InBox

By DON McALLISTER

Welcome to InBox, where we attempt to answer your internet questions.

Q. Garrick's display problem mentioned last week turned out to be a little more serious than driver corruptions. The video card failed because a worn fan was vibrating and running at reduced speed. The resulting heat build-up damaged the card.

A. It is quite common for a buzzing or whistling noise to be a warning of impending fan failure, Garrick. Without those fans, overheating can damage other components. An annual clean-out using a high pressure compressor blow gun can keep fan-damaging dust to a minimum - you'll be amazed how much dust is dislodged.

The components to target are the power supply (leaving the power unit sealed); the main microprocessor fan and the microprocessor fins; the video card cooling fins and the case crevices or surfaces.

* * *

Q. Ian recently cleaned out unused files and components in the hidden recesses of his hard drive. Windows 98 now refuses to run.

A. It's pretty obvious what you did, Ian, so we won't lecture you on deletion of items you don't understand. Turn on the machine and press F8 when it says "Starting Windows 98". Select "Windows safe mode" from the menu and then pray for Windows to start in safe mode. If it does go to Start/Run, type in sfc.exe, then hit Enter. Use the system file checker tool to find and replace the missing components. You'll need the Windows setup CD in the drive during this process. Once done, restart into Windows.

* * *

Q. Jeremy has a picture conversion problem: "I recently received some photos from the UK in a max file/extension format. I was able to download some software from the net that converts them to Paper Port Viewer so I can open them. How do I convert them to jpg files so others can also view them?"

A. Open the file in Paper Port Viewer, Jeremy, and then use a screen capture program to save the picture as a .jpg. MWSnap works well and you can download it free.


* Email us your question about computers