Dell Precision NX046 User manual

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Dell Precision™ T5400 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 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.
____________________
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, 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 3
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) . . . . 21
Back Panel Connectors (Tower Orientation) . . . 22
Front View (Desktop Orientation) . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Back View (Desktop Orientation) . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Inside View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Inside View – Hard Drive Bay Rotated Out . . . . 27
System Board Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Cable Colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Changing Between Tower and Desktop Modes . . . . 30
Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
3 Advanced Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
LegacySelect Technology Control . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Manageability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Alert Standard Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Dell OpenManage™ IT Assistant . . . . . . . . . 47

4Contents
Dell OpenManage Client Instrumentation . . . . . 47
Power Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
About RAID Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
RAID Level 0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
RAID Level 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
RAID Level 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 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 . . . . . . . . 68
Transferring Information to a New Computer . . . . . . 69
Microsoft®Windows®XP . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Microsoft Windows Vista™ . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Power Protection Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Surge Protectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Line Conditioners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Uninterruptible Power Supplies . . . . . . . . . . 74
5 Securing Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Chassis Intrusion Detection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Removing the Chassis Intrusion Switch . . . . . . 75
Replacing the Chassis Intrusion Switch . . . . . . 76

Contents 5
Resetting the Chassis Intrusion Detector . . . . . 76
Security Cable Lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Passwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
About Passwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Using a Primary (or System) Password . . . . . . 79
Using an Administrator Password . . . . . . . . . 82
Disabling a Forgotten Password and Setting a
New Password . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Trusted Platform Module (TPM) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
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 . . 98
Changing Boot Sequence for Future Boots . . . . 99
Booting to a USB Device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

6Contents
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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Drive Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
E-Mail and Internet Problems . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
IEEE 1394 Device Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Keyboard Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Lockups and Software Problems . . . . . . . . . . 112
Memory Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Mouse Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Network Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Power Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Printer Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Scanner Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Sound Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
10 Troubleshooting Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Diagnostic Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Contents 7
Diagnostic Light Codes Before POST . . . . . . . 121
Diagnostic Light Codes During POST . . . . . . . 123
Beep Codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Dell Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
When to Use the Dell Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . 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? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Identifying Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Reinstalling Drivers and Utilities . . . . . . . . . . 142
Troubleshooting Software and Hardware Problems in
the Microsoft®Windows®XP and Microsoft Windows
Vista™ Operating Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Restoring Your Operating System . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Using Microsoft Windows System Restore . . . . 144
Using Dell™ PC Restore and Dell Factory Image
Restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Using the Operating System Disc . . . . . . . . . 149
12 Adding and Replacing Parts . . . . . . . . . 151
Before You Begin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

8Contents
Recommended Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Turning Off Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Before Working Inside Your Computer . . . . . . . 152
Removing the Computer Cover and Front Panel . . . . 153
Removing the Computer Cover . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Removing the Front Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Replacing the Front Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Replacing the Computer Cover . . . . . . . . . . . 161
I/O Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
I/O-Panel Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Removing the I/O Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Replacing the I/O Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Power Supply . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Power Supply DC Connector Pin Assignments . . 167
Removing the Power Supply . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Replacing the Power Supply . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
About the Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Replacing the Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Processor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Removing the Processor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Installing the Processor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
Fully Buffered DIMM (FBD) Memory Overview . . 187

Contents 9
Addressing Memory With 4-GB or Greater
Configurations (32-bit Operating Systems Only) . . 188
Removing Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Installing Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Expansion Card Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Installing an Expansion Card . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
Removing an Expansion Card . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Tower Computer Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Desktop Computer Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
Controller Card Data Cable Connectors . . . . . . 212
Hard Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Drive Panels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
Floppy Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
Media Card Reader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
Optical Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
System Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
Removing the System Board . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
Replacing the System Board . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
13 Getting Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
Obtaining Assistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
Technical Support and Customer Service . . . . . 290
Online Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
AutoTech Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
Automated Order-Status Service . . . . . . . . . 291
Problems With Your Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
Product Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291

10 Contents
Returning Items for Warranty Repair or Credit . . . . . 292
Before You Call . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292
Contacting Dell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
A Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
FCC Notice (U.S. Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
FCC Class B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299