Dell Inspiron 1200 User manual

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Dell™ Vostro™ 1200 Owner’s Manual
Model PP16S
book.book Page 1 Wednesday, December 12, 2007 10:32 AM

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.
____________________
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, Vost ro, and TravelLite are trademarks of Dell Inc.;
Intel and Celeron are registered trademarks of Intel Corporation; Microsoft, Windows,and Windows
Vista are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States
and/or other countries. Bluetooth is a trademark of Bluetooth SIG, Inc. Blu-ray Disc is a trademark
of the Blu-ray Disc Association.
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 PP16S
November 2007 P/N RK930 Rev. A00
book.book Page 2 Wednesday, December 12, 2007 10:32 AM

Contents 3
Contents
1 Finding Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2 About Your Computer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Front View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Left Side View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Right Side View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Back View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Bottom View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
3 Using a Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Battery Performance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Checking the Battery Charge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Microsoft®Windows®Power Meter . . . . . . . 32
Low-Battery Warning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Conserving Battery Power. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Power Management Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Standby and Sleep Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Hibernate Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Configuring Power Management Settings . . . . . . . 35
Accessing Power Options Properties . . . . . . . 35
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4Contents
Charging the Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Removing the Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Storing a Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
4 Using the Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Numeric Keypad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Key Combinations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
System Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Power Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Speaker Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Microsoft®Windows®Logo Key Functions . . . . 40
Touch Pad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Customizing the Touch Pad . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
5 Using the Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Adjusting Brightness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Using a Projector. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Making Images and Text Look Bigger or Sharper. . . . 44
Microsoft®Windows®XP . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Windows Vista™ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Using Both a Monitor and Your Computer Display . . . 45
Microsoft®Windows®XP . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Windows Vista™ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Using a Monitor as Your Primary Display . . . . . . . . 46
Microsoft®Windows®XP . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Windows Vista™ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
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Contents 5
6 Using Multimedia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Playing CDs or DVDs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Copying CDs and DVDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
How to Copy a CD or DVD . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Using Blank CDs and DVDs. . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Helpful Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Adjusting the Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Adjusting the Picture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
7 Setting Up and Using Networks . . . . . . . 55
Connecting a Network or Broadband Modem Cable . . 55
Setting Up a Network in the Microsoft®Windows®XP
Operating System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Setting Up a Network in the Microsoft Windows Vista™
Operating System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) . . . . . . . . . 57
What You Need to Establish a WLAN Connection . 57
Checking Your Wireless Network Card. . . . . . . 57
Setting Up a New WLAN Using a Wireless Router and a
Broadband Modem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Connecting to a WLAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Microsoft®Windows®Firewall . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
8 Using Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
ExpressCards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
ExpressCard Blanks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
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6Contents
Installing an ExpressCard. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Removing an ExpressCard or Blank . . . . . . . . 65
9 Securing Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Security Cable Lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Passwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
About Passwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Using a Primary (or System) Password . . . . . . . 68
Using an Administrator Password . . . . . . . . . 69
Computer Tracking Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Fingerprint Reader (Optional) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
If Your Computer Is Lost or Stolen . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
10 Troubleshooting Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Diagnostic Lights. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Diagnostic Light Codes During POST . . . . . . . . 73
System Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Hardware Troubleshooter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Dell Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
When to Use the Dell Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . 79
Starting the Dell Diagnostics From Your Hard Drive 79
Starting the Dell Diagnostics From the Drivers and
Utilities Media. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Dell Diagnostics Main Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
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Contents 7
11 Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Battery Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
E-Mail, Modem, and Internet Problems . . . . . . 85
Error Messages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Lockups and Software Problems. . . . . . . . . . 88
Memory Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Network Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Power Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Printer Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Scanner Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Sound and Speaker Problems . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Touch Pad or Mouse Problems. . . . . . . . . . . 95
Video and Monitor Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Power Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Dell Technical Update Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Dell Support Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Accessing the Dell Support Utility . . . . . . . . . 99
Clicking the Dell Support Icon . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Double-Clicking the Dell Support Icon . . . . . . . 99
12 System Setup Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Viewing the System Setup Screens . . . . . . . . . . . 102
System Setup Screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Commonly Used Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Changing the Boot Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Enabling the Infrared Sensor . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
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8Contents
13 Reinstalling Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
What Is a Driver? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Identifying Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Reinstalling Drivers and Utilities . . . . . . . . . 106
Hardware and Software Problems . . . . . . . . . . 110
Restoring Your Operating System . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Using Microsoft Windows System Restore . . . . 111
Using Dell™ PC Restore and Dell Factory Image
Restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Using the Operating System Media. . . . . . . . 116
14 Traveling With Your Computer . . . . . . . . 119
Identifying Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Packing the Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Travel Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Traveling by Air . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
15 Getting Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Obtaining Assistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Technical Support and Customer Service . . . . 124
DellConnect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Online Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
AutoTech Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Automated Order-Status Service . . . . . . . . . 125
Problems With Your Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
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Contents 9
Product Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Returning Items for Warranty Repair or Credit . . . . . 126
Before You Call . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Contacting Dell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
16 Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
17 Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
FCC Notice (U.S. Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
FCC Class B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Cleaning Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Computer, Keyboard, and Display . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Mouse (Non-Optical) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Touch Pad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
CDs and DVDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
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10 Contents
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