Dell PowerEdge 6400 User manual

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Dell™ Inspiron™ 6400/E1505
Owner’s Manual
Model PP20L

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 "Glossary" on page 169.
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.
© 2005–2006 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,DellNet,OptiPlex,Latitude,PowerEdge,PowerConnect,
PowerVault, PowerApp, Dell TravelLite, ExpressCharge, Dell Media Experience, MediaDirect, XPS, and Strike Zone are trademarks of Dell
Inc.; Core is a trademark and Intel and Celeron are registered trademarks of Intel Corporation; 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;
IBMisaregisteredtrademarkofIBMCorporation;EMCisaregisteredtrademarkofEMCCorporation;ENERGYSTARisaregisteredtrademark
of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
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 PP20L
August 2006 P/N MD402 Rev. A03

Contents 3
Contents
Finding Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1 About Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Determining Your Computer’s Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Front View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Left Side View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Right Side View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Back View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Bottom View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2 Setting Up Your Computer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Connecting to the Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Setting Up Your Internet Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Transferring Information to a New Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Running the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard With the
Operating System CD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Running the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard Without the
Operating System CD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Setting Up a Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Printer Cable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Connecting a USB Printer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Power Protection Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Surge Protectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Line Conditioners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Uninterruptible Power Supplies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

4Contents
3 Using the Display. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Adjusting Brightness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Switching the Video Image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Setting Display Resolution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
4 Using the Keyboard and Touch Pad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Numeric Keypad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Key Combinations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
System Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Display Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Power Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Speaker Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Microsoft®Windows®Logo Key Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
QuickSet Key Combinations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Adjusting Keyboard Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Touch Pad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Customizing the Touch Pad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
5 Using a Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Battery Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Checking the Battery Charge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Dell™ QuickSet Battery Meter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Microsoft®Windows®Power Meter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Charge Gauge. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Low-Battery Warning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Conserving Battery Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Power Management Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Configuring Power Management Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Charging the Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Replacing the Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Storing a Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Contents 5
6 Using Multimedia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Playing CDs or DVDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Copying CDs and DVDs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
How to Copy a CD or DVD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Using Blank CDs and DVDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Helpful Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Adjusting the Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Adjusting the Picture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Using Dell Media Experience™ and Dell MediaDirect™ . . . . . . . . . . . 49
If the computer is turned on or in standby mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
If the computer is turned off or in hibernate mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Dell MediaDirect and Dell Media Experience Help . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Connecting Your Computer to a TV or Audio Device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
S-Video and Standard Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
S-Video and S/PDIF Digital Audio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Composite Video and Standard Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Composite Video and S/PDIF Digital Audio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Component Video and Standard Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Component Video and S/PDIF Digital Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Setting Up the Cyberlink (CL) Headphones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Enabling the Display Settings for a TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
7UsingCards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
ExpressCards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
ExpressCard Blanks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Installing an ExpressCard. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Removing an ExpressCard or Blank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Media Memory Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Installing a Media Memory Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Removing a Media Memory Card. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

6Contents
8 Setting Up a Network. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Physically Connecting to a Network or Broadband Modem . . . . . . . . . . 69
Network Setup Wizard. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
What You Need to Establish a WLAN Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Checking Your Wireless Network Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Setting Up a New WLAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Connecting to a Wireless Local Area Network. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Enabling/Disabling the Wireless Network Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Monitoring the Status of Wireless Network Connections Through
Dell™ QuickSet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Mobile Broadband or Wireless Wide Area Network (WWAN). . . . . . . . . 74
What You Need to Establish a Mobile Broadband Network
Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Connecting to a Mobile Broadband Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
9 Securing Your Computer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Security Cable Lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Passwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Computer Tracking Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
If Your Computer Is Lost or Stolen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
10 Solving Problems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Dell Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Dell Support Utility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Accessing the Dell Support Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Clicking the Dell Support Icon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Double-Clicking the Dell Support Icon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Drive Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
CD and DVD drive problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
If you cannot eject the CD, CD-RW, DVD, or DVD+RW drive tray . . . . . 83
If you hear an unfamiliar scraping or grinding sound . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Hard drive problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Contents 7
E-Mail, Modem, and Internet Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
ExpressCard Problems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
IEEE 1394 Device Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Keyboard Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
External Keyboard problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Unexpected characters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Lockups and Software Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
The computer does not start up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
The computer stops responding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
A program stops responding or crashes repeatedly . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
A program is designed for an earlier Microsoft®Windows®
operating system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
A solid blue screen appears . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Dell MediaDirect problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Other software problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Memory Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Network Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Mobile Broadband (Wireless Wide Area Network [WWAN]) . . . . . . . 93
Power Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Ensuring Sufficient Power for Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Printer Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Scanner Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Sound and Speaker Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
No sound from integrated speakers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
No sound from external speakers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
No sound from headphones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Touch Pad or Mouse Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Video and Display Problems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
If the display is blank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
If the display is difficult to read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
If only part of the display is readable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

8Contents
Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
What Is a Driver? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Identifying Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Reinstalling Drivers and Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Resolving Software and Hardware Incompatibilities . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Restoring Your Operating System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Using Microsoft Windows XP System Restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Using Dell PC Restore by Symantec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Using the Operating System CD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
11 Adding and Replacing Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Before You Begin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Recommended Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Turning Off Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Before Working Inside Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Optical Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Hard Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Returning a Hard Drive to Dell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Memory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Modem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Hinge Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Wireless Mini-Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Coin-Cell Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Internal Card With Bluetooth®Wireless Technology. . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

Contents 9
12 Dell™ QuickSet Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
13 Traveling With Your Computer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Identifying Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Packing the Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Travel Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Traveling by Air . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
14 Contacting Dell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
15 Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
16 Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Using the System Setup Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Viewing the System Setup Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
System Setup Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Commonly Used Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Cleaning Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Computer, Keyboard, and Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Touch Pad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Floppy Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
CDs and DVDs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Dell Technical Support Policy (U.S. Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Definition of "Dell-Installed" Software and Peripherals . . . . . . . . . 167
Definition of "Third-Party" Software and Peripherals. . . . . . . . . . . 167
FCC Notice (U.S. Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
FCC Class B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Macrovision Product Notice. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168

10 Contents
Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181