Introduction: The purpose of this FAQ is to provide assistance to users of CPU Simulation Software and CPU Curriculum Units BEYOND the help provided by the simulation software's Help function and the information contained on the software CD-ROMs.

New and updated questions are labeled. A couple questions labeled old indicate questions that are probably of interest only to users of pre-publication CPU materials.

To access help documents on the CPU Simulation Software CD, insert the CD into the CD-ROM drive. Double-click on Welcome to CPU.htm. Then click on the appropriate link in the Table of Contents.

Because the CD document How Do I Prevent/Resolve Problems? is particularly helpful, we have placed a copy here at the CPU web site. This document contains a list of software Dos and Don'ts and a Troubleshooting FAQ. If you have a question not listed in the FAQ on this page, consult the Troubleshooting FAQ.

For help on using the software Help function, read Using Help, another CD document that we placed here at the CPU web site. On the CD, access this page by clicking on the link Using the Help Feature at the top of How Do I Prevent/Resolve Problems?

CPU Curriculum Units: Check out the CPU Units Updates page. If you found that a simulator set-up does not work, you may find a corrected set-up on the Updates page.

PC Users: You should install the CPU PC Software Installer Patch. If you have Internet Explorer 5.01 or Java VM Build 3194 or 3240, you MUST install the CPU PC Software Installer Patch.

 

Questions

Installing the latest Microsoft Java Virtual Machine resets the Java classpath so that none of the Java files used by CPU simulators are named in the classpath. Without this classpath information, Internet Explorer will not load any Java software and the simulators will not run.

To fix this problem, you need to:

1. Uninstall CPU. Consult the installation instructions on the CPU Simulation Software CD, which are linked from the welcome document, Welcome to CPU.htm. Make sure that you first save any files that you modified. Also, you do not need to (and probably should not) delete any files not removed by the uninstall process.
   
2. Re-install CPU according to the installation instructions on the CD or in the booklet that came with the CPU software.
   
3. Download and run the CPU PC Software Installer Patch.

Please contact CPU if this solution does not work.

The most likely reason for this split behavior is a security feature of the Microsoft Java Virtual Machine that prevents an HTML file from accessing Java code located outside the folder that contains the HTML file.

The fix is simple. Download and run the CPU PC Software Installer Patch. This is the problem for which the CPU PC Patch was designed to fix.

In addition to the possibilities listed in the Troubleshooting FAQ under this question, a couple additional possibilities exist:

1. You are a PC user who has a recent version of Internet Explorer and/or the Java Virtual Machine.
2. You are running a simulator within an activity or tutorial and you do not have the JAR file (which contains the simulator software) in the right location (Macs or PCs).

In more detail:

1. If you are a PC user, the simulator does NOT load, and the Save HTML and Prepare to Print buttons do, you may have a recent (year 2000+) version of Internet Explorer or Microsoft's Java Virtual Machine. In this case, you should download and install the CPU PC Software Installer Patch (click on the link).
   
   
2. If you are a Mac user or your PC uses older (pre-2000) versions of Internet Explorer and the Java Virtual Machine, the simulator does not load, and the Save HTML/Prepare to Print buttons do load, then the HTML page containing the simulator is probably not in the correct location relative to the JAR file containing the software.
   
   If you are running a simulator within the CPU Curriculum Units or the CPU Simulator Tutorials, the JAR file must be located in a folder two folders above the folder containing the CPU Activity or tutorial. For example, the file Act_I-A1_Sim1.htm (linked from Act 1-A1 Shadow Diagrams.doc) is in the folder Act I-A1 Shadow Diagrams. The folder Act I-A1 Ray Diagrams is in the folder Cycle I Computer. Cycle I Computer is in the folder L&C Computer. L&C Computer also contains lnc.jar. Thus, the folder containing Act_I-A1_Sim1.htm is a subfolder of a subfolder of the folder containing lnc.jar.
   
   Remember: ALL HTML files in CPU activities and tutorials have the same relative location to their JAR files. The HTML file is ALWAYS located in a subfolder of a subfolder of the folder containing the JAR file.
   

