P6EX-A+ User’s Manual Table Of Contents – 3 1: P6EX-A+ Package & Product Information ... 1.1 Manual Features ................1.1 Package Contents ..............1.3 Mainboard Features ............1.4 Component Information ............1.6 Expansion Slots ................1.6 Memory Sockets & Modules ............1.7 CPU Slot &...
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P6EX-A+ User’s Manual Table Of Contents – 4 Adding An IDE Peripheral ............. 3.11 IDE Transfer Modes ............... 3.11 Installing IDE Devices..............3.13 Installing an AGP Card ............3.14 4: P6EX-A+ Reference Information ......4.1 Using This Section ..............4.1 Jumper Configuration &...
P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 1: Package & Product Information – 1.1 In This Section: About This Manual Package Contents Mainboard Features Component Information 1: P6EX-A+ Package & Product Information This manual contains all the information you’ll need to use the P6EX-A+ mainboard. Please take a moment to familiarize your- self with the design and organization of the manual.
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P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 1: Package & Product Information – 1.2 The manual uses some icons to call your attention to impor- tant information. The icons appear in the sidebar and represent the following: • Important information • A recommendation or good idea •...
P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 1: Package & Product Information – 1.3 Package Contents The P6EX-A+ mainboard package contains the following items. Please inspect the package contents and confirm that everything is there. If anything is missing or damaged, call your vendor for instructions before proceeding.
P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 1: Package & Product Information – 1.4 Mainboard Features This mainboard is a highly integrated ATX design that incor- porates many features on the board. The mainboard includes the following features: • Slot 1 CPU slot supports Pentium II CPUs up to 333MHz •...
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P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 1: Package & Product Information – 1.5 Parallel Mouse COM1 COM2 Keybd CPU Slot ISA 3, 2, 1 PCI 4,3,2,1 ATX Power AGP Slot DIMM1 DIMM2 Floppy DIMM3 Secondary IDE Primary IDE P6EX-A+ Layout The illustration above shows The USB ports and the PS/2 the connectors, sockets and ports –...
P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 1: Package & Product Information – 1.6 Component Information This section is a brief description of the components on the mainboard that you might need to know about if you want to upgrade or change your system configuration. If your mainboard is already installed in a system, it isn’t necessary for you to re- view this section.
P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 1: Package & Product Information – 1.7 Some older ISA designs may not support this standard and may therefore require manual configuration. You should consult the specifications or documentation for a card to determine if this is the case and what needs do be done to properly configure the card.
P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 1: Package & Product Information – 1.8 CPU Slot & Supported CPUs The Slot 1 CPU slot supports the full range of Pentium II CPUs from Intel. The mainboard comes with a “retention module” which mounts on the mainboard to provide guide rails and latch recep- tacles for the latches on the Pentium II.
P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 2: Using Your Mainboard – 2.1 In This Section: System Controls Hardware Features The Retention Module Firmware & Software 2: Using Your Mainboard This section covers the system control features and status in- dicators that connect to the mainboard, some of the hardware features and provides an overview of the software that comes with or is built-into the mainboard.
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P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 2: Using Your Mainboard – 2.2 Hardware Control & Indicator Connectors Feature Function Power Status LED When lighted indicates that system is turned on Suspend Switch Puts the system into Suspend state under Operating Systems that support this power management feature Suspend LED When flashing indicates the system is suspended...
P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 2: Using Your Mainboard – 2.3 Keyboard Power-On This mainboard supports turning on the system by using a key command. You can turn on the system by pressing Ctrl+F12 (press both keys at the same time.) Jumper JP1 controls this feature on the mainboard. The de- fault setting is Enabled.
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P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 2: Using Your Mainboard – 2.4 CMOS Setup Utility – Virus Warning – When enabled, monitors the BIOS Features Setup primary hard disk boot sec- This section of the setup utility tor and warns of any attempt allows you to configure some to write to it.
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P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 2: Using Your Mainboard – 2.5 CMOS Setup Utility – You can use the Min Saving or Power Management Setup Max Saving default modes or This section of the setup utility you can configure the power allows you to configure the management features indi- power management features vidually in the User Define...
