Dell Dimension K0004 User manual

www.dell.com | support.dell.com

Dell™ Dimension™ 8250 Series

floppy drive light*

hard drive light

power button

service tag

headphone connector

USB 2.0

connectors (2)

voltage selection switch

power connector

parallel connector

keyboard connector

USB 2.0 connectors (6)

microphone

connector

line-out

connector

line-in

connector

mouse connector

video connector

serial connector

network adapter

CD or DVD

activity light

CD or DVD drive

eject button

floppy drive

eject button*

CD or DVD volume

control dial

*On computers

with an optional

floppy drive.

Hints, Notices, and Cautions

HINT: A HINT 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 Tell Me How help

file. To access help files, see page 38.

If you purchased a Dell™ nSeries 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 Computer

Corporation is strictly forbidden.

Trademarks used in this text: Dell, the DELL logo, Dimension, Inspiron, Latitude, OptiPlex, Dell

Precision, and DellNet are trademarks of Dell Computer Corporation; Intel, Celeron, and Pentium

are registered trademarks of Intel Corporation; Microsoft and Windows are registered trademarks of

Microsoft Corporation.

Othertrademarksandtradenamesmaybeusedinthisdocumenttorefertoeithertheentitiesclaiming

themarksandnamesortheirproducts.DellComputerCorporationdisclaimsanyproprietaryinterest

in trademarks and trade names other than its own.

January 2003 P/N K0004 Rev. A00

Contents 3

Contents

CAUTION: Safety Instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

When Using Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

When Working Inside Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Protecting Against Electrostatic Discharge . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Ergonomic Computing Habits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Battery Disposal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Finding Information for Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

1Setting Up and Using Your Computer

Setting Up a Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Printer Cable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Connecting a Parallel Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Connecting a USB Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Connecting Two Monitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Connecting the Monitors to Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Enabling Clone Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Enabling Extended Desktop Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Transferring Information to a New Computer . . . . . . . . . . 25

Setting Up a Home and Office Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Connecting to a Network Adapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Network Setup Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Connecting to the Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Setting Up Your Internet Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

4Contents

Copying CDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Using Easy CD Creator Basic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Using Blank CD-R Discs or Blank CD-RW Discs . . . . . . . . 31

Helpful Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

How to Copy a CD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

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

Turning Off the Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

2Solving Problems

Finding Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Finding Help Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Battery Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Drive Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Floppy drive problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

CD drive problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Problems writing to a CD-RW drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

DVD drive problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Hard drive problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

E-Mail, Modem, and Internet Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

General Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

The computer stops responding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

A program stops responding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

A program crashes repeatedly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

A program is designed for an

earlier Windows operating system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

A solid blue screen appears . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Other software problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Other technical problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

General hardware problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Contents 5

IEEE 1394 Device Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Keyboard Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Mouse Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Network Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Power Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Printer Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Scanner Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Sound and Speaker Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

No sound from speakers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

No sound from headphones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Video and Monitor Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

If the screen is blank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

If the screen is difficult to read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

3Advanced Troubleshooting

Diagnostic Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Dell Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

When to Use the Dell Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Starting the Dell Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

What Is a Driver? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Identifying Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Reinstalling drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Using System Restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Creating a Restore Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Restoring the Computer to an Earlier Operating State . . . . . . 68

Undoing the Last System Restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

6Contents

Resolving Software and Hardware Incompatibilities . . . . . . . 70

Reinstalling Microsoft®Windows®XP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Before You Reinstall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Reinstalling Windows XP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Reinstalling Drivers and Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

4Adding Parts

Front and Back View of the Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Front View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Back View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Reattaching the Front Door and Hinge Arms . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Reattaching the Hinge Arms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Reattaching the Front Door . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Opening the Computer Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Looking Inside Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

System Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Installing and Removing Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Installing a Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Removing a Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Adding Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

RDRAM Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Removing a Memory Module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Adding a Memory Module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Adding or Replacing the AGP Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Removing an AGP Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Installing an AGP Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Adding a Second Hard Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Contents 7

Adding a Floppy Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Removing the Front-Panel Insert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Installing a Floppy Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

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

5Appendix

Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

Standard Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Viewing Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

System Setup Screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

Clearing Forgotten Passwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

Replacing the Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

Dell Technical Support Policy (U.S. Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Definition of "Dell-Installed" Software and Peripherals . . . . . 119

Definition of "Third-Party" Software and Peripherals . . . . . . 120

Contacting Dell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Regulatory Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

NOM Information (Mexico Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

Limited Warranties and Return Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

Limited Warranty for the U.S. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

"Total Satisfaction" Return Policy (U.S. Only) . . . . . . . . . 144

Limited Warranty Terms for Canada . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

"Total Satisfaction" Return Policy (Canada Only) . . . . . . . . 148

Dell Software and Peripherals (Canada Only) . . . . . . . . . 148

8Contents

One-Year End-User Manufacturer Guarantee

(Latin America and the Caribbean Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Intel®Warranty Statement for Pentium®and

Celeron®Processors Only (U.S. and Canada Only) . . . . . . . 151

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

CAUTION: Safety Instructions 9

CAUTION: Safety Instructions

Use the following safety guidelines to help ensure your own personal safety and to help protect

your computer and working environment from potential damage.

General

• Do not attempt to service the computer yourself unless you are a trained service

technician. Always follow installation instructions closely.

• To help prevent electric shock, plug the computer and device power cables into properly

grounded electrical outlets. These cables are equipped with 3-prong plugs to help ensure

proper grounding. Do not use adapter plugs or remove the grounding prong from a cable.

If you must use an extension cable, use a 3-wire cable with properly grounded plugs.

• To help avoid the potential hazard of electric shock, do not use your computer during an

electrical storm.

• To help avoid the potential hazard of electric shock, do not connect or disconnect any

cables or perform maintenance or reconfiguration of this product during an electrical

storm.

• If your computer includes a modem, the cable used with the modem should be

manufactured with a minimum wire size of 26 American wire gauge (AWG) and an FCC-

compliant RJ-11 modular plug.

• Before you clean your computer, disconnect the computer from the electrical outlet.

Clean your computer with a soft cloth dampened with water. Do not use liquid or aerosol

cleaners, which may contain flammable substances.

• To help avoid possible damage to the system board, wait 5 seconds after turning off the

computer before disconnecting a device from the computer.

10 CAUTION: Safety Instructions

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• To avoid shorting out your computer when disconnecting a network cable, first unplug

the cable from the network adapter on the back of your computer, and then from the

network jack. When reconnecting a network cable to your computer, first plug the cable

into the network jack, and then into the network adapter.

• To help protect your computer from sudden, transient increases and decreases in

electrical power, use a surge suppressor, line conditioner, or uninterruptible power supply

(UPS).

• Ensure that nothing rests on your computer’s cables and that the cables are not located

where they can be stepped on or tripped over.

• Do not push any objects into the openings of your computer. Doing so can cause fire or

electric shock by shorting out interior components.

• Keep your computer away from radiators and heat sources. Also, do not block cooling

vents. Avoid placing loose papers underneath your computer; do not place your computer

in a closed-in wall unit or on a bed, sofa, or rug.

CAUTION: Safety Instructions

(continued)

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