Setup Guide

April 24, 2009

Subject: Statement of Volatility – Dell Precision Workstation T3500

Madam/Sirs:

The Dell Precision Workstation T3500 contains both volatile and non-volatile (NV) components. Volatile

components lose their data immediately upon removal of power from the component. Non-volatile components

continue to retain their data even after the power has been removed from the component.

The following NV components are present on the T3500 motherboard:

BIOS Configuration

The BIOS software is stored in a 16 Mbit flash IC, which is identified as U_BIOS on the motherboard.

U_BIOS contains the boot code and data necessary to take the hardware from a power-off or low-power

state to a state where it is ready to be managed by the operating system. No information pertaining to user

applications or data is stored in the U_BIOS device, however, it does store administrator and/or hard drive

encryption passwords if those features are enabled by the user.

ICH CMOS

The ICH, identified as U_ICH, contains a 256 Byte battery-backed memory. This memory contains custom

configuration data required by the BIOS to boot the system. It does not store passwords or other user level

data.

The contents of this memory are not lost when AC power is removed from the system. The data in this

memory can be cleared by installing the RTCRST jumper or by removing the coin cell BATTERY, with AC

power removed.

Embedded Controller

The Embedded Controller contains 192 kByte of non-volatile storage space and is identified as U_EC on

the motherboard. The EC contains the software necessary to manage low-level control functions on the

motherboard such as thermal control. No information pertaining to user applications or data is stored in

the U_EC device.

The embedded controller also contains 16 kBytes of volatile memory space. The contents of this memory

space are lost when AC power is removed from the system.

Fan Controller

The Fan Controller, U_HWM, is a factory-programmed device that monitors and controls the various fans

needed for proper thermal operation. This device contains 32k bytes of ROM. The data inside the ROM is

not accessible to the user. No information pertaining to user applications or data is stored in the Fan

Controller.

Dell Inc.

One Dell Way

Round Rock, Texas 78682

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Dell Inc. One Dell Way Round Rock, Texas 78682 April 24, 2009 Subject: Statement of Volatility – Dell Precision Workstation T3500 Madam/Sirs: The Dell Precision Workstation T3500 contains both volatile and non-volatile (NV) components. Volatile components lose their data immediately upon removal of power from the component. Non-volatile components continue to retain their data even after the power has been removed from the component.
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CPLD The CPLD IC, U_CPLD, is a programmable logic device that incorporates various low-level hardware logic functions into a single component. No information pertaining to user applications or data is stored on the CPLD. The CPLD contains 8 kBytes of flash memory; however, this memory is left blank and is not used in the T3500. The CPLD can be reprogrammed via a special software program provided by Dell. The special program is not capable of updating the 8 kByte flash memory.
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In addition, the following information is provided regarding the different system-level ACPI power states (S0, S1, S3, S4 and S5) with regards to memory volatility and data retention:      S0 state is the system working state where the dynamic RAM is maintained and is read/write by the processor. S1 state is a low wake-up latency sleeping state. In this state, no system context is lost (CPU or chip set) and hardware maintains all system contexts.