NEC Express5800/180Ra-7 Instruction Manual

System Release Notes
Express5800/180Ra-7
System Release Notes
PN: 455-01568-001

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June 2000
Copyright 2000
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Express5800/180Ra-7
System Release Notes
The Express5800/180Ra-7 System Release Notes provide up-to-date information
on your system. These notes also provide additional valuable information about
your system that was not included in the user’s guide.
Please read these notes in their entirety.
CONTENTS
Introduction............................................................................................................................................ 3
General Comments................................................................................................................................. 3
Advisories .............................................................................................................................................. 3
ExpressBuilder .................................................................................................................................. 3
System Element Monitoring .............................................................................................................. 4
SCO ................................................................................................................................................... 4
BIOS Setup Utility............................................................................................................................. 4

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Express5800/180Ra-7 System Release Notes 3
Introduction
These System Release Notes cover the following topics:
!General Comments
!Advisories
General Comments
The following general comments apply to this server.
!Versions of the Network Operating Systems tested and recommended are:
Windows®2000
Windows NT®4.0 Server with Service Pack 6
Novell® NetWare®5.0
SCO OpenServer™5.05 with Maintenance Supplement 505A.
UNIXWare®7.1.1
Advisories
This section contains advisories on the ExpressBuilder, System Element
Monitoring,SCO, and the BIOS Setup Utility.
ExpressBuilder
The following advisory applies to ExpressBuilder 2.8.
!If you already have an operating system installed when creating a
maintenance partition, ExpressBuilder will warn you of the existing
partition. If you want to preserve the installed operating system, do not
create the maintenance partition or the existing operating system will be
overlaid by the maintenance partition.
!The Administrator Menu in the System Information Management segment
of the Offline Maintenance Utility is not user accessible.
!ExpressBuilder operates in floppy emulation mode. Your system CD-ROM
drive is designated Drive A and your system diskette drive is Drive B. After
creating the Off-line Maintenance Utility diskette, ExpressBuilder prompts
you to remove the diskette from Drive B. At this prompt, remove the
diskette from your diskette drive.
!The Alteon Acenic Gigabit Diagnostic Diskette is restricted for this release.
When creating Alteon diskettes, the first and third selections create the same
driver diskette.

4Express5800/180Ra-7 System Release Notes
System Element Monitoring
The following advisory applies to system element monitoring.
!Certain system elements – the three disk drive cooling fans, power supply,
and power supply fans – are fully monitored only with a RAID controller
installed in the system.
!When a RAID controller is in use in the system, the Front Panel Power and
Fan Alarm LEDs will function correctly. If the RAID Global Array Manager
is used, it will generate an alert if one of these elements fail. This alert can
be routed by way of ESMPRO to a central monitoring location.
!ESMPRO does not support management of the 3UDEU (Disk Expansion
Unit). The 3UDEU may be managed using the Mylex Global Array Manager
(GAM).
!The 3UDEU does not include a temperature sensor, therefore cannot be
monitored for temperature changes.
SCO
The following advisory applies when using SCO 5.05.
!The onboard Adaptec AIC-7899 SCSI Controller requires the ad160 driver,
available from your customer service representative.
!The onboard Intel 82559 PCI LAN Controller requires the eeE driver,
available from your customer service representative.
!The Seagate DDS-3 Autoloader device is not supported.
!The 3C905C LAN card requires the e3h LAN driver, available from your
customer service representative.
BIOS Setup Utility
The following advisories apply to the BIOS Setup Utility (F2):
!General Help (F1) description states that pressing the ESC or Alt-X keys
exits the BIOS Setup Utility. Pressing either of these keys exits the current
menu and returns you to the previous menu. If you are displaying any one of
the BIOS Setup Utility top level menus, pressing either of these keys takes
you to the Exit Menu.
!If BIOS is set to the “Default” values, the following important features are
changed.

Express5800/180Ra-7 System Release Notes 5
All Option ROMs in PCI Slots are set to Disabled. For example, the
RAID controller’s ROM will be disabled and will not boot. Always
set the PCI Option ROMs to Enabled.
The Installed O/S feature is set to Other. If you have a Plug and Play
Operating System, set the Installed O/S feature to PnP O/S.
CPU Error Pause and DIMM Error Pause are set to Enabled.
Enabling this feature may interfere with unattended operation. For
unattended operation, set this feature to Disabled.