Dell EMC PowerEdge C6420_FSM

Dell EMC PowerEdge C6420
Field Service Manual
Regulatory Model: E43S Series

Regulatory Type: E43S001
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. Other trademarks may be trademarks of their respective owners.
April 2020
Rev. A08
Contents
1 Product overview......................................................................................................................... 6
Target market........................................................................................................................................................................ 6
Product positioning..........................................................................................................................................................6
Product comparison.............................................................................................................................................................. 7
Product features....................................................................................................................................................................8
Supported operating systems.............................................................................................................................................. 9
System information label..................................................................................................................................................... 10
2 Field service information............................................................................................................. 13

Field service overview......................................................................................................................................................... 13
Chassis Overview................................................................................................................................................................. 13
Front view of the Dell EMC PowerEdge C6420 enclosure...................................................................................... 14
Back view of the enclosure with sleds.........................................................................................................................14
Inside the enclosure....................................................................................................................................................... 15
System board diagnostic LED indicators.....................................................................................................................16
Safety precautions............................................................................................................................................................... 16
Recommended tools............................................................................................................................................................ 21
System diagnostics.............................................................................................................................................................. 21
Dell Embedded System Diagnostics.............................................................................................................................21
Need to know.......................................................................................................................................................................22
Critical callouts............................................................................................................................................................... 22
Common error messages..............................................................................................................................................33
Version control............................................................................................................................................................... 34
Startup or Shutdown sequence...................................................................................................................................34
Diagnostics and indicators..................................................................................................................................................36
Drive indicator codes.....................................................................................................................................................36
Network ports indicator codes.....................................................................................................................................37
Power Supply Unit indicator codes............................................................................................................................. 38
System board diagnostic LED indicators.................................................................................................................... 38
Enhanced Preboot System Assessment.....................................................................................................................38
Jumpers and connectors ...................................................................................................................................................40
System board jumper settings..................................................................................................................................... 40
System board connectors............................................................................................................................................. 41
Disabling forgotten password...................................................................................................................................... 42
Disassembly and reassembly.............................................................................................................................................. 42
Dell EMC PowerEdge C6420 sled............................................................................................................................... 42
PERC battery................................................................................................................................................................. 45
Air shroud........................................................................................................................................................................47
System memory............................................................................................................................................................. 48
Support bracket.............................................................................................................................................................49
Linking board and PCIe cable........................................................................................................................................51
Processor and heat sink module..................................................................................................................................52
Expansion cards............................................................................................................................................................. 64
M.2 SSD module............................................................................................................................................................ 72
Contents 3
Mezzanine and OCP cards........................................................................................................................................... 76
System battery.............................................................................................................................................................. 80
System board..................................................................................................................................................................81
Trusted Platform Module............................................................................................................................................. 85
Updating BIOS..................................................................................................................................................................... 86
Installation.............................................................................................................................................................................86
Placemat......................................................................................................................................................................... 87
Rack rails......................................................................................................................................................................... 87
Initialization..................................................................................................................................................................... 90
Basic configuration.........................................................................................................................................................91
Accessing system information by using QRL...................................................................................................................92
Quick Resource Locator for C6400 and C6420 systems........................................................................................ 92
3 Technology and components....................................................................................................... 93

iDRAC9................................................................................................................................................................................. 93
iDRAC9 - New features................................................................................................................................................ 93
Dell Lifecycle Controller...................................................................................................................................................... 94
Server sled options..............................................................................................................................................................95
Sled Installation Guidelines........................................................................................................................................... 96
Chipset.................................................................................................................................................................................. 97
Memory.................................................................................................................................................................................98
System memory guidelines...........................................................................................................................................99
General memory module installation guidelines......................................................................................................... 99
Processor.............................................................................................................................................................................101
Supported processors................................................................................................................................................. 102
Storage................................................................................................................................................................................104
Internal storage.............................................................................................................................................................104
Boot Optimized Storage Subsystem...............................................................................................................................105
SAS backplane features.................................................................................................................................................... 106
Backplane expander board..........................................................................................................................................108
Midplane board.............................................................................................................................................................108
RAID configurations............................................................................................................................................................110
PCIe risers and slots............................................................................................................................................................111
PCIe Mezzanine slot...........................................................................................................................................................114
Video.....................................................................................................................................................................................114
Trusted Platform Module ................................................................................................................................................. 115
System board block diagram............................................................................................................................................. 116
4 BIOS and UEFI...........................................................................................................................117

Options to manage the pre-operating system applications...........................................................................................117
System Setup...................................................................................................................................................................... 117
Viewing System Setup................................................................................................................................................. 117
System Setup details.................................................................................................................................................... 117
System BIOS................................................................................................................................................................. 118
iDRAC Settings utility.................................................................................................................................................. 136
Device Settings............................................................................................................................................................ 136
Dell Lifecycle Controller.....................................................................................................................................................136
Embedded system management................................................................................................................................136
Boot Manager..................................................................................................................................................................... 137
4 Contents
Viewing Boot Manager................................................................................................................................................ 137
Boot Manager main menu........................................................................................................................................... 137
One-shot UEFI boot menu.......................................................................................................................................... 137
System Utilities............................................................................................................................................................. 137
PXE boot............................................................................................................................................................................. 137
5 Troubleshooting your system..................................................................................................... 138

Minimum configuration to POST .................................................................................................................................... 138
Troubleshooting system startup failure...........................................................................................................................138
Troubleshooting external connections............................................................................................................................ 138
Troubleshooting the video subsystem............................................................................................................................ 139
Troubleshooting a USB device......................................................................................................................................... 139
Troubleshooting a NIC.......................................................................................................................................................139
Troubleshooting a wet system......................................................................................................................................... 140
Troubleshooting a damaged system................................................................................................................................140
Troubleshooting the system battery................................................................................................................................ 141
Troubleshooting cooling problems.................................................................................................................................... 141
Troubleshooting system memory..................................................................................................................................... 141
Troubleshooting a micro SD card.....................................................................................................................................142
Troubleshooting a storage controller...............................................................................................................................143
Troubleshooting expansion cards.....................................................................................................................................143
Troubleshooting processors............................................................................................................................................. 144
Troubleshooting Manufacturing Mode............................................................................................................................144
System messages.............................................................................................................................................................. 144
6 Technical specifications............................................................................................................ 145

Dimensions of the Dell EMC PowerEdge C6420 sled...................................................................................................145
Chassis weight................................................................................................................................................................... 145
Processor specifications................................................................................................................................................... 146
System battery...................................................................................................................................................................146
Expansion bus specifications............................................................................................................................................ 146
Memory specifications...................................................................................................................................................... 146
Drives and storage specifications.................................................................................................................................... 146
Video specifications........................................................................................................................................................... 147
Environmental specifications............................................................................................................................................ 147
Standard operating temperature specifications....................................................................................................... 147
Expanded operating temperature specifications .................................................................................................... 155
Particulate and gaseous contamination specifications............................................................................................159
Maximum vibration specifications..............................................................................................................................159
Maximum shock specifications...................................................................................................................................160
Maximum altitude specifications................................................................................................................................ 160
Fresh Air Operation......................................................................................................................................................160
7 Documentation resources...........................................................................................................161
8 Document history......................................................................................................................163
Contents 5
1
Product overview
The PowerEdge C6420 is a 1U sled server that comes with the Intel Xeon Scalable processors. The Skylake processor is used with the
Intel Lewisburg chipset. The PowerEdge C6420 sled is a 2-chip platform that is made possible by the Skylake of processors that includes
integrated memory controller (IMC) and integrated I/O (IIO) such as PCIe and DMI.
The PowerEdge C6400 is the 2U chassis that supports up to four PowerEdge C6420 sleds.
Figure 1. PowerEdge C6420 front view
Topics:
• Target market
• Product comparison
• Product features
• Supported operating systems
• System information label
Target market
The PowerEdge C6420 is designed for high-performance computing fields such as technical computing, scientific research, oil and gas
exploration, financial services, and medical imaging, scale-out data centers, software defined storage, cloud builders, Web 2.0, and hosting
tasks. Other target workloads for the PowerEdge C6420 include web scale applications-SaaS and IaaS, High Performance Data Analytics
(HPDA), Financial and High Frequency Trading (HFT), and Hyper Converged Infrastructure (HCI)-vSAN and Private Cloud.
Product positioning
The PowerEdge C6420 is the ultimate compute performance server in a dense 2U, 4 nodes, package for High Performance Computing
(HPC) and hyper converge solutions. It features the Intel next generation Intel Xeon Scalable series processor.
6 Product overview
Product comparison
Table 1. Product comparison
Feature PowerEdge C6320 PowerEdge C6420
Processor Intel Xeon E5-2600v3 and v4 processor series Intel Xeon Scalable Processor
Number of processors 2 2
Number of cores 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 or 18 cores Up to 144 cores in a 2U chassis
Servers per chassis Up to four 2-socket servers Up to four 1U, dual socket servers
Form factor 2U with 4 nodes configuration 1U half-width sled for 6400 chassis
Memory • 16 x DDR4 • 16 x DDR4
• RDIMM, DDR4 • RDIMM, LRDIMM
• Min: 8 GB
• Max: 2 TB
RAID Controller • LSI 2008 x8 mezzanine • PERC H730P

• PERC H330 x16 PCIe • PERC H330
• PERC H730 x16 PCIe
Chipset Intel C612 chipset Intel C621 Lewisburg-1G

Hard Drive • SAS • SAS
• SATA • SATA
• SSD • NVMe
Hard Drive bays Up to 6 x 2.5-in. or 3 x 3.5-in. hot-swap HDDs • PowerEdge C6400 chassis supports
per node using direct backplane chassis. 24 x up to 12 x 3.5-in HDDs-SAS/SATA.
2.5-in. or 12 x 3.5-in. hard drives per C6300 • PowerEdge C6400 chassis supports
chassis up to 24 x 2.5-in HDDs-SAS/SATA/
NVMe.
Onboard Hard Drive controllers Intel C612: SATA or SSD Drives only S140
BOOT Drive options 1x SATA DOM internal non-hot plug drive 2 x M.2 card SATA interface module
directly connected to onboard SATA controller
(64GB option available) or 1x 1.8" internal non-
hot plug SSD directly connected to onboard
SATA controller (60GB, 100GB, 120GB options
available RTS+)
External I/O • 1 PCIe 3.0 x16 PCIe form factor • 1 x 1U x16 main PCIe riser
• 1 PCIe 3.0 x4 DCS Mezz form factor • 1 x x8 DCS Mezzanine slot
• 1 x x16 OCP Mezzanine slot
• 1x x16 PCIe buried riser
Management LAN One RJ45 for dedicated iDRAC management One RJ45 as shared LOM for host access
LAN and iDRAC dedicated management port.
Server Management • iDRAC8 with 1 x 1Gbps RJ45 connector • Remote management: iDRAC9
• Intel Node Manager 3.0 compliant Enterprise with Lifecycle Controller 3.0
• Systems management: IPMI 2.0
compliant Dell Open Manage
Essentials Dell Open Manage Mobile
I/O adapter options 1 Gb Ethernet: 1 Gb Ethernet:

• Intel Powerville I350 Dual Port 1GbE (PCIe • Intel I350-One port 1 GBe—
adapter) RJ45/1GBaseT
• Intel Powerville I350 Dual Port 1GbE PCIe
(mezzanine)
Product overview 7
Feature PowerEdge C6320 PowerEdge C6420
10 Gb Ethernet: • Intel Gigabit 2P I350-t adapter, 1GB,

low profile
• Intel Twinville X540 Dual Port 10GbE
10Base-T (mezzanine) • Intel Ethernet Converged Network
adapter XL710-Q2 low profile
InfiniBand:
10 Gb Ethernet:
• Mellanox ConnectX3 VPI Single Port (PCIe
adapter) • Intel Ethernet OCP Mezzanine, PCIe
x8
• Mellanox ConnectX3 VPI Dual Port (PCIe
adapter) • Intel Ethernet 10G 2P X550-T, low
profile adapter
• Mellanox ConnectX3 VPI Single Port
(mezzanine) • Intel Ethernet 10G 2p X520, low profile
adapter
• Mellanox ConnectX3 Pro Dual Port SFP+
(mezzanine) • Intel Ethernet X710 Dual Port 10GbE
SFP+ low profile adapter
• Intel Etherenet 25G 2P XXV710
Adapter low profile 3.0 SFP
InfiniBand:
• Mellanox Connect X4 LX-EN dual port
25G SFP+ OCP
• Mellanox Connect X4 LX-EN dual port
25G SP+, PCIe3, OCP
Embedded NIC • Intel 82599ES (Niantic) Ethernet Controller • Intel I350-One port 1 GBe—
- 2 x 10GbE (SFP+) RJ45/1GBaseT
USB 1 x External USB 3.0 2 x External USB 3.0

Power supplies Dual hot-plug redundant high-efficiency 1400 W Dual hot-plug redundant high-efficiency
or 1600 W PSUs 1600 W, 2000 W, and 2400 W
Fans Shared cooling with quick-disconnect 4 x 60 4 x 60 mm dual rotor fans. Fans are not
mm speed fans detectable with PWM control hot-plug redundant capable.
Chassis 2U rack mounted 2U rack mounted
Product features
Table 2. PowerEdge C6420 key features
Features Description
Availability • Cluster support
• ECC memory, RDIMM, and LRDIMM
• Hot-plug hard drives
• Dual power supply
Chassis • Supported in 2U 4N rack form factor on the PowerEdge C6400

chassis
CPU and chipset • Intel Xeon Processor Scalable processor. Up to 205 W server
processors.
• Lewisburg-1G chipset (C621)
• AHCI-8 x SATA 3 ports
• Trusted Platform Module (TPM): TPM 1.2 FIPS/CC/TCG; TPM
2.0 for China
• Intel intelligent Node Manager
Network • Intel I350 LOM
8 Product overview
Features Description
Drive bays • PowerEdge C6400 chassis support up to 12 x 3.5" hard drives.
Backplane configuration-SAS and SATA
• PowerEdge C6400 support up to 24 x 2.5" hard drives.
Backplane configuration-SAS, SATA, and NVMe
Video • Integrated NUVOTON NPCM750D with iDRAC9

• 512 MB shared with iDRAC9 application memory
• MiniDP port for iDRAC9 - video
Memory type • DDR4 LRDIMMs 2 DPC

• DDR4 LRDIMMs 1 DPC
• DDR4 RDIMMs 2 DPC
• DDR4 RDIMMs 1DPC
Memory capacity • Up to 2 TB—16 RDIMM/LRDIMM
Power supply • 1600 W

• 2000 W
• 2400 W
RAID controllers • SAS 12 GB HBA: Adapter for LP PCIe slot

• SAS HBA, H330, and H730P: Mini PERC for DCS slot
PCIe slot • 1 x 1U x16 main PCIe riser

• 1 x x8 DCS Mezzanine slot
• 1 x x16 OCP Mezzanine slot
• 1 x x16 PCIe buried riser
Supported operating systems

The Dell EMC PowerEdge C6420 supports the following operating systems:
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux
• SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
• Microsoft Windows Server with Hyper-V
• Canonical Ubuntu LTS
• VMware ESXi
• Citrix XenServer
NOTE: For more information about the specific versions and additions, see https://www.dell.com/support/home/
drivers/supportedos/poweredge-c6420
Product overview 9
System information label
System board information
Figure 2. System board connections
10 Product overview
Mechanical overview
Figure 3. Mechanical overview
Memory information
Figure 4. Memory information
Product overview 11
Jumper settings
Figure 5. Jumper settings
12 Product overview
2
Field service information
The information in this section is for field service personnel to perform any installation, diagnosis, and repair activities. Field personnel must
read the information and procedures in this section before performing the service tasks.
NOTE: Information in this section is required knowledge, but should never override regional or local Policy and
Procedure.
Topics:
• Field service overview
• Chassis Overview
• Safety precautions
• Recommended tools
• System diagnostics
• Need to know
• Diagnostics and indicators
• Jumpers and connectors
• Disassembly and reassembly
• Updating BIOS
• Installation
• Accessing system information by using QRL
Field service overview

Field service information for the system includes the following content:
• Product overview – High-level description of the system that includes features and functions, product-to-product comparison, and
supported operating systems, if applicable, and OEM branding information.
• OEM Branding - Information about the OEM feature includes the required special processes, notes, and callouts that the technician
must know before servicing a system.
• Safety precautions – Generic safety precautions for every service event.
• Tools and utilities – Hand tools, diagnostic tools or utilities, software applications, or GUIs that are required to service the system.
• Need to know – Specific callouts about the system, common error codes, version control for BIOS, firmware, or software for OEM,
required startup or shutdown sequence, new product technologies or components comparison.
• Diagnostics and indicators – Visual information about the health and state of the system.
• System board connectors – Information on system board connectors.
• System board jumper settings – Information on system board jumper settings.
• Disassembly and reassembly – Instructions for removing and replacing each replaceable part, with information needed before,
during, and after parts replacement.
• Update BIOS – Information and procedures for updating the BIOS after the system has been serviced.
• Restoring the service tag using easy restore - Information on updating the system Service Tag. This procedure is required when a
system board or chassis is replaced to make sure that the system functions properly and can be verified.
• Installation – Includes the Getting Started Guide, information about rack rails, cabling, system initialization, and basic configuration.
• Quick Resource Locator – Information on the Quick Resource Locator (QRL) feature.
Chassis Overview
The following section contains images and information about the front panel, back panel, and inside the system.
Field service information 13

Front view of the Dell EMC PowerEdge C6420 enclosure
Figure 6. Front view of the enclosure with 24 x 2.5-inch drives

1. Left control panel 2. Drive bay
3. Right control panel 4. EST tag
Figure 7. Front view of the enclosure with 12 x 3.5-inch drives

1. Left control panel 2. Drive bay
3. Right control panel 4. EST tag
Back view of the enclosure with sleds
Figure 8. Back view of the enclosure with sleds

1. Sled 3 2. Power supply unit (2)
3. Sled 1 4. Sled 2
5. Sled 4
NOTE: For more information about sled installation sequence, see Sled Installation Guidelines
14 Field service information

Inside the enclosure
CAUTION: This system must be operated with the system cover installed to ensure proper cooling.
Figure 9. Inside the PowerEdge C6400 enclosure

1. sled 2. right midplane
3. fan cage (2) 4. fan (4)
5. right linking board 6. backplane
7. drive cage 8. expander board
9. left linking board 10. left midplane
11. chassis management board 12. power interposer board
Figure 10. Inside the PowerEdge C6420 sled

1. sled handle 2. mezzanine card
3. SATA connector 4. memory slot (4)
5. Processor 1 and heat sink module 6. Processor 2 and heat sink module socket
7. supporting bracket 8. M.2 SATA riser
9. memory slot (4) 10. PCIe expansion card riser assembly

System board diagnostic LED indicators
The system board LED indicators provide status of the system when it is powered on, which help identify POST and hardware issues.
For information on the different LED indicator sequences and description, see the interactive LED pattern decoder tool -https://
internal.software/blink/.
Safety precautions
Follow the safety precautions that are described in the following sections during an installation or a disassembly/reassembly procedure:
• Power off the system and all attached peripherals.
• Disconnect the system and all attached peripherals from AC or DC power.
• Disconnect all network cables from the system.
• Use a wrist grounding strap and mat when working inside any system to avoid electrostatic discharge (ESD) damage.
• After removing a system component, carefully place the removed component on an antistatic mat.
• Wear shoes with nonconductive soles or rubber soles to help reduce the risk of electrical shock or seriously injured in an electrical
accident.
Standby power
When applicable Dell products that feature a standby power mode, must be unplugged before the system is serviced.
NOTE: Systems that incorporate standby power, continue to use power even when they are powered off. For example,
standby power enables the system to be powered on remotely with the wake on LAN feature enabled, suspended into
sleep mode, or other advanced power management features.
After you unplug a system and before you remove components, wait approximately 30 to 45 seconds to allow the charge to drain from
the circuits.
Bonding
Bonding is a method of connecting two or more grounding conductors to the same electrical potential. This method requires the Field
Service ESD kit. When connecting a bonding wire, always ensure that it is connected to a bare metal system and never to a painted or
nonmetal surface. The Wrist Strap should be secured to your skin. Ensure that you remove all jewelry such as watches, bracelets, or rings
before bonding yourself and the equipment.
Figure 11. Proper bonding method
Electrostatic discharge
Electrostatic discharge (ESD) is a major concern when you handle sensitive components such as expansion cards, processors, memory
DIMMs, and system board. A slight charge can result in damaging the circuits on these components causing intermittent problems or
shortening the life span.
Due to the increased density of semiconductors that are used in recent Dell products, the sensitivity to static damage is now higher than
in earlier Dell products. For this reason, some previously approved methods of handling parts are no longer applicable.

There are two recognized types of ESD damage: catastrophic and intermittent failures.
• Catastrophic—The damage causes an immediate and complete loss of device functionality. For example, a memory DIMM that has
received a static shock, immediately generates a No POST/No Video symptom.
NOTE: Catastrophic failures represent approximately 20 percent of ESD-related failures.
• Intermittent—The damage weakens the component causing intermittent failure in performance. For example, if a memory DIMM
receives a static shock, the tracing weakens without producing any outward symptoms that are related to damage. The weakened
trace may take weeks or months to melt, and in the meantime may cause degradation of memory integrity and intermittent memory
errors.
NOTE: Intermittent failures represent approximately 80 percent of ESD-related failures. The high rate of
intermittent failures means that most of the time when damage occurs, it is not immediately recognizable.
Intermittent or latent failures are difficult to identify and troubleshoot. The image shows an example of damage to a memory module trace.
Although the damage is complete, the symptoms may not become an issue or cause permanent failure for some time after the damage
occurs.
Figure 12. Intermittent, latent damage to a wiring trace
To avoid an ESD damage, ensure you:

• Use a wired ESD Wrist Strap that is properly grounded.
NOTE: Wireless antistatic straps or touching the chassis is not recommended as they do not provide adequate ESD
protection.
Figure 13. Incorrect handling of components without ESD protection
• Handle all static-sensitive components in a static-safe area. If possible, use antistatic floor pads and workbench pads.
• Grasp the static-sensitive components by the side and not the top.
• Avoid touching the pins and circuit boards.
• Do not remove components from the antistatic packing material until you are ready to install the components. Before unwrapping the
antistatic packaging, be sure to discharge static electricity from your body.
• Place the component in an antistatic container or packaging before transporting the components.

ESD field service kit
The unmonitored Field Service kit is the most commonly used. Each Field Service kit includes three main components:
• Antistatic mat
• Wrist Strap
• Bonding wire
Figure 14. ESD field service kit
The antistatic mat is dissipative and must be used to safely place parts on during service procedures. When using an antistatic mat, your
Wrist Strap must be snug, connected to the mat, and to the bare-metal on the system that is being worked on. After the mat and Wrist
Strap are deployed properly, remove the components to be serviced form the ESD bag and place them on the mat. Remember, the only
safe place for ESD-sensitive items are in your hand, on the ESD mat, in the system, or inside a bag.
Figure 15. Antistatic mat
The Wrist Strap and bonding wire can be connected either to:
• Your wrist and bare metal of the hardware
• Your wrist and antistatic mat, to protect hardware that is temporarily placed on the mat
NOTE: The physical connection of the Wrist Strap and bonding wire between your skin, the ESD mat, and the hardware
is known as bonding.
NOTE: Use only Field Service kits with a Wrist Strap, mat, and bonding wire. Avoid using wireless Wrist Straps.
The internal wires of a Wrist Strap are prone to damage from normal wear and tear, and must be checked regularly with a Wrist Strap
tester to avoid accidental ESD hardware damage. Dell recommends to test the Wrist Strap and bonding wire regularly.
ESD Wrist Strap tester

The wires inside an ESD strap are prone to damage over time. When using an unmonitored kit, Dell recommends to regularly test the strap
before each service call, and at a minimum, test once per week. A Wrist Strap tester is the best method for performing this test. If you do
not have your own Wrist Strap tester, check with your regional office to find out if they have one. To perform the test, plug the bonding
wire on the Wrist Strap to the tested while it is strapped to your wrist and press the button. A green LED lights up if the test is successful;
a red LED lights up and an alarm sounds if the test fails.

Figure 16. Wrist Strap tester
Insulator elements
Dell recommends to place ESD sensitive devices, such as plastic heat sink casings, away from internal components that are insulators and
highly charged.
Table 3. Placement of insulator elements

Unacceptable placement Acceptable placement
Consider the working environment

Before deploying the ESD Field Service kit, assess the situation at the customer location. For example, deploying the kit for a server
environment is different than for a desktop or portable environment. Servers are typically installed in a rack within a data center; desktops
or portables are typically placed on office desks or cubicles.
Look for a large open flat work area that is free of clutter and large enough to deploy the ESD kit with more space to accommodate the
type of system that is being repaired. The workspace should also be free of insulators that can cause an ESD event. On the work area,
insulators such as Styrofoam and other plastics must be moved at least 12-inches or 30 centimeters away from sensitive parts before
physically handling any hardware components.
ESD packaging
All ESD sensitive devices must be shipped and received in static-safe packaging. Preferably, metal, static-shielded bags. Ensure that you
return the damaged parts in the same ESD bag or packaging in which the new part arrived in. The ESD bag should be folded over and
taped shut, and the foam packing material used in the original box must be used.
ESD sensitive devices should be removed from packaging only at an ESD protected work surface, and parts should never be placed on top
of the ESD bag because only the inside the bag is shielded. Always place parts in your hand, on the ESD mat, in the system, or inside an
antistatic bag.

Figure 17. ESD packaging
Transporting sensitive components

When transporting ESD sensitive components such as replacement parts or returned parts to Dell, it is critical to place these parts in
antistatic bags for safe transport.
ESD protection summary

It is suggested that all field service engineers use the traditional wired ESD grounding Wrist Strap and protective antistatic mat when
servicing Dell products. In addition, it is critical that engineers place sensitive parts separate from all insulator parts while performing
service and that they use antistatic bags for transporting sensitive components.
Lifting equipment
NOTE: Do not lift systems that are greater than 50 pounds. Always obtain assistance, or use a mechanical lifting device.
Adhere to the following guidelines when lifting equipment:

1. Get a firm balanced footing. Keep your feet apart for a stable base, and point out your toes.
2. Bend your knees. Do not bend at the waist.
3. Tighten stomach muscles. Abdominal muscles support your spine when you lift, offsetting the force of the load.
4. Lift with your legs, not your back.
5. Keep the load close. The closer it is to your spine, the less force it exerts on your back.
6. Keep your back upright, whether lifting or setting down the load. Do not add the weight of your body to the load. Avoid twisting your
body and back.
7. Follow the same techniques in reverse to set the load down.

