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Copyright This publication contains information that is protected by copyright. No part of it may be reproduced in any form or by any means or used to make any transformation/adaptation without the prior writ- ten permission from the copyright holders. This publication is provided for informational purposes only.
Battery: • Danger of explosion if battery incorrectly replaced. • Replace only with the same or equivalent type recommend by the manufacturer. • Dispose of used batteries according to the battery manufactur- er’s instructions. FCC and DOC Statement on Class B This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC rules.
About this Manual This user’s manual contains detailed information about the system board. If, in some cases, some information doesn’t match those shown in the multilingual manual, the multilingual manual should al- ways be regarded as the most updated version. The multilingual manual is included in the system board package.
Table of Contents Chapter 1 - Introduction 1.1 Specifications........................1.2 Special Features of the System Board............. 1.3 Package Checklist......................Chapter 2 - Hardware Installation System Board Layout ................... System Memory......................CPU............................Jumper Settings......................Rear Panel I/O Ports....................I/O Connectors......................Chapter 3 - Award BIOS Setup Utility 3.1 The Basic Input/Output System..............
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Introduction Appendix A - System Error Messages A.1 POST Beep........................A.2 Error Messages....................... Appendix B - Troubleshooting B.1 Troubleshooting Checklist..................
Introduction Chapter 1 - Introduction 1.1 Specifications Processor • AMD Athlon 64 (up to 3700+) • Socket 754 System Bus • 1600MT/s HyperTransport interface Chipset ® • nVIDIA nForce3 250Gb System Memory • Three 184-pin DDR SDRAM DIMM sockets • Supports single channel (64-bit wide) memory interface •...
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Introduction Hardware Monitor • Monitors CPU/system temperature • Monitors 12V/5V/3.3V/Vcore/Vbat/5Vsb/Vchipset/Vdram/Vagp voltages • Monitors the speed of the CPU fan, chassis fan and 2nd fan • CPU Overheat Protection function monitors CPU temperature during system boot-up Audio Features • AC’97 CODEC •...
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Introduction Rear Panel I/O Ports • 1 PS/2 mouse port • 1 PS/2 keyboard port • 1 DB-25 parallel port • 2 S/PDIF RCA jacks (S/PDIF-in and S/PDIF-out) • 1 DB-9 serial port • 1 IEEE 1394 port(Optional) • 1 RJ45 LAN port •...
Introduction 1.2 Special Features of the System Board AMD Athlon The system board supports the AMD Athlon 64 processor. AMD Athlon 64 provides superior computing for many software applications by allowing both 32-bit and 64-bit applications to run simultaneously on the same platform. The operating system and software are able to process more data and access a tremendous amount of memory which improves the overall system performance.
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Introduction DDR (Double Data Rate) is a type of SDRAM that doubles the data rate through reading and writing at both the rising and falling edge of each clock. This effectively doubles the speed of operation therefore providing two times faster data transfer. Note: If you are installing more than one double rank DDR400, the maximum DRAM speed will automatically be limited to the...
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Introduction IEEE 1394 Interface(Optional) IEEE 1394 is fully compliant with the 1394 OHCI (Open Host Controller Interface) 1.1 specification. It supports up to 63 devices that can run simultaneously on a system. 1394 is a fast external bus standard that supports data transfer rates of up to 400Mbps. In addition to its high speed, it also supports isochronous data transfer which is ideal for video devices that need to transfer high levels of data in real-time.
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Introduction Wake-On-Ring This feature allows the system that is in the Suspend mode or Soft Power Off mode to wake-up/power-on to respond to calls coming from an external modem or respond to calls from a modem PCI card that uses the PCI PME (Power Management Event) signal to remotely wake up the PC.
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Introduction ACPI The system board is designed to meet the ACPI (Advanced Con- figuration and Power Interface) specification. ACPI has energy saving features that enables PCs to implement Power Management and Plug-and-Play with operating systems that support OS Direct Power ®...
Introduction 1.3 Package Checklist The system board package contains the following items: The system board A user’s manual Two IDE round cables One floppy round cable Two Serial ATA data cables One Serial ATA power cable One “nVRAID Driver” diskette One I/O shield One “Mainboard Utility”...
