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Introduction: Dell™ OptiPlex™ GX100 System User's Guide
Dell OptiPlex GX100 Managed PC systems are designed
around the Intel® Celeron™ microprocessors and offer dependability and customization
for networked environments. Each computer system uses a high-performance Peripheral
Component Interconnect (PCI) design that allows you to configure the computer system to
your initial requirements and then add Dell-supported upgrades as necessary.
Your system offers the following features:
- Socketed Celeron microprocessor.
- System memory of up to 512 megabytes (MB) on
synchronous dynamic random-access memory (SDRAM) dual in-line memory modules (DIMMs) in
the two DIMM sockets on the system board.
- Integrated Intel Direct AGP Graphics Accelerator with Dynamic Video
Memory (DVM) technology architecture.
- Self-Monitoring and Analysis Reporting Technology II (SMART II)
support, which warns you at system start-up if your hard-disk drive has become unreliable.
Hard-disk drives shipped with OptiPlex GX100 systems are SMART
II-compliant.
- Ultra Advanced Technology Attachment (ATA)/66 support, which allows
storage devices to transfer data at speeds up to 66 MB per second (MB/sec).
- Full compliance with PCI specification 2.2.
- Full compliance with Advanced Configuration and Power Interface
(ACPI) specification 1.0A.
- Remote Wake Up capability for
both integrated network interface controllers (NICs) and add-in NIC cards. When the Remote
Wake Up option is enabled in embedded System Setup, the
system can be turned on from a server management console.
Remote Wake Up capability also allows remote computer setup,
software downloading and installation, file updates, and asset tracking after business
hours and on weekends when network traffic is at a minimum.
- Managed boot agent (MBA), which allows the system to boot from one of
four network preboot environment protocols: Preboot eXecution Environment (PXE), Remote
Program Load (RPL), BootP, or Novell® NetWare® Remote Boot.
- Remote system alerts, which allow the system to transmit special
predetermined network messages regarding its operating condition.
- Universal Serial Bus (USB) capability, which can simplify connecting
peripheral devices such as mice, printers, and computer speakers. The system basic
input/output system (BIOS) provides support for USB keyboards and mice in MS-DOS® and
other non-Windows® environments. To use this capability, enable the USB support in the
BIOS setup.
- Dell OptiFrame™ chassis for easy disassembly and improved
serviceability.
For additional hardware features, see "Technical
Specifications."
The following software is included with your Dell computer system:
- A BIOS, which resides in flash memory and can be upgraded by
diskette, or remotely over a network, if required.
- Bus-mastering enhanced integrated drive electronics (EIDE) drivers to
improve performance by off-loading certain functions from the microprocessor during
multithreaded operation (when several applications are running simultaneously).
- Embedded System Setup for quickly viewing
and changing the system configuration. System Setup also provides several enhanced security features (a setup password, a system password, a
system-password lock option, a write-protect option for diskette drives, and display of
the system's service tag number).
- Video drivers designed to support the integrated Intel Direct AGP
Graphics Accelerator.
- Network device drivers for several operating systems.
- Desktop Management Interface (DMI) support, which enables the remote
management of your computer system's software and hardware.
Your Dell OptiPlex GX100 Managed PC system is designed for
out-of-the-box manageability. To make managing your system as easy as possible, the system
is shipped with the DMI agent enabled and active, which allows a remote administrator to
access and change system settings. However, without the proper precautions, a system with
an active DMI agent is vulnerable to unauthorized changes. For this reason, Dell strongly
recommends that you enable and use the Setup
Password to prevent unauthorized changes to system settings.
The following subsections describe the hardware and software
manageability features available for your system:
The Dell OpenManage IT Assistant program (which is available as a
download from the Dell Web site at http:\\www.dell.com or as a
Dell-installed option on your hard-disk drive) is the Dell software-management application
interface for DMI. It allows you to manage system-level information, such as system
configuration information and MIF database values.
