Dell Dimension K0004 User manual

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Dell™ Dimension™ 8250 Series
floppy drive light*
hard drive light
power button
service tag
headphone connector
USB 2.0
connectors (2)
voltage selection switch
power connector
parallel connector
keyboard connector
USB 2.0 connectors (6)
microphone
connector
line-out
connector
line-in
connector
mouse connector
video connector
serial connector
network adapter
CD or DVD
activity light
CD or DVD drive
eject button
floppy drive
eject button*
CD or DVD volume
control dial
*On computers
with an optional
floppy drive.

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.
If you purchased a Dell™ nSeries computer, any references in this
document to Microsoft®Windows®operating systems are not applicable.
____________________
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, Dell
Precision, and DellNet are trademarks of Dell Computer Corporation; Intel, Celeron, 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.
January 2003 P/N K0004 Rev. A00

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 and Using Your Computer
Setting Up a Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Printer Cable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Connecting a Parallel Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Connecting a USB Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Connecting Two Monitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Connecting the Monitors to Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Enabling Clone Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Enabling Extended Desktop Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Transferring Information to a New Computer . . . . . . . . . . 25
Setting Up a Home and Office Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Connecting to a Network Adapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Network Setup Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Connecting to the Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Setting Up Your Internet Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

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

Contents 5
IEEE 1394 Device Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Keyboard Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Mouse Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Network Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Power Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Printer Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Scanner Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Sound and Speaker Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
No sound from speakers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
No sound from headphones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Video and Monitor Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
If the screen is blank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
If the screen is difficult to read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
3Advanced Troubleshooting
Diagnostic Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Dell Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
When to Use the Dell Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Starting the Dell Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
What Is a Driver? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Identifying Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Reinstalling drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Using System Restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Creating a Restore Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Restoring the Computer to an Earlier Operating State . . . . . . 68
Undoing the Last System Restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

6Contents
Resolving Software and Hardware Incompatibilities . . . . . . . 70
Reinstalling Microsoft®Windows®XP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Before You Reinstall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Reinstalling Windows XP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Reinstalling Drivers and Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
4Adding Parts
Front and Back View of the Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Front View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Back View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Reattaching the Front Door and Hinge Arms . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Reattaching the Hinge Arms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Reattaching the Front Door . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Opening the Computer Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Looking Inside Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
System Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Installing and Removing Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Installing a Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Removing a Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Adding Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
RDRAM Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Removing a Memory Module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Adding a Memory Module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Adding or Replacing the AGP Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Removing an AGP Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Installing an AGP Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Adding a Second Hard Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Contents 7
Adding a Floppy Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Removing the Front-Panel Insert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Installing a Floppy Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Closing the Computer Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
5Appendix
Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Standard Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Viewing Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
System Setup Screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Clearing Forgotten Passwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Replacing the Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Dell Technical Support Policy (U.S. Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Definition of "Dell-Installed" Software and Peripherals . . . . . 119
Definition of "Third-Party" Software and Peripherals . . . . . . 120
Contacting Dell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Regulatory Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
NOM Information (Mexico Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Limited Warranties and Return Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Limited Warranty for the U.S. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
"Total Satisfaction" Return Policy (U.S. Only) . . . . . . . . . 144
Limited Warranty Terms for Canada . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
"Total Satisfaction" Return Policy (Canada Only) . . . . . . . . 148
Dell Software and Peripherals (Canada Only) . . . . . . . . . 148

8Contents
One-Year End-User Manufacturer Guarantee
(Latin America and the Caribbean Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Intel®Warranty Statement for Pentium®and
Celeron®Processors Only (U.S. and Canada Only) . . . . . . . 151
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

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)