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AOpen MX4L Online Manual

AOpen MX4L Online Manual

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MX4L
DOC. NO.: MX4L-OL-E0204A
1

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Summary of Contents for AOpen MX4L

  • Page 1: W H A T ' S I N T H I S M A N U A L Mx4L

    MX4L DOC. NO.: MX4L-OL-E0204A...

  • Page 2: Table Of Contents

    ’ ’ MX4L ............................... 1 What’s in this manual ..............................2 You Must Notice ................................8 Before You Start ................................9 Overview ..................................10 Feature Highlight................................11 Quick Installation Procedure ............................15 Motherboard Map ................................16 Block Diagram................................17 Hardware Installation........................18 About “User Upgrade Optional”...
  • Page 3 DIMM Sockets support DDR 200(PC1600)/266(PC2100) ....................30 Front Panel Connector ..............................32 ATX Power Connector ..............................33 AC Power Auto Recovery .............................. 34 IDE and Floppy Connector ............................35 IrDA Connector ................................37 S/PDIF (Sony/Philips Digital Interface) Connector......................38 ADD (AGP Digital Display) Slot ............................. 39 CNR (Communication and Network Riser) Expansion Slot....................
  • Page 4 Hardware Monitoring ..............................51 Resettable Fuse ................................52 2200µF Low ESR Capacitor ............................53 Layout (Frequency Isolation Wall) ..........................54 Enlarged Aluminum Heatsink ............................55 Driver and Utility ......................... 56 Auto-run Menu from Bonus CD ............................. 57 Installing Intel® Chipset Software Installation Utility...................... 58 Installing Intel 845GL VGA driver ..........................
  • Page 5 AC97 ..................................... 82 ACPI (Advanced Configuration & Power Interface) ....................... 82 AGP (Accelerated Graphic Port) ........................... 82 AMR (Audio/Modem Riser)............................83 AOpen Bonus Pack CD ..............................83 APM (Advanced Power Management)........................... 83 ATA (AT Attachment) ..............................83 ATA/66 ..................................83 ATA/100 ..................................
  • Page 6 DDR (Double Data Rated) SDRAM ..........................85 DIMM (Dual In Line Memory Module) ..........................86 DMA (Direct Memory Access)............................86 ECC (Error Checking and Correction) ........................... 86 EDO (Extended Data Output) Memory .......................... 86 EEPROM (Electronic Erasable Programmable ROM)....................87 EPROM (Erasable Programmable ROM) ........................

  • Page 7: Troubleshooting

    PCI (Peripheral Component Interface) Bus ........................90 PDF Format................................... 90 PnP (Plug and Play) ..............................91 POST (Power-On Self Test) ............................91 RDRAM (Rambus DRAM) ............................. 91 RIMM (Rambus Inline Memory Module) ........................91 SDRAM (Synchronous DRAM) ............................92 Shadow E PROM ................................

  • Page 8: You Must Notice

    All of the specifications and information contained in this manual are subject to change without notice. AOpen reserves the right to revise this publication and to make reasonable changes. AOpen assumes no responsibility for any errors or inaccuracies that may appear in this manual, including the products and software described in it.

  • Page 9: Before You Start

    This Online Manual will introduce to the user how this product is installed. All useful information will be described in later chapters. Please keep this manual carefully for future upgrades or system configuration changes. This Online Manual is saved format, we recommend using Adobe Acrobat Reader 4.0 for online viewing, it is included in Bonus CD or you can get free download from...

  • Page 10: Overview

    Socket 478 motherboard (M/B) based on the ATX form factor ® featuring the Intel® 845GL(Brookdale) chipset. As high performance chipset built in the M/B, MX4L motherboard support Intel ® Socket 478 Pentium 4 (Brookdale) and 400 MHz Front Side Bus (FSB) clock.

