My brother in America sent me a CD for the GTA 5. I hadn’t installed the game when I first got hold of it but recently when I did, the game didn’t work. It installs properly but when I try to launch the game, it gave an error saying that ‘xinput1_3.dll’ is missing. I’ve tried looking for that file on the internet and placing it into the game directory but it still does not work. Can you tell me how to fix this?

— Prabish Dangi

Dear Prabish,

You are experiencing this problem because the xinput1_3.dll file is outdated on your system. To fix this issue, you will need to manually replace the ximput1_3.dll file, not in your game directory, but in the system folders SysWow64 and System32. Go to the web address: www.dll-files.com/xinput1_3.dll.html and download the 64-bit 9.18.944.0 file if you have the 64-bit Windows. If you have a 32-bit Windows, go for the 32-bit version of the same file. Once you’ve downloaded the file, navigate to C:WindowsysWow64 and find the file xinput1_3.dll and rename it to xinput1_3.bk. Now that you’ve made a backup of the file, copy the downloaded version of xinput1_3.dll into the folder. After you’ve copied the file into the folder, repeat the same steps inside C:Windowsystem32. Make sure you keep a copy of the original xinput1_3.dll. Once you’ve copied the file in both locations, check if Windows has blocked them because they’ve been downloaded. Right-click the file and open the properties menu. In the General tab, find a button called ‘Unblock’. Click it, if it shows up; if not, it hasn’t been blocked. Restart the system and see if the game loads up now. If it still does not load up, try updating your DirectX.

I have an iPhone 4s and have problems with the Wi-Fi on the device. Whenever I try to turn it on, the button goes grey and it does not work. How do I fix this issue?

—Suman Basnet

Dear Suman,

On the iPhone 4s, a greyed-out Wi-Fi button usually means hardware failure. This happens mainly because of bag engineering on Apple’s part. On the iPhone 4s, Apple has installed the Wi-Fi antenna right above the 3.5mm headphone jack which means that dust and debris can make their way to the chip rather easily. More than dust, if liquid enters the headphone port, it can easily short out the chip. Take a flashlight and look into the small headphone jack hole. You should see a white dot at the end of the hole; if you can’t, because of dust and debris, slowly take them out with the help of a clean toothbrush or an anti-static brush. You can use a small hair clamp to remove it too, just make sure you don’t damage the connectors inside the port. After removal of the debris, you should see a white dot at the bottom of the jack, if this white dot has turned white, it means that liquid has entered the port. This would mean that your chip could definitely be shorted out. You will need to take the phone to a repair shop if this is the case but if not, the Wi-Fi button greying out could be a software issue. To fix this, open the Settings app and tap on General. Towards the bottom of this menu, you should find an option called ‘Reset’. Tap on this button and on the subsequent screen, find and execute the ‘Reset Network Settings’ option. Reboot the phone and see if this has helped. If not, you Wi-Fi antenna needs to be serviced. There is a get guide of how to fix the iPhone 4s’ Wi-Fi problem on ifixit.com; so if you have all the tools required for the process, you can actually try repairing the phone yourself. I was just wondering why batteries on Android phones swell after a few years of use?

—Bijaya Bhatta

Dear Bijaya,

Any device that has a Lithium-ion battery can swell and the problem is not specific to Android phones. All kinds of devices like iPhone, iPads, laptop batteries and camera batteries use lithium-ion batteries. The reason why Lithium-ion is used in so many devices is that it can hold higher energy density and low self-discharge rates. But all of these features come at a cost and that is stability. Lithium-ion batteries are not as stable as other, older variation of batteries but the benefits of the battery far outweigh its shortcomings because an unstable battery is quite uncommon these days as battery manufactures have streamlined the production process. This problem can, however, arise because of different reasons like overcharging, heat or faulty manufacturing. The root cause for the phenomenon is that inside the lithium-ion batteries, because of any of the above reasons, electrochemical oxidation of the electrolytes that hold the electric current causes the production of gas that can be toxic. Because extra gas is being produced inside the battery and it does not have anywhere to escape, it causes a noticeable bump in the battery’s enclosure. Lithium-ion batteries in this state can be extremely dangerous because a massive build-up of gas inside the battery can cause the batteries to burst or even catch fire as seen with the recent Note 7’s battery combustion problems.