Dell NX046 User Manual

Download

Dell Precision™ T5400 User’s Guide

Model DCTA

www.dell.com | support.dell.com

Notes, Notices, and Cautions

NOTE: A NOTE indicates important information that helps you make better use of

your computer.

NOTICE: A NOTICE indicates either potential damage to hardware or loss of data

and tells you how to avoid the problem.

CAUTION: A CAUTION indicates a potential for property damage, personal injury,

or death.

____________________

Reproduction in any manner whatsoever without the written permission of Dell Inc. is strictly forbidden.

Trademarks used in this text: Dell, the DELL logo, Dell Precision, and Dell OpenManage are trademarks of Dell Inc.; Intel, Speedstep, and Xeon are registered trademarks of Intel Corporation; Microsoft, Windows, and Windows Vista are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.

Other trademarks and trade names may be used in this document to refer to either the entities claiming the marks and names or their products. Dell Inc. disclaims any proprietary interest in trademarks and trade names other than its own.

Model DCTA

August 2007 P/N NX046 Rev. A00

Contents

1 Finding Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

2 About Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Front View of the Computer (Tower Orientation) . . . . 19

Back View of the Computer (Tower Orientation)

Back Panel Connectors (Tower Orientation)

. . . . 21

. . . 22

Front View (Desktop Orientation) . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Back View (Desktop Orientation)

Inside View

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Inside View – Hard Drive Bay Rotated Out

System Board Components

Cable Colors

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Changing Between Tower and Desktop Modes

Specifications

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

. . . . . . . . . . . . 25

. . . . 27

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

. . . . 30

3 Advanced Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

LegacySelect Technology Control . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Manageability

Alert Standard Format

Dell OpenManage™ IT Assistant

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

. . . . . . . . . 47

Contents 3

Dell OpenManage Client Instrumentation . . . . . 47

Power Management

About RAID Configurations

RAID Level 0

RAID Level 1

RAID Level 5

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Configuring Your Computer for RAID . . . . . . . . 53

Configuring Your Computer for RAID Using the Intel Matrix Storage Manager

. . . . . . . . . . . 53

Configuring Your Computer for RAID Using the

Intel® RAID Option ROM Utility . . . . . . . . . . 61

4 Setting Up Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Installing Your Computer in an Enclosure . . . . . . . 65

Connecting to the Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Setting Up Your Internet Connection

Transferring Information to a New Computer

Microsoft

Windows® XP . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Microsoft Windows Vista™ . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

. . . . . . . . 68

. . . . . . 69

5 Securing Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

4 Contents

Power Protection Devices

Surge Protectors

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Line Conditioners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Uninterruptible Power Supplies

. . . . . . . . . . 74

Chassis Intrusion Detection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Removing the Chassis Intrusion Switch

Replacing the Chassis Intrusion Switch

. . . . . . 75

. . . . . . 76

Resetting the Chassis Intrusion Detector . . . . . 76

Security Cable Lock

Passwords

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

About Passwords

Using a Primary (or System) Password

Using an Administrator Password

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

. . . . . . 79

. . . . . . . . . 82

Disabling a Forgotten Password and Setting a

New Password . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Trusted Platform Module (TPM)

Enabling the TPM Feature

. . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Security Management Software . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Activating the Security Management Software

. . 86

Using the Security Management Software . . . . 86

Computer Tracking Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

If Your Computer Is Lost or Stolen

. . . . . . . . . . . 87

6 System Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Entering System Setup

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

System Setup Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Boot Menu

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Option Settings

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Selecting the Boot Device for the Current Boot

Changing Boot Sequence for Future Boots

Booting to a USB Device

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

. . . . 99

. . 98

Contents 5

7 Clearing Forgotten Passwords . . . . . . . 101

Clearing CMOS Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Flashing the BIOS

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

8 Cleaning Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Computer, Keyboard, and Monitor . . . . . . . . . 105

Floppy Drive

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

CDs and DVDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

9 Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Solving Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Battery Problems

Drive Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

E-Mail and Internet Problems

Error Messages

IEEE 1394 Device Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

Keyboard Problems

Lockups and Software Problems . . . . . . . . . . 112

Memory Problems

Mouse Problems

Network Problems

Power Problems

Printer Problems

Scanner Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

Sound Problems

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

. . . . . . . . . . . 109

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

10 Troubleshooting Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

6 Contents

Diagnostic Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Diagnostic Light Codes Before POST . . . . . . . 121

Diagnostic Light Codes During POST . . . . . . . 123

Beep Codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Error Messages

Dell Diagnostics

When to Use the Dell Diagnostics

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

. . . . . . . . . 136

Starting the Dell Diagnostics From Your Hard Drive

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

Starting the Dell Diagnostics From the Drivers and

Utilities Disc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

Dell Diagnostics Main Menu

. . . . . . . . . . . . 138

11 Reinstalling Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

What Is a Driver?

Identifying Drivers

Reinstalling Drivers and Utilities . . . . . . . . . . 142

Troubleshooting Software and Hardware Problems in the Microsoft

Vista™ Operating Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

Restoring Your Operating System

Using Microsoft

Using Dell™ PC Restore and Dell Factory Image

Restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

Using the Operating System Disc

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

Windows® XP and Microsoft Windows

. . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Windows System Restore . . . . 144

. . . . . . . . . 149

12 Adding and Replacing Parts . . . . . . . . . 151

Before You Begin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

Contents 7

Recommended Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

Turning Off Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

Before Working Inside Your Computer

. . . . . . . 152

Removing the Computer Cover and Front Panel

Removing the Computer Cover

Removing the Front Panel

. . . . . . . . . . . 153

. . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

. . . . 153

Rotating the Hard Drive Carrier Out of the

Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156

Replacing the Front Panel and Computer Cover . . . . 158

Rotating the Hard-Drive Carrier Back into the Computer

Replacing the Front Panel

Replacing the Computer Cover

I/O Panel

I/O-Panel Components

Removing the I/O Panel

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

. . . . . . . . . . . . . 160

. . . . . . . . . . . 161

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

Replacing the I/O Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

Power Supply

Power Supply DC Connector Pin Assignments

Removing the Power Supply

Replacing the Power Supply

Battery

About the Battery

Replacing the Battery

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

. . 167

. . . . . . . . . . . . 174

. . . . . . . . . . . . 176

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

8 Contents

Processor

Memory

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179

Removing the Processor

Installing the Processor

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183

Fully Buffered DIMM (FBD) Memory Overview

. . 187

Addressing Memory With 4-GB or Greater Configurations (32-bit Operating Systems Only)

Removing Memory

Installing Memory

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

Cards

Expansion Card Support

Installing an Expansion Card

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

. . . . . . . . . . . . 194

. . 188

Removing an Expansion Card . . . . . . . . . . . 201

Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

Tower Computer Drives

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

Desktop Computer Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206

Controller Card Data Cable Connectors

Hard Drive

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212

. . . . . . 212

Drive Panels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233

Floppy Drive

Media Card Reader

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254

Optical Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268

System Board

Removing the System Board

Replacing the System Board

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281

. . . . . . . . . . . . 281

. . . . . . . . . . . . 284

13 Getting Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289

Obtaining Assistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289

Technical Support and Customer Service

Online Services

AutoTech Service

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291

Automated Order-Status Service

Problems With Your Order

Product Information

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291

. . . . . 290

. . . . . . . . . 291

Contents 9

Returning Items for Warranty Repair or Credit . . . . . 292

Before You Call

Contacting Dell

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295

A Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297

FCC Notice (U.S. Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297

FCC Class B

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297

Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299

10 Contents

Finding Information

NOTE: Some features or media may be optional and may not ship with your

computer. Some features or media may not be available in certain countries.

NOTE: Additional information may ship with your computer.

Finding Information 11

What Are You Looking For? Find It Here

• A diagnostic program for my computer

• Drivers for my computer

• Desktop System Software (DSS)

Drivers and Utilities Disc

Documentation and drivers are already installed on your computer. You can use the Drivers and Utilities disc to reinstall drivers (see "Reinstalling Drivers and Utilities" on page 142), or to run the Dell Diagnostics (see "Dell Diagnostics" on page 136).

Readme files may be included on your Drivers and Utilities disc to provide lastminute updates about technical changes to your computer or advanced technicalreference material for technicians or experienced users.

12 Finding Information

NOTE: Drivers and documentation updates

can be found at support.dell.com.

What Are You Looking For? Find It Here

• How to set up my computer

• How to care for my computer

• Basic troubleshooting information

• How to run the Dell Diagnostics

• How to set up a printer

• How to open my computer

Quick Reference Guide

NOTE: This document may be optional and

may not ship with your computer.

NOTE: This document is available as a PDF

at support.dell.com.

• Warranty information

•Terms and Conditions (U.S. only)

•Safety instructions

• Regulatory information

• Ergonomics information

• End User License Agreement

Dell™ Product Information Guide

Finding Information 13

What Are You Looking For? Find It Here

• Service Tag and Express Service Code

• Microsoft Windows License Label

Service Tag and Microsoft® Windows® License

These labels are located on your computer.

• Use the Service Tag to identify your computer when you use

support.dell.com

• Enter the Express Service Code to direct your call when contacting support.

NOTE: As an increased security measure,

the newly designed Microsoft Windows license label incorporates a missing portion or "hole" to discourage removal of the label.

or contact support.

14 Finding Information

What Are You Looking For? Find It Here

• Solutions — Troubleshooting hints and tips, articles from technicians, and online courses, frequently asked questions

Dell Support Website — support.dell.com

NOTE: Select your region or business

segment to view the appropriate support site.

• Community — Online discussion with other Dell customers

• Upgrades — Upgrade information for components, such as memory, the hard drive, and the operating system

• Customer Care — Contact information, service call and order status, warranty, and repair information

• Service and support — Service call status and support history, service contract, online discussions with technical support

• Dell Technical Update Service — Proactive e-mail notification of software and hardware updates for your computer

• Reference — Computer documentation, details on my computer configuration, product specifications, and white papers

• Downloads — Certified drivers, patches, and software updates

• Desktop System Software (DSS)— If you reinstall the operating system for your computer, you should also reinstall the DSS utility. DSS provides critical updates for your operating system and support for processors, optical drives, USB devices, and so on. DSS is necessary for correct operation of your Dell computer. The software automatically detects your computer and operating system and installs the updates appropriate for your

To download Desktop System Software:

Go to

support.dell.com

region or business segment, and enter your Service Tag.

Select

Click your operating system and search for the keyword

Software

NOTE: The support.dell.com user interface

may vary depending on your selections.

configuration.

, select your

Drivers & Downloads

Notebook System

and click

Finding Information 15

What Are You Looking For? Find It Here

• How to use Microsoft Windows Vista™

• How to work with programs and files

• How to personalize my desktop

Windows Help and Support

Click the Windows Vista Start button

, and then click

Search Help

that describes your problem, and then press <Enter> or click the magnifying glass.

Click the topic that describes your problem.

Follow the instructions on the screen.

• How to reinstall my operating system

Operating System Disc

NOTE: The Operating System disc may be

optional and may not ship with your computer.

The operating system is already installed on your computer. To reinstall your operating system, use the Operating System disc (see "Reinstalling Windows XP or Windows Vista" on page 149).

Help and Support

, type a word or phrase

16 Finding Information

After you reinstall your operating system, use the Drivers and Utilities disc to reinstall drivers for the devices that came with your computer.

Your operating system product key label is located on your computer.

NOTE: The color of your disc varies based

on the operating system you ordered.

What Are You Looking For? Find It Here

• How to use Linux

• E-mail discussions with users of Dell Precision™ products and the Linux operating system

• Additional information regarding Linux and my Dell Precision computer

Dell Supported Linux Sites

• Linux.dell.com

• Lists.us.dell.com/mailman/listinfo/linuxprecision

Finding Information 17

18 Finding Information

About Your Computer

Front View of the Computer (Tower Orientation)

1 upper 5.25-inch drive

bay

2 lower 5.25-inch drive

bay

3 FlexBay Use this bay for an optional third hard drive (SATA or

4 hard-drive activity

light

Use this bay for an optical drive.

Use this bay for an optional optical drive.

SAS), a floppy drive, or a Media Card Reader.

The hard drive light is on when the computer reads data from or writes data to the hard drive. The light might also be on when a device, such as your CD drive, is operating.

About Your Computer 19

5 IEEE 1394 connector

(optional)

6 USB 2.0 connectors (2) Use the front USB connectors for devices that you

7 Dell™ rotatable badge To rotate the Dell badge for tower-to-desktop

8 power button,

power light

9 headphone connector Use the headphone connector to attach headphones.

