FAQ

Welcome to the frequently asked questions section of this site. Below are listed some commonly asked questions and their answers. We will continually update and improve this section so as time goes on it will become increasingly helpful to the user. If you have a question that you have had answered and you think it may help others if it were on this page please e-mail it to faq@ajp.co.uk. You will not receive a direct response but your question and answer may appear on this page.
Q: A:	Why isn't the Backslash Key working? To resolve this, the latest BIOS needs to be applied. Please go to the BIOS upgrade section to find the latest BIOS for your model.
Q: A:	My Battery does not seem to last very long, why is this? The discharge / recharge procedure needs to be carried out to recondition your battery. Please refer to your manual.
Q: A:	Why has my CD ROM stopped being recognised within Windows? You must ensure that the CD ROM is properly seated into the CD ROM bay.
Q: A:	When I boot up my machine I get this error message CMOS checksum invalid, what should I do? Go into the SCU (BIOS) and save and exit. If still getting this error message then it is quite likely that the CMOS battery is in need of a change.
Q: lllll A:	Why does the Defrag / Scan of the hard disk, never seems to complete or seems to take a long time to complete? Ensure that background applications are not interfering with the process. Press CTRL+ALT+DEL to disable unnecessary background apps and disable the Quick Launch bar.
Q: A:	My floppy disk drive has stopped functioning, what should I do? If any Anti-Virus program had been installed, remove the program. Test the FDD within DOS-mode environment to see if it is just a Windows FDD controller driver error.
Q: A:	Why is there an Invalid partition table error message? The Hard Disk needs to be partitioned before it can be used. The fdisk utility (on a boot disk) should be used to do this operation.
Q: A:	Why has my hard disk drive stopped being recognised within Windows? Switch off your machine and re-seat the hard drive into its bay. Then reset the BIOS to the default settings and use the fdisk (on a boot disk) to check that the HDD can be seen there.
Q: lllll A:	Why is there a Himem.sys error when I select the restart option in the shutdown menu? This error message occurs when Norton's Anti Virus has been installed. It is recommended that you uninstall or disable the program and test again.
Q: A:	My machine has frozen and I am unable to use the power button to turn the machine off, what should I do? Keep your finger pressed down on the power button for a period of 5 - 10 seconds.
Q: lllll A:	Why is my machine freezing or crashing when I try to start it up from the suspend mode operation? There may be a clash with the Texas Instruments 1394 firewire device drivers. Try disabling it through the device manager
Q: A:	Why isn't the battery being detected by the operating system? If the battery is not an Intelligent or SMART battery it will not be detected by the operating system. An audible warning beep when the battery is about to expire will be heard.
Q: A:	Why does the machine keep starting up in safe mode? (Windows 98) There may be problems due to drivers or any start up programmes. Remove any peripheral devices and start up in safe mode. You can uninstall the last program prior to this problem, go to Start and select Run. Go through the MSCONFIG utility. Or when you re-start your system in safe mode, hold down the control key after the beep. This will bring up a start up menu, select the step by step confirmation There are also troubleshooting tips found in Windows 98. Click on the Start button, select help and look at the troubleshooting section as well as the 'How to' section.
Q: A:	Why is my computers desktop area showing the wrong resolution? Check the display settings. Reset to the correct resolution. Reinstall the video display adapter.
Q: A:	I have Windows NT installed, why won't it recognise the PCMCIA card? Ensure that the PCMCIA card is not 32 bit (cardbus) as NT does not natively support it. Also ensure that the PCMCIA service under control panel/devices is started on boot. Be aware that on installation the PCMCIA slots should be empty otherwise NT may not even pick up the PCMCIA slots.
Q: A:	Why does Windows NT only see 4GB of hard disk space? When Windows NT is installed using set up diskettes the maximum is 4GB. You can check in the BIOS to ensure that the hard disk size is correct. If the size is correct then the partition needs to be re-partitioned to address the whole drive as one disk.
Q: A:	The size of the HDD seems lower than stated, why is this? There is a partition already on the disk (Non-DOS) which supports the suspend to disk feature on the notebooks which can not be seen by Windows. And the formatting of the drive will also use some of the available disk space.
Q: A:	Is my machine Y2K compliant? All models are year 2000 compliant. However the 5400 series will need a BIOS flash to the lastest BIOS version before being Y2K compliant. (Make sure you are aware of which version 5400 you have as there are two versions, the PnP or non-PnP)
Q: A:	What should I do if I want to use my TV out port? Set BIOS to PAL and lower resolution to 640 x 480. Use keyboard toggle to re-direct to external source.