Dell Inspiron 1420 User manual

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Dell™ Inspiron™ 1420
Owner’s Manual
Model PP26L

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, Inspiron, Wi-Fi Catcher, and Dell MediaDirect are
trademarks of Dell Inc.; Intel, Celeron, and Core are registered trademarks of Intel Corporation.;
Microsoft and Windows are registered trademarks and Windows Vista is a trademark 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.
Model PP26L
June 2007 P/N WM391 Rev. A01

Contents 3
Contents
Finding Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
1 About Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Determining Your Computer’s Configuration . . . . . . 21
Front View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Left Side View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Right Side View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Back View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Bottom View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
2 Setting Up Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Connecting to the Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Setting Up Your Internet Connection . . . . . . . . 34
Transferring Information to a New Computer . . . . . 35
Windows Easy Transfer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Setting Up a Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Printer Cable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Connecting a USB Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

4Contents
Power Protection Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Surge Protectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Line Conditioners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Uninterruptible Power Supplies . . . . . . . . . . 38
3 Using the Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Adjusting Brightness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Switching the Video Image From Your Computer
Display To a Projector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Setting Display Resolution and Refresh Rate . . . . . . 40
4 Using the Keyboard and Touch Pad . . . . 41
Numeric Keypad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Key Combinations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
System Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Display Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Power Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Microsoft®Windows®Logo Key Functions . . . . 42
Dell™ QuickSet Key Combinations . . . . . . . . . 43
Adjusting Keyboard Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Touch Pad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Customizing the Touch Pad . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Contents 5
5 Using a Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Battery Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Checking the Battery Charge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Dell QuickSet Battery Meter . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Microsoft®Windows®Battery Meter . . . . . . . 47
Charge Gauge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Low-Battery Warning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Conserving Battery Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Configuring Power Management Settings . . . . . 48
Using the Sleep Power State . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Charging the Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Replacing the Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Storing a Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
6 Using the Optional Camera . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Accessing the Camera’s Help File . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Manually Adjusting the Camera Settings . . . . . . . . 52
Creating a Picture or a Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
7 Using Multimedia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Playing Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Playing Media Using Dell Express Card
Remote Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

6Contents
Copying CD and DVD Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
How to Copy a CD or DVD . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Using Blank CD and DVD Media . . . . . . . . . . 57
Helpful Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Adjusting the Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Adjusting the Picture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Using Dell MediaDirect™ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Connecting Your Computer to a TV or
Audio Device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
S-Video and Standard Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
S-Video and S/PDIF Digital Audio . . . . . . . . . 64
Composite Video and Standard Audio . . . . . . . 66
Composite Video and S/PDIF Digital Audio . . . . 68
Component Video and Standard Audio . . . . . . 70
Component Video and S/PDIF Digital Audio . . . . 72
Enabling the Display Settings for a TV . . . . . . . 74
8 Using Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
ExpressCards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
ExpressCard Blanks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Installing an ExpressCard . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Removing an ExpressCard or Blank . . . . . . . . 77
Memory Card Reader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Memory Card Blanks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Installing a Memory Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Removing a Memory Card or Blank . . . . . . . . 80

Contents 7
9 Setting Up and Using Networks . . . . . . . 81
Connecting a Network or Broadband
Modem Cable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Setting Up a Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Wireless Local Area Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
What You Need to Establish a WLAN
Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Checking Your Wireless Network Card . . . . . . 82
Setting Up a New WLAN Using a Wireless
Router and a Broadband Modem . . . . . . . . . 83
Connecting to a WLAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Mobile Broadband (or Wireless Wide Area
Network) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
What You Need to Establish a Mobile
Broadband Network Connection . . . . . . . . . 86
Checking Your Dell Mobile Broadband Card . . . . 87
Connecting to a Mobile Broadband Network . . . 88
Enabling/Disabling the Dell Mobile
Broadband Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Dell Wi-Fi Catcher™ Network Locator . . . . . . . . . 89
10 Securing Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Security Cable Lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Passwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
If Your Computer Is Lost or Stolen . . . . . . . . . . . 92

8Contents
11 Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Dell Technical Update Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Dell Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Dell Support Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Drive Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Optical drive problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Hard drive problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
E-Mail, Modem, and Internet Problems . . . . . . . . . 100
Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
ExpressCard Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
IEEE 1394 Device Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Keyboard Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
External Keyboard problems . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Unexpected characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Lockups and Software Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
The computer does not start . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
The computer stops responding . . . . . . . . . . 109
A program stops responding or crashes
repeatedly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
A program is designed for an earlier
Microsoft®Windows®operating system . . . . . 110
A solid blue screen appears . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Dell MediaDirect problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Other software problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Memory Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Contents 9
Network Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Mobile Broadband (Wireless Wide Area
Network [WWAN]) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Power Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Printer Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Scanner Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Sound and Speaker Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
No sound from integrated speakers . . . . . . . . 117
No sound from external speakers . . . . . . . . . 117
No sound from headphones . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Remote Control Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Touch Pad or Mouse Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Video and Display Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
If the display is blank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
If the display is difficult to read . . . . . . . . . . 120
If only part of the display is readable . . . . . . . 120
Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
What Is a Driver? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Identifying Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Reinstalling Drivers and Utilities . . . . . . . . . . 122
Troubleshooting Software and Hardware
Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Restoring Your Operating System . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Using Microsoft Windows System Restore . . . . 124
Using the Operating System Media . . . . . . . . 125

10 Contents
12 Adding and Replacing Parts . . . . . . . . . 129
Before You Begin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Recommended Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Turning Off Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Before Working Inside Your Computer . . . . . . . 130
Hard Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Removing the Hard Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Replacing the Hard Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Returning a Hard Drive to Dell . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Optical Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Removing the Optical Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Replacing the Optical Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Hinge Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Removing the Hinge Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Replacing the Hinge Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Removing the Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Replacing the Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Removing the Memory Module . . . . . . . . . . 139
Replacing the Memory Module . . . . . . . . . . 141
Modem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Subscriber Identity Module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Wireless Mini Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Removing a WLAN Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Replacing a WLAN Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Internal Card with Bluetooth®Wireless
Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148