Abit BF6 User Manual

Copyright and Warranty Notice

The information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not
represent a commitment on part of the vendor, who assumes no liability or
responsibility for any errors that may appear in this manual.

No warranty or representation, either expressed or implied, is made with respect to
the quality, accuracy or fitness for any particular part of this document. In no event
shall the manufacturer be liable for direct, indirect, special, incidental or
consequential damages arising from any defect or error in this manual or product.

Product names appearing in this manual are for identification purpose only and
trademarks and product names or brand names appearing in this document are
property of their respective owners.

This document contains materials protected under International Copyright Laws. All
rights reserved. No part of this manual may be reproduced, transmitted or
transcribed without the expressed written permission of the manufacturer and
authors of this manual.

If you do not properly set the motherboard settings causing the motherboard to
malfuncti on or f ail, we cannot guaran t e e an y responsibil it y.

BF6 Motherboard User’s Manual

Table of Contents

CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION OF BF6 FEATURES 1-1

EATURES OF THIS MOTHERBOARD

1-1. F

PECIFICATIONS

1-2. S

AY OU T DIAGRAM

1-3. L

HE SYSTEM BLOCK DIAGRAM

1-4. T

CHAPTER 2. INSTALLING THE MOTHERBOARD 2-1

NSTALLING THE MOTHERBOARD TO THE CHASSIS

2-1. I

NSTALLATION OF THE PENTIUM

2-2. I

NSTALLING SYSTEM MEMORY

2-3. I

ONNECTORS

2-4. C
2-5. CPU F

REQUENCY SETTINGS

EADERS AND SWITCHES

, H



II/III, C

ELERONTM

CPU 2-3

CHAPTER 3. INTRODUCTION OF THE BIOS 3-1

OFTMENU

3-1. S

TAN DAR D

3-2. S

DVANCED

3-3. A

DVANCED CHIPSET FEATURES SETUP MENU

3-4. A

NTEGRATED PERIPHERALS

3-5. I

OWER MANAGEMENT SETUP MENU

3-6. P

N

3-7. P

P/PCI C
3-8. PC H
3-9. L
3-10. L
3-11. S
3-12. S
3-13. E

EALTH STATUS

OAD FAIL-SAFE DEFAULTS

OAD OPTIMIZED DEFAULTS

ET PASSWORD

AV E

& E

XIT WITHOUT SAV I N G

ETUP

III S

CMOS F

BIOS F

ONFIGURATIONS

XIT SETUP

EATURES SETUP MENU

EATURES SETUP MENU

1-1
1-2
1-5
1-6

2-2

2-3
2-6

2-17

3-4

3-9
3-14
3-20
3-24
3-29
3-37
3-42
3-43
3-43
3-44
3-45
3-46

MN-172-2A2-81 Rev. 1.02

APPENDIX A BIOS FLASHING USER INSTRUCTIONS

APPENDIX B INSTALLING THE HIGHPOINT XSTORE PRO

UTILITY

APPENDIX C HARDWARE MONITORING FUNCTION

(INSTALLING THE WINBOND HARDWARE DOCTOR
UTILITY)

APPENDIX D THE THERMAL CABLE

APPENDIX E BX 133 OVERCLOCKING GUIDE

APPENDIX F HOW TO GET TECHNICAL SUPPORT

APPENDIX G TROUBLESHOOTING (NEED ASSISTANCE?)

Introduction of BF6 Features 1-1

Chapter 1. Introducti on of BF6 Features

1-1.Features of This Motherboard

The motherboard is designed for a new generation CPUs. It supports the Intel SLOT1
structure (Pen tium



II/III a nd Ce leron

TM

processors), up to 768MB of memory, super I/O,
and Green PC functions. The motherboard provides high performance for server systems
and meets the requirements for desktop system for mult imedia in the future.

The BF6 has built-in hardware monitoring functions (you can refer to

Appendix C

for
detailed information), they can monitor and protect your computer insuring a safe
computing environmen t. Th e BF6 also supp orts the PS/2 keyboard , PS/2 mouse, password
and hot key wake up features (you can refer to section 3-5 for detailed information), letting
you easily wake up your system by these devices. The motherboard can provide high
performance for workstations and meets the requirements for desktop systems for
multimedia in the future.