Recommended tools
A set of tools are required to service the system.
Table 4. Required tools and optional tools

Required Tools Optional Tools
• Key to the system lock • Needle-nose pliers to disconnect cables and connectors in
• Phillips #1 and #2 screwdriver hard-to-reach locations
• Torx #T30 screwdriver • Small flat-head screwdriver to disconnect small cables from
• 1/4 inch flat blade screwdriver boards
• 5mm hex nut screwdriver
• Wrist-grounding strap connected to the ground
• ESD mat
System diagnostics
If you experience a problem with your system, run the system diagnostics before contacting Dell for technical assistance. The purpose of
running system diagnostics is to test your system hardware without using additional equipment or risking data loss. If you are unable to fix
the problem yourself, service and support personnel can use the diagnostics results to help you solve the problem.
Dell Embedded System Diagnostics

NOTE: The Dell Embedded System Diagnostics is also known as Enhanced Pre-boot System Assessment (ePSA)
diagnostics.
The Embedded System Diagnostics provides a set of options for particular device groups or devices allowing you to:
• Run tests automatically or in an interactive mode
• Repeat tests
• Display or save test results
• Run thorough tests to introduce additional test options to provide extra information about the failed device(s)
• View status messages that inform you if tests are completed successfully
• View error messages that inform you of problems encountered during testing
Running the Embedded System Diagnostics from Boot Manager

Run the Embedded System Diagnostics (ePSA) if your system does not boot.
Steps
1. When the system is booting, press F11.
2. Use the up arrow and down arrow keys to select System Utilities > Launch Diagnostics.
3. Alternatively, when the system is booting, press F10, select Hardware Diagnostics > Run Hardware Diagnostics.

The ePSA Pre-boot System Assessment window is displayed, listing all devices detected in the system. The diagnostics starts
executing the tests on all the detected devices.
Results
Running the Embedded System Diagnostics from the Dell Lifecycle

Controller
Steps
1. As the system boots, press F10.
2. Select Hardware Diagnostics → Run Hardware Diagnostics.
The ePSA Pre-boot System Assessment window is displayed, listing all devices detected in the system. The diagnostics starts
executing the tests on all the detected devices.
System diagnostic controls

Menu Description
Configuration Displays the configuration and status information of all detected devices.
Results Displays the results of all tests that are run.
System health Provides the current overview of the system performance.
Event log Displays a time-stamped log of the results of all tests run on the system. This is displayed if at least one event
description is recorded.
Need to know
Before you begin servicing the system, you must read the following information:
• Critical callouts
• Common error codes
• Version control for BIOS/firmware/software
• Startup/Shutdown Sequence
Critical callouts
This section lists the important critical callouts for field service technicians.
Chassis power cycle and sled power cycle

The PowerEdge C6420 support a command to power cycle the chassis from the sled and also to power cycle the specific sled. This
feature allows the sleds to AC cycle individually from any other sled that are working fine.
The sled uses the Chassis Control command to issue a chassis power cycle or sled power cycle request. It sends the sled ID in the [7:4]
bits of byte 1 and the power cycle option 2h in [3.:0] bits of byte 1. If the sled ID [7:4] bits of byte 1 value is zero, the Chassis Manager
power cycles the chassis. If a sled number is provided (1-4), then the Chassis Manager power cycles the given sled instead of the chassis.
In case of success, Chassis Manager sends a completion code of 0 immediately as a response and the power cycles the chassis or the sled
based on the value provided in the [7:4] bits of byte 1.
The steps below are IPMI commands for chassis power cycle and sled power cycle:
NOTE: Ensure to use the latest CMC firmware and IPMI tool version.
• Command for chassis power cycle:
ipmitool.exe -I lanplus -H <IP> -U <username> -P <password> raw 0x6 0x34 0x45 0x70 0x00
0xc8 0x20 0x0 0x02 0x02 0xd8

• Command for sled power cycle (example to reset sled number 3 in bold):
ipmitool.exe -I lanplus -H <IP> -U <username> -P <password> raw 0x6 0x34 0x45 0x70 0x00
0xc8 0x20 0x0 0x02 0x32 0xd8
Liquid cooling—optional configuration

Liquid cooling solution components include:
• CPU plates are passive CPU cooling solutions are managed by a centralized pumping architectures. The cold plates replace the heat
sinks and are designed to accommodate the PowerEdge C6420 sled. They are only available as a factory install option from Dell. There
is no field upgrade option available.
• Rack manifold-coolant tubes come out of each sled and connect to a manifold unit. Made with stainless steel and 100% nondrip quick
disconnects, the rack manifolds can be arranged horizontally or vertically for manual connection at the front or back of the rack.
• Heat exchanger-CoolIT system rack DCLC product line offers various heat exchange modules depending on load requirements and
availability of facility water.
NOTE: Liquid cooling sleds will be shipped with PCIe riser as made mandatory in the ordering system.
The image below shows the liquid cooling configuration inside the PowerEdge C6420:
Figure 18. Liquid cooling configuration
NOTE: With the liquid cooling configuration, the liquid cooling components occupy the Mezzanine slots 1. Hence, the
Mezzanine card does not work with this configuration.
CAUTION: Read the additional information below when dealing with the liquid cooling configuration.
• Both CPU1 and CPU2 cold plates are installed and removed as a single assembly. Sections of the sled that need extra precautions are
at the tube seating points where the rubber gourmmets lock the tubes in place. The CPU is attached to the cold plates similar to heat
sinks.
• Take extra precaution when replacing parts on a liquid cooling configuration sled. Ensure not to work with screws or sharp objects
close to the cooling tubes as it may result in punturing the tubes and causing leakage of conductive liquid into the system.
• Similar to heat sinks, if there are any heat-related problems on the system, reseat the cold plates and monitor the status. If the issue
persists, the cold plates could be faulty.
Identifying a liquid cooling sled

Refer to the following SKUs to identify the type of liquid cooling sled configuration:
• 387-BBMO: Liquid Cooling for Fabric
• 387-BBMP: Liquid Cooling for NonFabric

• 384-BBRP: Direct Liquid Cooling Loop for NonFabric CPU1 and Fabric CPU2
NOTE: All of the above SKUs use the same cold plate assembly.
Personality module for the liquid cooling option

The liquid cooling plates are equipped with personality modules to improve thermal transfer. The personality module's configuration is
based on a customer's unique settings. Therefore, the personality module ID must be updated whenever the system board is replaced. Use
the following method to determine the correct file to update the personality module:
NOTE:
• You must flash the personality module after the system board is replaced. Failure to do so will cause thermal heat
issues.
• Use Easy Restore as the first option to flash the personality module. If Easy Restore does not work, use the manual
method below to flash the personality module.
1. The personality module file is available here: https://educate.dell.com/Saba/Web/Field/goto/ContentInventoryDetailURL?
id=cninv000000000054548&actionKey2=true
This file will be used after the system board is replaced.
2. Proceed with the normal system board replacement procedures.
3. Install and re-enable the TPM.
4. Reconnect all cables to the system board. Make sure all cables are routed along the chassis wall and secured correctly.
5. Close the system cover.
6. Reconnect the system to the electrical outlet.
7. Turn on the system and all attached peripherals.
8. Update the Service Tag.
9. Set up the iDRAC.
10. Set up the BIOS.
11. Update the personality module.
12. Check the firmware levels on the replaced system board.
13. Reboot the system. If the replacement is a non-OEM system board, or if you have already installed the personality module, at the
prompt press A to turn off manufacturing mode.
14. Start the server and exit maintenance mode.
Updating the personality module can also be done using the Easy Restore function.
Easy restore
NOTE: Easy Restore is only supported if a PCIe main riser is physically present in the sled.
NOTE: Use Easy Restore as the first option to flash the personality module. If Easy Restore does not work, use the
manual method above to flash the personality module.
This feature allows you to restore the following data or configurations after a system board is replaced. This includes the liquid cooling
personality module recovery configurations:
1. System service tag
2. All licenses
3. UEFI diagnostics application
4. System configuration settings (BIOS, iDRAC, and NIC)
The workflow for restoring data or configurations is described below:
1. Login to the iDRAC GUI. Go to > iDRAC Settings > Settings > Backup and Export Server Profile.

Figure 19. Backup and Export Server Profile
2. Click on Test network connection (on the right side of the screen) to test the network connection.
Figure 20. Test network connection

3. Click on Backup Now to backup the data and configuration into the job queue.

Figure 21. Backup the data and configuration
4. Click on Job Queue to see the status of the job.
Figure 22. Job status

5. Click on Import to import the data and configuration.

Figure 23. Import the data and configuration
6. After importing the job, the test connection will run again to check the job queue.
7. Replace the system board.
8. Import the backed-up server profile with the same service tag.
Chassis type sticky bits

The chassis type sticky bits are used to define the enclosure support for the PowerEdge C6420 sled. Installing a sled in the PowerEdge
C6400 chassis that does not match the chassis type sticky bits results in:
• The enclosure fans running to 100% speed
• The sled UID LED blinking amber
• The sled power button blinking amber
• An "Unable to control the fan speed because a sled mismatch or hardware incompatibility is detected" entry being logged in the
System Event Log (SEL) of the sled
• Unable to control the fan speed due to sled mismatch or hardware incompatibility is detected
To check the chassis type sticky bits for the PowerEdge C6420 sled, follow the steps mentioned below:
1. To get a valid Pass Code to get Chassis ID Sticky bit command:
ipmitool -I lanplus -H <iDRAC IP> -U root -P calvin raw 0x6 0x34 0x45 0x70 0xc8 0xc8 0x20
0x0 0x01 0x64 0x65 0x6c 0x6c 0x63 0x6d 0x31 0x34 0xd8
Response: 20 cc 14 70 00 01 00 <PassCode2> <checksum2> (Pass code: 8 Bytes, checksum: 1 byte)

2. To get Chassis ID Sticky bit command to make sure Chassis ID Sticky bit is 0x1c:
0x0 0x02 0x01 0x64 0x65 0x6c 0x6c 0x63 0x6d 0x31 0x34 <PassCode2> 0xFF 0xd8
Response: 20 cc 14 70 00 02 00 01 02 01 1C 02 01 31 Byte 11
To set the chassis sticky bits for PowerEdge C6420 sleds, follow the steps mentioned below:
1. Plug in SLED1 and get a valid Pass Code 1 to configure the Chassis ID Sticky bit command:
0x0 0x01 0x64 0x65 0x6c 0x6c 0x63 0x6d 0x31 0x34 0xd8
Response: 20 cc 14 70 00 01 00 <PassCode1> <checksum1> (Pass code: 8 Bytes, checksum: 1 byte)

2. To configure the Chassis ID Sticky bit command :
0x0 0x03 0x01 0x64 0x65 0x6c 0x6c 0x63 0x6d 0x31 0x34 <PassCode1> 0x01 0x01 0x1c 0xd8
Response:20 cc 14 70 00 03 00 8d Byte 7
Next step is to backup the backplane present settings, FTR feature settings and chassis service tag. Below are the command lines to run
the back up process:
Backplane present:
Get:
ipmitool -I lanplus -H <ip_address> -U <username> -P <password> raw 0x6 0x34 0x45 0x70 0xc0 0xc8
0x20 0x0 0xa0 0x0 0x01 0x1b 0xd8
Set:
0x20 0x0 0xa1 0x1 0x1 0x1b 0x01 0xd8
FTR feature
Get:
0x20 0x0 0xa0 0x0 0x01 0x1a 0xd8
Set:
0x20 0x0 0xa1 0x1 0x1 0x1a 0x00 0xd8
Chassis service tag:

Get:
ipmitool -I lanplus -H <ip_address> -U <username> -P <password> raw 0x30 0xC8 0x01 0x00 0x0c
0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00
Set:
ipmitool -I lanplus -H <ip_address> -U <username> -P <password> raw 0x30 0xC8 0x0 0x00 0x0c
0x00 0x00 0x00 0x0c 0x0 0x11 0x08 0x31 0x32 0x33 0x34 0x35 0x36 0x37 0x42
The image below is an example of the command lines:
Figure 24. Sticky bit command lines
MiniDP for video display

The video display on the PowerEdge C6420's iDRAC9 is a MiniDP port. The MiniDP to VGA adapter is an optional part and is not shipped
with the system.
The image below shows the location of the Mini DP port:

Figure 25. MiniDP ports on the iDRAC
The image below is an magnified view of the MiniDP ports for iDRAC:
Figure 26. Sled enumeration
Ensure that the PowerEdge C6420 sleds are enumerated in the PowerEdge C6400 chassis as shown in the illustration. The sleds must be
in order with four to one sleds in a chassis.
NOTE: When less than four sleds are present in a PowerEdge C6400 chassis, the sleds must be inserted as shown in the
illustration.
For example, in a PowerEdge C6400 chassis with only two PowerEdge C6420 sleds, the sleds must be inserted in slots 1 and 3.
Figure 27. MiniDP port for iDRAC
CPU mix matrix

The image below shows the CPU configurations for PowerEdge C6420:
The configuration below shows the CPU1 and CPU2 without any fabric configuration:
Figure 28. PowerEdge C6420 no fabric configuration
The image below shows both CPU1 and CPU2 with fabric configuration:

Figure 29. CPU1 and CPU2 with fabric configuration
The image below shows CPU1 with a non fabric configuration and CPU2 with fabric configuration:
Figure 30. CPU1 non fabric and CPU2 with fabric configuration
NOTE:
• In this configuration, only CPU fabric is allowed on CPU 2 socket because of thermal restriction.
• The system is held in reset if a single processor is placed in the CPU 2 socket.
• You must connect the external Omnipath link cables to Port 2 on the OCP carrier card.
Removing the fabric and side band cables

The Skylake fabric processor comes with a fabric cable that is connected to the expansion card. Below are the steps to remove the cable
from the processor:
1. For full procedure review the processor and heat sink module disassembly and reassembly section.
2. Remove the sled from the enclosure.
3. Remove the air shroud.
4. Lift the blue pull tab on the locking bar up to release the connector from the lock on the processor base plate.
5. Pull the connector away from the processor to disengage and release the cable from the processor.
6. Pull the connector clips and release the side band cable from the connector and lift the cable away.

Figure 31. Unlocking the fabric cable connector
Installing the fabric and side band cables

Below are the steps to install the fabric cable on the processor:
1. For full procedure review the processor and heat sink module disassembly and reassembly section.
2. Align the notches on the fabric connector with the guide pins on the processor base plate.
3. Push the connector toward the processor, until the connector is engaged with the edge connector of the pocessor.
4. Push the locking bar down to secure the fabric connector in place.
5. Insert the side band cable into the respective connector and press down to lock the connector.
Figure 32. Installing the fabric and side band cables

Trusted Platform Module (TPM) installation
In 13G, the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) chip is on Plug In Module (PIM). The 13G TPM is bound to one, and only one, system board.
CAUTION: Do not remove an installed TPM. Any attempt to remove an installed TPM from the system board may
damage the TPM.
A new TPM chip is dispatched if the system is configured with a TPM chip. The Dell Service Provider needs to install a new TPM chip
after a system board replacement.
To install the TPM chip, use the following steps:
1. Locate the TPM connector on the system board.
2. Align the edge connectors on the TPM with the slot on the TPM connector.
3. Insert the TPM into the TPM connector such that the plastic rivet aligns with the slot on the system board.
4. Press the plastic rivet until the rivet snaps into place.
Figure 33. TPM installation
DDR4 memory installation

Do not rock, or zip the DIMM. The DIMM is not flat along bottom edge. Only perform with greater insertion force and insertion technique.
Below are the steps to remove the memory modules:
1. Locate the appropriate memory module socket.
2. Push out the ejectors on each end of the memory module socket.
3. Align the memory module correctly with the alignment key of the memory module socket.
4. Simultaneously press down firmly on both ends of the memory module with your thumbs until the module snaps into place.
NOTE: Even pressure during insertion must be applied at both ends of the module simultaneously to prevent damage
to the socket. No pressure should be applied to the center of the module.
5. To ensure that the ejectors are in a locked position, complete the latching of the module into the socket by applying inward pressure to
the socket ejectors. When the memory module is properly seated in the socket, the ejectors on the memory module socket align with
the ejectors on other identical sockets that have memory modules installed.

Figure 34. DIMM installation
Enhanced BIOS key

Enhanced key behavior occurs during Power-On-Self-Test (POST), which allows you to toggle between the F2, F10, and F11 functions
during POST.
Common error messages

The Event Message Reference contains the error and event information that the firmware and other monitoring agents generate. These
events might be logged, presented to the user on one of the system management consoles, or both logged and displayed at the same
time.
Table 5. Event message fields

Event Message Fields
Item Description
Message ID The unique alphanumeric identifier for the event. This identifier can be up to
8 characters long and consist of 2 parts:
• Message ID Prefix—Up to 4 alphabetic characters.
• Message ID Sequence—Up to 4 numeric digits.
Message The message text that is displayed to the user or logged as a result of the
event. Italic text is reflected if the message has variable content in it. The
substitution variables are described in the Arguments field of the event.
Arguments Describes the values for any substitution variables appearing in the event
message text. If there is no variable content in the message, this field is
omitted from the event description.
Detailed Description Additional information describing the event.
Recommended Response Action The recommended action to remedy the event described. The response
action can vary based on the platform.
Category Dell Lifecycle Controller log filter used to select a subset of messages from
different domains or agents.
Subcategory More filters to further subset the event.
Trap/EventID The identification number used as the Trap ID for SNMP alert traps and as
the Event ID when the message is logged in operating system logs.
Severity The classification of the event based on its impact to the platform or system.
The severity can be:

Event Message Fields
Item Description
• Severity 1 Critical—Indicates a catastrophic production problem that

might severely impact production systems or components, or systems
are down or not functioning.
• Severity 2 Warning—Indicates a high-impact problem where a system or
component is disrupted but can remain productive and perform business-
level operations.
• Severity 3 Information—Indicates a medium-to-low impact problem that
involves a partial or noncritical loss of functionality; operations are
impaired but can continue to function.
LCD Message The event message text that is displayed on the system's LCD.
Initial Default Event messages result in event actions such as logging, SNMP, or email
alerts. Generally, the event actions are configurable using the Dell iDRAC
event action filtering feature. This item describes the initial default and
possible event actions for the message.
Event Action Filter Describes more configurable actions that are available for the event action
for this message. This information is presented in a table, and each entry has
a value of TRUE or FALSE to indicate its applicability.
• Filter Visibility—Event visible to the iDRAC event filtering.
• IPMI Alert—Event can generate an IPMI alert.
• SNMP Alert—Event can generate an SNMP trap.
• Email Alert—Event can generate an email alert.
• WS-Man Alert—Event can generate a WS-Man event.
• Redfish Alert—Event can generate a Redfish event.
• Syslog Alert—Event can generate a Syslog entry.
• LC Log—Event can generate a Dell Lifecycle Controller log entry.
• LCD — Event is displayed on the system's LCD.
• Power Off—Event can cause the system to power off.
• Power Cycle—Event can cause the system to perform a power cycle.
• Reset—Event can cause the system to perform a reset.
Version control
For the latest BIOS, firmware, and software updates, see www.dell.com/poweredgemanuals.
Startup or Shutdown sequence

New POST display
The following are the POST display enhancements:
• Revamped look of the boot process
• High-resolution splash screen displays instantly after powering on the system
• Progress bar and descriptive text are displays
• Uniform look and feel through the boot process. When booting in legacy mode, the system briefly changes to text mode to run legacy
option ROMs
• POST error messages are compliant with Event and Error Message standards
NOTE: All POST error and warning messages are logged in the LC log.

Figure 35. 14G POST screen
Enhanced boot support

The following lists the boot support enhancements:
• Enhanced method to change the boot list based on Fully Qualified Descriptors (FQDDs). This allows for systems management
consoles and the factory to specify a boot list for devices that are not currently present, for example, disabled NDC or other boot
mode.
• New ability to toggle between LC and BIOS.
• The Boot Manager (<F11>) and BIOS Setup (<F2>) will only contain the boot option enumeration of the current Boot mode.
• Completely revised boot flow.

Diagnostics and indicators
The following sections contains information about the indicator codes for PE C6420.
Drive indicator codes

Each drive carrier has an activity LED indicator and a status LED indicator. The indicators provide information about the current status of
the drive. The activity LED indicator indicates whether the drive is currently in use or not. The status LED indicator indicates the power
condition of the drive.
Figure 36. Drive indicators on the drive and the mid drive tray backplane
1. Drive activity LED indicator
2. Drive status LED indicator
3. Drive
NOTE: If the drive is in the Advanced Host Controller Interface (AHCI) mode, the status LED indicator does not turn on.
Table 6. Drive indicator codes
Drive status indicator code Condition

Flashes green twice per second Identifying drive or preparing for removal.
Off Drive ready for removal.
NOTE: The drive status indicator remains off until all drives
are initialized after the system is turned on. Drives are not
ready for removal during this time.
Flashes green, amber, and then turns off Predicted drive failure.
Flashes amber four times per second Drive failed.
Flashes green slowly Drive rebuilding.
Solid green Drive online.
Flashes green for three seconds, amber for three seconds, Rebuild stopped.
and then turns off after six seconds

Network ports indicator codes
Figure 37. LAN indicators on the QSFP carrier card

1. Link indicator
Figure 38. LAN indicators on the QSFP mezzanine card

1. Link indicator
2. Activity indicator
Table 7. QSFP port on mezzanine card indicator codes

Connection State QSFP Upper green LED QSFP Lower green LED
No link/Not Connected Off Off
InfiniBand Physical Link - No Logical Link Green Off
InfiniBand Logical Link - No Traffic Green Green
InfiniBand Logical Link - Traffic Green Blink
InfiniBand Physical Link Issue Blink Green
Ethernet Link - No Traffic Green Green
Ethernet - Traffic Green Blink
NOTE: The LED blink speed varies according to the traffic bandwidth.

Figure 39. Ethernet port indicator codes
1. speed indicator
2. link and activity indicator
Table 8. Ethernet port indicator codes

Convention Status Condition
A Link and activity indicators are off The NIC is not connected to the network.
B Link indicator is green The NIC is connected to a valid network at its
maximum port speed.
C Link indicator is amber The NIC is connected to a valid network at less than
its maximum port speed.
D Activity indicator is flashing green Network data is being sent or received.
Power Supply Unit indicator codes

Each AC power supply unit (PSU) has an illuminated translucent handle that indicates whether power is present or whether a power fault
has occurred.
System board diagnostic LED indicators

The system board LED indicators provide status of the system when it is powered on, which help identify POST and hardware issues.
For information on the different LED indicator sequences and description, see the interactive LED pattern decoder tool -https://
internal.software/blink/.
Enhanced Preboot System Assessment

If you experience a problem with your system, run the system diagnostics before contacting Dell for technical assistance. The purpose of
running system diagnostics is to test your system hardware without requiring more equipment or risking data loss. If you are unable to fix
the problem yourself, service and support personnel can use the diagnostics results to help you solve the problem.
Dell Embedded system diagnostics

NOTE: The Dell Embedded System Diagnostics is also known as Enhanced Preboot System Assessment (ePSA)
diagnostics.
The embedded system diagnostics provides a set of options for particular device groups or devices allowing you to:
• Run tests automatically or in an interactive mode.
• Repeat tests

• Display or save test results.
• Introduce more test options for extra information about the failed devices, run a thorough test.
• View status messages that inform you if tests are completed successfully.
• View error messages that inform you of problems encountered during testing.
Running the Embedded system diagnostics from Boot Manager

To run the embedded system diagnostics from Boot Manager:
1. As the system boots, press <F11>.
2. Using the arrow keys select System Utilities → Launch Diagnostics.
3. Wait while the Quick Tests automatically run.

4. Once the tests have been completed, you can view the results and additional information on the Results tab, the System Health tab,
the Configuration tab, and the Event Log tab.
5. Close the Embedded System Diagnostics utility.
6. To leave the diagnostics, click Exit.
7. Click OK when prompted, and the system reboots.
Running the Embedded System Diagnostics from the Dell Lifecycle

Controller
To run the embedded system diagnostics from the Dell Lifecycle Controller:
1. As the system boots, press F10.
2. Select Hardware Diagnostics → Run Hardware Diagnostics.
Jumpers and connectors
System board jumper settings

For information on resetting the password jumper to disable a password, see the Disabling a forgotten password section.

System board connectors
Figure 40. PowerEdge C6420 system board connectors
Table 9. System Board Connectors and Description

Item Connector Description
1 PCIe B NVMe B connector
2 PCIe A NVMe A connector
3 PCIe Slot 5 Slot 5: x16 PCIe Gen3 from CPU 2
4 DIMM sockets (4) DIMM B8, DIMM B4, DIMM B5, DIMM B6
5 DIMM sockets (4) DIMM A8, DIMM A4, DIMM A5, DIMM A6
6 HFI_SB_1 Side band cable 1 for OCP
8 LEDs (7) System board diagnostic LED indicators
9 PCIe Slot 4 Slot 4: x16 PCIe Gen3 CPU 1
10 Batt System battery
11 PWDCLR Password clear jumper
12 NVRAMCLR NVRAM clear jumper
14 TPM TPM connector
17 SATA_A SATA cable connector
18 DIMM sockets (4) DIMM A7, DIMM A1, DIMM A2, DIMM A3
19 CPU 1 CPU socket 1
20 DIMM sockets (4) DIMM B7, DIMM B1, DIMM B2, DIMM B3
21 CPU 2 CPU socket 2 (with a dust cover)

Disabling forgotten password
The software security features of the system include a system password and a setup password. The password jumper enables or disables
password features and clears any password(s) currently in use.
Steps
1. Power off the system, including any attached peripherals, and disconnect the system from the electrical outlet.
2. Remove the system cover.
3. Move the jumper on the system board jumper from pins 2 and 4 to pins 4 and 6.
4. Install the system cover.
The existing passwords are not disabled (erased) until the system boots with the jumper on pins 4 and 6. However, before you assign
a new system and/or setup password, you must move the jumper back to pins 2 and 4.
NOTE: If you assign a new system and/or setup password with the jumper on pins 4 and 6, the system disables the
new password(s) the next time it boots.
5. Reconnect the system to its electrical outlet and power on the system, including any attached peripherals.
6. Power off the system, including any attached peripherals, and disconnect the system from the electrical outlet.
8. Move the jumper on the system board jumper from pins 4 and 6 to pins 2 and 4.
10. Reconnect the system to its electrical outlet and power on the system, including any attached peripherals.
11. Assign a new system and/or setup password.
Disassembly and reassembly

The following sections contain the procedures for removing and replacing system components.
Dell EMC PowerEdge C6420 sled

Removing a sled
Prerequisites
NOTE: For optimized thermal performance, see Sled installation guidelines.
NOTE: The procedure to remove a sled blank or a sled are the same.
Steps
Press the retaining latch and using the sled pull handle, slide the sled out of the enclosure horizontally.
CAUTION: Ensure that the sled is supported with both hands while it is being slid out.