If you have problems running the simulators, make sure that you have the latest version of your computer's Java virtual machine, which is software the computer needs to run Java applets, including all CPU simulation software.

Macs: Click on your desktop. From the File menu, choose Find. Look for a file called MRJLib. When the computer finds it, click once on the icon. From the File menu, select Get Info. A window opens with information about MRJLib. Toward the bottom, you will find the word Version in bold. The Version number should be 2.1 or higher. The most recent version is 2.2.

If Version is less than 2.1, you must download and install the latest version of Apple's MRJ from this site:

http://www.apple.com/java/

PCs: First, check to see what version of the Microsoft Java Virtual Machine you have.

Start Internet Explorer. From the Tools (IE 5) or View (IE 4), choose Internet Options. In the Internet Options window, click on the Advanced tab. Scroll down until you find the heading Java VM. Check the box labeled Java Console enabled (requires restart). Click OK.

Quit Internet Explorer and then restart it (you do NOT need to restart the computer). From the View menu, select Java Console. At the far right of the first line in the Java Console window (the line beginnig with "Microsoft"), you'll see four numerals after the last decimal point, such as 3240 or 3194. This indicates the version (called a Build) of the Microsoft Java VM that you have.

To determine if you need to upgrade your computer's Java VM, check Microsofts Java VM page:

http://www.microsoft.com/java/

WARNING: If you update the Java VM, you MUST install the CPU PC Simulation Software Patch unless you have done so already.
 

No. To run CPU using the Local Network (Server) option, you must have a Windows NT/2000 or an AppleTalk server. You cannot use a computer configured as a Novell network server or as a server for another type of network. See the installation instructions on the CD or in the guide you received with the CPU software for more information.

If a picture does not appear, appears blurry, or otherwise looks distorted or scrambled, try adjusting the size of the Microsoft Word Picture.

Open a separate picture window by double-clicking on the picture or the place the picture is supposed to be. Adjust the margins as indicated in the first graphic. Click here to see the graphic.

The next graphic shows what the Word Picture window should look like after the margins have been adjusted. Click here to see the graphic.

Use the mouse to select the existing link or the text that will form the new link. Type APPLE-K (Macs) or CONTROL-K (PCs), choose Hyperlink from Microsoft Word's Insert menu, or click on the Hyperlink icon (a globe with a chain link) on Word's Standard Toolbar. In the Insert Hyperlink window, click on the button Browse. Find the HTML file you want to link to. The HTML file is always located in the same folder as the lesson, and it usually has the same name as the hyperlink. For example the words Act I D1 Sim1 would link to the HTML file Act_I-D1_Sim1.htm. When you have selected the file, click OK to exit the Insert Hyperlink window.

If you wish to add a link to a location on the World Wide Web, simply type in the URL (web address) in the Link field rather than clicking Browse.

This is an unusual problem that is apparently confined to Macs. For exactly the same conditions (clicking on the same link in a Word activity or simply double-clicking on the simulator HTML file), a simulator will automatically load the set-up one time and then not load it the next. Apparently, the problem occurs at random.

A problem like this is difficult to puzzle out. This MAY be a problem associated with Internet Explorer 5.0 for the Mac. We are not sure at this stage. We will pass on a description of this problem to our software developer.

In the meantime, we suggest that you do the following:

Open the simulators normally (e.g., by clicking on the links in Word activities) . If the set-ups do NOT load automatically, use the menu Load function (Apple-click on the simulator to open the menu) to load the set-up data files (the files with the extension .htm.setup0).

There seems to be some incompatiblity between the format for the pictures taken by the Snapshot tool and the formats the printer can recognize. We don't know of any "fix." However, we can suggest two ways of getting around this problem.

The cheap alternative involves replacing the pictures taken by the Snapshot tool with GIF images.

1. Paste the snapshot like before (using Paste Special or the Paste Special Shortcut tool).
2. Double-click on the picture to open the Word Picture window.
3. From the File menu, select Save HTML. Save under any name on the Desktop. This action creates an HTML file that just shows the picture you pasted. The picture itself is saved as a GIF file called image1.gif  (or image2.gif, image3.gif, etc.).
4. Close the Word Picture window.
5. Delete the picture you pasted earlier.
6.  From the Insert menu, choose Picture --> From File.
7.  Find and insert the file image1.gif (or image2.gif, etc.) that you just created.

