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 Netscape, Firefox, Opera, etc. or any other Browser.
2. When the page above appears, click the Custom button. Your computer will be scanned for what updates need to be installed. DO NOT click the Express button as it will not fully update YOUR computer.
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 it. 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 we know what will correct many of them.

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. If you did not buy your computer from MTU, it is NOT our responsibility to fix your computer for free. Expect to pay for our help just as you would a local computer geek.

Understand this: 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 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.

If you are not able to understand and accurately follow our instructions, you must take your computer to someone else who can fix it.

Below are some recommendations to fix various computer problems. When it is not clear what is causing a problem, there may be a combination of things that must be diagnosed and 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! This most often solves many hard to diagnose problems. Do this before you even ask for help from anyone else. Follow these insrtuctions for your Windows version. 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, firmware in your Hard Disc drive(s), etc. We DO NOT recommend using Hardware Drivers Microsoft recommends when you do their upgrades. Go to the manufacturer's web site and download the drivers for their product number you are using.
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 use Symantic Endpoint Protection (as of May 10, 2011). 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! Have someone who knows how to do this perform this operation. You must first reformat your hard drive. WARNING! This will delete EFVERYTHING on your hard drive. Backup all data you can before reformatting. Use 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 (after reformatting removes everything), and look to the CDROM for what to do. Follow the directions to install Windows.

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. When using Microstudio or Hoster, this will cause long delays and can interrupt your show.

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? DISABLE Autorun!

Follow these steps to disable Autorun on a CD/DVD drive:

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 show its contents
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 of the screen. If you have more than one CD/DVD/ROM drive, disable Autorun for each of them.
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 that drive. Do this for each optical 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 and can suck dust into the air screens. Make sure there is no dust matting blocking the airflow inside the computer.
   • Buy a cooling unit to set your laptop on.
   • Open the unit up and vacuum all dust and dirt inside it, especially any cooling air intakes and exhaust screens.
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 at all.
   • The 4-pin power plug on the power supply. To test this, open the case, turn the PC on with your fingers NOT inside, and watch the processor fan. If the fan starts to spin then quits, turn 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 likely has some pins bad.
3. The Computer RAM:
   
   • If you have any diagnostics to test your computer's system RAM 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. Check your computer manual for what type of RAM modules your computer requires and ONLY use what it recommends. Using the wrong modules can damage them 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 set to 22,050, you need to change it to 44,100 (the required CD/CDG audio sampling rate). The computer should now work without dropped audio or graphics.