P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 2: Using Your Mainboard – 2.6 Hardware Features This section is a brief overview of information about the mainboard’s hardware features. Onboard Ports There are several external ports on the mainboard. These are ports standard to most personal computers: •...
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P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 2: Using Your Mainboard – 2.7 CMOS Setup Utility – Integrated Peripherals This section enables and con- This section of the setup utility figures the optional USB and configures the IDE and Floppy Infrared features. controllers and the settings for The screen illustration shows the external ports the settings when Optimum...
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P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 2: Using Your Mainboard – 2.8 Cooling Fan Connectors There are three cooling fan power connectors on the main- board. One is for the CPU cooling fan (J3), one for a power sup- ply fan (J1) and one for a case-mounted or “chassis” cooling fan (J19).
P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 2: Using Your Mainboard – 2.9 CMOS Support Battery The disk shaped battery on the mainboard is a 3-volt Lithium cell battery that supports the small amount of onboard memory where the CMOS Setup utility’s configuration record is stored. The battery will last for a number of years and can conceivably outlast the usage period of the computer it is in.
P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 2: Using Your Mainboard – 2.10 Firmware & Software The mainboard hardware is supported by both firmware and software components. Firmware is software that is stored on a chip on the board rather than on disk media. The firmware component you interface with on this main- board is the CMOS Setup Utility.
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P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 2: Using Your Mainboard – 2.11 CMOS Setup Utility – This is the main screen for the setup utility from which you access its various sections. The function and use of each section is covered in Section 4: Reference Information.
P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 2: Using Your Mainboard – 2.12 Flashing The BIOS This mainboard uses the Award BIOS. The BIOS is stored on a programmable flash memory chip on the mainboard. Updates to the BIOS can be installed by installing a new BIOS file on the flash chip, which replaces the existing one.
P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 3: Reconfiguring Your Mainboard – 3.1 In This Section: Installing Expansion Cards Adding System Memory Installing A CPU Upgrade Adding An IDE Peripheral Installing An AGP Card 3: Reconfiguring Your Mainboard This section explains how to install new hardware on your mainboard.
P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 3: Reconfiguring Your Mainboard – 3.2 PCI Cards & Slots With very few exceptions, any PCI expansion card you are likely to get will be Plug an Play compliant. If you are using an Operating System that supports PnP, such as Windows 95, you should be able to follow the installation instructions that come with the card and have the Operating System automatically rec- ognize and configure the card.
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P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 3: Reconfiguring Your Mainboard – 3.3 CMOS Setup Utility – PnP/PCI Configuration If you install an Operating Sys- This is the default screen for this section when Setup De- tem that supports Plug and Play, such as Windows95, faults are loaded.
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P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 3: Reconfiguring Your Mainboard – 3.4 CMOS Setup Utility – PnP/PCI Configuration Legacy cards, by definition, are not PnP compliant and When ‘Resources Controlled must be manually configured By’ is set to ‘Manual’ you can if they require an IRQ or DMA individually configure the IRQ channel.
P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 3: Reconfiguring Your Mainboard – 3.5 Adding System Memory There are some requirements you must follow if you want to install system memory. The memory subsystem has three 168- pin DIMM sockets. This mainboard supports both EDO DRAM and SDRAM (Synchronous DRAM) modules.
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P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 3: Reconfiguring Your Mainboard – 3.6 DIMM1 DIMM2 DIMM3 Retaining Clamp DIMM Sockets The picture above shows the Modules press into place memory module sockets in and are held in position by a detail. The sockets are num- retaining clamp at each end bered DIMM1 and DIMM2 of the socket.
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P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 3: Reconfiguring Your Mainboard – 3.7 Installing Memory Modules To install a DIMM module, look at the module and note the position of the shorter section of the connector edge that plugs into the DIMM socket. Note the position of the shorter section of the socket.
P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 3: Reconfiguring Your Mainboard – 3.8 Installing A CPU Upgrade If you are installing this mainboard it will not have a CPU installed unless your vendor installed one when you purchased the board. If the mainboard is installed in a system, there will already be a CPU installed.