Figure 41. Removing a sled
CAUTION: If you are permanently removing the sled, install a sled blank promptly. Operating the enclosure without a
blank, for an extended time can result in overheating.
Figure 42. Removing a sled blank

Installing a sled
Prerequisites
NOTE: For optimized thermal performance, see Sled installation guidelines.
Steps
Slide the sled into the enclosure horizontally, ensuring that the sled is supported from beneath until it locks into place.
NOTE: To avoid any damages to the pins on the sled, do not force the sled into the enclosure.
Figure 43. Installing a sled

Figure 44. Installing a sled blank
PERC battery
Removing the PERC battery
Prerequisites
2. If applicable, disconnect the battery cable from the PERC card.
CAUTION: Do not hold the battery cable and lift the battery out.
Steps
Holding the cable end of the battery, lift the battery out of the air shroud.

Figure 45. Removing the PERC battery
Installing the PERC battery

Prerequisites
1. Install the sled from the enclosure.
2. If applicable, connect the battery cable from the PERC card.
Steps
1. Align and insert the non cable end of the PERC battery into the battery slot on the air shroud.
2. Press the battery until it locks into place.
Figure 46. Installing the PERC battery
Next steps
1. If disconnected, connect the battery cable to the PERC card.

Air shroud
Removing the air shroud
Prerequisites
1. If applicable, disconnect the battery cable from the PERC card.
Steps
1. Press the clip on the air shroud to release the shroud from the sled.
2. Remove the shroud by rotating the shroud and releasing the hinge from the slot on the system.
Figure 47. Removing the air shroud
Installing the air shroud

Steps
1. Insert the air shroud into the sled, aligning the shroud hinge with slot on the sled.
NOTE: Ensure that both the SATA cables are routed through the air shroud cable guide slot behind the air shroud
latches.
NOTE: Ensure that neither of the cables are pinched or pressed under the air shroud.
2. Press the air shroud until the locks click into place.

Figure 48. Installing the air shroud
Next steps
1. If disconnected, connect the battery cable to the PERC card.
System memory
Removing a memory module
The procedure for removing a DIMM module and an NVDIMM-N module is identical.
Prerequisites
Steps
2. Push the ejectors outward on both ends of the memory module socket to release the memory module from the socket.
3. Lift and remove the memory module from the system.
Figure 49. Removing a memory module

Installing a memory module
Steps
2. Open the ejectors on the memory module socket outward to allow the memory module to be inserted into the socket.
3. Align the edge connector of the memory module with the alignment key of the memory module socket, and insert the memory module
in the socket.
CAUTION: Do not apply pressure at the center of the memory module; apply pressure at both ends of the memory
module evenly.
NOTE: The memory module socket has an alignment key that enables you to install the memory module in the socket
in only one orientation.
4. Press the memory module with your thumbs until the socket levers firmly click into place.
Figure 50. Installing a memory module
Next steps
1. Install the air shroud.
Support bracket
Removing the support bracket
Steps
Using the Phillips #1 screwdriver, remove the screws that secure the support bracket and lift the bracket away from the sled.

Figure 51. Removing the support bracket
Installing the support bracket

Steps
1. Place the support bracket in the sled.
2. Using a Phillips #1 screwdriver, replace the screws to secure the bracket in place.
Figure 52. Installing the support bracket
Next steps
1. Install the sled into the enclosure.

Linking board and PCIe cable
Removing the linking board and PCIe cables
Prerequisites
NOTE: Observe the routing of the cable as you remove it from the sled. Route the cable properly when you replace it to
prevent the cable from being pinched or crimped.
2. Remove the support bracket.
Steps
1. Press the release clip on the PCIe_A cable connector to disconnect the cable. See the System board connector for more information.
2. Press the release clip on the PCIe_B cable connector to disconnect the cable. See the System board connector for more information.
3. If connected, disconnect the SATA cable from the x16 M.2 riser.
4. Using the Phillips #1 screwdriver, loosen the captive screws on the linking board and lift the board up along with the cables.
Figure 53. Removing the linking board and SATA cable
Installing the linking board and PCIe cables

Prerequisites
NOTE: Observe the routing of the cable as you remove it from the sled. Route the cable properly when you replace it to
prevent the cable from being pinched or crimped.
Steps
1. Insert the PCIe_A connector into the connector on the system board, press the connector until it locks into place.
2. Insert and press the PCIe_B connector into the connector on the system board, press the connector until it locks into place.
3. If disconnected, reconnect the SATA cable to the x16 M.2 riser.
4. Using the Phillips #1 screwdriver, tighten the captive screws on the linking board to secure the board to the sled.

Figure 54. Installing the linking board and SATA cable
Next steps
1. Install the support bracket.
Processor and heat sink module

NOTE: In a sled which has been configured with mixed CPUs – a fabric processor installed in the CPU2 socket and a
non-fabric processor installed in the CPU1 socket, you must connect the external Omnipath link cables to Port 2 on the
OCP carrier card.
Use the following procedure when:
• Removing and installing a heat sink
• Replacing a processor
Table 10. Supported heat sinks

Heat sink Dimensions Design
CPU 1, standard heat sink Length =108 mm (4.25 inches), 2 heat pipes
Width =88 mm (3.46 inches),
Height =24.8 mm (0.97 inches)
CPU 1, extended heat sink Length =108 mm (4.25 inches), 2 heat pipes
CPU 2, standard heat sink Length =108 mm (4.25 inches), 3 heat pipes
Removing a processor and heat sink module

Prerequisites
3. If installed, disconnect the fabric cable from the fabric processor.

NOTE: The process to remove a processor heat sink module (PHM) is identical for a fabric and a nonfabric
processor.
Steps
1. Using a Torx #T30 screwdriver, loosen the screws on the heat sink in the order mentioned below:
a) Loosen the first screw three turns.
b) Loosen the second screw completely.
c) Return to the first screw and loosen it completely.
2. Pushing both blue retention clips simultaneously, lift the PHM processor and heat sink module
3. Set the PHM aside with the processor side facing up.
Figure 55. Removing the processor and heat sink module
Installing a processor and heat sink module

Steps
1. Align the pin 1 indicator of the heat sink to the system board and then place the processor and heat sink module (PHM) on the
processor socket.
CAUTION: To avoid damaging the fins on the heat sink, do not press down on the heat sink fins.
NOTE: Ensure that the PHM is held parallel to the system board to prevent damaging the components.
2. Push the blue retention clips inward to allow the heat sink to drop into place.

3. Using the Torx #T30 screwdriver, tighten the screws on the heat sink in the order below:
a) Partially tighten the first screw (approximately 3 turns).
b) Tighten the second screw completely.
c) Return to the first screw and tighten it completely.
If the PHM slips off the blue retention clips when the screws are partially tightened, follow these steps to secure the PHM:
a. Loosen both the heat sink screws completely.
b. Lower the PHM on to the blue retention clips, following the procedure described in step 2.
c. Secure the PHM to the system board, following the replacement instructions listed in this step above. 3.
Figure 56. Installing a processor and heat sink module
Next steps
2. Connect the fabric cable to the fabric processor.
Removing the fabric processor from the processor heat sink module
Prerequisites
NOTE: This procedure is only for replacing a heat sink or a processor. This procedure should not be followed while
replacing a system board.
2. Remove the fabric cable from the processor.

3. Remove the processor and heat sink module.
Steps
1. Place the heat sink with the processor contact side facing up.
2. Insert the flat blade screwdriver into the release slot and twist (do not pry) the screwdriver to break the seal created by the thermal
paste.
3. Push the retaining clips on the processor bracket to unlock the bracket from the heat sink.
4. Lift the bracket and the processor away from the heat sink, and place the processor side down on the processor tray.
5. Flex the outer edges of the bracket close to the fabric connector to release the bracket from the processor.
Figure 57. Loosening the processor bracket
Figure 58. Removing the processor bracket

Installing the fabric processor into the processor heat sink module
Steps
1. Ensure that the processor is in the CPU tray.
NOTE: Ensure that pin 1 indicator on the CPU tray is aligned with the pin 1 indicator on the processor.
2. Flex the outer edges of the bracket around the processor, close to the fabric connector, ensuring that the processor is locked into the
clips on the bracket.
3. Press the other end of the bracket to ensure that the clip is locked on to the processor.
NOTE: Ensure that the pin 1 indicator on the bracket is aligned with the pin 1 indicator on the processor before
placing the bracket on the processor.
Figure 59. Installing the processor bracket

4. If you are using an existing heat sink, remove the thermal grease from the heat sink by using a clean lint-free cloth.
CAUTION: Applying too much thermal grease can result in excess grease coming in contact with and contaminating
the processor socket.
5. Use the thermal grease syringe included with your processor kit to apply the grease in a quadrilateral design on the top of the
processor.
NOTE: The thermal grease syringe is intended for single use only. Dispose the syringe after you use it.

Figure 60. Applying thermal grease on top of the processor
6. Place the heat sink on the processor and push down until the bracket locks onto the heat sink.
NOTE:
• Ensure that the two guide pin holes on the bracket match the guide holes on the heat sink.
• Ensure that the pin 1 indicator on the heat sink is aligned with the pin 1 indicator on the bracket before placing
the heat sink on the processor and bracket.
Figure 61. Installing the heat sink onto the processor
Next steps
1. Install the processor and heat sink module.

Removing the non-fabric processor from the processor and heat sink
module
Prerequisites
NOTE: Only remove the processor from the processor and heat sink module if you are replacing the processor or heat
sink. This procedure is not required when replacing a system board.
2. Remove the processor and heat sink module.
Steps
1. Place the heat sink with the processor side facing up.
2. Insert a flat blade screwdriver into the release slot marked with a yellow label. Twist (do not pry) the screwdriver to break the thermal
paste seal.
3. Push the retaining clips on the processor bracket to unlock the bracket from the heat sink.


4. Lift the bracket and the processor away from the heat sink, and place the processor connector side down on the processor tray.
5. Flex the outer edges of the bracket to release the bracket from the processor.
NOTE: Ensure that the processor and the bracket are placed in the tray after you remove the heat sink.

Figure 65. Removing the processor bracket
Installing the non-fabric processor into a processor and heat sink

module
Steps
1. Place the processor in the processor tray.
NOTE: Ensure that the pin 1 indicator on the processor tray is aligned with the pin 1 indicator on the processor.
2. Flex the outer edges of the bracket around the processor ensuring that the processor is locked into the clips on the bracket.
NOTE: Ensure that the pin 1 indicator on the bracket is aligned with the pin 1 indicator on the processor before
placing the bracket on the processor.
Figure 66. Installing the processor bracket

3. If you are using an existing heat sink, remove the thermal grease from the heat sink by using a clean lint-free cloth.
4. Use the thermal grease syringe included with your processor kit to apply the grease in a quadrilateral design on the top of the
processor.
CAUTION: Applying too much thermal grease can result in excess grease coming in contact with and contaminating
the processor socket.

NOTE: The thermal grease syringe is intended for single use only. Dispose the syringe after you use it.
Figure 67. Applying thermal grease on top of the processor

5. Place the heat sink on the processor and push down on the base of the heat sink until the bracket locks onto the heat sink.
NOTE:
• Ensure that the two guide pin holes on the bracket match the guide holes on the heat sink.
• Do not press on the heat sink fins.

Figure 68. Installing the heat sink onto the processor
Next steps
1. Install the processor and heat sink module.
Removing the fabric and sideband cables

Prerequisites
NOTE: The procedure to remove the carrier card is similar to removing an OCP card.
NOTE: Route the fabric cable for CPU 2 under the heat sink of CPU1.
Steps
1. Pull the blue pull tab on the locking bar up to release the connector from the lock on the processor base plate.
2. To disengage and release the fabric connector, pull the connector away from the processor.
3. Pressing the connector clips, release the side band cable from the connector and lift the cable away.

Figure 69. Removing the fabric and sideband cables
Installing the fabric and sideband cables

Steps
1. Align the notches on the fabric connector with the guide pins on the processor base plate.
2. Push the connector toward the processor, until the connector is engaged with the edge connector on the processor.
3. Push the locking bar down to secure the fabric connector in place.
4. Insert the side band cable into the respective connector, and press down to lock the connector.
Figure 70. Installing the fabric and sideband cables
Next steps

Expansion cards
Removing the expansion card riser assembly
Steps
1. Remove the screws that secure the expansion card riser assembly.
2. Lift the expansion card riser assembly out of the sled.
Figure 71. Removing the expansion card riser assembly
Installing the expansion card riser assembly

Steps
1. Place the expansion card assembly into the system board assembly.
2. Align the riser card connector with the connector on the system board, and press the expansion card riser assembly into place.
3. Using the Phillips #2 screwdriver, tighten the screws that secure the expansion card riser assembly.
Figure 72. Installing the expansion card riser assembly

Removing an expansion card
Prerequisites
1. Remove the expansion card riser assembly.
Steps
1. Remove the screw that secures the expansion card to the assembly.
2. Hold the expansion card by its edges, and carefully remove it from the riser card.
Figure 73. Removing an expansion card

Figure 74. Installing the expansion card filler bracket
Installing an expansion card

Prerequisites
1. Unpack the expansion card and prepare it for installation. For instructions, see the documentation accompanying the card.
Steps
1. If installed, remove the filler bracket by performing the following steps:
a) Remove the screw that secures the filler bracket.
b) Hold the filler bracket by its edges, and carefully remove it from the riser card.
2. Holding the card by its edges, position the card so that the card edge connector aligns with the connector on the riser card.
3. Insert the card edge connector and push the card firmly into the riser card until the card is fully seated.
4. Replace the screw that secures the expansion card.

Figure 75. Removing the expansion card filler bracket
Figure 76. Installing an expansion card
Next steps
1. Install the expansion card riser assembly.

Removing the riser card
Prerequisites
2. If installed, remove the expansion card.
Steps
1. Using the Phillips #2 screwdriver, remove the screws that secure the riser card to the expansion card bracket.
2. Lift the riser card away from the expansion card bracket.
Figure 77. Removing the riser card
Installing the riser card

Steps
1. Place the riser card into the expansion card bracket.
2. Using the Phillips #2 screwdriver, tighten the screws that secure the riser card to the expansion card bracket.

Figure 78. Installing the riser card
Next steps
1. If removed, install the expansion card.
Removing the M.2 SATA x16 riser

Steps
1. Using the Phillips #1 screwdriver, loosen the screw that secures the riser to the sled.
2. Lift the riser up to disengage the riser from the connector on the system board.
3. Disconnect the data cable from the riser.
Figure 79. Removing the M.2 SATA x16 riser

Installing the M.2 SATA x16 riser
Steps
1. Connect the data cable to the riser.
2. Insert the keyed end of the M.2 SATA riser into the lock on the system board.
3. Align and insert the edge connector into the connector on the system board.
4. Using the Phillips #2 screwdriver, tighten the screw to secure the riser to the sled.
Figure 80. Installing the M.2 SATA x16 riser
Removing the M.2 SATA card

Prerequisites
1. If applicable, remove the expansion card riser assembly.
2. Remove the M.2 x16 riser or install the M.2 SATA x8 mezzanine card.
NOTE: The procedure to remove the M.2 SATA x8 mezzanine card is similar to removing a mezzanine card.
Steps
1. Using the Phillips #1 screwdriver, unscrew the screw that secures the M.2 card to the board.
2. Pull the card out of the connector and lift the card away.

Figure 81. Removing the M.2 SATA card from the M.2 SATA x16 riser
Figure 82. Removing the M.2 SATA card from the x8 mezzanine card
Installing the M.2 SATA card

Steps
1. Insert the edge connector of the M.2 SATA card into the connector on the board, and push the card in.
2. Using the Phillips #1 screwdriver, secure the card in place.

Figure 83. Installing the M.2 SATA card on the SATA x16 riser
Figure 84. Installing the M.2 SATA card on the SATA x8 mezzanine card
Next steps
1. If removed, install the expansion card riser assembly.
2. Install the M.2 x16 riser or install the M.2 SATA x8 mezzanine card.
NOTE: The procedure to install the M.2 SATA x8 mezzanine card is similar to installing a mezzanine card.
M.2 SSD module

Removing the M.2 SATA x16 riser
Prerequisites

Steps
1. Using the Phillips #1 screwdriver, loosen the screw that secures the riser to the sled.
2. Lift the riser up to disengage the riser from the connector on the system board.
3. Disconnect the data cable from the riser.
Figure 85. Removing the M.2 SATA x16 riser
Installing the M.2 SATA x16 riser

Steps
1. Connect the data cable to the riser.
2. Insert the keyed end of the M.2 SATA riser into the lock on the system board.
3. Align and insert the edge connector into the connector on the system board.
4. Using the Phillips #2 screwdriver, tighten the screw to secure the riser to the sled.
Figure 86. Installing the M.2 SATA x16 riser
Next steps

Removing the M.2 SATA card
Prerequisites
2. If applicable, remove the expansion card riser assembly.
3. Remove the M.2 x16 riser or the M.2 SATA x8 mezzanine card.
NOTE: The procedure to remove the M.2 SATA x8 mezzanine card is similar to removing a mezzanine card.
Steps
1. Using the Phillips #1 screwdriver, unscrew the screw that secures the M.2 card to the board.
2. Pull the card out of the connector and lift the card away.
Figure 87. Removing the M.2 SATA card from the M.2 SATA x16 riser
Figure 88. Removing the M.2 SATA card from the x8 mezzanine card

Installing the M.2 SATA card
Steps
1. Insert the edge connector of the M.2 SATA card into the connector on the board, and push the card in.
2. Using the Phillips #1 screwdriver, secure the card in place.
Figure 89. Installing the M.2 SATA card on the SATA x16 riser
Figure 90. Installing the M.2 SATA card on the SATA x8 mezzanine card
Next steps
1. If removed, install the expansion card riser assembly.
2. Install the M.2 x16 riser or the M.2 SATA x8 mezzanine card.
NOTE: The procedure to install the M.2 SATA x8 mezzanine card is similar to removing a mezzanine card.

Mezzanine and OCP cards
Removing a mezzanine card
Prerequisites
NOTE: The procedure to remove the mezzanine blank is similar to the removal of a mezzanine card.
Steps
1. Remove the screws that secure the mezzanine card to the sled.
2. Lift the mezzanine card out of the sled.
Figure 91. Removing a mezzanine card

Installing a mezzanine card
Prerequisites
NOTE: The procedure to install the mezzanine blank is similar to the removal of a mezzanine card.
Steps
1. Attach and secure the mezzanine card bracket to the mezzanine card.
2. Holding the card by its edges, position the card so that the card edge connector aligns with the connector of the bridge board on the
system board.
3. Insert the card edge connector and push the card firmly until the card is fully seated on the bridge board.
4. Using the Phillips #2 screwdriver, secure the mezzanine card and bracket assembly to the sled using screws.
Figure 92. Installing a mezzanine card
Next steps
1. Install the mezzanine card or install the mezzanine card filler bracket.
2. Install the expansion card riser assembly

Removing the mezzanine card bridge board
Prerequisites
1. Remove the expansion card riser assembly
2. Remove the mezzanine card.
Steps
Pull the mezzanine card bridge board away from the mezzanine card slot on the system board.
Figure 93. Removing the mezzanine card bridge board
Installing the mezzanine card bridge board

Steps
Insert the mezzanine card bridge board into the mezzanine slot on the system board.
Figure 94. Installing the mezzanine card bridge board

Next steps
1. Install the mezzanine card.
Removing the OCP card

Prerequisites
NOTE: The procedure to remove the mezzanine blank is similar to the removal of a mezzanine card.
1. Remove the mezzanine card.
Steps
1. Push the blue retention clips away on one side and release the Open Compute Project (OCP) card.
Repeat step 1 to release the card from the clips on the other side.
2. Slide the card toward the front of the sled to disengage the connectors from the chassis and lift the card up.
Figure 95. Removing the OCP card
Installing the OCP card

Steps
1. Insert the Open Compute Project (OCP) card into the sled, aligning the connector on the card with the connector in the system
board.
2. You must also align the holes on the card with the guide pins on the blue retention clips.
3. Push down to lock the card in place.

Figure 96. Installing the OCP card
Next steps
1. Install the mezzanine card.
System battery
Replacing system battery
Prerequisites
Steps
1. Locate the battery socket. For more information, see the System board connectors section.
2. Insert a plastic scribe at the negative side of the battery connector and lever the battery up, lift the battery out of the socket.
Figure 97. Removing system battery

Installing the system battery
Prerequisites
WARNING: There is a danger of a new battery exploding if it is incorrectly installed. Replace the battery only with the
same or equivalent type recommended by the manufacturer. For more information, see the safety information that
shipped with your system.
Steps
1. Locate the battery socket. For more information, see the System board connectors section.
2. Hold the battery with the "+" facing up and slide it under the securing tabs.
3. Press the battery into the connector until it snaps into place.
Figure 98. Installing the system battery
Next steps
1. If removed, install the expansion card riser.
2. While booting, press F2 to enter System Setup and ensure that the battery is operating properly.
3. Enter the correct time and date in the System Setup Time and Date fields.
4. Exit System Setup.
System board
Removing the system board
Prerequisites
CAUTION: To avoid damage to the system board, ensure that the system board does not touch the side walls of the sled
chassis, while sliding the system board into the sled.
1. Remove the sled from the chassis.
3. Remove the expansion card risers.
4. Remove the processor heat sink module.
5. Remove the memory modules.
6. If installed, remove OCP card.
7. If installed, remove the mezzanine card.
8. Remove the linking board
9. Disconnect all the cables from the system board.
Steps
1. Remove the screws that secure the system board to the sled assembly.

CAUTION: Do not lift the system board by holding a memory module slot, any other connector, or component.
2. Hold the system board by the edges, and lift the system board away from the sled.
Figure 99. Removing the system board
Installing system board

Prerequisites
CAUTION: To avoid damage to the system board, ensure that the system board does not touch the side walls of the sled
chassis, while sliding the system board into the sled.
Steps
1. Holding the system board by the edges, slide the system board into the sled.
2. Install the screws that secure the system board to the sled.
Figure 100. Installing system board

Next steps
1. If not installed, install the Trusted Platform Module (TPM). For information about how to install the TPM, see the Installing the Trusted
Platform Module section. For more information about the TPM, see the Trusted Platform Module section.
2. Replace the following components:
a. Air shroud
b. Expansion card risers
c. Processor heat sink module
d. Memory modules
e. OCP card
f. Mezzanine card
g. Linking board
3. Reconnect all cables to the system board.
4. Boot the system.
5. Use Easy Restore to restore configuration.
If for any reason Easy Restore does not run, you must manually update the following: Service Tag, iDRAC licenses, OEM ID or
Personality Modules (if needed).
Refer to the Update the Service Tag page. Other configuration issues must also be done manually, for instance importing iDRAC
License through iDRAC GUI.
6. Import your new or existing iDRAC Enterprise license.
For more information, see iDRAC User's Guide, at www.dell.com/idracmanuals.
7. Update the BIOS version.
NOTE:
• The RACADM command RACADM sslresetcfg is used to generate a new SSL certificate with service tag
providing the unique Common Name (CN). If the certificate is not generated at time of service, inform the
customer or technical support so they can follow up.
• RACADM must be installed. If RACADM is not installed, download and install the Dell DRAC Tools (Windows
only). For more information about RACADM Command Line Interface, see the RACADM Command Line Interface
for DRAC section.
8. Re-enable the Trusted Platform Module (TPM).
9. Turn off/exit manufacturing mode.
10. Let the system boot.
NOTE: If this system board replacement is for an OEM-branded product, see the reference material link below:
• Internal link: PowerEdge OEM Branding > Update the System Board for OEM Branding
• External link: PowerEdge OEM Branding > Update the System Board for OEM Branding
NOTE: If this system board replacement is for a Dell-branded product with a Windows embedded operating system,
do not exit manufacturing mode before you install the Dell Branded Embedded (DBE) Module.
Restoring the Service Tag by using the Easy Restore feature

By using the Easy Restore feature, you can restore your Service Tag, license, UEFI configuration, and the system configuration data after
replacing the system board. All data is automatically backed up in a backup flash device an rSPI card automatically. If BIOS detects a new
system board and the Service Tag in the backup flash device rSPI card, BIOS prompts the user to restore the backup information.
About this task
NOTE: To enable the easy restore feature, Riser1 must be installed.
Steps
1. Turn on the system.
If BIOS detects a new system board, and if the Service Tag is present in the backup flash devicerSPI card, BIOS displays the Service
Tag, the status of the license, and the UEFI Diagnostics version.
2. Perform one of the following steps:
• Press Y to restore the Service Tag, license, and diagnostics information.

• Press N to navigate to the Dell Lifecycle Controller based restore options.
• Press F10 to restore data from a previously created Hardware Server Profile.
After the restore process is complete, BIOS prompts to restore the system configuration data.
• Press Y to restore the Service Tag, license, and diagnostics information.
After the restore process is complete, BIOS prompts to restore the system configuration data.
• Press Y to restore the system configuration data.
• Press N to use the default configuration settings.
After the restore process is complete, the system restarts.
Entering the system Service Tag by using System Setup

If Easy Restore fails to restore the Service Tag, use System Setup to enter the Service Tag.
Steps
1. Turn on the system.
2. Press F2 to enter System Setup.
3. Click Service Tag Settings.
4. Enter the Service Tag.
NOTE: You can enter the Service Tag only when the Service Tag field is empty. Ensure that you enter the correct
Service Tag. After the Service Tag is entered, it cannot be updated or changed.
5. Click OK.
6. Import your new or existing iDRAC Enterprise license.
For more information, see the Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller User's Guide at www.dell.com/idracmanuals.
Updating the personality module

The personality module for the Dell EMC PowerEdge C6420 sled is used in the liquid cooling configuration to install custom thermal tables.
When a system board is replaced, the personality module has to be updated in order for the custom thermal tables to work on the
replacement system board.
Below are the steps to update the personality module:
1. The personality module file is available here: https://educate.dell.com/Saba/Web/Field/goto/ContentInventoryDetailURL?
id=cninv000000000054548&actionKey2=true
2. Log in to the iDRAC GUI.
3. In the left navigation pane, go to iDRAC Settings section, then click Update and Rollback.
4. Click the Firmware Update tab and do the following:
a. Under Single Update Location, click Browse.
b. Select the 8444K_Cosmos_CustBSU_1_02.exe file. Then Update Details window opens with the Personality Module file listed
under Contents.
c. Click Upload.
5. Select 8444K_Cosmos_CustBSU_1_02.exe then click Install. A system alert window opens to notify you that the update has been
queued. You can see the status in the Job queue page. Wait for the update to complete.
6. If the Reboot iDRAC after update check box was selected, wait for the iDRAC reboot to complete.
7. Reboot the system. After Power On Self-Test (POST), the system applies the personality module and automatically re-boots again.
8. Reboot the system again, and in the BIOS click Default button to apply the new defaults needed for the system. Pressing the Default
button after the personality module is applied ensures that the system BIOS defaults are applied to the system board.
9. Verify the changes.
NOTE: After the personality module is updated, delete the .pm and .exe files from the system.
10. Continue with the normal update process.
Personality module update can also be done using Easy Restore. Refer to the Easy Restore work flow here.

