Dell PowerEdge BIOS and UEFI Reference Guide
Notes, cautions, and warnings NOTE: A NOTE indicates important information that helps you make better use of your product. CAUTION: A CAUTION indicates either potential damage to hardware or loss of data and tells you how to avoid the problem. WARNING: A WARNING indicates a potential for property damage, personal injury, or death. © 2017 - 2020 Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries. All rights reserved. Dell, EMC, and other trademarks are trademarks of Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries.
Contents Chapter 1: Pre-operating system management applications...........................................................4 Options to manage the pre-operating system applications.......................................................................................4 System Setup....................................................................................................................................................................... 4 Viewing System Setup.........................................
1 Pre-operating system management applications You can manage basic settings and features of a system without booting to the operating system by using the system firmware.
System Setup details The System Setup Main Menu screen details are explained as follows: Option Description System BIOS Enables you to configure BIOS settings. iDRAC Settings Enables you to configure the iDRAC settings. The iDRAC settings utility is an interface to set up and configure the iDRAC parameters by using UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface). You can enable or disable various iDRAC parameters by using the iDRAC settings utility.
Option Description Network Settings Provides options to manage the UEFI network settings and boot protocols. Legacy network settings are managed from the Device Settings menu. Integrated Devices Provides options to manage integrated device controllers and ports, specifies related features and options. Serial Communication Provides options to manage the serial ports, their related features and options.
Option Description System Service Tag Specifies the system Service Tag. System Manufacturer Specifies the name of the system manufacturer. System Manufacturer Contact Information Specifies the contact information of the system manufacturer. System CPLD Version Specifies the current version of the system complex programmable logic device (CPLD) firmware. UEFI Compliance Version Specifies the UEFI compliance level of the system firmware.
Option Description System Memory Testing Specifies whether the system memory tests are run during system boot. Options are Enabled and Disabled. This option is set to Disabled by default. Memory Operating Mode Specifies the memory operating mode. The options available are Optimizer Mode, Single Rank Spare Mode, Multi Rank Spare Mode, Mirror Mode, and Dell Fault Resilient Mode. This option is set to Optimizer Mode by default.
2. Press F2 immediately after you see the following message: F2 = System Setup NOTE: If your operating system begins to load before you press F2, wait for the system to finish booting, and then restart your system and try again. 3. On the System Setup Main Menu screen, click System BIOS. 4. On the System BIOS screen, click Processor Settings.
Option Description Dead Line LLC Alloc Enables or disables the Dead Line LLC Alloc. This option is set to Enabled by default. You can enable this option to enter the dead lines in LLC or disable the option to not enter the dead lines in LLC. Directory AtoS Enables or disables the Directory AtoS. AtoS optimization reduces remote read latencies for repeat read accesses without intervening writes. This option is set to Disabled by default.
Viewing SATA Settings To view the SATA Settings screen, perform the following steps: Steps 1. Power on, or restart your system. 2. Press F2 immediately after you see the following message: F2 = System Setup NOTE: If your operating system begins to load before you press F2, wait for the system to finish booting, and then restart your system and try again. 3. On the System Setup Main Menu screen, click System BIOS. 4. On the System BIOS screen, click SATA Settings.
2. Press F2 immediately after you see the following message: F2 = System Setup NOTE: If your operating system begins to load before you press F2, wait for the system to finish booting, and then restart your system and try again. 3. On the System Setup Main Menu screen, click System BIOS. 4. On the System BIOS screen, click NVMe Settings. NVMe Settings details About this task The NVMe Settings screen details are explained as follows: Option Description NVMe Mode Enables you to set the NVMe mode.
Option Description Boot Mode Enables you to set the boot mode of the system. CAUTION: Switching the boot mode may prevent the system from booting if the operating system is not installed in the same boot mode. If the operating system supports UEFI, you can set this option to UEFI. Setting this field to BIOS enables compatibility with non-UEFI operating systems. This option is set to UEFI by default. NOTE: Setting this field to UEFI disables the BIOS Boot Settings menu.
Changing boot order About this task You may have to change the boot order if you want to boot from a USB key or an optical drive. The following instructions may vary if you have selected BIOS for Boot Mode. Steps 1. On the System Setup Main Menu screen, click System BIOS > Boot Settings > UEFI/BIOS Boot Settings > UEFI/ BIOS Boot Sequence. 2. Click Boot Option Settings > BIOS > Boot Sequence. 3. Click Exit, and then click Yes to save the settings on exit.
