Q. I have a problem which has been vexing me for the past four months. I have a 2001 Dell computer with an Nvidia video card. When I try to log back on to my computer (I never switch it off), there is nothing coming back to the screen. It is totally black. I tried disconnecting the monitor and then back but no success. I have tried connecting a different monitor and nothing. The only thing I can do is do a hard reboot (power down and back up). I checked the power setting and it is set to power down the monitor and not go into hibernate mode.
Ram Sundar @gmail.com
A. Count yourself among the ever-diminishing masses of folks whose computers get poleaxed by problems with the so-called keyboard interrupt. The problem surfaces for some folks when using the Environmental Protection Agency’s well-meaning Energy Star conservation procedures. The problems you experience on that older machine have been reduced a lot since it was made.
As I’ve had it explained to me, the situation arises because computers are set so that input devices like mice and keyboards are supposed to contact the main processor every few split seconds to see if any keys have been pushed or mice moved.
Likewise, power savers are supposed to contact (or poll) the main processor to see if any keys or mice have been moved to order the monitor to resume. So the power saver is polling the main chip at the same time the power saver is polling.
In too many cases these two polling moves get crosswired, leaving you with the only recourse of pushing down the shut-off button, holding it for a few seconds and then rebooting.
The best fix, I’m sorry to say, is to just disable to Energy Star module and leave the monitor on all the time just as you leave the computer on around the clock. You can always shut off the monitor using its power button at the end of the workday.
To do this, you’ve got to change the settings by right-clicking with the mouse cursor on the desktop and selecting Properties. In the next display open the Screen Saver tab. In that tab select the Energy Star Power button and set all of those shutdown settings to Never.
If you are using a screen saver, you may need to shut it off as well, although screen savers mostly are immune to the interrupt issues that can affect the Power shutdown tools. Just click in the box for Screen Savers in the same menu and scroll down to the None setting if needed.
Q. After my desktop appears on my computer screen, the Found New Hardware Wizard window comes up. The wizard says that it helps you install software for the following: “ehhulbiz, install driver table manager and windows user mode driver framework.” When I click the cancel button, a “thought bubble” attached to my task bar appears and tells me that there was an error installing the hardware (software) and another “thought bubble” tells me that “Updates are ready to download from Java Update. Click here to review these items and begin downloading.” I have no idea what any of this is. Help!
Tim Moskal @adelphia.net
A. Mystery ailments are terrible for patients but often engrossing to doctors, and you’ve got something of a mysterious issue here, Mr. M. These error messages are telling you that something being triggered when the computer starts up thinks it needs to install some kind of software to control either some non-existent hardware or some aspect of Windows that uses the same kind of driver software that hardware does. The only hint you get about what’s wrong is that reference to the Java Runtime Environment, which gets mostly used for things that happen while using a Web browser.
Java, created at Sun Microsystems, refers to a series of software tools called Java scripts that work just as other programming languages do but that are not part of the Microsoft universe. Most Java stuff works through Web browsers to run small “applets” to do various chores like run animations or display special formats. But there also are standalone applications written in Java that can be run at start up just like other software.
For these foreign (to Windows) Java programs to work, computer users must have loaded special Java software that gets tucked away under the Control Panel in Windows XP. That error message indicates that this phantom driver problem is caused by problems with Java.
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So you have two choices–go to the Java Web site and download and install the latest version of Java Runtime Environment or remove Java from the computer. The second choice is not a good one because you probably will have trouble with some of the Web sites you visit afterward.
Point your browser to Java.com, where you will find a link to download the latest version of the Java runtime. Do that and let’s hope the upgrade will actually fix things as that error message indicates it will.
If not then try removing Java altogether by clicking on Start and then Control Panel and then Add and Remove Programs. There you can scroll down to the Java item and click on the Remove button.
I’m guessing that even if you have to take this extreme step for a fix you will be able to get things fixed by going back to the Java site and reinstalling the runtime program.
Q. This is perhaps an AOL question, once again, but they can’t help me. The drop-down screen under the mailbox used to show what was in the mailbox–but now it’s blank. I may have hit a wrong key, but all the AOL tech people give me fixes that don’t fix it. Can you help? Thank you so much if you even attempt it!
Sybil [email protected]
A. This Quickview feature in the America Online service’s proprietary software triggers drop-down views of things like calendar appointments, address book entries and, of course, waiting e-mail messages. It is supposed to kick in when a user moves the cursor arrow over the icon in question but without clicking.
Your computer’s version of AOL either has changed to disable the settings that cover Quickview or has become corrupted. Either way, here is the drill for doing a fix. It’s kind of strange the way this fix is implemented because you need to use a command that is hidden from users. The command is to hold down the Control key and D at the same time at a special spot. That’s why you were confused over the “wrong key” business.
So click on Help in the main AOL software display and scroll down the list of items to the one called About AOL. This brings up a box showing the current revision number of your AOL software. With this box open, do the Control + D sequence and you’ll get a pop-up that includes Enable and Disable buttons for a number of memory-consuming bells and whistles, including Enable/Disable Quickview. Also available to switch on or off are Desktop Themes and Wallpaper for Instant Message windows and the SuperBuddies service.
Sometimes these unnecessary features get switched off to make the program run better in computers with lower RAM (random access memory), especially ones below 512 megabytes.
If you change the setting and reboot the computer, the Quickview feature will be available. If this makes the computer run slower than you want, you can always backtrack and disable Quickview.
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