Trusted Platform Module
Upgrading the Trusted Platform Module
About this task
CAUTION: If you are using the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) with an encryption key, you may be prompted to create
a recovery key during program or System Setup. Work with the customer to create and safely store this recovery key.
When replacing this system board, you must supply the recovery key when you restart your system or program before
you can access the encrypted data on your hard drives.
CAUTION: Once the TPM plug-in module is installed, it is cryptographically bound to that specific system board. Any
attempt to remove an installed TPM plug-in module breaks the cryptographic binding, the removed TPM cannot be
reinstalled or installed on another system board.
Removing the TPM
Steps
1. Locate the TPM connector on the system board.
2. Press to hold the module down and remove the screw using the security Torx 8-bit shipped with the TPM module.
3. Slide the TPM module out from its connector.
4. Push the plastic rivet away from the TPM connector and rotate it 90° counterclockwise to release it from the system board.
5. Pull the plastic rivet out of its slot on the system board.
Installing the TPM
Steps
1. To install the TPM, align the edge connectors on the TPM with the slot on the TPM connector.
2. Insert the TPM into the TPM connector such that the plastic rivet aligns with the slot on the system board.
3. Press the plastic rivet until the rivet snaps into place.
Figure 101. Installing the TPM

4. Replace the screw that secures the TPM to the system board.
Next steps
1. Install the system board.
2. Follow the procedure listed in After working inside your system.
Initializing TPM for BitLocker users

Steps
Initialize the TPM.

For more information, see initializing the TPM for Intel TXT users.
The TPM Status changes to Enabled, Activated.
Initializing the TPM 1.2 for TXT users

Steps
1. While booting your system, press F2 to enter System Setup.
2. On the System Setup Main Menu screen, click System BIOS > System Security Settings.
3. From the TPM Security option, select On with Pre-boot Measurements.
4. From the TPM Command option, select Activate.
5. Save the settings.
6. Restart your system.
7. Enter System Setup again.
9. From the Intel TXT option, select On.
Initializing the TPM 2.0 for TXT users

Steps
1. While booting your system, press F2 to enter System Setup.
3. From the TPM Security option, select On.
6. Enter System Setup again.
8. Select the TPM Advanced Settings option.
9. From the TPM2 Algorithm Selection option, select SHA256, then go back to System Security Settings screen.
10. On the System Security Settings screen, from the Intel TXT option, select On.
Updating BIOS
About this task
To update the BIOS, perform the following steps:
Steps
1. Copy the BIOS update file on a USB device.
2. Plug in the USB device into any of the USB ports on your system.
3. Turn on your system.
4. While booting, press F11 to enter the Boot Manager.
5. Go to System Utilities → BIOS Update File Explorer, and select the plugged in USB device.
6. From the BIOS Update File Explorer, select the BIOS update file.
The BIOS Update Utility with the current and new version of BIOS is displayed.
7. Select Continue BIOS Update to install the BIOS update.
Installation
Installing the PowerEdgeC6420 requires information about the following topics:

• Placemat
• Rack Rails
• System Initialization
• Basic Configuration
Placemat
Click the link below to open high-resolution views of the Service Information Label andGetting Started Guide and documents. These
provide helpful diagrams on setting up the system.
System information label
Getting started guide
Rack rails
The rail offerings consist of the static rails only.
The static rails do not support serviceability in the rack and are thus not compatible with the CMA.
Figure 102. Static rail
One key factor in selecting the proper rails is identifying the type of rack in which they are installed. The static rails support tool-less
mounting in 19” wide, EIA-310-E-compliant square hole and unthreaded round hole 4-post racks. It also support tooled mounting in
threaded hole 4-post racks and mounting in 2-post-Telco racks.
Table 11. Static rails

Rail Mounting Rail type Supported rack types
identif interface
ier 4-Post 2-Post
Square Round Thread Flush Center
B4 ReadyRails Static √ √ √ √ √
NOTE: Screws are not included in either kit because threaded racks are offered with various thread designations. Users
must therefore provide their own screws when mounting the rails in threaded racks.
Other key factors governing proper rail selection include the following:
• Spacing between the front and rear mounting flanges of the rack
• Type and location of any equipment mounted in the back of the rack such as power distribution units (PDUs)

• Overall depth of the rack
The static rails offer a greater adjustability range and a smaller overall mounting footprint than the sliding rails. This feature is due to their
reduced complexity and lack of need for CMA support.
Table 12. Static rails adjustability

Rail Rail Type Rail Adjustable Range—mm Rail Depth—mm
Identifier
Square Round Threaded Without With CMA
CMA
Min Max Min Max Min Max
B4 Static 608 879 594 872 604 890 622 N/A
NOTE: The adjustment range of the rails is a function of the type of rack in which they are being mounted. The Min/Max
values listed above represent the allowable distance between the front and rear mounting flanges in the rack. Rail depth
without the CMA represents the minimum depth of the rail with the outer CMA brackets removed-if applicable as
measured from the front mounting flanges of the rack.
Installing the system into the rack

The following steps are procedures to install the system into the rack:
1. Install the optional chassis retention bracket and insert two cage nuts in the two rack holes above the rail.
NOTE: If the system is a 1U system, the optional chassis retention brackets cannot be installed.
NOTE: The cage nuts must be installed before installing the system in the rack.
2. Position the system on the rail.
3. Hold the system rack ears and slide the system into the rack until the system is seated in place.
4. Tighten the thumbscrews to secure the system.
Removing the system from the rack

The following steps are procedures to remove the system from the rack:
1. Loosen the thumbscrews to release the system.
2. Pull and remove the system out from the rail.

Figure 103. Diagram and description of installing the system into the rack
1. Thumbscrews (2)
2. Rack ear (2)
3. System
4. Cage nut (2)

Figure 104. Diagram and description of installing the optional chassis retention bracket
1. Cage nut (2)

2. Screws (2)
3. Chassis retention bracket
Initialization
After you receive your system, you must set up your system, install the operating system, and set up and configure the system iDRAC IP
address for system management.
Setting up your system

• Unpack the system.
• If applicable, install the system into the rack.
• Connect any peripherals to the system.
• Connect the system to its electrical outlet.
• Power on the system by pressing the power button.
• Power on the attached peripherals.
Methods of setting up and configuring the iDRAC IP address

You can set up the Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller (iDRAC) IP address by using one of the following interfaces:
1. iDRAC Settings utility
2. Lifecycle Controller
3. Dell Deployment Toolkit
To enable communication between your system and iDRAC, you must first configure the network settings based on your network
infrastructure.

NOTE: For static iDRAC IP configuration, you must request for it at the time of purchase.
This option is set to DHCP by Default. You can set up the IP address by using one of the following interfaces:
1. iDRAC Web Interface
2. Remote Access Controller ADMin (RACADM)
3. Remote Services that include Web Services Management -WSMAN
For more information on setting up and configuring iDRAC, see the Integrated Dell Remote Access Control User's Guide at www.dell.com/
poweredgemanuals
Information about logging in to iDRAC

You can log in to iDRAC as an iDRAC local user, as a Microsoft Active Directory user, or as a Lightweight Directory Access Protocol
(LDAP) user. You can also log in using Single Sign-On or a Smart Card. The default user name is root, and default password is random
unless customer choose to use calvin as password at the point of sales. For more information on logging in to the iDRAC and iDRAC
licenses, see Integrated Dell Remote Access Control User's Guide at www.dell.com/idracmanuals
You can also access iDRAC using RACADM. For more information, see RACADM Command Line Interface Reference Guide and
Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller User's Guide is available at www.dell.com/poweredgemanuals
Basic configuration
Once the system has been set up correctly, users may perform further configurations such as operating system installation, remote
management, and also drivers/firmware installation.
Methods of installing the operating system

You can install the supported operating system on the system, if the system has been shipped without an operating system, use the
following methods:
• Dell Lifecycle Controller-See the Lifecycle Controller documentation at www.dell.com/idracmanuals > Lifecycle Controller
• Dell OpenManage Deployment Toolkit-See the OpenManage documentation at www.dell.com/openmanagemanuals > OpenManage
Deployment Toolkit
For information about the list of operating systems supported on your system, go to www.dell.com/ossupport
Remote management
To perform out-of-band systems management using iDRAC, you must configure iDRAC for remote accessibility, set up the management
station and managed system, and configure the supported web browsers. For more information, see the Integrated Dell Remote Access
Controller User’s Guide at www.dell.com/poweredgemanuals.
You can also remotely monitor and manage the server, using the Dell OpenManage Server Administrator (OMSA) software and
OpenManage Essentials systems management console. For more information, see www.dell.com/openmanagemanuals > OpenManage
Essentials or www.dell.com/openmanagemanuals > OpenManage Enterprise
Downloading and installing drivers and firmware

It is recommended that you download and install the latest BIOS, drivers, and systems management firmware on your system.
NOTE: Ensure that you clear the web browser cache.
1. Go to www.dell.com/support/drivers
2. In the Product Selection section, enter the service tag of your system in the Service Tag or Express Service Code field.
NOTE: If you do not have the service tag, select Automatically detect my Service Tag for me to allow the system to
automatically detect your service tag, or select Choose from a list of all Dell products to select your product from
the Product Selection page.
3. Click Get drivers and downloads. The drivers that are applicable to your selection are displayed.
4. Repeat steps 1 through 3 to download the hard drive zoning configuration utility.
5. Search by Category and click the System utilities. HDD Zoning Configuration Utility is displayed.

Accessing system information by using QRL
Prerequisites
Ensure that your smartphone or tablet has the QR code scanner installed.
The QRL includes the following information about your system:
• How-to videos
• Reference materials, including the Installtion and Service Manual, and mechanical overview
• Your system service tag to quickly access your specific hardware configuration and warranty information
• A direct link to Dell to contact technical assistance and sales teams
Steps
1. Go to www.dell.com/qrl and navigate to your specific product or
2. Use your smartphone or tablet to scan the model-specific Quick Resource (QR) code on your system or in the Quick Resource
Locator section.
Quick Resource Locator for C6400 and C6420 systems
Figure 105. Quick Resource Locator for PowerEdge C6400 and C6420 systems

3
Technology and components
The following sections contain information about the technology and components in the Dell EMC PowerEdge system.
Topics:
• iDRAC9
• Dell Lifecycle Controller
• Server sled options
• Chipset
• Memory
• Processor
• Storage
• Boot Optimized Storage Subsystem
• SAS backplane features
• RAID configurations
• PCIe risers and slots
• PCIe Mezzanine slot
• Video
• Trusted Platform Module
• System board block diagram
iDRAC9
The Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller (iDRAC) is designed to make system administrators more productive and improve the
overall availability of Dell system. iDRAC alerts administrators to system issues, helps them perform remote system management, and
reduces the need for physical access to the system.
iDRAC with Lifecycle Controller technology is part of a larger data center solution that helps keep business critical applications and
workloads available always. The technology allows administrators to deploy, monitor, manage, configure, update, troubleshoot and
remediate Dell system from any location, and without the use of agents. It accomplishes this regardless of operating system or hypervisor
presence or state.
iDRAC9 is available in the following variants:
• iDRAC Basic - available by default for 200-500 series servers.
iDRAC Express - available by default on all 600 and higher series of rack or tower servers, and all blade servers.
iDRAC Enterprise - available on all server models.
For more information, see the Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller User’s Guide at Dell.com/idracmanuals.
iDRAC9 - New features

The following list contains the key new features available on iDRAC9:
• Added support for Redfish 2016.R1 and .R2, a RESTful Application Programming Interface (API), which is standardized by the
Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF). It provides a scalable and secure systems management interface.
• Enhanced iDRAC RESTful API support for Server Configuration Profiles with access via local file streaming and via HTTP/S file
transfer.
• Added Server Configuration Profile support for firmware repository-based updates and JSON file format.
• Export and import Server Configuration Profiles from the iDRAC GUI.
• Added support for HTTP/HTTPS file transfers
• Added support for WSman streaming for Server Configuration Profiles.
• Added new feature Group Manager. All iDRACs in the same subnet can be grouped together and the systems can be grouped and
managed by one master iDRAC of the group.
• Added Security Banner for GUI log in page.
Technology and components 93

• Multi Vector Cooling for better air flow cooling of 3rd party PCIe cards.
• DHCP is the default iDRAC IP address (static was the default on previous generations).
• Default password is randomly generated and printed on the pull out information tag, unless the legacy “root/calvin” was ordered from
the factory.
• iDRAC Direct USB on the front of the server is now a Micro B slot, and is hard wired to iDRAC only for increased security.
• Added new System Lockdown feature to restrict use of Dell tools to make changes to BIOS, iDRAC, firmware, etc.
• iDRAC Service Module (iSM) is pre-installed on the iDRAC and can be surfaced to the OS; nothing to download.
• SupportAssist can be set up through the iDRAC for 1x1 ‘phone home’ service to Dell Support.
• SupportAssist Collector now includes iDRAC core dumps, hardware crash dumps, and ESXi logs.
• SupportAssist viewer - option to export HTML5 formatted report for customer viewing by standard web browsers.
• Full HTML5 web interface for faster page loading and ease of use.
• BIOS configuration in the iDRAC GUI.
• Expanded storage functions via iDRAC, such as Online Capacity Expansion (OCE) and RAID Level Migration (RLM) without the use of
agents, via GUI or CLI.
• Improved add/delete of iDRAC Users.
• Streamlined alerts configuration.
• Added Power Control and Next Boot options in HTML5 vConsole.
• Added feature Connection View provide the switch and port for iDRAC, LOM’s and Dell supported PCIe cards.
• Internal 16 GB vFlash card (optional).
Dell Lifecycle Controller

NOTE: This is an overview of the Lifecycle Controller. For more information about Dell LifeCycle Controller, see
www.dell.com/poweredgemanuals.
iDRAC9 with Lifecycle Controller

Dell Lifecycle Controller provides advanced embedded systems management to perform systems management tasks such as deploy,
configure, update, maintain, and diagnose by using a graphical user interface (GUI). It is delivered as part of integrated Dell Remote Access
Controller (iDRAC) out-of-band solution and embedded Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) applications in the latest Dell
systems. iDRAC works with the UEFI firmware to access and manage every aspect of the hardware, including component and subsystem
management that is beyond the traditional Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) capabilities.
Benefits of using iDRAC with Lifecycle Controller

The benefits of using iDRAC with Lifecycle Controller include:
• Increased availability—Early notification of potential or actual failures that help prevent a system failure or reduce recovery time after
failure.
• Improved productivity and lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) — Extending the reach of administrators to larger numbers of
distant systems can make the IT staff more productive while driving down operational costs such as travel.
• Secure environment—By providing secure access to remote systems, administrators can perform critical management functions while
maintaining system and network security.
• Enhanced embedded management through Lifecycle Controller — Lifecycle Controller provides deployment and simplified
serviceability through Lifecycle Controller GUI for local deployment and remote services (Redfish, RACADM, and WS-Man) interfaces
for remote deployment integrated with Dell OpenManage Essentials or OpenManage Enterprise and partner consoles.
Key features of iDRAC

The key features of Lifecycle Controller are:
• Provisioning — Entire pre-operating system configuration from a unified interface.
• Deploying — Simplified OS installation with the embedded drivers on Lifecycle Controller. Unattended installation mode is available for
Microsoft Windows and Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 7 operating systems.
• Download drivers for OS installation from one of the following sources:
• downloads.dell.com
• Dell Lifecycle Controller OS Driver Packs DVD for Windows and Linux
94 Technology and components

• Patching or updating — Operating system diagnostics, and reduced maintenance downtime with direct access to updates from
downloads.dell.com. It simplifies firmware updates by maintaining a working version for rollback.
• Servicing — Continuous availability of diagnostics without depending on a drive. Ability to automatically update firmware while
replacing components such as a PowerEdge Storage Controller (PERC), NIC, and power supply unit. Support for VLAN in network
configuration.
• System erase — Deletes the system and storage-related data on selected components of a system. You can delete information
pertaining to BIOS, Lifecycle Controller logs, iDRAC settings, and storage components on the system. However, you cannot delete the
iDRAC license information.
• Security — Supports local key encryption.
• Restoring the server — Back up the system profile, including RAID configuration, and restore the system to a previously known state.
Importing a server license, firmware rollback, and restoring system configuration if there is system board replacement.
• Easy Restore — Automatically restore hardware configuration and license information after a system board replacement
• SupportAssist Collection — Gathers all hardware logs, OS logs, and inventory information required for technical support.
• Lifecycle Controller logs for troubleshooting.
• Hardware inventory — Provides information about the current and factory system configuration.
Starting Lifecycle Controller

To start Lifecycle Controller, restart the system, press <F10> during POST, and select Lifecycle Controller from the list displayed. When
Lifecycle Controller starts for the first time, the Settings wizard is displayed. Use the wizard to configure the preferred language and
network settings.
Server sled options

The PowerEdge C6420 supports up to 4 x C6420 sleds. The following image illustrates the connectors and components on each
PowerEdge C6420 sled:
Figure 106. Server sled option
Table 13. System Board Connectors and Description

1 PCIe B NVMe B connector
2 PCIe A NVMe A connector
4 DIMM B8, DIMM B4, DIMM B5, DIMM B6 Memory module sockets
5 DIMM A8, DIMM A4, DIMM A5, DIMM A6 Memory module sockets

8 PCIe Slot 4 Slot 4: x16 PCIe Gen3 CPU 1
9 Batt System battery
10 PWDCLR Password clear jumper
11 NVRAMCLR NVRAM clear jumper
13 TPM TPM connector
16 SATA_A SATA cable connector
17 DIMM A7, DIMM A1, DIMM A2, DIMM A3 Memory module sockets
18 CPU 1 CPU socket 1
19 DIMM B7, DIMM B1, DIMM B2, DIMM B3 Memory module sockets
20 CPU 2 CPU socket 2 (with a dust cover)
Key features
Table 14. Key features
Item Connector
Form factor 2U on the PowerEdge C6400 chassis
CPU Intel Skylake-EP/Skylake-F/Cascade Lake, up to 205 W server processors
PCH Intel C621 Lewisburg-1G
Memory slots Architecture:
• DDR4 LRDIMM 2 DPC
• DDR4 LRDIMM 1 DPC
• DDR4 RDIMM 2 DPC
• DDR4 RDIMM 1 DPC
Type: RDIMM, LRDIMM
Maximum RAM up to:
• 512 GB—16 RDIMM
• 2048 GB—16 LRDIMM
Management • Dell OpenManage featuring Dell Management Console

• BCM+/iDRAC9 Enterprise
Network chipset onboard Intel I350 LOM

PCIe slots • 1 pcs 1U x16 main PCI-e riser
• 1 pcs x8 DCS Mezz
• 1 pcs x16 OCP Mezz
• 1 pcs x16 PCI-e buried riser
Sled Installation Guidelines

NOTE: Ensure to install a sled blank in all the empty slots. Operating the enclosure without a blank results in
overheating.
NOTE: For optimized thermal operation, ensure to follow the sled population sequence mentioned below:

Figure 107. Sled Installation Guidelines
Chipset
The Intel® C621 series Chipset (Lewisburg-1G PCH: Platform Controller Hub) is implemented on the system. The Lewisburg-1G PCH
provides extensive I/O support. The following are its functions and capabilities:
• ACPI Power Management Logic Support, Revision 4.0a
• PCI Express* Base Specification Revision 3.0
• Integrated Serial ATA host controller supports data transfer rates of up to 6 gb/s on all ports.
• xHCI USB controller with SuperSpeed USB 3.0 ports
• Direct Media Interface
• Serial Peripheral Interface
• Enhanced Serial Peripheral Interface
• Flexible I/O—Allows some high-speed I/O signals to be configured as PCIe* root ports, PCIe*.
• Uplink for use with certain PCH SKUs, SATA and sSATA, or USB 3.0
• General Purpose Input Output (GPIO)

• Low Pin Count interface, interrupt controller, and timer functions
• System Management Bus Specification, Version 2.0
• Integrated Clock Controller/Real Time Clock Controller
• Intel® High Definition Audio and Intel® Smart Sound Technology
• Integrated 10/1 Gb Ethernet
• Integrated 10/100/1000 mbps Ethernet MAC
• Supports Intel® Rapid Storage Technology Enterprise
• Supports Intel® Active Management Technology and Server Platform Services
• Supports Intel® Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O
• Supports Intel® Trusted Execution Technology
• JTAG Boundary Scan support
• Intel® QuickAssist Technology
• Intel® Trace Hub for debug
Memory
The PowerEdge C6420 Integrated Memory Controller (IMC) supports DDR4/-RS protocols with two independent, 64-bit wide channels.
It also supports two memory organization modes, single-channel and dual-channel. Depending upon how the DDR schema and DIMM
modules are populated in each memory channel, several different configurations can exist.
• Single-channel mode-All memory cycles are directed to a single channel. Single-Channel mode is used when either the Channel A or
Channel B DIMM connectors are populated in any order, but not both.
• Dual-channel or Intel Flex Memory Technology Mode- Memory is divided into a symmetric and asymmetric zone. The symmetric zone
starts at the lowest address in each channel and is contiguous until the asymmetric zone begins or until the top address of the channel
with the smaller capacity is reached. In this mode, the system runs with one zone of dual-channel mode and one zone of single-
channel mode, simultaneously, across the whole memory array.
• Supported speed of DIMMs
• Number of DIMMs populated per channel
• System profile setup in BIOS
• Maximum supported DIMM frequency of the processor
The system contains 16 memory sockets split into two sets of 8 banks, one set per processor. Below is an image of the PowerEdge C6420
memory socket diagram:
Figure 108. Memory socket diagram

System memory guidelines
The PowerEdge system supports DDR4 registered DIMMs (RDIMMs) and Load Reduced DIMMs (LRDIMMs). System memory holds the
instructions that are executed by the processor.
Your system contains 16 memory sockets that are split into two sets of 8 sockets, one set per processor. Each 8-socket set is organized
into channels. In each channel, the release tabs of the first socket are marked white, the second socket black.
Figure 109. Memory socket locations
Memory channels are organized as follows:
Table 15. Memory channels

Processor Channel 0 Channel 1 Channel 2 Channel 3 Channel 4 Channel 5
Processor 1 Slots A1 and A7 Slots A2 Slots A3 Slots A8 and A4 Slots A5 Slots A6
Processor 2 Slots B1 and B7 Slots B2 Slots B3 Slots B8 and B4 Slots B5 Slots B6
General memory module installation guidelines

To ensure optimal performance of your system, observe the following general guidelines when configuring your system memory. If your
system's memory configurations fail to observe these guidelines, your system might not boot, stop responding during memory
configuration, or operate with reduced memory.
The memory bus may operate at frequency can be 2933 MT/s, 2666 MT/s, 2400 MT/s, or 2133 MT/s depending on the following
factors:
• System profile selected (for example, Performance Optimized, or Custom [can be run at high speed or lower])
• Maximum supported DIMM speed of the processors. For memory frequency of 2933 MT/s, one DIMM per channel is supported.
• Maximum supported speed of the DIMMs
NOTE: MT/s indicates DIMM speed in MegaTransfers per second.
The system supports Flexible Memory Configuration, enabling the system to be configured and run in any valid chipset architectural
configuration. The following are the recommended guidelines for installing memory modules:
• All DIMMs must be DDR4.
• RDIMMs and LRDIMMs must not be mixed.
• 64 GB LRDIMMs that are DDP (Dual Die Package) LRDIMMs must not be mixed with 128 GB LRDIMMs that are TSV (Through Silicon
Via/3DS) LRDIMMs.
• x4 and x8 DRAM based memory modules can be mixed.
• Up to two RDIMMs can be populated per channel regardless of rank count.
• Up to two LRDIMMs can be populated per channel regardless of rank count.
• A maximum of two different ranked DIMMs can be populated in a channel regardless of rank count.
• If memory modules with different speeds are installed, they will operate at the speed of the slowest installed memory module(s).
• Populate memory module sockets only if a processor is installed.
• For single-processor systems, sockets A1 to A8 are available.
• For dual-processor systems, sockets A1 to A8 and sockets B1 to B8 are available.
• Populate all the sockets with white release tabs first, followed by the black release tabs.

• When mixing memory modules with different capacities, populate the sockets with memory modules with the highest capacity first.
For example, if you want to mix 8 GB and 16 GB memory modules, populate 16 GB memory modules in the sockets with white release
tabs and 8 GB memory modules in the sockets with black release tabs.
• Memory modules of different capacities can be mixed provided other memory population rules are followed.
For example, 8 GB and 16 GB memory modules can be mixed.
• In a dual-processor configuration, the memory configuration for each processor must be identical.
For example, if you populate socket A1 for processor 1, then populate socket B1 for processor 2, and so on.
• Mixing of more than two memory module capacities in a system is not supported.
• Unbalanced memory configurations will result in a performance loss so always populate memory channels identically with identical
DIMMs for best performance.
• Populate six identical memory modules per processor (one DIMM per channel) at a time to maximize performance.
DIMM population update for Performance Optimized mode with quantity of 4 and 8 DIMMs per processor.
• When the DIMM quantity is 4 per processor, the population is slot 1, 2, 4, 5.
• When the DIMM quantity is 8 per processor, the population is slot 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
Mode-specific guidelines
The configurations allowed depend on the memory mode selected in the System BIOS.
Table 16. Memory operating modes

Memory Operating Mode Description
Optimizer Mode The Optimizer Mode if enabled, the DRAM controllers operate
independently in the 64-bit mode and provide optimized memory
performance.
Mirror Mode The Mirror Mode if enabled, the system maintains two identical
copies of data in memory, and the total available system memory is
one half of the total installed physical memory. Half of the installed
memory is used to mirror the active memory modules. This feature
provides maximum reliability and enables the system to continue
running even during a catastrophic memory failure by switching
over to the mirrored copy. The installation guidelines to enable
Mirror Mode require that the memory modules be identical in size,
speed, and technology, and they must be populated in sets of 6 per
processor.
Single Rank Spare Mode Single Rank Spare Mode allocates one rank per channel as a
spare. If excessive correctable errors occur in a rank or channel,
while the operating system is running, they are moved to the spare
area to prevent errors from causing an uncorrectable failure.
Requires two or more ranks to be populated in each channel.
Multi Rank Spare Mode Multi Rank Spare Mode allocates two ranks per channel as a
spare. If excessive correctable errors occur in a rank or channel,
while the operating system is running, they are moved to the spare
area to prevent errors from causing an uncorrectable failure.
Requires three or more ranks to be populated in each channel.
With single rank memory sparing enabled, the system memory
available to the operating system is reduced by one rank per
channel.
For example, in a dual-processor configuration with sixteen 16 GB
single-rank memory modules, the available system memory is: 3/4
(ranks/channel) × 16 (memory modules) × 16 GB = 192 GB, and
not 16 (memory modules) × 16 GB = 256 GB. For multi rank
sparing, the multiplier changes to 1/2 (ranks/channel).
NOTE: To use memory sparing, this feature must be
enabled in the BIOS menu of System Setup.

