Dell Inspiron 3700 Troubleshooting Guide

							support.dell.comUsing the System Setup Program B-3
,
See Figure B-1 and Table B-1 for an explanation of the options and settings on 
Pa ge 1 
of the System Setup program.

	
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Time Resets the time on the computers internal   
clock. Time is kept in a 24-hour format              
(hours:minutes:seconds). 
NOTE: If a network ser ver controls the time 
reflected by the Time option, changing this option 
has no effect.
A change to the 
Time option takes effect       
immediately (rebooting is not required). However, 
you must reboot to make the change apparent to 
the operating system. 
NOTE: For the full name of an abbreviation or acronym used in this table, see the Glossary in the 
system Help. 
						

							B-4 Dell Inspiron 3700 System Reference and Troubleshooting Guide

 

Date Resets the date on the computers internal       
calendar.
Your computer automatically displays the day of 
the week corresponding to the settings in the 
three fields that follow (month, day-of-the-month, 
and year).
A change to the Date option takes effect        
immediately (rebooting is not required). However, 
you must reboot to make the change apparent to 
the operating system.
To change the date, press the right-arrow key to 
increase the number in the highlighted field, or 
press the left-arrow key to decrease the number. 
If you prefer, you can type in numbers in the 
month and day-of-the-month fields. 
Primar y Hard Drive Displays the capacity of the computer’s internal 
hard-disk drive. This option does not have any 
user-selectable settings.
NOTE: The optional second or third hard-disk 
drives do not appear in this option, even if 
installed.
Diskette Drive A Identifies the location of the 3.5-inch diskette 
drive: Modular Bay, Parallel Port, or 
Not Installed. No user-selectable settings are 
available for this option. 
Diskette Drive B Identifies the location of a second 3.5-inch        
diskette drive: Parallel Port, Modular Bay, or 
Not Installed. No user-selectable settings are 
available for this option.
NOTE: For the full name of an abbreviation or acronym used in this table, see the Glossary in the 
system Help.
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							support.dell.comUsing the System Setup Program B-5

 

Diskette Reconfig Allows application programs that access the     
diskette drive to run at their optimum speed.   
Settings are 
At Reboot Only and
 Any Time.
When 
Diskette Reconfig is set to 
Any Time   
(the default), you do not have to reboot after you 
install a diskette drive in the media bay or attach a 
diskette drive to the parallel connector on the 
back of the computer. However, some application 
programs such as virus scans that access the  
diskette drive will run very slowly if the diskette 
drive is not in the media bay or connected to the 
parallel port.
When 
Diskette Reconfig is set to 
At Reboot 
Only, such application programs run at normal 
speed, but you must reboot after installing or 
attaching a diskette drive.
Modular Bay (Media Bay) Identifies the kind of device—
Diskette Drive, 
Battery, or 
CD-ROM Drive—that 
is installed in the media bay. If the media bay 
does not contain a device or if a travel bay is 
installed, this option reads 
Not Installed. No 
user-selectable settings are available for this 
option.
Docking Ethernet Controls the internal ethernet controller in the 
advanced port replicator. A change to this option 
takes effect when you reboot. 
Docking IRQ Tells the computer which IRQ to assign to the 
advanced port replicator during the boot 
sequence. If this option is set to 
Optimized,    
the docking station or replicator is assigned a 
dedicated IRQ during the boot sequence. Select 
IRQ 11 if a peripheral device requires the use of 
the dedicated IRQ.
Docking Status Shows whether the computer is attached to an 
advanced port replicator. No user-selectable     
settings are available for this option. 
NOTE: For the full name of an abbreviation or acronym used in this table, see the Glossary in the 
system Help.
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							B-6 Dell Inspiron 3700 System Reference and Troubleshooting Guide

 

Universal Connect Functions with the advanced port replicator (APR) 
if the computer uses Windows 98.
Set this option to Enabled (the default) if you 
often use more than one APR and want to      
minimize the initialization time when you connect 
the replicator to the computer. When this option 
is set to Disabled, the APR is reinitialized each 
time it is connected to the computer. 
Boot Speed Allows you to choose between the computers 
processing speed (the default) and Compatible, 
a slower compatibility speed. The compatibility 
speed varies, depending on the configuration of 
your system.
When you change the setting in the Boot Speed 
option, the System Setup program stores and 
continues to display the new setting even if you 
do not reboot your computer when you exit the 
System Setup program. If you start the System 
Setup program again during your current work 
session, the processing speed displayed for the 
Boot Speed option may not match the actual 
speed at which your computer is running.
For a change in the Boot Speed option to take 
effect, you must reboot your computer. 
NOTE: For the full name of an abbreviation or acronym used in this table, see the Glossary in the 
system Help.
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							support.dell.comUsing the System Setup Program B-7

 

Boot First device Determines which disk device your computer 
uses to find the software needed to start the 
operating system.
The term boot refers to the computers start-up 
procedure. When you turn on the computer, it 
bootstraps itself into an operational state by 
loading into memory a small program, which in 
turn loads the necessar y operating system. 
Boot 
First device tells the computer where to look 
first for the files that it needs to load.
Settings for this option are:
Diskette Drive (the default) — Causes your   
computer to attempt first to boot from a bootable 
diskette
Internal HDD — Causes your computer to boot 
from the hard-disk drive
CDROM/DVDROM Drive — Causes your      
computer to attempt first to boot from a bootable 
CD
Modular Bay HDD — Causes your computer to 
attempt first to boot from the second hard-disk 
drive installed in the modular (media) bay
None
I3700 APR NIC — Causes your computer to 
attempt first to boot from a network source.
For a change in the 
Boot First device option to 
take effect, you must reboot your computer. 
NOTE: For the full name of an abbreviation or acronym used in this table, see the Glossary in the 
system Help.
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							B-8 Dell Inspiron 3700 System Reference and Troubleshooting Guide

