Dell XPS PP06XA User manual

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Dell™ XPS™ M1730 Owner’s Manual
Model PP06XA
book.book Page 1 Monday, April 14, 2008 4:23 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.
© 2007-2008 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, YOURS IS HERE, XPS, Wi-Fi Catcher, and Dell
MediaDirect are trademarks of Dell Inc.; Intel, and Core are registered trademarks of Intel
Corporation.; Microsoft and Windows are registered trademarks and Windows Vista is a trademark 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. Logitech, the Logitech logo, and the
LogitechproductsreferredtohereinareeitherthetrademarksortheregisteredtrademarksofLogitech.
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 PP06XA
April 2008 P/N TM373 Rev. A04
book.book Page 2 Monday, April 14, 2008 4:23 PM

Contents 3
Contents
Finding Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1 About Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Front View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Left Side View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Right Side View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Back View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Bottom View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
2 Setting Up Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Connecting to the Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Setting Up Your Internet Connection . . . . . . . . 33
Transferring Information to a New Computer . . . . . 34
Setting Up a Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Printer Cable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Connecting a USB Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Power Protection Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Surge Protectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Line Conditioners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Uninterruptible Power Supplies . . . . . . . . . . 38
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4Contents
3 Using the Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Adjusting Brightness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Using a Projector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Making Images and Text Look Bigger or Sharper . . . 40
Microsoft®Windows®XP . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Windows Vista™ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Setting Display Resolution and Refresh Rate . . . . . . 41
Microsoft Windows XP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Windows Vista . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
4 Using the Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Numeric Keypad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Keyboard Illumination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Key Combinations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Keyboard Illumination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
System Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Power Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Microsoft®Windows®Logo Key Functions . . . . 44
Touch Pad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
5 Using a Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Battery Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Checking the Battery Charge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Dell™ QuickSet Battery Meter . . . . . . . . . . . 48
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Contents 5
Microsoft®Windows®Battery Meter . . . . . . . 48
Charge Gauge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Low-Battery Warning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Conserving Battery Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Power Management Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Standby and Sleep Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Hibernate Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Configuring Power Management Settings . . . . . . . 52
Accessing Power Options Properties . . . . . . . 52
Charging the Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Removing the Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Storing a Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
6 Using the Camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Accessing the Camera’s Help File . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Manually Adjusting the Camera Settings . . . . . . . . 56
Creating a Picture or a Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
7 Using GamePanel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
GamePanel Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
8 Using Multimedia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Playing Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
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6Contents
Playing Media Using Dell Express Card Remote Control (Optional)
61
Copying CD, DVD, and Blu-ray Disc™ (BD) Media . . . 62
How to Copy a CD, DVD or BD . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Using Blank CD, DVD, and BD Media . . . . . . . 63
Helpful Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Adjusting the Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Adjusting the Picture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Using Dell MediaDirect™ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Connecting Your Computer to a TV or Audio Device . . 68
S-Video and Standard Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
S-Video and S/PDIF Digital Audio . . . . . . . . . 72
Composite Video and Standard Audio . . . . . . . 74
Composite Video and S/PDIF Digital Audio . . . . 76
Component Video and Standard Audio . . . . . . 78
Component Video and S/PDIF Digital Audio . . . . 80
DVI to HDMI and Standard Audio . . . . . . . . . 82
Enabling the Display Settings for a TV . . . . . . . 83
9 Using Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
ExpressCards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
ExpressCard Blanks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Installing an ExpressCard . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Removing an ExpressCard or Blank . . . . . . . . 87
Memory Card Reader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Memory Card Blanks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Installing a Memory Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Removing a Memory Card or Blank . . . . . . . . 90
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Contents 7
10 Setting Up and Using Networks . . . . . . . 91
Connecting a Network or Broadband Modem Cable . . 91
Setting Up a Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Windows XP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Windows Vista . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Wireless Local Area Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
What You Need to Establish a WLAN Connection . 93
Checking Your Wireless Network Card . . . . . . 93
Setting Up a New WLAN Using a Wireless Router and a
Broadband Modem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Connecting to a WLAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Mobile Broadband (or Wireless Wide Area Network) . 98
What You Need to Establish a Mobile Broadband Network
Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Checking Your Dell Mobile Broadband Card . . . . 99
Connecting to a Mobile Broadband Network . . . 100
Enabling/Disabling the Dell Mobile Broadband Card 100
Dell Wi-Fi Catcher™ Network Locator . . . . . . . . . 101
11 Securing Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Security Cable Lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Passwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
12 Cleaning Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Computer, Keyboard, and Display . . . . . . . . . 105
CDs, DVDs and BDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
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8Contents
13 Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Dell Technical Update Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Dell Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Dell Support Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Drive Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Optical drive problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Hard drive problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
E-Mail and Internet Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
ExpressCard Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
IEEE 1394 Device Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Keyboard Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
External Keyboard problems . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Unexpected characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Lockups and Software Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
The computer does not start . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
The computer stops responding . . . . . . . . . . 123
A program stops responding or crashes repeatedly 123
A program is designed for an earlier Microsoft®Windows®
operating system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
A solid blue screen appears . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Dell MediaDirect problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Other software problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Memory Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Network Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Mobile Broadband (Wireless Wide Area Network [WWAN]) 127
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Contents 9
Power Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Printer Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Scanner Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Sound and Speaker Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
No sound from integrated speakers . . . . . . . . 131
No sound from external speakers . . . . . . . . . 131
No sound from headphones . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Touch Pad or Mouse Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Video and Display Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
If the display is blank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
If the display is difficult to read . . . . . . . . . . 134
If only part of the display is readable . . . . . . . 135
Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
What Is a Driver? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Identifying Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Reinstalling Drivers and Utilities . . . . . . . . . . 136
Troubleshooting Software and Hardware Problems in the Microsoft®
Windows®XP and Microsoft Windows Vista™ Operating Systems
139
Restoring Your Operating System . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Using Microsoft Windows System Restore . . . . 141
Starting System Restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Using Dell™ PC Restore and Dell Factory Image Restore 143
Using the Operating System Media . . . . . . . . 146
14 Adding and Replacing Parts . . . . . . . . . 149
Before You Begin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
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10 Contents
Recommended Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Turning Off Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Before Working Inside Your Computer . . . . . . . 150
Hard Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Removing the Hard Drive Cage . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Replacing a Hard Drive in the Hard Drive Cage . . 154
Replacing the Hard Drive Cage . . . . . . . . . . 155
Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Subscriber Identity Module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Internal Card With Bluetooth™ Wireless Technology . 160
Optical Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
15 Traveling With Your Computer . . . . . . . . 163
Identifying Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Packing the Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Travel Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Traveling by Air . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
16 Getting Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Obtaining Assistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Technical Support and Customer Service . . . . . 166
DellConnect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Online Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
AutoTech Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Automated Order-Status Service . . . . . . . . . 167
Problems With Your Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
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