10 microphone connector Use the microphone connector to attach a personal

11 network link light The network link light is on when a good connection

12 diagnostic lights (4) Use these lights to help you troubleshoot a computer

Use the optional IEEE 1394 connector for high-speed data devices such as digital video cameras and external storage devices.

connect occasionally, such as flash memory keys or cameras, or for bootable USB devices (see "System Setup" on page 89 for more information on booting to a USB device). It is recommended that you use the back USB connectors for devices that typically remain connected, such as printers and keyboards.

conversion: remove the Computer Cover" on page 153 plastic handle behind the badge.

Press the power button to turn on the computer. The light in the center of this button indicates power state. See "Controls and Lights" on page 40 for more information.

NOTICE: To avoid losing data, do not use the

power button to turn off the computer. Instead, perform an operating system shutdown.

computer microphone for voice or musical input into a sound or telephony program.

exists between a 10-Mbps, 100-Mbps, or 1000-Mbps (or 1-Gbps) network and the computer.

problem based on the diagnostic code. For more information, see "Diagnostic Lights" on page 121.

front panel (see

)

, turn it over, and rotate the

"Removing the

20 About Your Computer

Back View of the Computer (Tower Orientation)

1 power connector Insert the power cable.

2 card slots Access connectors for any installed PCI and PCI Express

cards. The center four connector slots support full-length cards, and the connector slots on either the top or bottom (one x8 PCI Express slot (wired as x4) and one PCI-X card) support halflength cards.

3 back panel

connectors

Plug USB, audio, and other devices into the appropriate connector (see "Back Panel Connectors (Tower Orientation)" on page 22 for more information.

CAUTION: Ensure that none of the system air vents are blocked. Blocking them

will cause serious thermal problems.

About Your Computer 21

Back Panel Connectors (Tower Orientation)

12357

1 parallel connector Connect a parallel device, such as a printer, to the parallel

connector. If you have a USB printer, plug it into a USB connector. The integrated parallel connector is automatically disabled if the computer detects an installed card containing a parallel connector configured to the same address. For more information, see "System Setup Options" on page 89.

2 PS/2 mouse

connector

3 line-in connector Use the blue line-in connector to attach a playback device

4 line-out connector Use the green line-out connector to attach most speakers with

5 link integrity light Green — A good connection exists between a 10-Mbps

Plug a standard PS/2 mouse into the green mouse connector. Turn off the computer and any attached devices before you connect a mouse to the computer. If you have a USB mouse, plug it into a USB connector.

such as an MP3 player, CD player, or VCR. On computers with a sound card, use the connector on the card.

integrated amplifiers. On computers with a sound card, use the connector on the card.

network and the computer. Orange — A good connection exists between a 100-Mbps network and the computer. Yellow — A good connection exists between a 1000-Mbps (or 1-Gbps) network and the computer. Off — The computer is not detecting a physical connection to the network.

22 About Your Computer

6 network adapter

connector

7 network activity

light

8 serial connectors

(2)

9 PS/2 keyboard

connector

10 USB 2.0

connectors (5)

To attach your computer to a network or broadband device, connect one end of a network cable to either a network jack or your network or broadband device. Connect the other end of the network cable to the network adapter connector on your computer. A click indicates that the network cable has been securely attached. Do not plug a telephone cable into the network connector. On computers with an additional network connector card, use the connectors on the card and on the back of the computer when setting up multiple network connections (such as a separate intra- and extranet). It is recommended that you use Category 5 wiring and connectors for your network. If you must use Category 3 wiring, force the network speed to 10 Mbps to ensure reliable operation.

Flashes a yellow light when the computer is transmitting or receiving network data. A high volume of network traffic may make this light appear to be in a steady "on" state.

Connect a serial device, such as a handheld device, to the serial port. If necessary, the address for this port can be modified through "System Setup" on page 89.

If you have a standard PS/2 keyboard, plug it into the purple keyboard connector. If you have a USB keyboard, plug it into a USB connector.

It is recommended that you use the front USB connectors for devices that you connect occasionally, such as flash memory keys or cameras, or for bootable USB devices. Use the back USB connectors for devices that typically remain connected, such as printers and keyboards.

About Your Computer 23

Front View (Desktop Orientation)

1 23

1 upper 5.25-inch

drive bay

2 lower 5.25-inch

drive bay

3 FlexBay Use this bay for a floppy drive or a Media Card Reader.

4 IEEE 1394

connector (optional)

5 USB 2.0

connectors (2)

6 hard-drive activity

light

Use this bay for an an optical drive.

Use this bay for an optional optical drive or a SATA hard drive.

Use the optional IEEE 1394 connector for high-speed data devices such as digital video cameras and external storage devices.

Use the front USB connectors for devices that you connect occasionally, such as flash memory keys or cameras, or for bootable USB devices (see "System Setup" on page 89 for more information on booting to a USB device). It is recommended that you use the back USB connectors for devices that typically remain connected, such as printers and keyboards.

The hard drive light is on when the computer reads data from or writes data to the hard drive. The light might also be on when a device such as your CD player is operating.

89101112

24 About Your Computer

7 Dell™ rotatable

1 2 3

badge

8 power button,

power light

9 headphone

connector

10 microphone

connector

11 network link light The network link light is on when a good connection exists

12 diagnostic lights

(4)

To rotate the Dell badge for tower-to-desktop conversion: remove the page 155 badge.

Press the power button to turn on the computer. The light in the center of this button indicates power state. See "Diagnostic Lights" on page 121 for more information.

Use the headphone connector to attach headphones.

Use the microphone connector to attach a personal computer microphone for voice or musical input into a sound or telephony program.

between a 10-Mbps, 100-Mbps, or 1000-Mbps (or 1-Gbps) network and the computer.

Use these lights to help you troubleshoot a computer problem based on the diagnostic code. For more information, see "Diagnostic Lights" on page 121.

front panel (see

)

, turn it over, and rotate the plastic handle behind the

NOTICE: To avoid losing data, do not use the power

button to turn off the computer. Instead, perform an operating system shutdown.

"Removing the Front Panel" on

Back View (Desktop Orientation)

About Your Computer 25

1 back panel

connectors

2 card slots Access connectors for any installed PCI and PCI Express

3 power connector Insert the power cable.

Plug serial, USB, and other devices into the connector

cards. Slots 2-4 support full-length cards:

• two PCI Express x16 slots

• one PCI slot Slots 1, 5, and 6 support half-length cards:

• two PCI-X slots

• one PCI Express x8 slot

appropriate

Inside View

26 About Your Computer

1 power supply 2 rotatable hard drive bay

3 FlexBay 4 lower 5.25-inch drive bay

5 upper 5.25-inch drive bay

Inside View – Hard Drive Bay Rotated Out

1 power supply 2 system board 3 memory fan

4 front fan 5 card fan

About Your Computer 27

System Board Components

34567 112891

28 About Your Computer

212223

1 primary processor connector

(CPU_0)

3 front fan connector (FAN_FRONT) 4 card cage fan (FAN_CCAG)

5 internal speaker connector

(INT_SPKR)

7 USB (INT_USB) 8 password jumper (PSWD)

9 auxiliary hard-drive LED connector

(AUX_LED)

11 RTC reset jumper (RTCRST) 12 battery socket (BATTERY)

13 main power connector (POWER1) 14 SATA connectors (SATA_2, SATA_3, and

15 SATA connectors (SATA_0, SATA_1) 16 floppy drive (DSKT)

17 front panel connector

(FRONTPANEL)

19 PCI-X card slot (SLOT5_PCIX) 20 chassis intrusion header (INTRUDER)

21 PCI Express 2.0 x16 card slot

(SLOT4_PCIE)

23 PCI Express 2.0 x16 card slot

(SLOT2_PCIE)

25 PCI Express x8 card slot, wired as x4

(SLOT1_PCIE)

27 memory module connectors

(DIMM_1-8)

2 secondary processor connector

(CPU_1)

6 power connector (POWER2)

10 auxiliary power LED (AUX_PWR)

SATA_4)

18 PCI-X card slot (SLOT6_PCIX)

22 PCI card slot (SLOT3_PCI)

24 front panel audio connector (FP_AUDIO)

26 hard drive fan connector (FAN_HDD)

28 memory fan connector (FAN_MEM)

Cable Colors

Device Color

SATA hard drive blue cable

floppy drive black pull tab

optical drive orange cable

front panel yellow pull tab

About Your Computer 29

Changing Between Tower and Desktop Modes

CAUTION: Before you begin any of the procedures in this section, follow the

safety instructions in the

CAUTION: To guard against electrical shock, always unplug your computer from

the electrical outlet before opening the cover.

NOTICE: To prevent static damage to components inside your computer, discharge

static electricity from your body before you touch any of your computer’s electronic components. You can do so by touching an unpainted metal surface on the computer.

NOTICE: To avoid damage to a drive, do not set it on a hard surface. Instead, set

the drive on a surface, such as a foam pad, that will sufficiently cushion it.

NOTE: To change your computer’s orientation from either tower to desktop or

desktop to tower, you must use an optional kit available from Dell. See "Product Information" on page 291 for more details on ordering from Dell.

Product Information Guide

With the purchase of an optional kit from Dell, you can change the configuration of your Dell Precision computer between desktop and tower modes.

NOTE: The tower configuration supports a third SAS or SATA hard drive in the

FlexBay. The desktop configuration only supports a third SATA drive.

30 About Your Computer

Tower Orientation

Desktop Orientation

Follow the procedures in "Before You Begin" on page 151.

Remove the computer cover (see "Removing the Computer Cover" on page 153).

If converting from a tower configuration to a desktop configuration, find the spare card retainer beside the card fan, pull its retention tab out from the surrounding metal and pull it up, away from the chassis.

About Your Computer 31

1 spare card retainer 2 card fan

Remove the drive panel (see "Removing the Drive Panel" on page 233).

Prepare the computer’s new drive panel by adding or removing inserts as needed (see "Drive Panels" on page 233).

If spare screws are attached to the old drive panel, you may transfer them to the new drive panel.

If metal shields are present in your computer (see "About the Metal Shields Present in Some Drive Configurations" on page 207), pull to remove any metal shields from the optical bays or, in tower mode only, from the FlexBay.

32 About Your Computer

Desktop Orientation

Tower Orientation

1 5.25-inch metal shield 2 vented metal insert

If metal shields are present in your computer and you are converting from desktop to tower mode (see "About the Metal Shields Present in Some Drive Configurations" on page 207), remove the vented metal insert from the FlexBay if the bay is empty or has an optional third hard drive installed in it:

Pull the vented metal insert forward until its surface is flush with that of the surrounding chassis.

Rotate the bottom of the metal insert up towards you, disengaging its lower screws from the surrounding metal.

Lift the metal insert from the computer, disengaging its top screws and metal tabs from the surrounding metal.

About Your Computer 33

1 FlexBay 2 vented metal insert

Remove any drives installed in the optical drive bays (see "Optical Drive" on page 268).

If there is a drive installed in the Flexbay, remove it (see "Cards" on page 193).

Rotate the Dell badge by turning the plastic handle on the back of the front panel until the badge is in the correct orientation.

Reinstall any optical drives in the new orientation (see "Optical Drive" on page 268).

If you had a floppy drive or Media Card Reader installed in the FlexBay, reinstall it in the new orientation (see "Media Card Reader" on page 254).

34 About Your Computer

If you had a hard drive installed in the 5.25-inch bay and you are changing from a desktop to a tower configuration, remove the hard drive from the drive carrier and install four screws into the front four holes on the sides of the heard drive.

If you had a hard drive installed in the FlexBay and you are changing from a tower to a desktop configuration, remove its four screws and install the hard drive into the drive carrier (see "Hard Drive" on page 212).

NOTE: Hard-drive screws or a hard-drive carrier can be ordered from Dell. See

"Contacting Dell" on page 295.

If metal shields are present in your computer (see "About the Metal Shields Present in Some Drive Configurations" on page 207), replace metal shields in any empty optical drive bays or over the FlexBay, in tower mode only, by pressing them into place.

If a vented metal insert was installed over the FlexBay and you are converting from tower to desktop mode, reinstall it:

Holding the metal insert at an angle, insert its two upper screws into the slot that runs along the inside of the FlexBay.

Rotate the bottom of the vented metal insert down and insert its two bottom screws into the slot in the open area beneath the FlexBay.

Push the vented metal insert until it clicks into place and its metal tabs rest flush against the chassis surface.

About Your Computer 35

1 FlexBay 2 vented metal insert

Install the new drive panel (see "Replacing the Drive Panel" on page 237).

Replace the computer cover (see "Removing the Computer Cover" on page 153).

Verify that your computer works correctly by running the "Dell Diagnostics" on page 136.

