Dell Vostro 1500 User manual

www.dell.com | support.dell.com

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, Vostro, 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, 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

July 2007 P/N TT979 Rev. A01

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®Easy Transfer . . . . . . . 39

Setting Up a Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Printer Cable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Connecting a USB Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

4Contents

Power Protection Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Surge Protectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Line Conditioners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Uninterruptible Power Supplies . . . . . . . . . . 42

4 Using the Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

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

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

Making Images and Text Look Bigger or Sharper . . . 43

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

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

Using Both a Monitor and Your Computer

Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

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

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

Setting Display Resolution and Refresh Rate . . . . . . 46

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

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

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

Contents 5

Microsoft®Windows®Logo Key Functions . . . . 51

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

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

Touch Pad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Customizing the Touch Pad . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

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

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

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

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

Microsoft®Windows®Battery Meter . . . . . . . 57

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

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

6Contents

7 Using Multimedia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Playing Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Copying CD and DVD Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

How to Copy a CD or DVD . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Using Blank CD and DVD Media . . . . . . . . . . 66

Helpful Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Adjusting the Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Adjusting the Picture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Using Dell MediaDirect™ . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Connecting Your Computer to a TV or

Audio Device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

S-Video and Standard Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

S-Video and S/PDIF Digital Audio . . . . . . . . . 73

Composite Video and Standard Audio . . . . . . . 75

Composite Video and S/PDIF Digital Audio . . . . 77

Component Video and Standard Audio . . . . . . 79

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

8 Using ExpressCards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

ExpressCard Blanks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Installing an ExpressCard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Removing an ExpressCard or Blank . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Contents 7

9 Using the Memory Card Reader . . . . . . . 91

Memory Card Blanks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Installing a Memory Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Removing a Memory Card or Blank . . . . . . . . . . . 92

10 Setting Up and Using Networks . . . . . . . 93

Connecting a Network or Broadband

Modem Cable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Setting Up a Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Windows XP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Windows Vista . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Wireless Local Area Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

What You Need to Establish a WLAN

Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Checking Your Wireless Network Card . . . . . . 95

Setting Up a New WLAN Using a Wireless

Router and a Broadband Modem . . . . . . . . . 96

Connecting to a WLAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Mobile Broadband (or Wireless Wide Area

Network) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

What You Need to Establish a Mobile

Broadband Network Connection . . . . . . . . . 100

Checking Your Dell Mobile Broadband Card . . . . 101

Connecting to a Mobile Broadband Network . . . 101

Enabling/Disabling the Dell Mobile

Broadband Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Dell Wi-Fi Catcher™ Network Locator . . . . . . . . . 103

8Contents

11 Securing Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Security Cable Lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Passwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

If Your Computer Is Lost or Stolen . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

12 Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Dell Technical Update Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Dell Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Dell Support Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Drive Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Optical drive problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

Hard drive problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

E-Mail, Modem, and Internet Problems . . . . . . . . . 116

Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

ExpressCard Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

IEEE 1394 Device Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

Keyboard Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

External Keyboard problems . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

Unexpected characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Lockups and Software Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

The computer does not start . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

The computer stops responding . . . . . . . . . . 126

A program stops responding or crashes

repeatedly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

A solid blue screen appears . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

Contents 9

Dell MediaDirect problems . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

Other software problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

Memory Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Network Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Mobile Broadband (Wireless Wide Area

Network [WWAN]) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

Power Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

Printer Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

Scanner Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Sound and Speaker Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

No sound from integrated speakers . . . . . . . . 134

No sound from external speakers . . . . . . . . . 134

No sound from headphones . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Touch Pad or Mouse Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Video and Display Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

If the display is blank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

If the display is difficult to read . . . . . . . . . . 137

If only part of the display is readable . . . . . . . 138

Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

What Is a Driver? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

Identifying Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

Reinstalling Drivers and Utilities . . . . . . . . . . 139

Troubleshooting Software and Hardware Problems

in the Microsoft®Windows®XP and Microsoft

Windows Vista™ Operating Systems . . . . . . . . . . 142

10 Contents

Restoring Your Operating System . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

Using Microsoft Windows System Restore . . . . 144

Using Dell™ PC Restore and Dell Factory

Image Restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

Using the Operating System Media . . . . . . . . 148

13 Adding and Replacing Parts . . . . . . . . . 151

Before You Begin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

Recommended Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

Turning Off Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

Before Working Inside Your Computer . . . . . . . 152

Hard Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

Removing the Hard Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

Replacing the Hard Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156

Returning a Hard Drive to Dell . . . . . . . . . . . 157

Optical Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

Removing the Optical Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

Hinge Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158

Removing the Hinge Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158

Replacing the Hinge Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

Removing the Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160

Replacing the Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

Removing the DIMM A Memory Module . . . . . . 162

Replacing the DIMM A Memory Module . . . . . 163

Removing the DIMM B Memory Module . . . . . . 165

Replacing the DIMM B Memory Module . . . . . 166

Other manuals for Vostro 1500

Table of contents

Other Dell Laptop manuals

Dell

Dell XPS 15 9500 Operation and maintenance manual

Dell

Dell Latitude 5300 Operation and maintenance manual

Dell

Dell Inspiron 5301 Operation and maintenance manual

Dell

Dell Latitude 5430 User manual

Dell

Dell Inspiron 3582 Manual

Dell

Dell Inspiron 600m User manual

Dell

Dell P53F User manual

Dell

Dell Latitude E6230 User manual

Dell

Dell P135G User manual

Dell

Dell Precision M60 Series User guide

Dell

Dell Inspiron 15 User manual

Dell

Dell Vostro 15-3568 User manual

Dell

Dell NOT22360 User manual

Dell

Dell Latitude 5411 User manual

Dell

Dell Vostro 3550 User manual

Dell

Dell Inspiron 600m User manual

Dell

Dell Vostro 15 User manual

Dell

Dell Inspiron 15-3543 User manual

Dell

Dell Latitude E6320 User manual

Dell

Dell XPS L502X User manual

Dell

Dell Inspiron 7520 User guide

Dell

Dell Latitude E6540 Owner's manual

Dell

Dell Vostro 3481 User manual

Dell

Dell Precision 3530 User manual

Popular Laptop manuals by other brands

HP ze2401xt - Pavilion Notebook PC datasheet

Velocity

Velocity NoteMagix M10 quick start guide

Toshiba

Toshiba A105-S2236 Specifications

HP ENVY 17 Maintenance and service guide

Winbook

Winbook LM user guide

HP PROBOOK 4520S Maintenance and service guide

Sony

Sony VAIO PCG-FX270 Specifications

Sony

Sony VAIO PCG-R505JLK user guide

Lenovo

Lenovo THINKPAD X32 Setup guide

HP Compaq tc4200 Software guide

Toshiba

Toshiba mini NB300 specification

Lenovo

Lenovo ThinkPad X201 Tablet Manual

Lenovo

Lenovo THINKPAD X31 Manual

Sony

Sony VGN-T240P VAIO Specifications

Compaq

Compaq Armada E700 Series reference guide

Fujitsu

Fujitsu Lifebook A6230 Specifications

Acer

Acer Aspire ONE 722 Service guide

Toshiba

Toshiba L300-EZ1524 Specifications