Viglen/Microsoft PC

There are a number of useful directories on the HDD of the new Viglen/Microsoft PC's.

Here is a quick review:

C:\CDROM\ :Real mode CD Rom device drivers (ATAPIMGR.SYS, (DVD device driver) and SR_ASPI.SYS (cd rom device driver))
C:\DIAG\AMIDIAG\AMIDIAG.EXE : American Megatrend Diagnostic S/W.
C:\UTILS\ATFIX : Patch disk for ATI S/W This is a patch for the error "MCI NOT READY" when playing MPEG1-2/VIDEO CD titles in ATI player.
C:\UTILS\DX5 : Direct X 5 Setup
C:\UTILS\GVC : LT Win modem drivers
C:\UTILS\JOYSTICK : Microsoft Joystick setup program
C:\UTILS\MOUSE : Microsoft Mouse setup program
C:\UTILS\MSN : MSN Setup
C:\UTILS\REMOTE : Logitech Remote control setup (Designed to work with Intel connect, ATI TV, ATI CD, and Internet Explorer)
C:\UTILS\SYNCRO : Syncro Connect - Home Telephony S/W setup
C:\UTILS\USB : USB Supplement for WIN95 setup
C:\UTILS\YAMAHA : Yamaha soundcard setup

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On the Viglen machines there is a freeware utility installed which allows the screen saver to be quickly activated, by moving the mouse to the top right hand corner to the screen.

However if you change current the screen saver, then activate it by moving your mouse to the top right of the screen it will revert back to the old one.

In the systray is a monitor icon with a green/red screen (make sure you don't confuse it with quick res), click on it with the right mouse button, select exit from the menu. Then change the current screen saver, then run screen saver control from in startup (Start/Programs/Startup).

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If the machine locks up at random or when scrolling with the intellipoint software, try changing the graphics driver from the default XPert@Work to an ATI 3D RAGE PRO (English DirextX).

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If you experience "Cannot Recognize Printer Cartridge" when printing a test page from Windows. Remove the printer port in Device Manager, and restart the computer. Press 'F2' to enter the Setup. Select Advanced, and change the parallel port from ECP to EPP.

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If you get a Viglen that can make phone calls using Synchro Connect but the recipient cannot hear them , try turning the lead around that connects the monitor to the sound card. According to Viglen it will only work when connected one way because the lead has a mono connection at one end (which should go to the monitor mic) and a stereo connection on the other end (which goes to the sound card).

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For some reason, the Win modem on these Viglen's use 2 IRQ settings - set by default to IRQ5 and IRQ10. Set these manually to Basic Configuration 0001 which should set the IRQ's to 4 and 10 (or 3 and 10). Don't worry about the conflict message, it will work. Then set the sound card from IRQ11 to IRQ5. This must be done before slapping a SCSI card into this machine. The SCSI card will then set itself happily to IRQ11. This will work for all SCSI scanners except the Agfa 310 because this scanner does not want to work at all with this machine for some reason. It just messes the system up big time.

And by the way according to Viglen there are 2 different versions of this machine, the other configuration will accept SCSI cards perfectly. The only way to tell the difference is that on the configuration that is not compatible, the modem uses 2 IRQ's and there are no further IRQ's free.

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If you get a Viglen that won't boot from the floppy drive, and the boot sequence in the BIOS is set correctly, try checking the following :

Go into the BIOS - go into BOOT - then Removable devices. Make sure it is set to : 1 - [LS-120 COSM 03] 2 - [Legacy Floppy Disks].

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In order to set the CPU speed on a Viglen PII machine, you need to move one jumper on the motherboard labelled J8B2 to pins 2-3. This then sets the PC into config mode and allows you to set up the CPU speed etc.

Turn the PC on and it will automatically enter the BIOS in configuration mode. Once you have finished setting the CPU speed, Exit saving changes and you will get the following message:

"Jumper must be returned to normal position for settings to take place. It is safe to turn your system off now."

Turn the system off and put the jumper back to its original position (pins 1-2). The system should now function as normal.

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The LTWinmodem supplied with some of the Viglen computers is set by default on COM1 IRQ4. So if you cannot get one working, go into Device Manager and delete any modems and communications ports. Restart the computer and go into the BIOS, and make sure,

Save and Exit out of the BIOS and Windows should install the modem on Com1.

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If you get an error message when recovering like "These are not original components and this is not a Viglen machine", this normally means that you have the wrong Recovery CD, and you need to order the correct one.

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Most Viglen systems use the ATX power management system. This means that the power switch is now not directly responsible for the switching of the power supply. The power switch is now connected to the motherboard which controls the power requirements of the system. This is fine when the computer is working normally, but when the computer crashes sometimes, the power switch appears to have no effect and the only way to turn it off appears to be to unplug it from the wall. In these cases, try holding down the power button for 10 seconds. This is a fail safe method of resetting the power management.

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