Windows Prints A Blank Page on Boot
Don, Vernon, BC

Q: Sony Vaio XP media Center Version 2000 service pack 2 w/ Hp 9650 deskjet printer via LPT1. Problem: when I boot up printer always prints a blank sheet. How can I stop this from occuring?

Sounds like Windows is sending something to the printer port. This can happen if you have a driver for another LPT device, like a tape backup, installed. Check the Microsoft tech note.

One way to verify this situation is to see if the same thing happens in Safe Mode.

Microsoft Tech note:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q157145/

Firefox and Background Music
Ruth, Santa Paula, CA

Q: I switched to Firefox at Leo’s suggestion. I like it, but I’ve noticed a small problem. I have music on one of my web pages. It doesn’t play in firefox but it does in IE.

You’ve likely used a non-standard method of playing background music. There are many web features that are only supported by Internet Explorer. It’s best to avoid these, however, since they only work in Explorer and more and more people are using other browsers. It’s best to adhere to web standards.

The currently approved standard method for embedding media files on web pages is to use the <object> tag. This is considerably more complicated than using the old embed tag, but it’s much more reliable for all browsers.

Object tag sample:
http://www.nunzioweb.com/streaming_audio-example.htm

Hibernation in Windows XP
Chris, Vancouver, BC

Q: I recently reformatted one of my machines and reinstalled Win XP. when I tried to set up hibernation (Display properties - Screensaver - Power - Hibernate) I a told the file is in use and I cannot enable hibernation. Frankly I’ve always had trouble getting hibernation to work - sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t - but this is newly formatted, so I thought I wouldn’t have any problems setting this up. Am I missing something?

First some definitions. Hibernation, Sleep, Standby, and Suspend are all descriptions of Windows low power modes. Microsoft’s Advanced Configuration and Power Interface, ACPI, defines five different power states: a completely shutdown PC, hibernation, three levels of Standby, and a fully active PC.

Hibernation is just short of a complete shutdown. It uses about 2.3 watts of power in hibernate mode - that’s almost identical to a PC that’s turned off. When a PC goes into hibernation, Windows saves the contents of memory to the hard drive then shutsdown. When you turn your machine back on, Windows reloads memory, instead of booting from scratch, and picks up where you left off.

Since Windows is saving RAM it needs access to the hard drive. If there are compatibility issues hibernation won’t work. If the hard drive has insufficient space for the RAM it won’t work. If the hibernate file has been used but not preserved.

Make sure hibernation is enables by taking the following steps:

1.Open Power Options in Control Panel.
2.Click the Hibernate tab, and then select the Enable hibernate support check box.
If the Hibernate tab is not available, your computer does not support this feature.
3.Click OK to close the Power Options dialog box.
4.Click Start, and then click Shut Down. In the What do you want the computer to do drop-down list, click Hibernate.

Make sure you have the latest drivers for your chipset. Make sure you don’t have any ACPI incompatible hardware or drivers. (Microsoft has a tool that will detect incompatible drivers at ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/products/Oemtest/v1.1/WOSTest/Tools/Acpi/dumppo.exe)

Try deleting the hibernation file: Hiberfil.sys (you may have to disable hibernation first).

Related Links:
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/Windows/XP/all/reskit/en-us/Default.asp?url=/resources/documentation/Windows/XP/all/reskit/en-us/prmc_str_vzeb.asp
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_standby.htm
http://www.pcworld.com/howto/article/0,aid,103781,pg,2,00.asp