Specifications

NOTE: Offerings may vary by region. For more information regarding the

configuration of your computer, click Start→ Help and Support and select the option to view information about your computer.

36 About Your Computer

Processor

Processor type Dual-Core Intel® Xeon® Processor 5200

series

Quad-Core Intel

Xeon® Processor 5400

series

Internal cache Dual-Core Intel® Xeon® Processor 5200

series - 6 MB

Quad-Core Intel

Xeon® Processor 5400

series - 12 MB

External bus frequency 1333 MHz

Memory

Memory module connectors

Memory module capacities 512-MB or 1-, 2-, or 4-GB ECC

Memory type 667- MHz fully-buffered DDR2 SDRAM

fully-buffered DIMMs (FBDs)

NOTICE: Full-length heat spreaders

(FLHS) are required for all DIMMS.

Minimum memory 1 GB

Maximum memory 32 GB

BIOS address F0000h

System Information

System chipset

Intel 5400

Data bus width 64 bits

DRAM bus width Quad-channel fully-buffered DIMM

Processor address bus width 38 Bits

Flash EPROM 8 Mbit

Graphics bus two PCI Express 2.0 x16 slots

About Your Computer 37

Expansion

Card support Desktop Mode:

Slots 2-4 support full-length cards:

• two PCI Express x16 slots

•one PCI slot

Slots 1, 5, and 6 support half-length cards:

•two PCI-X slots

•one PCI Express x8 slot

Tower Mode:

Slots 2-5 support full-length cards:

•one PCI-X slot

• two PCI Express x16 slots

•one PCI slot

Slots 1 and 6 support half-length cards:

•one PCI-X slot

•one PCI Express x8 slot

Cards supported PCI 2.3

PCI Express 1.0A in slot 1 PCI Express 2.0 x16 in slots 2 and 4 PCI-X 2.0A

PCI

connector

connector size

connector data width (maximum)

bus transfer rate 133 MB/s

PCI-X

connectors

connector size

connector data width (maximum)

bus transfer rate

one

120 pins

32 bits

two

188 pins

64 bits

800 MB/s

38 About Your Computer

Expansion

PCI Express x8 wired as x4 (SLOT1_PCIE)

connectors

connector size

connector data width (maximum)

bus transfer rate

PCI Express 2.0 x16

connector

connector size

connector data width (maximum)

bus transfer rate

Ports and Connectors

External connectors

Serial

Parallel

IEEE 1394 (optional)

Network adapter

PS/2 (keyboard and mouse)

USB

Audio

System board connectors

Floppy drive

one x8 (supports x8, x4, and x1 modes/cards; maximum x4 link width)

98 pins

4 PCI Express lanes

2.5 GB/s/lane/direction (raw bandwidth)

two x16 slots (support x16, x8, x4 and x1 modes/cards)

164 pins

16 PCI Express lanes

5 GB/s/lane/direction (raw bandwidth)

two 9-pin connectors; 16550C-compatible

25-hole connector (bidirectional)

one front-panel 6-pin connector and one rear panel 6-pin connector

RJ45 connector

two 6-pin mini-DIN

two front-panel and five back-panel USB

2.0–compliant connectors

two front-panel connectors for microphone and headphones; two back-panel connectors for line-in and line-out

34-pin connector

About Your Computer 39

Ports and Connectors

Serial ATA

Internal USB

Video

Video type PCI Express 2.0 x16 (two slots)

Audio

Audio type High Definition Audio CODEC and

Stereo conversion 24-bit analog-to-digital; 24-bit digital-to-

Drives

Externally accessible one 3.5-inch drive bay (FlexBay)

Internally accessible two 3.5-inch hard-drive bays

Key Combinations

<F2> starts embedded system setup (during start-

<Ctrl><Alt><F10> launches the utility partition (if installed)

<F5> runs onboard diagnostics

(continued)

five 7-pin connectors

one 10-pin connector for optional Media Card Reader (3.5-inch bay device) or secure boot device

Azalia/ High Definition digital controller

analog

two 5.25-inch drive bays

up only)

starts the only)

during start-up

Boot Device

(during start-up

Controls and Lights

Power control push button

40 About Your Computer

Controls and Lights

Power light Front panel:

green light—blinking green in sleep state; solid green for power-on state

amber light—blinking amber indicates that an internal power problem might exist; solid amber indicates that a device may be malfunctioning or incorrectly installed (see "Power Problems" on page 116)

Hard-drive access light Front panel: green light - on when the

computer reads data from or writes data to the hard drive. The light may also be on when a device such as the optical drive is operating.

Network integrity lights Back panel: green light for 10-Mb operation;

orange light for 100-Mb operation; yellow light for a 1000-Mb (1-Gb) operation Front panel: displays solid green when a network connection is present.

Activity light Back panel: yellow blinking light when there

is network activity.

Diagnostic lights Front panel: four lights (see "Diagnostic

Lights" on page 121)

Standby power light AUX_PWR on the system board

Power

DC power supply

Wattage

Heat dissipation

Vo lt a ge

Backup battery 3-V CR2032 lithium coin cell

875 W

1094W or 3732BTU/hour

NOTE: Heat dissipation is calculated

based upon the power supply wattage rating.

auto-sensing power supply—90 V to 265 V at 50/60 Hz

About Your Computer 41

Physical

Height 44.8 cm (17.6 inches)

Width 17.1 cm (6.8 inches)

Depth 46.7 cm (18.4 inches)

Weight 17.7 kg (39 lb)

Supported monitor weight (in desktop orientation)

Environmental

Temperature range

Operating

Storage

Relative humidity (maximum)

Operating

Storage

Maximum vibration (using a random-vibration spectrum that simulates user environment)

Operating

Storage

Maximum shock

Operating

Storage

Altitude (maximum)

Operating

Storage

45.4 kg (100 lb)

10° to 35°C (50° to 95°F)

–40° to 65°C (–40° to 149°F)

20% to 80% (noncondensing)

5% to 95% (noncondensing)

5 to 350 Hz at 0.0002 G2/Hz

5 to 500 Hz at 0.001 to 0.01 G2/Hz

40 G +/- 5% with pulse duration of 2 msec +/- 10% (equivalent to 20 in/sec [51 cm/sec])

105 G +/- 5% with pulse duration of 2 msec +/- 10% (equivalent to 50 in/sec [127 cm/sec])

–15.2 to 3048 m (–50 to 10,000 ft)

–15.2 to 10,668 m (–50 to 35,000 ft)

42 About Your Computer

About Your Computer 43

44 About Your Computer

Advanced Features

LegacySelect Technology Control

LegacySelect technology control offers legacy-full, legacy-reduced, or legacyfree solutions based on common platforms, hard-drive images, and help desk procedures. Control is provided to the administrator through system setup, Dell OpenManage™ IT Assistant, or Dell custom factory integration.

LegacySelect allows administrators to electronically activate or deactivate connectors and media devices that include serial and USB connectors, a parallel connector, a floppy drive, PCI slots, and a PS/2 mouse. Connectors and media devices that are deactivated make resources available. You must restart the computer to effect the changes.

Manageability

Alert Standard Format

Alert Standard Format (ASF) is a DMTF management standard that specifies "pre-operating system" or "operating system-absent" alerting techniques. The standard is designed to generate an alert on potential security and fault conditions when the operating system is in a sleep state or the computer is powered down. ASF is designed to supersede previous operating system-absent alerting technologies.

Your computer supports the following ASF alerts:

Advanced Features 45

Alert Description

Chassis: Chassis Intrusion

- Physical Security Violation/ Chassis Intrusion - Physical Security Violation Event Cleared

Boot: Failure to Boot to BIOS

Password: System Password Violation

CPU: CPU DOA Alert/CPU DOA Alert Cleared

Heartbeats: Entity Presence

Temperature: Generic Critical Temperature Problem

Voltage: Generic Critical Voltage Problem

Power Supply: Critical Power Supply Problem

Cooling Device: Generic Critical Fan Failure

Connectivity: Ethernet Connectivity Enabled/ Ethernet Connectivity Disabled

The computer chassis has been opened or the chassis intrusion alert has been cleared.

The BIOS did not complete loading upon initiation.

The system password is invalid (alert occurs after three failed attempts).

The processor is not functioning.

Periodic heartbeats have been transmitted to verify system presence.

The computer temperature is out of limits.

The voltage from integrated voltage regulators is out of limits.

The computer power supply voltage is out of limits.

The fan speed (rpm) is out of limits.

The Ethernet connectivity is enabled or the Ethernet connectivity is disabled.

For more information about Dell's ASF implementation, see the

Guide

and the

Support website at

ASF Administrator's Guide

support.dell.com

, which are available on the Dell

46 Advanced Features

ASF User's

Dell OpenManage™ IT Assistant

IT Assistant configures, manages, and monitors computers and other devices on a corporate network. IT Assistant manages assets, configurations, events (alerts), and security for computers equipped with industry-standard management software. It supports instrumentation that conforms to SNMP, DMI, and CIM industry standards.

Dell OpenManage Client instrumentation, which is based on DMI and CIM, is available for your computer. For information on IT Assistant, see the Dell OpenManage IT Assistant User’s Guide available on the Dell Support website at support.dell.com.

Dell OpenManage Client Instrumentation

Dell OpenManage Client Instrumentation is software that enables remote management programs, such as IT Assistant, to do the following:

• Access information about your computer, such as how many processors it has and what operating system it is running.

• Monitor the status of your computer, such as listening for thermal alerts from temperature probes or hard-drive failure alerts from storage devices.

• Change the state of your computer, such as updating its BIOS or shutting it down remotely.

A managed system is one that has Dell OpenManage Client Instrumentation set up on a network that uses IT Assistant. For information about Dell OpenManage Client Instrumentation, see the Dell OpenManage Client Instrumentation User’s Guide available on the Dell Support website at support.dell.com.

Power Management

Your computer can be set to use less power when you are not working. You control the power usage through the operating system installed on your computer and certain option settings in system setup (see "Power Management" on page 47). These periods of reduced power are called "sleep modes."

NOTE: All components installed in the computer must support the hibernate and/or

standby mode feature(s) and have the appropriate drivers loaded to enter either of these sleep modes. For more information, see the manufacturer’s documentation for each component.

Advanced Features 47

•

Standby

. In this sleep mode, power is reduced or turned off for many

components. However, system memory remains active.

NOTE: Hibernate mode is only supported on computers with 4-GB of RAM or

less.

•

Hibernate

. This sleep mode reduces power consumption to a minimum by writing all data in system memory to a hard drive and then removing system power. Waking up from this mode restarts the computer, and the memory contents are restored. Operation then resumes where the computer left off when it entered the hibernation mode.

•

Shutdown

. This sleep mode removes all power from the computer except a small auxiliary amount. As long as the computer remains connected to an electrical outlet, it can be automatically or remotely started. For example, the

Auto Power On

option in system setup (see "Power Management" on page 47) allows the computer to automatically start at a specified time. Also, your network administrator can remotely start your computer using a power management event such as Remote Wake Up.

The following table lists the sleep modes and the methods you can use to wake the computer from each mode.

Sleep Mode Wake-Up Methods (Windows XP)

Standby • Press the power button

•Auto power on

• Move or click the mouse

• Type on the keyboard

• USB device activity

• Power management event

Hibernate • Press the power button

•Auto power on

• Power management event

Shutdown • Press the power button

•Auto power on

• Power management event

48 Advanced Features

NOTE: For more information on power management, see your operating system

documentation.

Hyperthreading and Multi-Core Technology

Hyperthreading is an Intel technology that can enhance overall computer performance by allowing one physical processor to function as two logical processors that are capable of performing certain tasks simultaneously. Multicore processors contain two or more physical computational units inside a single CPU package, thereby increasing computing efficiency and multitasking ability. Intel has implemented this technology in its Dual-Core and Quad-Core processors. These processors have two and four computational units respectively. It is recommended that you use the Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 1 (SP1) or higher or Windows Vista operating systems which are optimized to take advantage of these technologies.

While many programs can benefit from hyperthreading and multi-core technology, some programs may have not been optimized for them and may require an update from the software manufacturer. Contact the software manufacturer for updates and information about using hyperthreading or multi-core technology with your software. To determine if your computer is using hyperthreading technology, check the system setup option for hyperthreading under the Performance tab (see "System Setup" on page 290).

About RAID Configurations

This section provides an overview of the RAID configuration that you might have selected when you purchased your computer. While there are many RAID configurations available in the computer industry for different types of uses, Dell offers RAID level 0, RAID level 1, or RAID level 5 on your Dell Precision computer.

