AOpen AX37 Plus User Manual

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Overview

AX37 Plus/AX37 Pro

DOC. NO.: AX37P-OL-E0210C

Installation

Hardware

Drivers &

Utilities

BIOS Setup

AWARD

Glossary

Troubleshooting &

Technical Support

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

WWhhaatt’’ss iinn tthhiiss mmaannuuaall

AX37 Plus/AX37 Pro .............................................................................................................................. 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

Hard war e Ins tal lat ion ......................................................................................................................19

Clear CMOS Data .........................................................................................................................................................20

CPU Installation ............................................................................................................................................................21

JP23 FSB/PCI Clock Ratio............................................................................................................................................23

CPU Jumper-less Design ..............................................................................................................................................25

CPU and Housing Fan Connector (with H/W Monito ring) ..............................................................................................31

DRAM Socket................................................................................................................................................................32

System and RAM Power Indicate LED ..........................................................................................................................34

Front Panel Connector..................................................................................................................................................35

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ATX Power Connector ...................................................................................................................................................36

AC Power Auto Recovery .............................................................................................................................................. 37

JP28 Keyboard Wake-up...............................................................................................................................................37

IDE, Floppy and IDE RAID (AX37 Plus only) Connector................................................................................................38

JP35 Enable/Disable Onboard IDE RAID Controller......................................................................................................40

IrDA Connector .............................................................................................................................................................41

WOM (Zero Voltage Wake on Modem) Connector.........................................................................................................42

WOL (Wake on LAN).....................................................................................................................................................45

AGP (Accelerated Graphic Port) Expans ion Slot...........................................................................................................47

CNR (Communication and Network Riser) Exp ansion Slot............................................................................................48

PC99 Color Coded Back Panel .....................................................................................................................................49

Support 2nd & 3rd USB Port ............................................................................................................................................50

Chassis Intrusion Sensor .............................................................................................................................................. 51

CD Audio Connector .....................................................................................................................................................52

Modem Audio Connector ...............................................................................................................................................53

AUX-IN Connector ........................................................................................................................................................ 54

Front Panel Audio Connector........................................................................................................................................55

Die-Hard BIOS (100% Virus Protection, User Optional) ................................................................................................56

Dr. LED Connector (User Optional) ...............................................................................................................................59

Battery-less and Long Life Design ................................................................................................................................61

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Over-current Protect ion.................................................................................................................................................62

Hardware Monitoring.....................................................................................................................................................63

Resettable Fuse............................................................................................................................................................64

Year 2000 (Y2K)............................................................................................................................................................65

2200µf Low ESR Capacitor ...........................................................................................................................................67

Layout (Frequency Isolation Wall).................................................................................................................................69

Pure Aluminum Heatsink...............................................................................................................................................70

Driver and Utility .............................................................................................................................71

Auto-run Menu from Bonus CD Disc .............................................................................................................................72

Installing Windows 95 ...................................................................................................................................................73

Installing Windows 98 ...................................................................................................................................................74

Installing Windows® 98 SE, Windows® ME & Wi n dow s®2000 ........................................................................................ 75

Installing VIA 4 in 1 Driver .............................................................................................................................................76

Installing Onboard Sound Driver ...................................................................................................................................77

Install Onboard IDE RAID Driver (AX37 Plus only)........................................................................................................78

Install FastCheck™ Monitorin g Utility (AX37 Plus only) ................................................................................................ 78

Installing Hardware Monitorin g Utility............................................................................................................................79

ACPI Suspend to Hard Drive......................................................................................................................................... 80

ACPI Suspend to RAM (STR)........................................................................................................................................84

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AWARD BIOS ....................................................................................................................................87

How To Use Award™ BI OS S etup P rog ram .................................................................................................................. 88

How To Enter BI OS S etup.............................................................................................................................................90

BIOS Upgrade ............................................................................................................................................................... 91

Overclocking....................................................................................................................................93

VGA Card & Hard Disk ..................................................................................................................................................94

Glossary...........................................................................................................................................9 5

AC97.............................................................................................................................................................................95

ACPI (Advanced Configuratio n & Power Interfac e) .......................................................................................................95

AGP (Accelerated Graphic Port) ...................................................................................................................................95

AMR (Audio/Modem Riser)............................................................................................................................................96

AOpen Bonus Pack CD.................................................................................................................................................96

APM (Advanced Power Management) ...........................................................................................................................96

ATA (AT Attachment).....................................................................................................................................................96

ATA/66 ..........................................................................................................................................................................96

ATA/100 ........................................................................................................................................................................97

BIOS (Basic Input/Output Sys tem) ................................................................................................................................97

Bus Master IDE (DMA mode)........................................................................................................................................97

CNR (Communication and Networki ng Riser)................................................................................................................97

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CODEC (Coding and Decoding)....................................................................................................................................98

DDR (Double Data Rated) SDRAM...............................................................................................................................98

DIMM (Dual In Line Memory Module)............................................................................................................................ 9 8

DMA (Direct Memory Acc ess) ....................................................................................................................................... 98

ECC (Error Checking and Correction) ...........................................................................................................................99

EDO (Extended Data Output) Memory ..........................................................................................................................99

EEPROM (Electronic Erasable Programmab le ROM) ....................................................................................................99

EPROM (Erasable Programmabl e ROM) ......................................................................................................................99

EV6 Bus......................................................................................................................................................................100

FCC DoC (Declaration of Conformity) .........................................................................................................................100

FC-PGA (Flip Chip-Pin Grid Array) ..............................................................................................................................100

Flash ROM..................................................................................................................................................................100

FSB (Front Side Bus) Clock ........................................................................................................................................101

I2C Bus ........................................................................................................................................................................ 101

IEEE 1394 ................................................................................................................................................................... 1 01

Parity Bit .....................................................................................................................................................................101

PBSRAM (Pipelined Burst S RAM)...............................................................................................................................102

PC-100 DIMM .............................................................................................................................................................102

PC-133 DIMM .............................................................................................................................................................102

PC-1600 or PC-2100 DDR DRAM...............................................................................................................................102

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PCI (Peripheral Component Interface) Bus .................................................................................................................102

PDF Format ................................................................................................................................................................103

PnP (Plug and Play)....................................................................................................................................................103

POST (Power-On Self Test)........................................................................................................................................103

RDRAM (Rambus DRAM) ...........................................................................................................................................103

RIMM (Rambus Inline Memory Module) ......................................................................................................................104

SDRAM (Synchronous DRAM)....................................................................................................................................104

Shadow E2PROM........................................................................................................................................................104

SIMM (Single In Li ne M emory Mod ule) .......................................................................................................................104

SMBus (System Management Bus).............................................................................................................................105

SPD (Serial Presence Detect ).....................................................................................................................................105

Ultra DMA ...................................................................................................................................................................105

USB (Universal Serial B us) .........................................................................................................................................106

VCM (Virtual Channel Memory)................................................................................................................................... 10 6

ZIP file ........................................................................................................................................................................106

Troubleshooting.............................................................................................................................107

Technical Support .........................................................................................................................111

Product Registration .....................................................................................................................114

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YYoouu MMuusstt NNoottiiccee

Adobe, the Adobe logo, Acrobat is trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated. AMD, the AMD logo, Athlon and Duron are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Intel, the Intel logo, Intel Celeron, Pentium II, Pentium III are trademarks of Intel Corporation. Microsoft, Windows, and Windows logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United

States and/or other countries. All product and brand names used on this manual are used for identification purposes only and may be the registered trademarks

of their respective owners.

