HP Workstation xw4200 System Management
Chapter 3 System Management
This chapter discusses the various tools and utilities that allow for the system management of the HP
Workstation xw4200. This chapter includes the following sections:
“Computer Setup (F10)” on page 34
“Desktop Management” on page 44
33
Chapter 3
Computer Setup (F10)
The Computer Setup (F10) utilities enable you to perform the following tasks:
Change factory default settings and to set or change the system configuration, which might be
necessary when you add or remove hardware.
Determine if all of the devices installed on the workstation are recognized by the system and
functioning properly.
Determine information about the operating environment of the workstation.
Solve system configuration errors detected but not automatically fixed during the Power-On Self-Test
(POST).
Establish and manage passwords and other security features.
Establish and manage energy-saving timeouts (not supported for Linux platforms).
Modify or restore factory default settings.
Set the system date and time.
Set, view, change, or verify the system configuration including settings for processor, graphics,
memory, audio, storage, communications, and input devices.
Modify the boot order of bootable devices, such as hard drives, diskette drives, optical drives, or LS-
120 drives.
Configure the boot priority of SATA, IDE (ATA) and SCSI hard drive controllers.
Enable Quick Boot which is faster than Full Boot, but does not run all of the diagnostic tests run
during a Full Boot. You can set your system to:
always Quick Boot (default)
periodically Full Boot (from every 1–30 days)
always Full Boot
Enable or disable Network Server Mode, which allows the workstation to boot the operating system
when the power-on password is enabled with or without a keyboard or mouse attached. When
attached to the system, the keyboard and mouse remain locked until the power-on password is
entered.
Select POST Messages Enabled or Disabled to change the display status of POST messages. POST
Messages Disabled suppresses most POST messages, such as memory count, product name, and
other non-error text messages. If a POST error occurs, the error is displayed regardless of the mode
selected. To manually switch to POST Messages Enabled during POST, press any key (except F1
through F12).
Establish an Ownership Tag, the text of which is displayed each time the system is turned on or
restarted.
Enter the Asset Tag or property identification number assigned by your company to this workstation.
Enable power-on password prompting during system restarts (warm boots) as well as during power-
on.
Secure the integrated I/O functionality, including the serial, USB, or parallel ports, audio, or
embedded NIC, so that they cannot be used until they are unsecured.
Enable or disable Master Boot Record (MBR) Security.
34 SYSTEM MANAGEMENT
Enable or disable removable media boot ability.
Enable or disable removable media write ability (when supported by hardware).
Replicate your system setup by saving system configuration information on diskette and restoring it
on one or more workstations.
Execute self-tests on a specified SATA or IDE (ATA) hard drive (when supported by the drive).
NOTE All features identified in this chapter might not be available on all HP products.
BIOS ROM
The Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) of the workstation is a collection of machine language programs
stored as firmware in read-only memory (ROM). The BIOS ROM includes such functions as POST, PCI
device initialization, Plug 'n Play support, power management activities, and the Setup utility. The
firmware contained in the BIOS ROM supports the following systems and specifications:
Microsoft WHQL
Alert-On-LAN (AOL) and Wake-On-LAN (WOL)
ACPI 1.0 and OnNow
SMBIOS 2.3.5
PC98/99/00 and NetPC
PXE boot ROM for the integrated LAN controller
BIOS Boot Specification 1.01
Enhanced Disk Drive Specification 3.0
“El Torito” Bootable CD-ROM Format Specification 1.0
ATAPI Removable Media Device BIOS Specification 1.0
MPS Specification 1.4 (for booting Linux SMP)
The BIOS ROM is a 512-KB Firmware Hub (or Firmware Hub-compatible) part. The runtime portion of
the BIOS resides in a 128-K block from E0000h to FFFFFh.
COMPUTER SETUP (F10) 35
Chapter 3
Using Computer Setup (F10)
Computer Setup can be accessed only by turning on the workstation or restarting the system. To access
the Computer Setup Utilities menu:
1 Turn on or restart the workstation. If you are in Windows, click Start>Shut Down>Restart the
Computer.
2 Wait for the
F10=Setup prompt to appear on the lower right corner of the screen. Once you see the
prompt, press the F10 key to enter the F10 setup utility.
NOTE If you do not press the F10 key at the appropriate time, you must try again. Turn the workstation
off, then on again, and press the F10 key again to access the utility.