Hardware Installation Chapter 2 - Hardware Installation 2.1 System Board Layout DDR 2 KB/Mouse CPU fan DDR 1 DDR 3 DRAM Power LED S/PDIF- power S/PDIF- IEEE 1394_1, USB 1-2 LAN, USB 3-4 +12V power Line-in Front R/L Mic-in SATA 3 Center/Subwoofer Rear R/L 2nd fan...
Hardware Installation Warning: Electrostatic discharge (ESD) can damage your system board, proces- sor, disk drives, add-in boards, and other components. Perform the upgrade instruction procedures described at an ESD workstation only. If such a station is not available, you can provide some ESD protection by wearing an antistatic wrist strap and attaching it to a metal part of the system chassis.
Hardware Installation Maximum system memory: • Supports up to 3GB memory when using DDR333 • Supports up to 2GB memory when using DDR400 Note: If you are installing more than one double rank DDR400, the maximum DRAM speed will automatically be limited to the speed of a DDR333.
Hardware Installation 2.3 CPU 2.3.1 Overview The system board is equipped with a surface mount 754-pin CPU socket. This socket is exclusively designed for installing an AMD CPU. 2.3.2 Installing the CPU 1. Make sure the PC and all other peripheral devices connected to it has been powered down.
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Hardware Installation 4. Unlock the socket by pushing the lever sideways, away from the socket, then lifting it up to a 90 angle. Make sure the lever is lifted to at least this angle otherwise the CPU will not fit in properly. Lever 5.
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Hardware Installation 6. Insert the CPU into the socket until it is seated in place. The CPU will fit in only one orientation and can easily be inserted without exerting any force. Important: Do not force the CPU into the socket. Forcing the CPU into the socket may bend the pins and damage the CPU.
Hardware Installation 2.3.3 Installing the Fan and Heat Sink The CPU must be kept cool by using a CPU fan with heat sink. Without sufficient air circulation across the CPU and heat sink, the CPU will overheat damaging both the CPU and system board. Note: •...
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Hardware Installation 3. Place the heat sink on top of the CPU. Now hook one side of the retention clip onto the retention module base by fitting the holes on the retention clip into the retaining tabs of the retention module base.
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Hardware Installation 4. Hook the other side of the retention clip (the one near the retention lever) so that the holes on the retention clip also fit into the retaining tabs of the retention module base. Note: You will not be able to secure the fan and heat sink assembly in place if it did not fit properly onto the retention module base.
Hardware Installation 2.4 Jumper Settings 2.4.1 Clear CMOS Data 1-2 On: Normal 2-3 On: (default) Clear CMOS Data If you encounter the following, a) CMOS data becomes corrupted. b) You forgot the keyboard, supervisor or user password. c) You are unable to boot-up the computer system because the processor’s clock/ratio was incorrectly set in the BIOS.
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Hardware Installation 4. After powering-on the system, press <Del> to enter the main menu of the BIOS. 5. Select the Genie BIOS Setting submenu and press <Enter>. 6. Set the processor’s clock/ratio to its default setting or an appro- priate bus clock or ratio. Refer to the Genie BIOS Setting section in chapter 3 for more information.
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Hardware Installation 2.4.2 System Beep Select 1-2 On: 2-3 On: PC Speaker Line-out (Front R/L) JP5 is used to select the system’s beep messages and warnings to come from the line-out (front R/L) jack or the PC speaker.
Hardware Installation 2.5 Rear Panel I/O Ports Line-out (Front R/L) Line-in RJ45 PS/2 IEEE Parallel Mouse Center/ 1394_1 Subwoofer Rear R/L Side R/L PS/2 S/PDIF-in USB 1-2 USB 3-4 Mic-in S/PDIF-out The rear panel I/O ports consist of the following: •...
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Hardware Installation 2.5.1 PS/2 Mouse and PS/2 Keyboard Ports PS/2 Mouse PS/2 Keyboard The system board is equipped with an onboard PS/2 mouse (Green) and PS/2 keyboard (Purple) ports - both at location CN2 of the system board. The PS/2 mouse port uses IRQ12. If a mouse is not connected to this port, the system will reserve IRQ12 for other expansion cards.