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.

This documentation is protected by copyright law. All rights are reserved. No part of this document may be used or reproduced in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system with ou t p r ior written permissi o n fr om AOpen Corporatio n. Copyright

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BBeeffoorree YYoouu SSttaarrtt

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 in PDF format we recommend using Adobe Acrobat Reader 4.0 for online viewing, it is included in Bonus CD disc from Adobe web site

Although this Online Manual is optimized for screen viewing, it is still capable for hardcopy printing, you can print it by A4 paper size and set 2 pages per A4 sheet on your printer. To do so, choose File > Page Setup and follow the instruction of your printer driver.

Thanks for the help of saving our earth.

or you can get free download

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

OOvveerrvviieeww

Thank you for choosing AOpen AX37 Plus/AX37 Pro. The AX37 Plus/AX37 Pro is Intel® Socket 370 motherboard (M/B) based on the ATX form factor featuring the VIA Apollo Pro266 chipset can support Intel

Bus). In the AGP performance, it has one AGP slot and supports AGP 1X/2X/4X mode and pipelined spilt-transaction long burst

transfer up to 1066MB/sec. With high bandwidth 266MB/s 8-bit V-Link Host Controller, PC1600 applied to the AX37 Plus/AX37 Pro and the maximum memory size can be up to 3GB. The on-board IDE controller supports Ultra

DMA 33/66/100 mode and the transfer rate up to

100MB/s. AX37 Plus with a Promise 100 Lite IDE RAID controller that provides high performance and fault tolerance. Further flexibility can be achieved by taking advantage of the

Communication and Network Riser (CNR)

option that allows audio and modem configuration on a single baseboard design. Besides, the AX37 Plus/AX37 Pro has an AD 1885 AC97 chipset onboard for provides high performance and magic surround stereo sound to let people enjoy working with it. Now, enjoy all features from AOpen AX37 Plus/AX37 Pro.

Socket 370 series Pentium III® & Celeron™ 533MHz~1GHz+ processor and 66/100/133MHz FSB (Front Side

FastTrak™

card

CODEC

. As high performance chipset built in the M/B, the AX37 Plus/AX37 Pro

and PC2100 DDR S DRAM can be

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CPU

Supports Intel® Socket 370 Pentium III® & Celeron™ 533MHz~1GHz+ with 66/100/133MHz FSB (Front Side Bus) designed for Socket technology.

Chipset

The VIA Apollo Pro266 consists of the VT8633 V-Link DDR Host system controller and the VT8233 highly integrated V-Link Client PCI/LPC controller. The Host system controller provides superior performance between the CPU, DRAM, AGP bus, and V-Link interface with pipelined, burst, and concurrent operation. The VT8233 V-Link Client controller is a highly integrated PCI/LPC controller. Its internal bus structure is based on 66MHz PCI bus that provides 2x bandwidth compare to previous generation PCI/ISA bridge chips. The VT8233 integrated Client V-Link controller with 266MB/s bandwidth between Host/Client V-Link interface, provides a V-Link-PCI and V-Link-LPC controller. It supports five PCI slots arbitration and decoding for all integrated functions and LPC bus.

Expansion Slots

Including six 32-bit/33MHz PCI, one CNR and one AGP 4X slots. The PCI local bus throughput can be up to 132MB/s. The

Communication & Nectworking Riser (CNR)

card. The Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) video cards support data transfer rate up to 1066MB/s. As AX37 Plus/AX37 Pro includes one AGP expansion slot for a bus mastering AGP graphic card, For AD and SBA signaling, AX37 Plus/AX37 Pro can support 133MHz 2X/4X mode.

slot provided from AX37 Plus/AX37 Pro can support CNR interface for a Modem/Audio specification provides a new level of video display sophistication and speed. The AGP

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Memory

With VIA Apollo Pro266 chipset, the AX37 Plus/AX37 Pro can support Double-Data-Rated (DDR) SDRAM. The DDR DRAM interface allows zero wait state bursting between the DRAM and the data buffers at 66/100/133MHz. The six banks of DDR DRAM can be composed of an arbitrary mixture of 1M/2M4M/8M/16M/32M/64MxN DRAMs and maximum up to 3GB. The AX37 Plus/AX37 Pro allows DRAMs can run either synchronous or pseudo-synchronous mode with the host CPU bus frequency (66/100/133MHz).

Ultra DMA 33/66/100 Bus Mater IDE

Comes with an on-board PCI Bus Master IDE controller with two connectors that supports four IDE devices in two channels, supports Ultra DMA

33/66/100, PIO Modes 3 and 4 and Bus Master IDE DMA Mode 4, and supports Enhanced IDE devices.

On-board ATA/100 IDE RAID (AX37 Plus Onl y)

1. Supports data striping (RAID 0) and mirroring (RAID 1). Provides dramatic increase in drive performance and/or fault tolerant options. Offers performance customization and data rebuilds from the BIOS menu. Mirroring supports automatic background rebuilds. Fault tolerance can be restored automatically without rebooting.

2. Supports up to four IDE drives which capacities are more than 8.4GB on the two IDE RAID connectors while still supporting four IDE devices on the motherboard. The burst data transfer rates can up to 100MB/s from ATA/100 drives to boot overall system performance.

3. Supports IDE Bus Master operation allows multi-tasking during disk drives transfer which increase CPU efficiency, then the CPU is free to process task during IDE data transfer through PCI bus interface to/from system memory.

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On-board AC97 Sound

AX37 Plus/AX37 Pro uses the AD 1885 AC97 sound chip. This on-board audio includes a complete audio recording and playback system.

Six USB Connectors

Provides three ports, six USB connectors for USB interface devices, such as mouse, keyboard, m odem, scanner, etc. The onboard USB Host controller is fully compliant with USB UHCI 1.1 specification that can fully compatible with low power mode and wake-up specifi cation.

1MHz Stepping Frequency Adjustment

Provides “1MHz Stepping Frequency Adjustment” function in the BIOS. This magic function allows you adjust CPU FSB frequency from 66~248 by 1MHz stepping, and lets your system can get maximum performance.

Watch Dog Timer

Includes AOpen “Watch Dog Timer” function that can auto-reset system in 4.8 seconds when you fail to system overclocking.

Die-Hard BIOS with external contro ller (User Opt ional)

The Die-Hard BIOS technology is a very effective hardware protection method that doesn’t involve any software or BIOS coding. Hence, it is 100% virus free.

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Dr. LED (User Optional)

The Dr. LED has 8 LEDs on the AX37 Plus/AX37 Pro can easily show what kind of problem you may encounter.

Power Management/Plug and Play

The AX37 Plus/AX37 Pro supports the power management function that confirms to the power-saving standards of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Energy Star program. It also offers Plug-and-Play configuration problems, thus making to system user-friendlier.

