Dell PowerEdge 1800 Guide

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Dell™ PowerEdge™ 1800 Systems
Installation and
Troubleshooting Guide

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.
Abbreviations and Acronyms
For a complete list of abbreviations and acronyms, see the “Glossary” in the User’s Guide.
____________________
Information in this document is subject to change without notice.
© 2009 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, PowerEdge, PowerConnect, PowerVault, Axim, Dell OpenManage,DellNet,Dell Precision,
Dimension,Inspiron, OptiPlex,and Latitude are trademarks of Dell Inc.; Intel is a registered trademark of Intel Corporation; MS-DOS is a
registered trademark of Microsoft 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.
September 2009 P/N R2053 Rev. A02

Contents 3
Contents
1Introduction
Other Documents You May Need . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Obtaining Technical Assistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2Indicators, Codes, and Messages
Front-Panel Indicators and Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
System Status Indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Back-Panel Indicators and Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Power Indicator Codes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
SCSI Hard-Drive Indicator Codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
NIC Indicator Codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
System Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
System Beep Codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Warning Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Diagnostics Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Alert Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
3Finding Software Solutions
Before You Begin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Troubleshooting Errors and Conflicts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Input Errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Application Conflicts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
IRQ Assignment Conflicts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
4Running System Diagnostics
Using Server Administrator Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

4Contents
System Diagnostics Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
When to Use the System Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Running the System Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
From the Utility Partition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
From the Diagnostics Diskettes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
System Diagnostics Testing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Using the Advanced Testing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
5Troubleshooting Your System
Safety First—For You and Your System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Start-Up Routine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Checking the Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Troubleshooting External Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Troubleshooting the Video Subsystem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Troubleshooting the Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Troubleshooting the Mouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Troubleshooting Basic I/O Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Troubleshooting a Serial I/O Device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Troubleshooting a USB Device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Troubleshooting a NIC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Responding to a Systems Management Software Alert Message. . . . . . . 46
Inside the System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Bezel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Removing the Bezel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Installing the Bezel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Stabilizing the Tower System. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
System Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Opening the System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Closing the System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Contents 5
Baffle/Back Fan Assembly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Removing the Baffle/Back Fan Assembly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Installing the Baffle/Back Fan Assembly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Troubleshooting a Wet System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Troubleshooting a Damaged System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Troubleshooting the System Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Troubleshooting Power Supplies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Troubleshooting System Cooling Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Troubleshooting a Fan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Troubleshooting System Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Troubleshooting a Diskette Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Troubleshooting a CD Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Troubleshooting an External SCSI Tape Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Troubleshooting SCSI Hard Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Troubleshooting a SCSI Hard Drive (System With a SCSI Backplane) . . . 63
Troubleshooting SATA Hard Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Troubleshooting a SATA Hard Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Troubleshooting a SATA Hard Drive in a RAID Configuration . . . . . . . 65
Troubleshooting a RAID Controller Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Troubleshooting Expansion Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Troubleshooting the Microprocessors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
6Installing System Options
System Fans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Removing the Front System Fan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Installing the Front System Fan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Redundant Power Supplies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Removing a Redundant Power Supply . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Installing a Redundant Power Supply. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Expansion Cards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Installing an Expansion Card. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

6Contents
Removing an Expansion Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
System Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
General Memory Module Installation Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Installing Memory Modules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Removing Memory Modules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Processors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
System Battery. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Replacing the System Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Control Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Removing the Control Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Installing the Control Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
7Installing Drives
Connecting Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Interface Cables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Drive Cable Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
DC Power Cables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
IDE Configuration Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
SATA Configuration Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
SCSI Configuration Information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
SCSI Interface Cables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
SCSI ID Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Device Termination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Configuring the Boot Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Diskette Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Removing a Diskette Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Installing a Diskette Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Front-Panel Drive Inserts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Removing the Front-Panel Drive Inserts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Installing the Front-Panel Drive Inserts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
5.25-Inch Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Installing a 5.25-Inch Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Contents 7
Hard Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
General Installation Guidelines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Installing and Removing SATA Hard Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Installing and Removing Hot-Plug SCSI Hard Drives. . . . . . . . . . 111
Installing a RAID Controller Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
8Getting Help
Technical Assistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Online Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
AutoTech Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Automated Order-Status Service. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Technical Support Service. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Dell Enterprise Training and Certification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Problems With Your Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Product Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Returning Items for Warranty Repair or Credit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Before You Call . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Contacting Dell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
AJumpers, Switches, and Connectors
Jumpers—A General Explanation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Jumpers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
System Board Jumpers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
System Board Connectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Disabling a Forgotten Password . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
BI/O Ports and Connectors
I/O Connectors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Serial Connector. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Serial Connector Autoconfiguration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

8Contents
Parallel Connector. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
PS/2-Compatible Keyboard and Mouse Connectors . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Video Connector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
USB Connector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Integrated NIC Connector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Network Cable Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Figures
Tables

Introduction 9
Introduction
Your system includes the following significant service and upgrade features:
• Embedded server management hardware, which monitors temperatures and voltages
throughout the system and notifies you if there is a fault or failure
• System diagnostics, which checks for hardware problems (if the system can boot)
The following system options are offered:
• Microprocessors
• System memory
• Expansion-card options, including RAID controller cards
• Non–hot-plug SATA or hot–plug-ready SCSI hard drives
• IDE and SCSI half-height tape drives
• Redundant, hot-plug power supplies
Other Documents You May Need
The Product Information Guide provides important safety and regulatory information.
Warranty information may be included within this document or as a separate document.
• The
Rack Installation Guide or Rack Installation Instructions included with your rack solution
describes how to install your system into a rack.
• The
Getting Started Guide provides an overview of initially setting up your system.
• The
User's Guide provides information about system features and technical specifications.
• The
Installation and Troubleshooting Guide describes how to troubleshoot the system and
install or replace system components.
• Systems management software documentation describes the features, requirements,
installation, and basic operation of the software.
• Operating system documentation describes how to install (if necessary), configure, and use
the operating system software.
• Documentation for any components you purchased separately provides information to
configure and install these options.

10 Introduction
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• Updates are sometimes included with the system to describe changes to the system, software,
and/or documentation.
NOTE: Always read the updates first because they often supersede information in other
documents.
• Release notes or readme files may be included to provide last-minute updates to the system or
documentation or advanced technical reference material intended for experienced users or
technicians.
Obtaining Technical Assistance
If at any time you do not understand a procedure described in this guide or if your system does not
perform as expected, a number of tools are provided to help you. For more information on these
help tools, see "Getting Help."