A RAID level 0 configuration is recommended for high-performance programs, and a RAID level 1 configuration is recommended for users that desire a high level of data integrity. A RAID level 5 configuration provides for both data integrity and high performance. hierarchy. A RAID level 5 configuration is not inherently better or worse than a RAID level 0 configuration.

The Intel RAID controller on your computer can only create a RAID level 0 configuration using two or three physical drives. If a third drive is present, then that drive can be made part of a RAID level 0 configuration using the

RAID levels do not represent a

Advanced Features 49

Intel RAID configuration program. If you have three drives and two are in a RAID level 1 configuration, the third drive can be used as a spare drive for the RAID configuration (see "Creating a Spare Hard Drive" on page 60). A RAID level 5 array must be made up of three drives.

All drives must be the same type of drive; SAS and SATA drives cannot be mixed in a RAID array. The drives should also be the same size to ensure that the larger drive does not contain unallocated (and therefore unusable) space.

RAID Level 0

RAID level 0 uses a storage technique known as "data striping" to provide a high data access rate. Data striping is a method of writing consecutive segments—or stripes—of data sequentially across the physical drives to create a large virtual drive. Data striping allows one of the drives to read data while the other drive is searching for and reading the next block.

serial ATA RAID configured for RAID level 0

segment 1

segment 3

segment 5

hard drive 1

segment 2

segment 4

segment 6

hard drive 2

Another advantage of a RAID level 0 configuration is that it utilizes the full capacities of the drives. If you have two 120-GB drives installed, you have 240 GB on which to store data.

NOTICE: Because RAID level 0 provides no data redundancy, if one drive fails, then

the data on the other drive is also inaccessible. Therefore, ensure that you perform regular backups when you use a RAID level 0 configuration.

50 Advanced Features

RAID Level 1

RAID level 1 uses a data-redundancy storage technique known as "mirroring." When data is written to the primary drive, the data is then duplicated—or mirrored—on the other drive. A RAID level 1 configuration sacrifices high-data access rates for its data redundancy advantages.

serial ATA RAID configured for RAID level 1

segment 1

segment 2

segment 3

segment 4

segment 5

segment 6

hard drive 1

segment 1 duplicated

segment 2 duplicated

segment 3 duplicated

segment 4 duplicated

segment 5 duplicated

segment 6 duplicated

hard drive 2

If a drive failure occurs, subsequent read and write operations are directed to the surviving drive. A replacement drive can then be rebuilt using the data from the surviving drive. Also, because data is duplicated on both drives, two 120-GB RAID level 1 drives collectively have a maximum of 120-GB on which to store data.

RAID Level 5

RAID level 5 uses a data-staging storage technique known as "parity checking." When a block of data is written to the RAID configuration, it is striped across all of the drives in the RAID array except for one drive, to which is written parity data. The parity data is information that allows for the entire block of striped data to be calculated if one of the drives fails.

Advanced Features 51

Since parity data is fairly small when compared to the size of the actual stored data, the equivalent of one hard drive can serve as a parity drive for any number of data-storing hard drives. However, not all of the parity data is put on the same drive. Instead, with each new block of data written to the RAID configuration, the different drives alternately act as either data-storing or parity drives.

serial ATA RAID configured for

RAID level 5

half of data block 1

half of data block 2

parity data for block 3

half of data block 4

half of data block 5

parity data for block 6

hard drive 1

half of data block 1

parity data for block 2

half of data block 3

parity data for block 4

half of data block 5

half of data block 6

hard drive 2

parity data for block 1

half of data block 2

half of data block 3

half of data block 4

parity data for block 5

half of data block 6

hard drive 3

Because data is striped across the RAID configuration, as it is in a RAID 0 configuration, it can be quickly accessed. Also, because of the parity data, if only a single drive fails, that drive can be rebuilt using the parity data on the other drives. The amount of storage space available to three 120-GB RAID level 5 drives is 240-GB on which to store data, since the equivalent of one drive is set aside for parity data. A minimum of three drives is required to create a RAID level 5 configuration.

52 Advanced Features

Configuring Your Computer for RAID

At some point you may want to configure your computer for RAID if you did not select a RAID configuration when you purchased your computer. You must have at least two hard drives installed in your computer to set up a RAID configuration. For instructions on how to install a hard drive, see "Cards" on page 193.

To configure a RAID hard drive volume, use the Intel RAID Option ROM utility before you install the operating system onto the hard drive. You must set your computer to RAID-enabled mode before starting any of the RAID configuration procedures in this document.

Setting Your Computer to RAID-Enabled Mode

NOTE: This procedure is only possible if you ordered your computer with a RAID

configuration.

Enter the system setup program (see "System Setup" on page 89).

Press the up- and down-arrow keys to highlight <Enter>.

Press the left- and right-arrow keys to highlight

or RAID Autodetect/ ATA

, according to your preferences; press <Enter>,

and then press <Esc>.

For more information about RAID options, see "System Setup Options" on page 89.

Drives

, and press

SATA Operation

, and press

RAID Autodetect /AHCI

Press the left- and right-arrow keys to highlight

Save/Exit

, and press

<Enter> to exit system setup and resume the boot process.

Configuring Your Computer for RAID Using the Intel Matrix Storage Manager

NOTE: This procedure is only possible if you ordered your computer with a RAID

configuration.

If you already have one hard drive with the operating system installed on it, and you want to add a second hard drive and reconfigure both drives into a RAID volume without losing the existing operating system and any data, you need to use the migrating option for a RAID level 0 configuration (see

Advanced Features 53

"Migrating to a RAID Level 0 Configuration" on page 57), a RAID level 1 configuration (see "Migrating to a RAID Level 1 Configuration" on page 58), or a RAID level 5 configuration (see "Migrating to a RAID Level 5 Configuration" on page 59). Create a new volume only when:

• You are adding two new drives to an existing single-drive computer (and the operating system is on the single drive), and you want to configure the two new drives into a RAID volume.

• You already have a two-hard drive computer configured into a volume, but you still have some space left on the volume that you want to designate as a second RAID volume.

Creating a RAID Level 0 Configuration

NOTICE: When you perform this operation, all data on the RAID drives will be lost.

NOTE: This procedure is only possible if you ordered your computer with a RAID

configuration.

Set your computer to RAID-enabled mode (see "Setting Your Computer to RAID-Enabled Mode" on page 53).

Click

Start

and point to

Intel Matrix Storage Console

If you do not see an

Programs→

Actions

Intel(R) Matrix Storage Manager

to launch the Intel Storage Utility.

menu option, you have not yet set your

→

computer to RAID-enabled mode (see "Setting Your Computer to RAIDEnabled Mode" on page 53).

On the RAID Volume Wizard, and then click

On the

Actions

menu, select

Create RAID Volume

Select Volume Location

to launch the Create

screen, click the first hard drive you want

to include in your RAID level 0 volume, and then click the right arrow.

Click a second hard drive. To add a third hard drive in your RAID level 0 volume, click the right arrow and click on the third drive until three drives appear in the

In the then click

Click

Finish

Selected

Specify Volume Size

window, and then click

window, click the

to create the volume, or click

Volu me Si z e

Back

to make changes.

desired, and

54 Advanced Features

Creating a RAID Level 1 Configuration

NOTICE: When you perform this operation, all data on the RAID drives will be lost.

NOTE: This procedure is only possible if you ordered your computer with a RAID

configuration.

Set your computer to RAID-enabled mode (see "Setting Your Computer to RAID-Enabled Mode" on page 53).

Click the

Manager

Start

button and point to

→

Intel Matrix Storage Console

Programs→ Intel(R) Matrix Storage

to launch the Intel® Storage

Utility.

If you do not see an

Actions

menu option, you have not yet set your computer to RAID-enabled mode (see "Setting Your Computer to RAIDEnabled Mode" on page 53).

On the

Actions

menu, select

Create RAID Volume

to launch the Create

RAID Volume Wizard.

Click

at the first screen.

Confirm the volume name, select click

to continue.

On the

Select Volume Location

RAID 1

as the RAID level, and then

screen, click the first hard drive you want to use to create your RAID level 1 volume, and then click the right arrow. Click a second hard drive until two drives appear in the and then click

In the

Specify Volume Size

click

Click

Finish

Follow Microsoft Windows procedures for creating a partition on the new

window, select the

to create the volume, or click

Volu me Si z e

Back

to make changes.

Selected

desired and

RAID volume.

window,

Creating a RAID Level 5 Configuration

NOTICE: When you perform this operation, all data on the RAID drives will be lost.

NOTE: This procedure is only possible if you ordered your computer with a RAID

configuration.

Set your computer to RAID-enabled mode (see "Setting Your Computer to RAID-Enabled Mode" on page 53).

Advanced Features 55

Click the

Manager

Start

button and point to

→

Intel Matrix Storage Console

Programs→ Intel(R) Matrix Storage

to launch the Intel Storage

Utility.

If you do not see an

Actions

menu option, you have not yet set your computer to RAID-enabled mode (see "Setting Your Computer to RAIDEnabled Mode" on page 53).

On the

Actions

menu, select

Create RAID Volume

to launch the Create

RAID Volume Wizard.

Click

at the first screen.

Confirm the volume name, select click

to continue.

On the

Select Volume Location

RAID 5

as the RAID level, and then

screen, click the first hard drive you want to use to create your RAID level 5 volume, and then click the right arrow. Click two or three additional drives until either three or four drives appear in the

Selected

In the

Specify Volume Size

click

Click

Finish

Follow Microsoft Windows procedures for creating a partition on the new

window, and then click

window, select the

to create the volume, or click

Volu m e Si ze

Back

to make changes.

desired and

RAID volume.

Deleting a RAID Volume

NOTICE: While this procedure deletes the RAID 1 volume, it also splits the RAID 1

volume into two non-RAID hard drives with a partition, and leaves any existing data files intact. Deleting a RAID 0 or 5 volume, however, destroys all data on the volume.

Click the

Manager

Start

button and point to

→

Intel Matrix Storage Console

Programs→ Intel(R) Matrix Storage

to launch the Intel Storage

Utility.

Right-click the select

Delete Volume

On the

Highlight the RAID volume you want to delete in the

Vo lu me

icon of the RAID volume you want to delete, and

Delete RAID Volume Wizard

screen, click

Available

the right-arrow button to move the highlighted RAID volume into the

Selected

box, and then click

56 Advanced Features

box, click

Click

Finish

to delete the volume.

About Migrating to a RAID Configuration

Migration is only possible from a factory-installed RAID configuration, if when you ordered your system it was configured for RAID and if you are migrating between certain RAID configurations.

2-drive RAID 0 3-drive RAID 0 2-drive RAID 1 3-drive RAID 5

2-drive RAID 0 Not applicable 2- to 3-drive

migration possible

3-drive RAID 0 Not possible Not applicable Not possible Not possible

2-drive RAID 1 RAID 1 to

RAID 0 migration possible

3-drive RAID 5 Not possible Not possible Not possible Not applicable

Migrating to a RAID Level 0 Configuration

Set your computer to RAID-enabled mode (see "Setting Your Computer to

RAID 1 to RAID 0 migration possible

Not possible Not possible

Not applicable RAID 1 to RAID

5 migration possible

RAID-Enabled Mode" on page 53).

Click the

Storage Manager

Start

button and point to

→

Intel Matrix Storage Console

All Programs→ Intel(R) Matrix

to launch the Intel

Storage Utility.

If you do not see an

Actions

menu option, you have not yet set your computer to RAID-enabled mode (see "Setting Your Computer to RAIDEnabled Mode" on page 53).

On the

Drive

Click

Enter a RAID volume name or accept the default.

From the drop-down box, select

Actions

menu, select

Create RAID Volume From Existing Hard

to launch the Migration Wizard.

on the Migration Wizard screen.

RAID 0

as the RAID level

Advanced Features 57

Select the strip size closest to the size of the average file you want to store on the RAID volume. If you do not know the average file size, choose 128 KB as your strip size.

Select the appropriate strip size from the drop-down box, and then click

Select the hard drive that you want to use as your source hard drive (it should be the hard drive containing the data or operating system files that you want to keep on the RAID volume).

On the which you want to migrate, and click

On the

Select Source Hard Drive

screen, double-click the hard drive from

Select Member Hard Drive

screen, double-click the hard drive(s)

to select the member drive(s) to span the stripe array, and click

On the click

NOTICE: In step 11, all data contained on the member drive will be removed.

Click

Specify Volume Size

Finish

to start migrating, or click

screen, select the

Back

to make changes. You can use

Volu me Si z e

you want, and

your computer normally during the migration process.

