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book.book Page 1 Monday, July 23, 2007 3:47 PM
Dell™ Dimension™ E521
Owner’s Manual
cover latch
Service Tag
release
CD or DVD eject button
CD or DVD activity light
FlexBay for optional
floppy drive or Media
Card Reader
microphone connector
headphone connector
diagnostic lights
hard-drive activity light
power button/
power activity light
USB 2.0 connectors (2)
Model DCSM
www.dell.com | support.dell.com
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book.book Page 2 Monday, July 23, 2007 3:47 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 the "Glossary" on page 145. ® ® I
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book.book Page 3 Monday, July 23, 2007 3:47 PM Contents Finding Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 1 Setting Up and Using Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Front View of the Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Back View of the Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Back Panel Connectors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Setting Up a Printer . . . . . . .
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book.book Page 4 Monday, July 23, 2007 3:47 PM Power Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Standby Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Hibernate Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Power Options Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Enabling Cool ’n’ Quiet™ Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 About RAID Configurations . . . . . . . . . .
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book.book Page 5 Monday, July 23, 2007 3:47 PM Power Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Printer Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Scanner Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Sound and Speaker Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 No sound from speakers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 No sound from headphones . . .
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book.book Page 6 Monday, July 23, 2007 3:47 PM Memory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Memory Installation Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Addressing Memory With 4-GB Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Installing Memory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Removing Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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book.book Page 7 Monday, July 23, 2007 3:47 PM A Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 System Setup. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 Entering System Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 System Setup Options. . . . . . . . .
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book.book Page 8 Monday, July 23, 2007 3:47 PM 8 Contents
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book.book Page 9 Monday, July 23, 2007 3:47 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 Warranty information Dell™ Product Information Guide Terms and Conditions (U.S. only) Safety instructions Regulatory information Ergonomics information End User License A
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book.book Page 10 Monday, July 23, 2007 3:47 PM 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 to view the appropriate support site. questions NOTE: Corporate, government, and education customers Community — Online discussion with other Dell can also use the customized Dell Premier Support website customers at premier.supp
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book.book Page 11 Monday, July 23, 2007 3:47 PM Setting Up and Using Your Computer Front View of the Computer 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1 cover latch release Use this latch to remove the cover. See "Removing the Computer Cover" on page 63. 2 location of Service Tag Use the Service Tag to identify your computer when you access the Dell Support website or call technical support. 3 CD or DVD eject button Press to eject a disk from the CD or DVD drive. 4 CD or DVD activity light The drive ligh
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book.book Page 12 Monday, July 23, 2007 3:47 PM 5 FlexBay drive Can contain an optional floppy drive or optional Media Card Reader. For information on using the Media Card Reader, see "Using a Media Card Reader (Optional)" on page 22. 6 microphone connector Use the microphone connector to attach a personal computer microphone for voice or musical input into a sound or telephony program. On computers with a sound card, the microphone connector is on the card. 7 headphone connector Use the
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book.book Page 13 Monday, July 23, 2007 3:47 PM Back View of the Computer 1 2 3 4 1 voltage selection switch See the safety instructions in the Product Information Guide for more information. 2 power connector Insert the power cable. 3 back panel connectors Plug USB, audio, and other devices into the appropriate connector. See "Back Panel Connectors" on page 14 for more information. 4 card slots Access connectors for any installed PCI and PCI Express cards. Setting Up and Using Your Compute
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book.book Page 14 Monday, July 23, 2007 3:47 PM Back Panel Connectors 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 11 9 8 10 1 link integrity light Green — A good connection exists between a 10-Mbps network and the computer. Orange — A good connection exists between a 100-Mbps network and the computer. Off — The computer is not detecting a physical connection to the network. 2 network adapter To attach your computer to a network or broadband device, connect one end of a connector network cable to either a network po
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book.book Page 15 Monday, July 23, 2007 3:47 PM 8 side surround connector Use the silver connector to provide enhanced surround audio for computers with 7.1 speakers. On computers with a sound card, the microphone connector is on the card. 9 center/subwoofer Use the yellow connector to attach a speaker to a Low Frequency Effects (LFE) connector audio channel. 10 USB 2.0 connectors (4) Use the back USB connectors for devices that typically remain connected, such as printers and keyboards. I
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book.book Page 16 Monday, July 23, 2007 3:47 PM 1 2 3 1 USB connector on computer 2 USB printer cable 3 USB connector on printer 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 the documentation that came with your printer. Connecting to the Internet NOTE: ISPs and ISP offerings vary by country. To connect to the Internet, you need a modem or network connection and an Internet se
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book.book Page 17 Monday, July 23, 2007 3:47 PM Setting Up Your Internet Connection To set up an Internet connection with a provided ISP desktop shortcut: 1 Save and close any open files, and exit any open programs. ® ® 2 Double-click the ISP icon on the Microsoft Windows desktop. 3 Follow the instructions on the screen to complete the setup. If you do not have an ISP icon on your desktop or if you want to set up an Internet connection with a different ISP: 1 Save and close any open files, a
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book.book Page 18 Monday, July 23, 2007 3:47 PM Playing CDs and DVDs NOTICE: Do not press down on the CD or DVD tray when you open or close it. Keep the tray closed when you are not using the drive. NOTICE: Do not move the computer when you are playing CDs or DVDs. 1 Press the eject button on the front of the drive. 2 Place the disc, label side up, in the center of the tray. 3 Press the eject button or gently push in the tray. To format CDs for storing data, to create music CDs, or to copy
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book.book Page 19 Monday, July 23, 2007 3:47 PM A DVD player includes the following basic buttons: Stop Restart the current chapter Play Fast forward Pause Fast reverse Advance a single frame while in pause mode Go to the next title or chapter Continuously play the current title or chapter Go to the previous title or chapter Eject For more information on playing CDs or DVDs, click Help on the CD or DVD player (if available). Adjusting the Volume NOTE: When the speakers are muted, you do not
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book.book Page 20 Monday, July 23, 2007 3:47 PM Copying CDs and DVDs NOTE: Ensure that you observe all copyright laws when creating CDs or DVDs. This section applies only to computers that have a CD-RW, DVD+/-RW, or CD-RW/DVD (combo) drive. NOTE: The types of CD or DVD drives offered by Dell may vary by country. The following instructions explain how to make an exact copy of a CD or DVD. You can also use Sonic DigitalMedia for other purposes, such as creating music CDs from audio files sto
