System Setup Options: Dell Dimension XPS P60 M
System Setup Options: Dell Dimension™ XPS P60 M
Screen 1 | Screen
2 | Time | Date | Diskette Drive A and B | Drive A Location | Hard-Disk Drives:
Drive 0 and Drive 1 | Base
Memory | Board Memory |
Extended Memory | Fast Video BIOS | Video Feature Card | PCI IRQ
| CPU Speed | Num Lock | Keyboard
Errors | System Password
| Boot Sequence | Password Entry | Setup Password | PCI Memory Block | Reserved Memory | Serial Port 1 and Serial
Port 2 | Parallel Port
| Parallel Mode | Hard Disk | Diskette
| System Data Categories
Time resets the time on the computer's internal clock.
Time is kept in a 24-hour format (Hours:Minutes:Seconds). To
change the time, use the right-arrow key to increase the number
in the highlighted field or the left-arrow key to decrease the
number, or type in numbers in each of the fields.
Date resets the date on the computer's internal calendar.
The system automatically displays the day of the week
corresponding to the settings in the 3 fields that follow (Month,
Day-of-the-Month, and Year).
To change the date, use the right-arrow key to increase the
number in the highlighted field or the left-arrow key to decrease
the number, or type in numbers in the Month and Day-of-the-Month
fields.
Diskette Drive A (the boot drive, the top drive) and Diskette
Drive B identify the type of diskette drives installed in the
drive cage. The category options always match the physical
location of the drives in the computer.
Options:
- 5.25 Inch, 360 KB
- 5.25 Inch, 1.2 MB
- 3.5 Inch, 720 KB
- 3.5 Inch, 1.44 MB
- 3.5-Inch, 2.88 MB
- Not Installed
Drive A Location identifies which diskette drive Top
(default) or Bottom is used as drive A, the boot drive.
When Drive A Location is changed, Diskette Drive A and
Diskette Drive B switch places automatically to reflect the new
configuration.
If an external diskette drive controller is used, Drive A
Location has no selectable option.
Drive 0 and Drive 1 refer to the IDE hard-disk drives
installed in the computer. For each drive, 7 parameters can be
chosen as a group by drive-type number, or set automatically.
Options:
To use the automatic settings, highlight Drive 0 and type
a
to set the Type parameter to Auto. If there are 2 IDE drives,
highlight Drive 1 and type
a
Reboot the system, and the System Setup program sets the
correct drive-type number and parameters.
Assigning the Drive Parameters Manually
Highlight Drive 0 or Drive 1, and either type in the
drive-type number (if known) or type
u
to set the Type parameter to User. Then press the <Tab>
key to highlight each of the parameter fields, and enter the
appropriate number for each field for the drive:
- Cyls is the number of logical cylinders.
- Hds is the number of logical heads in the drive.
- Sec is the number of logical sectors per track.
Pre, LZ, and Size have no user-selectable
options.
SCSI Drives
SCSI hard-disk drives do not use the built-in hard-disk drive
controller, so Drive 0 and Drive 1 do not apply to them. Set
Drive 0 for any IDE drive that is in the system and set Drive 1
to Auto (the IDE drive will be the boot drive). If there are only
SCSI drives in the system, set both categories to Auto.
Base Memory (no user-selectable options) displays the amount
of memory available to MS-DOS� programs that do not use extended
or expanded memory.
The default value is 640 KB, which includes 1 KB reserved for
system use.
Board Memory is used to specify how much of the system's base
memory is to be derived from SIMMs on the system board (usually
640 KB).
Change the default setting only under special circumstances;
for example, a memory expansion card may need to be addressed
starting at 80000h (512 KB). Only part of the base memory can
come from the SIMMs on the system board when this card is used;
the remainder of the 640 KB comes from the memory expansion card.
Options:
Extended Memory (no user-selectable options) indicates the
amount of system memory available as extended memory.
The value is in KB rather than MB. To convert KB to MB, divide
the KB total by 1024.
Fast Video BIOS offers the option of shadowing and caching the
video BIOS.
Options:
 |
NOTE: If the system uses a PCI video card, the
default setting cannot be changed. The category can only
be changed if an ISA video card is being used. |
If the ISA video card cannot operate under shadowed memory
speeds, set Fast Video BIOS to Off.
Video Feature Card has 2 options; Not Installed (default) and
Installed. Change to Installed before a video-feature expansion
card is installed in the system. Otherwise the monitor's display
may not work.
PCI IRQ settles interrupt requests between PCI and ISA
expansion cards.
Options:
- IRQ10 (default)
- IRQ9
- IRQ11
- Off
The default setting makes IRQ10 available to all PCI expansion
cards that need an IRQ. Change the default only in order to
install an ISA expansion card that also uses IRQ10.
Selecting Off reserves IRQ9, IRQ10, and IRQ11 for ISA
expansion cards.
CPU Speed specifies the processor speed at which the system
boots and runs.
Press the left- or right-arrow key to toggle the CPU Speed
category between the installed microprocessor's rated speed, 60
MHZ (default), and a lower compatibility speed, Compatible, that
accommodates speed-sensitive application programs.
To change speeds in real mode, press and hold down the <Ctrl><Alt><\>
keys. For keyboards that do not use American English, press <Ctrl><Alt><#>.
Num Lock chooses whether the system boots with the Num Lock
mode activated on 101- or 102-key keyboards (it does not apply to
84-key keyboards).