The BF6 uses the ABIT newest BIOS technology – CPU Soft Menu
Soft Menu

TM

III te chnol o gy not o nly le ts yo u conf ig ure CP U s ett ings eas il y but al so l e ts yo u

TM

III. Th e ABIT CP U

have a greater choice of CPU FSB clock settings. It provides 120 different CPU FSB clock
settings. Fro m 84 to 200 MHz , t he i ncre me nt fo r CPU F SB cl ock s et ti ngs is 1 Mhz by 1MH z
(you can refer to section 3-1 for detailed information).

Sets You Free From the Y2K Threat

The potential threat of Year 2000 (Y2K) problems are making everyone very nervous. The
Y2K issue applies to almost any device, firmware, or software that operates on or with year
based dates. This problem is caused by a design flaw in the Real Time Clock (RTC) unit.
The RTC only changes the last two digits of the yea r code, but not the century information.
As a result, when it comes to 12:00 AM January 1, 2000 the RTC will switch from
December 31 11:59 PM 1999 t o 12:00 AM January 1 1900.

Y2K compliance deals with the date change over from 31 December 1999 to 1 January 2000,
and with recording an d reportin g of all dates from the RTC including leap year dates. This
motherboard is free from the Y2K problem because its BIOS are Y2K compliant.

User’s Manual

1-2 Chapter1

Please Note

If the operating system or application software cannot handle Year 2000 dates, you will

still be facing the Y2K threat because it is not a hardware problem that relates to the

motherboard itself. According to Award BIOS, it is BIOS source code released after 31

May 1995 complies with all known Y2K issues; however, it may still fail the 2000.exe

test. Award has modified its BIOS source code to accommodate the requirements of

2000.exe. Award BIOS source code issued later than 18 November 1996 passes the

NTSL 2000.exe test program.

1-2. Specifications

1. CPU

! Supports Intel Pentium III 450 ~800 MHz Processor cartridge.

! Supports Intel

! Supports Intel

! Supports 66 and 100MHz CPU external clock speeds

2. Chipset

! Intel® 440BX chipset (82443BX and 82371EB)

! Supports Ultra DMA/33 IDE protocol

! Supports Advanced Configuration and Power Management Interface (ACPI)

! Accelerated Graphics Port connector supports AGP 1x and 2x mode (Sideband) 3.3V

device



Pentium II 233 ~ 450 MHz Processor cartridge.

®

Celeron™ 266 ~ 533MHz processors (Based on 66MHz PPGA package)

3. Memory (System Memory)

! Three 168-pin DIMM sockets support SDRAM modules

! Supports up to 768MB MAX. (8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256 MB SDRAM)

! Supports ECC

4. System BIOS

! CPU SOFT MENU™ III, can easily set the processor parameters

! AWARD 6.0 Version BIOS

! Supports Plug-and-Play (PnP)

! Supports Advanced Configuration Power Interface (ACPI)

! Supports Desktop Management Interface (DMI)

! Year 2000 compliant

BF6

Introduction of BF6 Features 1-3

5. Multi I/O Functions

2x Channels of Bus Master IDE Ports supporting up to four Ultra DMA 33 devices

!

PS/2 Keyboard and PS/2 Mouse Connectors

!

1x Floppy Port ( up to 2.88MB)

!

1x Parallel Port (EPP/ECP)

!

2x Serial Ports

!

2x USB Connectors

!

6. Miscellaneous

ATX form factor

!

One AGP slot, six PCI slots and one ISA slot

!

Supports PS/2 keyboard, PS/2 mouse, password and hot key wake-up functions

!

Built-in Wake on LAN header

!

Built-in IrDA TX/RX header

!

Built-in SB-Link

!

Built-in Wake On Ring header

!

Built-in two SMBus headers

!

Hardware monitoring：Included fan speed, voltages, CPU and system environment

!

temperature
One Thermal Sensor Cable i n cluded

!

Board size: 305 * 200mm

!

™

header

User’s Manual

1-4 Chapter1

""""

Supports Wake On LAN, Keyboard or Mouse, but your ATX power supply 5V
standby power must be able to provide at least a 720mA current capacity.
Otherwise, the functions may not work normally.

""""

PCI slot 2 shares IRQ signals with the PCI slot 5

""""

PCI slot 3 shares IRQ signals with the PCI slot 6

""""

PCI slot 4 shares IRQ signals with the USB controller

""""

PCI slot 6 is fully bus slave. Thus you can’t install a PCI card that needs to use bus
master signals into PC I slot 6. But you can instal l vood oo 1 or 2 that d oesn’t need to
use bus aster sign a ls in t o P C I s lot 6.

Above 66MHz/100MHz bus speeds are supported but not guaranteed due to the PCI and

#

chipset specif ic ations.