Option UEFI HTTP Settings Description Options Description HTTP Device (n = Enables or disables the device. When enabled, a UEFI HTTP boot option is created 1 to 4) for the device. HTTP Device n Enables you to control the configuration of the HTTP device. Settings (n = 1 to Table 1. HTTP Device n Settings screen details 4) Option Description Interface Specifies the NIC interface used for this device. Protocol Enables you to select protocol IPv4 or IPv6. This is set to IPv4 by default.
Integrated Devices You can use the Integrated Devices screen to view and configure the settings of all integrated devices including the video controller, integrated RAID controller, and the USB ports. Viewing Integrated Devices To view the Integrated Devices screen, perform the following steps: Steps 1. Power on, or restart your system. 2.
Option Description NOTE: When there are multiple add-in graphic cards installed in the system, the first card discovered during PCI enumeration is selected as the primary video. You might have to re-arrange the cards in the slots in order to control which card is the primary video. Current State of Embedded Video Controller Displays the current state of the embedded video controller. The Current State of Embedded Video Controller option is a read-only field.
Option Description Table 3. Slot Disablement (continued) Slot Bifurcation Option Description Slot 6 Enables or disables or only the boot driver is disabled for the PCIe slot 6. This option is set to Enabled by default. Slot 7 Enables or disables or only the boot driver is disabled for the PCIe slot 7. This option is set to Enabled by default. Slot 8 Enables or disables or only the boot driver is disabled for the PCIe slot 8. This option is set to Enabled by default.
NOTE: If your operating system begins to load before you press F2, wait for the system to finish booting, and then restart your system and try again. 3. On the System Setup Main Menu screen, click System BIOS. 4. On the System BIOS screen, click Serial Communication.
2. Press F2 immediately after you see the following message: F2 = System Setup NOTE: If your operating system begins to load before you press F2, wait for the system to finish booting, and then restart your system and try again. 3. On the System Setup Main Menu screen, click System BIOS. 4. On the System BIOS screen, click System Profile Settings.
Option Description NOTE: This option can be disabled only if the C States option in the Custom mode is set to disabled. NOTE: When C States is set to Enabled in the Custom mode, changing the Monitor/Mwait setting does not impact the system power or performance. CPU Enables or disables the CPU Interconnect Bus Link Power Management. This option is set to Enabled by Interconnect Bus default. Link Power Management PCI ASPM L1 Link Enables or disables the PCI ASPM L1 Link Power Management.
Option Description Setup Password Enables you to set the system setup password. This option is read-only if the password jumper is not installed in the system. Password Status Enables you to lock the system password. This option is set to Unlocked by default. TPM Security NOTE: The TPM menu is available only when the TPM module is installed. Enables you to control the reporting mode of the TPM. The TPM Security option is set to Off by default.
Option Description Secure Boot Policy When Secure Boot policy is set to Standard, the BIOS uses the system manufacturer key and certificates to authenticate pre-boot images. When Secure Boot policy is set to Custom, the BIOS uses the userdefined key and certificates. Secure Boot policy is set to Standard by default. Secure Boot Mode Enables you to configure how the BIOS uses the Secure Boot Policy Objects (PK, KEK, db, dbx).
NOTE: Password protection does not take effect until the system reboots. Using your system password to secure the system About this task If you have assigned a setup password, the system accepts your setup password as an alternate system password. Steps 1. Power on or reboot your system. 2. Type the system password and press Enter. Next steps When Password Status is set to Locked, type the system password and press Enter when prompted at reboot.
Redundant OS Control In the Redundant OS Control screen you can set the redundant OS information. This enables you to set up a physical recovery disk on the system. Viewing Redundant OS Control To view the Redundant OS Control screen, perform the following steps: Steps 1. Power on, or restart your system. 2.
Miscellaneous Settings You can use the Miscellaneous Settings screen to perform specific functions such as updating the asset tag and changing the system date and time. Viewing Miscellaneous Settings To view the Miscellaneous Settings screen, perform the following steps: Steps 1. Power on, or restart your system. 2.
For more information about using iDRAC, see Dell Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller User's Guide at www.dell.com/ poweredgemanuals.
Menu item Description One-shot Boot Menu Enables you to access boot menu, where you can select a one-time boot device to boot from. Launch System Setup Enables you to access System Setup. Launch Lifecycle Controller Exits the Boot Manager and invokes the Dell Lifecycle Controller program. System Utilities Enables you to launch System Utilities menu such as System Diagnostics and UEFI shell. One-shot UEFI boot menu One-shot UEFI boot menu enables you to select a boot device to boot from.