3 Select your language from the list and press Enter. A choice of four headings appears in the
Computer Setup Utilities menu: File, Storage, Security, and Advanced.
4 Use the arrow (left and right) keys to select the appropriate heading. Use the arrow (up and down)
keys to select the option you want, then press Enter.
5 To apply and save changes, select File>Save Changes and Exit.
If you have made changes that you do not want applied, select Ignore Changes and Exit.
To reset to factory settings, select Set Defaults and Exit. This option will restore the original
factory system defaults.
CAUTION Do NOT turn the workstation power OFF while the ROM is saving your Computer Setup F10
changes because the CMOS could become corrupted. It is safe to turn off all power to the workstation
after you exit the F10 Setup screen.
NOTE This menu can change with new firmware releases, so it might be consistent with what is
presented in the following table.
36 SYSTEM MANAGEMENT
Table 3-1 Computer Setup Menu
Heading Option Description
File System Information Lists product name, processor type/speed/stepping, cache size (L1/L2), system ROM family
About Displays copyright information.
Set Time and Date Allows you to set system time and date.
Replicated Setup Save to Removable Media
Default Setup Save Current Settings as Default
Apply Defaults and Exit Restores factory default settings which includes clearing any established passwords.
Ignore Changes and Exit Exits Computer Setup without applying or saving any changes.
Save Changes and Exit Saves changes to system configuration and exits Computer Setup.
and version, installed memory size, chassis serial number, integrated MAC for enabled or
embedded NIC (if applicable), and asset tracking number.
Saves system configuration, including CMOS, to a formatted blank 1.44-MB diskette in file
CPQsetup.txt.
Restore to Removable Media
Restores system configuration from a diskette.
Saves the current settings as default settings for the next operation.
Restore Factory Settings as Default
Restores the factory settings as the default settings for the next operation.
COMPUTER SETUP (F10) 37
Chapter 3
Table 3-1 Computer Setup Menu (Continued)
Heading Option Description
Storage Device Configuration Lists all installed non-SCSI storage devices.
SCSI storage drives will not be listed in Computer Setup (F10).
When a device is selected, detailed information and options are displayed. The following
options might be presented:
Diskette Type
Identifies the highest capacity media type accepted by the diskette drive. Options are 3.5" 1.44
MB, 5.25" 1.2 MB, and Not Installed.
Drive Emulation
Allows you to select a drive emulation type for a storage device. (For example, a Zip drive can
be made bootable by selecting disk emulation.)
Drive Type Emulation Options
ATAPI Zip drive None (treated as Other).
IDE Hard disk None (treated as Other).
Legacy diskette No emulation options available.
IDE CD-ROM No emulation options available.
(for legacy diskette drives only)
(IDE devices only)
Diskette (treated as diskette drive).
Disk (treated as hard drive).
Disk (treated as hard drive).
ATAPI LS-120 No emulation options available.
Transfer Mode
Specifies the active data transfer mode. Options (subject to device capabilities) are PIO 0, Max
PIO, Enhanced DMA, Ultra DMA 0, and Max UDMA.
Translation Mode
Lets you select the translation mode to be used for the device. This enables the BIOS to
access disks partitioned and formatted on other systems and may be necessary for users of
older versions of UNIX (for example, SCO UNIX version 3.2). Options are Bit-Shift, LBA
Assisted, User, and None.
CAUTION: A new Automatic option has been added to allow for BIOS to automatically
determine the translation mode used to configure a previously formatted IDE, SATA, or USB
mass storage device. This prevents you from having to know how the mass storage device was
previously formatted.
Ordinarily, the translation mode selected automatically by the BIOS should not be changed. If
the selected translation mode is not compatible with the translation mode that was active when
the disk was partitioned and formatted, the data on the disk will be inaccessible.
Translation Parameters
Allows you to specify the parameters (logical cylinders, heads, and sectors per track) used by
the BIOS to translate disk I/O requests (from the operating system or an application) into terms
the hard drive can accept. Logical cylinders cannot exceed 1024. The number of heads cannot
exceed 256. The number of sectors per track cannot exceed 63. These fields are only visible
and changeable when the drive translation mode is set to User.
Multisector Transfers
Specifies how many sectors are transferred per multi-sector PIO operation. Options (subject to
device capabilities) are Disabled, 8, and 16.