™

Sound Blaster

#

States and certain other countries. Sound Blaster - LINK

is a registered trademark of Creative Technology Ltd. in the United

™

and SB-LINK™ are
trademarks of Creative Technology Ltd.
Specifications and information contained in this manual are subject to change without

#

notice.

Note

All brand names and trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

BF6

Introduction of BF6 Features 1-5

1-3. Layout Diagram

Figure 1-2. Motherboard component location

User’s Manual

1-6 Chapter1

1-4. The System Block Diagram

BF6

Figure 1-3. System diagram of the 440BX chipset

Installing the Motherboard 2-1

Chapter 2. Installing the Motherboard

This BF6 motherboard not only provides all standard equipment for classic personal
computers, but also pr ovides great flexibilit y for meeting future upgrade dema nds. This
chapter will int roduce step by step all the stand ard equipment and will also presen t, as
completely as possible, future upgrade capabilities. This motherboard is able to support all



Intel

Pentium II/III processors and Intel Celeron processor now on th e market. (For

details, see specifications in Chapter 1.)

This chapter is organized according the following features:

2-1 Installing the Motherboard to the Chassis
2-2 Installati on of the Pentium
2-3 Installing System Memory
2-4 Connectors, Headers and Switches
2-5 CPU Frequency Settings

$$$$

$$$$

$$$$$$$$

Before you install or un plug any connect ors or add-on card s, please remember t o turn the
ATX power supply switch off (fully turn the +5V standby power off), or take the power cord
off. Otherwise, you may cause the motherbo ar d co m ponents or add-o n cards to malfunc tio n
or be damaged.



II/III, Celeron CPU

Before Proceeding with the Installation

$$$$

$$$$

$$$$$$$$

%%%%

User Friendly Instructions

Our objecti ve is to enab le th e novi ce comp uter u ser t o perfo rm th e ins ta llation by h ims elf.
W e have atte mp ted to wr ite t his doc ume nt in a ve ry cle ar, concise and de scr ipt ive man ner to
help overcome any ob st a c les you ma y fac e d u rin g inst a llati on . Pleas e read ou r ins t ruct ions
carefully and follow them step-by-step.

User’s Manual

2-2 Chapter2

2-1. Installing the Motherboard to the Chassis

Most computer chassis will have a base on which there will be many mounting holes that
allows the motherboard to be securely attached and at the same time, prevents short circuits.
There are two ways to attach the motherboard to the base of chassis:

with studs

!

or with spacers

!

Please refer to the figure 2-1 that shows the studs and spacers, they may have several types,
but all look like t he figures below:

In principle, the best way to attach the
motherboard is with studs, and only if
you are unable to d o this should you
attach th e board with spacer s. Take a
careful look at the motherboard and
you will see many mounting holes on
it. Line these holes up with the
mounting holes on the base. If the

holes line up, an d the re are sc rew hol es
this means you can attach the motherboard with studs. If the holes line up and there are only
slots, this means you can only attach the motherboard with spacers. Take the tip of the
spacers and insert them into the slots. After doing this to all the slots, you can slide the
motherboard into po sitio n alig ned w ith the slo ts. A fter the mother boar d has be en posit ioned,
check to make sure everything is OK before putting the casing back on.

Figure 2-2 shows you the way to affix the motherboard using studs or spacers:

BF6

Installing the Motherboard 2-3

Note

If the motherboard has mounting holes, but they don’t line up with the holes on the base
and there are no slots to attach the spacers, don’t worry, you can still attach the spacers
to the mounting holes. Just cut the bottom portion of spacers (the spacer may be a little
hard to cut off, so be careful of your hands). In this way you can still attach the
motherboard to the base without worrying about short circuits. Sometimes you may
need to use th e pl as ti c sp rin g s to i s olat e th e s cr ew fr om t h e mo th er b oa rd P CB su rf a ce,
because the cir c uit wire may be near by the hole. Be careful, do n’ t let the screw contact
any printed ci rcuit wire or p arts on the PCB th at are n ear the fi xing h ole, otherwis e it
may damage the board or cause board malfunctioning.



2-2. Installation of the Pentium

II/III, CeleronTM CPU

The installa ti on meth od for the C PU is p rint ed on th e pack age of th e reten ti on mec hani sm
that comes with the motherboard. You can refer to it while you install the CPU. This
motherboard also supports the Celeron

TM

Celeron
Celeron

PPGA processor, you have to use a n addi tion al adapt er tha t allows you to use a

TM

PPGA processor in a slot 1 board. For this ABIT makes the SlotKET adapter.

