Dell Vostro 500 User manual

www.dell.com | support.dell.com

Dell™ 500 Owner’s Manual

Model PP29L

book.book Page 1 Thursday, August 7, 2008 5:00 PM

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, and Wi-Fi Catcher are trademarks of Dell Inc.;

Intel is a registered trademark and Celeron is a trademark of Intel Corporation in United States and

other countries.; Microsoft and Windows 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 PP29L

July 2008 P/N U739D Rev. A03

book.book Page 2 Thursday, August 7, 2008 5:00 PM

Contents 3

Contents

Finding Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

1 About Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

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

Left Side View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Right Side View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Back View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

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

2 Setting Up Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Connecting to the Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Setting Up Your Internet Connection . . . . . . . . 30

Transferring Information to a New Computer . . . . . 31

Windows Easy Transfer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Setting Up a Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Printer Cable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Connecting a USB Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Power Protection Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Surge Protectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Line Conditioners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Uninterruptible Power Supplies . . . . . . . . . . 37

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4Contents

3 Using the Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Adjusting Brightness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Switching the Video Image From Your

Computer Display To a Projector . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Setting Display Resolution and Refresh Rate . . . . . . 40

4 Using the Keyboard and Touch Pad . . . . 41

Numeric Keypad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Key Combinations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

System Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Display Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Power Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Microsoft®Windows®Logo Key Functions . . . . 43

Dell™ QuickSet Key Combinations . . . . . . . . . 43

Adjusting Keyboard Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Touch Pad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Customizing the Touch Pad . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

5 Using a Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Battery Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Checking the Battery Charge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Dell QuickSet Battery Meter . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Microsoft®Windows®Battery Meter . . . . . . . 49

Low-Battery Warning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Conserving Battery Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

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Contents 5

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

Standby Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Hibernate Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Configuring Power Management Settings . . . . . . . 51

Accessing Power Options Properties . . . . . . . 51

Charging the Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Replacing the Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Storing a Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

6 Using Multimedia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Playing Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Copying CD and DVD Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

How to Copy a CD or DVD . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Using Blank CD and DVD Media . . . . . . . . . . 58

Helpful Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Adjusting the Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Adjusting the Picture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

7 Using Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

ExpressCards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

ExpressCard Blanks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Installing an ExpressCard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Removing an ExpressCard or Blank . . . . . . . . . . 63

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6Contents

Memory Card Reader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Memory Card Blanks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Installing a Memory Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Removing a Memory Card or Blank . . . . . . . . . . . 65

8 Setting Up and Using Networks . . . . . . . 67

Connecting a Network or Broadband

Modem Cable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Setting Up a Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Wireless Local Area Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

What You Need to Establish a WLAN

Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Checking Your Wireless Network Card . . . . . . 68

Setting Up a New WLAN Using

a Wireless Router and a Broadband Modem . . . 69

Connecting to a WLAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

9 Securing Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Security Cable Lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Passwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

If Your Computer Is Lost or Stolen . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

10 Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Dell Technical Update Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Dell Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

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Contents 7

Drive Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Optical drive problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Hard drive problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

E-Mail, Modem, and Internet Problems . . . . . . . . 81

Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

ExpressCard Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

IEEE 1394 Device Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Keyboard Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

External Keyboard problems . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Unexpected characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Lockups and Software Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

The computer does not start . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

The computer stops responding . . . . . . . . . . 90

A program stops responding or

crashes repeatedly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

A program is designed for an earlier

Microsoft®Windows®operating system . . . . . 91

A solid blue screen appears . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Other software problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Memory Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Network Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Power Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Printer Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Scanner Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

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8Contents

Sound and Speaker Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

No sound from integrated speakers . . . . . . . . 96

No sound from external speakers . . . . . . . . . 96

No sound from headphones . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Touch Pad or Mouse Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Video and Display Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

If the display is blank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

If the display is difficult to read . . . . . . . . . . 99

If only part of the display is readable . . . . . . . 99

Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

What Is a Driver? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Identifying Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Reinstalling Drivers and Utilities . . . . . . . . . . 100

Troubleshooting Software and Hardware

Problems in the Microsoft®Windows®XP

Operating System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Restoring Your Operating System . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Using Microsoft Windows System Restore . . . . 103

Starting System Restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

Using the Operating System Media . . . . . . . . 105

11 Adding and Replacing Parts . . . . . . . . . 107

Before You Begin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Recommended Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Turning Off Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Before Working Inside Your Computer . . . . . . . 108

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Contents 9

Hard Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Removing the Hard Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

Replacing the Hard Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

Returning a Hard Drive to Dell . . . . . . . . . . . 111

Optical Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Removing the Optical Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Replacing the Optical Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Hinge Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Removing the Hinge Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Replacing the Hinge Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Removing the Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Replacing the Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

Removing Memory Module . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

Replacing Memory Module . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

Wireless Mini-Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Removing Mini-Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Replacing Mini-Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

Internal Card With Bluetooth®Wireless

Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

Removing the Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

Replacing the Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

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10 Contents

12 Traveling With Your Computer . . . . . . . . 125

Identifying Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Packing the Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Travel Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Traveling by Air . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

13 Getting Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

Obtaining Assistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

Technical Support and Customer Service . . . . . 128

DellConnect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

Online Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

AutoTech Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Automated Order-Status Service . . . . . . . . . 129

Problems With Your Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Product Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Returning Items for Warranty Repair or Credit . . . . . 130

Before You Call . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

Contacting Dell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

14 Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

book.book Page 10 Thursday, August 7, 2008 5:00 PM

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