, which helps save users from

Hardware Monitoring Management

Supports CPU or system fans status, temperature and voltage monitoring and alert, through the on-board hardware monitor module and Aopen Hardware Monitoring Utility

Enhanced ACPI

Fully implement the ACPI standard for Windows® 95/98/ME/NT/2000 series compatibility, and supports Soft-Off, STR (Suspend to

RAM, S 3), STD (Suspend to Disk, S4), WOM (Wak e On Mo dem ) , W OL (Wake O n LA N) f eat ur es.

Super Multi-I/O

The AX37 Plus/AX37 Pro provides two high-speed UART compatible serial ports and one parallel port with EPP and ECP capabilities. UART2 can also be directed from COM2 to the Infrared Module for the wireless connections.

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QQuuiicckk IInnssttaallllaattiioonn PPrroocceedduurree

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

10.

Install i ng O per ati ng S yst em (suc h as W indo ws 9 8)

11.

Installing Driver and Utility

(

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CD-IN Connector

Onboard AC97 CODEC

Die Hard BIOS with 100% Virus

Protection (User Optional)

JP30 Die Hard BIOS

Select Jumper

Green: AUX-IN Connector

Red: Modem-IN Connector

CNR Expansion Slot

32-bit PCI Expansion

2nd & 3rd USB Port

Dr. LED Connecto

WOM (Wake ON Modem)

WOL (Wake ON LAN)

Chassis Fan Connector

with H/W Monitoring

Front Panel Audio

Front Panel Connector

PROMISE® FastTrak 100™

Lite IDE RAID Controller

CMOS Data Clear Jumpe

System & RAM Power

IDE RAID Controller Enable/

Chassis Intrusion Sensor

Slot x6

Connecto

IrDA Connecto

Connector

AX37 Plus Onl

Indicate LED

Disable Jumper

Connecto

Motherboard Map

PC99 Colored Back Panel

Resettable Fuse Keyboard

Select Jumper

Wake-u 2200 μf Low ESR

Capacitor ATX Power Connector

AUX Fan Connector AGP 4x Expansion Slot

370-pin CPU Socket with Frequency/Voltage Auto-detection supports

Intel

Pentium® III and

Celeron™ 533MHz~1GHz+ VIA® Apollo Pro266

Chipset with Pure Aluminum Heatsink

CPU Fan Connector with H/W Monitoring

184-pin DDR DRAM Slot x3 support maximum up to 3GB

FSB Select Jumper ATA/33/66/100 IDE

Connector x2 ATA/100 IDE RAID

Connector x2 (AX37 Plus Only)

FDD Connector

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

BBlloocckk DDiiaaggrraamm

Socket 370

Intel

Pentium III/Celeron

CPU

DDR DRAM Socket x3

66/100/133MHz

System B us

AGP Bus

PC1600/PC2100 DDR

DRAM Up to 3GB

VT8633

DDR V-Link

Host North 552

BGA

AGP 4X Slot

Floppy Disk Drive x2

PCI Bus

1stUSB Port

2ndUSB Port

3rdUSB Port

USB connector x6

32-bit PCI Slot x6

Promise FastTrak 100 IDE

RAID

Controller

ATA

33/66100

Primary

Channel

Secondary

Channel

Primary

Channel

Secondary

Channel

VT8233

V-Link Client

South 376

BGA

Supports ATA100 IDE

RAID 0 and RAID 1

Solution (AX37 Plus Only)

AC’97 Link

Audio CODEC

Modem CODEC

2MBit Flash EEPROM

Parallel Port

Serial Port x2

IDE Drive x4

CNR Slot

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(This page is intentionally left blank for notes)

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HHaarrddwwaarree IInnssttaallllaattiioonn

This chapter describes jumpers, connectors and hardware devices of this motherboard.

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Please check accessories before you start to assemble system hardware.

! AX37 Plus or AX37 Pro Motherboard x1 ! Hard Disk Drive Cable & Floppy Disk Drive Cable x1 ! 80-wire IDE Cable x1

! 2 ! Bonus Pack CD Disk & NORTON AntiVirus 2000 CD x1 ! AX37 Plus/AX37 Pro Online Manual & EIG x1

USB Cable x1

Note: El ectrostatic discharge (ESD) can damage your processor, disk drives, expansion boards, and other components. Always observe the following precautions before you install a system component.

1. Do not remove a component from its protective packaging until you are ready to install it.

2. Wear a wrist ground strap and attach it to a metal part of the system unit before handling a component. If a wrist strap is not available, maintain contact with the system unit throughout any procedure requiring ESD protection.

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CClleeaarr CCMMOOSS DDaattaa

You can clear CMOS to restore system default setting. To clear the CMOS, follow the procedure below.

1. Turn off the system and unplug the AC power.

2. Remove ATX power cable from connector PWR2.

3. Locate JP14 and short pins 2-3 for a few seconds.

4. Return JP14 to its normal setting by shorting pins 1 & pin2.

5. Connect ATX power cable back to connector PWR2.

Pin 1

Normal Operation

(default)

Clear CMOS

Tip: W hen should I Clear CMOS?

1. Boot fa il bec aus e of ov e rcl ock in g…

2. Forget password…

3. Troubleshooting…

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CCPPUU IInnssttaallllaattiioonn

This motherboard supports Intel® Pentium III® and Celeron Socket 370 series CPU. Be careful of CPU orientation when you plug it into CPU socket.

1. Pull up the CPU socket level and up to 90-degree angle.

2. Locate Pin 1 in the socket and look for a black dot or cut edge on the CPU upper interface. Match Pin 1 and cut edge, then insert the CPU into the socket.

CPU pin 1

and cut edge

CPU socket

Lever

CPU cut edge

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

3. Press down the CPU socket level and finish CPU installation.

CPU cut edge

Note: If you do not match the CPU socket Pin 1 and CPU cut edge well, it ma

damage the CPU.

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This jumper is used to specify the relationship of PCI and FSB clock. Generally speaking, if you are not overclockers, we recommend you to set at the default setting. By the way, this motherboard also provides “1MHz Stepping Adjustment” feature for overclockers. You can adjust CPU FSB frequency via BIOS setup program. Based on the CPU type, the adjustment range has three level: 66~90 (FSB=66MHz, such as Celeron™ 533), 100~127 (FSB=100, such as Pentium such as P entium range will be changed and following your JP23 setting.

III 800EB) MHz for your choosing. If you fix the CPU FSB frequency by JP23, the “1MHz Stepping Adjustment”

III 800E), 133~248 (FSB=133,

2 1

Default)

FSB=133MHz

FSB=100MHz

FSB=66MHz

8 7

Auto

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

PCI

Clock = CPU FSB Clock / Clock Ratio

AGP Clock = PCI Clock x 2

Clock Ra tio CPU (Host) PCI AGP Memory

2X 66MHz 33MHz 66 PCI x2 or x3 2X, overclocking 75MHz 37.5MHz 75MHz PCI x2 or x3 3X 100MHz 33MHz 66MHz PCI x2 or x3 or x4 3X, overclocking 112MHz 37.3MHz 74.6MHz PCI x2 or x3 o r x4 4X 133MHz 33MHz 66MHz PCI x3 or x4 4X, overclocking 155MHz 38.75MHz 77.5MHz PCI x3 or x4

Warning:

133MHz FSB and 66MHz AGP clock, higher clock setting may cause serious system damage

VIA

Apollo Pro 266 chipset supports maximum

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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 designs are eliminated. There will be no worry of wrong CPU voltage detection.