Migrating to a RAID Level 1 Configuration

Set your computer to RAID-enabled mode (see "Setting Your Computer to RAID-Enabled Mode" on page 53).

Click the

Storage Manager

Start

button and point to

→

Intel Matrix Storage Console

All Programs→ Intel(R) Matrix

to launch the Intel

Storage Utility.

If you do not see an

Actions

menu option, you have not yet set your computer to RAID-enabled mode (see "Setting Your Computer to RAIDEnabled Mode" on page 53).

On the

Drive

Click

Enter a RAID volume name or accept the default.

From the drop-down box, select

Actions

menu, click

Create RAID Volume From Existing Hard

to launch the Migration Wizard.

on the first Migration Wizard screen.

RAID 1

58 Advanced Features

as the RAID level

Select the hard drive that you want to use as your source hard drive (it should be the hard drive containing the data or operating system files that you want to keep on the RAID volume).

On the which you want to migrate, and click

On the

Select Source Hard Drive

screen, double-click the hard drive from

Select Member Hard Drive

screen, double-click the hard drive to select the member drive that you want to act as the mirror in the configuration, and click

On the click

NOTICE: In step 10, all data contained on the member drive will be removed.

Click

Specify Volume Size

Finish

to start migrating, or click

screen, select the volume size you want, and

Back

to make changes. You can use

your computer normally during migration process.

Migrating to a RAID Level 5 Configuration

Set your computer to RAID-enabled mode (see "Setting Your Computer to RAID-Enabled Mode" on page 53).

Click the

Storage Manager

Start

button and point to

→

Intel Matrix Storage Console

All Programs→ Intel(R) Matrix

to launch the Intel

Storage Utility.

If you do not see an

Actions

menu option, you have not yet set your computer to RAID-enabled mode (see "Setting Your Computer to RAIDEnabled Mode" on page 53).

On the

Drive

Click

Enter a RAID volume name or accept the default.

From the drop-down box, select

Actions

menu, click

Create RAID Volume From Existing Hard

to launch the Migration Wizard.

on the first Migration Wizard screen.

RAID 5

as the RAID level

Select the hard drive that you want to use as your source hard drive (it should be the hard drive containing the data or operating system files that you want to keep on the RAID volume).

On the which you want to migrate, and click

Select Source Hard Drive

screen, double-click the hard drive from

Advanced Features 59

On the

Select Member Hard Drive

screen, double-click the two or three drives to select the member drives that you want to use in the configuration, and click

On the click

NOTICE: In step 10, all data contained on the member drive will be removed.

Click

Specify Volume Size

Finish

to start migrating, or click

screen, select the volume size you want, and

Back

to make changes. You can use

your computer normally during migration process.

Creating a Spare Hard Drive

NOTICE: A spare hard drive must be at least the same size as the larger of the two

drives in the RAID configuration that it supports. Otherwise, the spare hard drive will not function. The RAID utility will not notify you if you fail to select a large enough drive.

A spare hard drive may be created with a RAID level 1 configuration. The spare hard drive will not be recognized by the operating system, but you will be able to see the spare drive from within Disk Manager or the Intel RAID Option ROM utility. When a member of the RAID level 1 configuration is broken, the computer automatically rebuilds the mirror configuration using the spare hard drive as the broken member’s replacement.

To mark a drive as a spare hard drive:

Click the

Manager

Start

button and point to

→

Intel Matrix Storage Console

Programs→ Intel(R) Matrix Storage

to launch the Intel Storage

Utility.

Right-click the hard drive you want to mark as a spare hard drive.

Click

Mark as Spare

To remove spare marking from a spare hard drive:

Right-click the spare hard-drive icon.

Click

Reset Hard Drive to Non-RAID

Rebuilding a Degraded RAID Level 1 or 5 Configuration

If your computer does not have a spare hard drive, and the computer has reported a degraded RAID level 1 or 5 volume, you can manually rebuild the computer’s redundancy mirror to a new hard drive:

60 Advanced Features

Click the

Manager

Start

button and point to

→

Intel Matrix Storage Console

Programs→ Intel(R) Matrix Storage

to launch the Intel Storage

Utility.

Right-click the available hard drive to which you want to rebuild the RAID level 1 or 5 volume, and click

You can use your computer while the computer is rebuilding the RAID

Rebuild to this Disk

level 1 or 5 volume.

Configuring Your Computer for RAID Using the Intel® RAID Option ROM Utility

NOTICE: You will lose any data on your hard drives when you create a RAID

configuration using the following procedure. Back up data that you want to keep before continuing.

NOTICE: Use the following procedure only if you are reinstalling your operating

system. Do not use the following procedure to migrate an existing storage configuration to RAID level 0 configuration.

Creating a RAID Level 0 Configuration

NOTICE: You will lose any data on your hard drives when you create a RAID

configuration using the following procedure. Back up data that you want to keep before continuing.

Set your computer to RAID-enabled mode (see "Setting Your Computer to RAID-Enabled Mode" on page 53).

Press <Ctrl> when you are prompted to enter the Intel RAID Option ROM utility.

Press the up- and down-arrow keys to highlight press <Enter>.

Enter a RAID volume name or accept the default, and press <Enter>.

Press the up- and down-arrow keys to select <Enter>.

If more than two hard drives are available, press the up- and down-arrow keys and spacebar to select the two or three drives that you want to use to make up your configuration, and then press <Enter>.

Create RAID Volume

RAID0(Stripe)

, and press

, and

Advanced Features 61

Select the strip size closest to the size of the average file that you want to store on the RAID volume. If you do not know the average file size, choose 128 KB as your strip size.

Press the up- and down-arrow keys to change the strip size and press <Enter>.

Select the desired capacity for the volume and press <Enter>. The default value is the maximum available size.

Press <Enter> to create the volume.

Press <y> to confirm that you want to create the RAID volume.

Confirm that the correct volume configuration is displayed on the main Intel RAID Option ROM utility screen.

Press the up- and down-arrow keys to select

Install the operating system (see "Reinstalling Windows XP or Windows

Exit

and press <Enter>.

Vista" on page 149.)

Creating a RAID Level 1 Configuration

NOTICE: You will lose any data on your hard drives when you create a RAID

configuration using the following procedure. Back up data that you want to keep before continuing.

Set your computer to RAID-enabled mode (see "Setting Your Computer to RAID-Enabled Mode" on page 53).

Press <Ctrl> when you are prompted to enter the Intel RAID Option ROM utility.

Use the up- and down-arrow keys to highlight

Create RAID Volume

press <Enter>.

Enter a RAID volume name or accept the default and press <Enter>.

Use the up- and down-arrow keys to select

RAID1(Mirror)

and press

<Enter>.

If there are more than two hard drives available, press the up- and downarrow keys and spacebar to select the two drives you want to use to make up your volume, and then press <Enter>.

Select the desired capacity for the volume, and press <Enter>. The default value is the maximum available size.

and

62 Advanced Features

Press <Enter> to create the volume.

Press <y> to confirm that you want to create the RAID volume.

Confirm that the correct volume configuration is displayed on the main Intel RAID Option ROM utility screen.

Use the up- and down-arrow keys to select

Install the operating system (see "Reinstalling Windows XP or Windows

Exit

and press <Enter>.

Vista" on page 149.)

Creating a RAID Level 5 Configuration

NOTICE: You will lose any data on your hard drives when you create a RAID

configuration using the following procedure. Back up data that you want to keep before continuing.

Set your computer to RAID-enabled mode (see "Setting Your Computer to RAID-Enabled Mode" on page 53).

Press <Ctrl> when you are prompted to enter the Intel RAID Option ROM utility.

Use the up- and down-arrow keys to highlight

Create RAID Volume

press <Enter>.

Enter a RAID volume name or accept the default, and press <Enter>.

Use the up- and down-arrow keys to select

RAID5(Parity)

, and press

<Enter>.

Press the up- and down-arrow keys and spacebar to select the three or four drives you want to use to make up your volume, and then press <Enter>.

Select the desired capacity for the volume, and press <Enter>. The default value is the maximum available size.

Press <Enter> to create the volume.

Press <y> to confirm that you want to create the RAID volume.

Confirm that the correct volume configuration is displayed on the main Intel RAID Option ROM utility screen.

Use the up- and down-arrow keys to select

Install the operating system (see "Reinstalling Windows XP or Windows

Exit

, and press <Enter>.

Vista" on page 149.)

, and

Advanced Features 63

Deleting a RAID Volume

NOTICE: When you perform this operation, all data on the RAID drives will be lost.

NOTICE: If your computer currently boots to RAID and you delete the RAID volume

in the Intel RAID Option ROM utility, your computer will become unbootable.

Press <Ctrl> when you are prompted to enter the Intel RAID Option ROM utility.

Use the up- and down-arrow keys to highlight

Delete RAID Volume

press <Enter>.

Use the up- and down-arrow keys to highlight the RAID volume you want to delete, and press <Delete>.

Press <y> to confirm the deletion of the RAID volume.

Press <Esc> to exit the Intel RAID Option ROM utility.

, and

64 Advanced Features

Setting Up Your Computer

Installing Your Computer in an Enclosure

Installing your computer in an enclosure can restrict the airflow and impact your computer’s performance, possibly causing it to overheat. Follow the guidelines below when installing your computer in an enclosure:

NOTICE: The operating temperature specifications indicated in this manual

reflects the maximum ambient operating temperature. The room ambient temperature needs to be a consideration when installing your computer in an enclosure. For example, if the ambient room temperature is at 25°C (77°F), depending on your computer’s specifications, you only have 5° to 10°C (9° to 18°F) temperature margin before you reach your computer’s maximum operating temperature. For details about your computer’s specifications, see "Specifications" on page 36.

• Leave a 10.2 cm (4 in) minimum clearance on all vented sides of the computer to permit the airflow required for proper ventilation.

• If your enclosure has doors, they need to be of a type that allows at least 30 percent airflow through the enclosure (front and back).

Setting Up Your Computer 65

• If your computer is installed in a corner on a desk or under a desk, leave at least 5.1 cm (2 in) clearance from the back of the computer to the wall to permit the airflow required for proper ventilation.

66 Setting Up Your Computer

NOTICE: Do not install your computer in an enclosure that does not allow airflow.

Restricting the airflow impacts your computer’s performance, possibly causing it to overheat.

Connecting to the Internet

NOTE: ISPs and ISP offerings vary by country.

For further information on troubleshooting e-mail and internet problems, see "E-Mail and Internet Problems" on page 109. To connect to the Internet, you need a modem or network connection and an Internet service provider (ISP). Your ISP will offer one or more of the following Internet connection options:

• DSL connections that provide high-speed Internet access through your existing telephone line or cellular telephone service. With a DSL connection, you can access the Internet and use your telephone on the same line simultaneously.

• Cable modem connections that provide high-speed Internet access through your local cable TV line.

• Satellite modem connections that provide high-speed Internet access through a satellite television system.

Setting Up Your Computer 67

• Dial-up connections that provide Internet access through a telephone line. Dial-up connections are considerably slower than DSL and cable (or satellite) modem connections.

• Wireless LAN connections that provide Internet access using Bluetooth

wireless technology.

If you are using a dial-up connection, connect a telephone line to the modem connector on your computer and to the telephone wall jack before you set up your Internet connection. If you are using a DSL or cable/satellite modem connection, contact your ISP or cellular telephone service for setup instructions.

Setting Up Your Internet Connection

To set up an Internet connection with a provided ISP desktop shortcut:

Save and close any open files, and exit any open programs.

Double-click the ISP icon on the Microsoft® Windows® desktop.

Follow the instructions on the screen to complete the setup.

If you do not have an ISP icon on your desktop or if you want to set up an Internet connection with a different ISP, perform the steps in the following section that corresponds to the operating system your computer is using.

NOTE: If you cannot connect to the Internet but have successfully connected in

the past, the ISP might have a service outage. Contact your ISP to check the service status, or try connecting again later.

Windows XP

Save and close any open files, and exit any open programs.

Click

Start→

The

New Connection Wizard

Click

Connect to the Internet

In the next window, click the appropriate option:

Internet Explorer

appears.

• If you do not have an ISP and want to select one, click

list of Internet service providers (ISPs)

• If you have already obtained setup information from your ISP but you

did not receive a setup disc, click

Set up my connection manually

68 Setting Up Your Computer

Choose from a

• If you have a disc, click

Click

If you selected

Set up my connection manually

Use the CD I got from an ISP

, continue to step 6.

Otherwise, follow the instructions on the screen to complete the setup.

NOTE: If you do not know which type of connection to select, contact your ISP.

Click the appropriate option under

Internet?

Use the setup information provided by your ISP to complete the setup.

