Dell Inspiron 1521 User manual

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Dell™ Inspiron™ 1521 Owner’s Manual
Model PP22L

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.; AMD, AMD Turion, HyperMemory, ATI Radeon and combinations thereof
are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.; 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 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 PP22L
March 2007 P/N RT722 Rev. A00

Contents 3
Contents
Finding Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1 About Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Determining Your Computer’s Configuration . . . . . . 19
Front View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Left Side View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Right Side View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Back View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Bottom View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
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 . . . . . . 39
4 Using the Keyboard and Touchpad . . . . . 41
Numeric Keypad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Key Combinations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
System Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Display Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Power Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Microsoft® Windows® Logo Key Functions . . . 43
Dell™ QuickSet Key Combinations . . . . . . . . . 43
Adjusting Keyboard Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Touch Pad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Customizing the Touch Pad . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Contents 5
5 Using a Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Battery Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Checking the Battery Charge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Dell QuickSet Battery Meter . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Microsoft®Windows®Battery Meter . . . . . . . 49
Charge Gauge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Low-Battery Warning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Conserving Battery Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Configuring Power Management Settings . . . . . 50
Using the Sleep Power State . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Charging the Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Replacing the Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Storing a Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
6 Using Multimedia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Playing Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
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™ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

6Contents
Connecting Your Computer to a TV or
Audio Device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
S-Video and Standard Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
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 . . . . 73
Enabling the Display Settings for a TV . . . . . . . 76
7 Using ExpressCards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
ExpressCard Blanks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Installing an ExpressCard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Removing an ExpressCard or Blank . . . . . . . . . . . 79
8 Using the Memory Card Reader . . . . . . . 81
Memory Card Blanks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Installing a Memory Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Removing a Memory Card or Blank . . . . . . . . . . . 83
9 Setting Up and Using Networks . . . . . . . 85
Connecting a Network or Broadband
Modem Cable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Setting Up a Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Contents 7
Wireless Local Area Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
What You Need to Establish a WLAN
Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Checking Your Wireless Network Card . . . . . . 87
Setting Up a New WLAN Using a Wireless
Router and a Broadband Modem . . . . . . . . . 88
Connecting to a WLAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Mobile Broadband (or Wireless Wide
Area Network) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
What You Need to Establish a Mobile
Broadband Network Connection . . . . . . . . . 91
Checking Your Dell Mobile Broadband Card . . . . 91
Connecting to a Mobile Broadband Network . . . 92
Enabling/Disabling the Dell Mobile
Broadband Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Dell Wi-Fi Catcher™ Network Locator . . . . . . . . . 93
10 Securing Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Security Cable Lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Passwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
If Your Computer Is Lost or Stolen . . . . . . . . . . . 96
11 Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Dell Technical Update Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Dell Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Dell Support Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

8Contents
Drive Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Optical drive problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Hard drive problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
E-Mail, Modem, and Internet Problems . . . . . . . . . 106
Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
ExpressCard Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
IEEE 1394 Device Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Keyboard Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
External Keyboard problems . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Unexpected characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Lockups and Software Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
The computer does not start . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
The computer stops responding . . . . . . . . . . 115
A program stops responding or crashes
repeatedly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
A program is designed for an earlier Microsoft®
Windows®operating system . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
A solid blue screen appears . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Dell MediaDirect problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Other software problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Memory Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Network Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Mobile Broadband (Wireless Wide Area
Network [WWAN]) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Power Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Printer Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Scanner Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

Contents 9
Sound and Speaker Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
No sound from integrated speakers . . . . . . . . 123
No sound from external speakers . . . . . . . . . 123
No sound from headphones . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Touch Pad or Mouse Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Video and Display Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
If the display is blank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
If the display is difficult to read . . . . . . . . . . 125
If only part of the display is readable . . . . . . . 126
Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
What Is a Driver? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Identifying Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Reinstalling Drivers and Utilities . . . . . . . . . . 127
Troubleshooting Software and Hardware
Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Restoring Your Operating System . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Using Microsoft Windows System Restore . . . . 131
Using Dell PC Restore by Symantec . . . . . . . . 131
Using the Operating System Media . . . . . . . . 134
12 Adding and Replacing Parts . . . . . . . . . 137
Before You Begin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Recommended Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Turning Off Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Before Working Inside Your Computer . . . . . . . 138

10 Contents
Hard Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Removing the Hard Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Replacing the Hard Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Returning a Hard Drive to Dell . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Optical Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Removing the Optical Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Replacing the Optical Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Hinge Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Removing the Hinge Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Replacing the Hinge Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Removing the Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Replacing the Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Removing the DIMM A Memory Module . . . . . . 146
Replacing the DIMM A Memory Module . . . . . 148
Removing the DIMM B Memory Module . . . . . . 149
Replacing the DIMM B Memory Module . . . . . 150
Subscriber Identity Module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Wireless Mini Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Removing a WLAN Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Replacing a WLAN Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Removing a Mobile Broadband or
WWAN Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Replacing a WWAN Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Removing a WPAN Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Replacing a WPAN Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161