Dell Precision T5600 (Mid 2012) - Manual (Page 2)

temperatures) the DDR3 DIMMs may retain their data for a significant amount of time – up
to several minutes. That may potentially allow the DIMMs to be removed from one system
and installed in another without loss of the data contained in them.
Secondary power loss (removing the on board coin-cell battery) will destroy system data in
the PCH (platform controller hub), including time-of-day information.
There are other volatile and non-volatile components on the devices or peripherals
attached to the motherboard:
The Video Card contains volatile and non-volatile memory components. The
volatile frame buffer memory will lose data once power is removed. The non-
volatile memory (Video BIOS) stores only video card setup information. The video
BIOS is not accessible by the user.
The CD-RW/Diskette Drives/DVD-R/W/Blu Ray DVD-R/W are input/output devices,
whereas the DVD-ROM is an input device only. All data is processed through cache
(volatile) memory. Any associated internal NVRAM is factory programmed, does not
contain any user data, and is not accessible by the user.
The SAS and/or SATA Hard Drives and optional storage controller cards store non-
volatile data. All data is processed through cache (volatile) memory. Any associated
internal NVRAM is factory programmed, does not contain any user data, and is not
accessible by the user. These devices may be removed.
The Monitor may retain “Burn-In” images after long periods of displaying static data.
If any burn-in images exist, they can readily be seen using simple procedures. NV
memory components are used for storing monitor calibration/configuration data &
are not accessible by the user.
To help clarify memory volatility and data retention in situations where the system is put in
different ACPI power states, the following information is provided regarding ACPI power
states S0, S1, S3, S4 and S5:
 S0 state is the 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.
 S3 is called “suspend to RAM” state or stand-by mode. In this state the
dynamic RAM is maintained. Dell systems will be able to go to S3 if the OS
and the peripherals used in the system supports S3 state. Windows XP,
Windows Vista and Windows 7 all support S3 state.
 S4 is called “suspend to disk” state or “hibernate” mode. There is no power.
In this state, the dynamic RAM is not maintained. If the system has been
commanded to enter S4, the OS will write the system context to a non-
volatile storage file and leave appropriate context markers. When the system
is coming back to the working state, a restore file from the non-volatile
storage can occur. The restore file has to be valid. Dell systems will be able
to go to S4 if the OS and the peripherals support S4 state. Windows XP,
Windows Vista and Windows 7 all support S4 state.
 S5 is the “soft” off state. There is no power. The OS does not save any
context to wake up the system. No data will remain in any component on
the system board, i.e. cache or memory. The system will require a complete
boot when awakened. Since S5 is the shut off state, coming out of S5
requires power on which clears all registers.