DTA: System Setup and EISA Configuration Options
System Setup Options
Screen 1 Screen 2
Time System Password
Date Boot Sequence
Diskette Drive A and Diskette Drive B Password Entry
Drive A Location Setup Password
IDE Drive PCI Memory Block
Base Memory Reserved Memory
Board Memory Serial Port 1 and Serial Port 2
Extended Memory Parallel Port
Fast Video BIOS Parallel Mode
Video Feature Card Hard Disk
PCI IRQ Diskette
CPU Speed System Data Categories
Num Lock
Keyboard Errors
Time
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, press the right-arrow key to increase the number in the highlighted field or press the left-arrow key to decrease the number. The user can type in numbers in each of the appropriate fields.
Date
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 three fields that follow (MONTH, DAY-OF-THE-MONTH, and YEAR).
To change the date, press the right-arrow key to increase the number in the highlighted field, or press the left-arrow key to decrease the number. The user can type in numbers in the MONTH and DAY-OF-THE-MONTH fields.
Diskette Drive A and Diskette Drive B
DISKETTE DRIVE A and DISKETTE DRIVE B identify the type of diskette drives installed in the drive cage. The category names (but not the settings) switch places whenever the setting for DRIVE A LOCATION is changed.
The options are:
 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
DRIVE A LOCATION identifies which diskette drive -TOP (the default option) or BOTTOM - is used as drive A, the boot drive.
When DRIVE A LOCATION is changed, the DISKETTE DRIVE A and DISKETTE DRIVE B category names switch places automatically to reflect the new configuration.
If an external diskette drive controller is being used, DRIVE A LOCATION has no selectable options.
IDE Drive
The DRIVE 0 and DRIVE 1 subcategories under IDE DRIVE refer to the IDE hard-disk drives installed in the computer. The user can set DRIVE 0 and DRIVE 1 to AUTO to automatically identify the type(s) of IDE drives installed; alternatively, the user can use one of the USR settings to manually set the parameters for an IDE hard-disk drive.
The DRIVE 2 and DRIVE 3 subcategories are reserved for future use; they should remain set to AUTO.
NOTE: IDE hard-disk drives should be installed in the internal drive bracket and connected to the high-performance PCI IDE interface. The ISA IDE interface is intended primarily for slower IDE devices, such as IDE CD ROM drives and IDE tape drives.
However, 2 incompatible IDE drives can connect one to the PCI IDE interface and the other to the ISA IDE interface. In doing this, make sure the boot drive (which should be the faster, higher performance drive) is connected to the faster PCI IDE interface and is designated as DRIVE 0.
For DRIVE 0 and DRIVE 1, the options are:
AUTO
USR1
USR2
IDE Devices
For most IDE drives, the system provides an automatic drive-type detect feature.
During the POST, the BIOS identifies the manufacturer, capacity, and model number of each installed IDE hard-disk drive and displays that information on the screen. If a drive lacks the necessary identification code, the POST message indicates only that a drive is installed.
Using the Auto-Detect Feature
The first IDE drive connected to the primary IDE interface connector (PCI IDE) should be the boot drive. For this drive, highlight the DRIVE 0 category and type a to set the TYPE parameter to AUTO. If a second IDE drive is installed, highlight the DRIVE 1 category and type a . In each case, the category setting changes to AUTO. After rebooting the system, it automatically sets the correct drive-type number and parameters for each drive
Assigning the Drive Parameters Manually
IDE hard-disk drive do not support automatic drive-type detection, use one of the USR settings (USR1 or USR2), which allows the user to manually define up to 2 different sets of parameters and assign them to installed drives. For example, to define a set of parameters as the USR1 parameters and assign them to a drive, do the following:
At the appropriate drive category, type u to set the TYPE parameter to USR1. For each of the following parameters, press the <TAB> key to highlight the field and type in the appropriate number, using information from the documentation that came with 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.
