Latitude E6500 question

I just got my dell Outlet e6500 today and I have a few questions/issues that you may be able to help me with:

1) when I opened it up, there's a small piece of plastic broken off the right side of the laptop (the piece is actually in the plastic bag that the laptop was in, so I assume it broke in shipping?). If you look at the picture to which I've linked below from the review on this site (not actually my own picture), it's the piece just to the immediate left of the wireless switch, along the bottom of the side, about 1 inch long (some kind of bay or card reader).

http://www.notebookreview.com/shared/picture.asp?f=40386

Can you tell me what that is and what that port is used for? Since it's broken, should I ask Dell to fix it, replace it, replace the computer? I bought it refurbished, so everything should be in working order.

2) I don't think there's a computer manual included in the box. Shouldn't that come with it?

3) I have Vista Business SP1 and XP Professional SP2 CDs. Those are the correct O/S right? SP1 for Vista and SP2 for XP?

4) Are there any other CDs that should come with the laptop standard? It also came with the Roxio CD, 2 CDs of drivers, and 1 CD for the DVD RW drive. Anything that's missing?

Thanks

 

1. That device is for ejecting the optical drive. You simply press it and an anchor will pop out in which you pull to remove the drive.
You should ask dell for a replacement optical drive.

2. Refurb units don't come with a manual

3. Yes

4. I think that's it since you mentioned you have both Vista and XP disks above.

 

From your description, that sounds like the mechanism that releases your CD/DVD drive from the media bay. They could probably just replace the drive and you'd be fine, but you may have difficulty removing the drive yourself. I would definitely get it taken care of.

I don't remember getting much in the way of documentation with my e6500. There certainly wasn't a manual.

That is correct. If you install XP, Windows update will bring you up to speed with SP3 when appropriate.

Nope. That sounds like everything.

 

You can download a manual from dell's website.
I think my refurb E6500 came with a power supply and 1 or 2 disks, that's all.

 

so not only did a piece of plastic break off the optical drive, but it looks like 2 of the silver elements that are visible in the heat vent are missing (one was actually embedded in the styrofoam that the computer shipped to me in (not sure if it broke in transit or not). So now I have two issues with the computer. Should I return it? How would I go about getting those two things repaired?

 

Contact Dell and they can have it repaired or build a brand new laptop for you (will probably take longer). I e-mailed a Dell customer rep regarding a permanent marker stain on my screen cover on my M2400 refurb, and he offered a new replacement; so i'm assuming they can offer you something similar since your situation is clearly far worse off than mine

 

Thanks, David. Will call them tomorrow.

Are there any specific tests I should run to ensure the components are all functioning properly? I'm not really a tech expert with computers, so all I know is that so far I can access the Internet, the backlit keyboard works, and the webcam works. What else should I test (and how)?

Thanks again!

 

They arent going to build him a brand new one when he bought a used one to begin with. They will most likely say return it and buy another from the outlet.

 

Well, that's what the Dell rep offered me with mine

 

You can just check your device manager to see if everything is working properly. If you want to physically test each component, you can do that too, but it will require more time, effort and even additional software/media. But for starters, you can run HDTune (for hard drive), 3dmark06 or 3dmark vantage (for GPU and CPU), and Dell's ram diagnostic test (should already be included in your system).