 

Boot Second device If the computer cannot find the software it    
needs to start the operating system on the drive        
identified in Boot First device, it will search the 
device named in Boot Second device.
Settings for the option are:
Internal HDD (the default) — Causes your     
computer to attempt to boot from the hard-disk 
drive
Diskette Drive — Causes your computer to 
attempt to boot from the diskette drive
CDROM/DVDROM Drive — Causes your      
computer to attempt to boot from a bootable CD
Modular Bay HDD — Causes your computer to 
boot from the second hard-disk drive installed in 
the modular (media) bay
None
I3700 APR NIC — Causes your computer to 
attempt first to boot from a network source.
For a change in the Boot Second device option 
to take effect, you must reboot your computer. 
NOTE: For the full name of an abbreviation or acronym used in this table, see the Glossary in the 
system Help.
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							support.dell.comUsing the System Setup Program B-9
,
See Figure B-2 and Table B-2 for an explanation of the options and settings on 
Pa ge 2 
of the System Setup program.

 

Boot Third device If the computer cannot find the software it   
needs to start the operating system on the drive       
identified in
 Boot Second device, it will search 
the device named in 
Boot Third device.
Settings for the option are:
None (the default)
Internal HDD — Causes your computer to 
attempt to boot from the hard-disk drive
Diskette Drive — Causes your computer to 
attempt to boot from the diskette drive
CDROM/DVDROM Drive — Causes your      
computer to attempt to boot from a bootable CD
Modular Bay HDD — Causes your computer to 
attempt to boot from the second hard-disk drive 
installed in the modular (media) bay
I3700 APR NIC — Causes your computer to 
attempt first to boot from a network source.
For a change in the 
Boot Third device option to 
take effect, you must reboot your computer. 
NOTE: For the full name of an abbreviation or acronym used in this table, see the Glossary in the 
system Help.
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							B-10 Dell Inspiron 3700 System Reference and Troubleshooting Guide

	
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Serial Port Allows you to map the address of the serial port 
or to disable the serial port.
Settings for this option are:
COM1 (the default) — Maps the serial port to 
COM1
COM2 — Maps the serial port to COM2
COM3 — Maps the serial port to COM3
COM4 — Maps the serial port to COM4
Disabled — Disables the serial port and its 
assigned COM address, freeing that interrupt for 
another device to use
For a change in the Serial Port option to take 
effect, you must reboot your computer. 
NOTE: For the full name of an abbreviation or acronym used in this table, see the Glossary in the 
system Help. 
						

							support.dell.comUsing the System Setup Program B-11

 

Infrared Data Port Allows you to avoid resource conflicts by      
remapping the address of the infrared ports or   
disabling the port. The 
COM1, 
COM2, 
COM3, and 
COM4 settings allow you to take advantage of the 
computers Fast IR support.
Settings for this option are:
Disabled — Disables the infrared data port and 
makes the direct memor y access (DMA), interrupt 
request (IRQ), and I/O resources available for 
another serial device to use
COM1 — Maps the infrared data port to COM1
COM2 — Maps the infrared data port to COM2
COM3 (the default) — Maps the infrared data port 
to COM3
COM4 — Maps the infrared data port to COM4
For a change in the 
Infrared Data Port option to 
take effect, you must reboot your computer. 
Infrared Mode If 
Infrared Data Port is set to any function other 
than 
Disabled, specify the 
Infrared Mode by 
selecting one of the following functions:
Fast IR — Use 
Fast IR if the infrared device     
supports the Fast IR specification.
Slow IR — Use 
Slow IR if the infrared device 
does not support the Fast IR specification.
NOTE: For the full name of an abbreviation or acronym used in this table, see the Glossary in the 
system Help.
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							B-12 Dell Inspiron 3700 System Reference and Troubleshooting Guide

 

Parallel Mode Controls whether the computers integrated     
parallel port acts as a Personal System/2 (PS/2)-
compatible (Bidirectional) port, Advanced      
Technology (AT)-compatible (Normal) port, or 
Extended Capabilities Port (ECP)-compatible port. 
The default for Parallel Mode is ECP.
Windows 98 uses ECP protocol automatically if it 
detects an ECP-compatible device.
Set this option according to the type of peripheral 
device connected to the parallel port. To        
determine the correct mode to use, see the              
documentation that came with the device.
NOTE: The ECP setting also works for most     
software written for the AT and PS/2 modes. 
Devices that use ECP mode may come with 
special drivers that need to be installed in order 
to use these modes.
Setting Parallel Mode to Disabled disables the 
parallel port and its assigned LPT address, freeing 
its interrupt for another device to use.
For a change in the Parallel Mode option to take 
effect, you must reboot your computer. 
Audio Mode Defines the audio resources of the computer   
and the external devices you use with it. Audio 
Mode is set to Full Duplex,  w h i ch  a l l ow s  t h e             
computers audio system to play and record 
sounds simultaneously.
Click Volume Allows you to disable or adjust the volume of the 
keyboard clicks if the Keyboard Click option is 
enabled. The default is Maximum.
A change to the Click Volume option takes effect 
immediately (rebooting is not required). 
NOTE: For the full name of an abbreviation or acronym used in this table, see the Glossary in the 
system Help.
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