September 1999
The Hunt For Windows 2000 Gold
Bugs
| ALTHOUGH WINDOWS 2000 is
still a few months away, the hunt is already on
for Windows 2000 gold bugs -- that is, bugs that
Microsoft has decided to live with rather than
fix before the long-awaited release of its
self-proclaimed flagship OS. |
|
If past Windows experience is any
indication, many Windows 2000 (W2K) gold bugs should be
showing up right now in the Microsoft Knowledge Base
(MSKB). With prior versions of Windows, problems that
were added to the MSKB late in the beta period tended to
appear in the final product as well.
And now, less than three months from
W2K's purported release date, W2K items have started
popping up in the MSKB like mushrooms after the rain in
Redmond -- in fact, Microsoft just added Windows 2000 to
the drop down list of products for which you can search.
We recently went gold bug hunting in
connection with our forthcoming book, Windows 2000
Secrets (IDG Books), and here's what we found.
Hardware
Although W2K makes huge strides toward
overcoming Windows NT's chronic problem with poor
hardware and peripheral support, it's easy to see traces
of the old NT in the late beta additions to the MSKB for
W2K.
| MSKB Q Number |
Synopsis of Compatibility Problem |
| Q240371 |
Dell Inspiron Screen Turns
Black During Windows 2000 Setup The display
on your Dell Inspiron laptop may turn black when
installing Windows 2000. Although Setup may seem
to progress, you are unable to see anything on
the screen.
|
| Q226031 |
NEC Card
Wizard Does Not Work After Windows 2000
Upgrade If you upgrade from Microsoft
Windows NT 4.0 to Windows 2000, the NEC Card
Wizard program may no longer function.
|
| Q226380 |
Epson Print
Utilities Removed During Windows 2000
Upgrade If you upgrade to Windows 2000 on
a computer that has Windows 95 installed and an
Epson Stylus Color 800 printer, the Epson print
utility programs will no longer be available.
|
| Q227967 |
Cannot Use Internal
Touchpad When You Connect an IntelliMouse
With Windows 2000, if you connect a
Microsoft IntelliMouse to a laptop that uses an
internal touchpad, the touchpad may be disabled.
|
| Q211241 |
Problems with SoundBlaster
Live and Windows 2000 If you
restart your computer after loading and selecting
the "8MB midi bank" in the AudioHQ
SoundFont program included with the Creative Labs
SoundBlaster Live sound card, you may get the
blue screen of death.
|
| Q227425 |
CD-ROM
Changer Mapped as Single Drive Letter in
Windows 2000 Upon installing or upgrading
to Windows 2000, you may find there is only a
single drive letter for your ATAPI CD-ROM
changer.
|
| Q227452 |
PS/2 Mouse
May Not Work on Laptop Docking Station If
you install Windows 2000 on a laptop computer
that is set up to use a docking station with a
PS/2-style mouse, the mouse may not function
properly.
|
| Q236216 |
Hewlett-Packard 2000 Err
Msg: Homepub.exe Caused a GPF in Module
Hpfdjc07.drv If you try printing an
envelope with Hewlett-Packard Home Publishing
2000, you may receive the following error
message: "Homepub.exe caused a General
Protection Fault in module Hpfdjc07.drv."
|
| Q202581 |
IntelliPoint Mouse Software
Reports Errors in Windows 2000 When you
start the Microsoft IntelliPoint software, the
Mouse Properties dialog box may open with some
options disabled.
|
| Q239600 |
Hewlett-Packard LaserJet 2100
Config Utility Is Not Supported Using the
configuration tools included with the
Hewlett-Packard LaserJet 2100 computer is not
supported under Windows NT 4.0 or Windows 2000.
|
| Q239722 |
Error Message: Setup Cannot Load the Keyboard
Layout File Kbdus.dll You may get an error
like "Setup cannot load the keyboard layout
file Kbdus.dll." when you try to boot your
computer from the Windows 2000 installation
CD-ROM.
|
Games & Entertainment
Another historic area of weakness for
Windows NT, games still prove pesky for W2K. It has been
estimated that nearly three quarters of all existing DOS
and Windows games will not run on W2K.
Here are some "late breaking"
game and entertainment issues...
| MSKB Q Number |
Synopsis of Compatibility Problem |
| Q206675 |
Need for
Speed III Not Compatible with Microsoft
Windows 2000 If you upgrade Microsoft
Windows 95 or Microsoft Windows 98 to Microsoft
Windows 2000 Professional, the Electronic Arts
Need For Speed III game will not run properly.
|
| Q227367 |
S3 Virge Video Problems in Jedi
Knight: Dark Forces 2 Playing Jedi
Knight: Dark Forces 2 by Lucas Arts Entertainment
on a computer running Windows 2000 may produce a
bunch of display problems, including bad colors,
visible raster lines and flickering.
|
| Q227652 |
Cannot Install You
Don't Know Jack Sports in Windows 2000 If
you try to install the You Don't Know Jack Sports
software in Windows 2000, you will find you can
not.
|
| Q237267 |
Encarta 2000:
Cannot Start Program After You Upgrade to Windows
2000 After upgrading to Microsoft Windows
2000, you may not be able to start Microsoft
Encarta Encyclopedia 2000, Microsoft Encarta
Reference Suite 2000 or Microsoft Encarta
Research Organizer.
|
| Q240378 |
Computer May Hang
During ActiveMovie Installation Your
computer may freeze while installing Microsoft
ActiveMovie if a non-administrator installs or
runs ActiveMovie for the first time after the
installation.
|
Competitors' Products
Yes, Martha, Microsoft is apparently
willing to live with some problems in W2K which hose
competitors' products, to wit...
| MSKB Q Number |
Synopsis of Compatibility Problem |
| Q219301 |
Unable to Detect Folder Limit on Novell
NetWare-Based Server When using
Microsoft's NetWare Client for Windows NT version
4.10 or version 4.11a, Windows Explorer may not
report the correct folder size on a NetWare
server unless it is "map rooted" to the
restricted folder, meaning programs may be unable
to save files.
|
| Q226042 |
Error Messages with Netscape
Communicator 4.04 After Windows 2000
Upgrade After you upgrade a computer
running Microsoft Windows NT 3.51 with Netscape
Communicator version 4.04 installed to Windows
2000, you may get the error: NETSCAPE caused an
access violation in OLETHK32.DLL
|
| Q227467 |
Access Violations
Opening Multiple Documents in Corel
Quattro Pro 7 If you open
multiple documents in Corel Quattro Pro 7.0, your
computer may freeze.
|
| Q228086 |
America
Online 4.0 Cannot Establish Modem
Connection in Windows 2000 If you upgrade
from Microsoft Windows 95 or Microsoft Windows 98
to Windows 2000, America Online (AOL) 4.0 may not
be able to establish a modem connection.
|
Will these bugs make it into the final
"gold" version of W2K?
We hope not, but if any of them affect
you, you should definitely make SURE they were fixed
before you upgrade to Windows 2000.
In fact, if you bookmark this page, you
can easily come back later and call up the MSKB articles
in question to see if the fix is in.
-- Bruce Brown
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