  • Page 11: Feature Highlight

    132MB/s. The Communication & Nectworking Riser (CNR) slot provided from MX4L support CNR interface for a Modem/Audio card. The multiplexed Intel DVO Port specification provides a new level of video display sophistication and speed which supports DVI/TV-Out add-on card. Of three PCI slots provided, all of them are master PCI slots with arbitration and decoding for...
  • Page 12 Provides “1MHz Stepping Frequency Adjustment” function in the BIOS. This magic function allows you adjust frequency from 100~248 by 1MHz stepping adjustment, and lets your system can get maximum performance. Watch Dog Timer Includes AOpen “Watch Dog Timer” function that can auto-reset default settings in 4.8 seconds when you fail to system overclocking.
  • Page 13 S/PDIF Connectors S/PDIF (Sony/Philips Digital Interface) is the newest audio transfer file format, which provides impressive quality through optical fiber and allows you to enjoy digital audio instead of analog audio. Six USB2.0 Connectors Provides three ports, six connectors for USB interface devices, such as mouse, keyboard, modem, scanner, etc. AGP Protection Technology With AGP Protection Technology implemented, this motherboard will automatically detect the voltage of AGP card and prevent your chipsets from being burnt out.
  • Page 14 Enhanced ACPI ® Fully implement the ACPI standard for Windows 98/ME/2000 series compatibility, and supports Soft-Off, STR (Suspend to RAM, S3), STD (Suspend to Disk, S4) features. Super Multi-I/O Provides two high-speed UART compatible serial ports and one parallel port with EPP and ECP capabilities. UART can also be directed from COM1 to the Infrared Module for the wireless connections.

  • Page 15: Quick Installation Procedure

    This page gives you a quick procedure on how to install your system. Follow each step accordingly. Installing CPU and Fan Installing System Memory (DIMM) Connecting Front Panel Cable Connecting IDE and Floppy Cable Connecting ATX Power Cable Connecting Back Panel Cable Power-on and Load BIOS Setup Default Setting CPU Frequency Reboot...

  • Page 16: Motherboard Map

    Motherboard Map MODEM-CN Connector Front Audio Connector Onboard AC’97 CODEC PC99 Colored Back Panel CD-IN Connector Resettable Fuse 4-pin 12V. ATX Power Connector CNR Expansion Slot FAN2 Connector 2200μF Low ESR Capacitors ADD Slot (for ADD card only) SPDIF Connector 478-pin CPU socket with Voltage 32-bit PCI Expansion Slot x3 and Frequency Auto-detection that...

  • Page 17: Block Diagram

    PC-200/266 DDR SDRAM Up to 2GB 32-bit PCI Slot x3 DIMM Socket x2 Socket 478 400MHz System Intel Pentium 4 PCI Bus Intel 845GL GMCH Primary 33/66/100 Channel IDE Drive x4 Secondary ADD Slot Channel AC97 Intel ICH4 CODEC LAN connect Component AC Link CNR Slot USB2.0...

  • Page 18: Hardware Installation

    This chapter describes jumpers, connectors and hardware devices of this motherboard. Note: Electrostatic discharge (ESD) can damage your processor, disk drives, expansion boards, and other components. Always observe the following precautions before you install a system component. Do not remove a component from its protective packaging until you are ready to install it. Wear a wrist ground strap and attach it to a metal part of the system unit before handling a component.

  • Page 19: About "User Upgrade Optional" And "Manufacture Upgrade Optional

    When you read this online manual and start to assemble your computer system, you may notice that some of the functions are marked as “User Upgrade Optional” or “Manufacture Upgrade Optional”. Although all of AOpen’s motherboards have included many amazing and powerful features, sometimes not every user is familiar with these powerful features. As a result of this we define features that can be upgraded by users as “User Upgrade Optional”.

  • Page 20: Jp14 Clear Cmos Data

    You can clear CMOS to restore system default setting. To clear the CMOS, follow the procedure below. Turn off the system and unplug the AC power. Remove ATX power cable from connector PWR2. Locate JP14 and short pins 2-3 for a few seconds. Return JP14 to its normal setting by shorting pin1 &...
  • Page 21 ® This motherboard supports Intel Pentium 4 Socket 478 series CPU (Brookdale). Be careful of CPU orientation when you plug it into CPU socket. 2. Locate Pin 1 in the socket and look for a cut edge on the CPU upper 1.

  • Page 22: Cpu Installation

    3. Press down the CPU socket lever and finish CPU installation. Note: If you do not match the CPU socket Pin 1 and CPU cut edge well, it may damage the CPU. CPU cut edge Note: This socket supports Micro-FC-PGA2 package CPU, which is the latest CPU package developed by Intel.
  • Page 23 This motherboard comes with a retention module attached on the CPU socket when shipped, we strongly recommend you to install AOpen special designed CPU Fan as shown below on the retention module for better heat dissipation. Please install the CPU Fan correctly as the following pictures shown.

