Dell Vostro 400 User manual

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Dell™ Vostro™ 400
Owner’s Manual – Mini Tower
Model DCMF

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.
© 2007 Dell Inc. All rights reserved.
Reproduction in any manner whatsoever without the written permission of Dell Inc. is strictly forbidden.
Trademarks used in this text: Dell, the DELL logo, Vostro, TravelLite, and Strike Zone are trademarks
of Dell Inc.; Bluetooth is a registered trademark owned by Bluetooth SIG, Inc. and is used by Dell
under license; Microsoft, Windows, Outlook, and Windows Vista are either trademarks or registered
trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Intel and Pentium
are registered trademarks; SpeedStep and Core are trademarks of Intel 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 DCMF
November 2007 P/N CR532 Rev. A01

Contents 3
Contents
1 Finding Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2 Setting Up and Using Your Computer . . . 15
Front View of the Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Back View of the Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Back Panel Connectors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Installing Your Computer in an Enclosure. . . . . . . . 22
Setting Up a Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Printer Cable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Connecting a USB Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Playing CDs and DVDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Adjusting the Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Adjusting the Picture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Copying CDs and DVDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Using a Media Card Reader (Optional) . . . . . . . . . 31
Connecting Two Monitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Connecting Two Monitors With VGA
Connectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Connecting One Monitor With a VGA Connector
and One Monitor With a DVI Connector . . . . . . 34
Connecting a TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Changing the Display Settings . . . . . . . . . . . 35

4Contents
Power Management Options in Windows XP. . . . . . 35
Standby Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Hibernate Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Power Options Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Power Management Options in Windows Vista . . . . 38
Standby Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Hibernate Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Power Plan Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Enabling SpeedStep™ Technology . . . . . . . . . 41
About RAID Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
RAID Level 1 Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Configuring Your Hard Drives for RAID . . . . . . . 43
Configuring for RAID Using the Intel®Option
ROM Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Configuring for RAID Using the Intel®Matrix
Storage Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Transferring Information to a New Computer . . . . . . 49
Setting Up a Home and Office Network . . . . . . . . . 53
Connecting to a Network Adapter . . . . . . . . . 53
Network Setup Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Connecting to the Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Setting Up Your Internet Connection . . . . . . . . 56
3 Solving Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Troubleshooting Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Battery Problems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Contents 5
Drive Problems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Optical drive problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Hard drive problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
E-Mail, Modem, and Internet Problems . . . . . . . . . 62
Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Keyboard Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Lockups and Software Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
The computer does not start up . . . . . . . . . . 66
The computer stops responding . . . . . . . . . . 67
A program stops responding . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
A program crashes repeatedly . . . . . . . . . . . 67
A program is designed for an earlier
Microsoft®Windows®operating system . . . . . 68
A solid blue screen appears . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Other software problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Media Card Reader Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Memory Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Mouse Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Network Problems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Power Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Printer Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Scanner Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

6Contents
Sound and Speaker Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
No sound from speakers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
No sound from headphones . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Video and Monitor Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
If the screen is blank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
If the screen is difficult to read . . . . . . . . . . . 80
4 Troubleshooting Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Power Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Beep Codes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
System Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Dell Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
When to Use the Dell Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . 86
Starting the Dell Diagnostics From Your
Hard Drive. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Starting the Dell Diagnostics From the Drivers
and Utilities Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Dell Diagnostics Main Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
What Is a Driver? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Identifying Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Reinstalling Drivers and Utilities . . . . . . . . . . 90
Restoring Your Operating System . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Using Microsoft Windows System Restore . . . . . 94
Using Dell PC Restore and Dell Factory
Image Restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Using the Operating System Media. . . . . . . . . 98
Troubleshooting Software and Hardware
Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Contents 7
5 Removing and Installing Parts . . . . . . . 101
Before You Begin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Recommended Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Turning Off Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Before Working Inside Your Computer . . . . . . . 102
Removing the Computer Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Inside View of Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
System Board Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Power Supply DC Connector Pin Assignments . . . . . 108
Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Memory Installation Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . 112
Installing Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Removing Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
PCI and PCI Express Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Bezel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Removing the Bezel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Replacing the Bezel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Recommended Drive Cable Connections . . . . . 127
Connecting Drive Cables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Drive Interface Connectors. . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Connecting and Disconnecting Drive Cables . . . 128
Hard Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Floppy Drive. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Media Card Reader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Optical Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

8Contents
Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Replacing the Battery. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Power Supply . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Replacing the Power Supply . . . . . . . . . . . 152
I/O Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Removing the I/O Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Installing the I/O Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Processor Fan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Removing the Processor Fan/Heat
Sink Assembly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Installing the Processor Fan/Heat
Sink Assembly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Processor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Removing the Processor . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Installing the Processor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Chassis Fan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Removing the Chassis Fan . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Replacing the Chassis Fan . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
System Board. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Removing the System Board . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Installing the System Board. . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Replacing the Computer Cover . . . . . . . . . . 166
6 Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
System Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Entering System Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

Contents 9
System Setup Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Boot Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
Clearing Forgotten Passwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Clearing CMOS Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Flashing the BIOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
Cleaning Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
Computer, Keyboard, and Monitor . . . . . . . . . 183
Mouse. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Floppy Drive. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
CDs and DVDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Dell Technical Support Policy (U.S. Only). . . . . . . . 184
Definition of "Dell-Installed" Software and
Peripherals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Definition of "Third-Party" Software and
Peripherals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
FCC Notice (U.S. Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
FCC Class B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Contacting Dell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207

10 Contents