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Dell™ Vostro™ 460 Service Manual Notes, Cautions and Warnings Working on Your Computer Covers Front Bezel Chassis Fan Hard Drive Processor Expansion Card Tab Power Supply Video Card Memory Cards Optical Drive Card-Reader Board Power Button and Hard Drive Activity LED...
Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) and licensed for use on discs and players. The Bluetooth word mark is a registered trademark and owned by the Bluetooth SIG, Inc. and any use of such mark by Dell Inc. is under license. Wi-Fi is a registered trademark of Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance, Inc.
Back to Contents Page Working on Your Computer Before Working Inside Your Computer Recommended Tools Turning Off Your Computer After Working Inside Your Computer...
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Back to Contents Page Covers Removing The Computer Cover Installing The Computer Cover...
Back to Contents Page Power Button and Hard Drive Activity LED Removing The Power Button And Hard Drive Activity LED Installing Power Button And Hard Drive Activity LED...
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Back to Contents Page I/O Panel Removing Front I/O Panel Installing Front I/O Panel...
Damage due to servicing that is not authorized by Dell is not covered by your warranty. Read and follow the safety instructions that came with the product.
Back to Contents Page Recommended Tools The procedures in this document may require the following tools: Small flat-blade screwdriver Phillips screwdriver Small plastic scribe Flash BIOS update program media...
Back to Contents Page Turning Off Your Computer CAUTION: To avoid losing data, save and close all open files and exit all open programs before you turn off your computer. 1. Shut down the operating system: In Windows 7: Click Start , then click Shut Down.
2. Connect any telephone or network cables to your computer. 3. Connect your computer and all attached devices to their electrical outlets. 4. Turn on your computer. 5. Verify that the computer works correctly by running the Dell Diagnostics.
Back to Contents Page Removing The Computer Cover 1. Follow the procedures in Before Working Inside Your Computer. 2. Remove the two thumbscrews securing the computer cover to the computer. 3. Slide the computer cover towards the back of the computer, and then remove it from the computer.
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4. Lift the computer cover away from the computer. Related tasks Installing Computer Cover...
Back to Contents Page Installing The Computer Cover 1. Place the computer cover on the computer and slide it inwards from the back of the computer. 2. Replace and tighten the thumbscrews that secure the computer cover on the computer. 3.
Back to Contents Page Removing The Front Bezel 1. Follow the procedures in Before Working Inside Your Computer. 2. Remove the computer cover. 3. Gently lift the clips slightly upward to release that edge of the bezel from the chassis. 4.
Back to Contents Page Installing Front Bezel 1. Rotate the bezel towards the computer to place the hooks on the chassis. 2. Gently place the clips downwards to lock the edge of the bezel on the chassis. 3. Install the computer cover.
Back to Contents Page Removing The Chassis Fan 1. Follow the procedures in Before Working Inside Your Computer. 2. Remove the computer cover. 3. Disconnect the fan cable from the system board. 4. While holding the chassis fan in place, remove the four screws that secure the fan to the chassis.
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5. Ease the fan toward the center of the computer, and lift the fan out of the computer. Related tasks Installing Chassis Fan...
Back to Contents Page Installing The Chassis Fan 1. Place the fan towards the center of the computer into the chassis. 2. While holding the chassis fan in place, replace the four screws that secure the fan to the chassis. 3.
Back to Contents Page Removing The Hard Drive 1. Follow the procedures in Before Working Inside Your Computer. 2. Remove the computer cover. 3. Remove the data cable (1) and power cable (2) from the back of the hard drive. 4.
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5. Slide the hard drive out of the slot, toward the side of the computer. 6. Remove the two screws securing the hard drive to the drive cage.
Back to Contents Page Installing The Hard Drive 1. Tighten the screws securing the hard drive to the drive cage. 2. Place the hard drive into the slot, towards the side of the computer. 3. Tighten the screws securing the hard drive cage to the chassis. 4.
Back to Contents Page Removing The Heat Sink And Processor Assembly 1. Follow the procedures in Before Working Inside Your Computer. 2. Remove the computer cover. 3. Disconnect the heat sink/fan assembly cable from the system board. 4. Loosen the four captive screws that secure the heat sink/fan assembly to the system board.