  • Page 24: Cpu Jumper-Less Design

    CPU VID signal and SMbus clock generator provide CPU voltage auto-detection and allows the user to set the CPU frequency through the BIOS setup, therefore no jumpers or switches are used. The disadvantages of the Pentium based jumper-less designs are eliminated. There will be no worry of wrong CPU voltage detection. Clock Generator ®...
  • Page 25 ” “ ” AOpen provides a special and useful feature on this motherboard for overclockers. When you power-on the system, BIOS will check last system POST status. If it succeeds, the BIOS will enable “Watch Dog Timer” function immediately, and set the CPU frequency according to user’s settings stored in BIOS.

  • Page 26: Full-Range Adjustable Cpu Core Voltage

    Tip: If your system hangs or fails to boot because of Home overclocking, simply use <Home> key to restore the default setting or you can wait the AOpen “Watch Dog Timer” reset the system after five seconds and system will auto-detect hardware again.
  • Page 27 Core Frequency = CPU Clock * CPU Ratio PCI Clock = CPU FSB Clock / Clock Ratio ® Warning: Intel 845GL chipset supports Clock = PCI Clock x 2 maximum 400MHz (100MHz*4) system CPU Core bus and 66MHz AGP clock; higher clock Northwood CPU FSB Clock System...

  • Page 28: Cpu And System Fan Connector (With H/W Monitoring)

    Plug in the CPU fan cable to the 3-pin CPU FAN connector. If you have chassis fan, you can also plug it on FAN2 or FAN3 connector. +12V SENSOR CPU FAN Connector +12V SENSOR FAN2 Connector Note: Some CPU fans do not have sensor pin, so that they cannot support hardware monitoring function.

  • Page 29: Jp28 Keyboard/Mouse Wake-Up Enable/Disable Jumper

    This motherboard provides keyboard / mouse wake-up function. You can use JP28 to enable or disable this function, which could resume your system from suspend mode with keyboard or mouse. The factory default setting is set to “Disable”(1-2), and you may enable this function by setting the jumper to 2-3. Disable Enable Pin1...

  • Page 30: Dimm Sockets Support Ddr 200(Pc1600)/266(Pc2100)

    This motherboard has two 184-pin DDR DIMM sockets that allow you to install DDR200 and DDR266 memory up to 2GB. Both ECC and Non-ECC DDR SDRAM are supported, but you can’t install them both on DIMM. Otherwise, it will cause serious damage on memory sockets or SDRAM module.
  • Page 31 Please follow the procedure as shown below to finish memory installation. Make sure the DIMM module’s pin face down and match the socket’s size as depicted below. Pin 1 52 pins 40 pins Insert the module straight down to the DIMM slot with both hands and press down firmly until the DIMM module is securely in place.

  • Page 32: Front Panel Connector

    Attach the power LED, Keylock, speaker, power and reset switch connectors to the corresponding pins. If you enable “Suspend Mode” item in BIOS Setup, the ACPI & Power LED will keep flashing while the system is in suspend mode. Locate the power switch cable from your ATX housing. It is 2-pin female connector from the housing front panel.

  • Page 33: Atx Power Connector

    This motherboard comes with a 20-pin and 4-pin ATX power connector. Make sure you plug in the right direction. We strongly recommend you to connect the 4-pin 12V ATX connector before connecting the 20-pin ATX power connector and use standard power supply specially designed for Pentium 4 system.

  • Page 34: Ac Power Auto Recovery

    A traditional ATX system should remain power off when AC power resumes from power failure. This design is inconvenient for a network server or workstation without an UPS implemented which has to keep power-on all the time. This motherboard implements an AC Power Auto Recovery function to solve this problem.

  • Page 35: Ide And Floppy Connector

    Connect 34-pin floppy cable and 40-pin IDE cable to floppy connector FDC and IDE connector. The blue connector is IDE1 for clear identification. Be careful of the pin1 orientation. Wrong orientation may cause system damage. Secondary Secondary Master (3rd) Slave (4th) IDE 2 (Secondary) IDE 1 (Primary) Pin 1...
  • Page 36 IDE1 is also known as the primary channel and IDE2 as the secondary channel. Each channel supports two IDE devices that make a total of four devices. In order to work together, the two devices on each channel must be set differently to Master and Slave mode.