Memory Operating Mode Description
NOTE: Memory sparing does not offer protection against
a multi-bit uncorrectable error.
Dell Fault Resilient Mode The Dell Fault Resilient Mode if enabled, the BIOS creates an
area of memory that is fault resilient. This mode can be used by an
OS that supports the feature to load critical applications or enables
the OS kernel to maximize system availability.
NOTE: This feature is only supported in Gold and
Platinum Intel processors.
NOTE: Memory configuration has to be of same size

DIMM, speed, and rank.
Optimizer Mode
This mode supports Single Device Data Correction (SDDC) only for memory modules that use x4 device width. It does not impose any
specific slot population requirements.
• Dual processor: Populate the slots in round robin sequence starting with processor 1.
NOTE: Processor 1 and processor 2 population should match.
Table 17. Memory population rules

Processor Configuration Memory population Memory population information
Single processor Optimizer (Independent channel) 1, 2, 4, 5 Odd amount of DIMMs per processor
population order allowed.
Mirror population order {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6} Mirroring is supported with 6 DIMMs
per processor
Single rank sparing population order 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 Populate in this order, odd amount per
processor allowed. Requires two ranks
or more per channel.
Multi rank sparing population order 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 Populate in this order, odd amount per
processor allowed. Requires three
ranks or more per channel.
Fault resilient population order {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6} Supported with 6 DIMMs per
processor.
Dual processor (Start Optimized (Independent channel) A{1}, B{1}, A{2}, B{2}, A{4}, Odd amount of DIMMs per processor
with processor1. population order B{4}, A{5}, B{5} allowed.
processor1 and
Mirroring population order A{1,2,3,4,5,6}, Mirroring is supported with 6 DIMMs
processor 2 population
B{1,2,3,4,5,6} per processor.
should match)
Single rank sparing population order A{1}, B{1}, A{2}, B{2}, A{3}, B{3} Populate in this order, odd amount per
… processor allowed. Requires two ranks
or more per channel.
Multi rank spare population order A{1}, B{1}, A{2}, B{2}, A{3}, B{3} Populate in this order, odd amount per
… processor allowed. Requires three
ranks or more per channel.
Fault resilient population order A{1,2,3,4,5,6}, Supported with 6 DIMMs per
B{1,2,3,4,5,6} processor.
Processor
The PowerEdge C6420 features the Intel Xeon Processor Scalable Family. This product family processor offers an ideal combination of
performance and power efficiency, and cost. These processors provide high performance no matter what your constraints are-floor
space, power, or budget. It also provides high performance on workloads that range from the most complicated scientific exploration to

crucial web serving and infrastructure applications. In addition, improved I/O is also made possible with the Intel-integrated I/O, which
reduces latency by adding more lanes and doubling bandwidth. This feature helps reduce network and storage bottlenecks, hence enables
the processor's performance capabilities.
Processor features
Table 18. Processor features
Category Feature Function
Compute More cores Up to 28
Intel AVX-512 512-bit instructions
MLC optimization Acceleration of enterprise-class and HPC workloads
Heterogeneous support with converaged
programming environment
Higher private-local ratio in cache
Lower power
Intel Ultra Path Interconnect (UPI) Increases bandwidth up to 10.4 GT/s
Memory and security Memory capacity and bandwidth increase Up to DDR4 2666 MHz-11 % increase
Up to 6 channels-50 % increase
Supports Apache Pass Support for higher memory capacity
Up to 3 TB per socket
MPX-Memory Protection Extensions Prevents buffer overflow
I/O Fabric integration On package integration of next generation Intel
Omni-Path fabric controller
PCIe bandwidth Up to 48 PCIe lanes 3.0 speed 79 GB/s bi-directional
pipeline
Separate Reference with independent Spread Eliminates clock in the PCIe cables
Spectrum Clocking (SRIS)
MCTP scaling 256 PCIe buses up to 8 segments
Storage Non-Transparent Bridge (NTB) Enhancements 3 full duplex NTBs and 32 MSI-X vectors
Crystal Beach DMA (CBDMA) Adds new DIF opcodes
Adds DMA Enhanced Memory Sparing (DEMS)-BIOS
DMA
Adds reads to MMIO and Writes to Memory
Dedicated pipeline adds 16 GB/s throughput-shared
with DMI
Intel Volume Management Device-Intel VMD Manages CPU attached PCIe NVMe SSD
Supported processors
Table 19. Supported processors for the PowerEdge C6420
Maximum Maximum
Clock speed memory
Family Model Cores TDP memory (Per
(GHz) frequency CPU)
(GHz)
Platinum 8280 28 2.7 205 2933 1 TB
Platinum 8276M 28 2.2 165 2933 2 TB

Maximum Maximum
Clock speed memory
(GHz)
Platinum 8276 28 2.2 165 2933 1 TB
Platinum 8270 26 2.6 205 2933 1 TB
Platinum 8268 24 2.9 205 2933 1 TB
Platinum 8260M 24 2.4 165 2933 2 TB
Platinum 8260 24 2.4 165 2933 1 TB
Platinum 8253 16 2.2 125 2933 1 TB
Gold 6258R 28 2.7 205 2933 1 TB
Gold 6256 18 3.6 200 2933 1 TB
Gold 6254 18 3.1 200 2933 1 TB
Gold 6252N 24 2.7 150 2933 1 TB
Gold 6252 24 2.1 150 2933 1 TB
Gold 6250 24 3.9 185 2933 1 TB
Gold 6248R 24 3.0 205 2933 1 TB
Gold 6248 20 3.5 150 2933 1 TB
Gold 6246R 16 3.4 205 2933 1 TB
Gold 6246 12 3.3 165 2933 1 TB
Gold 6244 8 3.7 150 2933 1 TB
Gold 6242R 20 3.1 205 2933 1 TB
Gold 6242 16 2.8 150 2933 1 TB
Gold 6240R 24 2.4 165 2933 1 TB
Gold 6240M 18 2.6 150 2933 2 TB
Gold 6240 18 2.6 150 2933 1 TB
Gold 6238R 28 2.2 165 2933 1 TB
Gold 6238M 22 2.1 140 2933 2 TB
Gold 6238 22 2.1 140 2933 1 TB
Gold 6234 8 3.3 130 2933 1 TB
Gold 6230R 26 2.1 150 2933 1 TB
Gold 6230 20 2.1 125 2933 1 TB
Gold 6226R 16 2.9 150 2933 1 TB
Gold 6226 12 2.7 125 2933 1 TB
Gold 6230N 20 2.3* 125 2933 1 TB
Gold 6222V 20 1.8 115 2933 1 TB
Gold 5222 4 3.8 105 2933 1 TB
Gold 5220R 24 2.2 150 2666 1 TB
Gold 5220S 18 2.7 125 2666 1 TB
Gold 5220 18 2.2 125 2667 1 TB
Gold 5218R 20 2.1 125 2666 1 TB

Maximum Maximum
Clock speed memory
(GHz)
Gold 5218N 16 2.3 105 2667 1 TB
Gold 5218 16 2.3 105 2667 1 TB
Gold 6248 20 2.5 150 2933 1 TB
Gold 6242 16 2.8 150 2933 1 TB
Gold 5222 4 3.8 105 2666 1 TB
Gold 5220 18 2.2 125 2666 1 TB
Gold 5217 8 3 125 2666 1 TB
Gold 5215 10 2.5 85 2666 1 TB
Gold 5215M 10 2.6 85 2666 2 TB
Silver 4216 16 2.1 100 2666 1 TB
Silver 4215R 8 3.2 130 2400 1 TB
Silver 4215 8 2.5 85 2666 1 TB
Silver 4214 12 2.2 85 2666 1 TB
Silver 4214R 12 2.4 100 2400 1 TB
Silver 4210R 10 2.4 100 2400 1 TB
Silver 4210 10 2.2 85 2666 1 TB
Silver 4208 8 2.1 85 2666 1 TB
Bronze 3206R 8 1.9 85 2133 1 TB
Bronze 3204 6 1.7 85 2133 1 TB
NOTE: For more information about Intel Xeon Scalable Processors, see www.intel.com.
Storage
The system provides storage expandability that allows customer to adapt to their workload and operational demands. With comprehensive
storage options, the system offers various drive types, internal and external storage controllers, and different chassis and backplanes for
varied numbers of drives.
All hard drives connect to the system board through the hard-drive backplane. Hard drives are supplied in hot-swappable hard-drive
carriers that fit in the hard-drive slots.
The following is a list of supported drives for the PowerEdge C6420:
• 3.5-in SAS and SATA
• 2.5-in SAS, SATA and NVMe
• SDHC card—optional
Internal storage
The PowerEdge C6420 offers two types of internal storage:
• PERC H330
• PERC H730P
• S 140

Boot Optimized Storage Subsystem
The Boot Optimized Storage Subsystem (BOSS) is offered as a means of booting PowerEdge systems to a full operating system mode
when:
• Target operating system is a full operating system and not hypervisor that may be supported best by IDSDM
• You do not want to trade off standard hot plug drive slots for operating system install
The RAID controller on the BOSS card has limited set of features. This RAID controller presents the M.2 SATA SSDs as either a non-RAID
volume or as a single RAID volume.
Figure 110. Boot Optimized Storage Subsystem (BOSS)
Table 20. BOSS features

Function or feature Supported
Stripe size supported 64 K
Configuration (HII) Yes
Full initialization No
Fast initialization Yes
NOTE: By default, fast initialization is performed when you create a virtual
drive.
Background initialization No
RAID 0 No
RAID 1 Yes
Single non-RAID Yes
Dual non-RAID Yes
Degraded RAID1 and non-RAID No
Foreign import Yes
Consistency check No
Patrol read No
Load balance N/A
Rebuild Yes
NOTE: You must manually start the rebuild process using HII or using the
Marvell CLI.
Auto-rebuild Yes

Function or feature Supported
NOTE: Auto-rebuild is performed when the system is powered on only if there
is a surviving native virtual drive and another hard drive is present.
Hot spare No
Change rebuild priority/rate. No
Virtual disks write back/read ahead cache. No
NOTE: BOSS controller does not support controller cache.
Battery support N/A

NOTE: BOSS controller does not support a battery.
Non-RAID disk cache policy Yes

NOTE: Operating system controlled/Device defaults.
SMART Info Yes

NOTE: Use the Marvell CLI to retrieve the SMART information from the
drives.
Physical disk hot swap No

Virtual disk expansion No
Virtual disk slicing No
Virtual disk migration Yes
NOTE: On new controller, virtual disk must be Imported from HII before
presented to operating system.
Split mirror No
NOTE: System that is required to shutdown and migrate one hard drive to
another system and continue rebuild.
Non-RAID migration Yes

BIOS configuration utility (Ctrl-M) No
Add on driver for data path (operating No
system device driver). NOTE: Console Windows driver or Linux library is required for management
purposes only.
4K native drive support No

TRIM and UNMAP virtual disk No
TRIM and UNMAP Non-RAID hard drive Yes
Self-encrypting drives(SED) support No
Cryptographic erase (sanitize). Yes
NOTE: If drive supports SANITIZE Crypto Erase. No other encryption support
from controller or drive.
SAS backplane features

All backplanes with eight or fewer hard disk drive slots have SEP circuitry implemented. Due to power and planar space limitations, all
backplanes implement a 5V VR on the backplane, sized for the backplane HDD count. Power in the form of 12 V is delivered through the
Power cables to the backplanes.
All backplanes use a common Sideband connector and connector pin-out for miscellaneous signals and I2C signals from the system iDRAC
to the SEP. The Sideband connector also carries 3.3 V for all SAS Backplanes. One pin is reserved for 3.3 V AUX. This pin is left as no-
connect on SAS backplanes. On the PCIe backplane, the 3.3 V AUX is routed to each SSD drive. This method enables the SSD drive slot
being PCIe slot specific capable.
All SAS backplanes are designed and validated to meet 12 Gbps SAS and 6 Gbps SATA requirements.

The picture below shows the 12 x 3.5-in hard drive backplane:
Figure 111. 12 x 3.5-in hard drive backplane
1. SATA connector
2. SGPPIO connector for system board
3. System board connector
The image below shows the 24 x 2.5-in hard drive backplane:
Figure 112. 24 x 2.5-in hard drive backplane
1. SATA connector
2. Backplane connector for power supply
3. System board connector
The image below shows the 24 x 2.5-in hard drive backplane with NVMe:
Figure 113. 24 x 2.5-in hard drive backplane with NVMe
1. SATA connector
3. Expander board connector

Backplane expander board

The SAS expander board is necessary for higher volume of hard drive configurations. A single expander board allows the PowerEdge
C6420 chassis to support up to 24 hard drives. The expander board is connected to the 24 hard drive backplane via MiniSAS hard drive
connector.
Key features of the expander board:
• 10 MiniSAS hard drive connectors
• One LSISSAS3 x 36-Edge Expander
• Provide connection between initiators and targets.
• Support SSP, STP, and SMP protocols.
• Internal backplane SEP that communicates with the RAID controller via SES pages over i2C and with the system iDRAC over i2C.
• Expander flash ROM-4 MB part that stores the expander firmware image.
The image below is the backplane expander board diagram:
Figure 114. Backplane expander board
1. Expander signal cable connector 2

2. Power connector
3. SAS expander F connector
4. SAS expander E connector
5. SAS expander D connector
6. PERC 3 expander and PERC 4 expander connector
7. PERC 1 expander and PERC 2 expander connector
8. SAS expander C connector
9. SAS expander B connector
10. SAS expander A connector
11. Expander signal cable connector 1
Midplane board
The midplane board is used to bridge the server sled and the chassis. One midplane board can support two sleds. This chassis has two
midplane boards, hence supporting four server sleds.
The image below shows the midplane board:

Figure 115. Midplane board
1. Midplane signal connector 2

2. Midplane signal connector 3
3. Midplane signal connector
4. Midplane +12 V bus bar connector
5. Midplane Ground bus car connector
Chassis manager board

The chassis manager board controls the components below:
• Fan speed control
• Server sled power, temperature, and status monitoring
• Backplane power and status monitoring
• Power supply status monitoring
The image below shows the chassis manager board:
Figure 116. Chassis manager board

1. Fan cage 1 connector for fans 1 and 2
2. Left midplane signal cable
3. Chassis management board signal cable to backplane
4. Chassis management board power connector from PIB
5. Chassis management board signal cable to PIB
6. FPGA connector
7. MCU connector
8. COM connector
9. FW jumpers
10. Right midplane signal cable
11. Fan cage 2 connector
RAID configurations
RAID configurations are supported for PowerEdge C6420. See the available RAID options outlined below.
The embedded controller for the PowerEdge C6420 is included in the Intel C621 chipset. The following list the features of the embedded
controller:
• Storage Controller: Intel AHCI SATA
• Supported protocols: SATA
• Cache: None
• Battery: None
• RAID level: RAID 0, 1
• RAID spans: 10
• Device type: Onboard controller
• PCI Interface: TBD
• Ports: TBD
• Interface type: Routed via cable
• Interface transfer rate: TBD
Table 21. Supported PERC for the PowerEdge C6420

PERC Features
H330 • Storage controller: PERC H330
• Supported protocols: SATA and SAS
• RAID Levels: RAID 0, 1, and 5
• RAID spans: 10 and 50
• Device type: PCIe add-in controller
• PCI interface: PCI Express 3.0 x8 lanes
• Ports: 8
• Interface type: 2 MiniSAS HD SFF8644 x4 connectors
• Interface transfer rate: Up to 6 Gb/second per port on the
PowerEdge C6420
H730P • Storage controller: PERC H30

• Supported protocols: SATA and SAS
• Cache: 2 Gb DDR3 1866 MHz SDRAM
• RAID Levels: RAID 0, 1, 5, and 6
• RAID spans: 10, 50, and 60
• Device type: PCIe add-in controller
• PCI interface: PCI Express 3.0 x8 lanes
• Ports: 8
• Interface type: 2 MiniSAS HD SFF8643
• Interface transfer rate: Up to 6 Gb/second per port on the
PowerEdge C6420

PCIe risers and slots
CAUTION: Expansion cards can only be installed in the slots on the expansion card riser. Do not attempt to install
expansion cards directly into the riser connector on the system board.
NOTE: A missing or an unsupported expansion card riser logs an System Event Log (SEL) event. This does not prevent
your system from powering on and no BIOS, POST messages or F1 or F2 pause is displayed.
NOTE: You must install an expansion card filler bracket over an empty expansion slot. The brackets also keep dust and
dirt out of the system and aid in proper cooling and airflow inside the system.
NOTE: The mezzanine and Open Compute Project (OCP) cards connect to the PCI bus. They are physically smaller than
the standard expansion card, and often connect to a dedicated connector on the system board.
The PowerEdge C6420 provides great PCIe slot capabilities with the support of generation 3 expansion cards, which need to be installed
on the system board using expansion card risers. Below are the supported PCIe slots:
• x8 Mezzanine PCIe riser
• x16 buried PCIe riser
• x16 PCIe main riser
• x8 + x8 OCP Mezzanine riser
The image below shows the PCIe slot diagram according to the CPU control:
Figure 117. PCIe slot diagram
The x16 PCIe main riser specifications:

• Support for x16 bandwidth of Gen3 link
• Dimension—142.01 mm x 31.7 mm x 1.57 mm
• No support for hot-plug
• Maximum power of 75 W
• Provides +12 V, +3.3 V, and +3.3 Vaux in accordance with the Power Supply Rail requirements.
The x16 M.2 SATA riser card specifications:
• Support for two pieces of M.2 SATA modules
• Dimension—154 mm x 134.10 mm
• No support for hot-plug
• Maximum power of 25 W
• Provides +12 V, +3.3 V, and +3.3 V aux in accordance with the Power Supply Rail requirements.

PCIe slot priority
Table 22. Expansion slots mapping
Riser Slot Form Factor Controlling CPU Slot's Electrical Bandwidth / Power
number Physical Connector
LP PCIE Slot 1 Low Profile CPU1 SKL/SKL-F/CLX PCIe Gen3 x16 75W
(Slot 4) (x16 connector)
Storage Slot 1 Mezzanine CPU1 SKL/SKL-F/CLX PCIe Gen3 x8 25W
(DCS Mezz Slot) (through Bridge Board)

(Slot 1)
OCP Mezz Slot 1 Mezzanine CPU1 SKL/CLX PCIe Gen3 x16 25W
(Slot 3)
OCP Mezz Slot 1 Mezzanine CPU1 SKL-F OCP MEZZ 25W
(Slot 3) occupied by SKL-F QSFP carrier

card
NOTE: If the customer installs a 75 W PCIe card, the Mezz and OCP Mezz slots is not supported.
Supported expansion card options

Table 23. Supported options
Card type Form factor Link width Slot priority Maximum number of cards
Intel-Kerby Flat mezzanine network card Mezzanine x8 3 1
Broadcom 25G SFP network card Mezzanine x8 3 1
H730P Mini controller card Mezzanine x8 1 1
H330 SAS controller adapter Mezzanine x8 1 1
HBA330 MINI controller adapter Mezzanine x8 1 1
12GB SAS LPF HBA controller adapter LP x8 4 1
PM1725 1.6 HHHL NVME controller card LP x8 4 1
PM1725A 3.2 HHHL NVME controller card LP x8 4 1
PM1725A 6.4 HHHL NVME controller card LP x8 4 1
Mellanox dual port EDR PCIE network card LP x16 4 1
Mellanox 100G dual port QSF network card LP x16 4 1
Mellanox single port EDR PCIE network card LP x16 4 1
Mellanox single port FDR PCIE network card LP x8 4 1
Intel X16 OPA network card LP x16 4 1
Intel 40G dual port QSFP network card LP x8 4 1
Intel 10G Base-T dual portnetwork card LP x4 4 1
Intel 10GBTV2 network card LP x4 4 1
57414 25G dual port PCIE network card LP x8 4 1

Card type Form factor Link width Slot priority Maximum number of cards
Intel 10G dual port FVL SFP+ network card LP x8 4 1
QLogic 25G dual port SFP network card LP x8 4 1
Mellanox 25G dual port SFP network card LP x8 4 1
Mellanox 10G dual port SFP network card LP x8 4 1
SF80X 10G dual port network card LP x8 4 1
Intel 10G Base-T quad port network card LP x8 4 1
Intel 1GB dual port V3 network card LP x4 4 1
Intel 10G dual port SFP+ V2 network card LP x8 4 1
Broadcom 1G dual port network card LP x1 4 1
QLogic 10G dual port network card LP x8 4 1
QLogic 10G dual port V2 network card LP x8 4 1
QLogic 10G dual port SFP V2 network card LP x8 4 1
QLogic 25G quad portnetwork card LP x8 4 1
QLogic dual port SFP V2 network card LP x8 4 1
BOSS card LP x8 5 1
Intel 25G dual port SFP network card LP x8 4 1
Mellanox single port PCIE network card LP x8 4 1
SATA X8 M.2 card N/A X8 PCIe Adapter
(PCIe Bus Reserve for ESI)
SATA X16 M.2 card N/A X16 PCIe Adapter
(PCIe Bus Reserve for ESI)
Intel 60W FPGA card LP x16 4 1

Intel 70W FPGA card LP x16 4 1
PM1725B 1.6 HHHL NVME card LP x8 4 1
P4800X 750GB HHHL PCIE card LP x8 4 1
NOTE:
For more information on expansion card risers, see the Meeseeks PCIe Configuration Tool.

PCIe Mezzanine slot
M.2 x16 SATA riser
The M.2 x16 Mezz SATA Riser can connect M.2 x16 module to slot5 of main board. There is one M.2 module slot that can be installed M.2
module. The image below is the block diagram for the x16 M.2 Mezz card:
Figure 118. x16 M.2 Mezz card block diagram
Video
The PowerEdge C6420 iDRAC9 incorporates an integrated video subsystem, connected to the south bridge. The graphics controller is a
2D Matrox G200. The video frame buffer-16 MB is contained within the iDRAC RAM-256 MB device.
Table 24. Supported graphic video mode

Operating system Driver Hot plug Supported Color depth Frequencie
support resolutions —bits s
Windows Matrox driver Yes 640x480 8, 16, 24 60, 72
800x600 8, 16, 24 60, 75, 85
1024x768 8, 16, 24 60, 75, 85
1152x864 8, 16, 24 60, 75, 85
1280x1024 8, 16, 24 60, 75
Windows Windows native driver No 640x480 8, 16, 24 60, 72
800x600 8, 16, 24 60, 75, 85
1024x768 8, 16, 24 60, 75, 85
1152x864 8, 16, 24 60, 75, 85

Operating system Driver Hot plug Supported Color depth Frequencie
support resolutions —bits s
1280x1024 8, 16, 24 60, 75
Windows Matrox driver No 640x480 8, 16, 24 60, 72
800x600 8, 16, 24 60, 75, 85
1024x768 8, 16, 24 60, 75, 85
1152x864 8, 16, 24 60, 75, 85
1280x1024 8, 16, 24 60, 75
Linux Linux native driver No 640x480 8, 16, 24 60, 72
800x600 8, 16, 24 60, 75, 85
1024x768 8, 16, 24 60, 75, 85
1152x864 8, 16, 24 60, 75, 85
1280x1024 8, 16, 24 60, 75
Avocent integrated N/A N/A 640x480 8, 16, 24 N/A
vKVM
800x600 8, 16, 24 N/A
1024x768 8, 16, 24 N/A
1152x864 8, 16, 24 N/A
1280x1024 8, 16, 24 N/A
BIOS N/A No 640x480 8 60
UEFI graphical mode Matrox UEFI No 640x480 8, 16, 24 60, 72
800x600 8, 16, 24 60, 75, 85
1024x768 8, 16, 24 60, 75, 85
UEFI text mode Matrox UEFI No 640x480 8, 16, 24 60, 72
800x600 8, 16, 24 60, 75, 85
1024x768 8, 16, 24 60, 75, 85
Trusted Platform Module

The Trusted Platform Module (TPM) is used to generate/store keys, protect/authenticate passwords, and create/store digital
certificates. The TPM can also be used to enable the BitLocker™ hard drive encryption feature in Windows Server 2008. The TPM is used
for IntelTXT.
The TPM is enabled through a BIOS option and uses HMAC-SHA1-160 for binding. There are different planar PWA part numbers to
accommodate the different TPM solutions. The “Rest of World” (ROW) version has the TPM soldered onto the planar. The other version
of the planar has a connector for a plug-in module and it is factory-installed only.
There are five types of TPM chip options:
• No TPM
• TPM 1.2 FIPS + CommonCriteria + TCG certified (Nuvoton)
• TPM 2.0 FIPS + CommonCriteria + TCG certified (Nuvoton)
• TPM 2.0 China NationZ
NOTE:
• TPM is an optional module for R640 and only available from the factory. It is not offered After Point of Sales
(APOS).
• In a scenario where both control panel and system board are dispatched, it is recommended to replace the control
panel first and attempt a power on to complete the Easy Restore process—Service Tag, licenses, and so on, copy to
the new control panel. Then proceed to replace the system board. For more information, see the Critical Callouts
page.

