Dell EMC PowerEdge C6420 BIOS and UEFI Reference Guide Part Number: E43S Series Regulatory Type: E43S001 December 2020 Rev.
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. Dram Refresh Delay By enabling the CPU memory controller to delay running the REFRESH commands, you can improve the performance for some workloads. By minimizing the delay time, it is ensured that the memory controller runs the REFRESH command at regular intervals.
Processor Settings details About this task The Processor Settings screen details are explained as follows: Option Description Logical Processor Enables or disables the logical processors and displays the number of logical processors. If this option is set to Enabled, the BIOS displays all the logical processors. If this option is set to Disabled, the BIOS displays only one logical processor per core. This option is set to Enabled by default.
Option Description Number of Cores per Processor Controls the number of enabled cores in each processor. This option is set to All by default. Processor Core Speed Specifies the maximum core frequency of the processor. Processor n NOTE: Depending on the number of processors, there might be up to two processors listed.
Option Description Security Freeze Lock Enables you to send Security Freeze Lock command to the embedded SATA drives during POST. This option is applicable only for AHCI mode. This option is set to Enabled by default. Write Cache Enables or disables the command for the embedded SATA drives during POST. This option is set to Disabled by default. Port n Enables you to set the drive type of the selected device. For AHCI Mode or RAID Mode, BIOS support is always enabled.
Boot Settings You can use the Boot Settings screen to set the boot mode to either BIOS or UEFI. It also enables you to specify the boot order. ● UEFI: The Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) is a new interface between operating systems and platform firmware. The interface consists of data tables with platform related information, boot and runtime service calls that are available to the operating system and its loader.
Hard-disk Drive Placeholder Enables or disables the Hard-disk drive placeholder option. This option is set to Disabled by default. BIOS Boot Settings Enables or disables BIOS boot options. UEFI Boot Settings Enables or disables UEFI Boot options. The UEFI options include PXE boot devices. UEFI Boot Sequence Enables you to change the boot device order. Boot Options Enable/Disable Enables you to select the enabled or disabled boot devices. NOTE: This option is enabled only if the boot mode is BIOS.
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 Network Settings.
Option Description Table 2. UEFI iSCSI Settings screen details (continued) TLS Authentication Configuration Option Description iSCSI Device1 Settings Enables you to control the configuration of the iSCSI device. View and/or modify this device's boot TLS authentication mode. None means the HTTP server and the client will not authenticate each other for this boot. One way means the HTTP server will be authenticated by the client, while the client will not be authenticated by the server.
Option Description Embedded Video Controller Enables or disables the use of Embedded Video Controller as the primary display. When set to Enabled, the Embedded Video Controller is used as the primary display even if add-in graphic cards are installed. When set to Disabled, an add-in graphics card is used as the primary display. BIOS will output displays to both the primary add-in video and the embedded video during POST and pre-boot environment.
Serial Communication You can use the Serial Communication screen to view the properties of the serial communication port. Viewing Serial Communication To view the Serial Communication 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.
System Profile Settings You can use the System Profile Settings screen to enable specific system performance settings such as power management. Viewing System Profile Settings To view the System Profile Settings screen, perform the following steps: Steps 1. Power on, or restart your system. 2.
Option Description Energy Efficient Policy Enables you to select the Energy Efficient Policy option. Number of Turbo Boost Enabled Cores for Processor 1 Monitor/Mwait The CPU uses the setting to manipulate the internal behavior of the processor and determines whether to target higher performance or better power savings. This option is set to Balanced Performance by default.
System Security Settings details About this task The System Security Settings screen details are explained as follows: Option Description CPU AES-NI Improves the speed of applications by performing encryption and decryption by using the Advanced Encryption Standard Instruction Set (AES-NI). This option is set to Enabled by default. System Password Enables you to set the system password. This option is read-only if the password jumper is not installed in the system.
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).
6. In the Setup Password field, type your setup password and press Enter or Tab. A message prompts you to reenter the setup password. 7. Reenter the setup password, and click OK. 8. Press Esc to return to the System BIOS screen. Press Esc again. A message prompts you to save the changes. NOTE: Password protection does not take effect until the system reboots.
If you do not type the correct password in three attempts, the system displays the following message: Invalid Password! Number of unsuccessful password attempts: System Halted! Must power down. Password Invalid. Number of unsuccessful password attempts: Maximum number of password attempts exceeded.System halted. Even after you restart the system, the error message is displayed until the correct password is typed.
Option Description NOTE: BIOS will disable the device in hardware, so it cannot be accessed by the OS. Redundant OS Boot NOTE: This option is disabled if Redundant OS Location is set to None or if Redundant OS State is set to Hidden. When set to Enabled, BIOS boots to the device specified in Redundant OS Location. When set to Disabled, BIOS preserves the current boot list settings. This option is set to Disabled by default.
Option Description Power Cycle Request Enables or disables the Power Cycle Request. This option is set to None by default. iDRAC Settings utility The iDRAC settings utility is an interface to set up and configure the iDRAC parameters by using UEFI. You can enable or disable various iDRAC parameters by using the iDRAC settings utility. NOTE: Accessing some of the features on the iDRAC settings utility needs the iDRAC Enterprise License upgrade.
If your operating system begins to load before you press F11, allow the system to complete the booting, and then restart your system and try again. Boot Manager main menu Menu item Description Continue Normal Boot The system attempts to boot to devices starting with the first item in the boot order. If the boot attempt fails, the system continues with the next item in the boot order until the boot is successful or no more boot options are found.
