Dell DIMENSION 3000 SYSTEMS DMC User manual

www.dell.com | support.dell.com

Dell™ Dimension™ 3000 Systems

Owner’s Manual

Model DMC

CD or DVD drive

activity light

CD or DVD

headphone

connector CD or DVD eject button

floppy drive light

floppy drive eject button

hard-drive activity light

power button

CD or DVD

volume

control dial

power light

USB 2.0

connectors (2)

headphone connector

service tag

keyboard connector

mouse connector

USB 2.0 connectors (4)

microphone connector*

line-in connector*

line-out connector*

parallel connector

serial connector

PCI card slots (3)

voltage selection switch

power connector

network adapter connector

diagnostic lights (4)

cover latch**

*On computers with integrated sound.

**May not be present on all computers.

integrated video connector

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 the

Dell Dimension Help

file. To access the help file, see

"Finding Information" on page 7.

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.

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, PowerVault, PowerApp,

and Dell OpenManage are trademarks of Dell Inc.; Intel, Pentium,and Celeron are registered trademarks of Intel Corporation; Microsoft and

Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.

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 DMC

June 2004 P/N J6758 Rev. A00

Contents 3

Contents

Finding Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

1 Setting Up and Using Your Computer

Setting Up a Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Printer Cable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Connecting a USB Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Connecting a Parallel Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Setting Up a Home and Office Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Connecting to a Network Adapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Network Setup Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Connecting to the Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Setting Up Your Internet Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Copying CDs and DVDs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

How to Copy a CD or DVD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Using Blank CD-Rs and CD-RWs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Helpful Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Hyper-Threading. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

2 Solving Problems

Troubleshooting Tips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Battery Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Drive Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

CD and DVD drive problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Hard drive problems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

E-Mail, Modem, and Internet Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

IEEE 1394 Device Problems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Keyboard Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

4Contents

Lockups and Software Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

The computer does not start up

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

The computer stops responding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

A program stops responding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

A program crashes repeatedly. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

A program is designed for an earlier Windows operating system. . . . . 23

A solid blue screen appears . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Other software problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Memory Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Mouse Problems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Network Problems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Power Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Printer Problems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Scanner Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Sound and Speaker Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

No sound from speakers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

No sound from headphones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Video and Monitor Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

If the screen is blank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

If the screen is difficult to read. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

3 Advanced Troubleshooting

Diagnostic Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Dell Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Dell Diagnostics Main Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

What Is a Driver? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Identifying Drivers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Reinstalling Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Contents 5

Restoring Your Operating System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Using Microsoft Windows XP System Restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Using Dell PC Restore by Symantec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Resolving Software and Hardware Incompatibilities . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

4 Removing and Installing Parts

Before You Begin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Recommended Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Turning Off Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Before Working Inside Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Front and Back View of the Computer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Front View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Back View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Removing the Computer Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Inside View of Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

System Board Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

DDR Memory Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Memory Installation Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Installing Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

PCI Cards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Front Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Removing the Front Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Removing the Front-Panel Insert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Reattaching the Front Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

General Installation Guidelines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Connecting Drive Cables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Hard Drive. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Removing a Hard Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Installing a Hard Drive. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Adding a Second Hard Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

6Contents

Floppy Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Removing a Floppy Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Installing a Floppy Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

CD/DVD Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Removing a CD/DVD Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Installing a CD/DVD Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Adding a Second CD or DVD Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Replacing the Computer Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

5 Appendix

Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

System Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Entering System Setup. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

System Setup Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Boot Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Clearing Forgotten Passwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Dell Technical Support Policy (U.S. Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Definition of "Dell-Installed" Software and Peripherals . . . . . . . . . 90

Definition of "Third-Party" Software and Peripherals . . . . . . . . . . 90

FCC Notices (U.S. Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Class A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Class B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

FCC Identification Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Contacting Dell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Finding Information 7

Finding Information

What Are You Looking For? Find It Here

• Warranty information

• Safety instructions

• Regulatory information

• Ergonomics information

• End User License Agreement

• Terms and Conditions

Dell™ Product Information Guide

• How to set up my computer

Setup Diagram

• Tips on using Microsoft

Windows

• How to play CDs and DVDs

• How to use standby mode and hibernate mode

• How to change my display resolution

• How to clean my computer

Dell Dimension Help File

Click the

Start

button and click

Help and Support

Click

User and system guides

and click

User’s guides

Click

Dell Dimension Help

8Finding Information

www.dell.com | support.dell.com

• Service Tag and Express Service Code

• Microsoft Windows License Label

Service Tag and Microsoft Windows License

These labels are located on your computer.

• Use the Service Tag to

identify your computer

when you use

support.dell.com

contact technical

support.

• Enter the Express Service Code to direct your call when

contacting technical support. The Express Service Code

is not available in all countries.

• Latest drivers for my computer

• Answers to technical service and support questions

• Online discussions with other users and technical

support

• Documentation for my computer

Dell Support Website — support.dell.com

NOTE: Select your region to view the appropriate support

site.

The Dell Support website provides several online tools,

including:

• Solutions — Troubleshooting hints and tips, articles

from technicians, and online courses

• Community — Online discussion with other Dell

customers

• Upgrades — Upgrade information for components, such

as memory, the hard drive, and the operating system

• Customer Care — Contact information, order status,

warranty, and repair information

• Downloads — Drivers, patches, and software updates

• Reference — Computer documentation, product

specifications, and white papers

• How to use Windows XP

• Documentation for my computer

• Documentation for devices (such as a modem)

Windows Help and Support Center

Click the

Start

button and click

Help and Support

Type a word or phrase that describes your problem and

click the arrow icon.

Click the topic that describes your problem.

Follow the instructions on the screen.

What Are You Looking For? Find It Here

Setting Up and Using Your Computer 9

Setting Up and Using Your Computer

Setting Up a Printer

NOTICE: Complete the operating system setup before you connect a printer to the computer.

See the documentation that came with the printer for setup information, including how to:

• Obtain and install updated drivers.

• Connect the printer to the computer.

• Load paper and install the toner or ink cartridge.

• Contact the printer manufacturer for technical assistance.

Printer Cable

Your printer connects to your computer with either a USB cable or a parallel cable. Your printer may

not come with a printer cable, so if you purchase a cable separately, ensure that it is compatible

with your printer. If you purchased a printer cable at the same time you purchased your computer,

the cable may arrive in the computer box.

Connecting a USB Printer

NOTE: You can connect USB devices while the computer is turned on.

Complete the operating system setup if you have not already done so.

Install the printer driver if necessary. See the documentation that came with your printer.

Attach the USB printer cable to the USB connectors on the computer and the printer. The

USB connectors fit only one way.

10 Setting Up and Using Your Computer

www.dell.com | support.dell.com

Connecting a Parallel Printer

Complete the operating system setup, if you have not already done so.

Turn off the computer (see page 43).

NOTICE: For best results, use a 3-m (10-ft) or shorter parallel cable.

Attach the parallel printer cable to the parallel connector on the computer and tighten the

two screws. Attach the cable to the connector on the printer and snap the two clips into the

two notches.

USB printer

cable

USB connector on computer

USBconnector

on printer

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