The image below shows how the TPM is installed on the system board:
Figure 119. TPM installation
System board block diagram

The PowerEdge C6420 consists of the Intel Xeon Processor Scalable Family processor used with the Lewisburg PCH Platform Controller
Hub (PCH). This system board is a two‐chip platform as opposed to traditional three‐chip platforms-CPU, Memory Controller, and I/O
Controller made possible because this family of processors includes an integrated memory controller (IMC) and integrated I/O (IIO)-such
as PCI Express and DMI on a single silicon die.
The image below is the system board block diagram:
Figure 120. PowerEdge C6420 system board block diagram

4
BIOS and UEFI
You can manage basic settings and features of a system without booting to the operating system by using the system firmware.
Topics:
• Options to manage the pre-operating system applications
• System Setup
• Boot Manager
• PXE boot
Options to manage the pre-operating system

applications
Your system has the following options to manage the pre-operating system applications:
• System Setup
• Boot Manager
• Preboot Execution Environment (PXE)
System Setup
By using the System Setup screen, you can configure the BIOS settings, iDRAC settings, and device settings of your system.
NOTE: Help text for the selected field is displayed in the graphical browser by default. To view the help text in the text
browser, press F1.
You can access system setup by one of the following:
• Standard graphical browser—The browser is enabled by default.
• Text browser—The browser is enabled by using Console Redirection.
Viewing System Setup

To view the System Setup 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.
System Setup details

The System Setup Main Menu screen details are explained as follows:
BIOS and UEFI 117

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. For more information about this utility, see Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller User’s Guide at
www.dell.com/poweredgemanuals.
Device Settings Enables you to configure device settings.
System BIOS
You can use the System BIOS screen to edit specific functions such as boot order, system password, and setup password, set the SATA
and PCIe NVMe RAID mode, and enable or disable USB ports.
Viewing System BIOS

To view the System BIOS screen, perform the following steps:
Steps
F2 = System Setup
NOTE: If the operating system begins to load before you press F2, wait for the system to finish booting, and then
restart the system and try again.
3. On the System Setup Main Menu screen, click System BIOS.
System BIOS Settings details

About this task
The System BIOS Settings screen details are explained as follows:
Option Description
System Provides information about the system such as the system model name, BIOS version, and Service Tag.
Information
Memory Settings Provides information and options related to the installed memory.
Processor Provides information and options related to the processor such as speed and cache size.
Settings
SATA Settings Provides options to enable or disable the integrated SATA controller and ports.
NVMe Settings Provides options to change the NVMe settings. If the system contains the NVMe drives that you want to
configure in a RAID array, you must set both this field and the Embedded SATA field on the SATA Settings
menu to RAID mode. You might also need to change the Boot Mode setting to UEFI. Otherwise, you should set
this field to Non-RAID mode.
Boot Settings Provides options to specify the Boot mode (BIOS or UEFI). Enables you to modify UEFI and BIOS boot settings.
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 Provides options to manage the serial ports, their related features and options.
Communication
118 BIOS and UEFI

Option Description
System Profile Provides options to change the processor power management settings, and memory frequency.
Settings
System Security Provides options to configure the system security settings, such as system password, setup password, Trusted
Platform Module (TPM) security, and UEFI secure boot. It also manages the power button on the system.
Redundant OS Sets the redundant OS information for redundant OS control.
Control
Miscellaneous Provides options to change the system date and time.
Settings
System Information
You can use the System Information screen to view system properties such as Service Tag, system model name, and BIOS version.
Viewing System Information

To view the System Information screen, perform the following steps:
Steps
F2 = System Setup
4. On the System BIOS screen, click System Information.
System Information details

About this task
The System Information screen details are explained as follows:
Option Description
System Model Specifies the system model name.
Name
System BIOS Specifies the BIOS version installed on the system.
Version
System Specifies the current version of the Management Engine firmware.
Management
Engine Version
System Service Specifies the system Service Tag.
Tag
System Specifies the name of the system manufacturer.
Manufacturer
System Specifies the contact information of the system manufacturer.
Manufacturer
Contact
Information
System CPLD Specifies the current version of the system complex programmable logic device (CPLD) firmware.
Version
BIOS and UEFI 119

Option Description
UEFI Compliance Specifies the UEFI compliance level of the system firmware.
Version
Memory Settings
You can use the Memory Settings screen to view all the memory settings and enable or disable specific memory functions, such as
system memory testing and node interleaving.
Viewing Memory Settings

To view the Memory Settings screen, perform the following steps:
Steps
F2 = System Setup
NOTE: If the operating system begins to load before you press F2, wait for the system to finish booting, and then
restart the system and try again.
4. On the System BIOS screen, click Memory Settings.
Memory Settings details

About this task
The Memory Settings screen details are explained as follows:
Option Description
System Memory Specifies the memory size in the system.
Size
System Memory Specifies the type of memory that is installed in the system.
Type
System Memory Specifies the system memory speed.
Speed
System Memory Specifies the system memory voltage.
Voltage
Video Memory Specifies the amount of video memory.
System Memory Specifies whether the system memory tests are run during system boot. Options are Enabled and Disabled. This
Testing option is set to Disabled by default.
Memory Operating Specifies the memory operating mode. The options available are Optimizer Mode, Single Rank Spare Mode,
Mode Multi Rank Spare Mode, Mirror Mode, and Dell Fault Resilient Mode. This option is set to Optimizer Mode
by default.
NOTE: The Memory Operating Mode option can have different default and available options based
on the memory configuration of your system.
NOTE: The Dell Fault Resilient Mode option establishes an area of memory that is fault resilient.
This mode can be used by an operating system that supports the feature to load critical
applications or enables the operating system kernel to maximize system availability.
NOTE: Only Optimizer Mode should be selected when Intel DC Optane Persistent Memory is
installed.
120 BIOS and UEFI

Option Description
Current State of Specifies the current state of the memory operating mode.
Memory Operating
Mode
Node Interleaving Specifies if Non-Uniform Memory Architecture (NUMA) is supported. If this field is set to Enabled, memory
interleaving is supported if a symmetric memory configuration is installed. If this field is set to Disabled, the
system supports NUMA (asymmetric) memory configurations. This option is set to Disabled by default.
ADDDC Setting Enables or disables ADDDC Setting feature. This field enables you to set the ADDDC Setting to either X8 or
Enabled. This option is set to Enabled by default.
Opportunistic Enables or disables opportunistic self-refresh feature. This option is set to Disabled by default and is not
Self-Refresh supported when DCPMMs are in the system.
Processor Settings
You can use the Processor Settings screen to view the processor settings and perform specific functions such as enabling virtualization
technology, hardware prefetcher, logical processor idling.
Viewing Processor Settings

To view the Processor Settings screen, perform the following steps:
Steps
F2 = System Setup
4. On the System BIOS screen, click Processor Settings.
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.
Virtualization Enables or disables the virtualization technology for the processor. This option is set to Enabled by default.
Technology
Adjacent Cache Optimizes the system for applications that need high utilization of sequential memory access. This option is set to
Line Prefetch Enabled by default. You can disable this option for applications that need high utilization of random memory
access.
Hardware Enables or disables the hardware prefetcher. This option is set to Enabled by default.
Prefetcher
Software Enables or disables the software prefetcher. This option is set to Enabled by default.
Prefetcher
DCU Streamer Enables or disables the Data Cache Unit (DCU) streamer prefetcher. This option is set to Enabled by default.
Prefetcher
DCU IP Prefetcher Enables or disables the Data Cache Unit (DCU) IP prefetcher. This option is set to Enabled by default.
BIOS and UEFI 121

Option Description
Sub NUMA Cluster Sub NUMA Clustering (SNC) is a feature for breaking up the LLC into disjoint clusters based on address range,
with each cluster bound to a subset of the memory controllers in the system. It improves average latency to the
LLC. Enables or disables the Sub NUMA Cluster. This option is set to Disabled by default.
UPI Prefetch Enables you to get the memory that is read started early on DDR bus. The Ultra Path Interconnect (UPI) Rx path
will spawn the speculative memory that is read to Integrated Memory Controller (iMC) directly. This option is set
to Enabled by default.
LLC Prefetch Enables or disables the LLC Prefetch on all threads. This option is set to Disabled by default.
Dead Line LLC Enables or disables the Dead Line LLC Alloc. This option is set to Enabled by default. You can enable this option
Alloc to enter the dead lines in LLC or disable the option to not enter the dead lines in LLC.
Directory AtoS Enables or disables the Directory AtoS. AtoS optimization reduces remote read latencies for repeat read accesses
without intervening writes. This option is set to Disabled by default.
Logical Processor Enables you to improve the energy efficiency of a system. It uses the operating system core parking algorithm and
Idling parks some of the logical processors in the system which in turn allows the corresponding processor cores to
transition into a lower power idle state. This option can only be enabled if the operating system supports it. It is set
to Disabled by default.
Intel SST-BF Enable Intel SST-BF. This option is displayed if Performance Per Watt (operating system) or Custom (when
OSPM is enabled) system profiles are selected. It is set to Disabled by default.
Intel SST-CP Enable Intel SST-CP. This option is displayed if Performance Per Watt (operating system) or Custom (when
OSPM is enabled) system profiles are selected. It is set to Disabled by default.
Configurable TDP Enables you to configure the TDP level. The available options are Nominal, Level 1, and Level 2. This option is set
to Nominal by default.
NOTE: This option is only available on certain stock keeping units (SKUs) of the processors.
x2APIC Mode Enables or disables the x2APIC mode. This option is set to Enabled by default.
Dell Controlled Controls the turbo engagement. . This option is set to Disabled by default.
Turbo NOTE: Depending on the number of installed processors, there might be up to two processor
listings.
Dell AVX Scaling Enables you to configure the Dell AVX scaling technology. This option is set to 0 by default.
Technology
Number of Cores Controls the number of enabled cores in each processor. This option is set to All by default.
per Processor
Processor Core Specifies the maximum core frequency of the processor.
Speed
Processor n NOTE: Depending on the number of processors, there might be up to two processors listed.
The following settings are displayed for each processor that is installed in the system:
Option Description
Family-Model- Specifies the family, model, and stepping of the processor as defined by Intel.
Stepping
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 Specifies the maximum memory capacity per processor.
Capacity
Microcode Specifies the microcode.
122 BIOS and UEFI

SATA Settings
You can use the SATA Settings screen to view the settings of SATA devices and enable SATA and PCIe NVMe RAID mode on your
system.
Viewing SATA Settings

To view the SATA Settings screen, perform the following steps:
Steps
F2 = System Setup
4. On the System BIOS screen, click SATA Settings.
SATA Settings details

About this task
The SATA Settings screen details are explained as follows:
Option Description
Embedded SATA Enables the embedded SATA option to be set to AHCI Mode, or RAID Mode. This option is set to AHCI Mode
by default.
Security Freeze Enables you to send Security Freeze Lock command to the embedded SATA drives during POST. This option is
Lock 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.
Option Description
Model Specifies the drive model of the selected device.
Drive Type Specifies the type of drive attached to the SATA port.
Capacity Specifies the total capacity of the drive. This field is undefined for removable media
devices such as optical drives.
NVMe Settings
The NVMe settings enable you to set the NVMe drives to either RAID mode or Non-RAID mode.
NOTE: To configure these drives as RAID drives, you must set the NVMe drives and the Embedded SATA option in the
SATA Settings menu to RAID mode. If not, you must set this field to Non-RAID mode.
Viewing NVMe Settings

To view the NVMe Settings screen, perform the following steps:
Steps
BIOS and UEFI 123

F2 = System Setup
4. On the System BIOS screen, click NVMe Settings.
NVMe Settings details

About this task
The NVMe Settings screen details are explained as follows:
Option Description
NVMe Mode Enables you to set the NVMe mode. This option is set to Non RAID 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.
• 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. The following benefits are available when the Boot Mode is set to UEFI:
• Support for drive partitions larger than 2 TB.
• Enhanced security (e.g., UEFI Secure Boot).
• Faster boot time.
NOTE: You must use only the UEFI boot mode in order to boot from NVMe drives.
• BIOS: The BIOS Boot Mode is the legacy boot mode. It is maintained for backward compatibility.
Viewing Boot Settings

To view the Boot Settings screen, perform the following steps:
Steps
F2 = System Setup
4. On the System BIOS screen, click Boot Settings.
Boot Settings details

About this task
The Boot Settings screen details are explained as follows:
Option Description
Boot Mode Enables you to set the boot mode of the system.
CAUTION: Switching the boot mode may prevent the system from booting if the operating system
is not installed in the same boot mode.
124 BIOS and UEFI

Option Description
If the operating system supports UEFI, you can set this option to UEFI. Setting this field to BIOS enables
compatibility with non-UEFI operating systems. This option is set to UEFI by default.
NOTE: Setting this field to UEFI disables the BIOS Boot Settings menu.
Boot Sequence Enables or disables the Boot Sequence Retry feature. If this option is set to Enabled and the system fails to
Retry boot, the system re-attempts the boot sequence after 30 seconds. This option is set to Enabled by default.
Hard-Disk Failover Specifies the drive that is booted in the event of a drive failure. The devices are selected in the Hard-Disk Drive
Sequence on the Boot Option Setting menu. When this option is set to Disabled, only the first drive in the list
is attempted to boot. When this option is set to Enabled, all drives are attempted to boot in the order selected in
the Hard-Disk Drive Sequence. This option is not enabled for UEFI Boot Mode. This option is set to Disabled
by default.
Generic USB Boot Enables or disables the USB boot option. This option is set to Disabled by default.
Hard-disk Drive Enables or disables the Hard-disk drive placeholder option. This option is set to Disabled by default.
Placeholder
BIOS Boot Enables or disables BIOS boot options.
Settings NOTE: This option is enabled only if the boot mode is BIOS.
UEFI Boot Enables or disables UEFI Boot options. The UEFI options include PXE boot devices.
Settings NOTE: This option is enabled only if the boot mode is UEFI.
UEFI Boot Enables you to change the boot device order.

Sequence
Boot Options Enables you to select the enabled or disabled boot devices.
Enable/Disable
Choosing system boot mode

The BIOS boot mode (the default), is the standard BIOS-level boot interface.
NOTE: The system also supports the UEFI boot mode.
NOTE: Operating systems must be UEFI-compatible to be installed from the UEFI boot mode. DOS and 32-bit operating
systems do not support UEFI and can only be installed from the BIOS boot mode.
NOTE: For the latest information about supported operating systems, go to www.dell.com/ossupport.
Changing boot order

About this task
You may have to change the boot order if you want to boot from a USB key. You may have to change the boot order if you want to boot
from a USB key or an optical drive. The following instructions may vary if you have selected BIOS for Boot Mode.
Steps
1. On the System Setup Main Menu screen, click System BIOS > Boot Settings > UEFI/BIOS Boot Settings > UEFI/BIOS Boot
Sequence.
2. Click UEFI/BIOS Boot Sequence
NOTE: Use the arrow keys to select a boot device, and use the plus (+) and minus (-) sign keys to move the device
down or up in the order.
3. Click Exit, and then click Yes to save the settings on exit.
BIOS and UEFI 125

Network Settings
You can use the Network Settings screen to modify UEFI PXE, iSCSI, and HTTP boot settings. The network settings option is available
only in the UEFI mode.
NOTE: BIOS does not control network settings in the BIOS mode. For the BIOS boot mode, the optional Boot ROM of
the network controllers handles the network settings.
Viewing Network Settings

To view the Network Settings screen, perform the following steps:
Steps
F2 = System Setup
4. On the System BIOS screen, click Network Settings.
Network Settings screen details

The Network Settings screen details are explained as follows:
About this task
Option Description
UEFI PXE Settings
Options Description
PXE Device n (n = Enables or disables the device. When enabled, a UEFI PXE boot option is created for the
1 to 4) device.
PXE Device n Enables you to control the configuration of the PXE device.
Settings(n = 1 to
4) Table 25. PXE Device n Settings screen details
Option Description
Interface Specifies the NIC interface used for this PXE device.
Protocol Enables you to select protocol IPv4 or IPv6. This is
set to IPv4 by default.
VLAN Enables or Disable VLAN. This is set to Disabled by
default.
VLAN ID This is set to 1.
VLAN Priority This is set to 0.
UEFI HTTP
Settings Options Description
HTTP Device (n = Enables or disables the device. When enabled, a UEFI HTTP boot option is created for the
1 to 4) device.
HTTP Device n Enables you to control the configuration of the HTTP device.
Settings (n = 1 to
4)
UEFI iSCSI Enables you to control the configuration of the iSCSI device.
Settings
126 BIOS and UEFI

Option Description
Table 26. UEFI iSCSI Settings screen details

Option Description
iSCSI Initiator Name Specifies the name of the iSCSI initiator in IQN format.
iSCSI Device1 Enables or disables the iSCSI device. When disabled, a
UEFI boot option is created for the iSCSI device
automatically. This is set to Disabled by default.
iSCSI Device1 Settings Enables you to control the configuration of the iSCSI
device.
TLS View and/or modify this device's boot TLS authentication mode. None means the HTTP server and the client will
Authentication not authenticate each other for this boot. One way means the HTTP server will be authenticated by the client,
Configuration while the client will not be authenticated by the server. This option is set to None by default.
Integrated Devices
You can use the Integrated Devices screen to view and configure the settings of all integrated devices including the video controller,
integrated RAID controller, and the USB ports.
Viewing Integrated Devices

To view the Integrated Devices screen, perform the following steps:
Steps
F2 = System Setup
4. On the System BIOS screen, click Integrated Devices.
Integrated Devices details

About this task
The Integrated Devices screen details are explained as follows:
Option Description
User Accessible Enables or disables the USB ports. Selecting All Ports Off disables all USB ports. The USB keyboard and mouse
USB Ports operate during boot process in certain operating systems. After the boot process is complete, the USB keyboard
and mouse do not work if the ports are disabled. This option is set to All Ports On by default.
Internal SD Card Enables or disables the internal SD Card port on the PCIe riser. This option is set to On or Off. This option is set
Port to On by default.
iDRAC Direct USB The iDRAC Direct USB port is managed by iDRAC exclusively with no host visibility. This option is set to ON or
Port OFF. When set to OFF, iDRAC does not detect any USB devices installed in this managed port. This option is set
to On by default.
Embedded NIC1 Enables or disables the Embedded NIC1 port. The option is set to Enabled by default.
I/OAT DMA Enables or disables the I/O Acceleration Technology (I/OAT) option. I/OAT is a set of DMA features designed to
Engine accelerate network traffic and lower CPU utilization. Enable only if the hardware and software support the
feature.This option is set to Disabled by default.
BIOS and UEFI 127

Option Description
Embedded Video Enables or disables the use of Embedded Video Controller as the primary display. When set to Enabled, the
Controller 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. The embedded video is disabled
before the operating system boots. This option is set to Enabled by default.
NOTE: When there are multiple add-in graphic cards installed in the system, the first card
discovered during PCI enumeration is selected as the primary video. You might have to re-arrange
the cards in the slots in order to control which card is the primary video.
Current State of Displays the current state of the embedded video controller. The Current State of Embedded Video
Embedded Video Controller option is a read-only field. If the Embedded Video Controller is the only display capability in the system
Controller (that is, no add-in graphics card is installed), then the Embedded Video Controller is automatically used as the
primary display even if the Embedded Video Controller setting is set to Enabled.
SR-IOV Global Enables or disables the BIOS configuration of Single Root I/O Virtualization (SR-IOV) devices. This option is set to
Enable Enabled by default.
OS Watchdog If your system stops responding, this watchdog timer aids in the recovery of your operating system. When this
Timer option is set to Enabled, the operating system initializes the timer. When this option is set to Disabled (the
default), the timer does not have any effect on the system.
Empty Slot Unhide Enables or disables the root ports of all the empty slots that are accessible to the BIOS and OS. This option is set
to Disabled by default.
Memory Mapped Enables or disables the support for the PCIe devices that need large amounts of memory. Enable this option only
I/O above 4 GB for 64-bit operating systems. This option is set to Enabled by default.
Memory Mapped When set to 12 TB, the system maps MMIO base to 12 TB. MMIO base default is 56 TB. The default value must
I/O Base not be changed, unless addressing a known issue. Enable this feature for an OS that requires 44 bit PCIe
addressing.
Slot Disablement Enables or disables the available PCIe slots on your system. The slot disablement feature controls the
configuration of the PCIe cards installed in the specified slot. Slots must be disabled only when the installed
peripheral card prevents booting into the operating system or causes delays in system startup. If the slot is
disabled, both the Option ROM and UEFI drivers are disabled. Only slots that are present on the system are
available for control.
Table 27. Slot Disablement

Option Description
Slot 1 Enables or disables or only the boot driver is disabled
for the PCIe slot 1. This option is set to Enabled by
default.

default.

default.

default.
128 BIOS and UEFI

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
F2 = System Setup
4. On the System BIOS screen, click Serial Communication.
Serial Communication details

About this task
The Serial Communication screen details are explained as follows:
Option Description
Serial Port Enables you to set the port address for serial device. This field sets the serial port address to either COM1 or
Address COM2 (COM1=0x3F8, COM2=0x2F8).
NOTE: You can use only Serial Device 2 for the Serial Over LAN (SOL) feature. To use console
redirection by SOL, configure the same port address for console redirection and the serial device.
NOTE: Every time the system boots, the BIOS syncs the serial MUX setting saved in iDRAC. The
serial MUX setting can independently be changed in iDRAC. Loading the BIOS default settings
from within the BIOS setup utility may not always revert the serial MUX setting to the default
setting of Serial Device 1.
Failsafe Baud Rate Specifies the failsafe baud rate for console redirection. The BIOS attempts to determine the baud rate
automatically. This failsafe baud rate is used only if the attempt fails, and the value must not be changed. This
option is set to 115200 by default.
Remote Terminal Enables you to set the remote console terminal type. This option is set to VT100/VT220 by default.
Type
Redirection After Enables or disables the BIOS console redirection when the operating system is loaded. This option is set to
Boot Enabled by default.
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
F2 = System Setup
BIOS and UEFI 129

4. On the System BIOS screen, click System Profile Settings.
System Profile Settings details

About this task
The System Profile Settings screen details are explained as follows:
Option Description
System Profile Sets the system profile. If you set the System Profile option to a mode other than Custom, the BIOS
automatically sets the rest of the options. You can only change the rest of the options if the mode is set to
Custom.This option is set to Performance Per Watt (DAPC) by default. DAPC is Dell Active Power
Controller.Other options include Performance Per Watt (OS), Performance, and Workstation Performance.
NOTE: All the parameters on the system profile setting screen are available only when the System
Profile option is set to Custom.
CPU Power Sets the CPU power management. This option is set to System DBPM (DAPC) by default. DBPM is Demand-
Management Based Power Management. Other options include OS DBPM, and Maximum Performance.
Memory Sets the speed of the system memory. You can select Maximum Performance, Maximum Reliability, or a
Frequency 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. This option is set to
Enabled by default.
C States Enables or disables the processor to operate in all available power states. This option is set to Enabled by default.
Write Data CRC Enables or disables the Write Data CRC. This option is set to Disabled by default.
Memory Patrol Sets the memory patrol scrub frequency. This option is set to Standard by default.
Scrub
Memory Refresh Sets the memory refresh rate to either 1x or 2x. This option is set to 1x by default.
Rate
Uncore Frequency Enables you to select the Processor Uncore Frequency option.Dynamic mode enables the processor to
optimize power resources across cores and uncores during runtime. The optimization of the uncore frequency to
either save power or optimize performance is influenced by the setting of the Energy Efficiency Policy option.
Energy Efficient Enables you to select the Energy Efficient Policy option.
Policy
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.
Number of Turbo NOTE: If there are two processors installed in the system, you will see an entry for Number of
Boost Enabled Turbo Boost Enabled Cores for Processor 2.
Cores for
Processor 1 Controls the number of turbo boost enabled cores for Processor 1. The maximum number of cores is enabled by
default.
Monitor/Mwait Enables the Monitor/Mwait instructions in the processor. This option is set to Enabled for all system profiles,
except Custom by default.
NOTE: This option can be disabled only if the C States option in the Custom mode is set to
disabled.
NOTE: When C States is set to Enabled in the Custom mode, changing the Monitor/Mwait setting
does not impact the system power or performance.
CPU Interconnect Enables or disables the CPU Interconnect Bus Link Power Management. This option is set to Enabled by default.
Bus Link Power
Management
130 BIOS and UEFI

Option Description
PCI ASPM L1 Link Enables or disables the PCI ASPM L1 Link Power Management. This option is set to Enabled by default.
Power
Management
System Security
You can use the System Security screen to perform specific functions such as setting the system password, setup password and
disabling the power button.
Viewing System Security

To view the System Security screen, perform the following steps:
Steps
F2 = System Setup
4. On the System BIOS screen, click System Security.
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.
Setup Password Enables you to set the system setup password. This option is read-only if the password jumper is not installed in
the system.
Password Status Enables you to lock the system password. This option is set to Unlocked by default.
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. You
can only modify the TPM Status TPM Activation, and the Intel TXT fields if the TPM Status field is set to either
On with Pre-boot Measurements or On without Pre-boot Measurements.
TPM Information Enables you to change the operational state of the TPM. This option is set to No Change by default.
TPM Status Specifies the TPM status.
TPM Command Controls the Trusted Platform Module (TPM). When set to None, no command is sent to the TPM. When set to
Activate, the TPM is enabled and activated. When set to Deactivate, the TPM is disabled and deactivated.
When set to Clear, all the contents of the TPM are cleared. This option is set to None by default.
CAUTION: Clearing the TPM results in the loss of all keys in the TPM. The loss of TPM keys may
affect booting to the operating system.
This field is read-only when TPM Security is set to Off. The action requires an additional reboot before it can
take effect.
BIOS and UEFI 131

Option Description
Intel(R) TXT Enables you to set the Intel Trusted Execution Technology (TXT) option. To enable the Intel TXT option,
virtualization technology and TPM Security must be enabled with Pre-boot measurements. This option is set to
Off by default.
Power Button Enables you to set the power button on the front of the system. This option is set to Enabled by default.
AC Power Sets how the system behaves after AC power is restored to the system. This option is set to Last by default.
Recovery
AC Power Enables you to set the time that the system should take to turn on after AC power is restored to the system. This
Recovery Delay option is set to Immediate by default.
User Defined Enables you to set the User Defined Delay option when the User Defined option for AC Power Recovery
Delay (60 s to 600 Delay is selected.
s)
UEFI Variable Provides varying degrees of securing UEFI variables. When set to Standard (the default), UEFI variables are
Access accessible in the operating system per the UEFI 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 When set to Disabled, this setting hides the Management Engine's (ME), HECI devices, and the system's IPMI
Manageability devices from the operating system. This prevents the operating system from changing the ME power capping
Interface settings, and blocks access to all in-band management tools. All management should be managed through out-of-
band. This option is set to Enabled by default.
NOTE: BIOS update requires HECI devices to be operational and DUP updates require IPMI
interface to be operational. This setting needs to be set to Enabled to avoid updating errors.
Secure Boot Enables Secure Boot, where the BIOS authenticates each pre-boot image by using the certificates in the Secure
Boot Policy. Secure Boot is set to Disabled by default.
Secure Boot When Secure Boot policy is set to Standard, the BIOS uses the system manufacturer key and certificates to
Policy authenticate pre-boot images. When Secure Boot policy is set to Custom, the BIOS uses the user-defined 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).
If the current mode is set to Deployed Mode, the available options are User Mode and Deployed Mode. If the
current mode is set to User Mode, the available options are User Mode, Audit Mode, and Deployed Mode.
Options Description
User Mode In User Mode, PK must be installed, and BIOS performs signature verification on
programmatic attempts to update policy objects.
BIOS allows unauthenticated programmatic transitions between modes.
Audit Mode In Audit mode, PK is not present. BIOS does not authenticate programmatic updates to
the policy objects, and transitions between modes.
Audit Mode is useful for programmatically determining a working set of policy objects.
BIOS performs signature verification on pre-boot images. BIOS also logs the results in the
image Execution Information Table, but approves the images whether they pass or fail
verification.
Deployed Mode Deployed Mode is the most secure mode. In Deployed Mode, PK must be installed and
the BIOS performs signature verification on programmatic attempts to update policy
objects.
Deployed Mode restricts the programmatic mode transitions.
Secure Boot Specifies the list of certificates and hashes that secure boot uses to authenticate images.
Policy Summary
Secure Boot Configures the Secure Boot Custom Policy. To enable this option, set the Secure Boot Policy to Custom.
Custom Policy
Settings
132 BIOS and UEFI

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. To enter System Setup, press F2 immediately after turning on or rebooting your system.
2. On the System Setup Main Menu screen, click System BIOS > System Security.
3. On the System Security screen, verify that Password Status is set to Unlocked.
4. In the System Password field, type your system password, and press Enter or Tab.
Use the following guidelines to assign the system password:
• A password can have up to 32 characters.
• The password can contain the numbers 0 through 9.
• Only the following special characters are allowed: space, (”), (+), (,), (-), (.), (/), (;), ([), (\), (]), (`).
A message prompts you to reenter the system password.
5. Reenter the system password, and click OK.
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.
Using your system password to secure the system

About this task
If you have assigned a setup password, the system accepts your setup password as an alternate system password.
Steps
1. Power on or reboot your system.
2. Type the system password and press Enter.
Next steps
When Password Status is set to Locked, type the system password and press Enter when prompted at reboot.
NOTE: If an incorrect system password is typed, the system displays a message and prompts you to reenter your
password. You have three attempts to type the correct password. After the third unsuccessful attempt, the system
displays an error message that the system has stopped functioning and must be turned off. Even after you turn off and
restart the system, the error message is displayed until the correct password is entered.
Deleting or changing system and setup password

Prerequisites
NOTE: You cannot delete or change an existing system or setup password if the Password Status is set to Locked.
Steps
1. To enter System Setup, press F2 immediately after turning on or restarting your system.
BIOS and UEFI 133

2. On the System Setup Main Menu screen, click System BIOS > System Security.
3. On the System Security screen, ensure that Password Status is set to Unlocked.
4. In the System Password field, change 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.
NOTE: If you change the system password or setup password, a message prompts you to reenter the new password.
If you delete the system password or setup password, a message prompts you to confirm the deletion.
6. Press Esc to return to the System BIOS screen. Press Esc again, and a message prompts you to save the changes.
7. Select Setup Password, change, or delete the existing setup password and press Enter or Tab.
NOTE: If you change the system password or setup password, a message prompts you to reenter the new password.
If you delete the system password or setup password, a message prompts you to confirm the deletion.
Operating with setup password enabled

If Setup Password is set to Enabled, type the correct setup password before modifying the system setup options.
If you do not type the correct password in three attempts, the system displays the following message:
Invalid Password! Number of unsuccessful password attempts: <x> System Halted! Must power
down.
Password Invalid. Number of unsuccessful password attempts: <x> 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. The following options are
exceptions:
• If System Password is not set to Enabled and is not locked through the Password Status option, you can assign a system
password. For more information, see the System Security Settings details section.
• You cannot disable or change an existing system password.
NOTE: You can use the password status option with the setup password option to protect the system password from
unauthorized changes.
Redundant OS Control
In the Redundant OS Control screen you can set the redundant OS information. This enables you to set up a physical recovery disk on
the system.
Viewing Redundant OS Control

To view the Redundant OS Control screen, perform the following steps:
Steps
F2 = System Setup
4. On the System BIOS screen, click Redundant OS Control.
134 BIOS and UEFI

Redundant OS Control screen details
The Redundant OS Control screen details are explained as follows:
About this task
Option Description
Redundant OS Enables you to select a backup disk from the following devices:
Location
• None
• SATA Ports
NOTE: RAID configurations and NVMe cards not are included as BIOS does not have the ability to
distinguish between individual drives in those configurations.
Redundant OS NOTE: This option is disabled if Redundant OS Location is set to None.

