Dell XPS RW491 User manual

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Dell™ XPS™ M1330
Owner’s Manual
Model PP25L
book.book Page 1 Tuesday, October 7, 2008 6:00 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.
© 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, XPS, Wi-Fi Catcher, and Dell MediaDirect are
trademarks of Dell Inc.; Intel is a registered trademark and Core is a trademark of Intel Corporation
in the U.S. and other countries; 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 PP25L
September 2008 P/N RW491 Rev. A03
book.book Page 2 Tuesday, October 7, 2008 6:00 PM

Contents 3
Contents
Finding Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1 About Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Determining Your Computer’s Configuration . . . . . . 19
Front View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Left Side View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Right Side View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Back View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Bottom View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2 Setting Up Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Connecting to the Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Setting Up Your Internet Connection . . . . . . . . 32
Transferring Information to a New Computer . . . . . 33
Microsoft Windows Easy Transfer . . . . . . . . . 33
Setting Up a Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Printer Cable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Connecting a USB Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
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4Contents
Power Protection Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Surge Protectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Line Conditioners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS) . . . . . . . 36
3 Using the System Setup Program . . . . . . 37
Viewing the System Setup Screen . . . . . . . . . 38
System Setup Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Commonly Used Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Cleaning Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Computer, Keyboard, and Display . . . . . . . . . 40
Touch Pad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Mouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
4 Using the Keyboard and Touch Pad . . . . 43
Numeric Keypad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Key Combinations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
System Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Display Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Power Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Microsoft® Windows® Logo Key Functions . . . 44
Dell™ QuickSet Key Combinations . . . . . . . . . 44
Adjusting Keyboard Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Touch Pad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Customizing the Touch Pad . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
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Contents 5
5 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
6 Using a Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Battery Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Checking the Battery Charge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Dell QuickSet Battery Meter . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Microsoft®Windows®Battery Meter . . . . . . . 51
Charge Gauge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Low-Battery Warning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Conserving Battery Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Configuring Power Management Settings . . . . . 52
Using the Sleep Power State . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Charging the Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Replacing the Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Storing a Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
7 Using Multimedia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Playing Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Playing Media Using Dell Travel Remote (Optional) . . 58
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6Contents
Copying CDs and DVDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
How to Copy a CD or DVD . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Using Blank CDs and DVDs . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Helpful Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Adjusting the Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Adjusting the Picture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Using Dell MediaDirect™ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Connecting Your Computer to a TV Using the
HDMI Connector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Enabling the Display Settings for a TV . . . . . . . 64
Enabling the Audio Settings for a TV . . . . . . . . 65
8 Using ExpressCards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
ExpressCard Blanks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Installing an ExpressCard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Removing an ExpressCard or Blank . . . . . . . . . . . 69
9 Using the Memory Card Reader . . . . . . . 71
Memory Card Blanks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Installing a Memory Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Removing a Memory Card or Blank . . . . . . . . . . . 72
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Contents 7
10 Setting Up and Using Networks . . . . . . . 73
Connecting a Network or Broadband
Modem Cable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Setting Up a Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) . . . . . . . . . 74
What You Need to Establish a WLAN
Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Checking Your Wireless Network Card . . . . . . 74
Setting Up a New WLAN Using a Wireless
Router and a Broadband Modem . . . . . . . . . 75
Connecting to a WLAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Mobile Broadband (or Wireless Wide
Area Network) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
What You Need to Establish a Mobile
Broadband Network Connection . . . . . . . . . 78
Checking Your Dell Mobile Broadband Card . . . . 79
Connecting to a Mobile Broadband Network . . . 80
Enabling/Disabling the Dell Mobile
Broadband Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Dell Wi-Fi Catcher™ Network Locator . . . . . . . . . 81
11 Securing Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Security Cable Lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Passwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Fingerprint Reader (Optional) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
If Your Computer Is Lost or Stolen . . . . . . . . . . . 85
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8Contents
12 Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Dell Technical Update Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Dell Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Dell Support Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Dell Support 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Dell PC Tune-Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Dell PC CheckUp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Dell Network Assistant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
DellConnect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Drive Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Optical drive problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Hard drive problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
E-Mail, Modem, and Internet Problems . . . . . . . . . 96
Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
ExpressCard Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
IEEE 1394 Device Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Keyboard Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
External Keyboard problems . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Unexpected characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Lockups and Software Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
The computer does not start . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
The computer stops responding . . . . . . . . . . 105
A program stops responding or
crashes repeatedly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
A program is designed for an earlier
Microsoft Windows operating system . . . . . . . 106
A solid blue screen appears . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
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Contents 9
Dell MediaDirect problems . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Other software problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Memory Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Network Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Mobile Broadband (Wireless Wide Area
Network [WWAN]) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Power Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Printer Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Scanner Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Sound and Speaker Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
No sound from integrated speakers . . . . . . . . 112
No sound from external speakers . . . . . . . . . 113
No sound from headphones . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Touch Pad or Mouse Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Video and Display Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
If the display is blank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
If the display is difficult to read . . . . . . . . . . 115
If only part of the display is readable . . . . . . . 116
Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
What Is a Driver? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Identifying Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Reinstalling Drivers and Utilities . . . . . . . . . . 117
Troubleshooting Software and Hardware Problems
in the Windows Vista®Operating System . . . . . . . 119
Restoring Your Microsoft®Windows Vista®
Operating System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Using Windows Vista System Restore . . . . . . . 121
Using the Operating System Media . . . . . . . . 124
book.book Page 9 Tuesday, October 7, 2008 6:00 PM

10 Contents
13 Adding and Replacing Parts . . . . . . . . . 127
Before You Begin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Recommended Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Turning Off Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Before Working Inside Your Computer . . . . . . . 128
Hard Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Removing the Hard Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Replacing the Hard Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Returning a Hard Drive to Dell . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Hinge Covers and Center Control Cover . . . . . . . . 132
Removing the Hinge Covers and Center
Control Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Replacing the Hinge Covers and Center
Control Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Removing the Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Replacing the Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Removing the DIMM 1 Memory Module . . . . . . 137
Replacing the DIMM 1 Memory Module . . . . . . 139
Removing the DIMM 2 Memory Module . . . . . . 140
Replacing the DIMM 2 Memory Module . . . . . . 142
Subscriber Identity Module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Wireless Mini-Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Removing a WLAN Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Replacing a WLAN Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Removing a Mobile Broadband or
WWAN Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Replacing a WWAN Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
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