1. A file on a floppy diskette won't open. There may or may not be an accompanying error message.

2. I have created files on my Macintosh at home and want to open them on a PC here at the University. Can I do this?

3. The program I've been using has locked up or has "hung". What can I do?

4. A student's floppy disk is stuck in the floppy drive. What should I do?

5. A PC will boot up, but nothing appears on the screen, just the background shows up.

1. A file on a floppy diskette won't open. There may or may not be an accompanying error message.

Floppies can be easily damaged from being carried loose in backpacks, purses, pockets, etc. One of the single best pieces of advice we should give to students whenever possible is to invest .99 cents in a plastic case that protects floppy disks from damage. If a file won't open from a floppy disk, there are a few things that can be tried, but we can't guarantee success. It is quite possible that the file is corrupted or the floppy itself is damaged beyond repair and can't be recovered.

Things to check:

First, what type of file is it? St. Edward's supports most Microsoft Office and Clarisworks file types, but we do not support files created in Microsoft WORKS. MS Works is an older office-type of program that shipped with some early distributions of Windows 95. MS Works text files will have a file extension of .wps, and typically will NOT open with Microsoft Word 97 or 2000.

The next step would be to run a utility called Norton Disk Doctor on the floppy disk to see if it can identify and repair any disk errors. There is another utility called Can Opener which may be useful in attempting to recover a file from a floppy disk. The last utility we have that might offer some hope for a corrupted file is Easy Recovery. All three of these utility programs are available on the lab assistant pc in Moody Hall 212.

It bears repeating that the Computer Lab cannot guarantee a file that won't open will be recovered...we can try, but we're not miracle workers. Advise all students to back up important files in TWO different locations, and print out a hard copy of their work as well.

2. I have created files on my Macintosh at home and want to open them on a PC here at the University. Can I do this?

The Computer Lab does not recommend trying to open Mac files on a PC. There are third-party software applications that will allow this, but none are supported by St. Edward's University. PC files to Macs are usually not a problem, but whenever possible, advise students to open their files using the same platform that created them.

3. The program I've been using has locked up or has "hung". What can I do?

On a Windows 95/98 machine, press control-alt-del simultaneously on the keyboard. This will bring up the "close program" dialog box. Look to see if the program is listed as "not responding". If it is, the program has likely crashed and the only thing to do is close it down by clicking "end task" and then re-launch the program. Any data not saved prior to the crash will be lost. If a program continually locks up or hangs, the program itself may need to be reinstalled. Notify Dave, Garrod, or George with the details.

4. A student's floppy disk is stuck in the floppy drive. What should I do?

First, check to see if the data on the floppy drive is still readable. Double-click on the "A" drive in "my computer". If files are visible on the floppy, create a folder on shared network drive Temp and backup the files from the floppy to the folder. Why should you do this? Because the process of removing a stuck floppy from a floppy drive MAY damage it as well as the files on the disk. Backing up the files will ensure the student can retrieve his data if the floppy is damaged once it is removed. Once the data is backed up, obtain a pair of needle-nose pliers from the computer lab manager's office. GENTLY grab the visible edge of the floppy disk, and while depressing the floppy disk eject button, GENTLY try to pull the floppy disk out of the drive. If the floppy appears to be stuck, contact one of the lab managers for additional assistance.

5. A PC will boot up, but nothing appears on the screen, just the background shows up.

So far there's no sure-fire way to fix this issue.  The best thing to try is to reboot the machine and boot into safemode by pressing F8 as the machine boots up.  Select Safemode and once it loads up, go to Start-Shutdown and restart the machine that way.  Usually this fixes the problem.  If it persists, notify a manager.