Dell XPS /Dimension User manual

www.dell.com | support.dell.com
Dell™ Dimension™ XPS
security cable slot
power connector
padlock ring
modem
cover release latch
fans
diagnostic lights
network adapter connector
USB 2.0
connectors (6)
keyboard connector
PCI sound card
with IEEE 1394
mouse connector
VGA video connector
parallel connector
serial connector 2
serial connector 1
USB 2.0 connectors (2)
headphone connector
IEEE 1394 connector
card slots
DVI video connector
G0550bk1.book Page 1 Thursday, July 10, 2003 1:55 PM

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.
Abbreviations and Acronyms
For a complete list of abbreviations and acronyms, see the
Dell™ Dimension™ 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, DellNet, and Dimension are trademarks of Dell
Computer Corporation; Intel, Pentium, and Celeron 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.
Model WHL
June 2003 P/N G0550 Rev. A01
G0550bk1.book Page 2 Thursday, July 10, 2003 1:55 PM

Contents 3
Contents
Finding Information for Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
CAUTION: Safety Instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
When Using Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
When Working Inside Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Protecting Against Electrostatic Discharge . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Ergonomic Computing Habits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Battery Disposal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
1Using Your Computer
Opening the Drive Door . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Connecting Two Monitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Configuring Graphics Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Settings and Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Removing the Graphics Card Driver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
About Serial ATA Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
About Your RAID Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
RAID Level 0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
RAID Level 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Transferring Information to a New Computer . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Copying CDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Using Easy CD Creator Basic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Using Blank CD-R Discs or Blank CD-RW Discs . . . . . . . . . 28
Helpful Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
How to Copy a CD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
G0550bk1.book Page 3 Thursday, July 10, 2003 1:55 PM

4Contents
Network Setup Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Turning Off Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
2Optimizing Performance
Intel®Performance Acceleration Technology . . . . . . . . . . 32
DDR Memory and Processor Front-Side Bus . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Hyper-Threading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Overclocking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
3Solving 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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
General Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
The computer stops responding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
A program stops responding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
A program crashes repeatedly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
A program is designed for an earlier Windows
operating system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
A solid blue screen appears . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
G0550bk1.book Page 4 Thursday, July 10, 2003 1:55 PM

Contents 5
Other software problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Other technical problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
General hardware problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
IEEE 1394 Device Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Keyboard Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Mouse Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Network Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
If the screen is blank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
If the screen is difficult to read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
4Advanced Troubleshooting
Diagnostic Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Dell Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
When to Use the Dell Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Starting the Dell Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Dell Diagnostics Main Menu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
What Is a Driver? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Identifying Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Reinstalling Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
G0550bk1.book Page 5 Thursday, July 10, 2003 1:55 PM

6Contents
Using Windows®XP System Restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Creating a Restore Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Restoring the Computer to an Earlier Operating State . . . . . 70
Undoing the Last System Restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Resolving Software and Hardware Incompatibilities . . . . . . . 71
Reinstalling Microsoft®Windows®XP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Before You Reinstall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Reinstalling Windows XP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Reinstalling Drivers and Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
5Removing and Installing Parts
Front and Back View of the Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Front View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Front View (Doors Open) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Back View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Before You Begin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Recommended Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Precautionary Measures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Protecting Against Electrostatic Discharge . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Opening the Computer Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Inside View of Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
System Board Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
DDR Memory Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Memory Installation Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Installing Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
PCI Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Installing a PCI Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Removing a PCI Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
G0550bk1.book Page 6 Thursday, July 10, 2003 1:55 PM

Contents 7
AGP Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Removing an AGP Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Installing an AGP Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Hard Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Floppy Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
CD/DVD Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Microprocessor Airflow Shroud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Removing the Microprocessor Airflow Shroud . . . . . . . . . 105
Installing the Microprocessor Airflow Shroud . . . . . . . . . 106
Microprocessor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Installing the Microprocessor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Removing the Microprocessor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Front Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Removing the Front Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Replacing the Front Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Drive Door . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Removing the Drive Door . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Replacing the Drive Door . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Closing the Computer Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
6Appendix
Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Standard Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Viewing Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
System Setup Screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Boot Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
G0550bk1.book Page 7 Thursday, July 10, 2003 1:55 PM

8Contents
Clearing Forgotten Passwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Dell Technical Support Policy (U.S. Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Definition of "Dell-Installed" Software and Peripherals . . . . . 129
Definition of "Third-Party" Software and Peripherals . . . . . . 129
Contacting Dell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Regulatory Notices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Limited Warranties and Return Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Limited Warranty for Dell-Branded Hardware Products
(U.S. Only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
"Total Satisfaction" Return Policy (U.S. Only). . . . . . . . . . 136
Limited Warranty Terms for Dell-Branded Hardware Products
(Canada Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
"Total Satisfaction" Return Policy (Canada Only) . . . . . . . . 139
Dell Software and Peripherals (Canada Only). . . . . . . . . . 140
1-Year End-User Manufacturer Guarantee
(Latin America and the Caribbean Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Intel®Warranty Statement for Pentium®and Celeron®
Processors Only (U.S. and Canada Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
G0550bk1.book Page 8 Thursday, July 10, 2003 1:55 PM

Finding Information for Your Computer 9
Finding Information for Your Computer
Dell provides the following support options to help you quickly find answers
to your questions and problems:
• Dell Solution Center — Double-click the Dell Solutions Center
icon on your Microsoft®Windows®desktop for documentation,
tools, troubleshooting information, and links to online support
resources.
• Dell Support on your Windows desktop (U.S. only) — From the
Dell Solution Center, click Dell Support for additional
documentation, tools, and troubleshooting information.
• Dell Support on the Internet — The Dell Support website
(support.dell.com) provides online tools, including a Knowledge
Base, Frequently Asked Questions, Hints and Tips, Software
Reinstall Guides, Dell Community Forums, and Dell Customer
Care.
• Dell Technical Support — E-mail or call technical support
personnel for Dell hardware or operating system issues that you
cannot resolve using the Dell Support options.
Use the following chart to determine where you can find information on a
particular topic.
What are you looking for? Find It Here
• How to access tutorials and other how
to information
• How to get a copy of my invoice
• How to extend my warranty
• How to access Dell Support on my
Windows desktop (U.S. only)
• Additional documentation, tools,
troubleshootinginformation,andlinks
to online support resources
Dell Solution Center
On your Windows desktop
G0550bk1.book Page 9 Thursday, July 10, 2003 1:55 PM

10 Finding Information for Your Computer
www.dell.com | support.dell.com
• Latest drivers for my computer
• Answers to technical service and
support questions
• Online discussions with other users
and technical support
• Documentation for my computer
Dell Support Website — support.dell.com
The Dell Support website provides several online tools, including:
• Solutions — Troubleshooting hints and tips, articles from
technicians, and online courses
• Community Forum — 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
• How to set up my computer Setup Diagram
• Additional information about setting
up my computer
• How to troubleshoot and solve
problems
• How to remove and install parts
• Technical specifications
• How to contact Dell
Owner’s Manual
What are you looking for? Find It Here
G0550bk1.book Page 10 Thursday, July 10, 2003 1:55 PM