CPU VID signal

, therefore no jumpers or switches are used. The disadvantages of the Pentium based jumper-less

Intel® Socket 370

Pentium III & Celero n CP U

Power Regulator

(Automatically generates CPU voltage)

CPU Freq. Ratio

CPU voltage

Clock

Generator

BIOS

Controlled

Circuit

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This function is dedicated to overclockers, AOpen works together with Fairchild to develop a speci al chip F M3540 that supports Adjustable CPU Core Voltage from 1.3V to 3.5 by 0.05 stepping. But this motherboard can also automatically detect CPU VID signal and generates proper CPU core voltage.

BIOS Setup > Frequency/Voltage Control > CPU Voltage Setting

Warning:

able to increase CPU speed for overclocking, but you may damage the CPU or reduce the CPU lifecycle

Higher CPU core voltage may be

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This motherboard is CPU jumper-less design, you can set CPU frequency through the BIOS setup, and no jumpers or switches are needed.

BIOS Setup > Frequency/Voltage Control > CPU Speed Setting

CPU Ratio CPU FSB (By BIOS Table) CPU FS B (By manual

Adjustment)

1.5x, 2x, 2.5x, 3x, 3.5x, 4x, 4.5x, 5x, 5.5x, 6x, 6.5x, 7x, 7.5x, and 8x

66.8, 75, 83.3, 100, 103, 105, 110, 112, 115, 120, 124, 133, 140, and 150 MHz.

66~248MHz by 1MHz stepping adjustment technology

Warning: VIA® Apollo Pro 266 chipset supports maximum 133MHz FSB and 66MHz AGP clock, higher clock setting may cause serious system damage.

Tip: If your syst em hangs or fails to boot because of overclocking, simply use <Home> key to

Home

restore the default setting (433MHz) or you can wait the AOpen “Watch Dog Timer” reset the system after five seconds and system will auto-detect hardware again.

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Core Frequency = CPU Bus Clock * CP U Ra tio PCI Clock = CPU Bus Clock / Clock Ratio

AGP Clock = PCI Clock x 2

CPU

Celeron 300A 300MHz 66MHz 4.5x Celeron 366 366MHz 66MHz 5.5x Celeron 366 366MHz 66MHz 5.5x Celeron 400 400MHz 66MHz 6x Celeron 433 433MHz 66MHz 6.5 Celeron 466 466MHz 66MHz 7x Celeron 500 500MHz 66MHz 7.5x Celeron 533 533MHz 66MHz 8x Celeron 566 566MHz 66MHz 8.5x Celeron 600 600MHz 66MHz 9x Celeron 667 667MHz 66MHz 10x Celeron 700 700MHz 66MHz 10.5 Pentium III 500E 500MHz 100MHz 5x Pentium III 600E 600MHz 100MHz 6x

CPU Core

Frequenc y

Note: This motherboard support CPU auto-detection function. Hence, you don’t need to setup the CPU frequency b

manual.

FSB Clock Ratio

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Pentium III 650E 650MHz 100MHz 6.5x Pentium III 700E 700MHz 100MHz 7x Pentium III 750E 750MHz 100MHz 7.5 Pentium III 800E 800MHz 100MHz 8x Pentium III 850E 850MHz 100MHz 8.5x Pentium III 533EB 533MHz 133MHz 4x Pentium III 600EB 600MHz 133MHz 4.5x Pentium III 667EB 667MHz 133MHz 5x Pentium III 733EB 733MHz 133MHz 5.5 Pentium III 800EB 800MHz 133MHz 6x Pentium III 866EB 866MHz 133MHz 6.5 Pentium III 933EB 933MHz 133MHz 7x

Warning: VIA® Apollo Pro 266 chipset supports maximum 133MHz Bus and 66MHz AGP clock, higher clock setting may cause serious system damage.

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

AAOOppeenn ““WWaattcchh DDoogg TTiimmeerr””

With this motherboard, AOpen provides a very special, useful feature for overclockers. When you power-on the system, the BIOS will check last system POST

FSB

frequency by user’s setting that stored in the BIOS. If system failed in BIOS POST, the “Watch Dog Timer” will reset the system to reboot in five seconds. Then, BIOS will detect the CPU’s default frequency and POST again. With this special feature, you can easily overclock your system to get higher system performance, and without removing the cover of system housing to set the jumper to clear CMOS data when your system hanged.

AOpen

Watch Dog

Timer

status. If it succeeded, the BIOS will enable “Watch Dog Timer” function immediately, and set the CPU

Enable/Disable Signal

from BIOS

Countdown about 5 seconds if fails in POST

Reset Signal

Clock Generator

BIOS

CPU ID Signal

CPU

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

CCPPUU aanndd HHoouussiinngg FFaann CCoonnnneeccttoorr ((wwiitthh HH//WW MMoonniittoorriinngg))

Plug in th e CPU f an ca ble to t he 3- pin CP U FAN connector. If you have chassis fan, you can also plug it on FAN2 or FAN3 (without H/W moni toring) connector.

GND +12V

SENSE

CPU Fan Connector

Note: Some CPU fans do not have sensor pin, so that cannot support fan monitoring.

Fan3 Connector

GND +12V

SENSE

Fan2 Connector

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

DDRRAAMM SSoocckkeett

The DDR DRAM interface allows zero wait state bursting between the DRAM and the data buffers at 100 or 133MHz. The three 184-pin sockets, six banks of DDR DRAM can be composed of an arbitrary mixture of 1M/2M4M/8M/16M/32M/64MxN DRAMs and maximum up to 3GB.

Warning: The AX37 Plus/AX37 Pro only supports DDR DRAM, please do not install the SDRAM on it, this will cause the memory sockets or DDR DRAM module damage.

DIMM1 DIMM2 DIMM3

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

HHooww ttoo IInnssttaallll MMeemmoorryy MMoodduulleess

Please follow the procedure as shown below to finish memory installation.

1. Make sure the DIMM module’s pin face down and match the socket’s size as depicted below.

2. Insert the module straight down to the DIMM slot with both hands and press down firmly until the DIMM module is securely in

place.

3. Repeat step 2 to finish additional DIMM modules installation.

Pin 1

Tab

Key

52 pins 40 pins

Note: The t abs of t he DI MM sl ot w ill close- up to hold the DIMM i n place when the DIMM touches the slot’s bottom.

Pin 1

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

SSyysstteemm aanndd RRAAMM PPoowweerr IInnddiiccaattee LLEEDD

This LED indicates there is power applies to motherboard and memory. If you connect power to the motherboard, this LED will be lighting. It is useful to check the system power status when power on/off and stand-by mode or RAM power status during Suspend

to RAM mode.

System

Power LE D

Warning: Do not install or remove the DIMM module or others devices when the LED is li ght in g.

V V

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

FFrroonntt PPaanneell CCoonnnneeccttoorr

Attach the power LED, EMPI, speaker, power and reset switch connectors to th 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. Plug this connector to the soft-power switch connector marked SPWR.