  • Page 37: Irda Connector

    The IrDA connector can be configured to support wireless infrared module, with this module and application software such as Laplink or Windows 95 Direct Cable Connection, user can transfer files to or from laptops, notebooks, PDA devices and printers. This connector supports HPSIR (115.2Kbps, 2 meters) and ASK-IR (56Kbps). Install the infrared module onto the IrDA connector and enable the infrared function from BIOS Setup, UART Mode, make sure when you plug the IrDA connector in right orientation.

  • Page 38: S/Pdif (Sony/Philips Digital Interface) Connector

    S/PDIF (Sony/Philips Digital Interface) is a latest audio transfer file format that provides impressive quality through optical fiber and allows you to enjoy digital audio instead of analog. Normally there are two S/PDIF outputs as shown, one for RCA connector, the most common one used for consumer audio products, and the other for optical connector with a even better audio quality.

  • Page 39: Add (Agp Digital Display) Slot

    AGP Digital Display card is designed by Intel to multiplexe the AGP signal interface with two DVO ports, and is designed to plug into the special-designed purple slot as you can see, which we call ADD slot here. The function of these two DVO ports is to support a variety of digital display devices, such as LCDs and Digital-input CRT, and is possible to use in dual-channel mode to support higher resolution and refresh rate, while deliver digital signal from source to display to preserve signal integrity and the viewable image quality.

  • Page 40: Cnr (Communication And Network Riser) Expansion Slot

    is a riser card specification to replace the AMR (Audio/Modem Riser) that supports V.90 analog modem, multi-channel audio, and phone-line based networking. Owing to CPU computing power getting stronger, the digital processing job can be implemented in main chipset and share CPU power. The analogy conversion (CODEC) circuit requires a different and separate circuit design, which is put on CNR card.

  • Page 41: Pc99 Color Coded Back Panel

    The onboard I/O devices are PS/2 Keyboard, PS/2 Mouse, COM1 and VGA, Printer, USB, AC97 sound and game ports. The view angle of drawing shown here is from the back panel of the housing. SPP/EPP/ECP RJ45 10/100 Parallel Port MIDI/Game Port LAN Jack PS/2 Mouse Connector...

  • Page 42: Support 10/100 Mbps Lan Onboard

    The South Bridge includes a fast Ethernet controller on chip. It provides 10/100M bps Ethernet for office and home use, the Ethernet RJ45 connector is located on top of USB connectors. The green LED indicates the link mode, it lights when linking to network and blinking when transferring data.
  • Page 43 This motherboard provides six ports to connect USB devices such as mouse, keyboard, modem, printer, etc. There are two connectors on the PC99 back panel. You can use proper cables to connect USB devices from PC99 back panel or connect USB2 and USB3 headers to the front panel of chassis.

  • Page 44: Chassis Intrusion Connector

    The “CASE OPEN” header provides chassis intrusion-monitoring function. To make this function works, you have to enable it in the system BIOS, connect this header to a sensor somewhere on the chassis. So, whenever the sensor is triggered by lights or by the opening of the chassis, the system will beep to inform you.

  • Page 45: Cd Audio Connector

    This connector is used to connect CD Audio cable from CDROM or DVD drive to onboard sound.

  • Page 46: Modem Audio Connector

    This connector is used to connect Mono In/Mic Out cable from internal modem card to onboard sound circuit. The pin 1-2 is Mono In, and the pin 3-4 is Mic Out. Please note that there is no standard for this kind of connector yet, only some internal modem cards implement this connector.

  • Page 47: Front Audio Connector

    If the housing has been designed with an audio port on the front panel, you’ll be able to connect onboard audio to front panel through this connector. By the way, please remove the jumper cap from the Front Audio Connector before you connect the cable. Do not remove this yellow jumper cap if your housing doesn’t have an audio port on the front panel.

  • Page 48: Com2 Connector

    This motherboard provides two serial ports. One of them are on back panel connector, the other is on the middle left between PCI slots. With proper cable, you can connect it to the back panel of chassis. DCD# SOUT DTR# DSR# CTS# RTS#...

