Gateway MT6831 User manual

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NOTEBOOK
REFERENCEGUIDE

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Chapter 1: About This Reference. . . . . . . . . . . . 1
About this guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Accessing the online User Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Gateway contact information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Gateway model and serial number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Microsoft Certificate of Authenticity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
For more information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Chapter 2: Checking Out Your Notebook . . . . . 5
Front . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Left . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Right . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Back . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Bottom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Keyboard area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Chapter 3: Setting Up and Getting Started . . 13
Working safely and comfortably . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Reducing eye strain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Setting up your computer desk and chair . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Sitting at your notebook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Avoiding discomfort and injury from repetitive strain . 15
Connecting the AC adapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Protecting from power source problems . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Connecting the dial-up modem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Connecting to a broadband modem or network . . . . . . . . 19
Starting your notebook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Waking up your notebook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Turning off your notebook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Restarting (rebooting) your notebook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Using the status indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Using the keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Key types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
System key combinations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Contents

Contents
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Using the EZ Pad touchpad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Adjusting brightness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Adjusting the volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Turning your wireless radio on or off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
IEEE 802.11 wireless network radio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Bluetooth radio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Chapter 4: Using Drives and Accessories . . . . . 35
Using the CD or DVD drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Identifying drive types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Using a CD or DVD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Using the memory card reader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Memory card types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Inserting a memory card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Using a memory card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Removing a memory card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Adding and removing a PC Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Installing a printer or other peripheral device . . . . . . . . . . 41
Connecting a USB device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Connecting an IEEE 1394 device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Viewing the display on a projector or monitor . . . . . . . . . . 43
Viewing the display on a television . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Ordering accessories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Chapter 5: Managing Power. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Monitoring the battery charge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Recharging the battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Changing batteries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Replacing the battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Recalibrating the battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Extending battery life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Conserving battery power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Using alternate power sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Changing power modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Changing notebook power settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Changing the power plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Changing advanced settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

www.gateway.com
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Chapter 6: Traveling with Your Notebook . . . 59
Packing your notebook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Traveling by air . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Dial-up modem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Radio frequency wireless connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Additional tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Chapter 7: Maintaining Your Notebook . . . . . 65
Caring for your notebook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Cleaning your notebook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Cleaning the exterior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Cleaning the keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Cleaning the notebook screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Cleaning CDs or DVDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
System recovery options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Recovering specific files and software . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Recovering using Microsoft System Restore . . . . . . . . . 69
Recovering using the Windows DVD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Chapter 8: Upgrading Your Notebook. . . . . . . 71
Preventing static electricity discharge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Adding or replacing memory modules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Replacing the hard drive kit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Chapter 9: Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Safety guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
First steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
CD drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Diskette drive (external) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
DVD drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Contents
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Ethernet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
File management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Hard drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Media Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Memory card reader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Modem (cable or DSL) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Modem (dial-up) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Mouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Networks (wired) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Networks (wireless) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Passwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
PC Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Pointing device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Sound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Status indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Touchpad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Telephone support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Before calling Gateway Customer Care . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Appendix A: Legal Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

CHAPTER1
1
About This Reference
•About this guide
•Accessing the online User Guide
•Gateway contact information
•Microsoft Certificate of Authenticity
•For more information

CHAPTER 1: About This Reference
2
About this guide
This guide includes information and maintenance instructions
that are specific to your model of Gateway notebook. For all
other notebook information, see the online User Guide.
Accessing the online User
Guide
In addition to this guide, the online User Guide has been
included on your hard drive. The User Guide is an in-depth,
easy-to-read manual that includes information on the
following topics:
•Help and technical support
•Using and customizing Windows and other software
•Controlling audio and video settings
•Using the Internet
•Protecting your files
•Playing and recording media
•Networking
To access the online User Guide:
•Click (Start), All Programs, then click Gateway
Documentation.

www.gateway.com
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Gateway contact information
Gateway model and serial number
The label on the bottom of your notebook contains
information that identifies your notebook model and its
features. Gateway Customer Care will need this information
if you call for assistance.
Microsoft Certificate of
Authenticity
The Microsoft Certificate of Authenticity label found on the
bottom of your notebook includes the product key code for
your operating system.
For more information
For more information about your notebook, visit Gateway’s
Support page at www.gateway.com or the Web address
shown on your notebook’s label. The Support page also has
links to additional Gateway documentation and detailed
specifications.
Important
The labels shown in this section are for informational purposes only. Label
information varies by model, features ordered, and location.
OnlineSupport:
TechSupportPhone:
Hours:
Model:
S/No:

CHAPTER 1: About This Reference
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