Suspend Type ACPI L E D

Power on Suspend (S1) Flashing for every second

Suspend to RAM (S3) or Suspend to Disk (S4) The LED will be turned off

NC NC

+5 +5

GND

SPWR GND ACPI & PWR LED GND +5V NC NC GND RESET GND

IDE LED

Speaker

+ +

Power Switch

ACPI &

Power LED

Reset

IDE LED IDE LED

SPEAKER

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

AATTXX PPoowweerr CCoonnnneeccttoorr

The ATX power supply uses 20-pin connector shown below. Make sure you plug in the right direction.

COM

+5V

COM +3.3V +3.3V

+3.3V

-12V

COM

PS-ON

COM

+5V COM PW-OK 5VSB +12V

+5V +5V

-5V COM COM

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

AACC PPoowweerr AAuuttoo RReeccoovveerryy

A traditional ATX system should remain at power off stage when AC power resumes from power failure. This design is inconvenient for a network server or workstation, without an UPS, that needs to keep power-on. This motherboard implements an AC Power Auto Recovery function to solve this problem.

JJPP2288 KKeeyybbooaarrdd WWaakkee--uupp

This motherboard provides keyboard wake-up function. You can use the JP28 to enable or disable this function.

Pin 1

Disable

(Default)

Enable

(

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

IIDDEE,, FFllooppppyy aanndd IIDDEE RRAAIIDD ((AAXX3377 PPlluuss oonnllyy)) CCoonnnneeccttoorr

Connect 34-pin floppy cable and 40-pin IDE cable to floppy connector FDC and IDE/IDE RAID (AX37 Plus only) connector. Be careful of the pin1 orientation. Wrong orientation may cause system damage.

IDE RAID

Connector

(AX37 Plus only)

RAID IDE 1

2nd)

Slave

RAID IDE 2

Slave (4th)

RAID IDE 1 Master

RAID IDE 2

Master

3rd)

1st)

ATA 33/66/100

IDE Connector

Slave (2nd)

Pin 1

Primary

Secondary Slave (4th)

Pin 1

Primary

Master (1st)

IDE1 (Primary)

IDE2 (Secondary)

Secondary

Master (3rd)

FDD Connector

66/100 is required

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

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. Either one can be the hard disk or the CDROM. The setting as master or slave mode depends on the jumper on your IDE device, so please refer to your hard disk and CDROM manual accordingly.

This motherboard supports ATA33 modes. The IDE bus is 16-bit, which means every transfer is two bytes.

Mode Clock Period Clock

PIO mode 0 30ns 20 600ns (1/600ns) x 2byte = 3.3MB/s PIO mode 1 30ns 13 383ns (1/383ns) x 2byte = 5.2MB/s PIO mode 2 30ns 8 240ns (1/240ns) x 2byte = 8.3MB/s PIO mode 3 30ns 6 180ns (1/180ns) x 2byte = 11.1MB/s PIO mode 4 30ns 4 120ns (1/120ns) x 2byte = 16.6MB/s DMA mode 0 30ns 16 480ns (1/480ns) x 2byte = 4.16MB/s DMA mode 1 30ns 5 150ns (1/150ns) x 2byte = 13.3MB/s DMA mode 2 30ns 4 120ns (1/120ns) x 2byte = 16.6MB/s UDMA 33 30ns 4 120ns (1/120ns) x 2byte x2 = 33MB/s UDMA 66 30ns 2 60ns (1/60ns) x 2byte x2 = 66MB/s UDMA100 20ns 2 40ns (1/40ns) x 2byte x2 = 100MB/s

Warning: Th e sp ec ific at io n of the I DE c abl e is a max imu m of 46c m (1 8 inc hes ) ; make sure your cable does not exceed this length.

, ATA66 or ATA100 IDE devices. Following table lists the transfer rate of IDE PIO and DMA

Count

Cycle Time Data Transfer Rate

Tip:

1. For better signal quality, it is recommended to set the far end side device to master mode and follow the suggested sequence to install your new device. Please refer to above diagram

2. To achieve the best performance of Ultra DMA 66/100 hard disks, a special 80-wires IDE cable for Ultra DMA

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

JJPP3355 EEnnaabbllee//DDiissaabbllee OOnnbbooaarrdd IIDDEE RRAAIIDD CCoonnttrroolllleerr

The JP35 is used to enable or disable onboard PROMISE® FastTrak 100 Lite IDE RAID controller. If you want to disable this controller, please turn off the system power first, and short pin 2 and pin 3 of JP35 by jumper.

Pin 1

1 1

Enable

(Default)

Disable

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

IIrrDDAA CCoonnnneeccttoorr

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, the 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, UART2 Mode have the correct orientation when you plug in the IrDA connector.

Pin 1

IR_T

IrDA Connector

+5V

, make sure to

GND IR_RX

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

WWOOMM ((ZZeerroo VVoollttaaggee WWaakkee oonn MMooddeemm)) CCoonnnneeccttoorr

This motherboard implements special circuit to support Wake On Modem, both Internal modem card and external box modem are supported. Since Internal modem card consumes no power when system power is off, it is recommended to use an internal modem. To use internal modem, connect 4-pin cable from RING c onnector of modem card t o the WOM connector on the motherboard.

WOM Connector

+5VSB

RI-

GND

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

WWOOMM bbyy EExxtteerrnnaall BBOOXX MMooddeem

Traditional Green PC suspend mode does not really turn off the system power supply, it uses external box modem to trigger MB COM port and resume back to active.

Pin 1

Serial Port

(Modem Side)

Serial Port

(Motherboard Side)

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

WWOOMM bbyy IInntteerrnnaall MMooddeemm CCaarrd

With the help of the ATX soft power On/Off, it is possible to have a system totally power off, and wakeup to automatically answer a phone call as an answering machine or to send/receive a fax. You may identify whether or not your system is in true power off mode by checking to see if the fan of your power supply is off. Both an external box modem and an internal modem card c an be used to support Modem Wake Up, but if you use an external modem, you have to leave your box modem on.

WOM Connector

(Motherboard Side)

WOM Connector

(Modem Card Side)

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

WWOOLL ((WWaakkee oonn LLAANN))

This feature is very similar as Wake On Modem, but it goes through local area network. To use Wake On LAN function, you must have a network card with chipset that supports this feature, and connect a cable from LAN card to motherboard WOL connector. The system identification information (probably IP address) is stored on network card and because there is a lot of traffic on the Ethernet, you need to install network management software, such as ADM, for the checking of how to wake up the system. Note that, at least 600mA ATX standby current is required to support the LAN card for this function.

LID GND +5VSB

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

WOL Connector

(Motherboard Side)

WOL Connector

(Ethernet Card Side)

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

AAGGPP ((AAcccceelleerraatteedd GGrraapphhiicc PPoorrtt)) EExxppaannssiioonn SSlloott

The AX37 Plus/AX37 Pro provides an AGP 4x slot. The AGP 4x is a bus interface targeted for high-performance 3D graphic. AGP supports only memory read/write operation and single-master single-slave one-to-one only. AGP uses both rising and falling edge of the 66MHz clock, for 2X AGP, the data transfer rate is 66MHz x 4bytes x 2 = 528MB/s. AGP is now moving to AGP 4x mode, 66MHz x 4bytes x 4 = 1056MB/s.