Hardware Installation 2.5.2 Parallel Port Parallel The system board has a standard parallel port (Burgundy) at loca- tion CN1 for interfacing your PC to a parallel printer. It supports SPP, ECP and EPP. Setting Function Allows normal speed operation but (Standard Parallel Port) in one direction only.
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Hardware Installation 2.5.3 S/PDIF S/PDIF-in S/PDIF-out SPDIF out SPDIF in The system board is equipped with an onboard S/PDIF-in RCA jack (red) and a S/PDIF-out RCA jack (yellow) at locations CN5 and CN7 respectively. The S/PDIF connector at location J3 is for optical S/PDIF cable con- nection.
Hardware Installation 2.5.4 Serial Port The system board is equipped with an onboard serial port (Teal/ Turquoise) at location J1. The serial port is an RS-232C asynchronous communication port with 16C550A-compatible UARTs that can be used with a modem, serial printer, remote display terminal or other serial devices.
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Hardware Installation 2.5.5 IEEE 1394 (Optional) 1394_1 1 0 9 Ground +12V (fused) +12V (fused) TPB- TPB+ Ground Ground TPA+ TPA- 1394_2 The system board is equipped with an onboard IEEE 1394 port at location CN3 (IEEE 1394_1) of the system board. It is also equipped with an IEEE 1394 connector at location J8 (1394_2) for connecting an additional 1394 device.
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Hardware Installation 2.5.6 RJ45 Fast-Ethernet Port RJ45 LAN The system board is equipped with an onboard RJ45 fast-ethernet LAN por t at location CN4 of the system board. It allows the system board to connect to a local area network by means of a network hub.
Hardware Installation 2.5.7 Universal Serial Bus Ports USB 2 USB 1 USB 4 USB 3 USB 5-6 USB 7-8 Four onboard USB 2.0/1.1 ports (Black) are at locations CN3 (USB 1-2) and CN4 (USB 3-4) of the system board. J17 (USB 5-6) and J18 (USB 7-8) connectors allow you to connect 4 additional USB 2.0/1.1 ports.
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Hardware Installation Driver Installation You may need to install the proper drivers in your operating system to use the USB device. Refer to your operating system’s manual or documentation for more information. If you are using a USB 2.0 device, install the “USB 2.0 Drivers”. Refer to chapter 4 for more information.
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Hardware Installation 2.5.8 Audio (Rear Panel Audio and Front Audio) Line-in Front R/L Mic-in Center/ Subwoofer Rear R/L Side R/L Front audio Rear Panel Audio Line-in (Light Blue) This jack is used to connect any audio devices such as Hi-fi set, CD player, tape player, AM/FM radio tuner, synthesizer, etc.
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Hardware Installation Rear Right/Left Jack (Black) This jack is used to connect to the rear right and rear left speakers of the audio system. Side Right/Left Jack (Gray) This jack is used to connect to the side left and side right speakers of the audio system.
Hardware Installation 2.6 I/O Connectors 2.6.1 CD-in Internal Audio Connector Ground Ground Left audio Right audio channel channel The CD-in (J4) connector is used to receive audio from a CD-ROM drive, TV tuner or MPEG card.
Hardware Installation 2.6.2 Floppy Disk Drive Connector The system board is equipped with a shrouded floppy disk drive connector for connecting two standard floppy disk drives. To prevent improper floppy cable installation, the shrouded floppy disk header has a keying mechanism. The 34-pin connector on the floppy cable can be placed into the header only if pin 1 of the connector is aligned with pin 1 of the header.
Hardware Installation 2.6.3 Serial ATA Connectors SATA 3 SATA 4 SATA 1 SATA 2 Connect one end of the Serial ATA cable to J11 (SATA 3), J10 (SATA 4), J21 (SATA 1) or J20 (SATA 2) and the other end to your Serial ATA device.
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Hardware Installation 4. Install the NVRAID driver by using the provided “nVRAID Driver” floppy diskette. The driver must be installed if you are in ® ® the process of installing Windows XP or Windows 2000 on RAID configured Serial ATA drives. 5.
Hardware Installation 2.6.4 IDE Disk Drive Connector SEC IDE PRI IDE SEC IDE PRI IDE Configuring RAID on IDE Drives The system board allows configuring RAID across Parallel ATA drives and Serial ATA drives. It supports RAID 0, RAID 1, 0+1 and JBOD. For optimal performance, install identical drives of the same model and capacity.
