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Book.book Page 1 Friday, February 3, 2006 11:09 AM
Dell™ PowerEdge™ 2950 Systems
Hardware Owner’s Manual
www.dell.com | support.dell.com
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Book.book Page 2 Friday, February 3, 2006 11:09 AM Notes, Notices, and Cautions NOTE: A NOTE indicates important information that helps you make better use of your computer. NOTICE: A NOTICE indicates either potential damage to hardware or loss of data and tells you how to avoid the problem. CAUTION: A CAUTION indicates a potential for property damage, personal injury, or death. ____________________ Information in this document is subject to change without notice. © 2006 Dell Inc. All rig
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Book.book Page 3 Friday, February 3, 2006 11:09 AM Contents 1 About Your System. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Other Information You May Need . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Accessing System Features During Startup. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Front-Panel Features and Indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Hard-Drive Indicator Codes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Back-Panel Features and Indi
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Book.book Page 4 Friday, February 3, 2006 11:09 AM System and Setup Password Features. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Using the System Password . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Using the Setup Password . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Disabling a Forgotten Password. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Baseboard Management Controller Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Entering the BMC Setup Module . . . . . . .
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Book.book Page 5 Friday, February 3, 2006 11:09 AM System Fans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Removing a System Fan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Replacing a Cooling Fan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Cooling Shroud. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Removing the Cooling Shroud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Installing the Cooling Shroud . . . .
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Book.book Page 6 Friday, February 3, 2006 11:09 AM SCSI Tape Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 Removing and Installing an Internal SCSI Tape Drive . . . . . . . . . . . 86 Removing and Replacing the Tape Drive Cable Retention Bracket . . . . 88 System Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 General Memory Module Installation Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 Non-Optimal Memory Configurations . . . . . . .
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Book.book Page 7 Friday, February 3, 2006 11:09 AM 4 Troubleshooting Your System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 Safety First—For You and Your System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 Start-Up Routine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 Checking the Equipment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 Troubleshooting IRQ Assignment Conflicts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 Troubleshooting External Connections . . . .
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Book.book Page 8 Friday, February 3, 2006 11:09 AM 5 Running the System Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 Using Server Administrator Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 System Diagnostics Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 When to Use the System Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 Running the System Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132 System Diagnostics Testing Options. . . . .
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Book.book Page 9 Friday, February 3, 2006 11:09 AM Before You Call. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150 Contacting Dell. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152 Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177 Contents 9
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Book.book Page 10 Friday, February 3, 2006 11:09 AM 10 Contents
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Book.book Page 11 Friday, February 3, 2006 11:09 AM About Your System This section describes the physical, firmware, and software interface features that provide and ensure the essential functioning of your system. The physical connectors on your system’s front and back panels provide convenient connectivity and system expansion capability. The system firmware, applications, and operating systems monitor the system and component status and alert you when a problem arises. System condition
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Book.book Page 12 Friday, February 3, 2006 11:09 AM Updates are sometimes included with the system to describe changes to the system, software, and/or documentation. NOTE: Always check for updates on support.dell.com and read the updates first because they often supersede information in other documents. Release notes or readme files may be included to provide last-minute updates to the system or documentation or advanced technical reference material intended for experienced users or
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Book.book Page 13 Friday, February 3, 2006 11:09 AM Front-Panel Features and Indicators Figure 1-1 shows the controls, indicators, and connectors located behind the optional rack bezel on the system's front panel. Figure 1-1. Front-Panel Features and Indicators 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 0 2 4 1 3 5 Table 1-2. Front-Panel LED Indicators, Buttons, and Connectors Item Indicator, Button, or Connector Icon Description 1 Power-on indicator, power The power-on indicator lights when the system power button i
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Book.book Page 14 Friday, February 3, 2006 11:09 AM Table 1-2. Front-Panel LED Indicators, Buttons, and Connectors (continued) Item Indicator, Button, or Connector Icon Description 4 LCD panel Provides system ID, status information, and system error messages. The LCD lights during normal system operation. Both the systems management software and the identification buttons located on the front and back of the system can cause the LCD to flash blue to identify a particular system. The LCD
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Book.book Page 15 Friday, February 3, 2006 11:09 AM Hard-Drive Indicator Codes The hard-drive carriers have two indicators—the drive-activity indicator and the drive-status indicator. See Figure 1-2. In RAID configurations, the drive-status indicator lights to indicate the status of the drive. In non-RAID configurations, only the drive-activity indicator lights; the drive-status indicator is off. Figure 1-2. Hard-Drive Indicators 1 2 1 drive-status indicator (green 2 green drive-activity in
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Book.book Page 16 Friday, February 3, 2006 11:09 AM Table 1-3 lists the drive indicator patterns for RAID hard drives. Different patterns are displayed as drive events occur in the system. For example, if a hard drive fails, the "drive failed" pattern appears. After the drive is selected for removal, the "drive being prepared for removal" pattern appears, followed by the "drive ready for insertion or removal" pattern. After the replacement drive is installed, the "drive being prepared for
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Book.book Page 17 Friday, February 3, 2006 11:09 AM Back-Panel Features and Indicators Figure 1-3 shows the controls, indicators, and connectors located on the system's back panel. Figure 1-3. Back-Panel Features and Indicators 1 2 3 4 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 1 center PCI riser (slot 1) 2 left PCI riser (slot 2) 3 left PCI riser (slot 3) 4 power supplies (2) 5 system identification button 6 system status indicator 7 system status indicator 8 NIC2 connector 9 NIC1 connector connector 10 USB conn
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Book.book Page 18 Friday, February 3, 2006 11:09 AM Power Indicator Codes The power button on the front panel controls the power input to the system's power supplies. The power indicator lights green when the system is on. The indicators on the redundant power supplies show whether power is present or whether a power fault has occurred (see Figure 1-4). Table 1-4 lists the power supply indicator codes. Table 1-4. Redundant Power Supply Indicators Indicator Function Power supply status Green
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Book.book Page 19 Friday, February 3, 2006 11:09 AM NIC Indicator Codes Each NIC on the back panel has an indicator that provides information on network activity and link status. See Figure 1-5. Table 1-5 lists the NIC indicator codes. Figure 1-5. NIC Indicators 2 1 1 link indicator 2 activity indicator Table 1-5. NIC Indicator Codes Indicator Indicator Code Link and activity indicators are off The NIC is not connected to the network. Link indicator is green The NIC is connected to a valid l
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Book.book Page 20 Friday, February 3, 2006 11:09 AM Table 1-6. LCD Status Messages Code Text Causes Corrective Actions N/A SYSTEM NAME A 62-character string that can be This message is for information defined by the user in the System only. Setup program. You can change the system ID The SYSTEM NAME displays and name in the System Setup under the following conditions: program. See "Using the System Setup Program" on page 37. The system is powered on. The power is off and active POST