TM

PPGA processor. If you want to install the

Note:

Installing a heat sink and cooling fan is necessary for proper heat dissipation from

!

your CPU. Failin g to install th ese items may resu lt in overheat ing and damage of
your CPU.
Please refer to your b oxed

!

processor installa tion or other document ation attached

with your CPU for detailed installing instructions.

2-3. Installing System Memory

This motherboard provides three 168-pin DIMM sites for memory expansion. The DIMM
sockets support 1Mx64 (8MB), 2Mx64 (16MB), 4Mx64 (32MB), 8Mx64 (64MB), 16Mx64
(128MB), and 32Mx64 (256 MB) or doub le si d ed DIMM m odules . Mi ni mum memory si ze
is 8MB and maxi mum mem ory size is 768 MB SDRAM . There a re th ree Memor y modu le
sockets on the system board. (Total six banks)

User’s Manual

2-4 Chapter2

In order to create a memory array, certain rules must be followed. The following set of rules
allows for optimum configurations.

The memory array is 64 or 72 bits wide. (depending on with or without parity)

!

Those modules can be populated in any order.

!

Supports single and double density DIMMS.

!

Table 2-1. Valid Memory Configurations

Bank Memory Module Total Memory

Bank 0, 1
(DIMM1)
Bank 2, 3
(DIMM2)
Bank 4, 5
(DIMM3)

8MB, 16MB, 32MB,

64MB, 128MB, 256MB

8MB, 16MB, 32MB,

64MB, 128MB, 256MB

8MB, 16MB, 32MB,

64MB, 128MB, 256MB

8MB ~ 256MB

8MB ~ 256MB

8MB ~ 256MB

Total System Memory

8MB ~ 768MB

Generally, installing SDRAM modules to your motherboard is an easy thing to do. You can
refer to figure 2-3 to see what a 168-pin PC100 SDRAM module looks like.

Unlike installi ng SIMMs, DIMMs may
be "snapped" directly into the socket.

Figure 2-3 PC100 Module and Component Mark

Note: Certain DIMM sockets have minor

physical differences. If your module
doesn't seem to fit, please do not force it into the socket as you may damaged your memory
module or DIMM so cket.

The follow ing pr ocedur e w ill show y o u how to instal l a DI MM mod ule into a D I MM socke t.

Before you insta ll the memory

Step 1.

module, ple ase pl ace the com pute r pow er

switch in the

position and disconnect

off

the AC power cord from your computer.

Remove the computer’s chassis

Step 2.

cover.

Before touching any electronic

Step 3.

components, make sure you first touch

an unpainted, groun ded metal object to

discharge an y static elec trici ty stored on

your clothing or body.

Figure 2-4. Memory module installation

BF6

Installing the Motherboard 2-5

Locate your computer’s 168-pin memory expansion DIMM socket.

Step 4.

Insert the DIMM modu le into the expansion s ocket as shown in the i llustration.

Step 5.

Note how the module is keyed to the socket. You can refer to figure 2-4 for the
details.

This insures the D I MM modu le will be plu gged in to the soc ket in one w ay

. Firmly press th e DIMM modu le into the DIMM sock et, makin g certain t he

only

module is completely seated in the DIMM socket.

Once the DIMM modu le has been insta lled, the installa tion is complete an d the

Step 6.

computer’s cover can be replaced. Or you can continue to install other devices and
add-on cards that are mentioned in the following section.

Note

When you install a DIMM modu le fu lly i nt o the DIMM soc k et, th e ejec t tab shou ld b e
locked into the DIMM module very firmly and fit into it s indention on the bo th sides.

User’s Manual

2-6 Chapter2

2-4. Connectors, Headers and Switches

Inside the case of any computer several cables and plugs have to be connected. These cables
and plugs are usually connected one-by-one to connectors located on the motherboard. You
need to carefully pay attention to any connection orientation the cables may have and, if any,
notice the p os iti on of th e f ir st p in of t h e con nect or. In th e exp lana ti on s that follo w, we will
describe the significance of the first pin.

We will show you all connectors, headers and switches here, and tell you how to connect
them. Please pay attention and read the whole section for necessary information before
attempting to finish all of the hardware installat ion inside the com puter chassis.
Figure 2-5 s how s y o u all of the co nnec to rs and he ade rs that w e ’l l dis cuss in t he nex t se ctio n,
you can use this diagram to visually locate each connector and header we describe.