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Hardware Installation Connecting the IDE Disk Drive Cable The system board is equipped with two shrouded PCI IDE headers that will interface four Enhanced IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics) disk drives. To prevent improper IDE cable installation, each shrouded PCI IDE header has a keying mechanism. The 40-pin connector on the IDE cable can be placed into the header only if pin 1 of the connector is aligned with pin 1 of the header.
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Hardware Installation Important: If you encountered problems while using an ATAPI CD-ROM drive that is set in Master mode, please set the CD-ROM drive to Slave mode. Some ATAPI CD-ROMs may not be recognized and cannot be used if incorrectly set in Master mode. BIOS Setting Enable or disable the onboard primary or secondary IDE in the Integrated Peripherals submenu of the BIOS.
Hardware Installation 2.6.5 IrDA Connector IRRX N. C. Ground IRTX Connect your IrDA cable to connector J5 on the system board. Note: The sequence of the pin functions on some IrDA cable may be reversed from the pin function defined on the system board. Make sure to connect the cable to the IrDA connector according to their pin functions.
Hardware Installation 2.6.6 Cooling Fan Connectors Ground Sense Power CPU fan Power Ground Sense 2nd fan Power Ground Sense Chassis fan Connect the CPU fan’s cable connector to the CPU fan connector (J16) on the system board. The 2nd fan connector (J6) and chassis fan connector (J15) are used to connect additional cooling fans.
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Hardware Installation 2.6.7 DRAM Power LED and Standby Power LED DRAM Power LED Standby Power LED DRAM Power LED This LED will light when the system’s power is on. Standby Power LED This LED will light when the system is in the standby mode.
Hardware Installation 2.6.8 Power Connectors +12V 5VSB PW-OK Ground Ground Ground Ground Ground PS-ON Ground Ground -12V 3.3V 3.3V 3.3V Ground Ground +12V +12V Use a power supply that complies with the ATX12V Power Supply Design Guide Version 1.1. An ATX12V power supply has a standard 20-pin ATX main power connector and a 4-pin +12V power connector that must be inserted onto J24 and CN9 connectors respectively.
Hardware Installation 2.6.9 Front Panel Connectors ATX-SW PWR-LED HD-LED SPEAKER RESET HD-LED: Primary/Secondary IDE LED This LED will light when the hard drive is being accessed. RESET: Reset Switch This switch allows you to reboot without having to power off the system thus prolonging the life of the power supply or system.
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Hardware Installation PWR-LED: Power/Standby LED When the system’s power is on, this LED will light. When the system is in the S1 (POS - Power On Suspend) or S3 (STR - Suspend To RAM) state, it will blink every second. Note: If a system did not boot-up and the Power/Standby LED did not light after it was powered-on, it may indicate that the CPU...
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Hardware Installation 2.6.10 EZ Touch Switches Power Switch Reset Switch The presence of the power switch and reset switch on the system board are user-friendly especially to DIY users. They provide convenience in powering on and/or resetting the system while fine tuning the system board before it is installed into the system chassis.
BIOS Setup Chapter 3 - BIOS Setup 3.1 Award BIOS Setup Utility The Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) is a program that takes care of the basic level of communication between the processor and peripherals. In addition, the BIOS also contains codes for various advanced features found in this system board.
BIOS Setup 3.1.1 Standard CMOS Features Use the arrow keys to highlight “Standard CMOS Features” and press <Enter>. A screen similar to the one below will appear. The settings on the screen are for reference only. Your version may not be identical to this one.
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BIOS Setup 3.1.1.3 Primary IDE Master, Primary IDE Slave, Secondary IDE Master and Secondary IDE Slave Move the cursor to the “Primary IDE Master”, “Primary IDE Slave”, “Secondary IDE Master” or “Secondary IDE Slave” field, then press <Enter>. The following screen will appear. The settings on the screen are for reference only.
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BIOS Setup Capacity Displays the approximate capacity of the disk drive. Usually the size is slightly greater than the size of a formatted disk given by a disk checking program. Cylinder This field displays the number of cylinders. Head This field displays the number of read/write heads. Precomp This field displays the number of cylinders at which to change the write timing.