P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 3: Reconfiguring Your Mainboard – 3.9 The CPU Retention Module The Pentium II CPU requires a mounting frame that attaches to the mainboard to guide the CPU during installation and secure it to the mainboard. This frame is called the “retention module” and is supplied with the mainboard.
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P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 3: Reconfiguring Your Mainboard – 3.10 4. The four mounting pins insert in the mounting holes in the mainboard. The holes are at the four corners of the Slot 1 CPU slot. Press the four mounting pins on the bracket through the holes in the mainboard so that they snap in place.
P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 3: Reconfiguring Your Mainboard – 3.11 Adding An IDE Peripheral This section covers some aspects of installing internal IDE pe- ripheral devices as they relate to the mainboard. The onboard Enhanced IDE controller supports up to four devices, two per IDE channel.
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P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 3: Reconfiguring Your Mainboard – 3.12 CMOS Setup Utility – You can also set the transfer Integrated Peripherals mode for each device manu- The illustration above shows ally, although we recom- the Setup Defaults settings for mend using the default set- this screen.
P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 3: Reconfiguring Your Mainboard – 3.13 Installing IDE Devices The mainboard’s Enhanced IDE controller supports four de- vices in two channels, IDE1 and IDE2. These are called the Pri- mary and Secondary IDE channels. Each channel supports two devices, the first device is called the Master device and the second the Slave device.
P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 3: Reconfiguring Your Mainboard – 3.14 IDE Devices & CMOS Setup When you install a new hard disk drive its parameters will be automatically detected by the BIOS and entered in the Standard CMOS Setup section of the CMOS Setup utility if you use the Optimum Settings, which automatically detect any new hard disk drive.
P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 4: Reference Information – 4.1 In This Section: Jumper Summary Connector Summary CPU Information Memory Configurations CMOS Setup Utility 4: P6EX-A+ Reference Information This section is a summary of the P6EX-A+’s specifications and settings. Using This Section The information in the first part of this section is presented in a summary format to make it easy to find specific information.
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P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 4: Reference Information – 4.2 Parallel Mouse COM1 COM2 Keybd CPU Slot ISA 3, 2, 1 PCI 4,3,2,1 ATX Power AGP Slot DIMM1 DIMM2 DIMM3 Floppy Secondary IDE Primary IDE Jumper & Connectors The illustration above shows The COM1 and COM2 ports the location of the jumpers, are underneath the Parallel...
P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 4: Reference Information – 4.3 Jumper Configuration & Connector Summary This section lists the jumper setting options for this mainboard and the onboard connectors. The settings are listed as follows: • The two pins shorted by a jumper cap on a three-or-more-pin jumper, e.g.
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P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 4: Reference Information – 4.4 Jumper Settings Function Jumper Settings Keyboard Enable Power-On Disable Note: The Keyboard Power-On feature may not work properly if the system keyboard or power supply are not within the required specifica- tions for this feature. This is a problem caused by such components, not the mainboard.
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P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 4: Reference Information – 4.5 Onboard Connectors Name: Function Description J1: PS Fan power For ATX power supply cooling fan power cable J2: Keyboard/Mouse Stacked PS/2 ports, keyboard lower, mouse upper J3: CPU Fan power For CPU cooling fan power cable J4: USB Dual stacked external USB ports J5: Serial Port Two...
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P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 4: Reference Information – 4.6 Name: Function Description J17: LAN Wake-up LAN activity wake-up header J18: Modem Wake-up Connects to internal modem for system wake-up on modem ring J19: Case Fan power For case-mounted cooling fan power cable J16: Case Features Connector 1 –...
P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 4: Reference Information – 4.7 The AGP Slot The AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port) slot is for an AGP dis- play card. With the Optimum Settings loaded in the BIOS Setup Utility the AGP has a default memory aperture of 64MB which can be set from 4MB to 256MB.
P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 4: Reference Information – 4.8 CMOS Setup Utility Summary This section explains the entries in the CMOS Setup Utility program. This utility is permanently stored on the BIOS chip on the mainboard. It creates a record of the mainboard’s and some system configuration information and stores it in battery-sup- ported memory on the mainboard.
