections-Settings. Check the Redial box, and your PC will automatically redial if it encounters a busy signal or fails to connect. Bugs & Fixes ^<this should be a one-column full-page-height sidebox in the right most column on the right hand page of the double page spread on p124-125. Similar in style to in briefs column on the news pages> |
Category:Hardware + Bugs and Fixes Issue: January 2000 |
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