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BIOS Setup 3.1.1.5 Video This field selects the type of video adapter used for the primary system monitor. Although secondary monitors are supported, you do not have to select the type. The default setting is EGA/VGA. EGA/VGA Enhanced Graphics Adapter/Video Graphics Array. For EGA, VGA, SVGA and PGA monitor adapters.
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BIOS Setup 3.1.1.8 Extended Memory Displays the amount of extended memory detected during boot-up. 3.1.1.9 Total Memory Displays the total memory available in the system.
BIOS Setup 3.1.2 Advanced BIOS Features The Advanced BIOS Features allows you to configure your system for basic operation. Some entries are defaults required by the system board, while others, if enabled, will improve the performance of your system or let you set some features according to your preference. The screen above list all the fields available in the Advanced BIOS Features submenu, for ease of reference in this manual.
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BIOS Setup 3.1.2.1 Removable Device Priority This field is used to select the boot sequence of the removable devices. Move the cursor to this field then press <Enter>. Use the Up or Down arrow keys to select a device then press <+> to move it up or <->...
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BIOS Setup 3.1.2.2 Hard Disk Boot Priority This field is used to select the boot sequence of the hard drives. Move the cursor to this field then press <Enter>. Use the Up or Down arrow keys to select a device then press <+> to move it up or <->...
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BIOS Setup 3.1.2.3 CD ROM Boot Priority This field is used to select the boot sequence of the CD-ROM drives. Move the cursor to this field then press <Enter>. Use the Up or Down arrow keys to select a device then press <+> to move it up or <->...
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BIOS Setup 3.1.2.5 CPU Internal Cache and External Cache These fields speed up the memory access. The default is Enabled, which provides better performance by enabling cache. 3.1.2.6 Quick Power On Self Test This field speeds up Power On Self Test (POST) whenever the system is powered on.
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BIOS Setup 3.1.2.10 Boot Up NumLock Status This allows you to determine the default state of the numeric keypad. By default, the system boots up with NumLock on wherein the function of the numeric keypad is the number keys. When set to Off, the function of the numeric keypad is the arrow keys.
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BIOS Setup 3.1.2.15 Security Option This field determines when the system will prompt for the password - everytime the system boots or only when you enter the BIOS setup. Set the password in the Set Supervisor/User Password submenu. System The system will not boot and access to Setup will be denied unless the correct password is entered at the prompt.
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BIOS Setup 3.1.2.20 Full Screen Logo Show This field is applicable only if you want a particular logo to appear during system boot-up. Enabled The logo will appear in full screen during system boot- Disabled The logo will not appear during system boot-up. 3.1.2.21 Small Logo(EPA) Show Enabled The EPA logo will appear during system boot-up.
BIOS Setup 3.1.3 Advanced Chipset Features The settings on the screen are for reference only. Your version may not be identical to this one. This section gives you functions to configure the system based on the specific features of the chipset. The chipset manages bus speeds and access to system memory resources.
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BIOS Setup 3.1.3.3 AGP 2.0 Speed This field is used to configure AGP 2.0 mode card that supports AGP 4x with up to 1066MB/sec. bandwidth. You can also select another mode from the options available in this field. 3.1.3.4 AGP Fast Write This field is used to enable or disable the AGP Fast Write function.
BIOS Setup 3.1.4 Integrated Peripherals The screen above list all the fields available in the Integrated Peripherals submenu, for ease of reference in this manual. In the actual CMOS setup, you have to use the scroll bar to view the fields. The settings on the screen are for reference only. Your version may not be identical to this one.
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BIOS Setup 3.1.4.1 IDE Function Setup IDE RAID Set this field to Enabled to configure RAID on Parallel ATA drives. Primary IDE Master RAID and Primary IDE Slave RAID Set this field to Enabled to configure RAID on the primary IDE’s master and slave channels.
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BIOS Setup 3.1.4.2 OnChip Primary IDE and OnChip Secondary IDE These fields allow you to enable or disable the primary and second- ary IDE controller. The default is Enabled. Select Disabled if you want to add a different hard drive controller. 3.1.4.3 Primary Master/Slave PIO and Secondary Master/Slave PIO PIO means Programmed Input/Output.
