Dell Precision NT499 User manual

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Dell Precision™ Workstation T3400
User’s Guide
Model DCTA

Notes, Notices, and Cautions
NOTE: A NOTE indicates important information that helps you make better use of
your computer.
NOTICE: A NOTICE indicates a potential for 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.
____________________
Information in this document is subject to change without notice.
© 2007 Dell Inc. All rights reserved.
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 and Pentium are registered trademarks of Intel Corporation; Microsoft,
Windows,and Vista are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the
United States and/or other countries. Computrace and Absolute are registered trademarks of Absolute
Software Corporation.
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
July 2007 P/N NT499 Rev. A00

Contents 3
Contents
1 Finding Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2 About Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Front View (Tower Orientation) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Back View (Tower Orientation) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Front View (Desktop Orientation) . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Back View (Desktop Orientation) . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Back Panel Connectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
3 Advanced Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
LegacySelect Technology Control . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Manageability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Dell OpenManage™ IT Assistant . . . . . . . . . 39
Dell OpenManage Client Instrumentation . . . . . 40
Power Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
4 About RAID Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Using RAID with Hard Drive Passwords . . . . . . . . 43

4Contents
RAID Level 0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
RAID Level 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
RAID Level 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
RAID Level 10 (1+0) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Configuring Your Computer for RAID . . . . . . . . . . 47
Setting Your Computer to RAID-Enabled
Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Configuring Your Computer for RAID Using
the Intel®RAID Option ROM Utility . . . . . . . . 48
Configuring Your Computer for RAID Using
the Intel Matrix Storage Manager . . . . . . . . . 52
Migrating to a RAID Level 0 Configuration . . . . . 56
Migrating to a RAID Level 1 Configuration . . . . . 57
Migrating to a RAID Level 5 Configuration . . . . . 57
Migrating to a RAID Level 10 Configuration . . . . 58
Creating a Spare Hard Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Rebuilding a Degraded RAID Level 1
Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
5 Setting Up Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Changing Between Tower and Desktop
Orientations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Switching From Tower to Desktop
Orientation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Switching From Desktop to Tower
Orientation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Installing Your Computer in an Enclosure . . . . . . . 62
Transferring Information to a New Computer . . . . . . 65
Microsoft®Windows®XP . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Microsoft Windows Vista™ . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Contents 5
Power Protection Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Surge Protectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Line Conditioners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Uninterruptible Power Supplies . . . . . . . . . . 69
6 Securing Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Chassis Intrusion Detection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Security Cable Lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Smart Cards and Fingerprint Readers . . . . . . . . . 72
Passwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
About Passwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Using a Primary (System) Password . . . . . . . . 74
Using an Administrator Password . . . . . . . . . 74
Using a Hard Drive Password . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Trusted Platform Module (TPM) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Turning On and Activating TPM . . . . . . . . . . 76
Security Management Software . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Computer Tracking Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
If Your Computer Is Lost or Stolen . . . . . . . . . . . 78
7 Cleaning Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Computer, Keyboard, and Monitor . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Mouse (Non-Optical) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Floppy Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
CDs and DVDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

6Contents
8 System Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Entering System Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
System Setup Screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
System Setup Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Boot Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Changing Boot Sequence for the Current
Boot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Changing Boot Sequence for Future Boots . . . . 94
9 Clearing Passwords and CMOS
Settings 95
Clearing Passwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Clearing CMOS Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Flashing the BIOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
10 Troubleshooting Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Power Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Diagnostic Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Diagnostic Light Codes During POST . . . . . . . 100
Beep Codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
System Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Hardware Troubleshooter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Dell Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
When to Use the Dell Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . 108

Contents 7
Starting the Dell Diagnostics From Your
Hard Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Dell Diagnostics Main Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
11 Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Battery Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Drive Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Optical drive problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Problems writing to an optical drive . . . . . . . . . . 114
E-Mail, Modem, and Internet Problems . . . . . . . . 115
Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
IEEE 1394 Device Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Keyboard Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Lockups and Software Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
The computer does not start up . . . . . . . . . . 119
The computer stops responding . . . . . . . . . . 119
A program stops responding . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
A program crashes repeatedly . . . . . . . . . . 119
A program is designed for an earlier
Windows operating system . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
A solid blue screen appears . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Other software problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Memory Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Mouse Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Network Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

8Contents
Power Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Printer Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Scanner Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Sound and Speaker Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
No sound from speakers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
No sound from headphones . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Video and Monitor Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
The screen is blank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
The screen is difficult to read . . . . . . . . . . . 127
3D image quality is poor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Only part of the screen is readable . . . . . . . . 129
12 Reinstalling Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
What Is a Driver? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Identifying Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Reinstalling Drivers and Utilities . . . . . . . . . . 132
Restoring Your Operating System . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Using Microsoft Windows System Restore . . . . 136
Using Dell PC Restore and Dell Factory
Image Restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Using the Operating System Media . . . . . . . . 141
13 Adding and Replacing Parts . . . . . . . . . 143
Before You Begin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Recommended Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Turning Off Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Before Working Inside Your Computer . . . . . . . 144

Contents 9
Removing the Computer Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Inside View of Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . 146
System Board Components . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Power Supply DC Connector Pin Assignments . . 149
Removing the Front Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Chassis Intrusion Switch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Removing the Chassis Intrusion Switch . . . . . . 155
Replacing the Chassis Intrusion Switch . . . . . . 156
Resetting the Chassis Intrusion Detector . . . . . 157
Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Memory Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Removing a Memory Module . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Installing a Memory Module . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
PCI Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
PCI Express Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Tower Computer Drive Configurations . . . . . . . 185
Desktop Computer Drive Configurations . . . . . . 187
About Metal Shields (Present in Some Drive
Configurations) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
General Installation Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . 189
Hard Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Removing a Hard Drive (Tower or Desktop
Computer) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Installing a Hard Drive or Adding a Second
Optional Hard Drive (Tower or Desktop
Computer) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
Removing an Optional Third Hard Drive
(Tower Computer) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197

10 Contents
Installing an Optional Third Hard Drive
(Tower Computer) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
Removing an Optional Fourth SATA Hard Drive
(Tower Computer) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Installing an Optional Fourth Hard Drive
(Tower Computer) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
Removing an Optional Third Hard Drive
(Desktop Computer) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
Installing an Optional Third Hard Drive
(Desktop Computer) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
Installing an Additional Fan . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Drive Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Removing the Drive Panel (Tower Computer) . . . 213
Replacing the Drive Panel (Tower Computer) . . . 214
Removing the Drive Panel (Desktop Computer) . . 215
Replacing the Drive Panel (Desktop Computer) . . 216
Removing a Drive-Panel Insert . . . . . . . . . . . 218
Installing a Drive-Panel Insert . . . . . . . . . . . 218
Floppy Drive or Media Card Reader . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Removing a Floppy Drive or Media Card
Reader (Tower Computer) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
Installing a Floppy Drive or Media Card
Reader (Tower Computer) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
Removing a Floppy Drive or a Media Card
Reader (Desktop Computer) . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
Installing a Floppy Drive or Media Card
Reader (Desktop Computer) . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
Optical Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Removing an Optical Drive (Tower Computer) . . . 231
Installing an Optical Drive (Tower Computer) . . . 233
Removing an Optical Drive (Desktop Computer) . . 236
Installing an Optical Drive (Desktop Computer) . . 237
Installing the Optional Speaker . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240