State
When set to Visible, the backup disk is visible to the boot list and OS. When set to Hidden, the backup disk is
disabled and is not visible to the boot list and OS. This option is set to Visible by default.
NOTE: BIOS will disable the device in hardware, so it cannot be accessed by the OS.
Redundant OS NOTE: This option is disabled if Redundant OS Location is set to None or if Redundant OS State is
Boot 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.
Miscellaneous Settings
You can use the Miscellaneous Settings screen to perform specific functions such as updating the asset tag and changing the system
date and time.
Viewing Miscellaneous Settings

To view the Miscellaneous Settings screen, perform the following steps:
Steps
F2 = System Setup
4. On the System BIOS screen, click Miscellaneous Settings.
Miscellaneous Settings details

About this task
The Miscellaneous Settings screen details are explained as follows:
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.
BIOS and UEFI 135

Option Description
Keyboard Enables you to set whether the system should boot with the NumLock enabled or disabled. This option is set to
NumLock On by default.
NOTE: This option does not apply to 84-key keyboards.
F1/F2 Prompt on Enables or disables the F1/F2 prompt on error. This option is set to Enabled by default. The F1/F2 prompt also
Error includes keyboard errors.
Load Legacy Video Enables you to determine whether the system BIOS loads the legacy video (INT 10H) option ROM from the video
Option ROM controller. Selecting Enabled in the operating system does not support UEFI video output standards. This field is
available only for UEFI boot mode. You cannot set the option to Enabled if UEFI Secure Boot mode is enabled.
This option is set to Disabled by default.
Dell Wyse Enables or disables the Dell Wyse P25/P45 BIOS Access. This option is set to Enabled by default.
P25/P45 BIOS
Access
Power Cycle Enables or disables the Power Cycle Request. This option is set to None by default.
Request
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.
For more information about using iDRAC, see Dell Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller User's Guide at www.dell.com/
poweredgemanuals.
Device Settings
Device Settings enables you to configure the below device parameters:
• Controller Configuration Utility
• Embedded NIC Port1-X Configuration
• NICs in slotX, Port1-X Configuration
• BOSS Card configuration
Dell Lifecycle Controller

Dell Lifecycle Controller (LC) provides advanced embedded systems management capabilities including system deployment, configuration,
update, maintenance, and diagnosis. LC is delivered as part of the iDRAC out-of-band solution and Dell system embedded Unified
Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) applications.
Embedded system management

The Dell Lifecycle Controller provides advanced embedded system management throughout the lifecycle of the system. The Dell Lifecycle
Controller can be started during the boot sequence and can function independently of the operating system.
NOTE: Certain platform configurations may not support the full set of features provided by the Dell Lifecycle Controller.
For more information about setting up the Dell Lifecycle Controller, configuring hardware and firmware, and deploying the operating
system, see the Dell Lifecycle Controller documentation at www.dell.com/poweredgemanuals.
136 BIOS and UEFI

Boot Manager
The Boot Manager screen enables you to select boot options and diagnostic utilities.
Viewing Boot Manager

About this task
To enter Boot Manager:
Steps
2. Press F11 when you see the following message:
F11 = Boot Manager
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 The system attempts to boot to devices starting with the first item in the boot order. If the boot attempt fails, the
Boot system continues with the next item in the boot order until the boot is successful or no more boot options are
found.
One-shot Boot Enables you to access boot menu, where you can select a one-time boot device to boot from.
Menu
Launch System Enables you to access System Setup.
Setup
Launch Lifecycle Exits the Boot Manager and invokes the Dell Lifecycle Controller program.
Controller
System Utilities Enables you to launch System Utilities menu such as System Diagnostics and UEFI shell.
One-shot UEFI boot menu

One-shot UEFI boot menu enables you to select a boot device to boot from.
System Utilities
System Utilities contains the following utilities that can be launched:
• Launch Diagnostics
• BIOS Update File Explorer
• Reboot System
PXE boot
You can use the Preboot Execution Environment (PXE) option to boot and configure the networked systems, remotely.
To access the PXE boot option, boot the system and then press F12 during POST instead of using standard Boot Sequence from BIOS
Setup. It does not pull any menu or allows managing of network devices.
BIOS and UEFI 137

5
Troubleshooting your system
Safety first — for you and your system
NOTE: Solution validation was performed by using the factory shipped hardware configuration.
Topics:
• Minimum configuration to POST
• Troubleshooting system startup failure
• Troubleshooting external connections
• Troubleshooting the video subsystem
• Troubleshooting a USB device
• Troubleshooting a NIC
• Troubleshooting a wet system
• Troubleshooting a damaged system
• Troubleshooting the system battery
• Troubleshooting cooling problems
• Troubleshooting system memory
• Troubleshooting a micro SD card
• Troubleshooting a storage controller
• Troubleshooting expansion cards
• Troubleshooting processors
• Troubleshooting Manufacturing Mode
• System messages
Minimum configuration to POST

The components mentioned below are the minimum configuration to POST:
NOTE: If slot 1 and slot 4 riser contacts are loose, system will be recognized as Power Edge R440.
• One processor (CPU) in socket processor 1

• One memory module (DIMM) in socket A1
• One power supply unit
• System board
• C6400 chassis (backplane board, link board, CM board, mid board, PIB board, cables)
• C6420 sled
Troubleshooting system startup failure

If you boot the system to the BIOS boot mode after installing an operating system from the UEFI Boot Manager, the system stops
responding. To avoid this issue, you must boot to the same boot mode in which you installed the operating system.
For all other startup issues, note the system messages that appear on the screen.
Troubleshooting external connections

Before troubleshooting any external devices, ensure that all external cables are securely attached to the external connectors on your
system.
• Compare the technical specification of the system with the external device to check the compatibility.
138 Troubleshooting your system

• Check the external device functionality with some other similar system so that we are sure that the device is working fine.
• Check any other similar external device with this system so that we are sure that the system port is working fine.
For any further queries contact, Global Technical Support.
Troubleshooting the video subsystem

Steps
1. Check the cable connections (power and display) to the monitor.
2. Check the video interface cabling from the system to the monitor.
Results
If the tests run successfully, the problem is not related to video hardware.
Troubleshooting a USB device

Prerequisites
NOTE: Follow steps 1 to 6 to troubleshoot a USB keyboard or mouse. For other USB devices, go to step 7.
Steps
1. Disconnect the keyboard and/or mouse cables from the system and reconnect them.
2. If the problem persists, connect the keyboard and/or mouse to another USB port on the system.
3. If the problem is resolved, restart the system, enter System Setup, and check if the non-functioning USB ports are enabled.
NOTE: Older operating systems may not support USB 3.0.
4. Check if USB 3.0 is enabled in System Setup. If enabled, disable it and see if the issue is resolved.
5. In iDRAC Settings Utility, ensure that USB Management Port Mode is configured as Automatic or Standard OS Use.
6. If the problem is not resolved, replace the keyboard and/or mouse with a known working keyboard or mouse.
If the problem is not resolved, proceed to step 7 to troubleshoot other USB devices attached to the system.
If the problem is not resolved, proceed to troubleshoot other USB devices attached to the system.
7. Turn off all attached USB devices, and disconnect them from the system.
8. Restart the system.
9. If your keyboard is functioning, enter System Setup, verify that all USB ports are enabled on the Integrated Devices screen. If your
keyboard is not functioning, use remote access to enable or disable the USB options.
10. Check if USB 3.0 is enabled in System Setup. If it is enabled, disable it and restart your system.
11. If the system is not accessible, reset the NVRAM_CLR jumper inside your system and restore the BIOS to the default settings. See
the System board jumper setting section
12. In the IDRAC Settings Utility, ensure that USB Management Port Mode is configured as Automatic or Standard OS Use.
13. Reconnect and turn on each USB device one at a time.
14. If a USB device causes the same problem, turn off the device, replace the USB cable with a known good cable, and turn on the device.
Troubleshooting a NIC
Prerequisites
NOTE: Network Daughter Card (NDC) slot is not hot-pluggable.
Steps
1. Run the appropriate diagnostic test. For more information, see the Using system diagnostics section for the available diagnostic tests.
2. Restart the system and check for any system messages pertaining to the NIC controller.
Troubleshooting your system 139

3. Check the appropriate indicator on the NIC connector:
• If the link indicator does not glow, the cable connected might be disengaged.
• If the activity indicator does not glow, the network driver files might be damaged or missing.
Install or replace the drivers as necessary. For more information, see the NIC documentation.
• Try another known good network cable.
• If the problem persists, use another connector on the switch or hub.
4. Ensure that the appropriate drivers are installed and the protocols are bound. For more information, see the NIC documentation.
5. Enter System Setup and confirm that the NIC ports are enabled on the Integrated Devices screen.
6. Ensure that all the NICs, hubs, and switches on the network are set to the same data transmission speed and duplex. For more
information, see the documentation for each network device.
7. Ensure that all the NICs and switches on the network are set to the same data transmission speed and duplex. For more information,
see the documentation for each network device.
8. Ensure that all network cables are of the proper type and do not exceed the maximum length.
Troubleshooting a wet system

Steps
1. Turn off the system and attached peripherals, and disconnect the system from the electrical outlet.
3. Remove the following components (if installed) from the system:
• Power supply unit(s)
• Optical drive
• Hard drives
• Hard drive backplane
• USB memory key
• Hard drive tray
• Cooling shroud
• Expansion card risers (if installed)
• Expansion cards
• Cooling fan assembly (if installed)
• Cooling fan(s)
• Memory modules
• Processor(s) and heat sink(s)
• System board
4. Let the system dry thoroughly for at least 24 hours.
5. Reinstall the components you removed in step 3 except the expansion cards.
7. Turn on the system and attached peripherals.
8. If the system starts properly, turn off the system, and reinstall all the expansion cards that you removed.
9. Run the appropriate diagnostic test. For more information, see the Using system diagnostics section.
Troubleshooting a damaged system

Steps
3. Ensure that the following components are properly installed:
• cooling shroud
• expansion card risers (if installed)
• expansion cards
• power supply unit(s)

• cooling fan assembly (if installed)
• cooling fan(s)
• processor(s) and heat sink(s)
• memory modules
• drive carriers or cage
• drive backplane
4. Ensure that all cables are properly connected.
6. Run the appropriate diagnostic test. For more information, see the Using system diagnostics section.
Troubleshooting the system battery

Prerequisites
NOTE: If the system is turned off for long periods of time (for weeks or months), the NVRAM may lose the system
configuration information. This situation is caused by a defective battery.
NOTE: Some software may cause the system time to speed up or slow down. If the system seems to operate normally
except for the time set in System Setup, the problem may be caused by a software, rather than by a defective battery.
Steps
1. Re-enter the time and date in System Setup.
2. Turn off the system, and disconnect it from the electrical outlet for at least an hour.
3. Reconnect the system to the electrical outlet, and turn on the system.
4. Enter System Setup.
If the date and time displayed in System Setup are not correct, check the System Error Log (SEL) for system battery messages.
Troubleshooting cooling problems

Ensure that the following conditions exist:
• System cover, cooling shroud, EMI filler panel, or back filler bracket is not removed.
• Ambient temperature is not higher than the system specific ambient temperature.
• External airflow is not obstructed.
• A cooling fan is not removed or has not failed.
• The expansion card installation guidelines have been followed.
Additional cooling can be added by one of the following methods:
From the iDRAC web GUI:
1. Click Hardware > Fans > Setup.
2. From the Fan Speed Offset drop-down list, select the cooling level that is required or set the minimum fan speed to a custom value.
From F2 System Setup:
1. Select iDRAC Settings > Thermal, and set a higher fan speed from the fan speed offset or minimum fan speed.
From RACADM commands:
1. Run the command racadm help system.thermalsettings
For more information, see Integrated Dell Remote Access User’s Guide at www.dell.com/poweredgemanuals
Troubleshooting system memory

Steps
1. If the system is operational, run the appropriate diagnostic test. See the Using system diagnostics section for the available diagnostic
tests.

If the diagnostic tests indicate a fault, follow the corrective actions that are provided by the diagnostic tests.
2. If the system is not operational, turn off the system and attached peripherals, and unplug the system from the power source. Wait at
least for 10 seconds, and then reconnect the system to the power source.
3. Turn on the system and attached peripherals, and note the messages on the screen.
If an error message is displayed indicating a fault with a specific memory module, go to step 12.
4. Enter System Setup, and check the system memory setting. Make any changes to the memory settings, if needed.
If the memory settings match the installed memory but the problem still persists, go to step 12.
7. Check the memory channels and ensure that they are populated correctly.
NOTE: See the system event log or system messages for the location of the failed memory module. Reinstall the
memory device.
8. Reseat the memory modules in their sockets.
10. Enter System Setup, and check the system memory setting.
If the problem is not resolved, proceed with step 11.
12. If a diagnostic test or error message indicates a specific memory module as faulty, swap or replace the module with a known working
memory module.
13. To troubleshoot an unspecified faulty memory module, replace the memory module in the first DIMM socket with a module of the
same type and capacity.
If an error message is displayed on the screen, this may indicate a problem with one or more installed DIMM types, incorrect DIMM
installation, or defective DIMMs. Follow the on-screen instructions to resolve the problem.
15. As the system boots, observe any error message that is displayed and the diagnostic indicators on the front of the system.
16. If the memory problem persists, repeat step 12 through step 15 for each memory module installed.
Troubleshooting a micro SD card

Prerequisites
NOTE: Certain micro SD cards have a physical write-protect power on the card. If the write-protect switch is turned on,
the micro SD card is not writable.
NOTE: IDSDM and vFlash slots are not hot-pluggable.
Steps
1. Enter System Setup, and ensure that the Internal SD Card Port is enabled.
2. Turn off the system, including any attached peripherals, and disconnect the system from the electrical outlet.
NOTE: When an SD card failure occurs, the internal dual SD module controller notifies the system. On the next
restart, the system displayed a message indicating the failure. If redundancy is enabled at the time of SD card
failure, a critical alert is logged and chassis health will degrade.
4. Replace the failed micro SD card with a new micro SD card.
6. Reconnect the system to its electrical outlet and turn on the system, including any attached peripherals.
7. Enter System Setup, and ensure that the Internal SD Card Port and Internal SD Card Redundancy modes are set to the needed
modes.
Verify that the correct SD slot is set as Primary SD Card.
8. Check if the micro SD card is functioning properly.
9. If the Internal SD Card Redundancy option is set to Enabled at the time of the SD card failure, the system prompts you to perform
a rebuild.

NOTE: The rebuild is always sourced from the primary SD card to the secondary SD card.
Troubleshooting a storage controller

NOTE: When troubleshooting a controller, see the documentation for your operating system and the controller.
NOTE: Mini-PERC socket is not hot-pluggable.
1. Run the appropriate diagnostic test. See the Using system diagnostics section.
4. Verify that the installed expansion cards are compliant with the expansion card installation guidelines.
5. Ensure that each expansion card is firmly seated in its connector.
7. Reconnect the system to the electrical outlet, and turn on the system and attached peripherals.
8. If the problem is not resolved, turn off the system and attached peripherals, and disconnect the system from the electrical outlet.
10. Remove all expansion cards installed in the system.
12. Reconnect the system to the electrical outlet, and turn on the system and attached peripherals.
14. For each expansion card you removed in step 10, perform the following steps:
a. Turn off the system and attached peripherals, and disconnect the system from the electrical outlet.
b. Remove the system cover.
c. Reinstall one of the expansion cards.
d. Install the system cover.
e. Run the appropriate diagnostic test. See the Using system diagnostics section.
Troubleshooting expansion cards

Prerequisites
NOTE: When troubleshooting an expansion card, you also have to see the documentation for your operating system and
the expansion card.
NOTE: Riser slots are not hot-pluggable.
Steps
4. Ensure that each expansion card is firmly seated in its connector.
6. Turn on the system and attached peripherals.
7. If the problem is not resolved, turn off the system and attached peripherals, and disconnect the system from the electrical outlet.
9. Remove all expansion cards installed in the system.
12. For each expansion card you removed in step 8, perform the following steps:
a) Turn off the system and attached peripherals, and disconnect the system from the electrical outlet.
b) Remove the system cover.
c) Reinstall one of the expansion cards.

d) Install the system cover.
e) Run the appropriate diagnostic test. See the Using system diagnostics section.
Troubleshooting processors
Steps
1. Run the appropriate diagnostics test. See the Using system diagnostics section.
4. Ensure that the processor and heat sink are properly installed.
Troubleshooting Manufacturing Mode

The system should remain in manufacturing mode until all service has been completed. After the system board has been replaced, the
following message may be displayed upon boot:
If you see the BIOS MANUFACTURING MODE detected message, the replacement motherboard is in manufacturing mode. Do not
exit manufacturing mode before you install the Identity Module if this system board replacement is for an OEM-branded product. Refer to
the PowerEdge OEM Branding reference guide below for more information:
Internal Link: PowerEdge OEM Branding
External Link: PowerEdge OEM Branding
If this replacement is for a non-OEM system board or if you have already installed the proper Identity Module, at the prompt press <A> to
turn off manufacturing mode.
The following message indicates that manufacturing mode has been successfully cleared:
MANUFACTURING MODE will be cleared before the next boot.

System reboot required for normal operation.
Reboot the system and verify that the BIOS MANUFACTURING MODE detected message is not displayed.
System messages
For information about the event and error messages generated by the system firmware and agents that monitor system components, go
to qrl.dell.com > Look Up > Error Code, type the error code, and then click Look it up.

6
Technical specifications
The technical and environmental specifications of your system are outlined in this section.
Topics:
• Dimensions of the Dell EMC PowerEdge C6420 sled
• Chassis weight
• Processor specifications
• System battery
• Expansion bus specifications
• Memory specifications
• Drives and storage specifications
• Video specifications
• Environmental specifications
Dimensions of the Dell EMC PowerEdge C6420

sled
Figure 121. Dimensions of the PowerEdge C6420 sled
Table 28. Dimensions of the PowerEdge C6420 sled

X Y Z
174.4 mm (6.86 inches) 40.5 mm (1.59 inches) 574.5 mm (22.61 inches)
Chassis weight
Table 29. Chassis weight of the enclosure with the sleds
System Maximum weight (with all sleds and drives)
12 x 3.5-inch hard drive systems 43.62 Kg (96.16 lb)
Technical specifications 145

System Maximum weight (with all sleds and drives)
No backplane systems 34.56 Kg (76.19 lb)
Processor specifications
The Dell EMC PowerEdge C6420 sled supports up to two Intel Xeon Scalable processor in each of the four independent sleds. Each
processor supports up to 28 cores.
NOTE: The fabric processor must be installed in the processor 2 socket in a mixed configuration of fabric and non-fabric
processors.
System battery
The PowerEdge C6420 sled uses a CR 2032 3V replaceable lithium coin cell battery.
NOTE: There is a system battery in each of the sleds.
Expansion bus specifications

The Dell EMC PowerEdge C6420 sled supports four Generation 3 capable PCIe slots.
Table 30. Expansion bus specifications

PCIe Slots Description Form factor
x8 Mezz PCIe riser Slot 1: x8 PCIe Gen3 from processor 1 Custom form factor
Slot 2: x8 PCIe Gen3 from processor 1 Standard Open Compute Project (OCP)
x8+x8 OCP Mezz riser
Slot 3: x8 PCIe Gen3 from processor 1 form factor
x16 PCIe main riser Slot 4: x16 PCIe Gen3 processor 1 Standard Low Profile PCIe form factor
x16 buried PCIe riser Slot 5: x16 PCIe Gen3 from processor 2 Custom form factor
NOTE: M.2 SATA riser is supported
on the buried riser.
Memory specifications
Table 31. Memory specifications
Single processor Dual processors

Memory module DIMM DIMM rank DIMM capacity Minimum Maximum Minimum Maximum
sockets type
RAM RAM RAM RAM
Quad rank 64 GB 64 GB 512 GB 128 GB 1024 GB
LRDIMM
Octal rank 128 GB 128 GB 1024 GB 256 GB 2048 GB
Single rank 8 GB 8 GB 64 GB 16 GB 128 GB
Sixteen 288-pins
16 GB 16 GB 128 GB 32 GB 256 GB
RDIMM
Dual rank 32 GB 32 GB 256 GB 64 GB 512 GB
64 GB 64 GB 512 GB 128 GB 1024 GB
Drives and storage specifications

The Dell EMC PowerEdge C6420 sled supports SAS and SATA Drives and Solid State Drives (SSDs).
146 Technical specifications

Table 32. Supported drive options for the PowerEdge C6420 sled
Maximum number of drives in the enclosure Maximum number of drives assigned per sled
12 x 3.5-inch drive systems Three SAS or SATA Drives and SSDs per sled
24 x 2.5-inch drive systems Six SAS or SATA Drives and SSDs per sled
24 x 2.5-inch drive systems with NVMe The NVMe backplane supports either of these configurations:
• Two NVMe drives and four SAS or SATA Drives and SSDs per
sled
• Six SAS or SATA Drives and SSDs per sled
M.2 SATA drive (optional) The supported capacity of the M.2 SATA card is up to 240 GB
NOTE: The M.2 SATA card can be installed on the x8
(slot 1) mezzanine riser or the x16 riser slot (slot 5).
microSD card (optional) for boot (up to 64 GB) One on each PCIe riser of each sled
Table 33. Supported RAID options with M.2 SATA drives

Options Single M.2 SATA drive without RAID Dual M.2 SATA drives with hardware
RAID
Hardware RAID No Yes
RAID Mode N/A RAID 1
Number of drives supported 1 2
Supported processors processor 1 processor 1 and processor 2
Video specifications
The Dell EMC PowerEdge C6420 sled supports a Matrox G200 integrated graphics card with 16 MB RAM.
Table 34. Supported video resolution options

Resolution Refresh rate (Hz) Color depth (bits)
1024 x 768 60 up to 24
1280 x 800 60 up to 24
1280 x 1024 60 up to 24
1360 x 768 60 up to 24
1440 x 900 60 up to 24
Environmental specifications
The sections below contains information about the environmental specifications of the system.
NOTE: For additional information about environmental certifications, please refer to the Product Environmental
Datasheet located with the Manuals & Documents on www.dell.com/poweredgemanuals.
Standard operating temperature specifications

NOTE:
1. Not available: Indicates that the configuration is not offered by Dell EMC.
2. Not supported: Indicates that the configuration is not thermally supported.

