Dell Vostro 400 User manual

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Dell™ Vostro™ 400

Owner’s Manual – Mini Tower

Model DCMF

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, Vostro, TravelLite, and Strike Zone are trademarks

of Dell Inc.; Bluetooth is a registered trademark owned by Bluetooth SIG, Inc. and is used by Dell

under license; Microsoft, Windows, Outlook, and Windows Vista are either trademarks or registered

trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Intel and Pentium

are registered trademarks; SpeedStep and Core are trademarks of Intel 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 DCMF

November 2007 P/N CR532 Rev. A01

Contents 3

Contents

1 Finding Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

2 Setting Up and Using Your Computer . . . 15

Front View of the Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Back View of the Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Back Panel Connectors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Installing Your Computer in an Enclosure. . . . . . . . 22

Setting Up a Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Printer Cable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Connecting a USB Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Playing CDs and DVDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Adjusting the Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Adjusting the Picture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Copying CDs and DVDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Using a Media Card Reader (Optional) . . . . . . . . . 31

Connecting Two Monitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Connecting Two Monitors With VGA

Connectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Connecting One Monitor With a VGA Connector

and One Monitor With a DVI Connector . . . . . . 34

Connecting a TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Changing the Display Settings . . . . . . . . . . . 35

4Contents

Power Management Options in Windows XP. . . . . . 35

Standby Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Hibernate Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Power Options Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Power Management Options in Windows Vista . . . . 38

Standby Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Hibernate Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Power Plan Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Enabling SpeedStep™ Technology . . . . . . . . . 41

About RAID Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

RAID Level 1 Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Configuring Your Hard Drives for RAID . . . . . . . 43

Configuring for RAID Using the Intel®Option

ROM Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Configuring for RAID Using the Intel®Matrix

Storage Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Transferring Information to a New Computer . . . . . . 49

Setting Up a Home and Office Network . . . . . . . . . 53

Connecting to a Network Adapter . . . . . . . . . 53

Network Setup Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Connecting to the Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Setting Up Your Internet Connection . . . . . . . . 56

3 Solving Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Troubleshooting Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Battery Problems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Contents 5

Drive Problems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Optical drive problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Hard drive problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

E-Mail, Modem, and Internet Problems . . . . . . . . . 62

Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Keyboard Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Lockups and Software Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

The computer does not start up . . . . . . . . . . 66

The computer stops responding . . . . . . . . . . 67

A program stops responding . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

A program crashes repeatedly . . . . . . . . . . . 67

A program is designed for an earlier

Microsoft®Windows®operating system . . . . . 68

A solid blue screen appears . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Other software problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Media Card Reader Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Memory Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Mouse Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Network Problems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Power Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Printer Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Scanner Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

6Contents

Sound and Speaker Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

No sound from speakers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

No sound from headphones . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Video and Monitor Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

If the screen is blank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

If the screen is difficult to read . . . . . . . . . . . 80

4 Troubleshooting Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Power Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Beep Codes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

System Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Dell Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

When to Use the Dell Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . 86

Starting the Dell Diagnostics From Your

Hard Drive. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Starting the Dell Diagnostics From the Drivers

and Utilities Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Dell Diagnostics Main Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

What Is a Driver? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Identifying Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Reinstalling Drivers and Utilities . . . . . . . . . . 90

Restoring Your Operating System . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Using Microsoft Windows System Restore . . . . . 94

Using Dell PC Restore and Dell Factory

Image Restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Using the Operating System Media. . . . . . . . . 98

Troubleshooting Software and Hardware

Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Contents 7

5 Removing and Installing Parts . . . . . . . 101

Before You Begin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Recommended Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Turning Off Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Before Working Inside Your Computer . . . . . . . 102

Removing the Computer Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Inside View of Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

System Board Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

Power Supply DC Connector Pin Assignments . . . . . 108

Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Memory Installation Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . 112

Installing Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Removing Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

PCI and PCI Express Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

Bezel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Removing the Bezel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Replacing the Bezel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Recommended Drive Cable Connections . . . . . 127

Connecting Drive Cables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

Drive Interface Connectors. . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

Connecting and Disconnecting Drive Cables . . . 128

Hard Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

Floppy Drive. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

Media Card Reader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Optical Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

8Contents

Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

Replacing the Battery. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

Power Supply . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

Replacing the Power Supply . . . . . . . . . . . 152

I/O Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

Removing the I/O Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

Installing the I/O Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

Processor Fan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

Removing the Processor Fan/Heat

Sink Assembly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156

Installing the Processor Fan/Heat

Sink Assembly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

Processor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158

Removing the Processor . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158

Installing the Processor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

Chassis Fan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

Removing the Chassis Fan . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

Replacing the Chassis Fan . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

System Board. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164

Removing the System Board . . . . . . . . . . . 164

Installing the System Board. . . . . . . . . . . . 165

Replacing the Computer Cover . . . . . . . . . . 166

6 Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

System Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

Entering System Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

Contents 9

System Setup Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176

Boot Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

Clearing Forgotten Passwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180

Clearing CMOS Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

Flashing the BIOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182

Cleaning Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182

Computer, Keyboard, and Monitor . . . . . . . . . 183

Mouse. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183

Floppy Drive. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

CDs and DVDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

Dell Technical Support Policy (U.S. Only). . . . . . . . 184

Definition of "Dell-Installed" Software and

Peripherals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

Definition of "Third-Party" Software and

Peripherals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

FCC Notice (U.S. Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

FCC Class B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

Contacting Dell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207

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