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BIOS Setup 3.1.4.6 Init Display First This field is used to select whether to initialize the AGP or PCI first when the system boots. Onboard/AGP When the system boots, it will first initialize the AGP. PCI Slot When the system boots, it will first initialize PCI. 3.1.4.7 OnChip USB This field is used to enable or disable USB 1.1 and/or USB 2.0.
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BIOS Setup 3.1.4.13 Power On By Mouse Disabled Disables the power on by mouse function. Mouse Move When this option is selected, move the mouse to power-on the system. Mouse Click When this option is selected, double-click the mouse button to power-on the system. 3.1.4.14 Power On By Keyboard Disabled Disables the power on by keyboard function.
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BIOS Setup 3.1.4.18 Onboard Serial Port 1 Auto The system will automatically select an I/O address for the onboard serial port. 3F8/IRQ4, 2F8/IRQ3, 3E8/IRQ4, 2E8/IRQ3 Allows manually select an I/O address for the onboard serial port. Disabled Disables the onboard serial port. 3.1.4.19 Onboard IRDA Select Auto Automatically detects the IrDA device.
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BIOS Setup EPP (Enhanced Parallel Port) Allows bidirectional parallel port operation at maximum speed. 3.1.4.24 ECP Mode Use DMA This is used to select the DMA channel of the parallel port. 3.1.4.25 PWRON After PWR-Fail When power returns after an AC power failure, the system’s power is off.
BIOS Setup 3.1.5 Power Management Setup The Power Management Setup allows you to configure your system to most effectively save energy. The settings on the screen are for reference only. Your version may not be identical to this one. 3.1.5.1 ACPI Function This function should be enabled only in operating systems that ®...
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BIOS Setup 3.1.5.3 Power Management This field allows you to select the type (or degree) of power saving by changing the length of idle time that elapses before the “HDD Power Down” field is activated. Min Saving Minimum power saving time for the “HDD Power Down”...
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BIOS Setup 3.1.5.6 HDD Down In Suspend The default setting is Disabled. When enabled, the hard drive will be powered off once the system enters the Suspend mode. 3.1.5.7 Soft-Off by PBTN This field allows you to select the method of powering off your system.
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BIOS Setup 3.1.5.10 Power-On By Alarm Enabled When Enabled, you can set the time you would like the Soft Power Down (Soft-Off) PC to power-on in the “Time (dd:hh:mm) of Alarm” field. However, if the system is being accessed by incoming calls or the net- work prior to the time set in the field, the system will give priority to the incoming calls or network.
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BIOS Setup 3.1.6 PnP/PCI Configurations This section describes configuring the PCI bus system. It covers some very technical items and it is strongly recommended that only experienced users should make any changes to the default settings. The settings on the screen are for reference only. Your version may not be identical to this one.
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BIOS Setup 3.1.6.3 IRQ Resources Move the cursor to this field and press <Enter>. This field is used to set each system interrupt to either Reserved or PCI Device. The settings on the screen are for reference only. Your version may not be identical to this one.
BIOS Setup 3.1.7 PC Health Status The settings on the screen are for reference only. Your version may not be identical to this one. 3.1.7.1 Shutdown Temperature You can prevent the system from overheating by selecting a tem- perature in this field. If the system detected that its temperature exceeded the one set in this field, it will automatically shutdown.
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BIOS Setup 3.1.7.4 ChaFan Fully On If SYSTemp This field is used to select the system temperature that would allow the chassis fan to rotate at full speed. 3.1.7.5 ChaFan Turn Off If SYSTemp This field is used to select the system temperature that would allow the chassis fan to rotate at a start speed which is the slowest speed.
BIOS Setup 3.1.8 Genie BIOS Setting The settings on the screen are for reference only. Your version may not be identical to this one. 3.1.8.1 DRAM Configuration Move the cursor to this field and press <Enter>. The following screen will appear. The settings on the screen are for reference only.
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BIOS Setup DRAM Frequency Set (Mhz) This field is used to set a memory clock limit on the system. This will prevent the memory speed from running faster than this frequency. Command Per Clock (CPC) This field is used to enable the DRAM commands and address that will be driven for 2 clock cycles and select the second phase of the 2 clock command and address.