Windows Vista™

NOTE: Have your ISP information ready. If you do not have an ISP, the Connect to

the Internet wizard can help you get one.

Save and close any open files, and exit any open programs.

Click the Windows Vista Start button , and click

Under

The

Click either

, and then click

Network and Internet,

Connect to the Internet

Broadband (PPPoE)

How do you want to connect to the

Control Panel

click

Connect to the Internet

window appears.

Dial-up

, depending on how you want

to connect:

•Choose

Broadband

if you will use a DSL, satellite modem, cable TV

modem, or Bluetooth wireless technology connection.

•Chose

Dial-up

if you will use a dial-up modem or ISDN.

NOTE: If you do not know which type of connection to select, click Help me choose

or contact your ISP.

Follow the instructions on the screen and use the setup information provided by your ISP to complete the setup.

Transferring Information to a New Computer

You can use your operating system "wizards" to help you transfer files and other data from one computer to another—for example, from an old computer to a new computer. For instructions, see the following section that corresponds to the operating system that your computer is running.

Setting Up Your Computer 69

Microsoft® Windows® XP

The Microsoft Windows XP operating system provides the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard to move data from a source computer to a new computer. You can transfer data, such as:

• E-mail messages

• Toolbar settings

•Window sizes

• Internet bookmarks

You can transfer the data to the new computer over a network or serial connection, or you can store it on removable media, such as a writable CD, for transfer to the new computer.

NOTE: You can transfer information from an old computer to a new computer by

directly connecting a serial cable to the input/output (I/O) ports of the two computers. To transfer data over a serial connection, you must access the Network Connections utility from the Control Panel and perform additional configuration steps, such as setting up an advanced connection and designating the host computer and the guest computer.

For instructions on setting up a direct cable connection between two computers, see Microsoft Knowledge Base Article #305621, titled How to Set Up a Direct Cable Connection Between Two Computers in Windows XP. This information may not be available in certain countries.

For transferring information to a new computer, you must run the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard. You can use the optional Operating System disc for this process or you can create a wizard disk with the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard.

Running the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard With the Operating System Disc

NOTE: This procedure requires the Operating System disc. This disc is optional and

may not be included with certain computers.

To prepare a new computer for the file transfer:

Open the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard: click

Accessories→ System Tools→

When the click

Files and Settings Transfer Wizard

Start→

All Programs→

welcome screen appears,

70 Setting Up Your Computer

On the

from the Windows XP CD

When the source computer. Do

Which computer is this?

screen, click

Do you have a Windows XP CD?

→ Next

Now go to your old computer

not

click

at this time.

New Computer→

screen, click

I will use the wizard

screen appears, go to your old or

To copy data from the old computer:

On the old computer, insert the Windows XP

On the

additional tasks

Under

On the

Welcome to Microsoft Windows XP

What do you want to do?

Which computer is this?

Select a transfer method

, click

screen, click

screen, click the transfer method you

Operating System

screen, click

Perform

Transfer files and settings→ Next

Old Computer→

prefer.

On the transfer and click

After the information has been copied, the

Phase

Click

What do you want to transfer?

screen appears.

Finish

screen, select the items you want to

Completing the Collection

To transfer data to the new computer:

On the

On the chose for transferring your settings and files and click

Now go to your old computer

Where are the files and settings?

screen on the new computer, click

screen, select the method you

The wizard reads the collected files and settings and applies them to your new computer.

disc.

When all of the settings and files have been applied, the appears.

Click

Finished

and restart the new computer.

Setting Up Your Computer 71

Finished

screen

Running the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard Without the Operating System Disc

To run the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard without the Operating System disc, you must create a wizard disk that will allow you to create a backup image file to removable media.

To create a wizard disk, use your new computer with Windows XP and perform the following steps:

Open the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard: click

Accessories→ System Tools→

When the click

On the

Files and Settings Transfer Wizard

Which computer is this?

Do you have a Windows XP CD?

Wizard Disk in the following drive

Insert the removable media, such as a writable CD, and click OK.

When the disk creation completes and the

computer

Go to the old computer.

message appears,

Files and Settings Transfer Wizard

screen, click

→

Next.

do not

click

Start→

All Programs→

welcome screen appears,

New Computer→

I want to create a

Now go to your old

To copy data from the old computer:

On the old computer, insert the wizard disk.

Click

Start→

In the the appropriate removable media) and click

On the

Run

Open

field on the

Run

window, browse to the path for

Files and Settings Transfer Wizard

Which computer is this?

Select a transfer method

screen, click

screen, click the transfer method you

fastwiz

welcome screen, click

Old Computer→

(on

prefer.

On the transfer and click

After the information has been copied, the

Phase

What do you want to transfer?

screen appears.

screen, select the items you want to

Completing the Collection

Click

Finish

To transfer data to the new computer:

72 Setting Up Your Computer

On the

On the chose for transferring your settings and files and click instructions on the screen.

The wizard reads the collected files and settings and applies them to your new computer.

Now go to your old computer

Where are the files and settings?

screen on the new computer, click

screen, select the method you

. Follow the

When all of the settings and files have been applied, the appears.

Click

Finished

NOTE: For more information about this procedure, search support.dell.com for

document #154781 (What Are The Different Methods To Transfer Files From My Old

Computer To My New Dell™ Computer Using the Microsoft® Windows® XP Operating System?).

NOTE: Access to the Dell™ Knowledge Base document may not be available in

certain countries.

and restart the new computer.

Finished

screen

Microsoft Windows Vista™

Click the Windows Vista Start button , and then click

and settings

In the

Click

Follow the instructions provided on the screen by the Windows Easy Transfer wizard.

→ Start Windows Easy Transfer.

User Account Control

Start a new transfer

dialog box, click

Continue a transfer in progress

Continue

Tran sf er f il es

Power Protection Devices

Several devices are available to protect against power fluctuations and failures:

•Surge protectors

• Line conditioners

• Uninterruptible power supplies (UPS)

Setting Up Your Computer 73

Surge Protectors

Surge protectors and power strips equipped with surge protection help prevent damage to your computer from voltage spikes that can occur during electrical storms or after power interruptions. Some surge protector manufacturers include warranty coverage for certain types of damage. Carefully read the device warranty when choosing a surge protector. A device with a higher joule rating offers more protection. Compare joule ratings to determine the relative effectiveness of different devices.

NOTICE: Most surge protectors do not protect against power fluctuations or

power interruptions caused by nearby lightning strikes. When lightning occurs in your area, disconnect the telephone line from the telephone wall jack and disconnect your computer from the electrical outlet.

Many surge protectors have a telephone jack for modem protection. See the surge protector documentation for modem connection instructions.

NOTICE: Not all surge protectors offer network adapter protection. Disconnect the

network cable from the network wall jack during electrical storms.

Line Conditioners

NOTICE: Line conditioners do not protect against power interruptions.

Line conditioners are designed to maintain AC voltage at a fairly constant level.

Uninterruptible Power Supplies

NOTICE: Loss of power while data is being saved to the hard drive may result in

data loss or file damage.

NOTE: To ensure maximum battery operating time, connect only your computer to a

UPS. Connect other devices, such as a printer, to a separate power strip that provides surge protection.

A UPS protects against power fluctuations and interruptions. UPS devices contain a battery that provides temporary power to connected devices when AC power is interrupted. The battery charges while AC power is available. See the UPS manufacturer documentation for information on battery operating time and to ensure that the device is approved by Underwriters Laboratories (UL).

74 Setting Up Your Computer

Securing Your Computer

Chassis Intrusion Detection

CAUTION: Before you begin any of the procedures in this section, follow the

safety instructions in the

CAUTION: To guard against electrical shock, always unplug your computer from

the electrical outlet before opening the cover.

NOTICE: To prevent static damage to components inside your computer, discharge

static electricity from your body before you touch any of your computer’s electronic components. You can do so by touching an unpainted metal surface on the computer.

Removing the Chassis Intrusion Switch

Follow the procedures in "Before You Begin" on page 151.

Remove the computer cover (see "Removing the Computer Cover" on page 153).

Disconnect the chassis intrusion switch cable from the system board.

Note the routing of the chassis intrusion switch cable as you remove it from the chassis. Chassis hooks may hold the cable in place inside the chassis.

Product Information Guide

Slide the chassis intrusion switch out of its slot, and remove the switch and its attached cable from the computer.

Securing Your Computer 75

Replacing the Chassis Intrusion Switch

Gently slide the chassis intrusion switch into its slot and reconnect the cable to the system board.

Replace the computer cover (see "Replacing the Computer Cover" on page 161).

NOTICE: To connect a network cable, first plug the cable into the network port or

device and then plug it into the computer.

Connect your computer and devices to electrical outlets, and turn them on.

Resetting the Chassis Intrusion Detector

Turn on (or restart) your computer.

When the blue DELL™ logo appears, press <F2> immediately.

76 Securing Your Computer

If you wait too long and the operating system logo appears, continue to wait until you see the Microsoft your computer (see "Turning Off Your Computer" on page 151) and try again.

Enter the system setup program (see "System Setup" on page 89).

Press the down-arrow key to move to the

Press <Enter> to access the menu.

Use the down-arrow key to select

Use the left- and right-arrow keys to select

On-Silent

NOTE: The default setting is On-Silent.

Restart the computer and implement your changes.

, or

Disabled

Windows® desktop. Then shut down

Security

Intrusion Alert

option.

Reset

, and then choose On,

Security Cable Lock

Use one of the following methods to secure your computer:

• Use a padlock alone or a padlock and looped security cable with the padlock ring.

A padlock alone prevents the computer from being opened.

A security cable looped around a stationary object is used in conjunction with a padlock to prevent unauthorized movement of the computer.

• Attach a commercially available antitheft device to the security cable slot on the back of the computer.

NOTE: Before you purchase an antitheft device, make sure that it works with the

security cable slot on your computer.

Antitheft devices usually include a segment of metal-stranded cable with an attached locking device and key. The documentation that comes with the device contains instructions for installing it.

Securing Your Computer 77

222

1 security cable slot 2 padlock ring

Passwords

About Passwords

NOTE: Passwords are disabled when you receive your computer.

A primary (or system) password, an administrator password, and a hard drive password all prevent unauthorized access to your computer in different ways. The following table identifies types and features of passwords available on your computer.

78 Securing Your Computer

Type of Password Features

Primary (or system)

Administrator

Hard drive

NOTE: Some hard drives do not support hard drive passwords.

NOTICE: Passwords provide a high level of security for data in your computer or

hard drive. However, they are not foolproof. If you require more security, obtain and use additional forms of protection, such as smart cards, data encryption programs, or PC Cards with encryption features.

• Protects the computer from unauthorized access

• Gives system administrators or service technicians access to computers for repair or reconfiguration

• Allows you to restrict access to system setup in the same way a primary password restricts access to the computer

• Can be used instead of the primary password

• Helps protect the data on your hard drive or external hard drive (if one is being used) from unauthorized access

When using passwords, observe the following guidelines:

• Choose passwords that you can remember, but not ones that are easy to guess. For example, do not use the names of family members or pets for passwords.

• It is recommended that you do not write down passwords. If you do write it down, however, ensure that the password is stored in a secure place.

• Do not share passwords with other people.

• Ensure that people are not watching you when you type your password(s).

If you forget any of your passwords, contact Dell (see "Contacting Dell" on page 295). For your protection, Dell technical support staff will ask you for proof of your identity to ensure that only an authorized person can use the computer.

Using a Primary (or System) Password

NOTICE: If you leave your computer running and unattended without having a

system password assigned, or if you leave your computer unlocked so that someone can disable the password by changing a jumper setting, anyone can access the data stored on your hard drive.

Securing Your Computer 79

Option Settings

You cannot change or enter a new system password if either of the following two options is displayed:

•

Set

— A system password is assigned.

•

Disabled —

The system password is disabled by a jumper setting on the

system board.

You can only assign a system password when the following option is displayed:

•

Not Set

— No system password is assigned and the password jumper on

the system board is in the enabled position (the default setting).

Assigning a System Password

To escape from the field without assigning a system password, press <Esc> at any time before you complete step 5.

Enter the system setup program (see "System Setup" on page 89) and verify whether an

If the

Unlock Setup

Use the arrow keys to navigate to the

Press <Enter> to access the field.

Type in the administrator password and press <Enter>.

Use the arrow keys to navigate to the

Unlock Setup

field is present:

field is present under

Unlock Setup

System Password

Security

field.

field, and then

press <Enter>.

Type your new password into the

New Password

field.

You can use up to 15 characters. To erase a character when entering your password, press <Backspace> or the left-arrow key. The password is not case sensitive.