The remaining parameters PRE, LZ, and SIZE (which indicates the capacity of the drive in millions of bytes) are automatically displayed and have no user-selectable options.
Second IDE hard-disk drives that do not support automatic drive-type detection, assign the USR2 parameters in similar fashion (unless the drive parameters match the USR1 parameters, in which case the user can assign the second drive as USR1 also).
To set the parameters for USR2, type u to set the TYPE parameter to USR1, and then use the right- or left-arrow key to scroll over to USR2.
NOTE: To use the same USR setting for 2 drives, their parameters must match exactly. Any alteration to the USR parameters for 1 drive will automatically change the parameters for another drive using the same USR setting.
Base Memory
BASE MEMORY displays the amount of memory available to MS-DOS programs that do not use extended or expanded memory. This category has no user-selectable options.
The default value for the BASE MEMORY category is 640 KB, which includes 1 KB reserved for system use.
Board Memory
BOARD MEMORY allows the user to specify how much of the system's base memory is to be derived from SIMMs on the system board (usually 640 KB).
The default setting should be changed only under special circumstances. For example, the user may have a memory expansion card that needs to be addressed starting at 80000h (512 KB). To use the card, the user must specify that only part of the base memory come from the SIMMs on the system board, with the remainder of the 640 KB coming from the memory expansion card.
The BOARD MEMORY category has the following options:
640 KB (the default option)
512 KB
Extended Memory
EXTENDED MEMORY (which has no user-selectable options) indicates the amount of system memory available as extended memory.
The value given in the EXTENDED MEMORY category is in kilobytes rather than megabytes. To convert kilobytes to megabytes, divide the kilobyte total by 1024.
Fast Video BIOS
FAST VIDEO BIOS allows the user to shadow the video BIOS for improved performance. Options are ON (the default setting) and OFF.
When this category is set to ON, the system boots and immediately copies the video BIOS code into write-protected memory locations in RAM. This process is known as shadowing. Shadowing lets the system manipulate video display data more quickly, improving video performance.
If the system uses a PCI video card, the user cannot change from the default setting of ON.
If the system uses an ISA video card check the documentation that accompanied the card to determine if the user needs to change the FAST VIDEO BIOS category. If the card cannot operate under shadowed memory speeds, set this category to OFF.
NOTE: For an ISA video card that can operate under shadowed memory speeds, setting the FAST VIDEO BIOS category to OFF significantly reduces video performance.
Video Feature Card
VIDEO FEATURE CARD has 2 options: NOT INSTALLED (the default) and INSTALLED. Change the setting to INSTALLED before installing a video-feature expansion card, such as a multimedia expansion card, that attaches to the feature connector on the PCI video adapter card.
If the user changes the setting after installing a video-feature expansion card, the monitor's display may not work.
NOTE: If the user installed an ISA video adapter card, the VIDEO FEATURE CARD category does not appear on the system setup screens.
PCI IRQ
To avoid conflicts between the PCI and ISA cards, this category can be used to select 1 of 3 IRQ lines for use by PCI cards. The options are:
IRQ10 (default)
IRQ9
IRQ11
OFF
The 3 IRQ settings are always available to ISA cards. If 1 or more PCI cards are installed that need IRQ lines, the user must set PCI IRQ to an IRQ not in use by an installed ISA card.
CPU Speed
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 (the default) and a lower compatibility speed, COMPATIBLE, which lets the user accommodate speed-sensitive application programs.
The user can toggle between the rated processor speed and the compatibility speed at any time while the system is running. To change speeds in real mode, press and hold down the <CTRL>, <ALT>, and backslash (\) keys. (For keyboards that do not use American English, press <CTRL-ALT-#>.)
Num Lock
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
KEYBOARD ERRORS enables or disables reporting of keyboard errors during the 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 will still operate properly.
System Password
SYSTEM PASSWORD displays the current status of the system's password security feature and allows the user to assign and verify a new system password when this category is set to NOT ENABLED.