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BIOS Setup Row Refresh Cyc Time (Trfc) This field is used to select the row refresh cycle time. Auto refresh active to RAS# active or RAS# to auto refresh - similar to Trc. Row to Row Delay (Trrd) This field is used to select the row to row delay time of different banks.
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BIOS Setup Max Async Latency This field is used to select the DRAM maximum asynchronous latency time. Read Preamble Time This field is used to select the time prior to the max-read DOS return when the DOS receiver is turned on. Idle Cycle Limit This field is used to select the cycle of MemCLKs before forcibly closing (precharging) an open page.
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BIOS Setup 3.1.8.2 FSB Bus Frequency This field provides several options for selecting the FSB of the CPU. The available options allow you to adjust the CPU’s bus clock by 1MHz increment. Important: Selecting a bus frequency other than the default setting may result to the CPU’s or system’s instability and are not guaranteed to provide better system performance.
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BIOS Setup 3.1.8.9 K8 Cool ‘n’ Quiet Control Auto Enables AMD’s Cool‘n’Quiet technology. This function allows the system to detect the CPU’s tasks and utilization status. When the CPU’s task slows down, the system effectively lowers power consumption by changing its CPU speed and voltage, subsequently decreasing its noise level.
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BIOS Setup 3.1.8.15 Chipset Voltage Control This field allows you to manually select higher voltage supplied to the chipset. If you want to use the default voltage, leave this field in its default setting. Important: Although this function is supported, we do not recommend that you use a higher voltage because unstable current may be supplied to the system board causing damage.
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BIOS Setup 3.1.8.22 MAC Media Interface The options are MII, RGMII and Pin Strap. 3.1.8.23 Machine MAC(NV) Address Enable this field to enter the MAC(NV) Address in the field below. 3.1.8.24 MAC(NV) Address Input Move the cursor to this field and press <Enter>, then enter the MAC address.
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BIOS Setup 3.1.9 Load Fail-Safe Defaults The “Load Fail-Safe Defaults” option loads the troubleshooting default values permanently stored in the ROM chips. These settings are not optimal and turn off all high performance features. You should use these values only if you have hardware problems. Highlight this option in the main menu and press <Enter>.
BIOS Setup 3.1.10 Load Optimized Defaults The “Load Optimized Defaults” option loads optimized settings from the BIOS ROM. Use the default values as standard values for your system. Highlight this option in the main menu and press <Enter>. Type <Y> and press <Enter> to load the Setup default values.
BIOS Setup 3.1.11 Set Supervisor Password If you want to protect your system and setup from unauthorized entry, set a supervisor’s password with the “System” option selected in the Advanced BIOS Features. If you want to protect access to setup only, but not your system, set a supervisor’s password with the “Setup”...
BIOS Setup 3.1.12 Set User Password If you want another user to have access only to your system but not to setup, set a user’s password with the “System” option se- lected in the Advanced BIOS Features. If you want a user to enter a password when trying to access setup, set a user’s password with the “Setup”...
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BIOS Setup 3.1.13 Save & Exit Setup When all the changes have been made, highlight “Save & Exit Setup” and press <Enter>. Type “Y” and press <Enter>. The modifications you have made will be written into the CMOS memory, and the system will reboot. You will once again see the initial diagnostics on the screen.
BIOS Setup 3.1.14 Exit Without Saving When you do not want to save the changes you have made, highlight “Exit Without Saving” and press <Enter>. Type “Y” and press <Enter>. The system will reboot and you will once again see the initial diagnostics on the screen. If you wish to make any changes to the setup, press <Ctrl>...
BIOS Setup 3.2 NVRAID BIOS The NVRAID BIOS utility is used to configure and manage RAID on Serial ATA drives and Parallel ATA drives. Important: Before you run the NVIDIA RAID BIOS utility, make sure the RAID function in the Integrated Peripherals submenu (“IDE Function Setup”...
3.3 Updating the BIOS To update the BIOS, you will need the new BIOS file and a flash utility, AWDFLASH.EXE. You can download them from DFI’s web site or contact technical support or your sales representative. 1. Save the new BIOS file along with the flash utility AWDFLASH.EXE to a floppy disk.
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BIOS Setup 6. The following will appear. Do You Want to Save BIOS (Y/N) This question refers to the current existing BIOS in your system. We recommend that you save the current BIOS and its flash utility; just in case you need to reinstall the BIOS. To save the current BIOS, press <Y>...
