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Dell Precision™ M4300
User’s Guide
www.dell.com | support.dell.com
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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 149. ® ® If you purchased a Dell™ n Series computer, any referen
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Contents 1 Finding Information 2 About Your Computer Front View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Left Side View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Right Side View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Back View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Bottom View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Transferring In
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Replacing the Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Storing a Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 4 Using the Keyboard and Touch Pad Numeric Keypad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Key Combinations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 System Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Using an External Monitor Simultaneously as an Extension of Your Computer Display 47 ® ® Microsoft Windows XP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Windows Vista® . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Using an External Monitor as Your Primary Display: Swapping Primary and Secondary Displays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 ® ® Microsoft Windows XP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Window
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Extended Cards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Installing a PC Card or ExpressCard. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 PC Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 ExpressCard. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Removing a Card or Blank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 9 Securing Your Computer Security Cable Lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Drive Problems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 CD and DVD drive problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 Hard drive problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 E-Mail, Modem, and Internet Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 IEEE 1394 Device Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 Keyb
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If only part of the display is readable. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 11 System Setup Program Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 Viewing the System Setup Screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 System Setup Screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 Commonly Used Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 Changing the Boot Sequence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Before Working Inside Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 Hard Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 Returning a Hard Drive to Dell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 Media Bay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 Removing and Installing Media Bay Devices. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 Hinge Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Returning Items for Warranty Repair or Credit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 Before You Call. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142 Contacting Dell. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142 18 Appendix Cleaning Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145 Computer, Keyboard, and Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145 Touch Pad. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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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 Media Drivers for my computer NOTE: The Drivers and Utilities media may be optional and may not ship with your computer. My device documentation Notebook System Sof
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What Are You Looking For? Find It Here How to set up my computer Quick Reference Guide Basic troubleshooting information NOTE: This document may be optional and may not ship with your computer. How to run the Dell Diagnostics NOTE: This document is available as a PDF at support.dell.com. Warranty information Dell™ Product Information Guide Terms and Conditions (U.S. only) Safety instructions Regulatory information Ergonomics information End User License Agreement ® ® Servic
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What Are You Looking For? Find It Here Solutions — Troubleshooting hints and tips, articles Dell Support Website — support.dell.com from technicians, and online courses, frequently asked NOTE: Select your region or business segment to view the questions appropriate support site. Community — Online discussion with other Dell NOTE: Corporate, government, and education customers customers can also use the customized Dell Support website at Upgrades — Upgrade information for components, s
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What Are You Looking For? Find It Here ® How to use Windows XP and Windows Vista Windows Help and Support Center How to work with programs and files 1 Click Start or → Help and Support. How to personalize my desktop 2 Type a word or phrase that describes your problem and click the arrow icon. 3 Click the topic that describes your problem. 4 Follow the instructions on the screen. Information on network activity, the Power Management Dell QuickSet Help Wizard, hotkeys, and other items con
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About Your Computer Front View 1 2 3 13 12 4 11 10 5 9 6 8 7 About Your Computer 13
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1 display latch 2 display 3 power button 4 device status lights 5 speakers (2) 6 keyboard 7 touch pad 8 touch pad/track stick buttons 9 track stick 10 keyboard status lights 11 volume control buttons 12 mute button 13 ambient light sensor DISPLAY LATCH — Keeps the display closed. DISPLAY — For more information about your display, see "Using the Display" on page 45. POWER BUTTON — Press the power button to turn on the computer or exit a power management mode (see "Power Management Modes" on page
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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 battery charge status. Turns on when wireless devices are enabled. To enable or disable WiFi, use the wireless switch on the left side of the computer. ® Turns on when Bluetooth wireless technology is enabled. To enabl
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KEYBOARD STATUS LIGHTS The green lights located above the keyboard indicate the following: Turns on when the numeric keypad is enabled. 9 Turns on when the uppercase letter function is enabled. A Turns on when the scroll lock function is enabled. VOLUME CONTROL BUTTONS — Press these buttons to adjust the speaker volume. MUTE BUTTON — Press this button to turn off the speakers. AMBIENT LIGHT SENSOR — Helps to control display brightness. For more information, see "Using the Ambient Light Sensor"
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Left Side View 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 security cable slot 2 air vents 3 IEEE 1394 connector 4 audio connectors 5 ExpressCard slot 6 wireless switch ™ 7 Wi-Fi Catcher light 8 PC Card slot 9 smart card slot SECURITY CABLE SLOT — Lets you attach a commercially available antitheft device to the computer. For more information, see "Security Cable Lock" on page 65. NOTICE: Before you buy an antitheft device, ensure that it will work with the security cable slot. AIR VENTS — The computer uses an interna
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AUDIO CONNECTORS Attach headphones to the connector. Attach a microphone to the connector. EXPRESSCARD SLOT — Supports 34- and 54-mm PCI ExpressCards or USB-based ExpressCards (see "Using Cards" on page 61). WIRELESS SWITCH — Turns on/off wireless devices such as WiFi and internal cards with Bluetooth wireless technology and scans for WiFi networks. For more information about scanning for wireless networks, see "Dell™ Wi- Fi Catcher™ Network Locator" on page 58. NOTE: The wireless switch d