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuua

all

CCNNRR ((CCoommmmuunniiccaattiioonn aanndd NNeettwwoorrkk RRiisseerr)) EExxppaannssiioonn SSlloott

CNR 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 which is put on CNR card. This motherboard implements sound CODEC on board (can be disabled through BIOS), but reserve CNR slot for the option of m odem func tion. Note t hat you can s till us e PCI m odem card.

) circuit requires a different and separate circuit design,

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

PPCC9999 CCoolloorr CCooddeedd BBaacckk PPaanneell

The onboard I/O devices are PS/2 Keyboard, PS/2 Mouse, serial ports COM1 and COM2, Printer, six USB, AC97 sound and game port. The view angle of drawing shown here is from the back panel of the housing.

PS/2 Keyboard: For standard keyboard, which is using a PS/2 plug. PS/2 Mo us e: F or PC -Mo us e, whic h is us in g a PS/ 2 pl ug. USB Por t : Available for connecting USB devices. Parallel Port: To connect wit h SP P/EC P/EPP pri nter. COM1 Port: To connect with pointing devices, modem or others serial devices. VGA Connector: To connect with PC monitor. Speaker Out: To External Speaker, Earphone or Amplifier. Line-In: Comes from the signal sources, such as CD/Tape player. MIC-In: From Microphone. MIDI/Game Port: For 15-pin PC joystick, game pad or MIDI devices.

PS/2 Mouse

Connector

PS/2 Keyboard

Connector

USB

Connectors

COM 1 Port COM 2 Port

SPP/EPP/ECP

Parallel Port

MIDI/Game Port

MIC-In

Line-In

Speaker Out

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

nnd

SSuuppppoorrtt 2

This motherboard supports three USB ports and provides six USB connectors. Two of them are on the PC99 colored back panel,

and 2

and 3rd port connector is behind PCI3 slot. You can use proper cable to connect others USB connectors to the back plane

or front panel of chassis.

Pin 1

+5V

SBD2-

SBD2+

GND

&& 3

1 2

9 10

rrd

UUSSBB PPoorrtt

+5V SBD3SBD3+ GND H_OC23-

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

CChhaassssiiss IInnttrruussiioonn SSeennssoorr

The JP13 provides chassis intrusion-monitoring function. This function logged the event in the system BIOS when chassis is opened. You can use the 2-pin chassis intrusion sensor to connect with JP13, and enable the chassis monitoring function of system BIOS. Please contact our local distributor or reseller for purchasing this sensor. And again, you also can visit our official web site:

www.aopen.com.tw

Pin 1

to get more information.

JP13 Chas si s I ntr usi on

Sensor Connector

SENSE GND

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

CCDD AAuuddiioo CCoonnnneeccttoorr

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

Pin 1

R GND GND L

CD-IN

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

MMooddeemm AAuuddiioo CCoonnnneeccttoorr

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.

MIC Out

GND GND

Mono In

MODEM-CN

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

AAUUXX--IINN CCoonnnneeccttoorr

This connector is used to connect MPEG Audio cable from MPEG card to onboard sound.

R GND GND

AUX-IN

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

FFrroonntt PPaanneell AAuuddiioo CCoonnnneeccttoorr

If the housing has been design with an audio port on the front panel, you’ll be able to connect onboard audio to front panel through this connector.

1 2

GND +5V NC

9 10

Pin 1

MIC_IN2 VREFOUT PHONE_R

PHONE_L

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

DDiiee--HHaarrdd BBIIOOSS ((110000%% VViirruuss PPrrootteeccttiioonn,, UUsseerr OOppttiioonnaall))

Recently, many viruses have been found that may destroy bios code and data area. This motherboard implements a very effective hardware protection method that does not involve any software or BIOS coding, hence is 100% virus free. There is a BIOS flash ROM mounted on the M/B when you get it. If you want to add extra BIOS flash ROM, please contact the local distributor or reseller. You also can link t o AO pen offic i al we bs it e: www.aopen.com.tw

JP30 Pin 1

by Internet to purchase it.

Rescue

ROM

1 1

Normal

Rescue

BIOS ROM

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

EExxtteerrnnaall CCoonnttrroolllleerr ffoorr DDIIEE--HHAARRDD BBIIOOSS ((UUsseerr OOppttiioonnaall))

External Controller provides you a better and convenience way to switch the BIOS status between “Rescue” and “Normal” without opening the case of your computer. You have to plug the jumper cable to the connector pin (JP30) on the motherboard. Be careful of the orientation when you connect, the red wire should correspond to Pin1.

Manual Switch

To / Form CPU

Read/Write

Normal

Flash ROM

Read Only

Rescue ROM

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

Note:

If you suspect your BIOS is infected by virus, just rescue your bios by following steps:

1. Turn off the system, set the External Controller to “Rescue” to read from rescue ROM.

2. Boot the system and s et the switch back to “Normal”.

3. Follow the BIOS upgrade procedure to rehabilitate BIOS. Reboot the system, and you should be able to back to normal.

Normal

(Read from normal

Flash ROM)

Tip: If you pl ace the s wit ch t o t he mi ddl e, you will not be able to boot your system, thus you can protect your data from molesting.

Rescue

(Read from

Rescue ROM)

Lock

(Lock your computer to protect your data)

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

DDrr.. LLEEDD CCoonnnneeccttoorr ((UUsseerr OOppttiioonnaall))

In conjunction with Dr. LED (User Optional), which can easily show what kind of problem you may incur on your system during assembly. It can clearly indicate whether there is a component issue or an installed issue by the 8 LEDs on the front panel of Dr. LED. This helps you quickly self-diagnostic your system status.

Pin 1

3.3V NC

GND

1 2

GPO12 GPO14 GPO14-

5 6

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

Dr. LED is a CD disc storage box with 8 LEDs on its front panel, the size of Dr. LED is exactly the same as 5.25 in floppy drive, so that it can be mount into normal 5.25 in drive bay of any housing.

The total 8 LEDs light up alternatively if the system fails in one of eight stages. Once the LED7 (latest LED) is lit, this indicat es that the system has completed its boot-up procedure. The 8 LEDs indicate the following messages when lit:

LED 0 - Indicates that the CPU may have been installed incorrectly or is damaged. LED 1 - Indicates that the memory may have been installed incorrectly or is damaged. LED 2 - Indicates that the AGP may have been installed incorrectly or is damaged. LED 3 - Indicates that the PCI card may have been installed incorrectly or is damaged. LED 4 - Indicates that the floppy disk drive may have been installed incorrectly or is damaged. LED 5 - Indicates that the HDD may have been installed incorrectly or is damaged. LED 6 - Indicates that the keyboard may have been installed incorrectly or is damaged. LED 7 - Indi ca tes th at t he sy st em is OK.

7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0

Boot O.K. KB HDD Audio CPU Video Memory PCI

Note: During POST (Power On Self Test) procedure, the Debug LED will light on sequentially from LED0 to LED7 until the system boot O.K

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

Auto Swit ch

RTC

CMOS

Battery ATX Stand-by Power

uto switching to ATX standby power as long as AC power line is plugged. This smart design increases battery life if you still plug battery on motherboard.

