Dell Inspiron 1200 User manual

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Dell™ Vostro™ 1200 Owner’s Manual

Model PP16S

book.book Page 1 Wednesday, December 12, 2007 10:32 AM

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.

____________________

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, Vost ro, and TravelLite are trademarks of Dell Inc.;

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

Vista are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States

and/or other countries. Bluetooth is a trademark of Bluetooth SIG, Inc. Blu-ray Disc is a trademark

of the Blu-ray Disc Association.

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 PP16S

November 2007 P/N RK930 Rev. A00

book.book Page 2 Wednesday, December 12, 2007 10:32 AM

Contents 3

Contents

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

2 About Your Computer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Front View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Left Side View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Right Side View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Back View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Bottom View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

3 Using a Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Battery Performance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Checking the Battery Charge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Microsoft®Windows®Power Meter . . . . . . . 32

Low-Battery Warning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Conserving Battery Power. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Power Management Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Standby and Sleep Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Hibernate Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Configuring Power Management Settings . . . . . . . 35

Accessing Power Options Properties . . . . . . . 35

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4Contents

Charging the Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Removing the Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Storing a Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

4 Using the Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Numeric Keypad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Key Combinations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

System Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Power Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Speaker Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Microsoft®Windows®Logo Key Functions . . . . 40

Touch Pad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Customizing the Touch Pad . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

5 Using the Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Adjusting Brightness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Using a Projector. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Making Images and Text Look Bigger or Sharper. . . . 44

Microsoft®Windows®XP . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Windows Vista™ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Using Both a Monitor and Your Computer Display . . . 45

Microsoft®Windows®XP . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Windows Vista™ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Using a Monitor as Your Primary Display . . . . . . . . 46

Microsoft®Windows®XP . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Windows Vista™ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

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Contents 5

6 Using Multimedia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Playing CDs or DVDs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Copying CDs and DVDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

How to Copy a CD or DVD . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Using Blank CDs and DVDs. . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Helpful Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Adjusting the Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Adjusting the Picture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

7 Setting Up and Using Networks . . . . . . . 55

Connecting a Network or Broadband Modem Cable . . 55

Setting Up a Network in the Microsoft®Windows®XP

Operating System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Setting Up a Network in the Microsoft Windows Vista™

Operating System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) . . . . . . . . . 57

What You Need to Establish a WLAN Connection . 57

Checking Your Wireless Network Card. . . . . . . 57

Setting Up a New WLAN Using a Wireless Router and a

Broadband Modem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Connecting to a WLAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Microsoft®Windows®Firewall . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

8 Using Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

ExpressCards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

ExpressCard Blanks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

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6Contents

Installing an ExpressCard. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Removing an ExpressCard or Blank . . . . . . . . 65

9 Securing Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Security Cable Lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Passwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

About Passwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Using a Primary (or System) Password . . . . . . . 68

Using an Administrator Password . . . . . . . . . 69

Computer Tracking Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Fingerprint Reader (Optional) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

If Your Computer Is Lost or Stolen . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

10 Troubleshooting Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Diagnostic Lights. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Diagnostic Light Codes During POST . . . . . . . . 73

System Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Hardware Troubleshooter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Dell Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

When to Use the Dell Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . 79

Starting the Dell Diagnostics From Your Hard Drive 79

Starting the Dell Diagnostics From the Drivers and

Utilities Media. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Dell Diagnostics Main Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

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Contents 7

11 Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Battery Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

E-Mail, Modem, and Internet Problems . . . . . . 85

Error Messages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Lockups and Software Problems. . . . . . . . . . 88

Memory Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Network Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Power Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Printer Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Scanner Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Sound and Speaker Problems . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Touch Pad or Mouse Problems. . . . . . . . . . . 95

Video and Monitor Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Power Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Dell Technical Update Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Dell Support Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Accessing the Dell Support Utility . . . . . . . . . 99

Clicking the Dell Support Icon . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Double-Clicking the Dell Support Icon . . . . . . . 99

12 System Setup Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Viewing the System Setup Screens . . . . . . . . . . . 102

System Setup Screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Commonly Used Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Changing the Boot Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Enabling the Infrared Sensor . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

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8Contents

13 Reinstalling Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

What Is a Driver? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Identifying Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Reinstalling Drivers and Utilities . . . . . . . . . 106

Hardware and Software Problems . . . . . . . . . . 110

Restoring Your Operating System . . . . . . . . . . . 110

Using Microsoft Windows System Restore . . . . 111

Using Dell™ PC Restore and Dell Factory Image

Restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Using the Operating System Media. . . . . . . . 116

14 Traveling With Your Computer . . . . . . . . 119

Identifying Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Packing the Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Travel Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Traveling by Air . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

15 Getting Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Obtaining Assistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Technical Support and Customer Service . . . . 124

DellConnect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

Online Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

AutoTech Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Automated Order-Status Service . . . . . . . . . 125

Problems With Your Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

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Contents 9

Product Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Returning Items for Warranty Repair or Credit . . . . . 126

Before You Call . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

Contacting Dell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

16 Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

17 Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

FCC Notice (U.S. Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

FCC Class B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

Cleaning Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

Computer, Keyboard, and Display . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

Mouse (Non-Optical) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

Touch Pad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

CDs and DVDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

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10 Contents

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