blue rectanglular 15 pin port

Peter2

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Hello
I have this 15 pin blue slanted rectangular port in the upper left facing the back of my Dell XPS 8300.
The is a little white outlined in white box with a white vertical line on each side of it.
I have tried to get the manual at the Dell site but it won't respond.
My invoice says there is a Dell 1501 WLAN PCIe card with the pc.

I wanted to use usb 3.0 and someone told me I need a PCIe x1 fitting in the motherboard. I think the WLAN means it has to do with network and not a usb 3.0 port but did not know what can be pugged into there -another screen perhaps?
Do you think you can tell me what this is and if it has to do with the 3.0 usb I would like for faster transmission?
Thank you
Peter
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Pro x 64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 8300, Dell Inspiron 15 R N5010
    Memory
    6 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia GE force 420
    Hard Drives
    1TB
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Not sure on the USB 3 side of things, but the blue port sounds like a VGA socket for an external monitor
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 3521
    CPU
    i5
    Memory
    4 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    AMD Radeon
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Monitor

Not sure on the USB 3 side of things, but the blue port sounds like a VGA socket for an external monitor

Then I could use 2 monitors?
That is why it was capped and hidden maybe.
Thank you
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Pro x 64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 8300, Dell Inspiron 15 R N5010
    Memory
    6 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia GE force 420
    Hard Drives
    1TB
    Browser
    Edge, Chrome
    Antivirus
    Defender, MBAM, Router

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Pro x 64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 8300, Dell Inspiron 15 R N5010
    Memory
    6 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia GE force 420
    Hard Drives
    1TB
    Browser
    Edge, Chrome
    Antivirus
    Defender, MBAM, Router
It might allow 2 monitors , this socket looks like its part of the motherboard (from pictures I looked at while googling the machine)

On a Dell I had a year ago, when an dedicated graphics card was installed, the internal one was automatically disabled, there was no option to enable it (except remove dedicated card)
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 3521
    CPU
    i5
    Memory
    4 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    AMD Radeon
    Browser
    IE
Are you saying the capped socket could be a dummy? I never use it but knowing might be a good idea.
Perhaps I could plug my monitor in that new socket.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Pro x 64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 8300, Dell Inspiron 15 R N5010
    Memory
    6 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia GE force 420
    Hard Drives
    1TB
    Browser
    Edge, Chrome
    Antivirus
    Defender, MBAM, Router
It should be a real socket, but you might find that it is disabled on the system if you have a dedicated graphics card installed

best thing is if you have a monitor around try plugging it in

I found out about this when my graphics card died on me a few months ago, took the card out and then the on board card came to life so I could carry on using my machine till I got a replacement (not the same model as yours, but a Dell), as soon as I installed the replacement the on board was disabled again
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 3521
    CPU
    i5
    Memory
    4 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    AMD Radeon
    Browser
    IE
It should be a real socket, but you might find that it is disabled on the system if you have a dedicated graphics card installed

best thing is if you have a monitor around try plugging it in

I found out about this when my graphics card died on me a few months ago, took the card out and then the on board card came to life so I could carry on using my machine till I got a replacement (not the same model as yours, but a Dell), as soon as I installed the replacement the on board was disabled again


>>So you could have only one monitor at a time?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Pro x 64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 8300, Dell Inspiron 15 R N5010
    Memory
    6 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia GE force 420
    Hard Drives
    1TB
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Just been looking around, you can ignore this socket, it is a working one but the machine auto disables it when a dedicated card is installed

If you want dual monitors, your graphics card probably has multiple outputs, another VGA one like this and also a DVI connector, this was the way I went for the dual output
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 3521
    CPU
    i5
    Memory
    4 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    AMD Radeon
    Browser
    IE
socket

I don't really understand, sorry.
I will cap it and it will probably never be used.
I guess you may be saying some internal work must be done if I involve this socket?
Peter
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Pro x 64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 8300, Dell Inspiron 15 R N5010
    Memory
    6 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia GE force 420
    Hard Drives
    1TB
    Browser
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Sorry for the confusion

All machines have a graphics card built in (this is the blue port you have found)

Many people get a machine with an extra graphics card, this gives better performance as it is higher quality than the built in one, however when this is done (on Dells anyway) the internal one is disabled (wasn't sure about them being disabled to start with)

I am confusing myself now, but hope that makes things a bit clearer

and yes, you can put the cap on and just ignore this port
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 3521
    CPU
    i5
    Memory
    4 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    AMD Radeon
    Browser
    IE
Thank you for the information. I never would have thought it was a graphics card.
I will cap it and thanks again.
Peter
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Pro x 64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 8300, Dell Inspiron 15 R N5010
    Memory
    6 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia GE force 420
    Hard Drives
    1TB
    Browser
    Edge, Chrome
    Antivirus
    Defender, MBAM, Router
if you want to have two monitors just use any of the two ports and in windows tell it which one you want to be primary under personalization. If your machine looks like below then that is what ports you have available to you if it's a two slot gpu.
er_photo_145279_52.jpg
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    WIN 7 PRO x64, WIN 8.1 PRO x64
    Computer type
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    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    Intel i7 4790K
    Motherboard
    ASUS Maximus VI Extreme
    Memory
    32GB(4x8GB) DDR3 Team Xtreem 2666 @ 2400 CL10 10-12-12-31
    Graphics Card(s)
    2x MSI GTX 780 Twin Frozr OC 3GB
    Sound Card
    ASUS Xonar Essence STX
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    ASUS PB278Q, HP 2311xi, UN46F7100AFXZA
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    256GB 840 PRO SSD
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    Cooling
    Block: XSPC Raystorm, RES/Pump: XSPC Bay res W/D5 Vario, RAD: XSPC RX360, 6xNF-F12's
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    Mouse
    Logitech G400
    Browser
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    Other Info
    I also own a Lenovo Y510p, and Yoga 2 Pro
Mine is not as sophisticated but thank you.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Pro x 64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 8300, Dell Inspiron 15 R N5010
    Memory
    6 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia GE force 420
    Hard Drives
    1TB
    Browser
    Edge, Chrome
    Antivirus
    Defender, MBAM, Router
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