Backup by EEPROM

BBaatttteerryy--lleessss aanndd LLoonngg LLiiffee DDeessiiggnn

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. If you lose your CMOS data by accident, you can just reload the CMOS configurations from Flash ROM and the system will recover as usual.

Flash

ROM

(Real Time Clock)

00:00:00

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

OOvveerr--ccuurrrreenntt PPrrootteeccttiioonn

The Over Current Protection was very popular implemented on ATX 3.3V/5V/12V switching power supply. However, the new generation CPU uses different voltage that has regulator to transfer 5V to CPU voltage (for example, 2.0V), and makes 5V over current protection useless. This motherboard is with switching regulator onboard supports CPU over-current protection; in conjunction with 3.3V/5V/12V power supply provide the full line over-current protection.

Note: Although we have implemented protection circuit try to prevent any human operating mistake, there is still certain risk that 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.

ATX

Switching

Power

Supply

12V (Protected by power supply)

3.3V (Pr ot ec ted b y pow er sup pl y)

5V (Protected by power supply)

Onboard

Power

Regulator

Over-Current

Protection

Circuit

CPU Core Voltag e

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

HHaarrddwwaarree MMoonniittoorriinngg

This motherboard implements a hardware monitoring system. As you turn on your system, this smart design will continue to monitor your system’s working voltage, fan status and CPU temperature. If any of these systems’ status go wrong, there will be an alarm through the AOpen Hardware Monitoring Utility

Fan

CPU

Power

to warn the user.

Fan Speed

AOpe n H / W

Monitoring

Utility

CPU Temperature

CPU Voltage

System Voltage

Detection

Circuit

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

RReesseettttaabbllee FFuussee

Traditional motherboard has fuse for Keyboard and USB port to prevent over-current or shortage. These fuses are soldered onboard that when it is broken (did the job to protect motherboard), user still cannot replace it and the motherboard is still malfunction.

With expensive Resettable Fuse, the motherboard can back to normal function after fuse did the protection job.

Resettable

Fuse

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

YYeeaarr 22000000 ((YY22KK))

Y2K is basically a problem of the identification of year code. To save storage space, traditional software uses only two digits for year identification. For example, 98 for 1998 and 99 for 1999, but 00 will be confused with 1900 and 2000.

There is an RTC circuit (Real Time Clock) in conjunction with 128 bytes of CMOS RAM data in the chipset of the motherboard. The RTC has only two digits and the CMOS has another 2 digits. Unfortunately, this circuit’s behavior is like this 1997# 1998 # 1999 # 1900, that means it may have the Y2K problem. Below is a diagram of how applications work with the OS, BIOS and RTC. In order to keep the best compatibility in the PC industry there is a rule that applications must call the OS to get services and OS must call the BIOS, and then only BIOS is allowed to access the hardware (RTC) directly.

Applications

There is a Tick Routine (that goes live around every 50m sec) in the BIOS to keep record of date/time information. In general the BIOS, this Tick Routine does not update the CMOS every time because the CMOS is a very slow device that degrades system performance. The Tick Routine of the AOpen BIOS has 4 digits for year coding, as long as applications and the operating system

Operating System (such as Windows 98)

BIOS (Tick Routine)

RTC and CM OS dat a

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

follow the rule to get date/time information. There will be no Y2K problem (such as NSTL’s test program). But unfortunately again, we found some test programs (such as Checkit 98) accesses RTC/CMOS directly. This motherboard has hardware Y2K

checking and protection that ensures risk free operation.

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

2222000

The quality of low ESR capacitor (Low Equivalent Series Resistance) during high frequency operation is very important for stability of CPU power. The location of where to put these capacitors is another know-how that requires experience and detail calculation.

Not only that, this motherboard implements 2200μf condensers, which is much larger than normal (1000 or 1500μf) and provides better stability for CPU power.

ff LLooww EESSRR CCaappaacciittoorr

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

The power circuit of the CPU core voltage must be checked to ensure system stability for high speed CPUs (such as the new Pentium III, or when overclocking). A typical CPU core voltage is 2.0V, so a good design should control voltage between 1.860V and 2.140V. That is, the transient must be below 280mV. Below is a timing diagram captured by a Digital Storage Scope, it shows the voltage transient is only 143mv even when maximum 18A current is applied.

Note: This diagram for example only, it may not be exactly the same as this motherboard.

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

LLaayyoouutt ((FFrreeqquueennccyy IIssoollaattiioonn WWaallll))

Note: This diagram for example only, it may not be exactly the same as this motherboard.

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 regions where each region operates in a same or similar frequency range to avoid cross talk and frequency interference between each region’s operations and condition. The trace length and route must be calculated carefully. For example, the clock trace must be equal length (not necessarily as short as possible) so that clock skew will be controlled within few a pico second (1/10

Sec)

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

PPuurree AAlluummiinnuumm HHeeaattssiinnkk

Cool down CPU and Chipset is important for system reliability. Aluminum heat sink provides better heat consumption especially when you are trying to overclock.

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

DDrriivveerr aanndd UUttiilliittyy

There are motherboard drivers and utilities included in AOpen Bonus CD disc. 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. Please refer to your operation system’s installation guide.

Note: Please follow recommended procedure to install Windows 95

and Windows 98.

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

AAuuttoo--rruunn MMeennuu ffrroomm BBoonnuuss CCDD DDiisscc

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

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

IInnssttaalllliinngg WWiinnddoowwss 9955

1. First, don’t install any add-on card except AGP card.

2. Install Windows 95 OSR2 v2.1, 1212 or 1214 version and later with USB support. Otherwise, you need to install USBSUP P.EXE.

3. Install the VIA 4 in 1 driver program.

4. Finally, Install other add-on cards and their drivers.

, which includes VIA AGP Vxd driver, VIA ATAPI Vendor Support driver and VIA registry (INF)

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

IInnssttaalllliinngg WWiinnddoowwss 9988

1. First, don’t install any add-on card except AGP card.

2. Enable USB Controller in BIOS Setup > Advanced Chipset Features > OnChip USB, to make BIOS fully capable of controlling IRQ assignment.

3. Install Window 98 into your system.

4. Install the VIA 4 in 1 driver registry (INF) program.

5. Finally, Install other add-on cards and their drivers.

, which includes VIA AGP Vxd driver, IRQ Routing, VIA ATAPI Vendor Support driver and VIA

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

IInnssttaalllliinngg WWiinnddoowws

If you are using Windows® 98 Second Edition, Windows® Millennium Edition or Windows® 2000, you do not need to install the 4-in-1 driver as the IRQ Routing Driver and the ACPI Registry are already incorporated into the operating system. Users with Windows 98 SE may update the VIA Registry INF and AGP drivers by installing them individually.

Please refer to VIA Tec hnologies Inc.

http://www.via.com/ http://www.via.com/drivers/4in1420.exe

9988 SSEE,, WWiinnddoowws

for latest version of 4 in 1 driver:

MMEE && WWiinnddoowws

22000000

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

IInnssttaalllliinngg VVIIAA 44 iinn 11 DDrriivveerr

You can install th e VIA 4 in 1 drive r (IDE Bus master (For Windows NT use), VIA ATAPI Vendor Support Driver, VIA AGP, IRQ Routing Driver (For Windows 98 use), VIA Registry (INF) Driver) from the Bonus Pack CD disc auto-run menu.

