Dell Vostro 1400 User manual

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Dell™ Vostro™ 1400 Owner’s Manual

Model PP26L

book.book Page 1 Wednesday, September 16, 2009 11:12 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, Vostro, Wi-Fi Catcher, Dell MediaDirect and Dell

Media Experience are trademarks of Dell Inc.; Intel, Celeron, and Core 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

registered trademark owned by Bluetooth SIG, Inc. and is used by Dell under license.

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 PP26L

September 2009 P/N WY106 Rev. A02

book.book Page 2 Wednesday, September 16, 2009 11:12 AM

Contents 3

Contents

1 Finding Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

2 About Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Determining Your Computer’s Configuration . . . . . . 23

Front View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Left Side View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Right Side View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Back View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Bottom View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

3 Setting Up Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Connecting to the Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Setting Up Your Internet Connection . . . . . . . . 38

Transferring Information to a New Computer . . . . . 39

Microsoft®Windows®XP . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Microsoft Windows Vista™ . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Setting Up a Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Printer Cable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Connecting a USB Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

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4Contents

Power Protection Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Surge Protectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Line Conditioners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Uninterruptible Power Supplies . . . . . . . . . . 46

4 Using the Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Adjusting Brightness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Switching the Video Image From Your Computer

Display To a Projector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Setting Display Resolution and Refresh Rate . . . . . . 47

Microsoft®Windows®XP . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Windows Vista™ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

5 Using the Keyboard and Touch Pad . . . . 49

Numeric Keypad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Key Combinations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

System Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Display Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Power Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Microsoft®Windows®Logo Key Functions . . . . 50

Dell™ QuickSet Key Combinations . . . . . . . . . 51

Adjusting Keyboard Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Touch Pad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Customizing the Touch Pad . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

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Contents 5

6 Using a Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Battery Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Checking the Battery Charge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Dell QuickSet Battery Meter . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Charge Gauge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Low-Battery Warning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Microsoft®Windows®XP Battery Meter . . . . . 58

Microsoft®Windows®Vista Battery Meter . . . . 58

Conserving Battery Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Power Management Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Standby and Sleep Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Hibernate Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Configuring Power Management Settings . . . . . . . 60

Accessing Power Options Properties . . . . . . . 60

Charging the Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Replacing the Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Storing a Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

7 Using the Optional Camera . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Accessing the Camera’s Help File . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Manually Adjusting the Camera Settings . . . . . . . . 64

Creating a Picture or a Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

book.book Page 5 Wednesday, September 16, 2009 11:12 AM

6Contents

8 Using Multimedia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Playing Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Playing Media Using Dell Express Card

Remote Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Copying CD and DVD Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

How to Copy a CD or DVD . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Using Blank CD and DVD Media . . . . . . . . . . 72

Helpful Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Adjusting the Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Adjusting the Picture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Using Dell Media Experience™ and

Dell MediaDirect™ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

If the computer is turned on or in standby

or sleep mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

If the computer is turned off or in

hibernate mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Dell MediaDirect and Dell Media

Experience Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Connecting Your Computer to a TV or Audio Device . . 76

S-Video and Standard Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

S-Video and S/PDIF Digital Audio . . . . . . . . . 80

Composite Video and Standard Audio . . . . . . . 82

Composite Video and S/PDIF Digital Audio . . . . 84

Component Video and Standard Audio . . . . . . 86

Component Video and S/PDIF Digital Audio . . . . 88

Enabling the Display Settings for a TV . . . . . . . 91

book.book Page 6 Wednesday, September 16, 2009 11:12 AM

Contents 7

9 Using ExpressCards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

ExpressCard Blanks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Installing an ExpressCard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Removing an ExpressCard or Blank . . . . . . . . . . 95

10 Using the Memory Card Reader . . . . . . . 97

Memory Card Blanks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Installing a Memory Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Removing a Memory Card or Blank . . . . . . . . . . . 98

11 Setting Up and Using Networks . . . . . . . 99

Connecting a Network or Broadband Modem

Cable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Setting Up a Network in the Microsoft®

Windows®XP Operating System . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Setting Up a Network in the Microsoft

Windows Vista™ Operating System . . . . . . . . . . 100

Wireless Local Area Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

What You Need to Establish a WLAN

Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Checking Your Wireless Network Card . . . . . . 101

Setting Up a New WLAN Using a Wireless

Router and a Broadband Modem . . . . . . . . . 102

Connecting to a WLAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

book.book Page 7 Wednesday, September 16, 2009 11:12 AM

8Contents

Mobile Broadband (or Wireless Wide Area

Network) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

What You Need to Establish a Mobile

Broadband Network Connection . . . . . . . . . . 106

Checking Your Dell Mobile Broadband Card . . . . 107

Connecting to a Mobile Broadband Network . . . 107

Enabling/Disabling the Dell Mobile Broadband

Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

Dell Wi-Fi Catcher™ Network Locator . . . . . . . . . 108

12 Securing Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

Security Cable Lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

Passwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

If Your Computer Is Lost or Stolen . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

13 Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

Dell Technical Update Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

Dell Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

Dell Support Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Dell Support 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Dell PC Tune-Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Dell PC Checkup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

Dell Network Assistant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

DellConnect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

Drive Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Optical drive problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

Hard drive problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

book.book Page 8 Wednesday, September 16, 2009 11:12 AM

Contents 9

E-Mail, Modem, and Internet Problems . . . . . . . . 125

Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

ExpressCard Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

IEEE 1394 Device Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Keyboard Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

External Keyboard problems . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Unexpected characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

Lockups and Software Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

The computer does not start . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

The computer stops responding . . . . . . . . . . 135

A program stops responding or crashes

repeatedly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

A program is designed for an earlier

Microsoft®Windows®operating system . . . . . 136

A solid blue screen appears . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

Dell MediaDirect problems . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

Other software problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

Memory Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

Network Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

Mobile Broadband (Wireless Wide Area

Network [WWAN]) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

Power Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Printer Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

Scanner Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

book.book Page 9 Wednesday, September 16, 2009 11:12 AM

10 Contents

Sound and Speaker Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

No sound from integrated speakers . . . . . . . . 143

No sound from external speakers . . . . . . . . . 143

No sound from headphones . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Remote Control Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Touch Pad or Mouse Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

Video and Display Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

If the display is blank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

If the display is difficult to read . . . . . . . . . . 146

If only part of the display is readable . . . . . . . 147

Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

What Is a Driver? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

Identifying Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

Reinstalling Drivers and Utilities . . . . . . . . . . 149

Using the Drivers and Utilities Media . . . . . . . 150

Manually Reinstalling Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . 151

Troubleshooting Software and Hardware Problems . . 152

Restoring Your Microsoft®Windows Vista™

Operating System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

Using Windows Vista System Restore . . . . . . . 153

Restoring the Computer to the Default Factory Configuration 155

Using the Operating System Media . . . . . . . . 156

Restoring Your Microsoft®Windows®XP

Operating System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158

Using Microsoft Windows System Restore . . . . 158

Starting System Restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158

Using Dell™ PC Restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

Using the Operating System Media . . . . . . . . 161

book.book Page 10 Wednesday, September 16, 2009 11:12 AM

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