Dell Latitude D631 User manual

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Dell™ Latitude™ D631
User’s Guide
Model PP18L

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.
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.
© 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, Dell Precision, Dimension, OptiPlex, Latitude, PowerEdge, PowerVault,
PowerApp, PowerConnect, Dell TravelLite, Wi-Fi Catcher, StrikeZone, and ExpressCharge are trademarks of Dell Inc.; AMD, AMD Turion,
and combinations thereof are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc;Windows Vista is a trademark and Microsoft, Outlook, and Windows
are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation; Bluetooth is a registered trademark owned by Bluetooth SIG, Inc. and is used by Dell
under license; EMC is a registered trademark of EMC Corporation; ENERGY STAR is a registered trademark of the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency. As an ENERGY STAR partner, Dell Inc.has determined that this product meets the ENERGY STAR guidelines for energy
efficiency.
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 PP18L
April 2007 P/N GU495 Rev. A01

Contents 3
Contents
1 Finding Information
2 About Your Computer
Front View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Left Side View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Right Side View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Back View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Bottom View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
3 Transferring Information to a New Computer
Running the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard With the
Operating System CD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Running the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard Without the
Operating System CD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Easy Transfer Cable for Windows Vista™ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
4 Using a Battery
Battery Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Checking the Battery Charge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Dell™ QuickSet Battery Meter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Microsoft®Windows®Power Meter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Charge Gauge. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Low-Battery Warning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Conserving Battery Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Power Management Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Standby and Sleep Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Hibernate Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Configuring Power Management Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

4Contents
Accessing Power Options Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Charging the Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Replacing the Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Storing a Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Battery Errors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
5 Using the Keyboard
Numeric Keypad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Key Combinations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
System Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Display Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Power Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Microsoft® Windows® Logo Key Functions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Touch Pad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Customizing the Touch Pad and Track Stick . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Changing the Track Stick Cap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
6 Using the Display
Adjusting Brightness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Switching the Video Image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Setting Display Resolution and Refresh Rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Dual Independent Display Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Swapping Primary and Secondary Displays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Using the Ambient Light Sensor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Using ATI Catalyst® Control Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Launching Catalyst Control Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Contents 5
7 Setting Up and Using Networks
Connecting a Network or Broadband Modem Cable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Setting Up a Network in the Microsoft®Windows®XP
Operating System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Setting Up a Network in the Microsoft Windows Vista™
Operating System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Wireless Local Area Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
What You Need to Establish a WLAN Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Checking Your Wireless Network Card. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Setting Up a New WLAN Using a Wireless Router and a
Broadband Modem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Connecting to a WLAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Mobile Broadband (or Wireless Wide Area Network) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
What You Need to Establish a Mobile Broadband Network
Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Checking Your Dell Mobile Broadband Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Connecting to a Mobile Broadband Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Enabling/Disabling the Dell™ Mobile Broadband Card . . . . . . . . . . 55
Managing Your Network Settings Through the Dell QuickSet
Location Profiler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Dell Wi-Fi Catcher™ Network Locator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Microsoft®Windows®Firewall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
8 Using Multimedia
Playing CDs or DVDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Copying CDs and DVDs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
How to Copy a CD or DVD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Using Blank CDs and DVDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Helpful Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Adjusting the Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Adjusting the Picture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Microsoft® Windows® XP Operating System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Microsoft Windows Vista™ Operating System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

6Contents
9 Using Cards
Card Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
PC Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Smart Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Card Blanks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Extended Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Installing a PC Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
PC Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Removing a Card or Blank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
10 Securing Your Computer
Security Cable Lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Smart Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
About Smart Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Installing a Smart Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Passwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
About Passwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Using a Primary (or System) Password. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Using an Administrator Password . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Using a Hard Drive Password . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Trusted Platform Module (TPM) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Enabling the TPM Feature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Security Management Software. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Activating the Security Management Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Using the Security Management Software. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Computer Tracking Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
If Your Computer Is Lost or Stolen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Cleaning Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Computer, Keyboard, and Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Touch Pad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Floppy Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
CDs and DVDs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Contents 7
11 Troubleshooting
Dell™ Technical Update Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Dell Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
When to Use the Dell Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Starting the Dell Diagnostics From Your Hard Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Starting the Dell Diagnostics From the Drivers and Utilities Media . . . . 78
Dell Diagnostics Main Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Dell Support Utility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Accessing the Dell Support Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Clicking the Dell Support Icon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Double-Clicking the Dell Support Icon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Drive Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
CD and DVD drive problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
If you cannot eject the CD, CD-RW, DVD, or DVD+RW drive tray . . . . . 82
If you hear an unfamiliar scraping or grinding sound . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Hard drive problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
E-Mail, Modem, and Internet Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
IEEE 1394 Device Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Keyboard Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
External Keyboard problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Unexpected characters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Lockups and Software Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
The computer does not start up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
The computer stops responding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
A program stops responding or crashes repeatedly . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
A program is designed for an earlier Microsoft®Windows®
operating system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
A solid blue screen appears . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Other software problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Memory Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Network Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

8Contents
Mobile Broadband (Wireless Wide Area Network) . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
PC Card Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Power Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Ensuring Sufficient Power for Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Docking Power Considerations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Printer Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Scanner Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Sound and Speaker Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
No sound from integrated speakers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
No sound from external speakers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
No sound from headphones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Touch Pad or Mouse Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Video and Display Problems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
If the display is blank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
If the display is difficult to read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
If only part of the display is readable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
12 Reinstalling Software
Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
What Is a Driver? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Identifying Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Reinstalling Drivers and Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Using the Hardware Troubleshooter Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Microsoft Windows XP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Microsoft Windows Vista . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Restoring Your Operating System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Using Microsoft® Windows® System Restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Using the Operating System CD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
13 System Setup Program
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Viewing the System Setup Screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Contents 9
System Setup Screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Commonly Used Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Changing the Boot Sequence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Changing Printer Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Changing COM Ports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
14 Adding and Replacing Parts
Before You Begin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Recommended Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Turning Off Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Before Working Inside Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Hinge Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Internal Card With Bluetooth®Wireless Technology. . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Coin-Cell Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Memory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Mobile Broadband Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Hard Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Returning a Hard Drive to Dell. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Media Bay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Removing Media Bay Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
15 Dell™ QuickSet
16 Traveling With Your Computer
Identifying Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Packing the Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

10 Contents
Travel Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Traveling by Air . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
17 Getting Help
Obtaining Assistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Technical Support and Customer Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
DellConnect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Online Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
AutoTech Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Automated Order-Status Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Problems With Your Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Product Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Returning Items for Warranty Repair or Credit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Before You Call. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Contacting Dell. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
18 Specifications
Appendix
FCC Notice (U.S. Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
FCC Class B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Macrovision Product Notice. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175