Computer Reference Guide
Table Of Contents
- Contents
- About This Reference
- Checking Out Your Computer
- Setting Up and Getting Started
- Working safely and comfortably
- Preparing power connections
- Connecting to a broadband modem or network
- Connecting a dial-up modem
- Starting your computer
- Turning off your computer
- Restarting (rebooting) your computer
- Using the keyboard
- Using the mouse
- Adjusting the volume
- Configuring the audio jacks
- Installing a printer, scanner, or other device
- Setting up RAID
- Upgrading Your Computer
- Preventing static electricity discharge
- Opening the case
- Closing the case
- Adding or replacing memory
- Replacing the system battery
- Adding or replacing an optical disc drive
- Adding or replacing an optional diskette drive
- Adding or replacing the memory card reader
- Adding or replacing a harddrive
- Replacing the front fan
- Replacing the rear fan
- Replacing the power supply
- Replacing the heat sink and processor
- Replacing the I/O board
- Adding or replacing an expansion card
- Replacing the system board
- Maintaining Your Computer
- Troubleshooting
- Safety guidelines
- First steps
- Troubleshooting
- Add-in cards
- Audio
- CD or DVD drives
- DVD drives
- Ethernet
- File management
- Hard drive
- Internet
- Keyboard
- Media Center
- The Media Center video display looks bad on your TV
- You need to configure your Media Center computer to output to aTV
- You want to change display settings to get better TV or DVD image quality
- You want to know whether you can burn programs that were recorded with your Media Center computer...
- You want to know whether you can play recorded programs on other computers
- You want to know whether you can play recorded programs on your home DVD player
- You get a “Download Error” message when the Media Center tries to update the Program Guide:
- Memory
- Memory card reader
- Modem (cable or DSL)
- Modem (dial-up)
- Your modem does not dial or does not connect
- You cannot connect to the Internet
- Your 56K modem does not connect at 56K
- Your fax communications program only sends and receives faxes at 14,400bps when you have a 56K m...
- The modem is not recognized by your computer
- The modem is noisy when it dials and connects
- Monitor
- Mouse
- Networks
- Passwords
- Power
- Printer
- Sound
- Recovering your system
- Recovering pre-installed software and drivers
- Using Microsoft System Restore
- Recovering your system to its factory condition
- Recovering your system using the WindowsDVD
- Telephone support
- Legal Notices
- Index
Contents
ii
RAID for performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
RAID for security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
RAID for both: performance and security . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Preparing your computer for RAID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Configuring RAID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Adding or replacing a RAID drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Getting help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Chapter 4: Upgrading Your Computer . . . . . . . 39
Preventing static electricity discharge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Opening the case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Removing the side panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Removing the front bezel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Closing the case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Replacing the front bezel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Replacing the side panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Adding or replacing memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Replacing the system battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Adding or replacing an optical disc drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Adding or replacing an optional diskette drive . . . . . . . . . . 50
Adding or replacing the memory card reader . . . . . . . . . . 52
Adding or replacing a hard drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Replacing the front fan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Replacing the rear fan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Replacing the power supply . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Replacing the heat sink and processor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Replacing the I/O board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Adding or replacing an expansion card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Replacing the system board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Chapter 5: Maintaining Your Computer. . . . . . 73
Setting up a maintenance schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Caring for your computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Cleaning your computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Cleaning the exterior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Cleaning the keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Cleaning the monitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
8512066.book Page ii Tuesday, January 16, 2007 11:02 AM