NOTE: All components including the DIMMs, communication cards, M.2 SATA, and PERC cards can be supported with
sufficient thermal margin if the ambient temperature is equal to or below to the maximum continuous operating
temperature listed in these tables except for the Mellanox DP LP card and Intel Rush Creek card.
Table 35. Standard operating temperature specifications

Standard operating temperature Specifications
Temperature ranges (for altitude less than 950 m or 3117 ft) 10°C–35°C (50°F–95°F) with no direct sunlight on the
equipment.
NOTE: Some configurations require a lower ambient temperature. For more information, see the following tables.
Table 36. Maximum continuous operating temperature for nonfabric dual processor configuration
Max No-BP
3.5-inch chassis 2.5-inch chassis
memor Chassis
TDP Process Heat sink y/ 8x 4x 24x 20x 12x 8x 4x
Watts or model model 12x 16x
proces
Drives Drive Drive Drive Driv Drives Drive Driv Drive N/A
sor s s s es s es s
CPU1: CPU1:
FMM2M | 6|
8280 20 21 21 21 21 30
CPU2: CPU2:
V2DRD 8
CPU1: CPU1:
FMM2M | 6|
8280L 20 21 21 21 21 30
CPU2: CPU2:
V2DRD 8
Not Not Not
CPU1: CPU1: Not
Suppo Supp Supp
FMM2M | 6| Suppor
205 W 8280M rted orted orte 20 21 21 21 21 30
CPU2: CPU2: ted
(10°C (11°C d(19°
V2DRD 8 (2°C)
) ) C)
CPU1: CPU1:
FMM2M | 6|
8270 20 21 21 21 21 30
CPU2: CPU2:
V2DRD 8
CPU1: CPU1:
FMM2M | 6|
8268 20 21 21 21 21 30
CPU2: CPU2:
V2DRD 8
CPU1: CPU1: Not Not Not
FMM2M | 6| Suppor Suppo Supp
200 W 6254 20 21 22 22 22 22 30
CPU2: CPU2: ted(6° rted(1 orted(
V2DRD 8 C) 4°C) 15°C)
CPU1: CPU1:
JYKMM | 8|
8276 30 30 30 30 30 35 35
CPU2: CPU2:
V2DRD 8
CPU1: CPU1: Not Not Not
JYKMM | 8| Suppor Suppo Supp
165 W 8276L 30 30 30 30 30 35 35
CPU2: CPU2: ted(11° rted(1 orted(
V2DRD 8 C) 8°C) 19°C)
CPU1: CPU1:
JYKMM | 8|
8276M 30 30 30 30 30 35 35
CPU2: CPU2:
V2DRD 8

Max No-BP
memor Chassis
proces
sor s s s es s es s
CPU1: CPU1:
JYKMM | 8|
8260 30 30 30 30 30 35 35
CPU2: CPU2:
V2DRD 8
CPU1: CPU1:
JYKMM | 8|
8260L 30 30 30 30 30 35 35
CPU2: CPU2:
V2DRD 8
CPU1: CPU1:
JYKMM | 8|
8260M 30 30 30 30 30 35 35
CPU2: CPU2:
V2DRD 8
CPU1: CPU1:
JYKMM | 8|
8260C 30 30 30 30 30 35 35
CPU2: CPU2:
V2DRD 8
CPU1: CPU1:
JYKMM | 8|
6252 21 23 30 30 30 30 30 35 35
CPU2: CPU2:
V2DRD 8
CPU1: CPU1:
JYKMM | 8|
6248 21 23 30 30 30 30 30 35 35
CPU2: CPU2:
V2DRD 8
CPU1: CPU1:
JYKMM | 8|
6240 21 23 30 30 30 30 30 35 35
CPU2: CPU2: Not
V2DRD 8 Suppor
150 W
CPU1: CPU1: ted(14
JYKMM | 8| °C)
6242 21 23 30 30 30 30 30 35 35
CPU2: CPU2:
V2DRD 8
CPU1: CPU1:
FMM2M | 6|
6244 21 23 30 30 30 30 30 35 35
CPU2: CPU2:
V2DRD 8
CPU1: CPU1:
FMM2M | 6|
6240C 21 23 30 30 30 30 30 35 35
CPU2: CPU2:
V2DRD 8
CPU1: CPU1:
JYKMM | 8|
6230 25 30 30 30 30 35 35 35 35 35
CPU2: CPU2:
V2DRD 8
CPU1: CPU1:
125 W
JYKMM | 8|
5220 25 30 30 30 30 35 35 35 35 35
CPU2: CPU2:
V2DRD 8
CPU1: CPU1:
5218 25 30 30 30 30 35 35 35 35 35
JYKMM | 8|

Max No-BP
memor Chassis
proces
sor s s s es s es s
CPU2: CPU2:
V2DRD 8
CPU1: CPU1:
JYKMM | 8|
5218B 25 30 30 30 30 35 35 35 35 35
CPU2: CPU2:
V2DRD 8
CPU1: CPU1:
JYKMM | 8|
8253 25 30 30 30 30 35 35 35 35 35
CPU2: CPU2:
V2DRD 8
CPU1: CPU1:
JYKMM | 8|
6238T 25 30 30 30 30 35 35 35 35 35
CPU2: CPU2:
V2DRD 8
CPU1: CPU1:
JYKMM | 8|
6230N 25 30 30 30 30 35 35 35 35 35
CPU2: CPU2:
V2DRD 8
CPU1: CPU1:
FMM2M | 6|
115 W 5217 25 30 30 30 30 35 35 35 35 35
CPU2: CPU2:
V2DRD 8
CPU1: CPU1:
FMM2M | 6|
5218T 30 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
CPU2: CPU2:
V2DRD 8
CPU1: CPU1:
FMM2M | 6|
5218N 30 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
CPU2: CPU2:
V2DRD 8
105 W
CPU1: CPU1:
FMM2M | 6|
5222 30 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
CPU2: CPU2:
V2DRD 8
CPU1: CPU1:
FMM2M | 6|
8256 30 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
CPU2: CPU2:
V2DRD 8
CPU1: CPU1:
JYKMM | 8|
100 W 4216 30 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
CPU2: CPU2:
V2DRD 8
CPU1: CPU1:
JYKMM | 8|
5215 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
CPU2: CPU2:
V2DRD 8
85 W
CPU1: CPU1:
JYKMM | 8|
5215M 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
CPU2: CPU2:
V2DRD 8

Max No-BP
memor Chassis
proces
sor s s s es s es s
CPU1: CPU1:
JYKMM | 8|
5215L 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
CPU2: CPU2:
V2DRD 8
CPU1: CPU1:
JYKMM | 8|
4215 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
CPU2: CPU2:
V2DRD 8
CPU1: CPU1:
JYKMM | 8|
4214 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
CPU2: CPU2:
V2DRD 8
CPU1: CPU1:
JYKMM | 8|
4214C 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
CPU2: CPU2:
V2DRD 8
CPU1: CPU1:
JYKMM | 8|
4210 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
CPU2: CPU2:
V2DRD 8
CPU1: CPU1:
JYKMM | 8|
4208 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
CPU2: CPU2:
V2DRD 8
CPU1: CPU1:
JYKMM | 8|
3204 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
CPU2: CPU2:
V2DRD 8
CPU1: CPU1:
JYKMM | 8|
70 W 4209T 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
CPU2: CPU2:
V2DRD 8
Table 37. Maximum continuous operating temperature for non-fabric single processor configuration
Max No-BP
Heat memor Chassis
Processor
TDP Watts sink y/ 12x 8x 4x 24x 20x 16x 12x
model 8x 4x
model proces Drive Driv Driv Driv Drive Driv Drive N/A
sor Drives Drives
s es es es s es s
CPU1:
8280 CPU1: 6 30 30 30 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
FMM2M
CPU1:
8280L CPU1: 6 30 30 30 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
FMM2M
CPU1:
205W 8280M CPU1: 6 30 30 30 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
FMM2M
CPU1:
8270 CPU1: 6 30 30 30 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
FMM2M
CPU1:
8268 CPU1: 6 30 30 30 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
FMM2M

Max No-BP
Heat memor Chassis
Processor
model 8x 4x
sor Drives Drives
s es es es s es s
CPU1:
200 W 6254 CPU1: 6 30 30 30 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
FMM2M
CPU1:
6212U CPU1: 8 30 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
JYKMM
CPU1:
8276 CPU1: 8 30 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
JYKMM
CPU1:
8276L CPU1: 8 30 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
JYKMM
CPU1:
8276M CPU1: 8 30 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
JYKMM
165 W
CPU1:
8260 CPU1: 8 30 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
JYKMM
CPU1:
8260L CPU1: 8 30 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
JYKMM
CPU1:
8260M CPU1: 8 30 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
JYKMM
CPU1:
8260C CPU1: 8 30 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
JYKMM
CPU1:
6210U CPU1: 8 30 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
JYKMM
CPU1:
6252 CPU1: 8 30 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
JYKMM
CPU1:
6248 CPU1: 8 30 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
JYKMM
CPU1:
150 W 6240 CPU1: 8 30 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
JYKMM
CPU1:
6242 CPU1: 8 30 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
JYKMM
CPU1:
6244 CPU1: 6 30 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
FMM2M
CPU1:
6240C CPU1: 6 30 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
FMM2M
CPU1:
6230 CPU1: 8 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
JYKMM
CPU1:
5220 CPU1: 8 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
JYKMM
CPU1:
5218 CPU1: 8 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
JYKMM
125W
CPU1:
5218B CPU1: 8 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
JYKMM
CPU1:
8253 CPU1: 8 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
JYKMM
CPU1:
6238T CPU1: 8 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
JYKMM

Max No-BP
Heat memor Chassis
Processor
model 8x 4x
sor Drives Drives
s es es es s es s
CPU1:
6230N CPU1: 8 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
JYKMM
CPU1:
115 W 5217 CPU1: 6 30 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
FMM2M
CPU1:
5218T CPU1: 6 30 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
FMM2M
CPU1:
5218N CPU1: 6 30 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
FMM2M
105 W
CPU1:
5222 CPU1: 6 30 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
FMM2M
CPU1:
8256 CPU1: 6 30 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
FMM2M
CPU1:
100 W 4216 CPU1: 8 30 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
JYKMM
CPU1:
5215 CPU1: 8 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
JYKMM
CPU1:
5215M CPU1: 8 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
JYKMM
CPU1:
5215L CPU1: 8 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
JYKMM
CPU1:
4215 CPU1: 8 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
JYKMM
CPU1:
85 W 4214 CPU1: 8 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
JYKMM
CPU1:
4214C CPU1: 8 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
JYKMM
CPU1:
4210 CPU1: 8 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
JYKMM
CPU1:
4208 CPU1: 8 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
JYKMM
CPU1:
3204 CPU1: 8 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
JYKMM
CPU1:
70 W 4209T CPU1: 8 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
JYKMM
Table 38. Configuration Restrictions with Mellanox Navi Dual Port Card with Active (Optical) connectivity
No-BP
TDP Watts Chassis
12x HDDs 8x HDDs 4x HDDs 24x HDDs 16x HDDs 8x HDDs 4x HDDs N/A
Not Not Not Not Not Not Not
205 W 23
supported supported supported supported supported supported supported
Not Not Not Not Not Not Not
200 W 23
Not Not Not Not Not
173 W 24 24 28
supported supported supported supported supported

No-BP
TDP Watts Chassis
Not Not Not
165 W 24 25 25 26 29
supported supported supported
Not Not Not
160 W 24 25 26 26 30
Not Not Not
150 W 26 27 28 28 31
Not
140 W 23 25 28 29 29 30 33
supported
Not
135 W 24 25 29 30 30 31 33
supported
Not
130 W 24 26 30 31 31 31 34
supported
125 W 20 25 27 30 31 32 32 35
115 W 21 27 28 32 33 34 34 >35
113 W 21 27 28 32 33 34 34 >35
105 W 22 28 30 34 35 >35 >35 >35
85 W 23 32 33 >35 >35 >35 >35 >35
70 W 25 34 >35 >35 >35 >35 >35 >35
Table 39. Configuration Restrictions with Intel Rush Creek
No-BP
TDP Watts Chassis
205 W Not Not Not Not Not 20 20 23
200 W Not Not Not Not Not 21 21 24
173 W Not Not Not 20 20 23 24 28
165 W Not Not Not 22 22 24 25 29
160 W Not Not Not 22 22 24 26 29
150 W Not Not Not 24 24 26 27 30
140 W Not Not Not 26 26 27 28 31
135 W Not Not 20 26 26 28 29 32
supported supported
130 W Not Not 20 27 27 29 29 33
supported supported
125 W Not Not 21 28 28 30 30 33
supported supported
115W Not 21 23 29 31 31 32 34
supported

No-BP
TDP Watts Chassis
105 W 20 23 24 30 33 33 34 >35
85 W 24 26 27 34 >35 >35 >35 >35
70 W 25 28 29 >35 >35 >35 >35 >35
Table 40. Configuration Restrictions with Intel NVMe SSD AIC P4800X
No-BP
TDP Watts Chassis
205 W Not Not Not Not Not Not Not Not
supported supported supported supported supported supported supported supported
200 W Not Not Not Not Not Not Not Not
supported supported supported supported supported supported supported supported
173 W Not Not Not Not Not Not Not 20
150 W Not Not Not Not 20 20 20 25
supported supported supported supported
140 W Not Not Not 20 20 20 20 25
135 W Not Not Not 20 20 20 20 25
130 W Not Not Not 20 20 20 20 25
125 W Not Not Not 20 25 25 25 30
115 W Not Not Not 25 25 25 25 30
105 W Not Not Not 25 25 25 25 30
85 W Not Not Not 30 30 30 30 >35
70 W Not Not Not >35 >35 >35 >35 >35
Expanded operating temperature specifications

Table 41. Expanded operating temperature
Expanded operating temperature Specifications
Continuous operation 5°C–40°C at 5% to 85% RH with maximum 29°C dew point.
NOTE: Outside the standard operating temperature
(10°C–35°C), the system can operate continuously in
temperatures as low as 5°C and as high as 40°C.

Expanded operating temperature Specifications
For temperatures between 35°C-40°C, derate maximum allowable
temperature by 1°C per 175 m above 950 m (1°F per 319 ft).
≤ 1% of annual operating hours –5°C–45°C at 5% to 90% RH with maximum 29°C dew point.
NOTE: Outside the standard operating temperature
(10°C–35°C), the system can operate down to –
5°C-45°C for a maximum of 1% of its annual operating
hours.
For temperatures between 40°C-45°C, derate maximum allowable

temperature by 1°C per 125 m above 950 m (1°F per 228 ft).
NOTE: When operating in the expanded temperature range, system performance may be impacted.
NOTE: When operating in the expanded temperature range, ambient temperature warnings may be reported in the
System Event Log.
Operating temperature derating specifications

Table 42. Operating temperature
Operating temperature derating Specifications
< 35°C (95°F) Maximum temperature is reduced by 1°C/300 m (1°F/547 ft)

above 950 meters (3,117 ft)
35°C–40°C (95°F–104°F) Maximum temperature is reduced by 1°C/175 m (1°F/319 ft)

> 45°C (113°F) Maximum temperature is reduced by 1°C/125 m (1°F/228 ft)

Relative humidity specifications

Table 43. Relative humidity specifications
Relative humidity Specifications
Storage 5% to 95% RH with 33°C (91°F) maximum dew point.

Atmosphere must be non-condensing at all times.
Operating 10% to 80% relative humidity with 29°C (84.2°F) maximum dew
point
Temperature specifications
Table 44. Temperature specifications
Temperature Specifications
Storage –40°C–65°C (–40°F-149°F)
Continuous operation (for altitude less than 950 m or 3117 ft) 10°C–35°C (50°F-95°F) with no direct sunlight on the
equipment.
Fresh air For information about fresh air, see Expanded Operating
Temperature section.
Maximum temperature gradient (operating and storage) 20°C/h (68°F/h)

NOTE: Some configurations require a lower ambient temperature for more information, see the Standard operating
temperature specifications.
Thermal restrictions
Table 45. Thermal restrictions matrix for dual processors
Maximum continuous operating inlet temperature (°C)

3.5" Chassis 2.5" Chassis No-BP
Chassi
s
TDP Proc DPN Max 12x 8x 4x 24x 20x 16x 12x 8x 4x N/A
Watts No. of DIMM HDDs HDDs HDDs HDDs HDDs HDDs HDDs HDDs HDDs
CPU count
Heat s
Sinks
165W 6238R CPU1: CPU1: Not Supported 30 30 30 30 30 35 35
| 8|
CPU2: CPU2:
8
6240R CPU1: CPU1: Not Not Supported 30 30 30 30 30 35 35
| 8| Suppo
CPU2: CPU2: rted
8
150W 6230R CPU1: CPU1: 21 23 30 30 30 30 30 35 35
| 8|
CPU2: CPU2:
8
6226R CPU1: CPU1: 21 23 30 30 30 30 30 35 35
| 8|
CPU2: CPU2:
8
6208 CPU1: CPU1: 21 23 30 30 30 30 30 35 35
U | 8|
CPU2: CPU2:
8
150W 5220 CPU1: CPU1: 21 23 30 30 30 30 30 35 35
R | 8|
CPU2: CPU2:
8
130W 4215R CPU1: CPU1: 25 25 30 30 35 35 35 35 35
| 8|
CPU2: CPU2:
8
125W 5218R CPU1: CPU1: 25 30 30 30 30 35 35 35 35 35
| 8|
CPU2: CPU2:
8
100W 4214R CPU1: CPU1: 30 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
| 8|
CPU2: CPU2:
8
4210R CPU1: CPU1: 30 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
8| 8|
CPU2: CPU2:
8 8

95W 4210T CPU1: CPU1: 30 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
| 8|
CPU2: CPU2:
8
85W 3206R CPU1: CPU1: 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
| 8|
CPU2: CPU2:
8
Table 46. Thermal restrictions matrix for single processor

3.5" Chassis 2.5" Chassis No-BP
Chassis
TDP Proc DPN of Max 12x 8x 4x 24x 20x 16x 12x 8x 4x N/A
Watts No. CPU DIMM HDDs HDDs HDDs HDDs HDDs HDDs HDDs HDDs HDDs
Heat counts
Sinks
165W 6238R CPU1:| CPU1:8 30 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
CPU2: |
CPU2:8
6240R CPU1:| CPU1:8 30 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
CPU2: |
CPU2:8
150W 6230R CPU1:| CPU1:8 30 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
CPU2: |
CPU2:8
6226R CPU1:| CPU1:8 30 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
CPU2: |
CPU2:8
6208U CPU1:| CPU1:8 30 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
CPU2: |
CPU2:8
5220R CPU1:| CPU1:8 30 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
CPU2: |
CPU2:8
130W 4215R CPU1:| CPU1:8 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
CPU2: |
CPU2:8
125W 5218R CPU1:| CPU1:8 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
CPU2: |
CPU2:8
100W 4214R CPU1:| CPU1:8 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
CPU2: |
CPU2:8
4210R CPU1:| CPU1:8 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
CPU2: |
CPU2:8
95W 4210T CPU1:| CPU1:8 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
CPU2: |
CPU2:8

85W 3206R CPU1:| CPU1:8 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
CPU2: |
CPU2:8
Particulate and gaseous contamination specifications

Table 47. Particulate contamination specifications
Particulate contamination Specifications
Air filtration Data center air filtration as defined by ISO

Class 8 per ISO 14644-1 with a 95% upper
confidence limit.
NOTE: This condition applies only to data center environments. Air filtration requirements do not apply to IT equipment
designed to be used outside a data center, in environments such as an office or factory floor.
NOTE: Air entering the data center must have MERV11 or MERV13 filtration.
Conductive dust Air must be free of conductive dust, zinc

whiskers, or other conductive particles.
NOTE: This condition applies to data center and non-data center environments.
Corrosive dust Air must be free of corrosive dust.
Residual dust present in the air must have a deliquescent point less than 60% relative humidity.
NOTE: This condition applies to data center and non-data center environments.
Table 48. Gaseous contamination specifications

Gaseous contamination Specifications
Copper coupon corrosion rate <300 Å/month per Class G1 as defined by ANSI/ISA71.04-2013
Silver coupon corrosion rate <200 Å/month per Class G1 as defined by ANSI/ISA71.04-2013
NOTE: Maximum corrosive contaminant levels measured at ≤50% relative humidity.
Maximum vibration specifications

Table 49. Maximum vibration specifications
Maximum vibration Specifications
Operating 0.26 Grms at 5 Hz to 350 Hz (all operation orientations).
Storage 1.88 Grms at 10 Hz to 500 Hz for 15 min (all six sides tested).

Maximum shock specifications
Table 50. Maximum shock specifications
Maximum shock Specifications
Operating 24 executed shock pulses 6 G in the positive and negative x, y, z

axis for up to 11 ms (four pulses on each side of the system).
Storage Six consecutively executed shock pulses of 71 G in the positive and

negative x, y, z axes for up to 2 ms (one pulse on each side of the
system).
Maximum altitude specifications

Table 51. Maximum altitude specifications
Maximum altitude Specifications
Operating 3048 m (10,000 ft)
Storage 12,000 m (39,370 ft)
Fresh Air Operation

Fresh Air operation restrictions
• Processors with a TDP greater than 105 W are not supported
• Support for processors of 85 W and below without PERC restrictions
• 3.5-inch drive configuration is not supported
• 114-mm heat sink is required for the processor in CPU1 socket
• Kerby-flat OCP is not supported
• M.2 card on DCS Mezzanine slot is not supported.
• NVMe SSD is not supported
• AEP DIMM and LRDIMM are not supported
• PCIe cards greater than 25 W are not supported
• H730 PERC and H330 support for 105-W processors
• No PERC restrictions for 85 W and lesser TDP processors

7
Documentation resources
This section provides information about the documentation resources for your system.
To view the document that is listed in the documentation resources table:
• From the Dell EMC support site:
1. Click the documentation link that is provided in the Location column in the table.
2. Click the required product or product version.
NOTE: To locate the product name and model, see the front of your system.
3. On the Product Support page, click Manuals & documents.
• Using search engines:
• Type the name and version of the document in the search box.
Table 52. Additional documentation resources for your system
Task Document Location

Setting up your system For more information about installing and securing www.dell.com/poweredgemanuals
the system into a rack, see the Rail Installation
Guide included with your rack solution.
For information about setting up your system, see
the Getting Started Guide document that is
shipped with your system.
Configuring your system For information about the iDRAC features, www.dell.com/poweredgemanuals
configuring and logging in to iDRAC, and managing
your system remotely, see the Integrated Dell
Remote Access Controller User's Guide.
For information about understanding Remote
Access Controller Admin (RACADM)
subcommands and supported RACADM
interfaces, see the RACADM CLI Guide for iDRAC.
For information about Redfish and its protocol,
supported schema, and Redfish Eventing are
implemented in iDRAC, see the Redfish API Guide.
For information about iDRAC property database
group and object descriptions, see the Attribute
Registry Guide.
For information about earlier versions of the www.dell.com/idracmanuals

iDRAC documents, see the iDRAC documentation.
To identify the version of iDRAC available on your
system, on the iDRAC web interface, click ? >
About.
For information about installing the operating www.dell.com/operatingsystemmanuals

system, see the operating system documentation.
Managing your system For information about systems management www.dell.com/poweredgemanuals
software offered by Dell, see the Dell
OpenManage Systems Management Overview
Guide.
Documentation resources 161

Task Document Location
For information about setting up, using, and www.dell.com/openmanagemanuals >
troubleshooting OpenManage, see the Dell OpenManage Server Administrator
OpenManage Server Administrator User’s Guide.
For information about installing, using, and www.dell.com/openmanagemanuals >
troubleshooting Dell OpenManage Essentials, see OpenManage Essentials
the Dell OpenManage Essentials User’s Guide.
For information about installing, using, and www.dell.com/openmanagemanuals >
troubleshooting Dell OpenManage Enterprise, see OpenManage Enterprise
the Dell OpenManage Enterprise User’s Guide.
For information about installing and using Dell https://www.dell.com/serviceabilitytools
SupportAssist, see the Dell EMC SupportAssist
Enterprise User’s Guide.
For information about partner programs enterprise www.dell.com/openmanagemanuals
systems management, see the OpenManage
Connections Enterprise Systems Management
documents.
Working with the Dell For information about understanding the features www.dell.com/storagecontrollermanuals
PowerEdge RAID controllers of the Dell PowerEdge RAID controllers (PERC),
Software RAID controllers, or BOSS card and
deploying the cards, see the Storage controller
documentation.
Understanding event and error For information about the event and error www.dell.com/qrl
messages messages that are generated by the system
firmware and agents that monitor system
components, see the Error Code Lookup.
Troubleshooting your system For information about identifying and www.dell.com/poweredgemanuals
troubleshooting the PowerEdge server issues, see
the Server Troubleshooting Guide.
162 Documentation resources

8
Document history
Table 53. Document history
Document History
Date Owner Page
Requested By Reviewed By Approved By
Change
Date: 2020-04-14 Owner: Priya Tripathi

Requested By: April FY21 Block Updates Reviewed By: Approved By: Lakshmy Menon
Changes: April FY21 Block Updates Supported processors list, BIOS.
Date: 2020-02-18 Owner: Priya Tripathi

Requested By: Feb FY21 Block Updates Reviewed By: Approved By: Lakshmy Menon
Changes: Feb FY21 Block Updates Supported processors list, BIOS.
Page: GUID-C48FF5F9-3C04-4120-
Date: 2019-11-11 Owner: Lau Khim Hun
B3D4-1D0BBCB27BD9
Requested By: JIRA update: https://
Reviewed By: Approved By: Lakshmy Menon
jira.gtie.dell.com/browse/DTCDM-3581
Changes: Updated memory slot captions on the image.
Date: 2018-10-29 Owner: Karthik Sundararajan Page: Installation Basic Configuration

Requested By: Reviewed By: Approved By: Lakshmy Menon
Changes: Updated OpenManage Enterprise information
Date: 2018-05-02 Owner: Mario Ranjit Page: All

Requested By: Reviewed By: Approved By: George Cherian
Changes: Initial Release
Date: 2018–08–06 Owner: Allen C Fredrick Page: All

Changes: Block update
Date: 2018–18–12 Owner: Karthik Sarvi C Page: All

Requested By: Fusion Ticket 39381396 Reviewed By: Approved By: George Cherian
Date: 2019–15–04 Owner: Mohammed Samruddin Page: All

Requested By: George Cherian Reviewed By: Approved By:
Changes: MLK update
Date: 2019–17–09 Owner: Karthik Sarvi Page: supported processors

Changes: Sept block update
Document history 163

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Field Service Manual

Regulatory Model: E43S Series

2 Field service information............................................................................................................. 13

3 Technology and components....................................................................................................... 93

4 BIOS and UEFI...........................................................................................................................117

5 Troubleshooting your system..................................................................................................... 138

6 Technical specifications............................................................................................................ 145

Figure 1. PowerEdge C6420 front view

RAID Controller • LSI 2008 x8 mezzanine • PERC H730P

Chipset Intel C612 chipset Intel C621 Lewisburg-1G

I/O adapter options 1 Gb Ethernet: 1 Gb Ethernet:

10 Gb Ethernet: • Intel Gigabit 2P I350-t adapter, 1GB,

USB 1 x External USB 3.0 2 x External USB 3.0

Chassis • Supported in 2U 4N rack form factor on the PowerEdge C6400

Network • Intel I350 LOM

Video • Integrated NUVOTON NPCM750D with iDRAC9

Memory type • DDR4 LRDIMMs 2 DPC

Memory capacity • Up to 2 TB—16 RDIMM/LRDIMM

Power supply • 1600 W

RAID controllers • SAS 12 GB HBA: Adapter for LP PCIe slot

PCIe slot • 1 x 1U x16 main PCIe riser

Supported operating systems

Figure 2. System board connections

Figure 3. Mechanical overview

Figure 4. Memory information

Figure 5. Jumper settings

Field service overview

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Figure 6. Front view of the enclosure with 24 x 2.5-inch drives

Figure 7. Front view of the enclosure with 12 x 3.5-inch drives

Back view of the enclosure with sleds

Figure 8. Back view of the enclosure with sleds

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Figure 9. Inside the PowerEdge C6400 enclosure

Figure 10. Inside the PowerEdge C6420 sled

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Figure 11. Proper bonding method

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Figure 12. Intermittent, latent damage to a wiring trace

To avoid an ESD damage, ensure you:

Figure 13. Incorrect handling of components without ESD protection

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Figure 14. ESD field service kit

Figure 15. Antistatic mat

ESD Wrist Strap tester

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Table 3. Placement of insulator elements

Consider the working environment

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Transporting sensitive components

ESD protection summary

Adhere to the following guidelines when lifting equipment:

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Table 4. Required tools and optional tools

Dell Embedded System Diagnostics

Running the Embedded System Diagnostics from Boot Manager

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Running the Embedded System Diagnostics from the Dell Lifecycle

System diagnostic controls

Chassis power cycle and sled power cycle

• Command for chassis power cycle:

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Liquid cooling—optional configuration