Service Manual

Safety instructions

Use the following safety guidelines to protect your computer from potential damage and to ensure your personal safety. Unless otherwise

noted, each procedure included in this document assumes that you have read the safety information that shipped with your computer.

NOTE: Before working inside your computer, read the safety information that shipped with your computer. For more

safety best practices, see the Regulatory Compliance home page at www.dell.com/regulatory_compliance.

NOTE: Disconnect all power sources before opening the computer cover or panels. After you finish working inside the

computer, replace all covers, panels, and screws before connecting to the electrical outlet.

CAUTION: To avoid damaging the computer, ensure that the work surface is flat and clean.

CAUTION: Handle components and cards with care. Do not touch the components or contacts on a card. Hold a card by

its edges or by its metal mounting bracket. Hold a component such as a processor by its edges, not by its pins.

CAUTION: You should only perform troubleshooting and repairs as authorized or directed by the Dell technical

assistance team. Damage due to servicing that is not authorized by Dell is not covered by your warranty. See the safety

instructions that shipped with the product or at www.dell.com/regulatory_compliance.

CAUTION: Before touching anything inside your computer, ground yourself by using a wrist grounding strap or by

periodically touching an unpainted metal surface, such as the metal at the back of the computer. While you work,

periodically touch an unpainted metal surface to dissipate static electricity, which could harm internal components.

CAUTION: When you disconnect a cable, pull on its connector or on its pull tab, not on the cable itself. Some cables have

connectors with locking tabs or thumb-screws that you must disengage before disconnecting the cable. When

disconnecting cables, keep them evenly aligned to avoid bending any connector pins. When connecting cables, ensure

that the ports and connectors are correctly oriented and aligned.

CAUTION: Press and eject any installed card from the media-card reader.

NOTE: The color of your computer and certain components may appear differently than shown in this document.

Electrostatic discharge—ESD protection

ESD is a major concern when you handle electronic components, especially sensitive components such as expansion cards, processors,

memory DIMMs, and system boards. Very slight charges can damage circuits in ways that may not be obvious, such as intermittent

problems or a shortened product life span. As the industry pushes for lower power requirements and increased density, ESD protection is

an increasing concern.

Due to the increased density of semiconductors used in recent Dell products, the sensitivity to static damage is now higher than in

previous Dell products. For this reason, some previously approved methods of handling parts are no longer applicable.

Two recognized types of ESD damage are catastrophic and intermittent failures.

• Catastrophic – Catastrophic failures represent approximately 20 percent of ESD-related failures. The damage causes an immediate

and complete loss of device functionality. An example of catastrophic failure is a memory DIMM that has received a static shock and

immediately generates a "No POST/No Video" symptom with a beep code emitted for missing or nonfunctional memory.

• Intermittent – Intermittent failures represent approximately 80 percent of ESD-related failures. The high rate of intermittent failures

means that most of the time when damage occurs, it is not immediately recognizable. The DIMM receives a static shock, but the

tracing is merely weakened and does not immediately produce outward symptoms related to the damage. The weakened trace may

take weeks or months to melt, and in the meantime may cause degradation of memory integrity, intermittent memory errors, etc.

The more difficult type of damage to recognize and troubleshoot is the intermittent (also called latent or "walking wounded") failure.

Perform the following steps to prevent ESD damage:

10 Safety instructions