Dell EMC PowerEdge R550 BIOS and UEFI Reference Guide Part Number: E75S Regulatory Type: E75S001 July 2021 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. © 2021 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 System Setup....................................................................................................................................................................... 4 System BIOS................................................................................................................................................................... 5 iDRAC Settings utility......
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 BIOS To view the System BIOS screen, power on the system, press F2, and click System Setup Main Menu > System BIOS. Table 2. System BIOS details Option Description System Information Provides information about the system such as the system model name, BIOS version, and Service Tag. Memory Settings Specifies information and options related to the installed memory. Processor Settings Specifies information and options related to the processor such as speed and cache size.
Table 3. System Information details (continued) Option Description 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. Memory Settings To view the Memory Settings screen, power on the system, press F2, and click System Setup Main Menu > System BIOS > Memory Settings. Table 4.
Table 4. Memory Settings details (continued) Option Description Dark Memory: Total Memory Available Enables or Disables dark memory feature. Dark Memory feature allows software to change memory size. The option is set to Disabled in default, need to be enabled by personality module. Processor Settings To view the Processor Settings screen, power on the system, press F2, and click System Setup Main Menu > System BIOS > Processor Settings. Table 5.
Table 5. Processor Settings details (continued) Option Description DCU IP Prefetcher Enables or disables the Data Cache Unit (DCU) IP prefetcher. This option is set to Enabled by default. Sub NUMA Cluster Enables or disables the Sub NUMA Cluster. This option is set to Disabled by default. MADT Core Enumeration Specifies the MADT Core Enumeration. This option is set to default in Round Robin. UPI Prefetch Enables you to get the memory read started early on DDR bus.
Table 5. Processor Settings details (continued) Option Description x2APIC Mode Enables or disables x2APIC mode. This option is set to Enabled by default. NOTE: For two processors 64 cores configuration, x2APIC mode is not switchable if 256 threads are enabled (BIOS settings: All CCD, cores and logical processors enabled). AVX ICCP Pre-Grant License Enables or disables AVX ICCP Pre-Grant License. This option is set to Disabled by default.
Table 6. Processor n details Option Description Family-Model-Stepping Specifies the family, model, and stepping of the processor as defined by Intel. Brand Specifies the brand name. Level 2 Cache Specifies the total L2 cache. Level 3 Cache Specifies the total L3 cache. Number of Cores Specifies the number of cores per processor. Maximum Memory Capacity Specifies the maximum memory capacity per processor. Microcode Specifies the processor microcode version.
Table 9. NVMe Settings details Option Description NVMe mode Enables or disables the boot mode. The option is set to Non-RAID mode by default. BIOS NVMe driver Sets the drive type to boot the NVMe driver. The available options are Dell Qualified Drives and All Drives. This option is set to Dell Qualified Drives by default. 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.
Table 10. Boot Settings details Option Description Table 11. UEFI Boot Settings (continued) Option Description Boot Options Enable/Disable Enables you to select the enabled or disabled boot devices Choosing system boot mode System Setup enables you to specify one of the following boot modes for installing your operating system: ● UEFI boot mode (the default), is an enhanced 64-bit boot interface. If you have configured your system to boot to UEFI mode, it replaces the system BIOS. 1.
Table 12. Network Settings details (continued) Option Description PXE Device n (n = 1 to 4) Enables or disables the device. When enabled, a UEFI PXE boot option is created for the device. PXE Device n Settings(n = 1 to 4) Enables you to control the configuration of the PXE device. UEFI HTTP Settings Enables you to control the configuration of the UEFI HTTP device. HTTP Device n (n = 1 to 4) Enables or disables the device. When enabled, a UEFI HTTP boot option is created for the device.
Table 16. Integrated Devices details (continued) Option Description back USB ports; selecting All Ports Off (Dynamic) disables all front and back USB ports during POST. This option is set to All Ports On by default. When user accessible USB ports are set to All Ports Off (Dynamic) the Enable Front Ports Only option is enabled. ● Enable Front Ports Only: Enables or disables the front USB ports during the operating system runtime.
Table 16. Integrated Devices details (continued) Option Description is automatically used as the primary display even if the Embedded Video Controller setting is set to Disabled. SR-IOV Global Enable Enables or disables the BIOS configuration of Single Root I/O Virtualization (SR-IOV) devices. This option is set to Disabled by default. OS Watchdog Timer If your system stops responding, this watchdog timer aids in the recovery of your operating system.
Table 17. Serial Communication details (continued) Option Description The options available for System with serial COM port (DB9) are On without Console Redirection, On with Console Redirection via Com1, On with Console Redirection via Com2, Off, Auto. This option is set to Auto by default. Serial Port Address Enables you to set the port address for serial devices. This option is set to Serial Device1=COM2, Serial Device 2=COM1 by default.
Table 18. System Profile Settings details (continued) Option Description Memory Frequency Sets the speed of the system memory. You can select Maximum Performance, Maximum Reliability or a specific speed. This option is set to Maximum Performance by default. Turbo Boost Enables or disables the processor to operate in the turbo boost mode. This option is set to Enabled by default. C1E Enables or disables the processor to switch to a minimum performance state when it is idle.
Table 19. System Security details (continued) Option Description TPM Information Indicates the type of Trusted Platform Module, if present. Table 20. TPM 1.2 security information Option Description TPM Information 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.
Table 22. System Security details (continued) Option Description Memory Encryption Enables or disables the Intel Total Memory Encryption (TME). When option is set to Disabled, BIOS disables both TME and MK-TME technology. When option is set to Enabled, BIOS enables the TME technology. This option is set to Disabled by default. Intel(R) SGX Enables you to set the Intel Software Guard Extension (SGX) option.
Table 22. System Security details (continued) Option Description specification. When set to Controlled, selected UEFI variables are protected in the environment and new UEFI boot entries are forced to be at the end of the current boot order. In-Band Manageability Interface When set to Disabled , this setting hides the Management Engine's (ME), HECI devices, and the system's IPMI devices from the operating system.
Creating a system and setup password Prerequisites Ensure that the password jumper is enabled. The password jumper enables or disables the system password and setup password features. For more information, see the System board jumper settings section. NOTE: If the password jumper setting is disabled, the existing system password and setup password are deleted and you need not provide the system password to boot the system. Steps 1.
3. On the System Security screen, ensure that Password Status is set to Unlocked. 4. In the System Password field, alter or delete the existing system password, and then press Enter or Tab. 5. In the Setup Password field, alter or delete the existing setup password, and then press Enter or Tab. If you change the system and setup password, a message prompts you to reenter the new password. If you delete the system and setup password, a message prompts you to confirm the deletion. 6.
Miscellaneous Settings To view the Miscellaneous Settings screen, power on the system, press F2, and click System Setup Main Menu > System BIOS > Miscellaneous Settings. Table 25. Miscellaneous Settings details Option Description System Time Enables you to set the time on the system. System Date Enables you to set the date on the system. Asset Tag Specifies the asset tag and enables you to modify it for security and tracking purposes.
Boot Manager The Boot Manager option enables you to select boot options and diagnostic utilities. To enter Boot Manager, power on the system and press F11. Table 26. Boot Manager details Option 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.
