Dell Dimension 8400 Series User manual

www.dell.com | support.dell.com

Dell™ Dimension™ 8400

floppy drive light*

hard drive light

power button

Service Tag

headphone connector

USB 2.0

connectors (2)

CD or DVD drive eject button

floppy drive eject button*

*On computers with a

floppy drive.

voltage selection switch

power connector parallel connector

keyboard connector

USB 2.0 connectors (6)

line-out connector

microphone connector

line-in connector

mouse connector

VGA video connector

serial connector

network adapter

optional sound-card connectors**

diagnostic lights

surround connector

center/LFE connector

TV-OUT connector**

DVI connector

PCI card (3), PCI

Express x1 card (1),

PCI Express x16

card (1) slots

**Not present on all computers.

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.

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, DellNet, PowerConnect, and Axim are trademarks of Dell Inc.; Intel and Pentium are registered trademarks of Intel Corporation;

Microsoft, Windows, and Outlook 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 DHM

October 2004 P/N U7035 Rev. A01

Contents 3

Contents

Finding Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

1 Setting Up and Using Your Computer

Setting Up a Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Printer Cable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Connecting a USB Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Connecting a Parallel Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Connecting to the Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Setting Up Your Internet Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Playing CDs or DVDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Adjusting the Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Adjusting the Picture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Copying CDs and DVDs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

How to Copy a CD or DVD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Using Blank CD-Rs and CD-RWs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Helpful Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Connecting Two Monitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Connecting Two Monitors With VGA Connectors . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Connecting One Monitor With a VGA connector

and One Monitor With a DVI Connector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Connecting a TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Changing the Display Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

About Your RAID Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

RAID Level 0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

RAID Level 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Configuring Your Computer for RAID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Configuring for RAID Using the Intel(R) Option ROM Utility. . . . . . . . 24

Configuring for RAID Using the Intel(R) Application Accelerator . . . . . 26

Setting Up a Home and Office Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Connecting to a Network Adapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Network Setup Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

4Contents

Power Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Standby Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Hibernate Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Power Options Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Hyper-Threading. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

2 Solving Problems

Troubleshooting Tips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Battery Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Card Fan Problems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Drive Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

CD and DVD drive problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Hard drive problems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

E-Mail, Modem, and Internet Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

IEEE 1394 Device Problems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Keyboard Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Lockups and Software Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

The computer does not start up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

The computer stops responding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

A program stops responding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

A program crashes repeatedly. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

A program is designed for an earlier Windows operating system. . . . . 41

A solid blue screen appears . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Other software problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Memory Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Mouse Problems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Network Problems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Power Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Printer Problems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Contents 5

Scanner Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Sound and Speaker Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

No sound from speakers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

No sound from headphones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Video and Monitor Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

If the screen is blank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

If the screen is difficult to read. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

3 Advanced Troubleshooting

Diagnostic Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Dell Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Dell Diagnostics Main Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

What Is a Driver? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Identifying Drivers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Reinstalling Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Restoring Your Operating System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Using Microsoft Windows XP System Restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Using Dell PC Restore by Symantec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Resolving Software and Hardware Incompatibilities . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

4 Removing and Installing Parts

Before You Begin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Recommended Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Turning Off Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Before Working Inside Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Front View. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Back View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Front-Panel Door and Hinge Arms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Reattaching the Hinge Arms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Reattaching the Front Door . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Opening the Computer Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

6Contents

Inside Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

System Board Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

DDR2 Memory Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Addressing Memory With 4-GB Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Installing Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Removing Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

PCI Cards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

PCI Express Cards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Card Fan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

General Installation Guidelines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Connecting Drive Cables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Hard Drive. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Removing a Hard Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Installing a Hard Drive. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Adding a Second Hard Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Front-Panel Inserts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Floppy Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Removing a Floppy Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Installing a Floppy Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

CD/DVD Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Removing a CD/DVD Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Installing a CD/DVD Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

Replacing the Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

Closing the Computer Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Contents 7

5 Appendix

Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

System Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Entering System Setup. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

System Setup Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

Boot Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

Clearing Forgotten Passwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Clearing CMOS Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Cleaning Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Computer, Keyboard, and Monitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Mouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

Floppy Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

CDs and DVDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

Dell Technical Support Policy (U.S. Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

Definition of "Dell-Installed" Software and Peripherals . . . . . . . . 123

Definition of "Third-Party" Software and Peripherals . . . . . . . . . 123

FCC Notices (U.S. Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Class A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

Class B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

FCC Identification Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Contacting Dell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

8Contents

Finding Information 9

Finding Information

What Are You Looking For? Find it Here

• Warranty information

• Safety instructions

• Regulatory information

• Ergonomics information

• End User License Agreement

Dell™ Product Information Guide

• How to set up my computer

Setup Diagram

10 Finding 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

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