Fault management features of the Dell OpenManage IT Assistant
include the following:
- Alerts to warn you about events generated by SMART drives on a local
or remote system
- An event log that stores events in a text file and reports the
following information about events: System Name, Component Name,
Date and Time, Event Type, Event Severity,
Event Class, and Event System
Configuration management features of the Dell OpenManage IT
Assistant program include the following:
- Remote Wake Up support, which allows network administrators to
remotely turn on Managed PC systems with Remote Wake Up capability in a Dell DMI network
- A System Properties window that enables network
administrators to view, set, or disable certain hardware configuration settings for the
local and remote systems in a Dell DMI network
- Support for the Microsoft® System Management Server (SMS), which
allows the exporting of one or more groups to an SMS directory that the SMS administrator
can access
- A monitor component for systems running Windows 98 or Windows 95 and
having a display data channel (DDC)-compliant video subsystem and monitor
- Automated inventory control of one or more groups for the remote
systems in a Dell DMI network
Network administrators can automate inventory to occur every day,
week, or month at a certain hour, on the hour; or you can enable inventory as needed. The
Dell OpenManage IT Assistant program creates a text file for the group(s) and saves it to
a user-defined directory.
- Support for the application program used to create user-definable
attributes (UDAs)
Asset management features of the Dell OpenManage IT Assistant
include the following:
- Support that enables network administrators to remotely view, enter,
and modify an asset tag for a remote system in a Dell DMI network
- Automated and manual mapping of one or more groups to a user-defined
directory
Security management features of the Dell OpenManage IT Assistant
include password security that enables network administrators to maintain standard
attribute values for the local and remote systems in a Dell DMI network.
For more information about the Dell OpenManage IT Assistant, see the
online Dell OpenManage IT Assistant documentation that accompanied the software.
The 3Com® MBA supports multiple preboot environments and allows
network administrators to boot the system from a network server.
See "Network Interface Controller"
for more information about MBA.
Remote Wake Up allows you to remotely turn on a
Managed PC system that is either in a sleep state or soft-off state. The ability to turn
on Managed PC systems remotely allows you to perform remote computer setup, software
downloading and installation, file updates, and asset tracking at any time.
To use the Remote Wake Up feature, each Managed PC system must
contain a NIC that supports Remote Wake Up. You must also enable the Remote Wake
Up option in System Setup.
 |
NOTE: This feature does not work if the system is
shut off using a power strip or surge protector. |
With the advent of ACPI technology, Microsoft implemented a new
wake-up method called pattern byte matching (PBM). When PBM is enabled, there is the
potential for a local area network (LAN) user to wake up another system that is in standby
mode. The following information explains wake-up technology and its functionality on your
Dell system under various operating systems (OS).
Remote Wake Up, also known as Wakeup On LAN, allows a network
administrator to start a system remotely using a LAN signal from a server management
console. This capability provides for remote computer access after hours and on weekends
when LAN traffic is typically at a minimum.
Wakeup On LAN originally used a technology known as Magic Packet,
which sends a data packet directly to a system. This packet consists of data that has 16
repetitions of the system's media access control (MAC) layer address. The MAC address is
unique to the network adapter in the system so the Magic Packet wakes only the system
targeted for start-up. When the network adapter receives and decodes this packet, it sends
a power management event (PME) signal to the system that brings it back to full power and
boots the system.
PBM provides the wake-up packet for systems that support ACPI. The
system downloads a series of patterns to the network adapter, and the network adapter
monitors for the arrival of these patterns in a packet. If it finds these patterns, the
network adapter generates a PME signal to wake up the system.
PBM wake-up technology is much different from Magic Packet wake-up
technology. A Magic Packet is not a regular network data packet. Magic Packet technology
starts a system when a network administrator sends the data packet from a management
station.
Wake from Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) and Wake from NetBIOS
name lookup patterns are available in the PBM method currently provided in Windows 98
Second Edition (SE). ARP or NetBIOS lookup packets are standard features of network
activity and can wake up suspended systems without action from an administrator. For
example, several systems may share hard-disk drives in a standard work group scenario. If
a system is in standby mode when someone on the network searches for that system using Network
Neighborhood or clicks the system icon, it can generate an ARP or a NetBIOS name
lookup packet that wakes up the target system.
Current wake-up patterns allowed by the Network Device Class Power
Management Specification are the following:
- Wake from NetBIOS name lookup
The specification also defines Magic Packet as a wake-up method.
Wake-up technology that uses PBM is controlled by the Microsoft Windows OS because the OS
programs the patterns. Therefore, PBM only works in systems that use the Windows OS with
ACPI enabled. For more information on PBM, please refer to the Network Device Class Power
Management Specification.
To change Remote Wake Up options, enter System
Setup by pressing <F2> during the start-up boot sequence. Tables 1 and 2 define
remote wake-up functions for each Windows operating system and system power state
combination.
