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Dell™ Dimension™ 4500
www.dell.com | support.dell.com
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HINT: A HINT 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. For a complete list of abbreviations and acronyms, see the Tell Me How help file. To access help files, see page 26. ____________________ Information in this document is subject to change wit
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Safety Instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 When Using Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 When Working Inside Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Protecting Against Electrostatic Discharge . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Battery Disposal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Finding Information for Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 1 Setting Up Connecting a Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Parall
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Drive Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Floppy drive problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 CD drive problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Problems writing to a CD-RW drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 DVD drive problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Hard drive problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 E-Mail, Modem, and Internet Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Error Messages . . . . .
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3 Advanced Troubleshooting Diagnostic Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Using System Restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Creating a Restore Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Restoring the Computer to an Earlier Operating State . . . . . . 51 Undoing the Last System Restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Reinstalling Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 ® Using Windows XP Device Driver Rollback . . . . . .
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Adding or Replacing the AGP Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 Card Removal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 Card Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 Adding a Second Hard Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 Closing the Computer Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 5 Appendix Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 Standard Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
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"Total Satisfaction" Return Policy (U.S. Only) . . . . . . . . . 135 One-Year End-User Manufacturer Guarantee (Latin America and the Caribbean Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 Contents 7
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8 Contents
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Use the following safety guidelines to protect yourself and your computer. When Using Your Computer CAUTION: Do not operate your computer with any cover(s) (including the computer cover, filler brackets, front-panel inserts, and so on) removed or opened. Your computer is equipped with either an auto-sensing voltage selector or a manual voltage selection switch. Computers with an auto-sensing voltage selector do not have a voltage selection switch on the back panel and automatically detec
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To help avoid possible damage to the system board, wait 5 seconds after turning off the computer before disconnecting or connecting a non-USB device from the computer. To help prevent electric shock, plug the computer and device power cables into properly grounded power sources. These cables are equipped with three-prong plugs to help ensure proper grounding. Do not use adapter plugs or remove the grounding prong from a cable. If you must use an extension cable, use a three-wire cable
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NOTICE: To help avoid possible damage to the system board, wait 5 seconds after turning off the computer before removing a component from the system board or disconnecting a device from the computer. 1 Perform an orderly computer shutdown using the operating system menu (see page 22). 2 Turn off your computer and any devices. 3 Ground yourself by touching an unpainted metal surface at the back of the computer before touching anything inside your computer. While you work, periodically touch
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You can also take the following steps to prevent static damage: Do not remove items from their antistatic packing material until you are ready to install them in your computer. Just before unwrapping the antistatic packaging, be sure to discharge static electricity from your body. When transporting a sensitive component, first place it in an antistatic container or packaging. Battery Disposal Your computer uses a lithium battery. For instructions about replacing the lithium battery in y
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What Are You Looking For? Find it Here A diagnostic program for my computer ResourceCD Drivers for my computer My computer documentation My device documentation You can use this CD to access documentation and reinstall drivers (see page 52). How to set up a printer Owner ’s Manual How to troubleshoot and solve problems How to add parts How to contact Dell Warranty information Express Service Code and Service Tag Express Service Code and Windows License Label Number Windo
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What Are You Looking For? Find it Here How to reinstall my operating system Operating System CD If you reinstall your operating system, use the ResourceCD to reinstall drivers for the devices that came with your computer (see page 55). Latest drivers for my computer Dell | Support website Answers to technical service and support The Dell | Support website provides several online tools, including: questions Knowledge Base — hints, tips, and online courses Online discussions with othe
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What Are You Looking For? Find it Here How to set up my computer Start Here Setup Diagram Tips on using Windows Tell Me How Help File How to clean my computer 1 Click the Start button, and then click Help and Support. How to use my mouse and keyboard 2 Click User and system guides, and then click User’s guides. 3 Click Tell Me How. ® How to use Windows XP Windows XP Help and Support Center Documentation for my computer and 1 Click the Start button, and then click Help and Support. de
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16 Safety Instructions www.dell.com | support.dell.com
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SECTION 1 Connecting a Printer Transferring Information to a New Computer Setting Up a Home and Office Network Turning Off the Computer
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See the documentation that came with the printer for any recommended preparation procedures, such as: Removing the packaging Installing the toner or ink cartridge Loading paper Then follow the instructions that came with the printer to connect it to the computer. If no information is provided, see the following sections. Parallel Printer 1 Turn off the computer (see page 22). NOTICE: Use only a standard IEEE parallel cable measuring 3 m (10 ft) or less to connect the printer to the com
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3 Turn on the printer and then turn on the computer. If the Add New Hardware Wizard window appears, click Cancel. 4 Install the printer driver if necessary (see "Installing the Printer Driver" on page 19). USB Printer 1 Install the printer driver if necessary (see the following section). HINT: You can connect USB devices while the 2 Attach the USB printer cable to the USB connector on the computer computer is turned on. and the printer. The USB connectors only fit one way. HINT: Your comp
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If your printer installation CD does not automatically run, click the Start ® ® button on the Microsoft Windows desktop, click Run, and type x:\setup.exe (where x is the letter of your CD or DVD drive [usually drive D]). Then click OK and follow the prompts on your screen. If your printer installation CD still does not run, check the documentation that came with your printer for instructions on how to start the printer installation CD. If you connect an older printer and it doesn’t work aft
