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.

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

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