Certain key combinations are not valid. If you enter one of these combinations, the speaker emits a beep.

As you press each character key (or the spacebar for a blank space), a placeholder appears in the field.

Press <Enter>.

If the new system password is less than 15 characters, the whole field fills with placeholders.

80 Securing Your Computer

To confirm your password, type it a second time in the

Pas sword

Press <Enter> at the prompt.

The system password setting changes to

Exit the system setup program.

field and press <Enter>.

Set

Confirm New

Password protection takes effect when you restart the computer.

Typing Your System Password

When you start or restart your computer, the following prompt appears on the screen:

Type the system password and press <Enter>. Enter password:

If you have assigned an administrator password, the computer accepts your administrator password as an alternate system password.

If you type a wrong or incomplete system password, the following message appears on the screen:

** Incorrect password. **

If you again type an incorrect or incomplete system password, the same message appears on the screen. The third and subsequent times you type an incorrect or incomplete system password, the computer displays the following message:

** Incorrect password. ** Number of unsuccessful password attempts: 3 System halted! Must power down.

Even after your computer is turned off and on, the previous message is displayed each time you type an incorrect or incomplete system password.

NOTE: You can use Password Changes in conjunction with System Password and

Admin Password to further protect your computer from unauthorized changes.

Deleting or Changing an Existing System Password

To escape from the field without assigning a system password, press <Esc> at any time before you complete step 5.

Enter the system setup program (see "System Setup" on page 89) and verify whether an

Unlock Setup

field is present under

Securing Your Computer 81

Security

If the

Unlock Setup

Use the arrow keys to navigate to the

Press <Enter> to access the field.

Type in the administrator password and press <Enter>.

Use the arrow keys to navigate to the

field is present:

Unlock Setup

System Password

field.

field, and then

press <Enter>.

Type your password into the

If you are changing an existing password, follow the instructions in

Old Password

field.

"Assigning a System Password" on page 80, starting from step 4.

If you are deleting a password, press <Enter> in

New Password

field,

leaving the field blank.

Press <Enter> a second time, in the

Confirm New Password

field, leaving

the field blank.

Confirm that

Not Set

not

displayed, then repeat step 3 through step 8.

Exit the system setup program.

Not Set

is displayed for the

System Password

setting.

is displayed, the system password has been deleted. If

Not Set

Using an Administrator Password

Option Settings

You cannot change or enter a new administrator password if the following option is displayed:

•

Disabled —

the system board.

You can only assign an administrator password when one of the following options is displayed:

•

Set

— An administrator password is assigned.

•

Not Set

jumper on the system board is in the enabled position (the default setting).

The administrator password is disabled by a jumper setting on

— No administrator password is assigned and the password

82 Securing Your Computer

Assigning an Administrator Password

The administrator password can be the same as the system password.

To escape from the field without assigning a system password, press <Esc> at any time before you complete step 5.

NOTE: If the two passwords are different, the administrator password can be used

as an alternate system password. However, the system password cannot be used in place of the administrator password.

Enter the system setup program (see "System Setup" on page 89) and verify whether an

If the

Unlock Setup

Use the arrow keys to navigate to the

Press <Enter> to access the field.

Type in the administrator password and press <Enter>.

Use the arrow keys to navigate to the

Unlock Setup

field is present:

field is present under

Unlock Setup

Admin Password

Security

field.

field, and then press

<Enter>.

Type your new password into the

New Password

field.

You can use up to 15 characters. To erase a character when entering your password, press <Backspace> or the left-arrow key. The password is not case sensitive.

Certain key combinations are not valid. If you enter one of these combinations, the speaker emits a beep.

As you press each character key (or the spacebar for a blank space), a placeholder appears in the field.

Press <Enter>.

If the new administrator password is less than 15 characters, the whole field fills with placeholders.

To confirm your password, type it a second time in the

Pas sword

Press <Enter> at the prompt.

field and press <Enter>.

The administrator password setting changes to

Exit the system setup program.

Securing Your Computer 83

Set

Confirm New

A change to

Admin Password

becomes effective immediately (no need to

restart the computer).

Operating Your Computer With an Administrator Password Enabled

When you enter the system setup program (see "System Setup" on page 89), the

Unlock Setup

If you do not type the correct administrator password into the

option is displayed.

Unlock Setup

field, the computer lets you view, but not modify, system setup options.

NOTE: You can use Password Changes in conjunction with Admin Password to

protect the system password from unauthorized changes.

Deleting or Changing an Existing Administrator Password

To change an existing administrator password, you must know the administrator password. To escape from the field without assigning a system password, press <Esc> at any time before you complete step 5.

Enter the system setup program (see "System Setup" on page 89).

Use the arrow keys to navigate to the

Admin Password

field, and then press

<Enter>.

Type your password into the

If you are changing an existing password, follow the instructions in

Old Password

field.

"Assigning an Administrator Password" on page 83, starting from step 4.

If you are deleting a password, press <Enter> in

New Password

field,

leaving the field blank.

Press <Enter> a second time, in the

Confirm New Password

field, leaving

the field blank.

Confirm that

Not Set

is displayed for the

Admin Password

setting.

is displayed, the administrator password has been deleted. If

not

displayed, then repeat step 3 through step 8.

Exit system setup.

Disabling a Forgotten Password and Setting a New Password

To reset system and/or administrator passwords, see "Trusted Platform Module (TPM)" on page 85.

84 Securing Your Computer

Trusted Platform Module (TPM)

NOTE: The TPM feature supports encryption only if the operating system supports

TPM. For more information, see the TPM software documentation and the help files that came with the software.

TPM is a hardware-based security feature that can be used to create and manage computer-generated encryption keys. When combined with security software, the TPM enhances existing network and computer security by enabling features such as file protection capabilities and protected e-mail. The TPM feature is enabled through a system setup option.

NOTICE: To secure your TPM data and encryption keys, follow the backup

procedures documented in the Broadcom Secure Foundation Getting Started Guide. In the event of these backups being incomplete, lost, or damaged, Dell will be unable to assist in the recovery of encrypted data.

Enabling the TPM Feature

Enable the TPM:

Restart the computer and press <F2> during the Power On Self Test to enter the system setup program.

Select

Security→

Under

TPM Security

Press <Esc> to exit the setup program.

If prompted, click

Activate the TPM setup program:

Restart the computer and press <F2> during the Power On Self Test to enter the system setup program.

Select

Security→

Under

TPM Activation

TPM Security

, select

Save/Exit

and press <Enter>.

TPM Activation

, select

Activate

and press <Enter>.

NOTE: You only need to activate the program once.

Once the process is complete, the computer either restarts automatically or prompts you to restart your computer.

Securing Your Computer 85

Security Management Software

The security management software is designed to utilize four different features to help you secure your computer:

• Log-in management

• Pre-boot authentication (using a fingerprint reader, smart card, or password)

•Encryption

• Private information management

Activating the Security Management Software

NOTE: You must first enable the TPM in order for the security management

software to have full functionality.

Enable the TPM feature (see "Enabling the TPM Feature" on page 85).

Load the security management software.

Using the Security Management Software

For information about how to use the software and the different security features, see the Getting Started Guide for the software:

Click Start

Guide

→

All Programs→ Wave EMBASSY Trust Suite→ Getting Started

Computer Tracking Software

Computer tracking software may enable you to locate your computer if it is lost or stolen. The software is optional and may be purchased when you order your Dell™ computer, or you can contact your Dell sales representative for information about this security feature.

NOTE: Computer tracking software may not be available in certain countries.

NOTE: If you have computer tracking software and your computer is lost or stolen,

you must contact the company that provides the tracking service to report the missing computer.

86 Securing Your Computer

If Your Computer Is Lost or Stolen

• Call a law enforcement agency to report the lost or stolen computer. Include the Service Tag in your description of the computer. Ask that a case number be assigned and write down the number, along with the name, address, and phone number of the law enforcement agency. If possible, obtain the name of the investigating officer.

NOTE: If you know where the computer was lost or stolen, call a law enforcement

agency in that area. If you do not know, call a law enforcement agency where you live.

• If the computer belongs to a company, notify the security office of the company.

• Contact Dell customer service to report the missing computer. Provide the computer Service Tag, the case number, and the name, address, and phone number of the law enforcement agency to which you reported the missing computer. If possible, give the name of the investigating officer.

The Dell customer service representative will log your report under the computer Service Tag and record the computer as missing or stolen. If someone calls Dell for technical assistance and gives your Service Tag, the computer is identified automatically as missing or stolen. The representative will attempt to get the phone number and address of the caller. Dell will then contact the law enforcement agency to which you reported the missing computer.

Securing Your Computer 87

88 Securing Your Computer

System Setup

Overview

Use System Setup as follows:

• To change the system configuration information after you add, change, or remove any hardware in your computer

• To set or change a user-selectable option such as the user password

• To 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.

NOTICE: Unless you are an expert computer user, do not change the settings for

this program. Certain changes can make your computer work incorrectly.

Entering System Setup

Turn on (or restart) your computer.

When the blue DELL™ logo is displayed, you must watch for the F2 prompt to appear.

Once this F2 prompt appears, press <F2> immediately.

NOTE: The F2 prompt indicates that the keyboard has initialized. This prompt can

appear very quickly, so you must watch for it to display, and then press <F2>. If you press <F2> before you are prompted, this keystroke will be lost.

If you wait too long and the operating system logo appears, continue to wait until you see the Microsoft your computer and try again.

Windows® desktop. Then, shut down

System Setup Options

NOTE: Depending on your computer and installed devices, the items listed in this

section may not be present or may not appear exactly as listed.

System Setup 89

System

System Info Displays the Computer name, BIOS Version number, BIOS

Date, Service Tag, Express Service Code, and Asset Tag.

Processor Info

Memory Info Displays the amount of Installed Memory, Memory Speed,

PCI Info Displays the contents of each PCI, PCI Express, and PCI-X

Date/Time Controls the system’s internal calendar and clock.

Boot Sequence

(Diskette drive default)

Displays the following information for the processor installed in the system:

•Processor Type

•Processor Clock Speed

• Processor Bus Speed

•

Processor L2 Cache

Processor ID

•

• Family, Model, and Stepping

• Microcode Version

• whether the processor is

Capable

• if the processor supports

Memory Channel Mode, and a description of the Memory Te ch n ol og y. This option also displays a table that describes

the memory size, whether the memory module is ECC capable, single or dual rank, type, and organization.

slot.

Determines the order in which the system searches for boot devices during system startup.

number

Size

Hyperthreading

64-bit Technology

Multi-core

NOTE: If you insert a boot device and restart the computer, this

option appears in the system setup menu. To boot from a USB memory device, select the USB device and move it so it becomes the first device in the list.

Drives

90 System Setup

Diskette Drive

(Internal default)

SATA 0 through 4

(On default)

SATA Operation

(RAID Autode

tect/ AHCI

default)

SMART Reporting

(Off default)

Enables and disables the floppy drives and sets read permission for the internal floppy drive. Off disables all floppy drives. USB disables the internal diskette drive and enables a USB floppy drive, if the USB controller is enabled and a USB drive is connected. Internal enables the internal floppy drive. Read Only enables the internal drive controller and allows the internal floppy drive read-only permission.

NOTE: Operating systems with USB support will recognize USB

floppy drives regardless of this setting.

Enables (On) or disables (Off) a SATA drive.

Displays the Controller type (SATA), Port number the drive is using, Drive ID number, and Capacity.

NOTE: SATA 4 can be enabled or disabled when SATA

Operation is set to RAID Autodetect/AHCI. In other modes, this field might be non-functional. In this case, the text in the SATA 4 field reads as follows:

This SATA port is disabled because the system has been configured for ATA mode.

Determines the integrated SATA controller's operating mode. RAID Autodetect/ AHCI – RAID if the drives are signed, otherwise AHCI. RAID Autodetect/ ATA – RAID if the drives are signed, otherwise ATA. RAID On – SATA is configured for RAID on every boot.

Controls whether errors for integrated drives are reported during startup.

Onboard Devices

Integrated NIC

(On default)

Enables or disables the integrated NIC controller. Settings are On, Off, On w/RPL, or On w/ PXE. When the On w/ PXE or the On w/RPL setting is active, if a boot routine is not available from the network server, the computer attempts to boot from the next device in the boot sequence list.

System Setup 91

Integrated Audio

(On default)

USB Controller

(On default)

Front USB Ports

(On default)

LPT Port Mode

(PS/2 default)

LPT Port Address

Serial Port #1

(Auto default)

Serial Port #2

(Auto default)

PS/2 Mouse Port

(On default)

Enables (On) or disables (Off) the onboard audio controller. You can also select Auto to use the add-in Audio controller.