(IDE devices only)
(IDE disks only)
(IDE disks only)
(IDE disks only)
38 SYSTEM MANAGEMENT
Table 3-1 Computer Setup Menu (Continued)
Heading Option Description
Storage
(continued)
Options Removable Media Boot
Enables/disables ability to boot the system from removable media.
Legacy Diskette Write
Enables/disables ability to write data to removable media.
NOTE: This feature applies only to legacy diskette, (IDE/ATA) LS-120 Superdisk, (IDE/ATA)
LS-240 Superdisk, and (IDE/ATA) PD-optical drives.
NOTE: After saving changes to Removable Media Boot, the workstation will restart. Manually,
turn the workstation off, then on.
BIOS DMA Data Transfers
Allows you to enable or disable the BIOS use of DMA for IDE data transfers.
IDE Controller
Allows you to enable or disable the primary IDE/ATA controller.
SATA Emulation
Enables the SATA to emulate the RAID controller, combined controllers, or a separate
controller.
SATA Primary Controller
Allows you to disable the SATA primary controller ports.
SATA Secondary Controller
Allows you to disable the SATA secondary controller ports.
Diskette MBR Validation
Allows you to enable or disable strict validation of the diskette MBR.
NOTE: If you use a bootable diskette image that you know to be valid, and it does not boot with
Diskette MBR Validation enabled, you might need to disable this option to use the diskette.
IDE DPS Self-Test Allows you to execute self-tests on IDE hard drives capable of performing the Drive Protection
Controller Order* Allows you to specify the order of the attached hard drive controllers. The first hard drive
Boot Order Allows you to configure the boot, diskette drive, and hard drive orders by physically reordering
*Available on select models.
System (DPS) self-tests.
NOTE: This selection will only appear when at least one drive capable of performing the IDE
DPS self-tests is attached to the system.
controller in the order will have priority in the boot sequence and will be recognized as drive C
(if any devices are attached).
NOTE: The selection will not appear if all hard drives are attached to the embedded IDE
controllers.
the menu entries. Each device on the list can be individually excluded from or included for
consideration as a bootable operating system source.
NOTE: MS-DOS drive lettering assignments might not apply after a non-MS-DOS operating
system has started.
Shortcut to Temporarily Override Boot Order
To boot one time from a device other than the default device specified in Boot Order, restart
the workstation and press F9 when the F10=Setup message appears on the screen. After
POST is completed, a list of bootable devices is displayed. Use the arrow keys to select the
preferred bootable device and press Enter. The workstation then boots from the selected nondefault device for this one time.
COMPUTER SETUP (F10) 39
Chapter 3
Table 3-1 Computer Setup Menu (Continued)
Heading Option Description
Security Setup Password Allows you to set and enables setup (administrator) password.
Power-On Password Allows you to set and enable power-on password.
Device Security* Enables/disables serial ports A and B, parallel port, front USB ports, all USB ports, system
Network Service Boot Enables/disables the workstation’s ability to boot from an operating system installed on a
Password Options (This
selection will appear
only if a power-on
password is set.)
Hood sensor* Allows you to enable/disable solenoid hood (Smart Cover) lock.
DriveLock* Allows you to assign or modify a master or user password for certain hard drives. When
NOTE: If the setup password is set, it is required to change Computer Setup options, flash the
ROM, and make changes to certain Plug ‘n Play settings under Windows.
audio, network controllers (some models), and SCSI controllers (some models).
network server. (Feature available on NIC models only; the network controller must reside on
the PCI bus or be embedded on the system board.)
Allows you to specify whether the password is required for warm boot (CTRL+ALT+DEL).
NOTE:
Notify User
removed.
if the sensor detects that the cover has been removed.
This feature is supported on select models only.
enabled, the user is prompted to provide one of the DriveLock passwords during POST. If
neither is successfully entered, the hard drive will remain inaccessible until one of the
passwords is successfully provided during a subsequent cold-boot sequence.
This selection will only appear when at least one drive that supports the DriveLock feature is
attached to the system.
Setup Password
alerts the user that the sensor has detected that the cover has been
requires that the setup password be entered to boot the workstation
Master Boot Record
Security*
Save Master Boot
Record*
System IDs Allows you to set:
*Available on select models
Allows you to enable or disable MBR Security.
