FAQS! FACTS! FAX!  617 (17/06/08)

Q.  After buying a new Vista laptop I downloaded iTunes. I then discovered that I could not play DVDs or CDs and an error message appeared to say that nothing could be detected in the disk drawer. I contacted the laptop seller’s Helpline and was guided through a process to remove a couple of files from the Registry. That solved the problem, except that every time I opened iTunes I got a message saying that ‘The Registry setting used for importing and burning disks are missing’, and I am urged to reinstall iTunes. Recently I had to download the latest version of iTunes, and, not surprisingly, I found the same problem, which was cured again by another Registry change. Is there an answer to this? Can I install iTunes and not have to change Registry settings, and still use my DVD drive?

Peter Frewer, by email

A. This is a known problem and it is caused by the device filters installed by iTunes conflicting with those installed by CD and DVD burning programs. Device Filters are akin to drivers and are used by applications to communicate with and control hardware. The Registry edits you mention will normally do the trick and for the record the procedure is outlined in an Apple Support article 305422. However, it possible that you weren’t given all of the steps, which also includes checking for and installing updates on the other CD/DVD burning programs you have on your PC.

Q. I've recently purchased a Sony PS3, which can wirelessly connect with my PC and read music or photo files and play them on my TV. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to be able to read my music library on iTunes. Do you know of any solution to this?

Mike Fowler, Chichester

A. I don’t think it can be done, at least not easily. The problem concerns tracks that you have purchased from iTunes, which are embedded with Digital Rights Management (DRM) data and encoded so that they will only play on iPods and PCs with an authorised copy of iTunes. If the tracks in your iTunes library were ripped from your CDs, or downloaded from, shall we say, ‘unofficial’ websites, then it wouldn’t be a problem but the only way to make them visible to your PS3 is to strip out the DRM convert them to a file format, like MP3, that the games console can play.

Q. I purchased my laptop last year and only use it at home. It works fine but I am having difficulties with the battery, to the extent that it does not operate and consequently restricts my use of the laptop. The battery light flashes intermittently. I've tried several things including removing and reinserting the battery pack but all to no avail. Can you advise me what to try next? Will I need to purchase a new battery assuming that the existing one is causing the problem?

Graham Ogden, via email

A. I fear the problem lies with the battery pack since it appears that the mains adaptor/charger is working properly. It is unusual for a battery pack that’s only a year or so old to fail, though the lithium ion cells inside the pack start deteriorating from the day they are made. On average they have a useful life of between 3 and 5 years, irrespective of how much use they get, so if the machine was old stock before you bought it then it is conceivable the battery pack was already well past its best. It may just be faulty and besides the actual cells lithium ion packs have electronic circuits and thermal sensors that can go wrong, rendering the pack useless or unable to hold a full charge.

Q. A number of my email messages are not arriving at their recipient’s addresses and are getting lost in cyberspace. The problem is I never know which ones! How to I resolve this other than by CC'ing it to me every time?  Is there a problem with my PC, my email program, my ISP or something else? And how, if it is the latter, do I present the evidence to them?

J. Morton, via email

A. Genuinely ‘lost’ emails are surprisingly rare. The vast majority of messages that go missing are due to them being zapped by Spam filter software on the recipients PC, or by ISPs that operate a domain blocking policy. This happens when a recipient’s ISP decides to block all emails coming form a particular domain. This may be because they’ve detected a high number of Spam messages coming from your ISP’s domain. However, they rarely tell anyone and often the only way to find out is see if the affected recipients are all using the same ISP. You can also test this theory by sending them a message through a web-based email service, like www.mail2web.com. If the emails get through then the chances are your ISP is on a blacklist and the only way to resolve it is for you and recipients to complain to the ISP.

Q. I saved an article from Boot Camp 497 in October 07, about using old hard drives, in anticipation of when I change computer. That time has now arrived and I am the owner of a new machine using Windows Vista.

My question is, when booting up an old drive with XP SP2 installed, will it conflict with Vista on new machine? Sodd's Law says in my case it will completely screw up the new system, or am I just being paranoid?

Mike McManus, via email

A. The article describes how to remove the drive from an old PC and install it in an external USB housing. This means you’ll be able to connect the drive to a USB port on your new computer and read the data it contains, or wipe and re-use it for backups and storage. Provided you switch the ‘jumper’ on the old drive to ‘slave’ mode there’s no possibility that the PC will boot from it, but even if it did no harm would come to your Vista system.

If you have a computer problem write to: fff@telegraph.co.uk

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© R. Maybury 2008 2605