You should  have no problems printing the GIF image. Once you've inserted the GIF file and saved the Word activity, you can safely move both the HTML and GIF files to the Trash.

The (potentially) costly alternative involves purchasing a screenshot program, such as SnapzPro. With this alternative, you take the picture with the screenshot program rather than the Snapshot tool.

To avoid this problem (which is PC-specific), you need to change the computer's color setting.

First, quit Internet Explorer, Microsoft Word, and other programs. Then right-click on the desktop and choose Properties. Click on the Settings tab. Choose a new Color Palette. You want FEWER colors. Choose High Color (16-Bit) or another setting. DO NOT choose your highest color setting, unless your highest color-setting is 16-bit. In particular, do not choose True Color or 32-bit color.

Click OK. You can either restart the computer or change the settings without a restart.

Easy! Quit Internet Explorer. Then start up Sound Lab again.

For some reason, Sound Lab has trouble accessing the sound files used for the piano the first time it starts up on a computer. In this first run, Sound Lab expands an archive file called sound.jar that contains many of the sound files that the program uses. With regard to the piano, Sound Lab only creates the sound files when you place the piano the first time. Perhaps the program is still "orienting" to your computer. For whatever reason, though, you need to start Sound Lab again to be able to hear all the piano keys.

Note: Sound Lab stores its sound files in a folder called Temp. Occasionally, you'll need to clear out this folder to preserve hard drive space. When you do so, you will run into this problem again. The solution remains the same.

This feature apparently isn't working properly. Please stick with the original password for now. This FAQ will alert you to updates on this issue.

Check the CPU Curriculum Units Updates. If you cannot find the problem set-up among the downloads available on that page, please notify CPU at cpu@public.sdsu.edu. Include the Unit name, Cycle number, Activity number and name, and the Sim number (if the activity has more than one simulator set-up).

Internet Explorer just opened the simulator in the same window as the Microsoft Word lesson. To return to the Word document, click on Internet Explorer's Back button, strike the Backspace key, or choose Back from Explorer's View menu, Go To submenu.

In the Microsoft Word activities that come with the CPU Curriculum Units CD, clicking on links to simulators should open the simulators in a separate window on PCs. If this does NOT happen, please report the error to CPU at cpu@public.sdsu.edu. Include the full name of the activity.

First of all, quit Microsoft Word.

On the Mac, find the Microsoft Office folder (usually on your hard drive, sometimes in the Applications folder on the hard drive) and place Normal in the folder Templates.

On the PC, open up My Computer. Open C drive. Open Program Files. Then open the folder Microsoft Office. Place Normal.dot in the Templates folder.

The Word Normal templates contain two tools, "Paste Special Shortcut" (the blue down arrow) and "Draw Picture" (the pencil), that may not automatically appear on your Word toolbars when you open a CPU lesson in Microsoft Word.

The tools are located on a toolbar called "Macros" that does not automatically appear unless you choose to have it appear.

To make the Macros toolbar visible, simply do the following.

In Word, open the View menu. Then open the Toolbars submenu. On the Toolbars submenu, select Macros. This should work for both PCs and Macs.

You may have an older version of Microsoft Word. To open the CPU lessons written in Word, you need Word 97 or 2000 on the PC or Word 98 on the Mac. If you only have earlier versions of Word, you need to download and install a converter from this page at Microsoft's web site:

http://www.microsoft.com/Office/000/viewers.htm

Alternatively, you could install Word 97, 98 or 2000 (or Office 97/98/2000)!

If you do have Word 97/98, try opening the files from within Word. Start Microsoft Word, open the File menu, select Open, and find the file you want to read.

1. On the computer, take a snapshot of the picture;
2. Copy the snapshot to the clipboard (open the snapshot program and type CONTROL-C).
3. Delete the original picture;
4. From the Edit menu, choose Paste Special;
5. In the Paste Special window, choose Bitmap in the window labeled As. Uncheck the box marked Float over text;
6. Finish by clicking OK.

Your picture should print normally now.