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P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 4: Reference Information – 4.9...
P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 4: Reference Information – 4.10 Menu Commands If you look at the lower portion of the screen illustration you’ll see a section that lists the control commands for this level of the program. You execute a command by pressing the key for that command.
P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 4: Reference Information – 4.11 • Load BIOS Defaults Loads minimum settings from the BIOS ROM. • Load Optimum Settings Loads optimized settings from the BIOS ROM. • Integrated Peripherals Settings for the IDE channels and onboard ports •...
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P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 4: Reference Information – 4.12 Standard CMOS Setup To enter this section, highlight this menu item in the main menu and press the Enter key. The screen above will appear. This sample screen shows a common setup. For technical reasons the memory figures are not what you will normally see.
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P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 4: Reference Information – 4.13 Select Item You can use the arrow keys on your keyboard to move around the screen and select a menu item. An item is highlighted when it is selected. Change Color You can change the program color scheme by pressing Shift + Modify To change the setting of a highlighted selection you can press either the Page Up (PU) and Page Down (PD) keys or the Plus...
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P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 4: Reference Information – 4.14 Large Hard Disk Modes The last of the drive parameter entries – Mode – has four op- tions, Normal, LBA, Large and Auto. The Mode settings are for IDE hard disks only. Normal For IDE hard disks of 528MB or less.
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P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 4: Reference Information – 4.15 Highlight the listing after each drive name and select the ap- propriate entry. Floppy 3 Mode Support 3 Mode is a Japanese 3.5-inch floppy disk drive specification. If this type of drive is installed you should enable this feature. The default setting is Disabled.
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P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 4: Reference Information – 4.16 BIOS Features Setup To enter this section of the Setup program, highlight this menu item in the main menu and press the Enter key. The following screen will appear.
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P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 4: Reference Information – 4.17 Menu Commands If you look at the lower portion of the screen illustration you’ll see a section that lists the control commands for this level of the program. You execute a command by pressing the key for that command.
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P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 4: Reference Information – 4.18 CPU Internal Core Speed This line sets the core speed of the installed Pentium II. The core speed is the CPU’s operating speed. The external clock and multiplier are set automatically when you set this. You can set the speed to 233, 266 or 300MHz or set this to Manual, if for some reason you want to set the core speed manually.
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P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 4: Reference Information – 4.19 Boot Sequence This determines the order in which the computer checks drives for an operating system. In addition to the drive A: floppy disk drive and the drive C: boot hard disk, you can configure the or- der to include another IDE hard disk drive or CD-ROM drive, a SCSI device or an LS-120 or Zip drive.
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P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 4: Reference Information – 4.20 PCI/VGA Palette Snoop If your video display card has an MPEG card attached to the feature connector, the display may invert to black on white while booting. If this happens, set this line to Enabled to correct the problem.
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P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 4: Reference Information – 4.21 Chipset Features Setup To enter this section of the Setup program, highlight this menu item in the main menu and press the Enter key. The screen above will appear. Everything on this screen is either an optimum set- ting or set automatically when auto-configuration is active.
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P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 4: Reference Information – 4.22 Memory Hole At 15M–16M Some special add-on cards require a 1MB address space be- tween 15 and 16MB. The documentation for this type of card should tell you if it needs this. The default setting is Disabled. AGP Aperture Size This item sets the maximum amount of system memory an AGP display card will use to store 3D texture mapping data.
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P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 4: Reference Information – 4.23 Power Management Setup To enter this section of the Setup program, highlight this menu item in the main menu and press the Enter key. The screen above will appear. Menu Commands The menu commands for this screen are the same as for the BIOS Features Setup screen.
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P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 4: Reference Information – 4.24 What Power Management Does Power management lets you set up your computer to save electricity when it is not actively in use by putting the system into progressively greater power saving modes. In the power man- agement scheme there are four system states which proceed in the following sequence: Normal...
