Dell Inspiron 9300 User manual

www.dell.com | support.dell.com
Dell™ Inspiron™ 9300
Owner’s Manual
Model PP14L

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 Inspiron Help file. To access the help file, see
"Finding Information" on page 9.
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.
© 2005 Dell Inc. All rights reserved.
Reproduction in any manner whatsoever without the written permission of Dell Inc. is strictly forbidden.
Trademarksusedinthistext:Dell,theDELLlogo,Inspiron,DellPrecision,Dimension,OptiPlex,Latitude,PowerEdge,PowerVault,PowerApp,
PowerConnect,DellNet,and Dell OpenManage are trademarks of Dell Inc.; Intel and Pentium are registered trademarks of Intel Corporation;
Microsoft, Windows,and Outlook are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation; 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 PP14L
September 2005 P/N G7903 Rev. A03

Contents 3
Contents
Finding Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1 A Tour of Your Computer
Front View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Left Side View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Right Side View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Back View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Bottom View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2 Setting Up Your Computer
Connecting to the Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Setting Up Your Internet Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Setting Up a Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Printer Cable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Connecting a USB Printer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Power Protection Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Surge Protectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Line Conditioners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Uninterruptible Power Supplies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
3 Using a Battery
Battery Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Checking the Battery Charge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Dell QuickSet Battery Meter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Microsoft Windows Power Meter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Charge Gauge. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Low-Battery Warning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

4Contents
Charging the Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Removing a Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Installing a Battery. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Storing a Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
4 Using CDs, DVDs, and Other Multimedia
Using CDs and DVDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Copying CDs and DVDs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
How to Copy a CD or DVD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Using Blank CD-Rs and CD-RWs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Helpful Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Using MediaDirect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Connecting Your Computer to a TV or Audio Device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
S-Video and Standard Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
S-Video and S/PDIF Digital Audio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Composite Video and Standard Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Composite Video and S/PDIF Digital Audio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Changing Your Audio Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Enabling the Display Settings for a TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
5 Using the Keyboard and Touch Pad
Numeric Keypad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Key Combinations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
System Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
CD or DVD Tray . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Display Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Radios (Including Wireless Networking and Bluetooth®
Wireless Technology) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Power Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Speaker Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Microsoft®Windows®Logo Key Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Contents 5
Touch Pad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Customizing the Touch Pad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
6 Using PC Cards
PC Card Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
PC Card Blanks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Extended PC Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Installing a PC Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Removing a PC Card or Blank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
7 Setting Up a Home and Office Network
Connecting to a Network Adapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Network Setup Wizard. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Connecting to a Wireless Local Area Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Determining Your Network Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Connecting to a Wireless Network in Microsoft®Windows®XP . . . . . 53
8 Solving Problems
Dell Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
When to Use the Dell Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Drive Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
DVD drive problems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Hard drive problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
E-Mail, Modem, and Internet Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
IEEE 1394 Device Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Keyboard Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
External keyboard problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Unexpected characters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

6Contents
Lockups and Software Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
The computer does not start up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
The computer stops responding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
A program stops responding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
A program crashes repeatedly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
A program is designed for an earlier Windows operating system . . . . . 64
A solid blue screen appears . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Other software problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Memory Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Network Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
PC Card Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Power Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Printer Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Scanner Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Sound and Speaker Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
No sound from integrated speakers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
No sound from external speakers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
No sound from headphones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Touch Pad or Mouse Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Video and Display Problems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
If the display is blank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
If the display is difficult to read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
If only part of the display is readable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
What Is a Driver? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Identifying Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Reinstalling Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Restoring Your Operating System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Using Microsoft Windows XP System Restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Using Dell PC Restore by Symantec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Using the Operating System CD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Resolving Software and Hardware Incompatibilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Contents 7
9 Adding and Replacing Parts
Before You Begin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Recommended Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Turning Off Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Before Working Inside Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Hard Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Returning a Hard Drive to Dell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Memory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Modem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Mini PCI Card. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Hinge Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Coin-Cell Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Optical Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Internal Card With Bluetooth®Wireless Technology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
10 Appendix
Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Using the System Setup Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Viewing the System Setup Screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
System Setup Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Commonly Used Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Dell Technical Support Policy (U.S. Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Definition of "Dell-Installed" Software and Peripherals . . . . . . . . . 107
Definition of "Third-Party" Software and Peripherals. . . . . . . . . . . 108
Contacting Dell. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

8Contents
FCC Notices (U.S. Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Class A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Class B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
FCC Identification Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Macrovision Product Notice. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Finding Information 9
Finding Information
NOTE: Some features may not be available for your computer or in certain countries.
NOTE: Additional information may ship with your computer.
What Are You Looking For? Find It Here
• Warranty information
• Terms and Conditions (U.S. only)
• Safety instructions
• Regulatory information
• Ergonomics information
• End User License Agreement
Dell™ Product Information Guide
• How to set up my computer Setup Diagram
• Tips on using Microsoft
®
Windows
®
• How to play CDs and DVDs
• How to use standby mode and hibernate mode
• How to change my display resolution
• How to clean my computer
Help File
1 Click the Start button and click Help and Support .
2 Click User and system guides and click User’s guides .
3 Click Dell Inspiron Help .

10 Finding Information
www.dell.com | support.dell.com
• Service Tag and Express Service Code
• Microsoft Windows License Label
Service Tag and Microsoft Windows License
These labels are located on
the bottom of your computer.
• Use the Service Tag to
identify your
computer when you
use
support.dell.com
or contact technical
support.
• Enter the Express Service Code to direct your call when
contacting technical support.
What Are You Looking For? Find It Here