The current status options that can be displayed in the SYSTEM PASSWORD category are:
NOT ENABLED (the 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.
Boot Sequence
The BOOT SEQUENCE category can be set to DISKETTE FIRST (the default option), 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 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. The user might select the HARD DISK ONLY option to prevent an unauthorized person from accessing the system by booting from a diskette.
For extra system security, the BOOT SEQUENCE feature is especially useful when used in combination with the PASSWORD ENTRY category. For example, the user might select the BEFORE BOOT option for the PASSWORD ENTRY category to prompt for a password before the system boots.
Password Entry
PASSWORD ENTRY has two options: BEFORE BOOT (the default option) 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 user enters the password.
Setup Password
The SETUP PASSWORD category lets the user restrict access to the computer's system setup program. The options are:
NOT ENABLED (the default option)
ENABLED
DISABLED BY JUMPER
PCI Memory Block
PCI MEMORY BLOCK allows the user to increase the amount of memory allocated to PCI expansion cards.
The default values of the PCI MEMORY BLOCK category satisfy the memory requirements of most PCI expansion cards. Do not change the default settings of the PCI MEMORY BLOCK category unless the user receives the following error message:
WARNING:
Insufficient PCI Memory Block.
Use Setup to Increase the PCI Memory Block Size.
To change the settings, press the <TAB> key to highlight the START field, then press the right- or left-arrow key to select a memory address between C8000 and EC000. Next, press the <TAB> key to highlight the LENGTH field, and press the right- or left-arrow key to select one of the available block lengths.
NOTE: Increasing the amount of memory allocated to PCI expansion cards reduces the amount of memory available for ISA expansion cards.
Reserved Memory
RESERVED MEMORY supports the use of certain expansion cards by reserving a range of memory addresses for use by those cards. If the user is installing an expansion card that needs to reside in the system address space above 1 MB (such as a multiport serial card or certain network cards), the user may need to change this category from its default setting of 0 KB. Check the documentation for the expansion card to determine its memory addressing requirements before setting this category to a particular value.
NOTE: Normally, the user should leave this category set to its default of 0 KB, because any other setting reduces the amount of available system memory. Do not enable this category unless one of the devices specifically requires it.
To change the settings, press the <TAB> key to highlight the START field, then press the right- or left-arrow key to select a memory address. Next, press the <TAB> key to highlight the LENGTH field, and press the right- or left-arrow key to select a block length.
Serial Port 1 and Serial Port 2
SERIAL PORT 1 and SERIAL PORT 2 configure the system's built-in serial ports. These categories can be set to AUTO (the default option) 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 the user sets a serial port to AUTO and then add an expansion card containing a port configured to the same designation, 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 two COM ports share an IRQ setting, the user can use either port as necessary, but the user 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
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
PARALLEL MODE controls the mode used by the system's built-in parallel port. The options are:
AT (the default)
PS/2
Set this category according to the type of device connected to the parallel port:
Select AT for a unidirectional device.
Select PS/2 for a bidirectional device.
See the documentation that came with the peripheral device to determine the correct mode for the parallel port.
NOTE: The system also provides hardware support for Enhanced Parallel Port (EPP) and Extended Capabilities Port (ECP) modes. Options that use ECP or EPP mode may come with special drivers that need to be installed in order to use these modes.
Hard Disk
HARD DISK enables or disables the system's built-in PCI and ISA IDE interfaces.
Selecting AUTO allows the system to turn off the IDE interface as necessary to accommodate a controller card installed in an expansion slot. During the boot routine, the system checks for a bootable hard-disk drive on the PCI bus. If one is found the system disables built-in ISA IDE interface. If one is not found, the system checks the ISA bus for a bootable drive.
Selecting OFF disables both of the built-in IDE interfaces.
Diskette
DISKETTE controls the operation of the system's built-in diskette drive controller.
With AUTO 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.
System Data Categories
The following categories, which are 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.
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 service tag number, which Dell programmed into NVRAM during the
manufacturing process.
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