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5. Lift the heat sink/fan assembly upward gently, and remove it from the computer. Lay the assembly with the fan facing downward, and with the thermal grease facing upward. 6. Push the release lever down and then press it outward to release it from the retention hook that secures it.
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7. Raise the processor cover. 8. Lift the processor to remove it from the socket and place it into antistatic packaging.
Back to Contents Page Installing The Heat Sink And Processor Assembly 1. Remove the processor from the antistatic packaging and place it into the socket. 2. Place the processor cover. 3. Push the release lever down and then press it inward to hold the retention hook that secures it. 4.
Back to Contents Page Removing The Video Card Holder 1. Follow the procedures in Before Working Inside Your Computer. 2. Remove the computer cover. 3. Remove the screw that secures the video card holder to the computer. 4. Remove the video card holder from the computer.
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Related tasks Installing Video Card Holder...
Back to Contents Page Installing The Video Card Holder 1. Place the video card holder into the system. 2. Replace the screw securing the video card holder. 3. Replace the computer cover. 4. Follow the procedures in After Working Inside Your Computer.
Back to Contents Page Removing The Power Supply 1. Follow the procedures in Before Working Inside Your Computer 2. Remove the computer cover. 3. Remove the video card holder. 4. Disconnect and unthread the power cables from the system board, expansion cards, and drives. 5.
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6. Remove the screws that secure the power supply to the computer chassis. 7. Push the blue release tab beside the power supply. 8. Slide the power supply towards the front of the computer.
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9. Lift the power supply out of the computer. Related tasks Installing Power Supply...
Back to Contents Page Installing Power Supply 1. Install the power supply into the computer. 2. Slide the power supply towards the back of the computer till it snaps into place. 3. Replace and tighten the four screws that secure the power supply to the computer. 4.
Back to Contents Page Removing The Video Card 1. Follow the procedures in Before Working Inside Your Computer 2. Remove the computer cover. 3. Remove the video card holder. 4. Remove the screw that secures the metal securing tab to the computer. 5.
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6. Disconnect the cables that are connected to the video card. 7. If a PCI-express x16 video card is installed, press the securing tab. 8. While grasping the card by its top corners, ease it out of its slot on the system board.
Back to Contents Page Installing Video Card 1. Insert the video card into its connector. 2. Connect any cables if required. 3. Install the metal securing tab to the computer. 4. Replace and tighten the screw that secures the video card to the computer. 5.
Back to Contents Page Removing The Memory 1. Follow the procedures in Before Working Inside Your Computer 2. Remove the computer cover. 3. Remove the video card holder. 4. Press out the securing clip at each end of the memory module connector. 5.
Back to Contents Page Installing The Memory 1. Push the memory module into the memory slot. 2. Press the clips to secure the memory module to the system board. 3. Replace the computer cover 4. Install the video card holder. 5.
Back to Contents Page Removing The Expansion Card 1. Follow the procedures in Before Working Inside Your Computer. 2. Remove the computer cover. 3. Remove the video card holder. 4. Remove the video card. 5. Remove the antennas. 6. Hold the card at its top corners, and ease it out of its connector.
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Related tasks Installing Expansion Card...
Back to Contents Page Installing The Expansion Card 1. Push the expansion card into the card slot. 2. If needed, install and attach the antennas to the expansion card. 3. Install the video card. 4. Install the video card holder. 5.
Back to Contents Page Removing The Optical Drive 1. Follow the procedures in Before Working Inside Your Computer. 2. Remove the computer cover. 3. Remove the front bezel. 4. Disconnect the power cable and the data cable from the back of the optical drive. 5.
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6. Slide out the optical drive through the front of the computer. Related tasks Installing Optical Drive...
Back to Contents Page Installing Optical Drive 1. Slide the optical drive in through the front of the computer. 2. Replace the screws that secure the optical drive to the drive cage. 3. Connect the power cable and data cable to the optical drive. 4.
Back to Contents Page Removing The Multimedia Card Reader 1. Follow the procedures in Before Working Inside Your Computer 2. Remove the computer cover. 3. Remove the front bezel. 4. Remove the video card holder. 5. Remove the video card. 6.
