Run the Hardware Troubleshooter —
See Troubleshooting Software and Hardware Problems.
Run the Dell Diagnostics —
See Dell Diagnostics.
Optical drive problems
Adjust the Windows volume control —
l Click the speaker icon in the lower-right corner of your screen.
l Ensure that the volume is turned up by clicking the slidebar and dragging it up.
l Ensure that the sound is not muted by clicking any boxes that are checked.
Check the speakers and subwoofer —
See Sound and Speaker Problems.
Problems writing to an optical drive
Close other programs —
Theopticaldrivemustreceiveasteadystreamofdataduringthewritingprocess.Ifthestreamisinterrupted,anerroroccurs.Tryclosingallprogramsbefore
you write to the optical.
Turn off standby mode in Windows before writing to a disc —
See Configuring Power Management Settings or search for the keyword standby in Windows Help and Support for information on power management modes.
Hard drive problems
Run Check Disk —
Windows XP:
1. Click Start and click My Computer.
2. Right-click Local Disk C:.
3. Click Properties® Tools® Check Now.
4. Click Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors and click Start.
Windows Vista:
1. Click Start and click Computer.
2. Right-click Local Disk C:.
3. Click Properties® Tools® Check Now.
The User Account Control window may appear. If you are an administrator on the computer, click Continue; otherwise, contact your administrator to
continue the desired action.
4. Follow the instructions on the screen.
E-Mail, Modem, and Internet Problems
NOTE: High-speed optical drive vibration is normal and may cause noise, which does not indicate a defect in the drive or the media.
NOTE: Because of different regions worldwide and different disc formats, not all DVD titles work in all DVD drives.
CAUTION: Before you begin any of the procedures in this section, follow the safety instructions in the Product Information Guide.
NOTE: Connect the modem to an analog telephone jack only. The modem does not operate while it is connected to a digital telephone network.