Dell Vostro 500 User manual

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Dell™ 500 Owner’s Manual
Model PP29L
book.book Page 1 Thursday, August 7, 2008 5:00 PM

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.
© 2008 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, and Wi-Fi Catcher are trademarks of Dell Inc.;
Intel is a registered trademark and Celeron is a trademark of Intel Corporation in United States and
other countries.; Microsoft and Windows 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 PP29L
July 2008 P/N U739D Rev. A03
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Contents 3
Contents
Finding Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1 About Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Front View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Left Side View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Right Side View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Back View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Bottom View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
2 Setting Up Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Connecting to the Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Setting Up Your Internet Connection . . . . . . . . 30
Transferring Information to a New Computer . . . . . 31
Windows Easy Transfer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Setting Up a Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Printer Cable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Connecting a USB Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Power Protection Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Surge Protectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Line Conditioners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Uninterruptible Power Supplies . . . . . . . . . . 37
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4Contents
3 Using the Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Adjusting Brightness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Switching the Video Image From Your
Computer Display To a Projector . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Setting Display Resolution and Refresh Rate . . . . . . 40
4 Using the Keyboard and Touch Pad . . . . 41
Numeric Keypad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Key Combinations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
System Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Display Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Power Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Microsoft®Windows®Logo Key Functions . . . . 43
Dell™ QuickSet Key Combinations . . . . . . . . . 43
Adjusting Keyboard Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Touch Pad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Customizing the Touch Pad . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
5 Using a Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Battery Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Checking the Battery Charge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Dell QuickSet Battery Meter . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Microsoft®Windows®Battery Meter . . . . . . . 49
Low-Battery Warning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Conserving Battery Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
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Contents 5
Power Management Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Standby Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Hibernate Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Configuring Power Management Settings . . . . . . . 51
Accessing Power Options Properties . . . . . . . 51
Charging the Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Replacing the Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Storing a Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
6 Using Multimedia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Playing Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Copying CD and DVD Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
How to Copy a CD or DVD . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Using Blank CD and DVD Media . . . . . . . . . . 58
Helpful Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Adjusting the Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Adjusting the Picture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
7 Using Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
ExpressCards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
ExpressCard Blanks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Installing an ExpressCard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Removing an ExpressCard or Blank . . . . . . . . . . 63
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6Contents
Memory Card Reader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Memory Card Blanks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Installing a Memory Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Removing a Memory Card or Blank . . . . . . . . . . . 65
8 Setting Up and Using Networks . . . . . . . 67
Connecting a Network or Broadband
Modem Cable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Setting Up a Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Wireless Local Area Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
What You Need to Establish a WLAN
Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Checking Your Wireless Network Card . . . . . . 68
Setting Up a New WLAN Using
a Wireless Router and a Broadband Modem . . . 69
Connecting to a WLAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
9 Securing Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Security Cable Lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Passwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
If Your Computer Is Lost or Stolen . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
10 Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Dell Technical Update Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Dell Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
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Contents 7
Drive Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Optical drive problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Hard drive problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
E-Mail, Modem, and Internet Problems . . . . . . . . 81
Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
ExpressCard Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
IEEE 1394 Device Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Keyboard Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
External Keyboard problems . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Unexpected characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Lockups and Software Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
The computer does not start . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
The computer stops responding . . . . . . . . . . 90
A program stops responding or
crashes repeatedly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
A program is designed for an earlier
Microsoft®Windows®operating system . . . . . 91
A solid blue screen appears . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Other software problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Memory Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Network Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Power Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Printer Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Scanner Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
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8Contents
Sound and Speaker Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
No sound from integrated speakers . . . . . . . . 96
No sound from external speakers . . . . . . . . . 96
No sound from headphones . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Touch Pad or Mouse Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
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
Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
What Is a Driver? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Identifying Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Reinstalling Drivers and Utilities . . . . . . . . . . 100
Troubleshooting Software and Hardware
Problems in the Microsoft®Windows®XP
Operating System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Restoring Your Operating System . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Using Microsoft Windows System Restore . . . . 103
Starting System Restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Using the Operating System Media . . . . . . . . 105
11 Adding and Replacing Parts . . . . . . . . . 107
Before You Begin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Recommended Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Turning Off Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Before Working Inside Your Computer . . . . . . . 108
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Contents 9
Hard Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Removing the Hard Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Replacing the Hard Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Returning a Hard Drive to Dell . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Optical Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Removing the Optical Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Replacing the Optical Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Hinge Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Removing the Hinge Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Replacing the Hinge Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Removing the Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Replacing the Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Removing Memory Module . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Replacing Memory Module . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Wireless Mini-Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Removing Mini-Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Replacing Mini-Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Internal Card With Bluetooth®Wireless
Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Removing the Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Replacing the Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
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10 Contents
12 Traveling With Your Computer . . . . . . . . 125
Identifying Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Packing the Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Travel Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Traveling by Air . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
13 Getting Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Obtaining Assistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Technical Support and Customer Service . . . . . 128
DellConnect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Online Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
AutoTech Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Automated Order-Status Service . . . . . . . . . 129
Problems With Your Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Product Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Returning Items for Warranty Repair or Credit . . . . . 130
Before You Call . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Contacting Dell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
14 Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
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