Dell Vostro 1400 User manual

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Dell™ Vostro™ 1400 Owner’s Manual
Model PP26L
book.book Page 1 Wednesday, September 16, 2009 11:12 AM

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, Vostro, Wi-Fi Catcher, Dell MediaDirect and Dell
Media Experience are trademarks of Dell Inc.; Intel, Celeron, and Core are registered trademarks of
Intel Corporation; 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 PP26L
September 2009 P/N WY106 Rev. A02
book.book Page 2 Wednesday, September 16, 2009 11:12 AM

Contents 3
Contents
1 Finding Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2 About Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Determining Your Computer’s Configuration . . . . . . 23
Front View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Left Side View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Right Side View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Back View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Bottom View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
3 Setting Up Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Connecting to the Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Setting Up Your Internet Connection . . . . . . . . 38
Transferring Information to a New Computer . . . . . 39
Microsoft®Windows®XP . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Microsoft Windows Vista™ . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Setting Up a Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Printer Cable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Connecting a USB Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
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4Contents
Power Protection Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Surge Protectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Line Conditioners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Uninterruptible Power Supplies . . . . . . . . . . 46
4 Using the Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Adjusting Brightness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Switching the Video Image From Your Computer
Display To a Projector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Setting Display Resolution and Refresh Rate . . . . . . 47
Microsoft®Windows®XP . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Windows Vista™ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
5 Using the Keyboard and Touch Pad . . . . 49
Numeric Keypad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Key Combinations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
System Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Display Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Power Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Microsoft®Windows®Logo Key Functions . . . . 50
Dell™ QuickSet Key Combinations . . . . . . . . . 51
Adjusting Keyboard Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Touch Pad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Customizing the Touch Pad . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
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Contents 5
6 Using a Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Battery Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Checking the Battery Charge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Dell QuickSet Battery Meter . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Charge Gauge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Low-Battery Warning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Microsoft®Windows®XP Battery Meter . . . . . 58
Microsoft®Windows®Vista Battery Meter . . . . 58
Conserving Battery Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Power Management Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Standby and Sleep Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Hibernate Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Configuring Power Management Settings . . . . . . . 60
Accessing Power Options Properties . . . . . . . 60
Charging the Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Replacing the Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Storing a Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
7 Using the Optional Camera . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Accessing the Camera’s Help File . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Manually Adjusting the Camera Settings . . . . . . . . 64
Creating a Picture or a Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
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6Contents
8 Using Multimedia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Playing Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Playing Media Using Dell Express Card
Remote Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Copying CD and DVD Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
How to Copy a CD or DVD . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Using Blank CD and DVD Media . . . . . . . . . . 72
Helpful Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Adjusting the Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Adjusting the Picture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Using Dell Media Experience™ and
Dell MediaDirect™ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
If the computer is turned on or in standby
or sleep mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
If the computer is turned off or in
hibernate mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Dell MediaDirect and Dell Media
Experience Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Connecting Your Computer to a TV or Audio Device . . 76
S-Video and Standard Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
S-Video and S/PDIF Digital Audio . . . . . . . . . 80
Composite Video and Standard Audio . . . . . . . 82
Composite Video and S/PDIF Digital Audio . . . . 84
Component Video and Standard Audio . . . . . . 86
Component Video and S/PDIF Digital Audio . . . . 88
Enabling the Display Settings for a TV . . . . . . . 91
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Contents 7
9 Using ExpressCards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
ExpressCard Blanks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Installing an ExpressCard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Removing an ExpressCard or Blank . . . . . . . . . . 95
10 Using the Memory Card Reader . . . . . . . 97
Memory Card Blanks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Installing a Memory Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Removing a Memory Card or Blank . . . . . . . . . . . 98
11 Setting Up and Using Networks . . . . . . . 99
Connecting a Network or Broadband Modem
Cable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Setting Up a Network in the Microsoft®
Windows®XP Operating System . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Setting Up a Network in the Microsoft
Windows Vista™ Operating System . . . . . . . . . . 100
Wireless Local Area Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
What You Need to Establish a WLAN
Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Checking Your Wireless Network Card . . . . . . 101
Setting Up a New WLAN Using a Wireless
Router and a Broadband Modem . . . . . . . . . 102
Connecting to a WLAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
book.book Page 7 Wednesday, September 16, 2009 11:12 AM

8Contents
Mobile Broadband (or Wireless Wide Area
Network) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
What You Need to Establish a Mobile
Broadband Network Connection . . . . . . . . . . 106
Checking Your Dell Mobile Broadband Card . . . . 107
Connecting to a Mobile Broadband Network . . . 107
Enabling/Disabling the Dell Mobile Broadband
Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Dell Wi-Fi Catcher™ Network Locator . . . . . . . . . 108
12 Securing Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Security Cable Lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Passwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
If Your Computer Is Lost or Stolen . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
13 Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Dell Technical Update Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Dell Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Dell Support Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Dell Support 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Dell PC Tune-Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Dell PC Checkup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Dell Network Assistant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
DellConnect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Drive Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Optical drive problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Hard drive problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
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Contents 9
E-Mail, Modem, and Internet Problems . . . . . . . . 125
Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
ExpressCard Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
IEEE 1394 Device Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Keyboard Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
External Keyboard problems . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Unexpected characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Lockups and Software Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
The computer does not start . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
The computer stops responding . . . . . . . . . . 135
A program stops responding or crashes
repeatedly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
A program is designed for an earlier
Microsoft®Windows®operating system . . . . . 136
A solid blue screen appears . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Dell MediaDirect problems . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Other software problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Memory Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Network Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Mobile Broadband (Wireless Wide Area
Network [WWAN]) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Power Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Printer Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Scanner Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
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10 Contents
Sound and Speaker Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
No sound from integrated speakers . . . . . . . . 143
No sound from external speakers . . . . . . . . . 143
No sound from headphones . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Remote Control Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Touch Pad or Mouse Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Video and Display Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
If the display is blank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
If the display is difficult to read . . . . . . . . . . 146
If only part of the display is readable . . . . . . . 147
Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
What Is a Driver? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Identifying Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Reinstalling Drivers and Utilities . . . . . . . . . . 149
Using the Drivers and Utilities Media . . . . . . . 150
Manually Reinstalling Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Troubleshooting Software and Hardware Problems . . 152
Restoring Your Microsoft®Windows Vista™
Operating System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Using Windows Vista System Restore . . . . . . . 153
Restoring the Computer to the Default Factory Configuration 155
Using the Operating System Media . . . . . . . . 156
Restoring Your Microsoft®Windows®XP
Operating System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Using Microsoft Windows System Restore . . . . 158
Starting System Restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Using Dell™ PC Restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Using the Operating System Media . . . . . . . . 161
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