All connectors, headers and switches mentioned here, will depend on your system
configuration. Some features you may (or may not) have and need to connect or configure
depending on the peripheral . I f y our system doe s n't hav e such add-on car ds o r s witches you
can ignore some special feature connectors.

Figure 2-5. All Connectors and Headers for the BF6

First, Let’s see the headers that BF6 us es, and what their functions ar e.

BF6

Installing the Motherboard 2-7

ATX: ATX Power Input Connector

Caution

If the power supply connectors are not properly attached to the ATX power supply, the
power supply or add-on cards may be damaged .

Attach the connector from the power supply
to the ATX connector here. Remember you
have to push the connector from the ATX
power supply firmly to the end with the
ATX connector, insuring that you have a
good connection.

Note: Watch the pin position and the
orientation

FAN1, FAN2 & FAN3: FAN h eader

Attach the connector from the individual
CPU fan to the header named FAN1, and
attach the con nector fr om the chas sis fan t o
FAN2 or & FAN3 header.

You must attach the CPU fan to the
processor, or your processor will work
abnormally or may be damaged by

overheating. Also, if you want the computer
case’s internal temperature to be kept steady and not too high, you had better connect the
chassis fan to reach this goal.

Note: Watch the pin position and the orientation

User’s Manual

2-8 Chapter2

IR: IR Header (Infrared)

There is a specific orientation for pins 1
through 5, att ach the conn ector from t he IR
KIT or IR device to the IR header. This
motherboard supports standard IR transfer
rates.

Note: Watch the pin position and the
orientation

SB-Link: SB-Link

™

Header

If your PCI audio adapter supports this
feature, th en you can connect t he specific
cable from the audio adapter to this header.
SB-LINK

™

combines Intel's PC-PCI and
"Serialized IRQ" protocols. These
technolog ie s can be found in Intel 's TX, LX,
BX and newer core logic chipsets. This
technology provides the DMA and IRQ
signals present in ISA Bus today, but not

available on t he PCI Bus. The SB- LINK

™

serves as a bridge between the motherboard and
PCI sound card to deliver Sound card for real-mode DOS games. Check to see if your card
supports this.

Note: Watch the pin position and the orientation

WOR: Wake On Ring Header

If you have an internal modem adapter that
supports this feature, then you c an connect
the speci fic cable f rom the inter nal mod em
adapter to th is header. This fea ture lets you
wake up your computer via remote control
through the modem.

Note: Watch the pin position and the
orientation

BF6

Installing the Motherboard 2-9

WOL: Wake on LAN Header

If you have a Network adapter th at supp ort s
this feature, then you can connect the
specific ca ble from the network adapter to
this header. This feature lets you wake up
your computer via remote control th rough a
local area network. You may need a specific
utility to control the wake up event, like
using the Intel

®

LDCM® utility or other

similar utilit ies.

Note: Watch the pin position and the orientation

SMB1 & SMB2 header: System Management Bus Connector

This connector is reserved for system
management bus (SMBus). The SMBus is a
specific implementation of an I

2

C bus. I2C is
a multi-master bus, which means that
multiple chips can be connected to the same
bus and each one can act as a master by
initiating a data transfer. If more than one
master simultaneously tries to control the
bus, an arbitration procedure decides which

master gets priority.

Note: Watch the pin position and the orientation

TSYS2 header:

The TSYS2 is for you to connect an
additional thermistor to detect the
temperature in the location of your choice.
You can attach one end of the two-t hread ed
thermal cable that comes with the
motherboard to the TSYS2 header, then tape
the other end of th erm al cab le on th e d evi ce
you want to detect its temperature.

User’s Manual

2-10 Chapter2

JP1 Header: Disable or Enable Keyboard/Mouse Wake Up

This header is used to Disable or Enable
keyboard/mouse wake up function. This
function has to cooperate with the BIOS
setting (see section 3-5).

Short pin 1-2 Disable keyboard/mouse

Short pin 2-3 Enable keyboard/mouse

Wake Up

Wake Up (default)

JP2 Header: Disable or Enable Power Recovery

This header is used to Disable or Enable
power recovery function. This function has
to cooperate with the BIOS setting (see
section 3-5).

Short pin 1-2 Disable power recovery
Short pin 2-3 Enable power recovery

(default)

NOTE

If you enable t he po w er re cove ry funct ion and co nne ct a Z I P dev ice to the L PT po rt, y o u
have to turn off the power of your ZIP device after you shutdown your computer.
Otherwise, the onboard battery will run down.