  • Page 49: Battery-Less And Long Life Design

    This Motherboard implements Flash ROM and a special circuit that allows you to save your current CPU and CMOS Setup configurations without the need of a battery. The RTC (real time clock) can also keep running as long as the power cord is plugged.

  • Page 50: Cpu Over-Current Protection

    CPU, memory, HDD, add-on cards installed on this motherboard may be damaged because of component failure, human operating error or unknown nature reason. AOpen cannot guaranty the protection circuit will always work perfectly.

  • Page 51: Hardware Monitoring

    CPU temperature. If any of these systems’ status goes wrong, there will be an alarm through the chassis external speaker or buzzer of motherboard (if existed) to warn the user. Fan Speed AOpen H/W Detection Monitoring...

  • Page 52: Resettable Fuse

    Traditional motherboard has fuse for Keyboard and port to prevent over-current or shortage. These fuses are soldered onboard that when it is broken (function as protecting the motherboard), user still cannot replace it and the motherboard is still malfunctioning. With expensive Resettable Fuse, the motherboard can be resumed back to normal function after the fuse had done its protection job.

  • Page 53: 2200Μf Low Esr Capacitor

    CPU power. The idea of where to put these capacitors is another know-how that requires experience and detail calculation. Not only that, MX4L implements 2200μF capacitors, which is much larger than normal capacitor (1000 and 1500μF) and it provides better stability for CPU power.

  • Page 54: Layout (Frequency Isolation Wall)

    For high frequency operation, especially overclocking, layout is the most important factor to make sure chipset and CPU working in stable condition. The layout of this motherboard implements AOpen’s unique design called “ Frequency Isolation Wall”. Separating each critical portion of motherboard into...

  • Page 55: Enlarged Aluminum Heatsink

    Cool down CPU and Chipset is important for system reliability. Enlarged aluminum heat sink provides better heat consumption especially when you are trying to over clocking the CPU.

  • Page 56: Driver And Utility

    There are motherboard drivers and utilities included in AOpen Bonus CD. You don’t need to install all of them in order to boot your system. But after you finish the hardware installation, you have to install your operation system first (such as Windows 98) before you can install any drivers or utilities.

  • Page 57: Auto-Run Menu From Bonus Cd

    You can use the auto-run menu of Bonus CD. Choose the utility and driver and select model name.

  • Page 58: Installing Intel® Chipset Software Installation Utility

    ® ® Windows 95/98 cannot recognize this chipset, because it was released before the Intel 845GL chipset. You can install the Intel INF Update Utility from the Bonus Pack CD auto-run menu to eliminate the “?” marks.

  • Page 59: Installing Intel 845Gl Vga Driver

    You can install Intel VGA Driver to get the best graphics function of the chipset. You can find it in the AOpen Bonus Pack...

  • Page 60: Installing Intel Iaa Driver

    You can install Intel IAA Driver to increase the performance of software applications and reduce PC boot times. You can find it in AOpen Bonus Pack...

  • Page 61: Installing Onboard Audio Driver

    This motherboard comes with AC97 CODEC. You can find the audio driver from the Bonus Pack CD auto-run menu.

  • Page 62: Installing Lan Driver

    ® This motherboard comes with an Intel 10/100Mbps LAN controller embedded within ICH4. You can find the LAN driver from the Bonus Pack CD.

  • Page 63: Installing Usb2.0 Driver

    * Windows 2000 Installation Guide ************************************************ Installing Driver in Existing Windows 2000 System ************************************************* After enabling the USB 2.0 controller and rebooting your system, Windows 2000 setup will show a "New Hardware Found" dialog box. Under Windows 2000, "Universal Serial Bus (USB) Controller" will be displayed. 1.
  • Page 64 *********************************************** Installing Driver in Existing Windows XP System *********************************************** After enabling the USB 2.0, Windows XP setup will show a "Found New Hardware" dialog box. Under Windows XP, "Universal Serial Bus (USB) Controller" will be displayed. 1. Click on "Next," and from the generated list box, choose "Install from a list or special location (Advanced)", click "Next" 2.
  • Page 65 1. USBEHCI.SYS - 3/20/2002. 2. USBPORT.SYS - 8/17/2001. 3. USBHUB.SYS - 8/17/2001. So, new 3616 driver does not install complete. [Install by manual] 1. Disable Windows File Protection (WFP) 1. Start button/run/Regedit. 2. Set HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\ SFCDisable = 1 2. Copy all USB files from CD to HDD. 1.