When enabled, the BIOS rejects all requests to write to the MBR on the current bootable disk.
Each time the workstation is powered on or rebooted, the BIOS compares the MBR of the
bootable disk to the previously saved MBR. If changes are detected, you are given the option
of saving the MBR on the current bootable disk, restoring the previously saved MBR, or
disabling MBR security. You must know the setup password if one is set.
NOTE: Disable MBR Security before intentionally changing the formatting or partitioning of the
current bootable disk. Several disk utilities (such as FDISK and FORMAT) attempt to update
the MBR.
If MBR Security is enabled and disk accesses are being serviced by the BIOS, write requests
to the MBR are rejected, causing the utilities to report errors.
If MBR Security is enabled and disk accesses are being serviced by the operating system, any
MBR change will be detected by the BIOS during the next reboot, and an MBR Security
warning message will be displayed.
Saves a backup copy of the Master Boot Record of the current bootable disk.
NOTE: Only appears if MBR Security is enabled.
- Asset tag (18-byte identifier) and ownership Tag (80-byte identifier displayed during POST).
- Chassis serial number or Universal Unique Identifier (UUID) number. The UUID can only be
updated if the current chassis serial number is invalid. (These ID numbers are normally set in
the factory and are used to uniquely identify the system.)
- Keyboard locale setting (for example, English or German) for System ID entry.
40 SYSTEM MANAGEMENT
Table 3-1 Computer Setup Menu (Continued)
Heading Option Description
Security
(continued)
Power OS Power Management Allows you to enable PCI Express ASPM support.
Restore Master Boot
Record*
Smarter Allows you to use Smarter authentication for the Pre-Boot process.
Embedded Security
Device
Device Security SMBUS Controller was added to embedded devices capable of being hidden or available
Thermal Allows you set the fan idle mode.
Restores the backup Master Boot Record to the current bootable disk.
NOTE: Only appears if all of the following conditions are true:
- MBR Security is enabled.
- A backup copy of the MBR has been previously saved.
- The current bootable disk is the same disk from which the backup copy of the MBR was
saved.
NOTE: Restoring a previously saved MBR after a disk utility or operating system has modified
the MBR might cause the data on the disk to become inaccessible. Only restore a previously
saved MBR if you are confident that the current bootable disk’s MBR has been corrupted or
infected with a virus.
Embedded Security Device
Allows you to activate the Trusted Platform Module.
Setup password must be established before this menu item can be selected.
Reset to Factory Settings
Allows you to clear all encryption keys stored into the Trusted Platform Module.
Setup password must be established before this menu item can be selected.
during a refresh of the BIOS.
*Available on select models.
COMPUTER SETUP (F10) 41
Chapter 3
Table 3-1 Computer Setup Menu (Continued)
Heading Option Description
Advanced** Power-On Options Allows you to set:
- POST mode (QuickBoot, FullBoot, or FullBoot every 1–30 days).
- POST messages (enable/disable).
- Safe POST* (enable/disable). Enabling this feature allows the ROM to monitor add-in cards
during boot. If an add-in card does not work or initialize correctly, then on the next boot all cards
will be skipped during POST.
- F9 prompt (enable/disable). Enabling this feature will display the text F9=Boot Menu during
POST. Disabling this feature prevents the text from being displayed but pressing F9 will still
access the Shortcut Boot (Order) Menu screen. Refer to Storage>Boot Order for more
information.
- F10 prompt (enable/disable). Enabling this feature will display the text F10=Setup during
POST. Disabling this feature prevents the text from being displayed but pressing F10 will
still access the Setup screen.
- F12 prompt (enable/disable). Enabling this feature will display the text F12=Network
Service Boot during POST. Disabling this feature prevents the text from being displayed
but pressing F12 will still force the system to attempt booting from the network.
- Option ROM* prompt (enable/disable). Enabling this feature will cause the system to display a
message before loading options ROMs.
- Remote wakeup boot source (remote server/local hard drive).
- Fan Idle Mode: Allows you set the fan idle mode.
- After Power Loss (off/on/previous state): After power loss, if you connect your workstation to
an electric power strip and would like to turn on power to the workstation using the switch on
the power strip, set this option to ON. The previous state will set the power loss setting to
whatever the unit status was before the power loss.
