Dell Precision M4300 User manual

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Dell Precision™ M4300
User’s Guide

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 167.
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,
ExpressCharge, TravelLite, Strike Zone, Wi-Fi Catcher, XPS, and Dell OpenManage are trademarks of Dell Inc.; Intel is a registered trademark
and Core is a trademark of Intel Corporation; Microsoft, Outlook, and Windows are registered trademarks and Windows Vista and the Windows
Vista Start button are 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 PP04X
May 2007 P/N TX453 Rev. A00

Contents 1
Contents
1 Finding Information
2 About Your Computer
Front View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Left Side View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Right Side View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Back View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Bottom View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Transferring Information to a New Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Running the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard With the Operating System Media
25
Running the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard Without the Operating System Media
26
Windows Vista™ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
3 Using a Battery
Battery Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Checking the Battery Charge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Dell™ QuickSet Battery Meter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Microsoft®Windows®Power Meter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Charge Gauge. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Low-Battery Warning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Conserving Battery Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Power Management Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Standby Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Hibernate Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Configuring Power Management Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Charging the Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

2Contents
Replacing the Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Storing a Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
4 Using the Keyboard and Touch Pad
Numeric Keypad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Key Combinations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
System Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Display Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Power Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Microsoft®Windows®Logo Key Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Touch Pad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Customizing the Touch Pad and Track Stick . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Changing the Track Stick Cap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
5 Using Multimedia
Playing CDs or DVDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Adjusting the Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Adjusting the Picture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Connecting Your Computer to a TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Enabling the Display Settings for a TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
6 Using the Display
Adjusting Brightness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Switching the Video Image From Your Computer Display to a Projector. . . . 45
Making Images and Text Look Bigger or Sharper on the Screen: Setting Display
Resolution and Refresh Rate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Microsoft®Windows®XP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Windows Vista™ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Contents 3
Using an External Monitor Simultaneously as an Extension of Your Computer Display
46
Microsoft®Windows®XP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Windows Vista™ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Using an External Monitor as Your Primary Display: Swapping Primary and Secondary
Displays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Microsoft®Windows®XP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Windows Vista™ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Using the Ambient Light Sensor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
7 Setting Up and Using Networks
Connecting a Network or Broadband Modem Cable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Setting Up a Network in Microsoft Windows XP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Setting Up a Network in Microsoft Windows Vista. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
What You Need to Establish a WLAN Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Checking Your Wireless Network Card. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Setting Up a New WLAN Using a Wireless Router and a Broadband Modem 53
Connecting to a WLAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Monitoring the Status of Wireless Network Connections Through Dell™ QuickSet
55
Mobile Broadband or Wireless Wide Area Network (WWAN). . . . . . . . . 55
What You Need to Establish a Mobile Broadband Network Connection . 56
Checking Your Mobile Broadband Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Connecting to a Mobile Broadband Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Enabling/Disabling the Dell Mobile Broadband Network Card. . . . . . . 57
Managing Your Network Settings Through the Dell QuickSet Location Profiler 57
Dell™ Wi-Fi Catcher™ Network Locator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Internet Connection Firewall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
8 Using Cards
Card Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Card Blanks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

4Contents
Extended Cards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Installing a PC Card or ExpressCard. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
PC Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
ExpressCard. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Removing a Card or Blank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
9 Securing Your Computer
Security Cable Lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Smart Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
About Smart Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Installing a Smart Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Passwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Using a Primary/System Password . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Using an Administrator Password . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Using a Hard Drive Password . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Trusted Platform Module (TPM) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Enabling the TPM Feature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Security Management Software. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Computer Tracking Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
If Your Computer Is Lost or Stolen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
10 Troubleshooting
Dell Technical Update Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Dell Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
When to Use the Dell Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Starting the Dell Diagnostics From Your Hard Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Starting the Dell Diagnostics From the Drivers and Utilities Media . . . . 70
Dell Diagnostics Main Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Dell Support Utility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Accessing the Dell Support Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Clicking the Dell Support Icon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Double-Clicking the Dell Support Icon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Contents 5
Drive Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
CD and DVD drive problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Hard drive problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
E-Mail, Modem, and Internet Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
IEEE 1394 Device Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Keyboard Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
External keyboard problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Unexpected characters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Lockups and Software Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
The computer does not start up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
The computer stops responding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
A program stops responding or crashes repeatedly . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
A program is designed for an earlier Microsoft® Windows® operating system 81
A solid blue screen appears . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Other software problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Memory Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Network Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
PC Card or ExpressCard Problems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Power Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Ensuring Sufficient Power for Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Docking Power Considerations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Printer Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Scanner Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Sound and Speaker Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
No sound from integrated speakers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
No sound from external speakers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
No sound from headphones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Touch Pad or Mouse Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Video and Display Problems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
If the display is blank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
If the display is difficult to read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

6Contents
If only part of the display is readable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
11 System Setup Program
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Viewing the System Setup Screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
System Setup Screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Commonly Used Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Changing the Boot Sequence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Changing COM Ports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
12 Traveling With Your Computer
Identifying Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Packing the Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Travel Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Traveling by Air . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
13 Reinstalling Software
Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
What Is a Driver? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Identifying Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Reinstalling Drivers and Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Using the Hardware Troubleshooter Tool in Microsoft Windows XP and Windows Vista
Operating Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Restoring Your Operating System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Using Microsoft Windows System Restore. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Using the Operating System Media. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
14 Adding and Replacing Parts
Before You Begin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Recommended Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Turning Off Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Contents 7
Before Working Inside Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Hard Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Returning a Hard Drive to Dell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Media Bay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Removing and Installing Media Bay Devices. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Hinge Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Memory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Wireless Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Mobile Broadband or Wireless Wide Area Network (WWAN) Cards . . 118
FCM (Flash Cache Module) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Internal Card With Bluetooth®Wireless Technology. . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Coin-Cell Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
15 Dell™ QuickSet
16 Specifications
17 Getting Help
Obtaining Assistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Technical Support and Customer Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
DellConnect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Online Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
AutoTech Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Automated Order-Status Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Problems With Your Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Product Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

8Contents
Returning Items for Warranty Repair or Credit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Before You Call. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Contacting Dell. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
18 Appendix
Cleaning Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Computer, Keyboard, and Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Touch Pad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Mouse. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
CDs and DVDs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Macrovision Product Notice. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
FCC Notice (U.S. Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
FCC Class B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167