  • Page 66: Installing Hardware Monitoring Utility

    You can install Hardware Monitoring Utility to monitor CPU temperature, fans and system voltage. The hardware monitoring function is automatically implemented by the BIOS and utility software. No hardware installation is needed.

  • Page 67: Acpi Suspend To Hard Drive

    ACPI Suspend to Hard Drive is basically controlled by Windows operation system. It saves your current work (system status, memory and screen image) into hard disk, and then the system can be totally power off. Next time, when power is on, you can resume your original work directly from hard disk within few seconds without go through the Windows booting process and run your application again.

  • Page 68: System Requirement

    System Requirement AOZVHDD.EXE 1.30b or later. Delete config.sys and autoexec.bat. Fresh installation of Windows 98 on a new system 1. Execute "Setup.exe /p j" to install Windows 98 2. After Windows 98's installation is complete, go to the Control Panel > Power Management. a.
  • Page 69 Changing from APM to ACPI (Windows 98 only) 1. Run "Regedit.exe" a. Go through the following path HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE SOFTWARE MICROSOFT WINDOWS CURRENT VERSION DETECT b. Select "ADD Binary" and name it as "ACPIOPTION". c. Right click and select Modify, add "01" after "0000" to make it "0000 01". d.
  • Page 70 4. Run "Add New Hardware" again and it will find "Advanced Power Management Resource". 5. Click "OK". Tip: Currently we found only ATI 3D Rage Pro AGP card would support ACPI suspend to disk. Please refer to AOpen web site for latest update.

  • Page 71: Acpi Suspend To Ram (Str)

    This motherboard supports ACPI Suspend to RAM function. With this function, you can resume your original work directly from DRAM without going through the Windows 98 booting process and run your application again. Suspend to DRAM saves your current work in the system memory, it is faster than Suspend to Hard Drive but requires power supplied to DRAM, while Suspend to Hard Drive requires no power.
  • Page 72 To implement ACPI Suspend to DRAM, please follow the procedures as below: System Requirement An ACPI OS is required. Currently, except Windows 95 and Windows NT, all other Windows Systems support ACPI. ® The Intel Chipset Software Installation Utility must have been installed properly. Procedures Changed the following BIOS settings.

  • Page 73: Phoenix-Award Bios

    BIOS provides critical low-level support for standard devices such as hard disk drives, serial and parallel ports. Most BIOS setting of MX4L have been optimized by AOpen’s R&D engineering team. But, the default setting of BIOS still can’t fine-tune the chipset controlling entire system. Therefore this chapter aims to guide you through the process of configuring your system using setup.

  • Page 74: About Bios Function Description

    … AOpen always dedicates to give users a more friendly computer system. Now, we include all function descriptions of BIOS setup program into the BIOS Flash ROM. When you select one function of BIOS setup program, the function description will appeared at right side of screen.

  • Page 75: How To Use Award™ Bios Setup Program

    Award™ BIOS setup program. The following table provides details about how to use keyboard in the Award™ BIOS setup program. By the way, all products of AOpen also provides a special function in the BIOS setup, you can press <F3> key selecting preferred menu language to display.
  • Page 76 Description Load fail-save setting value from CMOS. Load turbo setting value from CMOS. Save changed setting and exit setup program.

  • Page 77: How To Enter Bios Setup

    After you finish the setting of jumpers and connect correct cables. Power on and enter the BIOS Setup, press <Del> during POST (Power-On Self Test). Choose "Load Setup Defaults" for recommended optimal performance. Warning: Please avoid of using "Load Turbo Defaults", unless you are sure your system components (CPU, DRAM, HDD, etc.) are good enough for turbo setting.

