Chapter 3. Configuring the System
This chapter describes how to configure basic components of your system for use.
Configuring the Video Display
The first time you start the system, your monitor displays a resolution of 1024 x 768. For the system to use the installed graphics controller at other display resolutions, you must configure the video display driver as described in this section.
Go to Display in the operating system's Control Panel to configure the video display driver, or right-click an open space on the operating system desktop and click Properties in the pop-up menu. You can change the settings for color depth, desktop size, font size, refresh rate, and display type of the system's video display. You can also determine which type of graphics controller is installed on your system.
See the graphics controller documentation delivered with the system, and any readme files delivered with the video display driver, for detailed configuration instructions. For more information on configuring the video display, see the operating system documentation and Help.
Resetting the Video Display Resolution
If the monitor connected to your system does not support a resolution of 1024 x 768, you can reset the video display to another resolution.
To reset the video display resolution:
Restart the system.
At the boot screen, select the VGA mode option, and then log on to the operating system.
Go to Display in the operating system's Control Panel.
Select a resolution appropriate for your system's monitor.
If prompted to restart the system, do so.
Changing the Default Video Display Driver
After configuring the video display and restarting the system, you may need to configure the system to use the installed video display driver by default.
To change the default video display driver:
Go to System in the operating system's Control Panel.
Under Startup/Shutdown, select the appropriate non-VGA option from the Startup list.
Correcting Initial Video Display Problems
If the system's video display is black, not synchronized, or distorted after you restart the system, you may have a video configuration problem. Do not press ctrl-alt-del to log on. Instead, try to correct the problem by using the Last Known Good option to return the system to the last known good configuration recorded by the operating system.
To use the Last Known Good option:
Power down and restart the system.
Press the space bar when prompted to display the Last Known Good menu.
If using the Last Known Good option fails to correct the video display problems, you can obtain a functional video resolution by restarting the system in VGA mode.
To restart the system in VGA mode:
Power down and restart the system.
At the boot screen, select the VGA mode option.
After logging on in VGA mode, check for the following common problems and solutions:
A multi-sync monitor is selected, but a graphics display device with different video timings is connected to the system. Select a different monitor type.
The monitor selection is incorrect. Select a different monitor type.
There is not enough video display memory to support the selected resolution and color depth. Install and reconfigure the video display to use a lower resolution and color depth.
Restart the system and, when the boot screen displays, select the appropriate non-VGA version of the operating system to use the reconfigured video display driver. If problems persist, contact the Customer Response Center for help.
The system has a PCI audio controller integrated on the system board. The required driver software was installed before shipment.
If you connect a microphone and speakers to their ports on the I/O panel, you can use the audio mixer software to control the speaker volume, the microphone input level, and other system audio features. The audio mixer is available from the operating system's taskbar tray. You can also configure audio levels by using the operating system's Volume Control and audio control programs. The Volume Control is available from the operating system's taskbar tray.
For more information on using the audio control programs, see the operating system documentation and Help. For more information on the audio controller, see the System Board Guide.
The system has a 10 Mbit/100 Mbit Ethernet network controller integrated on the system board. The network controller features remote management and Wake-On-LAN capabilities. The required driver software was installed before shipment.
Before you configure networking, ensure that the system is connected to the network. Then go to Network in the operating system's Control Panel to configure networking. Follow the instructions provided to set up the system to connect to and communicate over a network. Be sure to set up the appropriate network protocols, such as TCP/IP, for the network to which you are connecting the system.
After installing network protocols, you may need to reinstall the appropriate operating system Service Pack software as recommended by Microsoft. See the Service Pack documentation delivered with the system for more information.
See the operating system documentation and Help for more information on setting up the operating system to use a network. For more information on the network controller, see the System Board Guide.
Configuring Peripheral Devices
If you install additional peripheral devices in the system, you will have to install and configure the associated driver software. You may also have to install or configure any associated application software to use the devices.
You can use the default backup tools provided with the operating system to run a tape drive. Go to Backup on the Administrative Tools program menu. See the operating system documentation and Help for more information.
See the documentation delivered with the peripheral devices for information on installing and configuring driver software and associated application software. See the operating system documentation and Help for information on using peripheral devices with the operating system.
Configuring RAID Disk Drives
In a RAID system, up to four removable low-voltage differential (LVD) SCSI disk drives are installed in the system's disk drive cage. An installed RAID controller card manages these disk drives. The RAID controller provides the system with RAID capabilities such as disk striping, mirroring, and redundancy for the removable disk drives.
The disk drive locations in the disk drive cage are numbered from 0 to 3, starting with the right-most or top-most location. Each location also has a corresponding SCSI ID number, which is determined by the hardware configuration of the disk drive cage and the RAID controller to which it is connected.
Each installed removable disk drive has a label to identify it. The spaces above ADP, CH, and ID are filled in before shipment to identify the drives.
ADP identifies the RAID controller connected to the disk drive cage.