Keyboard Errors enables or disables reporting of keyboard
errors during Post.
This category is useful when applied to self-starting servers
or host systems that have no permanently attached keyboard.
The default setting is Report. Selecting Do Not Report
suppresses all Post error messages relating to the keyboard or
the keyboard controller. However, an attached keyboard still
operates properly.
System Password displays the current status of the system's
password security feature and allows the assignment and
verification of a new system password.
Options:
- Not Enabled (default)
- Enabled
- Disabled By Jumper
A new system password cannot be assigned unless the current
status is Not Enabled, which is displayed in bright characters.
See Using
the System Password Feature.
Boot Sequence can be set to Diskette First (default), Hard
Disk First, or Hard Disk Only.
Selecting Diskette First causes the system to try booting from
drive A first. If it finds a diskette that is not bootable in the
drive or finds a problem with the drive itself, the system
displays an error message. If it does not find a diskette in the
drive, the system then tries to boot from the hard-disk drive
(drive 0).
Selecting Hard Disk First causes the system to try
booting from the hard-disk drive (drive 0) first. If the system
finds a problem with the hard-disk drive, it displays an error
message. If there are no boot files on the hard-disk drive, the
system tries booting from diskette drive A.
Selecting Hard Disk Only causes the system to boot only
from the hard-disk drive, even if there is a bootable diskette in
drive A.
Password Entry has 2 options: Before Boot (default) and
After Boot. With Before Boot, the system prompts for a
password before POST; with After Boot the system boots
normally, but the keyboard is disabled until the password is
entered.
Setup Password provides restricted access to the computer's
System Setup program in the same way that access to the system
can be restricted with the System Password feature.
Options:
- Not Enabled (default)
- Enabled
- Disabled By Jumper
See Assigning
a Setup Password.
PCI Memory Block allows the increase of the amount of memory
allocated to PCI expansion cards.
The default values satisfy the memory requirements of most PCI
cards. Do not change the settings unless the following message
appears:
WARNING:
Insufficient PCI Memory Block.
Use Setup to Increase the PCI Memory Block Size.
To change the settings, press <Tab> to
highlight the Start field, then press the right- or left-arrow
key to select a memory address between EC000 and C8000. Then
press <Tab> to highlight the Length field,
and press the right- and left-arrow keys to select one of the
available memory options.
|
NOTE: Increasing the amount of memory allocated to
PCI expansion cards reduces the amount of memory
available for ISA expansion cards. |
Reserved MemoryY supports the use of certain expansion cards
by reserving a range of memory addresses for use by those cards.
The default setting is 0 KB. Change this setting if the expansion
card needs to reside in the system address space above 1 MB.
Serial Port 1 and Serial Port 2 configure the system's
built-in serial ports. These categories can be set to Auto
(default) to automatically configure a port to a particular
designation (COM1 or COM3 for Serial Port 1, COM2 or COM4 for
Serial Port 2), or to Off to disable a port.
If a serial port is set to Auto and then an expansion card
containing a port configured to the same designation is added,
the system automatically remaps the built-in port to the next
available port designation that shares the same IRQ setting. That
is, COM1 is remapped to COM3; COM2 is remapped to COM4. Note that
when 2 COM ports share an IRQ setting, the user can use either
port, as necessary, but may not be able to use them both at the
same time. If the alternate port address (COM3 or COM4) is also
in use, the built-in port is turned off.
Parallel Port configures the system's built-in parallel port.
This category can be set to Auto to automatically
configure the port or to Off to disable the port.
Parallel Mode controls the mode used by the system's built-in
parallel port.
Options:
- AT (default) (unidirectional)
- PS/2 (bidirectional)
- ECP Mode
Select AT if a unidirectional device is connected to
the parallel port. Select PS/2 if a bidirectional PS/2
device is attached to the parallel port. Select ECP Mode if
an ECP device is attached to the parallel port.
Hard Disk enables or disables the system's built-in hard-disk
drive interface.
Selecting Auto (default) allows the system to turn off the
built-in IDE interface, as necessary, to accommodate a controller
card installed in an expansion slot. During the boot routine, the
system checks for a primary hard-disk drive controller card
installed in an expansion slot. If no card is found, the built-in
IDE interface is enabled, and the controller on the master IDE
drive is designated as the primary controller using IRQ14.
|
NOTE: For IRQ purposes, a master/slave pair of IDE
drives is considered as 1 drive. IRQ14 attaches to the
controller on the master drive, which controls both
drives. |
If a primary controller is found, the built-in IDE interface
is disabled.
Selecting Off disables the built-in IDE interface.
Diskette controls the operation of the system's built-in
diskette drive controller.
With Auto (default) selected, the system turns off the
built-in diskette drive controller, as necessary, to accommodate
a controller card installed in an expansion slot.
Selecting Off turns off the built-in diskette drive
controller. This option is used primarily for troubleshooting
purposes.
The following categories (not selectable) display information
about the system:
- Microprocessor displays the type of microprocessor
installed in the computer.
- External Cache displays the amount of external cache
memory (128 KB). Not Installed is displayed if no
external cache is installed.
- System Memory indicates the entire amount of installed
memory detected in the system, except for memory on EMS
expansion cards.
After adding memory, check this category to confirm that the
new memory is installed correctly and is recognized by the
system.
- Service Tag displays the system's 5-character service tag
number, which Dell programmed into NVRAM during the
manufacturing process.
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