Table 1. Network Driver Interface Specification (NDIS) 4.0
Driver
| System Setup—Remote Wake
Up On |
Windows 95 OS |
Windows NT® 4.0 OS |
| Wake from Off—Magic Packet |
Yes |
Yes |
| Wake from Off—PBM |
No |
No |
| Wake from Suspend |
No |
No |
| NOTES: When Remote Wake Up is set
to Off, all wake-up events are disabled. Wake
from NetBIOS name lookup is not available in the Windows 95 or Windows NT 4.0 operating
systems. |
Table 2. NDIS 5.0 Driver with ACPI Enabled
System Setup—
Remote Wake Up Off |
Windows 98 OS |
Windows 98 SE OS |
Windows 2000 OS |
| Wake from standby (S1)—Magic Packet |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
| Wake from standby (S1)—PBM |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
| Wake from shutdown (S5)—Magic Packet |
No |
No |
No |
| Wake from shutdown (S5)—PBM |
No |
No |
No |
System Setup—
Remote Wake Up On |
Windows 98 OS |
Windows 98 SE OS |
Windows 2000 OS |
| Wake from standby (S1)—Magic Packet |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
| Wake from standby (S1)—PBM |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
| Wake from shutdown (S5)—Magic Packet |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Wake from shutdown (S5)—PBM |
No |
No |
No |
Remote System Alert
Remote System Alert allows the system to send to a remote
management console certain predetermined messages about its operating condition
prior to system start-up (system boot). For example, the system can transmit an
alert if the computer cover is removed.
To use the Remote System Alert feature, each Managed PC system must
contain an integrated NIC that supports Remote System Alert.
|
NOTE: This feature does not work if the system is
shut off using a power strip or surge protector. |
Auto Power On enables you to turn on the computer
system automatically on certain days of the week at a preset time. You can set Auto
Power On to turn on the system either every day or every Monday through Friday.
|
NOTE: This feature does not work if the system is
shut off using a power strip or surge protector. |
Chassis intrusion alerts notify you if a local or remote system's
chassis has been opened.
CIM Support
CIM allows you to access system management information if your
system is running Microsoft® Windows 98 or any other Windows operating system that
includes the Web-Based Enterprise Management (WBEM) core components. For information about
the WBEM core components and how to install them, see the Microsoft World Wide Web site at
http:\\www.microsoft.com.
For more information about CIM support, see the Dell OpenManage
Client Instrumentation Version 5.0 User's Guide installed in the Dell
Documents folder on your hard-disk drive.
Configuration change alerts generate warning messages if a local or
remote system has a change in hardware configuration.
Asset Info uses the nonproprietary DMI standard to allow you to
record and track costs related to your system. The cost-related information is stored in
the cost of ownership Management Information Format (coo.mif) file on
your system's hard-disk drive. For more information about Asset Info and the COO MIF
standard, see the online "Dell OpenManage Client Instrumentation Version 5.0
User's Guide."
Remote flash BIOS allows a network administrator to perform remote
BIOS upgrades to systems on a network.
Remote system configuration features allow remote changes to the
system asset tag, boot sequence, property ownership tag, and System Setup settings and
remote updates to the system BIOS.
Prefailure alerts generate warning messages about potential failures
by the system DIMMs and SMART II hard-disk drives.
Certain configurations of Dell computer systems comply with the
requirements set forth by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for energy-efficient
computers. If the front panel of your computer bears the ENERGY STAR® Emblem (see Figure
1), your original configuration complies with these requirements and all ENERGY STAR®
power management features of the computer are enabled.
|
NOTES: As an ENERGY STAR® Partner, Dell Computer
Corporation has determined that this product meets the ENERGY STAR® guidelines for energy
efficiency. Any Dell computer bearing the ENERGY
STAR® Emblem is certified to comply with EPA ENERGY STAR® requirements as
configured when shipped by Dell. Any changes you make to this configuration (such
as installing additional expansion cards or drives) may increase the system's power
consumption beyond the limits set by the EPA's ENERGY STAR® Computers program. |
Figure 1. ENERGY STAR® Emblem
The EPA's ENERGY STAR® Computers program is a joint effort between
the EPA and computer manufacturers to reduce air pollution by promoting energy-efficient
computer products. The EPA estimates that use of ENERGY STAR® computer products can save
computer users up to two billion dollars annually in electricity costs. In turn, this
reduction in electricity usage can reduce emissions of carbon dioxide, the gas primarily
responsible for the greenhouse effect, and sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, which are
the two primary causes of acid rain.
Computer users can also help to reduce electricity usage and its
side effects by turning off their computer systems when they are not in use for extended
periods of time—particularly at night and on weekends.
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