Phonics Alive - literacy software - frequently asked questions

FAQ: [INDEX] - [2] - [3] - [4] - [5] - [6] - [7] - [8] - [9]

What is a General Protection Fault or a Type x Error?

A general protection fault under Windows, and a "type" error under MacOS, are types of general software failure. There are many reasons for the occurrance of these, but the most common reasons are:

Program conflicts. Remember to quit all active applications before running any our programs.
Sound card drivers. Ensure that you have the most recent available drivers for your operating system.
Video drivers. Ensure that you have the most recent available drivers for your operating system.

After 4 years, 90% of all issue reports are solved by following the above three steps.
Sometimes these errors will cause the computer to become unresponsive and appear to "hang" or lock up. In this case you may need to restart your machine.
To restart an Intel/Windows computer:

Press the ctrl/alt/delete keys on your keyboard all at the same time and hold down for a second or two. If this doesn't do anything, then you may need to press the reset button on your computer. If that also doesn't do anything (in the case of a *really* impressive crash) then you will have to turn the power off and then on.

To restart an Apple Macintosh computer:

Press the Apple/control/power keys on your keyboard all at the same time and hold down for a second or two. If this doesn't do anything, then you may need to press the reset button on your computer (this button location varies from model to model so please refer to your operating manual for its location). If that also doesn't do anything (in the case of a *really* impressive crash) then you will have to turn the power off and then on.

Why am I getting a "read" error?

There are several kinds of read errors.
If you are getting an error such as "Cannot load blah.dxr" on start and you are using a version of the program less than 2.0, then the program may be trying to run itself twice. This used to occur most often when attempting to run the programs under Windows where the CD ROM took a period of time to actually fire up autorun. By the time the autorun had registered and started, a user could actually open "My Computer" and double click on the CD, thus causing the program to attempt to run twice. This has been rectified in all v2.0 versions of our programs.

If you are running the program in a standalone or home user mode, then quit the program and try cleaning the CD. If you still get a read error, then you may unfortunately have a bad CD. Please contact your local retailer/distributor for a replacement.

If you are running the program in a network environment, such as over a school LAN, please refer to the networking section of the Advanced FAQ.

If you have followed all of these suggestions, and you still have a problem

If after following these suggestions you continue to have an issue or experience instability, please contact us by using the reporting form on our website at <insert URL here>.
Please fill in as much of the report as you can, as the more details you supply to us, the quicker we can test the issue and get back to you. Respectively, the fewer details you supply, the longer it might take to track down the issue, if at all.
You may also wish to use the problem report page contained in the operating manual, by photocopying this page, filling in as much of the report as you can, and then sending via fax or mail.Why has my screen gone funny colours?

The currently shipping versions (v2.0) of Speller, Grammar and Typing all unfortunately have an issue with colour palette switching under Windows. All of these programs require 16 bit colour or higher to display correctly. Versions 2.2 and later will allow you to run the programs with only 256 colours, but will warn you that this is not suggested.
If you have this issue, here are a few suggestions:

Check the driver revision numbers, and ensure that you have the latest drivers from the manufacturer
Run the machines in 16 bit colour mode or better. This will give you the best colour display in multimedia software, and will not trigger the colour changing code.

Why has my screen gone funny colours?

The currently shipping versions (v2.0) of Speller, Grammar and Typing all unfortunately have an issue with colour palette switching under Windows. All of these programs require 16 bit colour or higher to display correctly. Versions 2.2 and later will allow you to run the programs with only 256 colours, but will warn you that this is not suggested.
If you have this issue, here are a few suggestions:

Check the driver revision numbers, and ensure that you have the latest drivers from the manufacturer
Run the machines in 16 bit colour mode or better. This will give you the best colour display in multimedia software, and will not trigger the colour changing code.