Dell XPS M1710 User manual

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Dell™ XPS™ M1710
Owner’s Manual
Model PP05XB

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 173.
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.
© 2006 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, PowerConnect,
PowerVault, PowerApp, Dell TravelLite, ExpressCharge, Dell MediaDirect, Strike Zone, Wi-Fi Catcher, and XPS are trademarks of Dell Inc.;
Intel is a registered trademarks and Core is a trademark of Intel Corporation; Microsoft,Outlook,and Windows are registered trademarks of
Microsoft Corporation; Bluetooth isaregisteredtrademarkownedbyBluetoothSIG, Inc. and is used byDellunderlicense;EMC isaregistered
trademark of EMC Corporation; IBM is a registered trademark of International Business Machines Corporation; ENERGY STAR is a registered
trademark 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 PP05XB
January 2006 P/N RD117 Rev. A00

Contents 3
Contents
Finding Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1 A Tour of Your Computer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Determining Your Computer’s Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Front View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Left Side View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Right Side View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Back View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Bottom View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
2 Setting Up Your Computer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Connecting to the Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Setting Up Your Internet Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Transferring Information to a New Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Running the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard With the
Operating System CD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Running the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard Without the
Operating System CD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Setting Up a Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Printer Cable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Connecting a USB Printer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Power Protection Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Surge Protectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Line Conditioners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Uninterruptible Power Supplies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

4Contents
3 Using the Display. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Adjusting Brightness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Switching the Video Image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Setting Display Resolution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
4 Using the Keyboard and Touch Pad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Numeric Keypad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Key Combinations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
System Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
CD or DVD Tray . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Display Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Wireless Networking and Bluetooth®Wireless
Technology Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Power Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Speaker Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Microsoft®Windows®Logo Key Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Touch Pad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Customizing the Touch Pad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
5 Using a Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Battery Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Checking the Battery Charge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Dell™ QuickSet Battery Meter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Microsoft®Windows®Power Meter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Charge Gauge. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Low-Battery Warning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Conserving Battery Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Power Management Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Standby Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Configuring Power Management Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Charging the Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Contents 5
Replacing the Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Storing a Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
6 Dell™ QuickSet Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
7 Using CDs, DVDs, and Other Multimedia . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Playing CDs or DVDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Adjusting the Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Adjusting the Picture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Copying CDs and DVDs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
How to Copy a CD or DVD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Using Blank CDs and DVDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Helpful Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Using Dell Media Experience and Dell MediaDirect™. . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
If the Computer Is On or in Standby Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
If the Computer Is Off or in Hibernate Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Dell MediaDirect and Dell Media Experience Help . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Connecting Your Computer to a TV or Audio Device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
S-Video and Standard Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
S-Video and S/PDIF Digital Audio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Composite Video and Standard Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Composite Video and S/PDIF Digital Audio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Component Video and Standard Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Component Video and S/PDIF Digital Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Setting Up the Cyberlink (CL) Headphones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Enabling the Display Settings for a TV in Microsoft®Windows®XP . . . 70
8UsingCards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
ExpressCards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
ExpressCard Blanks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Installing an ExpressCard. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Removing an ExpressCard or Blank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

6Contents
Media Memory Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Installing a Media Memory Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Removing a Media Memory Card. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Smart Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Installing a Smart Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
9 Setting Up a Home and Office Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Physically Connecting to a Network or Broadband Modem . . . . . . . . . . 79
Network Setup Wizard. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
What You Need to Establish a WLAN Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Checking Your Wireless Network Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Setting Up a New WLAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Connecting to a Wireless Local Area Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Determining the Wireless Network Device Manager . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Completing the Connection to the WLAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Enabling/Disabling the Wireless Network Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Monitoring the Status of the Wireless Network Card Through
Dell™ QuickSet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Mobile Broadband or Wireless Wide Area Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
What You Need to Establish a Mobile Broadband
Network Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Checking Your Dell Mobile Broadband Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Connecting to a Mobile Broadband Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Internet Connection Firewall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
10 Securing Your Computer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Security Cable Lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Passwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Computer Tracking Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
If Your Computer Is Lost or Stolen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Contents 7
11 Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Dell Technical Update Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Dell Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
When to Use the Dell Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Starting the Dell Diagnostics From Your Hard Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Starting the Dell Diagnostics From the Drivers and Utilities CD . . . . . . 90
Dell Diagnostics Main Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Dell Support Utility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Accessing the Dell Support Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Clicking the Dell Support Icon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Double-Clicking the Dell Support Icon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Drive Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
CD and DVD Drive Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
If You Cannot Eject the CD, CD-RW, DVD, or DVD+RW Drive Tray . . . . . 94
If You Hear an Unfamiliar Scraping or Grinding Sound. . . . . . . . . . . 94
Hard Drive Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
E-Mail, Modem, and Internet Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
IEEE 1394 Device Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Keyboard Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
External Keyboard Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Unexpected Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Lockups and Software Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
The Computer Does Not Start Up. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
The Computer Stops Responding. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
A Program Stops Responding or Crashes Repeatedly . . . . . . . . . . 101
A Program Is Designed for an Earlier Microsoft®Windows®
Operating System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
A Solid Blue Screen Appears. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Dell MediaDirect Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Other Software Problems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Memory Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

8Contents
Network Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Mobile Broadband Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
ExpressCard Problems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Power Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Ensuring Sufficient Power for Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Docking Power Considerations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Printer Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Scanner Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Sound and Speaker Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
No Sound From Integrated Speakers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
No Sound From External Speakers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
No Sound From Headphones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Touch Pad or Mouse Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Video and Display Problems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
If the Display Is Blank. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
If the Display Is Difficult to Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
If Only Part of the Display is Readable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
What Is a Driver? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Identifying Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Reinstalling Drivers and Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Resolving Software and Hardware Incompatibilities . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Restoring Your Operating System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Using Microsoft Windows XP System Restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Using the Operating System CD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
12 Adding and Replacing Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Before You Begin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Recommended Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Turning Off Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Before Working Inside Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

Contents 9
Hard Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Returning a Hard Drive to Dell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Memory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Modem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Mini-Card. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Hinge Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Coin-Cell Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Optical Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Internal Card With Bluetooth®Wireless Technology. . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
13 Traveling With Your Computer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Identifying Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Packing the Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Travel Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Traveling by Air . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
14 Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
15 Getting Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Obtaining Assistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Online Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
AutoTech Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Automated Order-Status Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Support Service. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Problems With Your Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Product Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Returning Items for Warranty Repair or Credit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Before You Call. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

10 Contents
16 Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Using the System Setup Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Viewing the System Setup Screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
System Setup Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Commonly Used Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Cleaning Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Computer, Keyboard, and Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Touch Pad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
CDs and DVDs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
FCC Notices (U.S. Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
FCC Class B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Macrovision Product Notice. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Dell Technical Support Policy (U.S. Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Definition of "Dell-Installed" Software and Peripherals . . . . . . . . . 153
Definition of "Third-Party" Software and Peripherals. . . . . . . . . . . 154
17 Contacting Dell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185