CCMOS: CMOS Discharge Jumper

Jumper CCM O S discharge CMOS memory.
When you install the motherboard, make
sure this jumper is set for normal operation
(pin 1 and 2 shorted). See figure 2-6.

BF6

Installing the Motherboard 2-11

Normal Operation (Default) Discharge CMOS

Figure 2-6. CCMOS jumper setting

Note

Before you clear the CMOS, you have to turn th e power off first (including t he +5V
standby power). Otherwise, your system may work abnormally or malfunction.

PN1 and PN2 Headers

PN1 and PN2 are for switches and indicators
for the chassis’s front panel, there are
several functi ons that come from thes e two
headers. You have to watch the pin position
and the orientation, or you may cause
system malfunction s. Figure 2 -7 shows you
the PN1 and PN2 functi ons of the pins.

Figure 2-7. The definition of PN1 and
PN2 pins

PN1 (Pin 1-2-3-4-5): Power LED and Keylock Switch Headers

There is a specific orientation for pins 1
through 3. Insert the three-threaded power
LED cable to pins 1~3, and t he tw o- threade d
keylock cable i nto pin 4 and pin 5. Check to
make sure the correct pins go to the correct
connectors on the motherboard. If you
install them with the wrong direction, the

power LED light will not illuminate correctly.

User’s Manual

2-12 Chapter2

Note: Watch the power LED pin position and ori entation.

PN1 (Pin 6-7): HDD LED Header

Attach the cable f rom th e cas e’s fron t pan el
HDD LED to this header. If you install it in
the wrong direction , the LED light will not
illuminate correctly.

Note: W at c h t he HDD LED pi n position and
the orientation.

PN1 (Pin 8-9): Power on Switch Header

Attach the cable f rom th e cas e’s fron t pan el
power switch to this header.

PN1 (Pin 10-11): Hardware Suspend Switch (SMI Switch) Header

Attach the cable f rom th e cas e’s fron t pan el
suspend switch (if there is one) to this
header. Use this switch to enable/disable the
power management function by hardware.

Note: If you enable the ACPI function in the
BIOS setup, this function will not work.

PN2 (Pin 1-2): Hardware Reset Switch Header

Attach the cable f rom th e cas e’s fron t pan el
Reset switch to this header. Press and hold
the reset button for at least one second to
reset the system.

BF6

Installing the Motherboard 2-13

PN2 (Pin 4-5-6-7): Speaker Header

Attach the c ab le fro m t h e syst em sp ea k er t o
this header.

PN2 (Pin 9-10): Suspend LED Header

Insert the two-t hreaded suspend LED c able
into pin 9 and pin 10. If you insta ll it in the
wrong direction, the LED light will not
illuminate c orrectly.

Watch the HDD LED pin position

Note:

and the orientat io n.

For the PN1 and PN2 pin’s count-name list, please refer to table 2-2.

Table 2-2. PN1 and PN2 pin count name list

PIN Name Significance of signal PIN Name Significance of si gn a l

PIN 1 +5VDC PIN 1 Ground
PIN 2 No connection PIN 2 Res et input

PIN 3 Ground PIN 3 No connection
PIN 4 Keyboard inhibit Signa l PIN 4 +5VDC
PIN 5 Ground PIN 5 Ground

PN1

PIN6 LED power PIN6 Ground
PIN 7 HDD active PIN 7 Speaker data
PIN 8 Ground PIN 8 No connection
PIN 9 Power On/Off signal PIN 9 +5VDC
PIN 10 +3V Standby PIN 10 Suspend LED active
PIN 11 Suspend signal

Let’s now see the I/O connectors that B F6 uses, and what their functions are.

PN2

PIN 11 No connection

User’s Manual

2-14 Chapter2

FDC1 Connector

This 34-pin connector is c alled the “

disk drive connector

360K, 5.25”, 1.2M, 5.25”, 720K, 3.5’’,

1.44M, 3.5” or 2.88M, 3.5” floppy disk
drive, you can even connect a 3 Mode
floppy disk drive (it’s a 3 1/2” drive used in
Japanese computer systems).

A floppy disk drive ribbon cable has 34
wires and two conn ectors to provide for th e connection of two flopp y disk drives. After
connecting th e single en d t o the FDC 1, c onnect th e two co nn ectors on the ot her end to th e
floppy disk drives. In general, people only install one floppy disk drive on their computer
system.