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P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 4: Reference Information – 4.25 Video Off After This governs when the video display gets turned off. The op- tions are: Suspend Off after system enters Suspend mode Standby Off after system enters Standby mode Doze Off after system enters Doze mode No display shut off Modem Use IRQ This tells the system which IRQ a modem connected to the it...
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P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 4: Reference Information – 4.26 Suspend Mode This sets the period of system inactivity after which the sys- tem goes into Suspend mode, the maximum power saving state. The settings range from 1 minute to 1 hour and can be set manu- ally when power management is in User Define mode.
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P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 4: Reference Information – 4.27 VGA Active Monitor When this line is set to the default, Enabled, the system will not initiate power saving while there is display activity. The other option is Disabled. Soft-Off By PWR-BTTN This line controls the function of a system power switch at- tached to the Power Button pins of the J16 connector.
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P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 4: Reference Information – 4.28 Break Event From Suspend The two lines in this section control whether the system will wake-up if either of the events noted occur. The defaults are shown on the screen illustration. If you want the system to wake up when an installed or connected modem receives an incoming call, or when contacted over a LAN connection, the Wake Up On LAN/Ring must be set to Enabled.
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P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 4: Reference Information – 4.29 PNP/PCI Configuration To enter this section of the Setup program, highlight this menu item in the main menu and press the Enter key. The following screen will appear. Menu Commands The menu commands for this screen are the same as for the BIOS Features Setup screen.
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P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 4: Reference Information – 4.30 Resources Controlled By When this line is set to Auto the BIOS will automatically con- figure IRQ and DMA resources. This is the recommended set- ting. If you set this line to Manual, the screen changes as shown above and allows manual configuration.
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P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 4: Reference Information – 4.31 PCI IDE IRQ Map To Most of PCI IDE cards are non-PCI compliant. This line de- fines the IRQ Routing to make them work properly. The avail- able settings are: PCI-AUTO (default) PCI-SLOT1 PCI-SLOT2 PCI-SLOT3...
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P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 4: Reference Information – 4.32 Load BIOS Defaults To use this command highlight it in the main menu and press Enter. A message will appear asking if you want to load the BIOS Defaults. Press the Y key and then the Enter key. The BIOS de- fault settings will load.
P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 4: Reference Information – 4.33 Integrated Peripherals This section sets the IDE transfer mode for all IDE channels. It also configures the other onboard ports. Menu Commands The menu commands for this screen are the same as for the BIOS Features Setup screen.
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P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 4: Reference Information – 4.34 IDE HDD Block Mode Enables hard disk drive block transfer mode . The setting op- tions are: Enabled (default) Disabled IDE Primary/Secondary Master/Slave PIO These four lines set the hard disk PIO transfer mode, which affects the hard disk data transfer rate.
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P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 4: Reference Information – 4.35 Init Display First This line sets where the system initially looks for a display card. The default setting is PCI Slot. If your system has an AGP display card set this to AGP. POWER ON Function This section has two lines, KB Power ON Password and Hot Key Power ON.
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P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 4: Reference Information – 4.36 UART Mode Select Sets mode for the second serial port UART. If you select an IR module type, the second serial port will not be available. The setting options are: Standard (default) – (used by COM2 serial port) ASKIR IrDA The infrared mode you select here should be the same as the...
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P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 4: Reference Information – 4.37 Onboard Parallel Port Sets the I/O address for the onboard parallel port. The setting options are: 378H/IRQ7 (default) Disabled 278H/IRQ5 3BCH/IRQ7 If you set this option to ‘Disabled’, the next option, ‘Onboard Parallel Mode’, will not appear on the screen.
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P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 4: Reference Information – 4.38 ECP Mode Use DMA Selects the ECP Mode DMA channel. The setting options are: 3 (default) Parallel Port EPP Type Sets the EPP protocol version. The setting options are: EPP 1.7 (default) EPP 1.9...
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P6EX-A+ User’s Manual 4: Reference Information – 4.39 Supervisor & User Password Settings To use either of these commands, highlight one in the main menu and press Enter. A message will appear prompting you to enter a password. Type in a password. The password is case sensitive, and can be up to 8 alphanumeric characters.
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