User Guide
Table Of Contents
- Dell PowerEdge R720 and R720xd Owner's Manual
- About Your System
- Using The System Setup and Boot Manager
- Installing System Components
- Recommended Tools
- Front Bezel (Optional)
- Opening And Closing The System
- Inside The System
- Cooling Shroud
- System memory
- Hard Drives
- Removing A 2.5 Inch Hard-Drive Blank
- Installing A 2.5 Inch Hard-Drive Blank
- Removing A 2.5 Inch Hard-Drive Blank (Back)
- Installing A 2.5 Inch Hard-Drive Blank (Back)
- Removing A 3.5 Inch Hard-Drive Blank
- Installing A 3.5 Inch Hard-Drive Blank
- Removing A Hot-Swap Hard Drive
- Installing A Hot-Swap Hard Drive
- Removing A Hard Drive From A Hard-Drive Carrier
- Installing A Hard Drive Into A Hard-Drive Carrier
- Optical Drive (Optional)
- Cooling Fans
- Internal USB Memory Key (Optional)
- PCIe Card Holder
- Top Cover Lock Latch
- Cable Retention Bracket
- Expansion Cards And Expansion-Card Risers
- Expansion Card Installation Guidelines
- Removing An Expansion Card From The Expansion-Card Riser 2 Or 3
- Installing An Expansion Card Into The Expansion-Card Riser 2 Or 3
- Removing An Expansion Card From The Expansion-Card Riser 1
- Installing An Expansion Card Into The Expansion-Card Riser 1
- Removing Expansion-Card Risers
- Installing Expansion-Card Risers
- GPU Card Installation Guidelines
- Installing A GPU Card
- Removing A GPU Card
- SD vFlash Card
- Internal Dual SD Module
- Internal SD Card
- Integrated Storage Controller Card
- Network Daughter Card
- Processors
- Power Supplies
- System Battery
- Hard-Drive Backplane
- Control Panel Board
- System Board
- Troubleshooting Your System
- Safety First—For You And Your System
- Troubleshooting System Startup Failure
- Troubleshooting External Connections
- Troubleshooting The Video Subsystem
- Troubleshooting A USB Device
- Troubleshooting A Serial I/O Device
- Troubleshooting A NIC
- Troubleshooting A Wet System
- Troubleshooting A Damaged System
- Troubleshooting The System Battery
- Troubleshooting Power Supplies
- Troubleshooting Cooling Problems
- Troubleshooting Cooling Fans
- Troubleshooting System Memory
- Troubleshooting An Internal USB Key
- Troubleshooting An SD Card
- Troubleshooting An Optical Drive
- Troubleshooting A Tape Backup Unit
- Troubleshooting A Hard Drive
- Troubleshooting A Storage Controller
- Troubleshooting Expansion Cards
- Troubleshooting Processors
- Using System Diagnostics
- Jumpers And Connectors
- Technical Specifications
- System Messages
- Getting Help

You must select the boot mode in the
Boot Mode field of the Boot Settings screen of System Setup. Once you specify the
boot mode, the system boots in the specified boot mode and you then proceed to install your operating system from that
mode. Thereafter, you must boot the system in the same boot mode (BIOS or UEFI) to access the installed operating
system. Trying to boot the operating system from the other boot mode will cause the system to halt at startup.
NOTE
: Operating systems must be UEFI-compatible to be installed from the UEFI boot mode. DOS and 32-bit
operating systems do not support UEFI and can only be installed from the BIOS boot mode.
NOTE
: For the latest information on supported operating systems, go to dell.com/ossupport.
Entering System Setup
1. Turn on or restart your system.
2. Press
<F2> immediately after you see the following message:
<F2> = System Setup
If your operating system begins to load before you press <F2>, allow the system to finish booting, and then restart
your system and try again.
Responding To Error Messages
If an error message is displayed while the system is booting, make a note of the message. For more information, see
System Error Messages.
NOTE
: After installing a memory upgrade, it is normal for your system to display a message the first time you start
your system.
Using The System Setup Navigation Keys
Keys Action
Up arrow Moves to the previous field.
Down arrow Moves to the next field.
<Enter> Allows you to type in a value in the selected field (if applicable) or follow the link in the field.
Spacebar Expands or collapses a drop-down menu, if applicable.
<Tab> Moves to the next focus area.
NOTE
: For the standard graphics browser only.
<Esc> Moves to the previous page till you view the main screen. Pressing <Esc> in the main screen
displays a message that prompts you to save any unsaved changes and restarts the system.
<F1> Displays the System Setup help file.
NOTE
: For most of the options, any changes that you make are recorded but do not take
effect until you restart the system.
System Setup Options
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