Supported Software Chapter 4 - Supported Software 4.1 Drivers, Utilities and Software Applications The CD that came with the system board contains drivers, utilities and software applications required to enhance the performance of the system board. Inser t the CD into a CD-ROM drive. The autorun screen (Mainboard Utility CD) will appear.
Supported Software 4.1.1 Microsoft DirectX 9 To install, please follow the steps below. 1. On the left side of the autorun screen, click the “TOOLS” icon. 2. Click “Microsoft DirectX 9” on the main menu. The following screen will appear. 3.
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Supported Software 4.1.2 NVIDIA Windows nForce Drivers The NVIDIA Windows nForce Drivers contains the following. • NVIDIA GART Driver • NVIDIA SMBus Driver • NVIDIA Ethernet Driver • NVIDIA IDE Driver • NVIDIA Audio Driver To install NVIDIA Windows nForce Drivers, please follow the steps below.
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Supported Software 3. The following screen will appear. Select the drivers you want to install. The drivers will be installed automatically. Make sure you have selected “NVIDIA IDE Driver” because this driver will replace Windows ATA drivers enabling the processor and other system level hardware to be more productive and efficient.
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Supported Software 5. When prompted about installing NVIDIA Firewall and ForceWare Network Access Manager, click “Yes”. 6. The following screen will appear. Click “Yes” to activate Firewall. 7. Follow the prompts on the screen to complete installation.
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Supported Software NVIDIA ForceWare Network Access Manager After completing installation, the “NVIDIA web-based...” icon is automatically created on your desktop. Double-click this icon to launch the NVIDIA ForceWare Network Access Manager utility. The utility allows you to configure the Ethernet interface features and personal Firewall for optimized security.
Supported Software 4.1.3 RAID Configuration The following describes the basic steps on configuring RAID. 1. Set the “IDE RAID” field to “Enabled”. (Integrated Peripherals submenu - “IDE Function Setup” section of the Award BIOS.) 2. Configure the Primary IDE, Secondary IDE and Serial ATA drives to support RAID in the Integrated Peripherals submenu (“IDE Function Setup”...
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Supported Software 4.1.4 WinFlash WinFlash is a Windows-based program that allows you to flash the BIOS under an operating system. To install, please follow the steps below. 1. On the left side of the autorun screen, click the “TOOLS” icon. 2.
2. All steps or procedures to install software drivers are subject to change without notice as the softwares are occassionally updated. Please go to DFI's web site at "http://www.dfi.com/support1/ download2.asp" for the latest version of the drivers or software applications.
System Error Message Appendix A - System Error Message When the BIOS encounters an error that requires the user to correct something, either a beep code will sound or a message will be displayed in a box in the middle of the screen and the message, PRESS F1 TO CONTINUE, CTRL-ALT-ESC or DEL TO ENTER SETUP, will be shown in the information box at the bottom.
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System Error Message setting than indicated in Setup. Determine which setting is correct, either turn off the system and change the jumper or enter Setup and change the VIDEO selection. FLOPPY DISK(S) fail (80) Unable to reset floppy subsystem. FLOPPY DISK(S) fail (40) Floppy type mismatch.
Troubleshooting Appendix B - Troubleshooting B.1 Troubleshooting Checklist This chapter of the manual is designed to help you with problems that you may encounter with your personal computer. To efficiently troubleshoot your system, treat each problem individually. This is to ensure an accurate diagnosis of the problem in case a problem has multiple causes.
Troubleshooting The picture seems to be constantly moving. 1. The monitor has lost its vertical sync. Adjust the monitor’s vertical sync. 2. Move away any objects, such as another monitor or fan, that may be creating a magnetic field around the display. 3.
Troubleshooting Hard Drive Hard disk failure. 1. Make sure the correct drive type for the hard disk drive has been entered in the BIOS. 2. If the system is configured with two hard drives, make sure the bootable (first) hard drive is configured as Master and the sec- ond hard drive is configured as Slave.
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Troubleshooting 3. Verify that the attached serial device works by attaching it to a serial port that is working and configured correctly. If the serial device does not work, either the cable or the serial device has a problem. If the serial device works, the problem may be due to the onboard I/O or the address setting.
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