Dell Inspiron GU051 User manual

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Dell™ Inspiron™ 1721 Owner’s Manual
Model PP22X

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, Yours is here, 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 PP22X
September 2007 P/N GU051 Rev. A02

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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Back View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
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 . . . . . . 39
4 Using the Keyboard and Touch Pad . . . . 41
Numeric Keypad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Key Combinations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
System Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Display Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Power Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Microsoft® Windows® Logo Key Functions . . . 42
Dell™ QuickSet Key Combinations . . . . . . . . . 42
Adjusting Keyboard Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
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 . . . . . 49
Using the Sleep Power State . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Charging the Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Replacing the Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Storing a Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
6 Using Multimedia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Playing Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Playing Media Using Dell Travel Remote . . . . . . . . 55
Copying CDs and DVDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
How to Copy a CD or DVD . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Using Blank CDs and DVDs . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Helpful Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Adjusting the Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Adjusting the Picture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Using Dell MediaDirect™ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

6Contents
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 . . . . . . . 75
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 . . . . . . . . . . . 82
9 Setting Up and Using Networks . . . . . . . 83
Connecting a Network or Broadband
Modem Cable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Setting Up a Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Contents 7
Wireless Local Area Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
What You Need to Establish a
WLAN Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Checking Your Wireless Network Card . . . . . . 85
Setting Up a New WLAN Using a Wireless
Router and a Broadband Modem . . . . . . . . . 86
Connecting to a WLAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Mobile Broadband (or Wireless Wide
Area Network) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
What You Need to Establish a Mobile
Broadband Network Connection . . . . . . . . . 89
Checking Your Dell Mobile Broadband Card . . . . 90
Connecting to a Mobile Broadband Network . . . 90
Enabling/Disabling the Dell Mobile
roadband Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Dell Wi-Fi Catcher™ Network Locator . . . . . . . . . 92
10 Securing Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Security Cable Lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Passwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
If Your Computer is Lost or Stolen . . . . . . . . . . . 94
11 Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Dell Technical Update Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Dell Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Dell Support Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Dell Support 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
DellConnect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Network Assistant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

8Contents
PC TuneUp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
PC CheckUp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Drive Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Optical drive problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Hard drive problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
E-Mail, Modem, and Internet Problems . . . . . . . . . 107
Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
ExpressCard Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
IEEE 1394 Device Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Keyboard Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
External Keyboard problems . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Unexpected characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Lockups and Software Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
The computer does not start . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
The computer stops responding . . . . . . . . . . 116
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 . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Dell MediaDirect problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Other software problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Memory Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Network Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Mobile Broadband (Wireless Wide Area
Network [WWAN]) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Power Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Printer Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

Contents 9
Scanner Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Sound and Speaker Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
No sound from integrated speakers . . . . . . . . 123
No sound from external speakers . . . . . . . . . 124
No sound from headphones . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Touch Pad or Mouse Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Video and Display Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
If the display is blank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
If the display is difficult to read . . . . . . . . . . 126
If only part of the display is readable . . . . . . . 127
Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
What is a Driver? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Identifying Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Reinstalling Drivers and Utilities . . . . . . . . . . 128
Troubleshooting Software and Hardware Problems
in the Windows Vista™ Operating System . . . . . . . 130
Restoring Your Operating System . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Using Windows Vista System Restore . . . . . . . 132
12 Adding and Replacing Parts . . . . . . . . . 135
Before You Begin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Recommended Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Turning Off Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Before Working Inside Your Computer . . . . . . . 136
Hard Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Removing the Hard Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Replacing the Hard Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Returning a Hard Drive to Dell . . . . . . . . . . . 141

10 Contents
Optical Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Removing the Optical Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Replacing the Optical Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Hinge Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Removing the Hinge Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Replacing the Hinge Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Removing the Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Replacing the Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Removing the DIMM A Memory Module . . . . . . 147
Replacing the DIMM A Memory Module . . . . . 148
Removing the DIMM B Memory Module . . . . . . 149
Replacing the DIMM B Memory Module . . . . . 151
Subscriber Identity Module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Wireless Mini Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Removing a WLAN Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Replacing a WLAN Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Removing a Mobile Broadband or
WWAN Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Replacing a WWAN Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Removing a WPAN Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Replacing a WPAN Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Internal Card With Bluetooth®Wireless
Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Removing the Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Replacing the Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Coin-Cell Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Removing the Coin-Cell Battery . . . . . . . . . . 164
Replacing the Coin-Cell Battery . . . . . . . . . . 164