Note

A red mark on a wire typically designates the location of pin 1. You need to align the
wire pin 1 to the FDC1 connec tor pin 1, then inser t the wire c onnect or int o the FDC1
connector.

IDE1 and IDE2 Connectors

An IDE hard disk drive ribbon cable has 40

wires and two connectors to provide a

connection for two IDE hard disk drives.

After connecting the single end to the IDE1

(or IDE2), connect the two connectors on

the other end to the IDE hard disk drives (or

CD-ROM drive, LS-120, etc.).

”. You can connect a

floppy

Before you install a hard disk, there are
some things you need to be aware of:

“Primary” refers to the first connector on the motherboard, that is, the IDE1 connector on

♦

the motherbo ard.
“Secondary” refers to the second connector on the motherboard, that is, the IDE2

♦

connector on t he motherboard.
Two hard disks can be connected to each connector:

♦

BF6

Installing the Motherboard 2-15

The first HDD is referred to as the “Master”,
The second H D D is referred to as the “Slave” .
For performance issues, we strongly suggest you don’t install a CD-ROM drive on the

♦

same IDE channel as a har d disk. O therw ise, the sys tem perf orma nce on th is channe l may
drop. (how much depends on your CD-ROM drive performance)

Note

The Master or S la ve st a t u s of th e h a rd di sk d ri ve i s s et on th e h a rd di sk it s elf. Plea s e

!

refer to the hard disk drive user’s manual.

A red mark on a wire typically designates the location of pin 1. You need to align the

!

wire pin 1 to the IDE1 (or IDE2) connector pin 1, then insert the wire connector into
the IDE1(or IDE 2) connector.

Figure 2-8. BF6 back panel connectors

Figure 2-8 s hows the BF6 back panel connect ors, these conn ectors are f or connecti on to
outside devices to the motherboard. We will describe wh ich devices will attach to these
connectors below.

KBM Lower: PS/2 Keyboard Connector

Attach a PS/2 keyboard connector to this 6­pin Din-connector. If you use an AT
keyboard, you can go to a computer s tore t o
purchase an AT to ATX converter adapter,
then you can connect your AT keyboard to
this connector. We suggest you use a PS/2

keyboard for best compatibility.

User’s Manual

2-16 Chapter2

KBM Upper: PS/2 Mouse Connector

Attach a PS/2 mouse to this 6-pin Din-

connector.

USB Port Connectors

This motherboard provides two USB ports.

Attach the USB connector from the

individual d evice to these connect ors. You

can attach U SB devices such as a, scanner,

monitor, mouse, keyboard, hub, CD-ROM,

joystick et c. to one of each USB connec tor.
Y ou must make sure your operating system supports this feature and you may need to install
an additional driver for individual devices. Please refer to your device user’s manual for
detailed infor mation.

Serial Port COM1 and COM2 Connector

Parallel Port Connector

BF6

This motherboard provides two COM ports,

you can connect an external modem, mouse

or other devices that support this

communication protocol.

This parallel port is also called an “LPT”

port, because it usually connects to the

printer. You can connect other devic es that

support this c ommunic ation p rotoc ol, like a

scanner, M.O. drive, etc.

Installing the Motherboard 2-17

2-5. CPU Frequency Settings

The BF6 pro v ide s two ways to co nf igure CPU setti ngs. One uses the ABIT CPU So f t Menu
III technology, the other uses DIP Switches. Y o u can use the DS10 to en able or disabl e Soft
Menu III.

NOTE

When you enable Soft Menu III, all DIP switches must be set to OFF.

DIP SW (DS1~DS8): DIP Switch for Setting CPU Frequency

The follow ing tabl es w ill prese nt the a djust ment f or the CPU fr equency and m ult iplie r fac tor.
(The default settings are all “OFF.”)

Multiplier

Factor

1.5 ON OFF ON ON 66 OFF OFF OFF OFF

2.0 OFF ON ON OFF 75 OFF ON OFF OFF

2.0 ON OFF OFF ON 83 ON OFF OFF OFF

2.5 OFF OFF ON OFF 100 OFF OFF ON OFF

3.0 OFF ON OFF OFF 103 ON ON ON OFF

3.5 OFF OFF OFF OFF 112 OFF ON ON OFF

4.0 OFF ON ON ON 124 ON ON OFF OFF

4.5 OFF OFF ON ON 133 ON OFF ON OFF

5.0 OFF ON OFF ON

5.5 OFF OFF OFF ON

6.0 ON ON ON OFF

6.5 ON OFF ON OFF

7.0 ON ON OFF OFF

7.5 ON OFF OFF OFF

8.0 ONONONON

AGP Frequency

The DS9 lets you set the frequency ratio between AGP clock and the Front Side Bus (CPU
Bus). Generally, if you set the CPU FSB clock to 66MHz, you ought to set this switch to
“OFF (1/1)”. If you set the CPU FSB clock to 100Mhz or higher, you ought to set this switch
to “ON (2/3)”

