Dell Dimension 5100 User manual

www.dell.com | support.dell.com
Dell™ Dimension™ 5100
Model DCSM
FlexBay for optional
floppy drive or Media
Card Reader
hard-drive activity light
microphone connector
headphone connector
CD or DVD activity light
CD or DVD eject button
diagnostic lights
USB 2.0 connectors (2)
cover latch
release
Service Tag
power button/
power activity light
power connector
USB 2.0 connectors (5)
VGA video connector (integrated)
network
adapter
sound connectors (integrated) (5)
card slots for PCI Express x16 (1),
PCI (2), PCI Express x1 (1)

Notes, Notices, and Cautions
NOTE: A NOTE 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.
If you purchased a Dell™ n Series computer, any references in this document to Microsoft
®
Windows
®
operating systems are not applicable.
____________________
Information in this document is subject to change without notice.
© 2005 Dell Inc. All rights reserved.
Reproduction in any manner whatsoever without the written permission of Dell Inc. is strictly forbidden.
Trademarksusedinthistext:Dell,theDELLlogo,Inspiron,DellPrecision,Dimension,OptiPlex,Latitude,PowerEdge,PowerVault,PowerApp,
DellNet, and PowerConnect are trademarks of Dell Inc.; Intel and Pentium are registered trademarks of Intel Corporation; Microsoft, Windows,
and Outlook are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.
Other trademarks and trade names may be used in this document to refer to either the entities claiming the marks and names or their products.
Dell Inc. disclaims any proprietary interest in trademarks and trade names other than its own.
Model DCSM
March 2005 P/N T8144 Rev. A00

Contents 3
Contents
Finding Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1 Setting Up and Using Your Computer
Setting Up a Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Printer Cable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Connecting a Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Connecting to the Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Setting Up Your Internet Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Playing CDs and DVDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Adjusting the Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Adjusting the Picture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Copying CDs and DVDs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
How to Copy a CD or DVD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Using Blank CD-Rs and CD-RWs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Helpful Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Using a Media Card Reader (Optional) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Connecting Two Monitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Connecting Two Monitors With VGA Connectors . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Connecting One Monitor With a VGA Connector and One Monitor
With a DVI Connector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Connecting a TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Changing the Display Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Setting Up a Home and Office Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Connecting to a Network Adapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Network Setup Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Power Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Standby Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Hibernate Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Power Options Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Hyper-Threading. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

4Contents
2 Solving Problems
Troubleshooting Tips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Battery Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Drive Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
CD and DVD drive problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Hard drive problems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
E-Mail, Modem, and Internet Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Media Card Reader Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Keyboard Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Lockups and Software Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
The computer does not start up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
The computer stops responding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
A program stops responding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
A program crashes repeatedly. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
A program is designed for an earlier Microsoft®Windows®
operating system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
A solid blue screen appears . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Other software problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Memory Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Mouse Problems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Network Problems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Power Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Printer Problems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Scanner Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Sound and Speaker Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
No sound from speakers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
No sound from headphones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Video and Monitor Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
If the screen is blank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
If the screen is difficult to read. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Contents 5
3 Troubleshooting Tools
Diagnostic Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Dell Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Dell Diagnostics Main Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
What Is a Driver? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Identifying Drivers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Reinstalling Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Resolving Software and Hardware Incompatibilities . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Restoring Your Operating System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Using Microsoft® Windows®XP System Restore . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Using Dell™ PC Restore by Symantec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
4 Removing and Installing Parts
Before You Begin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Recommended Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Turning Off Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Before Working Inside Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Front View of the Computer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Back View of the Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Removing the Computer Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Inside View of Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
System Board Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
DDR2 Memory Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Addressing Memory With 4-GB Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Installing Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Removing Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
PCI Cards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
PCI Express Cards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

6Contents
Drive Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Removing the Drive Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Removing the Drive-Panel Insert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Replacing the Drive-Panel Insert. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Replacing the Drive Panel.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
IDE Drive Addressing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Connecting Drive Cables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Drive Interface Connectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Power Cable Connector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Connecting and Disconnecting Drive Cables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Hard Drive. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Removing a Hard Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Installing a Hard Drive. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Adding a Second Hard Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Floppy Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Removing a Floppy Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Installing a Floppy Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Media Card Reader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Removing a Media Card Reader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Installing a Media Card Reader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
CD/DVD Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Removing a CD/DVD Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Installing a CD/DVD Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Replacing the Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Replacing the Computer Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
5 Appendix
Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
System Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Entering System Setup. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

Contents 7
System Setup Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Boot Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Clearing Forgotten Passwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Clearing CMOS Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Cleaning Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Computer, Keyboard, and Monitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Mouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Floppy Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
CDs and DVDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Dell Technical Support Policy (U.S. Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Definition of "Dell-Installed" Software and Peripherals . . . . . . . . 116
Definition of "Third-Party" Software and Peripherals . . . . . . . . . 117
FCC Notices (U.S. Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Class A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Class B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
FCC Identification Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Contacting Dell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

8Contents

Finding Information 9
Finding Information
NOTE: Additional documentation may be included with your computer, depending on your country.
What Are You Looking For? Find It Here
• Warranty information
• Safety instructions
• Regulatory information
• Ergonomics information
• End User License Agreement
Dell™ Product Information Guide
• How to set up my computer Setup Diagram

10 Finding Information
www.dell.com | support.dell.com
• Service Tag and Express Service Code
• Microsoft Windows License Label
Service Tag and Microsoft Windows License
These labels are located on your computer.
• Use the Service Tag to
identify your computer
when you use
support.dell.com or
contact technical
support.
• Enter the Express Service Code to direct your call when
contacting technical support. The Express Service Code
is not available in all countries.
• Latest drivers for my computer
• Answers to technical service and support questions
• Online discussions with other users and technical
support
• Documentation for my computer
• Desktop System Software (DSS)— If you reinstall the
operating system for your computer, you should also
reinstall the DSS utility. DSS provides critical updates
for your operating system and support for Dell™
3.5-inch USB floppy drives, Intel
®
Pentium
®
M
processors, optical drives, and USB devices. DSS is
necessary for correct operation of your Dell computer.
The software automatically detects your computer and
operating system and installs the updates appropriate
for your configuration.
To download Desktop System Software:
1 Go to support.dell.com and click Downloads .
2 Enter your Service Tag or product model.
3 In the Download Category drop-down menu, click All .
4 Select the operating system and operating system
language for your computer, and click
Submit.
5 Under Select a Device , scroll to System and
Configuration Utilities
, and click Dell Desktop System
Software
.
Dell Support Website — support.dell.com
NOTE: Select your region to view the appropriate support
site.
The Dell Support website provides several online tools,
including:
• Solutions — Troubleshooting hints and tips, articles
from technicians, and online courses
• Community — Online discussion with other Dell
customers
• Upgrades — Upgrade information for components, such
as memory, the hard drive, and the operating system
• Customer Care — Contact information, order status,
warranty, and repair information
• Downloads — Drivers, patches, and software updates
• Reference — Computer documentation, product
specifications, and white papers
What Are You Looking For? Find It Here