Dell Dimension 4500C User manual

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Dell™ Dimension™ 4500C
front door
power button
hard-drive light CD or DVD drive light
USB 2.0 connectors (2)
headphone connector
breakaway hinge
IEEE 1394 connector*
breakaway hinge
PC Card connectors (2)**
* On computers with integrated IEEE 1394 connectors.
** On computers with integrated PC Card connectors.
optional video card connector
(see the setup diagram)
parallel connector
USB 2.0 connectors (4)
microphone connector
voltage selection switch (see page 11)
line-out connector
mouse connector
diagnostic lights (4)
integrated video
connector (see the
setup diagram)
power connector
keyboard connector network connector
line-in connector
serial connector
modem connectors (2)
IEEE 1394 connector

Hints, Notices, and Cautions
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.
Abbreviations and Acronyms
For a complete list of abbreviations and acronyms, see the Tell Me How help
file. To access help files, see page 38.
____________________
Information in this document is subject to change without notice.
© 2003 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, and
Dell Precision are trademarks of Dell Computer 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
other rightsowners.Use of this copyright protectiontechnologymust 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.
June 2003 P/N 6M515 Rev. A03

Contents 3
Contents
CAUTION: Safety Instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
When Using Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
When Working Inside Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Protecting Against Electrostatic Discharge . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Ergonomic Computing Habits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Battery Disposal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Finding Information for Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
1Setting Up
Connecting the AC Adapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Attaching and Removing the Computer Stand . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Setting Up a Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Printer Cable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Connecting a Parallel Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Connecting a USB Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Connecting an IEEE 1394 Device (Optional) . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Transferring Information to a New Computer . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Setting Up a Home and Office Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Connecting to a Network Adapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Network Setup Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Connecting to the Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Setting Up Your Internet Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

4Contents
Copying CDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Using Easy CD Creator Basic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Using Blank CD-R Discs or Blank CD-RW Discs . . . . . . . . 32
Helpful Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
How to Copy a CD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Hyper-Threading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Turning Off Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
2Solving Problems
Finding Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Finding Help Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Battery Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Drive Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
CD drive problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Problems writing to a CD-RW drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
DVD drive problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Hard drive problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
E-Mail, Modem, and Internet Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
General Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
A program stops responding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
A program crashes repeatedly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
A program is designed for an earlier Windows operating system 44
A solid blue screen appears . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Other software problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Other technical problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
General hardware problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
IEEE 1394 Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Keyboard Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Contents 5
Mouse Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Network Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
PC Card Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Power Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Printer Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Scanner Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Sound and Speaker Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Video and Monitor Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
If the screen is blank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
If the screen is difficult to read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
3Advanced Troubleshooting
Diagnostic Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Using System Restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Creating a Restore Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Restoring the Computer to an Earlier Operating State . . . . . . 62
Undoing the Last System Restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Dell Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
When to Use the Dell Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Starting the Dell Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
What Is a Driver? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Identifying Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Reinstalling Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Resolving Software and Hardware Incompatibilities . . . . . . . 70
Reinstalling Windows®XP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

6Contents
4Adding Parts
Front and Back View of the Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Front View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Back View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Reattaching the Front Door . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Opening the Computer Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Looking Inside Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
System Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Adding PC Cards (Optional) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
PC Card Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Installing a PC Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Removing a PC Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Adding Other Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Adding or Replacing a Video Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Removing a Video Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Installing a Video Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Adding Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Closing the Computer Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
5Appendix
Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Standard Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Viewing Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
System Setup Program Screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Clearing Forgotten Passwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Replacing the Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Dell Technical Support Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

Contents 7
Contacting Dell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Regulatory Information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

8Contents

CAUTION: Safety Instructions 9
CAUTION: Safety Instructions
Use the following safety guidelines to help ensure your own personal safety and to help protect
your computer and working environment from potential damage.
General
• Do not attempt to service the computer yourself unless you are a trained service
technician. Always follow installation instructions closely.
• To help prevent electric shock, plug the computer and device power cables into properly
grounded electrical outlets. These cables are equipped with 3-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 3-wire cable with properly grounded plugs.
• To help avoid the potential hazard of electric shock, do not use your computer during an
electrical storm.
• To help avoid the potential hazard of electric shock, do not connect or disconnect any
cables or perform maintenance or reconfiguration of this product during an electrical
storm.
• If your computer includes a modem, the cable used with the modem should be
manufactured with a minimum wire size of 26 American wire gauge (AWG) and an FCC-
compliant RJ-11 modular plug.
• Before you clean your computer, disconnect the computer from the electrical outlet.
Clean your computer with a soft cloth dampened with water. Do not use liquid or aerosol
cleaners, which may contain flammable substances.
• To help avoid possible damage to the system board, wait 5 seconds after turning off the
computer before disconnecting a device from the computer.

10 CAUTION: Safety Instructions
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• 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.
• To help protect your computer from sudden, transient increases and decreases in
electrical power, use a surge suppressor, line conditioner, or uninterruptible power supply
(UPS).
• Ensure 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 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.
CAUTION: Safety Instructions (continued)