Dell Dimension 4500 User manual

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Dell™ Dimension™ 4500

HINT: A HINT indicates important information that helps you make better
use of your computer.
NOTICE: A NOTICE indicates either potential damage to hardware or loss of
data and tells you how to avoid the problem.
CAUTION: A CAUTION indicates a potential for property damage,
personal injury, or death.
For a complete list of abbreviations and acronyms, see the Tell Me How help
file. To access help files, see page 26.
____________________
Information in this document is subject to change without notice.
© 2002 Dell Computer Corporation. All rights reserved.
Reproduction in any manner whatsoever without the written permission of Dell Computer
Corporation is strictly forbidden.
Trademarks used in this text: Dell, the DELL logo, Dimension, Inspiron, Latitude, OptiPlex, Dell
Precision, DellPlus, and DellNet are trademarks of Dell Computer Corporation; EMC is the
registered trademark of EMC Corporation; Intel and Pentium are registered trademarks of Intel
Corporation; Microsoft and Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.
Othertrademarksandtradenamesmaybeusedinthisdocumenttorefertoeithertheentitiesclaiming
themarksandnamesortheirproducts.DellComputerCorporationdisclaimsanyproprietaryinterest
in trademarks and trade names other than its own.
This product incorporates copyright protection technology that is protected by method claims of
certain U.S. patents and other intellectual property rights owned by Macrovision Corporation and
otherrightsowners.Use of this copyright protection technology must be authorized by Macrovision
Corporation, and is intended for home and other limited viewing uses only unless otherwise
authorized by Macrovision Corporation. Reverse engineering or disassembly is prohibited.
April 2002 P/N 9N756 Rev. A00

Contents 3
Safety Instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
When Using Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
When Working Inside Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Protecting Against Electrostatic Discharge . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Battery Disposal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Finding Information for Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1Setting Up
Connecting a Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Parallel Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
USB Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Installing the Printer Driver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Transferring Information to a New Computer . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Setting Up a Home and Office Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Connecting to a Network Adapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Network Setup Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Turning Off the Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2Solving Problems
Finding Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Finding Help Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Battery Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

4Contents
Drive Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Floppy drive problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
CD drive problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Problems writing to a CD-RW drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
DVD drive problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Hard drive problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
E-Mail, Modem, and Internet Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
General Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
A program stops responding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
A program crashes repeatedly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
A program is designed for an earlier Windows
operating system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
A solid blue screen appears . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Other software problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Other technical problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
General hardware problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Keyboard Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Mouse Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Network Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Power Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Printer Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Scanner Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Sound and Speaker Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Video and Monitor Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
If the screen is blank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
If the screen is difficult to read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Contents 5
3Advanced Troubleshooting
Diagnostic Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Using System Restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Creating a Restore Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Restoring the Computer to an Earlier Operating State . . . . . . 51
Undoing the Last System Restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Reinstalling Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Using Windows®XP Device Driver Rollback . . . . . . . . . . 53
Using the Dell Dimension ResourceCD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Resolving Software and Hardware Incompatibilities . . . . . . . 54
Reinstalling Windows®XP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
4Adding Parts
Front and Back View of the Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Front View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Back View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Reattaching the Front Door and Hinge Arms . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Reattaching the Front Door . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Reattaching the Hinge Arms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Opening the Computer Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Looking Inside Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
System Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Installing and Removing Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Installing a Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Removing a Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Adding Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Removing a Memory Module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Adding a Memory Module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

6Contents
Adding or Replacing the AGP Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Card Removal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Card Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Adding a Second Hard Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Closing the Computer Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
5Appendix
Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Standard Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Viewing Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
System Setup Program Screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Clearing Forgotten Passwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Replacing the Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Dell Technical Support Policy (U.S. Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Definition of "Dell-Installed" Software and Peripherals . . . . . 95
Definition of "Third-Party" Software and Peripherals . . . . . . 95
Contacting Dell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Contact Numbers and Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Returning Items for Warranty Repair or Credit . . . . . . . . . 111
Regulatory Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
NOM Information (Mexico Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Limited Warranties and Return Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
One-Year Limited Warranty (U.S. Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Two-Year Limited Warranty (U.S. Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Three-Year Limited Warranty (U.S. Only) . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Four-Year Limited Warranty (U.S. Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
One-Year Limited Warranty (Canada Only) . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Two-Year Limited Warranty (Canada Only) . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Three-Year Limited Warranty (Canada Only) . . . . . . . . . . 131

Contents 7
"Total Satisfaction" Return Policy (U.S. Only) . . . . . . . . . 135
One-Year End-User Manufacturer Guarantee (Latin America and the
Caribbean Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

8Contents

Safety Instructions 9
Use the following safety guidelines to protect yourself and your computer.
When Using Your Computer
CAUTION: Do not operate your computer with any cover(s)
(including the computer cover, filler brackets, front-panel inserts,
and so on) removed or opened.
• Your computer is equipped with either an auto-sensing voltage selector
or a manual voltage selection switch. Computers with an auto-sensing
voltage selector do not have a voltage selection switch on the back
panel and automatically detect the correct operating voltage.
Computers with a voltage selection switch on the back panel must be
manually set to operate at the correct operating voltage. To help avoid
damaging a computer with a manual voltage selection switch, be sure
that the voltage selection switch is set to match the AC power
available at your location:
– 115 V/60 Hz in most of North and South America and some Far
Eastern countries such as South Korea and Taiwan
– 100 V/50 Hz in eastern Japan and 100 V/60 Hz in western Japan
NOTE: The voltage selection switch must be set to the 115V position
even though the AC supply in Japan is 100 V.
– 230 V/50 Hz in most of Europe, the Middle East, and the Far East
NOTE: Auto-select power supplies do not require a voltage selection
switch. Your power supply may not have this switch.
Also be sure that your monitor and attached devices are electrically
rated to operate with the AC power available in your location.
• To avoid shorting out your computer when disconnecting a network
cable, first unplug the cable from the network adapter on the back of
your computer, and then from the network jack. When reconnecting a
network cable to your computer, first plug the cable into the network
jack, and then into the network adapter.

10 Safety Instructions
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•To help avoid possible damage to the system board, wait 5 seconds
after turning off the computer before disconnecting or connecting a
non-USB device from the computer.
•To help prevent electric shock, plug the computer and device power
cables into properly grounded power sources. These cables are
equipped with three-prong plugs to help ensure proper grounding. Do
not use adapter plugs or remove the grounding prong from a cable. If
you must use an extension cable, use a three-wire cable with properly
grounded plugs.
•To help protect your computer from sudden, transient increases and
decreases in electrical power, use a surge suppressor, line conditioner,
or uninterruptible power supply.
•Be sure that nothing rests on your computer’s cables and that the
cables are not located where they can be stepped on or tripped over.
•Do not spill food or liquids on your computer. If the computer gets
wet, contact Dell (see page 95).
•Do not push any objects into the openings of your computer. Doing so
can cause fire or electric shock by shorting out interior components.
•Keep your computer away from radiators and heat sources. Also, do not
block cooling vents. Avoid placing loose papers underneath your
computer; do not place your computer in a closed-in wall unit or on a
bed, sofa, or rug.
When Working Inside Your Computer
Before you open the computer cover, perform the following steps in the
sequence indicated.
CAUTION: Do not attempt to service the computer yourself,
except as explained in this guide and elsewhere in Dell
documentation. Always follow installation and service
instructions closely.