Dell Vostro 1500 User manual

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Dell™ Vostro™ 1500 Owner’s Manual
Model PP22L

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, Vo s t ro , Wi-Fi Catcher, and Dell MediaDirect are
trademarks of Dell Inc.; Intel is a registered trademark and Core is a trademark of Intel Corporation;
Microsoft, Windows, Outlook, Windows XP 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; 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 PP22L
November 2007 P/N TT979 Rev. A02

Contents 3
Contents
1 Finding Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2 About Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Determining Your Computer’s Configuration . . . . . . 21
Front View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Left Side View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Right Side View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Back View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Connecting a USB Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Power Protection Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

4Contents
Surge Protectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Line Conditioners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Uninterruptible Power Supplies . . . . . . . . . . 46
4 Using the Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Adjusting Brightness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Using a Projector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Making Images and Text Look Bigger or Sharper . . . 47
Microsoft®Windows®XP . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Windows Vista™ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Using Both a Monitor and Your Computer Display . . . 49
Microsoft Windows XP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Windows Vista . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Setting Display Resolution and Refresh Rate . . . . . . 50
Microsoft Windows XP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Windows Vista . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
5 Using the Keyboard and Touch Pad . . . . 53
Numeric Keypad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Key Combinations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
System Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Display Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Power Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Microsoft®Windows®Logo Key Functions . . . . 55
Dell™ QuickSet Key Combinations . . . . . . . . . 55
Adjusting Keyboard Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Contents 5
Touch Pad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Customizing the Touch Pad . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
6 Using a Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Battery Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Checking the Battery Charge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Dell™ QuickSet Battery Meter . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Microsoft®Windows®Battery Meter . . . . . . . 61
Charge Gauge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Low-Battery Warning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Conserving Battery Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Power Management Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Standby and Sleep Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Hibernate Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Configuring Power Management Settings . . . . . . . 64
Accessing Power Options Properties . . . . . . . 64
Charging the Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Replacing the Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Storing a Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
7 Using Multimedia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Playing Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Playing Media Using Dell Travel Remote . . . . . . . . 69

6Contents
Copying CD, DVD, and Blu-ray Disc™ (BD) Media . . . 70
How to Copy a CD, DVD, or BD . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Using Blank CD, DVD, and BD Media . . . . . . . 71
Helpful Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Adjusting the Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Adjusting the Picture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Using Dell MediaDirect™ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Connecting Your Computer to a TV or
Audio Device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
S-Video and Standard Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
S-Video and S/PDIF Digital Audio . . . . . . . . . 78
Composite Video and Standard Audio . . . . . . . 80
Composite Video and S/PDIF Digital Audio . . . . 82
Component Video and Standard Audio . . . . . . 84
Component Video and S/PDIF Digital Audio . . . . 87
Enabling the Display Settings for a TV . . . . . . . 90
8 Using ExpressCards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
ExpressCard Blanks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Installing an ExpressCard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Removing an ExpressCard or Blank . . . . . . . . . . . 93
9 Using the Memory Card Reader . . . . . . . 95
Memory Card Blanks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Installing a Memory Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Removing a Memory Card or Blank . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Contents 7
10 Setting Up and Using Networks . . . . . . . 97
Connecting a Network or Broadband
Modem Cable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Setting Up a Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Windows XP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Windows Vista . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Wireless Local Area Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
What You Need to Establish a WLAN
Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Checking Your Wireless Network Card . . . . . . 99
Setting Up a New WLAN Using a Wireless
Router and a Broadband Modem . . . . . . . . . 100
Connecting to a WLAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Mobile Broadband (or Wireless Wide
Area Network) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
What You Need to Establish a Mobile
Broadband Network Connection . . . . . . . . . 104
Checking Your Dell Mobile Broadband Card . . . . 105
Connecting to a Mobile Broadband Network . . . 105
Enabling/Disabling the Dell Mobile
Broadband Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Dell Wi-Fi Catcher™ Network Locator . . . . . . . . . 107
11 Securing Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Security Cable Lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Passwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
If Your Computer Is Lost or Stolen . . . . . . . . . . . 110

8Contents
12 Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Dell Technical Update Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Dell Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Dell Support Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Dell Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Dell PC TuneUp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Dell PC Checkup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Dell Network Assistant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
DellConnect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Drive Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Optical drive problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Hard drive problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
E-Mail, Modem, and Internet Problems . . . . . . . . . 123
Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
ExpressCard Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
IEEE 1394 Device Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Keyboard Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
External Keyboard problems . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Unexpected characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Lockups and Software Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
The computer does not start . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
The computer stops responding . . . . . . . . . . 133
A program stops responding or crashes
repeatedly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
A program is designed for an earlier
Microsoft®Windows®operating system . . . . . 134
A solid blue screen appears . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

Contents 9
Dell MediaDirect problems . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Other software problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Memory Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Network Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Mobile Broadband (Wireless Wide Area
Network [WWAN]) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Power Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Printer Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Scanner Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Sound and Speaker Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
No sound from integrated speakers . . . . . . . . 141
No sound from external speakers . . . . . . . . . 141
No sound from headphones . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Remote Control Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Touch Pad or Mouse Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Video and Display Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
If the display is blank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
If the display is difficult to read . . . . . . . . . . 144
If only part of the display is readable . . . . . . . 145
Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
What Is a Driver? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Identifying Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Reinstalling Drivers and Utilities . . . . . . . . . . 146
Troubleshooting Software and Hardware
Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

10 Contents
Restoring your Microsoft Windows
Operating System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Restoring Windows Vista®. . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Restoring Windows XP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
13 Adding and Replacing Parts . . . . . . . . . 161
Before You Begin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Recommended Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Turning Off Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Before Working Inside Your Computer . . . . . . . 162
Hard Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Removing the Hard Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Replacing the Hard Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Returning a Hard Drive to Dell . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Optical Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Removing the Optical Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Hinge Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
Removing the Hinge Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
Replacing the Hinge Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Removing the Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Replacing the Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Removing the DIMM A Memory Module . . . . . . 172
Replacing the DIMM A Memory Module . . . . . 173
Removing the DIMM B Memory Module . . . . . . 175
Replacing the DIMM B Memory Module . . . . . 176
Subscriber Identity Module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178