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8. Slide the multimedia card reader out through the front of the computer. Related tasks Installing Multimedia Card Reader...
Back to Contents Page Installing Multimedia Card Reader 1. Slide the multimedia card-reader in through the front of the computer. 2. Replace and tighten the two screws securing the multimedia card-reader to the drive cage. 3. Connect the data cable to the multimedia card-reader. 4.
Back to Contents Page Removing The Power Button And Hard Drive Activity LED 1. Follow the procedures in Before Working Inside Your Computer 2. Remove the system cover. 3. Remove the front bezel. 4. Remove the video card holder. 5. Push in the power button and hard drive activity LED to remove them. 6.
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7. Disconnect the power button cable from the system board. 8. Unthread the power button cable from the routing clips.
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Related tasks Installing Power Button And Hard Drive Activity LED...
Back to Contents Page Installing Power Button And Hard Drive Activity LED 1. Thread the power-button cable through the routing clips. 2. Connect the power-button cable to the system board. 3. Insert the hard drive activity LED into the plastic clip. 4.
Back to Contents Page Removing Front I/O Panel 1. Follow the procedures in Before Working Inside Your Computer 2. Remove the computer cover. 3. Remove the front bezel. 4. Remove the video card holder. 5. Remove the video card. 6. Disconnect the three front I/O cables from the system board. Unthread the cables from the securing clips, if present, that secure the cables to the computer.
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8. Ease the front I/O panel away from the computer as you guide the cables through the bays and holes. Related tasks Installing Front I/O...
Back to Contents Page Installing Front I/O Panel 1. Route the front I/O panel cables through the bays and holes. 2. Install the two screws that secure the front I/O panel to the computer. 3. Thread the cables through the routing clips if present and then connect the three front I/O cables to the system board.
Back to Contents Page Removing The Coin-Cell Battery 1. Follow the procedures in Before Working Inside Your Computer 2. Remove the computer cover. 3. Remove the video card holder. 4. Remove the video card. 5. Carefully press the release latch away from the battery and pop up the battery from the socket on the system board. 6.
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Related tasks Installing Coin-Cell Battery...
Back to Contents Page Installing The Coin-Cell Battery 1. Install the coin-cell battery into the socket on the system board. 2. Press-in the coin-cell battery till it snaps into the socket. 3. Install the video card. 4. Install the video card holder.
Back to Contents Page Removing The System Board 1. Follow the procedures in Before Working Inside Your Computer 2. Remove the computer cover. 3. Remove the front bezel. 4. Remove the video card holder. 5. Remove the video card. 6. Remove the expansion card.
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11. Slide the system board towards the front of the computer. 12. Carefully, lift the system board out of the computer.
Back to Contents Page Installing The System Board 1. Carefully place the system board into the computer. 2. Slide the system board towards the back of the computer. 3. Replace and tighten the eight screws that secure the system board to the computer. 4.
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Back to Contents Page Overview System Setup allows you to: change the system configuration information after you add, change, or remove any hardware in your computer. set or change a user-selectable option such as the user password. read the current amount of memory or set the type of hard drive installed. Before you use System Setup, it is recommended that you write down the System Setup screen information for future reference.
Back to Contents Page Entering System Setup 1. Turn on (or restart) your computer. 2. When the blue DELL logo is displayed, you must watch for the F2 prompt to appear. 3. Once the F2 prompt appears, press <F2> immediately. NOTE: The F2 prompt indicates that the keyboard has initialized.
Back to Contents Page System Setup Screens Menu — Appears on top of the System Setup window. This field provides a menu to access the System Setup options. Press < Left Arrow > and < Right Arrow > keys to navigate. As a Menu option is highlighted, the Options List lists the options that define the hardware installed on your computer.
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– or + Change existing item value. < Enter > Select the sub menu or execute command. < F9 > Load setup default. < F10 > Save current configuration and exit System Setup.
Back to Contents Page System Setup Options Main System Information Displays the computer model number. BIOS Version Displays the BIOS revision. System Date Resets the date on the computer's internal calendar. System Time Resets the time on the computer's internal clock.
