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book.book Page 1 Friday, June 29, 2007 4:59 PM
Dell™ Inspiron™ 6400/E1505
Owner’s Manual
Model PP20L
www.dell.com | support.dell.com
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book.book Page 2 Friday, June 29, 2007 4:59 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. Abbreviations and Acronyms For a complete list of abbreviations and acronyms, see "Glossary" on page 169. ® ® If y
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book.book Page 3 Friday, June 29, 2007 4:59 PM Contents Finding Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 1 About Your Computer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Determining Your Computer’s Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Front View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Left Side View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Right Side View . . .
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book.book Page 4 Friday, June 29, 2007 4:59 PM 3 Using the Display. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Adjusting Brightness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Switching the Video Image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Setting Display Resolution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 4 Using the Keyboard and Touch Pad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Numeric Keypad . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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book.book Page 5 Friday, June 29, 2007 4:59 PM 6 Using Multimedia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Playing CDs or DVDs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Copying CDs and DVDs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 How to Copy a CD or DVD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Using Blank CDs and DVDs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Helpful Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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book.book Page 6 Friday, June 29, 2007 4:59 PM 8 Setting Up a Network. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Physically Connecting to a Network or Broadband Modem . . . . . . . . . . 69 Network Setup Wizard. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 What You Need to Establish a WLAN Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 Checking Your Wireless Network Card. . . . . . . . .
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book.book Page 7 Friday, June 29, 2007 4:59 PM E-Mail, Modem, and Internet Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 ExpressCard Problems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 IEEE 1394 Device Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 Keyboard Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 External Keyboard problems . .
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book.book Page 8 Friday, June 29, 2007 4:59 PM Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 What Is a Driver? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 Identifying Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 Reinstalling Drivers and Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 Resolving Software and Hardware Incompatibilities . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 Restoring Your Operating System . . .
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book.book Page 9 Friday, June 29, 2007 4:59 PM 13 Traveling With Your Computer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 Identifying Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 Packing the Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 Travel Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132 Traveling by Air . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132 14 Contacting Dell . . . . . . . . .
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book.book Page 10 Friday, June 29, 2007 4:59 PM 10 Contents
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book.book Page 11 Friday, June 29, 2007 4:59 PM Finding Information NOTE: Some features or media may be optional and may not ship with your computer. Some features or media may not be available in certain countries. NOTE: Additional information may ship with your computer. What Are You Looking For? Find It Here A diagnostic program for my computer Drivers and Utilities CD (also known as ResourceCD) Drivers for my computer NOTE: The Drivers and Utilities CD may be optional and may not
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book.book Page 12 Friday, June 29, 2007 4:59 PM What Are You Looking For? Find It Here How to set up my computer Setup Diagram ® ® Service Tag and Express Service Code Service Tag and Microsoft Windows License Microsoft Windows License Label These labels are located on the bottom of your computer. Use the Service Tag to identify your computer when you use support.dell.com or contact technical support. Enter the Express Service Code to direct your call when contacting technical
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book.book Page 13 Friday, June 29, 2007 4:59 PM What Are You Looking For? Find It Here Solutions — Troubleshooting hints and tips; articles Dell Support Website — support.dell.com from technicians; online courses; and frequently asked NOTE: Select your region to view the appropriate support questions site. Community — Online discussion with other Dell customers Upgrades — Upgrade information for components, such as memory, the hard drive, and the operating system Customer Care — C
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book.book Page 14 Friday, June 29, 2007 4:59 PM What Are You Looking For? Find It Here How to reinstall my operating system Operating System CD NOTE: The Operating System CD is optional and may not ship with your computer. The operating system is already installed on your computer. To reinstall your operating system, use one of the following methods: Microsoft Windows System Restore — Microsoft Windows System Restore returns your computer to an earlier operating state without affecti
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book.book Page 15 Friday, June 29, 2007 4:59 PM About Your Computer Determining Your Computer’s Configuration Based on selections that you made when purchasing your computer, your computer has one of several different video controller configurations. To determine your computer’s video controller configuration: ® ® 1 Access the Microsoft Windows Help and Support Center. For instructions, see "Windows Help and Support Center" on page 13. 2 Under Pick a Task, click Use Tools to view your com
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book.book Page 16 Friday, June 29, 2007 4:59 PM Front View 1 12 2 3 11 4 10 9 5 8 6 7 1 display latch release 5 touch pad 9 keyboard 2 display 6 media control buttons 10 Dell MediaDirect™ button 3 power button 7 speakers (2) 11 keyboard and wireless status lights 4 device status lights 8 touch pad buttons 12 display latches (2) DISPLAY LATCH RELEASE — Press to release the display latches and open the display. DISPLAY — For more information about your display, see "Using the Display" on page
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book.book Page 17 Friday, June 29, 2007 4:59 PM POWER BUTTON Press the power button to turn on the computer or to enter or exit a power management mode. See "Power Management Modes" on page 41. DEVICE STATUS LIGHTS Turns on when you turn on the computer, and blinks when the computer is in a power management mode. Turns on when the computer reads or writes data. NOTICE: To avoid loss of data, never turn off the computer while the light is flashing. Turns on steadily or blinks to indicate
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book.book Page 18 Friday, June 29, 2007 4:59 PM TOUCH PAD — Provides the functionality of a mouse. Silk screening on the touch pad indicates scrolling capabilities. MEDIA CONTROL BUTTONS — Control CD, DVD, and Media Player playback. Mute the sound. Turn the volume down. Turn the volume up. Play or pause. Play the previous track. Play the next track. Stop. SPEAKERS — To adjust the volume of the integrated speakers, press the media control buttons or speaker-volume keyboard shortcuts. For
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book.book Page 19 Friday, June 29, 2007 4:59 PM KEYBOARD AND WIRELESS STATUS LIGHTS The green lights located above the keyboard indicate the following: 9 Turns on when the numeric keypad is enabled. A Turns on when the uppercase letter function is enabled. Turns on when the scroll lock function is enabled. Turns on when wireless networking is enabled. To enable or disable wireless networking, press . ® Turns on when a card with Bluetooth wireless technology is enabled. NOTE: The ca
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book.book Page 20 Friday, June 29, 2007 4:59 PM Left Side View 1 24 3 1 air vent 3 optical drive bay 2 security cable slot 4 optical-drive-tray eject button CAUTION: Do not block, push objects into, or allow dust to accumulate in the air vents. Do not store your computer in a low-airflow environment, such as a closed briefcase, while it is running. Restricting the airflow can damage the computer or cause a fire. AIR VENT — The computer uses fans to create airflow through the vents, which