Enables or disables the internal USB controller. No Boot enables the controller but disables the ability to boot from a USB device.

NOTE: Operating systems with USB support will recognize USB

floppy drives regardless of the No Boot setting.

Enables or disables the front USB ports.

Determines the mode of operation of the internal parallel port.

Off

disables the port. AT configures the port for AT

compatibility.

EPP

configures the port for the EPP bidirectional protocol.

ECP

configures the port for the ECP bidirectional protocol.

PS/2

configures the port for PS/2 compatibility.

NOTE: If you set the LPT Port Mode to ECP, the LPT Port DMA

appears in the option menu.

Determines the address that the built-in parallel port uses.

Determines how the serial port operates.

Off disables the port. Auto, the default setting, automatically configures a connector to a particular designation (COM1 or COM3).

Determines how the serial port operates.

Off disables the port. Auto, the default setting, automatically configures a connector to a particular designation (COM2 or COM4).

Enables or disables the integrated legacy PS/2-compatible mouse controller.

Video

92 System Setup

Primary Video

(PEG

This setting specifies which video controller is primary, PCI or PEG. PEG is the appropriate setting for a PCI Express graphics card or cards.

default)

Performance

SpeedStep

(Off default)

Enables Intel the computer. This setting changes the processor power consumption and frequency.

SpeedStep® for all supported processors in

NOTE: This option may not be available on your computer.

VT for Direct I/O

(Off default)

Virtualization

(Off default)

Limit CPUID Value

(Off default)

HDD Acoustic Mode

Snoop Filter When enabled, the Snoop filter typically improves

ACL Prefetch When enabled, the Adjacent Cache Line Prefetcher

Specifies whether a virtual monitor (VMM) can use additional hardware capabilities provided by Intel Virtualization Technology for direct I/O.

Specifies whether a virtual machine monitor (VMM) can utilize the additional hardware capabilities provided by Intel Virtualization technology.

Limits the max value the processor standard CPUID function will support. Some operating systems won’t complete installation when the max CPUID function supported is greater than 3.

Optimizes the hard drive’s performance and acoustic levels.

• Bypass - do nothing (needed for older drives)

• Quiet - slower, but quieter

• Suggested - allows the drive manufacturer to select mode

• Performance - faster, but noisier

performance by reducing snoop traffic on the frontside bus in dual processor configurations.

fetches both cache lines that comprise a cache line pair when it determines required data is not currently in its cache. When disabled, the processor will only fetch the cache line required by the processsor.

System Setup 93

HW Prefetch Fetches an extra line of data into L2 from external

memory.

FSB Optimization

Security

Unlock Setup

(Locked default)

Admin Password

(Not Set default)

System Password

(Not Set default)

SATA 0-n Password

(Not Set default)

Password Changes

(Unlocked default)

Chassis Intrusion

(On-Silent default)

Intrusion Alert

Allows users to turn on/off optimization for highbandwidth, frontside bus applications.

When an administrator password is being used, allows the user access to modify system setup settings. Enter the administrator password at the prompt to unlock system setup. If the correct password is not entered here, the user can view but not modify system setup fields.

Displays the current status of your system setup program’s password security feature and allows you to verify and assign a new admin password.

Displays the current status of the system's password security feature and allows a new system password to be assigned and verified.

Displays the current status of the hard drive’s password security feature and allows a new hard drive password to be assigned and verified.

Determines the interaction between the System password and the Admin password. Locked prevents a user without a valid Admin password from being able to modify the System password. Unlocked allows a user with a valid System password to modify the system password.

When enabled, this option alerts the user, during the next computer start-up, that the computer cover has been opened. The settings are On,

Acknowledges and clears a chassis intrusion alert.

On-Silent

(default setting), and

Off

94 System Setup

TPM Security

(Off

Enables or disables the Trusted Platform Module security device.

default)

Execute Disable

Enables or disables Execute Disable memory protection technology.

(On default)

Computrace

Activates or disables the BIOS module interface of the optional Computrace service from Absolute Software.

Power Management

AC Recovery

(Off default)

Determines how the system responds when AC power is reapplied after a power loss. Off commands the system to stay off when the power is re-applied. You must press the frontpanel power button before the system turns on. On commands the system to turn on when the power is reapplied. Last commands the system to return to the last power state the system was in just before it was turned off.

Auto Power On

(Off default)

Sets the computer to automatically turn on. Off disables this feature. Everyday turns the computer on every day at the time set in Auto Power Time. We ek days turns the computer on every day from Monday through Friday at the time set in Auto Power Time.

NOTE: This feature does not work if you turn off your computer

using a power strip or surge protector.

Auto Power Time

Low Power Mode

(Off default)

Sets time to automatically turn on the computer.

Time is kept in the standard 12-hour format (hours:minutes). Change the startup time by pressing the right- or left-arrow key to increase or decrease the numbers, or type numbers in both the date and time fields.

When no longer power up the computer from onboard network controller.

Low Power Mode

is selected, remote wakeup events will

Hibernate

Off

via the

System Setup 95

Remote Wakeup

(Off default)

This option allows the system to power up when a Network Interface Controller (NIC) or Remote Wakeup-capable modem receives a wake up signal.

is the default setting. computer to attempt to boot from a network prior to using the boot sequence.

On w/ Boot to NIC

will allow the

NOTE: Normally, the system can be powered up remotely from

suspend mode, hibernate mode, or when powered off. When Low Power Mode (in the Power Management menu) is enabled, the system can only be powered up remotely from Suspend.

Suspend Mode Sets the computer’s suspend mode. The options are S1, a

suspend state in which the computer is running in a lowpower mode, and S3, a suspend state in which the power is reduced or turned off for many components, however, system memory remains active.

Maintenance

Service Tag Displays the service tag for your computer.

ASF Mode Controls ASF management.

• On = Full ASF 2.0 functionality (RMCP)

• Alert Only - send ASF messages on event or error

• Off - all ASF functionality disabled

SERR Message

(On default)

Load Defaults

Event Log Allows you to view the Event Log. Entries are marked R for

Some graphics cards require that the SERR message be disabled.

Restores system setup options to their factory defaults.

Read and U for Unread. Mark All Entries Read puts an R to the left of all the entries. Clear Log clears the Event Log.

POST Behavior

96 System Setup

Fast Boot

(On default)

Numlock Key

(On default)

OS Install

(Off default)

When enabled, this feature reduces computer startup time by bypassing some compatibility steps. Off does not skip any steps during computer startup. On starts the system more quickly.

Determines the functionality of the numeric keys on the right side of your keyboard. Off commands the right keypad keys to function as arrows. On commands the right keypad keys to function as numbers.

Determines the maximum amount of system memory available to the operating system. When set to Off, all system memory is available to the operating system. When set to On, the maximum amount of memory available to the operating system is 256 MB.

NOTE: Some operating systems will not complete installation

with more than 2 GB of system memory.

POST Hotkeys Determines whether the sign-on screen displays a message

stating the keystroke sequence that is required to enter the

Setup program or the Quickboot feature. Setup & Boot Menu displays both messages

(F2=Setup and F12=Boot Menu). Setup displays the setup message only (F2=Setup). Boot Menu displays the Quickboot message only (F12=Boot Menu). None displays no message.

Keyboard Errors

When set to Report (enabled) and an error is detected during POST, the BIOS will display the error message and prompt you to press <F1> to continue or press <F2> to enter the system setup program.

When set to Do Not Report (disabled) and an error is detected during POST, the BIOS will display the error message and continue booting the system.

Boot Menu

This feature allows you to change the boot sequence for devices.

System Setup 97

Option Settings

•

Onboard or USB Floppy Drive —

The computer attempts to boot from the floppy drive. If the floppy disk in the drive is not bootable, if no floppy disk is in the drive, or if there is no floppy drive installed in the computer, the computer generates an error message.

•

Hard Drive

(listed by serial number when in AHCI mode) — The

computer attempts to boot from the selected hard drive.

NOTE: In AHCI mode, all bootable hard drives are listed, not just the boot drive.

•

Onboard or USB CD-ROM Drive

— The computer attempts to boot from the CD-ROM drive. If no CD is in the drive, or if the CD has no operating system, the computer generates an error message.

•

USB Device —

computer. When

Insert the memory device into a USB port and restart the

F12 = Boot Menu

appears in the upper-right corner of the screen, press <F12>. The BIOS detects the device and adds the USB option to the boot menu.

NOTE: To boot to a USB device, the device must be bootable. To make sure that

your device is bootable, check the device documentation.

Selecting the Boot Device for the Current Boot

You can use this feature, for example, to restart your computer to a USB device such as a floppy drive, memory key, or CD-RW drive.

NOTE: If you are booting to a USB floppy drive, you must first set the Diskette Drive

to USB in system setup (see "System Setup Options" on page 89).

If you are booting to a USB device, connect the USB device to a USB connector (see "About Your Computer" on page 19).

Turn on (or restart) your computer.

When

F2 = Setup, F12 = Boot Menu

of the screen, press <F12>.

If you wait too long and the operating system logo appears, continue to wait until you see the Microsoft Windows desktop. Then shut down your computer and try again.

appears in the upper-right corner

A menu appears.

98 System Setup

Use the up- and down-arrow keys to navigate to

Boot Device Menu

press <Enter> to select the option.

The

Boot Device Menu

Use the up- and down-arrow keys to navigate to the device (that is to be

appears, listing all available boot devices.

used for the current boot only).

Press <Enter> to select the device.

For example, if you are booting to a USB memory key, highlight

USB Device

and press <Enter>.

NOTE: To boot to a USB device, the device must be bootable. To make sure your

device is bootable, check the device documentation.

Changing Boot Sequence for Future Boots

Enter the system setup program (see "System Setup" on page 89).

Use the arrow keys to highlight the

Boot Sequence

menu option and press

<Enter> to access the menu.

NOTE: Write down your current boot sequence in case you want to restore it.

Press the up- and down-arrow keys to move through the list of devices.

Press the spacebar to enable or disable a device.

Press and <D> to move a selected device up or down the list.

Booting to a USB Device

, then

NOTE: To boot to a USB device, the device must be bootable. To ensure that your

device is bootable, check the device documentation.

Memory Key

Insert the memory key into a USB port and restart the computer.

When

F12 = Boot Menu

appears in the upper-right corner of the screen,

press <F12>.

The BIOS detects the device and adds the USB device option to the boot menu.

See "Selecting the Boot Device for the Current Boot" on page 98.

System Setup 99

Floppy Drive

In system setup, set the

Save your changes and exit system setup.

Connect the USB floppy drive, insert bootable media, and re-boot the

Diskette Drive

option to

USB

system.

See "Selecting the Boot Device for the Current Boot" on page 98.

100 System Setup

Dell NX046 User Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

Finding Information

About Your Computer

Front View of the Computer (Tower Orientation)

Back View of the Computer (Tower Orientation)

Back Panel Connectors (Tower Orientation)

Front View (Desktop Orientation)

Back View (Desktop Orientation)

Inside View

System Board Components

Cable Colors

Changing Between Tower and Desktop Modes

Specifications

Advanced Features

LegacySelect Technology Control

Manageability

Alert Standard Format

Dell OpenManage™ IT Assistant

Dell OpenManage Client Instrumentation

Power Management

About RAID Configurations

RAID Level 0

RAID Level 1

RAID Level 5

Configuring Your Computer for RAID

Configuring Your Computer for RAID Using the Intel Matrix Storage Manager

Configuring Your Computer for RAID Using the Intel® RAID Option ROM Utility

Setting Up Your Computer

Installing Your Computer in an Enclosure

Connecting to the Internet

Setting Up Your Internet Connection

Transferring Information to a New Computer

Microsoft® Windows® XP

Microsoft Windows Vista™

Power Protection Devices

Surge Protectors

Line Conditioners

Uninterruptible Power Supplies

Securing Your Computer

Chassis Intrusion Detection

Removing the Chassis Intrusion Switch

Replacing the Chassis Intrusion Switch

Resetting the Chassis Intrusion Detector

Security Cable Lock

Passwords

About Passwords

Using a Primary (or System) Password

Using an Administrator Password

Disabling a Forgotten Password and Setting a New Password

Trusted Platform Module (TPM)

Enabling the TPM Feature

Security Management Software

Activating the Security Management Software

Using the Security Management Software

Computer Tracking Software

If Your Computer Is Lost or Stolen

System Setup

Overview

Entering System Setup

System Setup Options

Boot Menu

Option Settings

Selecting the Boot Device for the Current Boot

Changing Boot Sequence for Future Boots

Booting to a USB Device