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threading disable Enabled processor hyper- threading. Active Displays the Default: All Processor number of Cores active cores. Limit CPUID Enable or Default: Value disable the Enabled Limit CPUID Value feature. CPU XD Enable or Default: Support disable the CPU Enabled XD feature.
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Restore AC Allows the Default: Power Power Loss computer to restore the AC power Loss. Wake On LAN Allows the Default: from S4/S5 computer to be Enabled remotely turned Allows the Default: Powershare in computer to be Enabled S4/S5 State remotely turned Enable or Default: Normal...
Back to Contents Page Power Supply Light Power Supply light is lit by a signal in the power supply called Power_Good (PG). When the +3.3 V, +5 V, and +12 Vrails are up and within spec, the PG signal turns on, lighting the self-test LED. By removing the cable harness in units that do not pass this test, the customer or technician can isolate the failure's cause to an attached device of the power supply.
Back to Contents Page Power Lights Cause Troubleshooting Power Button Steps Status Reseat the compu power cable ter is in the power either connector on turned the back of off or is not computer receivi and the electrical power. outlet. If the computer is plugged into...
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motherboard Reseat the 4 Pin ATX Power Connector for the Processor. NOTE: Blinking Frequen cy: 0.5 Seconds ON, 0.5 Seconds OFF. When the CPU is not seated properly or not detecte d, the system will automat ically power off. Steady Syste Press the Amber...
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Then turn on the system. Otherwise, you may see an incorrect power light state. Steady If the computer is White syste not responding, do m is the following: fully Ensure the functio display is connected and in and turned the On state.
Back to Contents Page Beep Codes The system can emit a series of beeps during start-up if the display cannot show errors or problems. These series of beeps, called beep codes, identify various problems. 1. 3 means 3-3-3-3...That is 3 beeps and 3 beeps and ...: Endless looping until user presses the power button to shut down the system.
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Memory failure Read/Write failure RTC Power COMS battery Fail failure Video BIOS Video card Test Failure failure CPU Failure...
CACHE DISABLED DUE The primary cache TO FAILURE internal to the microprocessor has failed. Contact Dell. CD DRIVE CONTROLLER The CD drive does not FAILURE respond to commands from the computer. DATA ERROR The hard drive cannot read the data.
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Then, shut down the computer, reinstall the hard drive, and restart the computer. Run the Hard Disk Drive tests in the Dell Diagnostics. HARD-DISK DRIVE The hard drive does not CONTROLLER FAILURE 0 respond to commands from the computer. Shut...
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KEYBOARD CLOCK LINE For external keyboards, FAILURE check the cable connection. Run the Keyboard Controller test in the Dell Diagnostics. KEYBOARD For external keyboards, CONTROLLER FAILURE check the cable connection. Restart the computer, and avoid touching the keyboard or the mouse during the boot routine.
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OPERATING SYSTEM Reinstall the hard drive NOT FOUND (see your Service Manual at support.dell.com). If the problem persists, contact Dell. OPTIONAL ROM BAD The optional ROM has CHECKSUM failed. Contact Dell. A REQUIRED .DLL FILE...
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If the message reappears, contact Dell. TIME-OF-DAY CLOCK The reserve battery that STOPPED supports the system configuration settings may require recharging.
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Controller test in the Dell Diagnostics. X:\ IS NOT Insert a disk into the ACCESSIBLE. THE drive and try again. DEVICE IS NOT READY WARNING: BATTERY IS The battery is running CRITICALLY LOW out of charge. Replace the battery, or connect the computer to an electrical outlet;...
[nnnn]. For help in consecutive times for resolving this problem, the same error please note this checkpoint and contact Dell Technical Support CMOS checksum error Possible motherboard failure or RTC battery CPU fan failure CPU fan has failed System fan failure...
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S.M.A.R.T error, possible SELF MONITORING hard disk drive failure SYSTEM has reported that a parameter has exceeded its normal operating range. Dell recommends that you back up your data regularly. A parameter out of range may or may not indicate a potential...
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2. Verify your country or region in the Choose a Country/Region drop-down menu at the bottom of the page. 3. Click Contact Us on the left side of the page. 4. Select the appropriate service or support link based on your need. 5. Choose the method of contacting Dell that is convenient for you.