Dell Inspiron 8600, Owner'S Manual

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136 Appendix
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The upper-right corner of the screen displays help information for the currently highlighted
option; the lower-right corner displays information about the computer. System setup key
functions are listed across the bottom of the screen.
Commonly Used Options
Certain options require that you reboot the computer for new settings to take effect.
Changing the Boot Sequence
The boot sequence, or boot order, tells the computer where to look to find the software
needed to start the operating system. You can control the boot sequence and enable/disable
devices using the
Boot Order page of the system setup program.
The Boot Order page displays a general list of the bootable devices that may be installed in
your computer, including but not limited to the following:
• Diskette Drive
• Modular bay HDD
• Internal HDD
• CD/DVD/CD-RW drive
During the boot routine, the computer starts at the top of the list and scans each enabled
device for the operating system start-up files. When the computer finds the files, it stops
searching and starts the operating system.
To control the boot devices, select (highlight) a device by pressing the or key,
and then enable or disable the device or change its order in the list.
• To enable or disable a device, highlight the item and press .
Enabled items appear as white and display a small triangle to the left; disabled items
appear blue or dimmed without a triangle.
• To reorder a device in the list, highlight the device and then press or (not
case-sensitive) to move the highlighted device up or down.
Boot sequence changes take effect as soon as you save the changes and exit the system setup
program.