  • Page 78: Bios Upgrade Under Windows Environment

    With outstanding R&D ability of AOpen, we now bring you a whole new BIOS Flash wizard ---- EZWinFlash. With an eye to users convenience, EZWinFlash combines the BIOS binary code and flash module together, so the only thing you have to do is just clicking on the utility you downloaded from web and let it helps you complete the flash process automatically.
  • Page 79 1. Download the new version of BIOS package zip file from AOpen official web site. (ex: http://www.aopen.com) 2. Unzip the download BIOS package (ex: WMX4L102.ZIP) with WinZip (http://www.winzip.com) in Windows environment.

  • Page 80: Overclocking

    As a leading manufacturer in motherboard industry, AOpen always listens to what customers want and develop products to fit different user's requirements. Reliability, compatibility, leading technology and friendly features are our basic goals when designing motherboards. Other than above mentioned design criteria, there are power users who are always seeking to push the limitation of the system performance by overclocking which we call them "Overclocker".

  • Page 81: Vga Card & Hard Disk

    VGA and HDD is key components for overclocking, for your reference, the following list are what have been successful overclocked in our lab. Please note that AOpen can not guaranty they can be successful overclocked again. Please check the Available Vendor List (AVL) by link to our official website.

  • Page 82: Glossary

    AGP uses both rising and falling edge of the 66MHz clock, for 2X AGP, the data transfer rate is 66MHz x 4byte x 2 = 528MB/s. AGP is now moving to 4X mode, 66MHz x 4byte x 4 = 1056MB/s. AOpen is the...

  • Page 83: Amr (Audio/Modem Riser)

    Unlike ACPI, BIOS controls most APM power management functions. AOpen Suspend to Hard Drive is a good example of APM power management. ATA is the specification of diskette interface. In 80’s, many software and hardware manufacturers instituted the ATA specification together.

  • Page 84: Ata/100

    ATA/100 is a new IDE specification under developing. ATA/100 uses both rising edge and falling edge as ATA/66 but clock cycle time is reduced to 40ns. The data transfer rate is (1/40ns) x 2 bytes x 2 = 100MB/s. To use ATA/100, you need special 80-wire IDE cable, the same as ATA/66.

  • Page 85: Bus Master Ide (Dma Mode)

    The traditional PIO (Programmable I/O) IDE requires the CPU to involve in all the activities of the IDE access including waiting for the mechanical events. To reduce the workload of the CPU, the bus master IDE device transfers data from/to memory without interrupting CPU, and releases CPU to operate concurrently while data is transferring between memory and IDE device.

  • Page 86: Dimm (Dual In Line Memory Module)

    DIMM socket has total 168-pin and supports 64-bit data. It can be single or double side, the golden finger signals on each side of PCB are different, and that is why it was called Dual In Line. Almost all DIMMs are made by SDRAM, which operate at 3.3V. Note that some old DIMMs are made by FPM/EDO and only operate at 5V.

  • Page 87: Eeprom (Electronic Erasable Programmable Rom)

    Also known as E PROM. Both EEPROM and Flash ROM can be re-programmed by electronic signals, but the interface technology is different. Size of EEPROM is much smaller than flash ROM. Traditional motherboard stores BIOS code in EPROM. EPROM can only be erased by ultra-violet (UV) light. If BIOS has to be upgraded, you need to remove EPROM from motherboard, clear by UV light, re-program, and then insert back.

  • Page 88: Fc-Pga (Flip Chip-Pin Grid Array)

    Flash ROM can be re-programmed by electronic signals. It is easier for BIOS to upgrade by a flash utility, but it is also easier to be infected by virus. Because of increase of new functions, BIOS size is increased from 64KB to 256KB (2M bit). AOpen AX5T is the first board to implement 256KB (2Mbit) Flash ROM.

  • Page 89: Ieee 1394

    IEEE 1394 is a low-cost digital interface originated by Apple Computer as a desktop LAN and developed by the IEEE 1394 working group. The IEEE 1394 can transport data at 100, 200 or 400 Mbps. One of the solutions to connect digital television devices together at 200 Mbps.

  • Page 90: Dimm

    SDRAM DIMM that supports 100MHz CPU bus clock. SDRAM DIMM that supports 133MHz CPU bus clock. Based on FSB frequency, the DDR DRAM has 200MHz and 266MHz two type of working frequency. Because of DDR DRAM data bus is 64-bit, it provides data transfer bandwidth up to 200x64/8=1600MB/s, and 266x64/8=2100MB/s. Hence, the PC-1600 DDR DRAM is working with 100MHz and PC-2100 DDR DRAM is working with 133MHz FSB frequency.