- If you turn off power to your workstation using the switch on a power strip, you will not be able
to use the suspend/sleep feature or the Remote Management features.
- POST Delay (in seconds) (enable/disable). Enabling this feature will add a user-specified
delay to the POST process. This delay is sometimes needed for hard disks on some PCI cards
that spin up very slowly; so slowly that they are not ready to boot by the time POST is finished.
The POST delay also gives you more time to select F10 to enter Computer Setup (F10).
- I/O APIC Mode (enable/disable). Enabling this feature will allow Microsoft Windows Operating
system to run optimally. This feature must be disabled for certain non-Microsoft Operating
Systems to work properly.
- ACPI/USB Buffers @ Top of Memory (enable/disable). Enabling this feature places USB
memory buffers at the top of memory. The advantage of remapping is that it allows space in the
DOS Compatibility Hole range, below 1-MB, to be made available for additional PCI plug-in
cards that need option ROM space.
BIOS Power-On Allows you to select week days and a specific time to automatically power the unit on from the
Onboard Devices Allows you to set resources for or disable onboard system devices (serial port, parallel port, or
PCI Devices Lists currently installed PCI devices and their IRQ settings.
Bus Options* Allows you to enable or disable:
*Available on select models.
**These options should be used by advanced users only.
power-off state.
diskette controller).
Allows you to reconfigure IRQ settings for these devices or to disable them entirely. These
settings have no effect under an APIC-based operating system.
- PCI bus mastering, which allows a PCI device to take control of the PCI bus.
- PCI VGA palette snooping, which sets the VGA palette snooping bit in PCI configuration
space; only needed when more than one graphics controller is installed.
- PCI SERR# generation.
- ECC support allows hardware-based error correction for ECC-capable memories.
42 SYSTEM MANAGEMENT
Table 3-1 Computer Setup Menu (Continued)
Heading Option Description
Advanced**
(continued)
Device options Allows you to set:
- Printer mode (bi-directional, EPP+ECP, output only).
- Num Lock state at power-on (off/on).
- Power management event (PME) wakeup events (enable/disable).
- Processor cache (enable/disable).
- Hyper-Threading* (enable/disable).
- ACPI S3* support (enable/disable). S3 is an advanced configuration and power interface
(ACPI) sleep state that some add-in hardware options might not support.
- ACPI S3 selections are supported on select models only. If the ACPI S3 support option is not
presented, the other ACPI S3 options (ACPI S3 Video REPOST, ACPI S3 Hard disk Reset, and
ACPI S3 PS2 Mouse Wakeup) will not be available.
- ACPI S3 Video REPOST* (enable/disable). This feature reruns the video option ROM on a
boot from the S3 state.
- ACPI S3 Hard Disk Reset* (enable/disable). Resets the hard disk on a boot from the S3 sleep
state.
- ACPI S3 PS2 Mouse Wakeup* (enable/disable). Allows the mouse to wake the system from
the S3 sleep state.
- Aperture size*. Allows you to specify the amount of system memory reserved for use by your
graphics controller.
- Monitor Tracking (enable/disable). Allows ROM to save monitor asset information.
- Unique Sleep State Blink Patterns*. Allows you to choose a LED blink pattern that uniquely
identifies each sleep state.
- Frame Buffer Size*. Allows you to specify amount of system memory dedicated to the
embedded graphics frame buffer. The AUTO setting attempts to optimize the frame buffer size
depending on the amount of total system memory.
- PCI Slot x Option ROM Download. Allows you to enable/disable the downloading of the PCI
slot option ROM. “X.” can be a value of 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5.
- NIC PXE (enable/disable). The BIOS contains an embedded NIC option ROM to allow the unit
to boot through the network to a PXE server. This is typically used to download a corporate
image to a hard drive. The NIC option ROM takes up memory space below 1-MB commonly
referred to as DOS Compatibility Hole (DCH) space. This space is limited. The F10 option
allows you to disable the downloading of the embedded NIC option ROM, giving more DCH
space for other PCI cards which might need option ROM space. The default setting for the NIC
option ROM is “enabled.”
PCI VGA Configuration Displayed only if there are multiple PCI video adapters in the system. Allows you to specify
which VGA controller will be the “boot” or primary VGA controller.
*Available on select models.
**These options should be used by advanced users only.
Chapter 3
COMPUTER SETUP (F10) 43
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