DS1DS2DS3DS4

External

Clock

Frequency

DS5DS6DS7DS8

User’s Manual

2-18 Chapter2

DS9

ON AGP Clock / Front Side Bu s = 2/3
OFF AGP Clock / Front Sid e Bus = 1/1

Soft Menu III

The DS10 lets you enable or disable Soft Menu III. The Soft Menu III allows you to
configure the CPU settings easily through BIOS setup (refer to section 3-1). When you
enable Soft Menu III, all DIP switches must be set to OFF.

DS10

ON Disable Soft Menu III
OFF Enable Soft Menu III

BF6

Introduction of th e BIO S 3-1

Chapter 3. Introduction of the BIOS

The BIOS is a program located on a Flash Memory chip on the motherboard. This program
will not be lost when you turn the computer off. This program is also referred to as the
“boot” program. It is the only channel for the hardware circuit to communicate with the
operating system. Its main function is to manage the setup of the motherboard and interface
cards parameter s, incl ud ing s impl e par ame ter s such as t ime, date , har d disk d rive , as w e ll as
more complex paramet ers su ch a s hard ware synch ron i zati on, devi c e opera ti n g mode,

SOFT MENU™ III

or will ope r ate at its best, onl y if all these parameter s are correctly and optimally configured
through the BIOS.

Do not change the parameters inside the BIOS unless you fully understand

&&&&

their meanings and consequences.

The parameters inside the BIOS are used to setup the hardware synchronization or a
device’s operating mode. If the parameters are not correct, they will produce errors, the
computer will crash, and so metime s yo u will even not be able to boot the compu ter af ter
it has crashed. We recommend that you do not change the parameters inside the BIOS
unless you are very familiar with them. If you are not able to boot your computer
anymore, please refer to t he “CMOS Discharge Jumper” in Section 2-4, Cha pter 2.

features and setu p of CP U sp eed . Th e comp ut er wi ll op er at e n or ma ll y,

CPU

When you start the computer, it is controlled by the BIOS program. The BIOS first operates
an auto-diagnostic test called POST (Power On Self Test) for all the necessary hardware, it
then configures the parameters of the hardware synchronization, and detects all the
hardware. Only when thes e tasks a re complet ed does i t give up cont rol of the c omputer t o
the program of the next level, which is the operating system (OS). Since the BIOS is the only
channel for hardware and software to communicate, it is the key factor for system stability,
and in insuring that your system performs at its best. After the BIOS has achieved the
auto-diagnostic and auto-detection operations, it will display the following message :

PRESS DEL TO ENTER SETUP

The message will be displayed for three to five seconds, if you press the
access the BIOS Setup menu. At that moment, the BIOS will display the following screen:

key, you will

Del

User’s Manual

3-2 Chapter3

Note

To improve stabil i ty and functions, BIOS e s ar e constantly impr o v ing , therefore; the

'

BIOS screens i n this chapter m ay not fully match your current BIOS screen.

All default setting is use the

(

Fail-Safe Defaults

, some items defa ult values will be changed.

Load Optimized Defaults

settings. If you use the

Load

Figure 3-1. CMOS Setup Utility Main Screen Shot

This motherboard uses a totally different operating interface so the Award BIOS screens are
different than in other versions. It provides more functions with increased user friendliness.
In the BIOS Setup main men u in Figure 3- 1, you can see severa l option s. We will explain
these option s st ep b y step in th e f ollowing p ages of t hi s chap ter, but let u s firs t see a short
description of the function keys you may use here:

!

Press

(up, down, an d rig ht) to cho os e the option you want to conf ir m or to mo dif y

!!!!""""####$$$$

in the main m enu .
Press the

!

key to select the item you wan t. Si mply move th e highli ght to the field

Enter

you want to select, and press Enter.

!

Press

when you have completed setting up the BIOS parameters to save them and exit

F10

the BIOS Setup menu.
Press

!

Press F1 to display the Genera l Help screen.

!

In addition to the

Esc

to

Exit

the BIOS Setup.

Item Help

window, more information can be provided for the alternate

BF6