Computer Related FAQ Answers

1. Updates are found at http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com.
   IMPORTANT NOTE: You MUST use Windows Internet Explorer to gather your updates. You CANNOT use any other Browser (Netscape, Firefox, Opera, etc.).
2. When the page above appears, click on the Custom button. Your computer will be scanned for what updates are not installed.
3. In the left column, select (click) all items under Optional Software.
4. Click Install to start the installation.
5. Once the updates are installed, if you see a message to restart the computer, you must do this before continuing.
6. Repeat these steps again until you see 0 items to be installed.
7. If you had problems installing your MTU software, try again and it should now work.

When a problem happens that is not how a program is supposed to work, it is most likely NOT the fault of the program. Programs are digital bits that are loaded into a computers memory to run. The same bit pattern always loads each time that program runs. The same operation will happen each time, identical to how it has run before. If this is not the case, then your computer is preventing the program from operating normally. When this happens... and eventually it will... your computer is failing, not the MTU software.

Computer problems must be diagnosed to discover the cause. This is a process of using knowledge of what may have caused the problem before, and what action(s) corrected itt. If the problem has never been reported before, then it will take longer to try to diagnose what is wrong.

MTU has diagnosed thousands of problems before and often we know what must be done to correct many of them. A problem may be caused by a bug in the software, but this is unlikely due to the extensive testing we do before we release a new product or version.

When MTU staff or other users in the MTU.Community Forums diagnose your computer to be the cause, that is where to look to fix the problem. It is NOT MTU's responsibility to fix your computer for free, unless you bought it from MTU and it is still under the 30 day warranty.

Understand this point: It is NEVER a software company's responsibility to fix your broken computer. If you think it is, you will create a conflict with the very people who can best help you or someone else to fix it. DO NOT insult, or demand that MTU staff or other users in our Forum fix your computer. It is your responsibility to do this, or pay someone else who is technically skilled. If you have a friend or relative who is willing to help you for free, YOU OWE THEM RESPECT, not pressure or insults.

Our instructions of what to do MUST be carried out accurately by a skilled technician. That may or may not be you. If you are not able to understand and follow our instructions, you must take your computer to someone else who can fix it.

Below are some tried and true things we know can fix various computer problems. When it is not clear what is causing a problem, there may be a combination of things that must be fixed. The order of what to try below is from the easiest, to erasing the computer hard drive and starting from scratch.

1. Turn your computer OFF, and after 10 seconds turn it back ON. Many problems will simply disappear if you do this. If this works, it can indicate that your computer memory OR your hard drive is starting to fail. A skilled technician can test for these problems.
2. Update Your Windows XP or 2000! This most often solves many hard to diagnose problems. Do this before you even ask for help from anyone else. Click your Windows START button, and select the Windows Updates option in the menu. You MUST be on-line to the Internet to do this!
3. Update all Software/Hardware Drivers. Examples include the; Motherboard drivers, Hard Drive controller, Video graphics card, any Audio card or USB device you may be using, firmware in your Hard Disc drive(s), etc.
4. Make sure you do not have a Trojan Horse or Virus running on your computer. There are various software tools you can use to check for and remove these. At MTU, we recommend Zonelabs' ZoneAlarm. It should be on your computer as soon as you connect to the Internet, or as soon as possible after you connect.
5. Reinstall Windows! To do this, you must first reformat your hard drive. To do this..... Next, get your Windows CDROM disc and insert it in your computer's CDROM drive and turn the computer on. It will discover there is no operating system installed (after reformatting removes everything), and look to the CDROM for what to do. Follow the directions to install Windows.
6. More to come...

The Windows Autorun is always enabled for a drive until you disable it. When you insert an Audio CD or Karaoke CDG disc, Windows will try to "do something" with it for you. When using Microstudio or Hoster, this will cause long delays.

Also, add on Sound Cards install proprietary software that pop up and attempt to play CDs inserted in a drive unless Autorun is disabled.

Autorun causes extra delays for the drive to spin-up, to load unwanted software, and to allow advertisements embedded on some CDG discs to appear. Can you imagine running Hoster and adding a track to play from a Singer's disc they hand you and an advertisement pops up in the middle of your show? You want to DISABLE Autorun!

Follow these steps to disable Autorun on a CD/DVD drive (this is from the Hoster Manual "Troubleshooting Guide", "Reducing Audio Drops While Playing" topic):

1. Click the Start button
2. Click the Run command
3. Type in regedit and press the Enter key
4. Locate HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE and click the + at its left to open its contents up
5. Scroll down to System and click the + to its left
6. Locate CurrentControlSet and click the + to its left
7. Locate Services and click the + to its left
8. Locate Cdrom and click it directly to see its contents on the right screen. If you have more than one CD/DVD/ROM drive, I suggest you disable Autorun for each drive.
9. Locate Autorun and move your mouse to it, then click and release your RIGHT mouse button. In the menu that appears, move your mouse to Modify and click your mouse LEFT button to see an edit dialog box. Enter zero (0 must replace the default 1) and click the OK button. This disables Autorun for this drive.
10. Click the X icon at the top right of this RegEdit screen to close it.

Your drive should now run faster with Microstudio and Hoster.

1. The computer fans:
   
   
   • Make sure the fan(s) is/are not blocked. Laptop fans draw air from BELOW the Laptop.
   • Buy a cooling unit to set your laptop on.
   • Open the unit up and clean any dust and dirt inside it, especially any cooling air intakes and exhaust holes.
2. The computer power supply:
   
   
   • The power supply can be failing over several months, randomly restarting the computer, until it finally dies and the computer will not start up at all.
   • The 4-pin power plug on the power supply. To test this, open the case, turn the PC on and watch the CPU fan. If the fan starts to spin then quits, power the computer off, unplug the 4-pin fan connector and plug it back in. Turn the power back on. The fan will likely spin up and may continue to run, or it may fail again. Either way, the fan power plug is likely bend or at least one of the 4 pins are bad.
3. The Computer RAM:
   
   
   • If you have any diagnostics to test your computer's system RAM (usually 256MB, 512MB 1GB or 2GB), do so. If it fails, replace the RAM. If you do not have RAM test software, if you can swap the RAM or take it to some who knows how to test or swap the RAM, try this and see if the crashing stops. You must check in your computer manual for what type of RAM modules your computer requires and ONLY use what it requires. Using the wrong RAM can damage it and your computer.

Sometimes with Microstudio 2.613 (or others probably), the graphics or audio from CDG Karaoke discs, or tracks imported as CDG files on the hard drive will play a combination of:

1. No audio or graphics
2. Only graphics
3. Only audio

This is caused by the M-Audio card default Codec sampling rate. If it is at 22,050, you need to set it to 44,100 hz. The audio quality should now be excellent, and no more dropped audio or graphics.