Hardware Configuration Features: Dell™ Precision™ WorkStation 610 Mini Tower Systems

Overview

Jumpers and Switches - A General Explanation System Board Labels I/O Ports and Connectors

Interrupt Assignments

Memory Allocations

Overview

This appendix provides specific information about the jumpers on your system board and the input/output (I/O) ports and connectors on the back panel of your computer. It also provides some basic information on jumpers and switches, a listing of interrupt request (IRQ) assignments, and memory maps.

Jumpers and Switches-A General Explanation

Jumpers and switches provide a convenient and reversible way of reconfiguring the circuitry on a printed circuit board. When reconfiguring your system, you may need to change jumper settings on your system board; you may also need to change jumper and/or switch settings on expansion cards or drives.

Jumpers

Jumpers are small blocks on a circuit board with two or more pins emerging from them. Plastic plugs containing a wire fit down over the pins. The wire connects the pins and creates a circuit.

To change a jumper setting, pull the plug off its pin(s) and carefully fit it down onto the pin(s) indicated.

CAUTION: Make sure your system is turned off before you change a jumper setting. Otherwise, damage to your system or unpredictable results may occur.

A jumper is referred to as open or unjumpered when the plug is pushed down over only one pin or if there is no plug at all. When the plug is pushed down over two pins, the jumper is referred to as jumpered. The jumper setting is often shown in text as two numbers, such as 1-2. The number 1 is printed on the circuit board so that you can identify each pin number based on the location of pin 1.

Figure B-1 shows the location and default settings of the jumper blocks on your system board. See Table B-1 for the designations, default settings, and functions of your system's jumpers.

Switches

Switches control various circuits or functions in your computer system. The switches you are most likely to encounter are dual inline package (DIP) switches, which are normally packaged in groups of two or more switches in a plastic case. Two common types of DIP switches are slide switches and rocker switches (see the following illustration).