Dell Vostro 1500 User manual

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Dell™ Vostro™ 1500 Owner’s Manual

Model PP22L

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, Vo s t ro , Wi-Fi Catcher, and Dell MediaDirect are

trademarks of Dell Inc.; Intel is a registered trademark and Core is a trademark of Intel Corporation;

Microsoft, Windows, Outlook, Windows XP 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; ENERGY STAR

is a registered trademark of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. As an ENERGY STAR partner,

Dell Inc. has determined that this product meets the ENERGY STAR guidelines for energy efficiency.

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 PP22L

November 2007 P/N TT979 Rev. A02

Contents 3

Contents

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

2 About Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Determining Your Computer’s Configuration . . . . . . 21

Front View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Left Side View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Right Side View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Back View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

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

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

4Contents

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

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

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

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

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

Using a Projector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Making Images and Text Look Bigger or Sharper . . . 47

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

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

Using Both a Monitor and Your Computer Display . . . 49

Microsoft Windows XP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Windows Vista . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Setting Display Resolution and Refresh Rate . . . . . . 50

Microsoft Windows XP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Windows Vista . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

5 Using the Keyboard and Touch Pad . . . . 53

Numeric Keypad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Key Combinations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

System Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Display Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Power Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Microsoft®Windows®Logo Key Functions . . . . 55

Dell™ QuickSet Key Combinations . . . . . . . . . 55

Adjusting Keyboard Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Contents 5

Touch Pad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Customizing the Touch Pad . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

6 Using a Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Battery Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Checking the Battery Charge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Dell™ QuickSet Battery Meter . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Microsoft®Windows®Battery Meter . . . . . . . 61

Charge Gauge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Low-Battery Warning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Conserving Battery Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Power Management Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Standby and Sleep Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Hibernate Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Configuring Power Management Settings . . . . . . . 64

Accessing Power Options Properties . . . . . . . 64

Charging the Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Replacing the Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Storing a Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

7 Using Multimedia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

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

Playing Media Using Dell Travel Remote . . . . . . . . 69

6Contents

Copying CD, DVD, and Blu-ray Disc™ (BD) Media . . . 70

How to Copy a CD, DVD, or BD . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Using Blank CD, DVD, and BD Media . . . . . . . 71

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

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

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

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

Connecting Your Computer to a TV or

Audio Device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

S-Video and Standard Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

S-Video and S/PDIF Digital Audio . . . . . . . . . 78

Composite Video and Standard Audio . . . . . . . 80

Composite Video and S/PDIF Digital Audio . . . . 82

Component Video and Standard Audio . . . . . . 84

Component Video and S/PDIF Digital Audio . . . . 87

Enabling the Display Settings for a TV . . . . . . . 90

8 Using ExpressCards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

ExpressCard Blanks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Installing an ExpressCard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Removing an ExpressCard or Blank . . . . . . . . . . . 93

9 Using the Memory Card Reader . . . . . . . 95

Memory Card Blanks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Installing a Memory Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Removing a Memory Card or Blank . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Contents 7

10 Setting Up and Using Networks . . . . . . . 97

Connecting a Network or Broadband

Modem Cable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Setting Up a Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Windows XP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Windows Vista . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Wireless Local Area Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

What You Need to Establish a WLAN

Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Checking Your Wireless Network Card . . . . . . 99

Setting Up a New WLAN Using a Wireless

Router and a Broadband Modem . . . . . . . . . 100

Connecting to a WLAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Mobile Broadband (or Wireless Wide

Area Network) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

What You Need to Establish a Mobile

Broadband Network Connection . . . . . . . . . 104

Checking Your Dell Mobile Broadband Card . . . . 105

Connecting to a Mobile Broadband Network . . . 105

Enabling/Disabling the Dell Mobile

Broadband Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

Dell Wi-Fi Catcher™ Network Locator . . . . . . . . . 107

11 Securing Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Security Cable Lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Passwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

If Your Computer Is Lost or Stolen . . . . . . . . . . . 110

8Contents

12 Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Dell Technical Update Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Dell Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Dell Support Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

Dell Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

Dell PC TuneUp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Dell PC Checkup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Dell Network Assistant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

DellConnect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Drive Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Optical drive problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Hard drive problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

E-Mail, Modem, and Internet Problems . . . . . . . . . 123

Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

ExpressCard Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

IEEE 1394 Device Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

Keyboard Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

External Keyboard problems . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

Unexpected characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

Lockups and Software Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

The computer does not start . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

The computer stops responding . . . . . . . . . . 133

A program stops responding or crashes

repeatedly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

A program is designed for an earlier

Microsoft®Windows®operating system . . . . . 134

A solid blue screen appears . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

Contents 9

Dell MediaDirect problems . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

Other software problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Memory Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

Network Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

Mobile Broadband (Wireless Wide Area

Network [WWAN]) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

Power Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

Printer Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

Scanner Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Sound and Speaker Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

No sound from integrated speakers . . . . . . . . 141

No sound from external speakers . . . . . . . . . 141

No sound from headphones . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

Remote Control Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

Touch Pad or Mouse Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

Video and Display Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

If the display is blank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

If the display is difficult to read . . . . . . . . . . 144

If only part of the display is readable . . . . . . . 145

Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

What Is a Driver? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

Identifying Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

Reinstalling Drivers and Utilities . . . . . . . . . . 146

Troubleshooting Software and Hardware

Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

10 Contents

Restoring your Microsoft Windows

Operating System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

Restoring Windows Vista®. . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

Restoring Windows XP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

13 Adding and Replacing Parts . . . . . . . . . 161

Before You Begin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

Recommended Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

Turning Off Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

Before Working Inside Your Computer . . . . . . . 162

Hard Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164

Removing the Hard Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164

Replacing the Hard Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166

Returning a Hard Drive to Dell . . . . . . . . . . . 167

Optical Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

Removing the Optical Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

Hinge Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168

Removing the Hinge Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168

Replacing the Hinge Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

Removing the Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170

Replacing the Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171

Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172

Removing the DIMM A Memory Module . . . . . . 172

Replacing the DIMM A Memory Module . . . . . 173

Removing the DIMM B Memory Module . . . . . . 175

Replacing the DIMM B Memory Module . . . . . 176

Subscriber Identity Module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

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