Dell T310 Universal Serial Bus USB Controllers, Real-Time Clock RTC, Enhanced Power Management

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8.12 Universal Serial Bus (USB) Controllers

The Intel 3420 contains up to two Enhanced Host Controller Interface (EHCI) host controllers that support USB high-speed signaling. High-speed USB 2.0 allows data transfers up to 480 Mb/s. The PCH also contains two Rate Matching Hubs (RMH) that support USB full-speed and low-speed signaling.

The Intel 3420 supports up to fourteen USB 2.0 ports. All fourteen ports are high-speed, full-speed, and low-speed capable.

8.13 Real-Time Clock (RTC)

The Intel 3420 contains a real-time clock (RTC) with 256 bytes of battery-backed RAM. The real-time clock performs two key functions: keeping track of the time of day and storing system data, even when the system is powered down. The RTC operates on a 32.768 KHz crystal and a 3 V battery.

The RTC also supports two lockable memory ranges. By setting bits in the configuration space, two 8- byte ranges can be locked to read and write accesses. This prevents unauthorized reading of passwords or other system security information. The RTC also supports a date alarm that allows for scheduling a wake-up event up to 30 days in advance, rather than just 24-hours in advance.

8.14 General Purpose Inputs and Outputs (GPIO)

Various general purpose inputs and outputs (GPIO) are provided for custom system design. The number of inputs and outputs varies depending on Intel 3420 configuration.

8.15 Enhanced Power Management

The Intel 3420’s power management functions include enhanced clock control and various low-power (suspend) states (e.g., Suspend-to-RAM and Suspend-to-Disk). A hardware-based thermal management circuit permits software-independent entrance to low-power states. The Intel 3420 contains full support for the Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) Specification, Revision 3.0a.

8.16 Chipset Management

In addition to Intel Active Management Technology, the Intel 3420 integrates several functions designed to manage the system and lower the total cost of ownership (TCO) of the system. These system management functions are designed to report errors, diagnose the system, and recover from system lockups without the aid of an external microcontroller.

•TCO Timer. The Intel 3420’s integrated programmable TCO timer is used to detect system locks. The first expiration of the timer generates an SMI# that the system can use to recover from a software lock. The second expiration of the timer causes a system reset to recover from a hardware lock.

•Processor Present Indicator. The Intel 3420 looks for the processor to fetch the first instruction after reset. If the processor does not fetch the first instruction, the Intel 3420 will reboot the system.

•ECC Error Reporting. When detecting an ECC error, the host controller has the ability to send one of several messages to the Intel 3420. The host controller can instruct the Intel 3420 to generate an SMI#, NMI, SERR#, or TCO interrupt.

•Function Disable. The Intel 3420 provides the ability to disable the following integrated functions: LAN, USB, LPC, Intel HD Audio, SATA, PCI Express or SMBus. Once disabled, these functions no longer decode I/O, memory, or PCI configuration space. Also, no interrupts or power management events are generated from the disabled functions.

PowerEdge T310 Technical Guide 42