CH identifies the RAID controller's SCSI bus channel.
ID identifies the disk drive's SCSI ID.
Up to four removable disk drives may be installed and configured with the RAID controller software at the factory. These disk drives are configured to appear as one logical disk drive in Window NT Disk Administrator. The logical disk drive has a 2 GB NTFS system disk partition. The rest of the logical disk drive is formatted as one NTFS partition, for a total of two partitions.
The default configuration for factory-installed RAID disk drives is as follows:
You can use the RAID controller software to manage the RAID disk drives.
The following table shows the correlation between the disk drive locations in the disk drive cage, the disk drive SCSI IDs, and disk drive IDs in the RAID controller BIOS and the RAID controller software.
Table 3-1. RAID Disk Drives
Disk Drive Location
| Disk Drive SCSI ID
| Disk Drive Label
| RAID Controller Target ID
|
|---|
0 (right or top)
| 0
| ADP 0, CH 0, ID 0
| 1
|
1
| 1
| ADP 0, CH 0, ID 1
| 2
|
2
| 2
| ADP 0, CH 0, ID 2
| 4
|
3 (left or bottom)
| 4
| ADP 0, CH 0, ID 4
| 5
|
 | Note: SCSI ID 3 and RAID controller target ID 3 are reserved for the SAF-TE card on the disk drive cage.
|
For more information on configuring and managing the RAID disk drives and using the RAID controller software, see the RAID controller documentation delivered with the system.
If you have more than one hard disk drive or CD-ROM drive, you may need to reassign system drive letters. See the operating system Help for more information.
To change drive letters:
Exit all applications currently running on your system.
Go to Disk Administrator in the Administrative Tools program menu.
Select a hard disk drive or the CD-ROM drive.
From the Tools menu, click Assign Drive Letter.
| Note: If you select the current drive or an otherwise locked drive, you must restart the system to complete the drive letter reassignment.
|
Select a new drive letter to assign to the drive from the list. Click OK, and then click Yes to continue.
If necessary, click OK, and then click Yes.
Repeat steps 2 through 6 for each drive letter assignment that you want to change.
Click Partition, then click Exit. If necessary, restart the system to complete the drive letter reassignments.
Changing Virtual Memory Settings
If you have more than one hard disk drive, you may need to change size and location of your virtual memory page file. See operating system Help for more information.
Consider the following before changing page file settings:
The size of the page file. If your system is equipped with a large amount of RAM, Setup might create a page file that is unnecessarily large.
Drive letter reassignments. If you reassigned your drive letters, you may find it necessary to adjust your page file settings.
To change the size and location of the virtual memory page file:
Go to System in the operating system's Control Panel.
Under Performance, click Change.
Click a drive letter in the list, and then type new values in the Initial Size and Maximum Size text boxes.
Click Set.
Repeat steps 3 and 4 for any additional drives in the list.
Click Close, and then click OK.
When prompted, click Yes to restart the system with the new settings, or click No to continue with other tasks and use the new settings the next time you restart the system.
Configuring the SCSI Controller
The system has a dual-channel SCSI controller integrated on the system board. Depending on your system's hardware configuration, this low-voltage differential (LVD) controller manages internal and external Ultra, Ultra2, and Ultra3 SCSI peripheral devices. You may need to use the SCSI Configuration Utility to configure the operation of SCSI peripherals connected to the controller.
You may need to change SCSI controller parameters for a single SCSI peripheral device:
If you are advised to do so by technical support or by the vendor documentation.
If the SCSI device does not negotiate properly with the controller.
If you exceed the maximum cable length for connecting SCSI devices to the system. See Chapter 8, “Upgrading the System” for more information.
If you connect non-Ultra SCSI peripheral devices to the system.
To run the SCSI Configuration Utility:
Press ctrl+c when prompted during system boot.
To get online help in the SCSI Configuration Utility:
Press f1 to see information on the item currently highlighted on screen.
Creating or Updating an Emergency Repair Disk
If you did not create an Emergency Repair Disk during Setup, you should do so after completing Setup and configuring the system. See the operating system documentation and Help for information on creating an Emergency Repair Disk.
You can use the files on the Emergency Repair Disk to restore the contents of the operating system registry and the standard operating system driver software. You should update the Emergency Repair Disk frequently, especially after adding or changing system hardware or software.
The system's basic input/output system (BIOS) records basic system operating parameters, such as the amount of memory, the boot sequence, and the type of video display. The BIOS is stored in flash-programmable memory, and reads the system parameters in the system's complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) memory. When you power off the system, a battery provides power to CMOS memory to retain the system parameters. Each time you power on the system, the BIOS uses these stored parameters to configure the system for operation.
The BIOS Setup program, which is also stored in flash-programmable memory, allows you to manually change the system operating parameters. You can run
the BIOS Setup program as the system boots, during the system's power-on self-test (POST). For more information on the BIOS Setup program and how to use it to configure the BIOS, see the System Board Guide.
