m1330 IR help

I looked up online to see if the m1330 had an IR port and I have come to the conclusion that it does. I even took off the front cover to see if it was there and it is.
Now the problem I am having is trying to use a universal remote control with it or sending files to the laptop. The laptop just doesn't recieve anything. I did not receive a dell travel remote with it so I can't use that remote to program my other one.
So does anyone know how to program my logitech 880 remote to work with my m1330? the logitech software is supposed to do it automatically but when I set it all up and installed the new info into the remote, nothing happened.
Also I have tried sending files from my PDA to the laptop and nothing pops up. In Vista help it said that there should be a popup asking you what to do, but that never happens.
I read online that I have to go into the bios and turn on the IR. I went into the bios and there were no Ir settings. Also IR wasn't in the device manager. The dell guy said that Ir drivers are built into vista so I wouldn't see anything there. But I would still expect to see it there so I could update drivers or disable the device.

Does anyone know what I can do? I mostly want to use IR with my remote so I can use my laptop as a HTPC

 

See http://support.dell.com/support/top...0030F665E040A68F5B284ED5&doclang=en&~lt=print

for a partial answer to your question.

The M133O does have an IR port, but Dell claims it is functional only with Dell's remote, and not with other peripherals. By way of confirmation, I did not see a general IR port listed in Device Manager.

I would try to find a Dell travel remote on ebay for a few dollars, or try to borrow one from a friend to program the remote. Alternatively, see if the "code" the remote uses is online.

I'm guessing that the IR port works via the BIOS to transmit whatever you press as if you hit the corresponding media key on the power strip, but does not interface with the system board, so you cannot use it like a real IR port.