  • Page 91: Pnp (Plug And Play)

    The PnP specification suggests a standard register interface for both BIOS and operating system (such as Windows 95). These registers are used by BIOS and operating system to configure system resource and prevent any conflicts. PnP BIOS or operating system will automatically allocate the IRQ/DMA/Memory. Currently, almost all the PCI cards and most ISA cards are already PnP compliant.

  • Page 92: Sdram (Synchronous Dram)

    SDRAM comes in 64-bit 168-pin DIMM and operates at 3.3V. AOpen is the first company to support dual-SDRAM DIMMs onboard (AP5V), from Q1 1996 A memory space in Flash-ROM to simulate E PROM operation, AOpen motherboard uses Shadow E...

  • Page 93: Spd (Serial Presence Detect)

    SPD is a small ROM or EEPROM device resided on the DIMM or RIMM. SPD stores memory module information such as DRAM timing and chip parameters. SPD can be used by BIOS to decide best timing for this DIMM or RIMM. Ultra DMA (or, more accurately, Ultra DMA/33) is a protocol for transferring data between a hard disk drive through the computer’s data path (or bus) to the computer’s random access memory (RAM).

  • Page 94: Vcm (Virtual Channel Memory)

    NEC’s Virtual Channel Memory (VCM) is a new DRAM core architecture that dramatically improves the memory system’s ability to service multimedia requirements. VCM increases memory bus efficiency and performance of any DRAM technology by providing a set of fast static registers between the memory core and I/O pins. Using VCM technology results in reduced data access latency and reduced power consumption.

  • Page 95: Troubleshooting

    If you encounter any trouble to boot you system, follow the procedures accordingly to resolve the problem. Start Turn off the power and unplug the AC power cable, then remove all of the add-on cards and cables, including VGA, IDE, FDD, COM1, COM2 and printer.
  • Page 96 Continue Install the VGA card. Then connect your monitor and keyboard. Turn on the power and check if the power supply and CPU fan work properly. The problem is probably caused by power supply or motherboard failure. Next Please contact your reseller or local distributor for repairing.
  • Page 97 Continue Perhaps your VGA card Check if there is display? or monitor is defective. Press <Ctrl> and <Alt> key at the same time, hold them and then press <Del> to reboot the system. It is very possible that your Check if the system keyboard is defective.
  • Page 98 Continue During system rebooting, press <Del> to enter BIOS setup. Choose “Load Setup Default”. Turn off the system and re-connect IDE cable. The problem should be Check if the system can caused reboot successfully? cable or HDD itself. Re-install the operating system such as Windows 98.

  • Page 99: Technical Support

    Dear Customer, Thanks for choosing AOpen products. To provide the best and fastest service to our customer is our first priority. However, we receive numerous emails and phone-calls worldwide everyday, it is very hard for us to serve everyone on time. We recommend you follow the procedures below and seek help before contact us.
  • Page 100 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 News Group: News posted by computer experts, you are welcome to join any discussion here. http://www.aopen.com/tech/newsgrp/default.htm 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 Contact Distributors/Resellers: We sell our products through resellers and integrators. They should know your system configuration very well and should be able to solve your problem more efficiently than us.
  • Page 101 Model name and BIOS version can be found on upper left corner of first boot screen (POST screen). For example: MX4L Pro R1.20 Mar.15.2002 AOpen Inc. Award Plug and Play BIOS Extension v1.0A Copyright © 1998, Award Software, Inc. MX4L is model name of motherboard; R1.20 is BIOS version.

  • Page 102: Product Registration

    Be able to join the discussions of web-based news groups. AOpen makes sure that the information you provide is encrypted, so that it cannot be read or intercepted by other people or companies. Further, AOpen will not disclose any of information you submitted under any conditions. Please consult our...

  • Page 103: How To Contact Us

    Please do not hesitate contact us if you have any problem about our products. Any opinion will be appreciated. America Pacific Rim Europe AOpen Inc. AOpen Computer b.v. AOpen America Inc. Tel: 886-2-3789-5888 Tel: 31-73-645-9516 Tel: 1-510-498-8928 Fax: 886-2-3789-5399 Fax: 31-73-645-9604...

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