Dell Vostro 420 User manual

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Dell™ Vostro™ 420/220/220s Service
Manual
Models: DCSCLF, DCSCMF, DCSCSF

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 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.
© 2008 Dell Inc. All rights reserved.
Reproduction of this material in any manner whatsoever without the written permission of Dell Inc.
is strictly forbidden.
Trademarks used in this text: Dell, the DELL logo, and Vo s t ro are trademarks of Dell Inc.; Intel is a
registered trademark of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and other countries; Microsoft, Windows,
Windows Vista, and the Windows Vista start button logo are either trademarks or registered trademarks
of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries; Bluetooth is a registered
trademark owned by Bluetooth SIG, Inc., and is used by Dell under license.
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.
Models: DCSCLF, DCSCMF, DCSCSF
September 2009 Rev. A01

Contents 3
Contents
1 Troubleshooting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Power Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Beep Codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
System Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Hardware Troubleshooter . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Dell Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
When to Use the Dell Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . 13
Starting the Dell Diagnostics From Your
Hard Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Starting the Dell Diagnostics From the
Drivers and Utilities Disc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Dell Diagnostics Main Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Solving Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Battery Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Drive Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Error Messages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
IEEE 1394 Device Problems. . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Keyboard Problems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Lockups and Software Problems . . . . . . . . . . 23
Memory Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Mouse Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Network Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Power Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Printer Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Scanner Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

4Contents
Sound and Speaker Problems . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Video and Monitor Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Dell Technical Update Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Dell Support Utility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Accessing the Dell Support Utility . . . . . . . . . 33
Clicking the Dell Support Icon . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Double-Clicking the Dell Support Icon . . . . . . . 34
2 Working on Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . 35
Recommended Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Before Working on Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Turning Off Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Inside View of Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
System Board Components. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
After Working on Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
3 Computer Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Removing the Computer Cover. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Replacing the Computer Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
4 Bezel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Removing the Bezel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Replacing the Bezel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Contents 5
5 Chassis Support Bracket. . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Removing the Chassis Support Bracket. . . . . . . . . 55
Replacing the Chassis Support Bracket . . . . . . . . 57
6 PCI and PCI Express Cards . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Removing a PCI or PCI Express Card . . . . . . . . . . 59
Installing a PCI or PCI Express Card . . . . . . . . . . 60
Configuring Your Computer After Removing or
Installing a PCI or PCI Express Card . . . . . . . . . . 63
7Drives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Hard Drives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Removing a Hard Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Replacing or Adding a Hard Drive . . . . . . . . . 69
Media Card Reader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Removing a Media Card Reader . . . . . . . . . . 73
Replacing or Adding a Media Card Reader . . . . 77
Optical Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Removing an Optical Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Replacing or Adding an Optical Drive . . . . . . . 82
Removing a Drive Bay Break-Away Metal Plate . . . . 85
Vostro 420 and Vostro 220 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Vostro 220s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

6Contents
8 I/O Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Removing the I/O Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Replacing the I/O Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
9Fan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Removing the Chassis Fan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Replacing the Chassis Fan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
10 Processor Heat Sink/Fan Assembly . . . 99
Removing the Processor Heat Sink/Fan Assembly . . . 99
Replacing the Processor Heat Sink/Fan
Assembly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
11 Memory Module(s). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Removing Memory Modules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Replacing or Adding a Memory Module. . . . . . . . 104
12 Power Supply . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Removing the Power Supply. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Replacing the Power Supply. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
DC Power Supply Connectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
DC Power Supply Connector Pin Assignments . . . . 112

Contents 7
13 Coin-Cell Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Removing the Coin-Cell Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Replacing the Coin-Cell Battery. . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
14 System Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Remove the System Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Replacing a System Board. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
15 Processor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Removing the Processor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Replacing the Processor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
16 System Setup Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Entering the System Setup Program. . . . . . . . . . . 129
System Setup Program Screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
System Setup Program Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Boot Sequence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Option Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Changing Boot Sequence for the
Current Boot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Changing Boot Sequence for Future Boots . . . . 134
Clearing Forgotten Passwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

8Contents
Clearing CMOS Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
BIOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Flashing the BIOS From the Hard Drive. . . . . . 136
17 Contacting Dell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

Troubleshooting 9
Troubleshooting
Tools
Power Lights
CAUTION: Before working inside your computer, read the safety information that
shipped with your computer. For additional safety best practices information, see
the Regulatory Compliance Homepage at www.dell.com/regulatory_compliance.
The power button light located on the front of the computer illuminates and
blinks or remains solid to indicate different states:
• If the power light is blue and the computer is not responding, see "Beep
Codes" on page 10.
• If the power light is blinking blue, the computer is in standby mode. Press
a key on the keyboard, move the mouse, or press the power button to
resume normal operation.
• If the power light is off, the computer is either turned off or is not
receiving power.
– Reseat the power cable into both the power connector on the back of
the computer and the electrical outlet.
– If the computer is plugged into a power strip, ensure that the power
strip is plugged into an electrical outlet and that the power strip is
turned on.
– Bypass power protection devices, power strips, and power extension
cables to verify that the computer turns on properly.
– Ensure that the electrical outlet is working by testing it with another
device, such as a lamp.
– Ensure that the main power cable and front panel cable are securely
connected to the system board (see "System Board Components" on
page 40).
• If the power light is blinking amber, the computer is receiving electrical
power, but an internal power problem may exist.

10 Troubleshooting
– Ensure that the voltage selection switch is set to match the AC power
at your location, if applicable.
– Ensure that the processor power cable is securely connected to the
system board (see "System Board Components" on page 40).
• If the power light is steady amber, a device may be malfunctioning or
incorrectly installed.
– Remove and then reinstall the memory modules (see "Replacing or
Adding a Memory Module" on page 104).
– Remove and then reinstall any cards (see "PCI and PCI Express Cards"
on page 59).
• Eliminate interference. Some possible causes of interference are:
– Power, keyboard, and mouse extension cables
– Too many devices on a power strip
– Multiple power strips connected to the same electrical outlet
Beep Codes
Your computer may emit a series of beeps during start-up if the monitor
cannot display errors or problems. For example, one possible beep code may
consist of three short, repeated beeps indicating that the computer has
encountered a possible system board failure.
If your computer emits a series of beeps during start-up:
1
Write down the beep code.
2 Run the Dell Diagnostics to further identify the problem. (see "Dell
Diagnostics" on page 13).
Code (repetitive
short beeps)
Description Suggested Resolution
1 BIOS checksum
failure. Possible system
board failure.
Contact Dell (see "Contacting Dell" on
page 137).