Ask Rosie

By Sandra Rosenzweig
     
      Disappearing DVD drives, recalcitrant Recycle Bins, and much more
      Every time one of my computers breaks, I learn something. Because I try never to make the same mistake twice (somehow that sounds like nonsense, but most of us still say it), each glitch is a new problem. Every time your computer breaks, Ialso stand to learn something, if I hear about it. I've learned a great deal about computers over the past few months researching your questions, and now you'll reap the benefits.
     
      Someone save me from my computer! I installed a previous version of some image-editing software and, toward the end of the process, the installer told me it couldn't find the computer's multimedia audio controller. But, nobly, it finished the installation. When I restarted my computer, my CD burner didn't work. It wouldn't even open to spit out the installation disk of the program I just installed. I'm dependent on my CD drive. What should I do?
      When this happened to me (different cause, same result), I Googled "multimedia audio controller" and discovered that this is a pretty common problem and that no one has found the single perfect cure for it?we're talking computers here, after all. No guarantees, but try this: First, uninstall the program whose installer ate your multimedia audio controller (MAC, for our purposes). Restart. If that alone doesn't solve the problem, go into Start, Control Panel, System, Device Manager, DVD/CD-ROM Drives, and see if your CD burner is listed and if there is a yellow exclamation point or question mark to the left of it. If not, you're lucky. Exit the Control Panel and go back to work. Whether the MAC has a yellow punctuation mark or not, if your CD drive works, don't touch anything else. If it doesn't work (sigh), go back to your Device Manager, and find your MAC. If it wears its yellow punctuation loudly and proudly, right-click on its icon and then click on Properties. The odds are the dialog box will tell you that there are no drivers installed for this device. If you happen to know the manufacturer of your internal or external sound board, go to the manufacturer's site and download the correct driver. If that doesn't help, or if you can't figure out the name of the manufacturer, go to winguides.com and hunt for some generic MAC drivers, and hope against hope that one works. Or, go to the driver-request forum on computing.net (www.computing.net/drivers/wwwboard/wwwboard. html) and ask if anyone has the driver you need. Or, if you have the money, save yourself a bunch of tsuris and buy a new external sound card. What brand? For my own use, I bought a Creative Sound Blaster Live! box ($129, and about the size of half a sandwich) and installed the drivers, then plugged it into a spare USB port. Problem solved.
     
      It takes forever to delete a file. I don't think it used to be so slow. Is there a fix out there?
      There's a fix right inside your computer. Empty your Recycle Bin. Right-click on it and choose empty. Did the trick, didn't it?
     
      My Dell Axim X50v Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PC stopped synchronizing with my desktop computer. Everything whirs and then just sits there until it gives up and says Microsoft ActiveSync can't connect. You know how to fix it, don't you?
      Is that a challenge or an expression of confidence? Yes, I know how to fix it. First, make sure you have administrative rights on your desktop computer. If not, ask your IT person (who presumably does have administrative rights) to do this for you. Go to Start, Administrative Tools, then Services. Scroll down to DHCP client and see if it has been started. If not, start it. If so, stop it, then start it again. That should permit you to sync this time, but you may find you have to start, or stop and start, your DHCP service every time you put your Axim into its cradle.
     

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