Warning: If you w ant to uninst all the VIA AGP Vx d driver, please remo ve the AGP card driver first. Otherwise, the screen may go black at rebooting after the un-installation.

Note: Installing this Bus M aster IDE driver may cause Suspend to Hard Drive failure.

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

IInnssttaalllliinngg OOnnbbooaarrdd SSoouunndd DDrriivveerr

This motherboard comes with an AC97 CODEC and the sound controller is in VIA South Bridge chipset. You can find the audio driver from the Bonus Pack CD disc auto-run menu.

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

IInnssttaallll OOnnbbooaarrdd IIDDEE RRAAIIDD DDrriivveerr ((AAXX3377 PPlluuss oonnllyy))

The onboard PROMISE® FastTrak 100 Lite chipset provides DOS, Widows 3.1/95/98/98 SE/ME/NT/2000 driver for install. Please refer to the “ATA/100 IDE RAID Manual” for get more detail information.

IInnssttaallll FFaassttCChheecckk™™ MMoonniittoorriinngg UUttiilliittyy ((AAXX3377 PPlluuss oonnllyy))

You can monitor the operating status of disk array and drives configured on the IDE RAID channel using the supplies FastCheck™ monitoring utility for Windows-based operating system. FastCheck™ generates visual and audible messages alerting you of possible problems with the disk array or controller. Please refer to the “ATA/100 IDE RAID Manual” for get more detail information.

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

IInnssttaalllliinngg HHaarrddwwaarree MMoonniittoorriinngg UUttiilliittyy

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.

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AACCPPII SSuussppeenndd ttoo HHaarrdd DDrriivvee

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. If your memory is 64MB, normally, you need to reserve at least 64MB HDD space t o save your memory im age.

When go into Suspend:

When power-on next time:

System

Image &

Status

System

Image &

Status

Hard Disk

Save into

Restore within seconds

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

System Requirement

1. AOZVHDD.EXE 1.30b or later.

2. 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. Set Power Schemes > Syst em Standby t o "Never". b. Click on "Hibernate" and select "Enable Hibernate Support" then "Apply". c. Click on the "Advanced" tab, you'll see "Hibernate" on "Power Buttons". Note that this option will only be seen after step b

mentioned above has been completed; otherwise only "Standby" and "Shutdown" will be shown. Select "Hibernate" and "Apply".

3. Clean boot into DOS and run AOZVHDD utility.

a. I f you assign th e whole disk to yo ur Win 98 system (FAT 16 or FAT 32), pl ease run "aozvhdd /c /file". Please remember

sufficient free space has to be reserved in the disk, e.g. if you have 64 MB DRAM and 16 MB VGA card installed, the system needs at least 80 MB free space. The utility will locate the space automatically.

b. If you assign an individual partition for Win 98, please run "aozvhdd /c /partition ". Of course, the system needs to provide

unformatted an empty partition.

4. Reboot sys tem .

5. You've already implemented ACPI Suspend to-Hard Drive. Click "Start > Shut Down > Standby" then the screen will go off

immediately. And 1 minute or so will be taken for the system to save what's in the memory to the hard drive; the larger the memory size the longer this process will take.

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

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. Save changes.

2. Select "Add New Hardware" under Control Panel. Allow Windows 98 to detect new hardware. (It will find "ACPI BI O S " and remove "Plug and Pla y BIOS")

3. Reboot sys tem .

4. Clean boot into DOS and run "AOZVHDD.EXE /C /File"

Changing from ACPI to APM

1. Run "Regedit.exe" a. Go through the following path

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE

SOFTWARE

MICROSOFT

WINDOWS

CURRENT VERSION

DETECT

ACPI OPTION

b. Right click and select "Modify, change "01" to "02" to make it "0000 02".

c. Save changes.

2. Select "Add New Hardware" under Control Panel. Allow Windows 98 to detect new hardware. (It will find "Plug and P lay BI OS"

and remove "ACPI BIOS")

3. Reboot sys tem .

4. Run "Add New Hardware" again and it will find "Advanced Power Management Resource".

5. Click "OK ".

Tip: "02" means Windows 98 is ACPI acknowledged but the ACPI function is disabled.

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

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

AACCPPII SSuussppeenndd ttoo RRAAMM ((SSTTRR))

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.

When go into Suspend:

When power-on next time:

System Image & Status

in the DRAM

System Image & Status

in the DRAM

Backup by 3.3V Power

Power back to w

Other System

Devices

Other System

Devices

Power loss

Power back to w

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

To implement ACPI Suspend to DRAM, please follow the procedures as below:

System Requirement

1. An ACPI OS is required. Currently, Windows 98 is the only choice. Please refer to ACPI Suspend to Hard Drive of how to

setup Windows 98 ACPI mode.

2. The VIA 4 in 1 Driver must have been installed properly.

Procedures

1. Changed the following BIOS settings.

BIOS Setup > Power Management Setup > ACPI Function: Enabled

BIOS Setup > Power Management Setup > ACPI Suspend Type: S3.

2. Go to Control Panel > Power Management. Set “Power Buttons” to “Standby”.

3. Press power button or standby button to wake up the system.

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(This page is intentionally left blank for notes)

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

AAWWAARRDD BBIIOOSS

System parameters can be modified by going into BIOS Setup menu, this menu allows you to configure the system parameters and save the configuration into the 128 bytes CMOS area, (normally in the RTC chip or in the main chi pset).

The AwardBIOS™ that installed in the Flash ROM provides critical low-level support for standard devices such as hard disk drives, serial and parallel ports.

Most BIOS setting of AK73M had optimized by AOpen’s R&D engineering team. But, the default setting of BIOS still can’t fine-tune the chipset controlling entire system. Hence, the rest of this chapter is intended to guide you through the process of configuring your sys t em us i n g s e t u p.

To enter to BIOS setup menu

, press <Del> when POST (Power-On Self Test) screen is shown on your monitor.

of the motherboard is a custom version of an industry standard BIOS. The BIOS

Note: Because the BIOS code is the most often changed part of the motherboard design, the BIOS information contained in this manual may be different with actual BIOS that come with your motherboard.

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

HHooww TToo UUssee AAwwaarrdd™™ BBIIOOSS SSeettuupp PPrrooggrraamm

Generally, you can use the arrow keys to highlight items that you want to choose, then press <Enter> key to select, and use the <Page Up> and <Page Down> key to change setting value. You also can press <F1> key for help and press <Esc> key to quit 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.

Key Description

Page Up or + Changing setting to next value or increase the value. Page Down or - Changing setting to previous value or decrease value. Enter Select the item. Esc 1. In main menu: Quit and don’t save any c hange.

2. In sub menu: Exit current menu to m ain menu. Up Arrow Highlight previous item. Down Ar ro w Highlight next item. Left Arrow Move the light bar to left side of menu. Right Arrow Move the light bar to right side of menu. F1 Get menu or item help description. F3 Changing menu language. F5 Load previous setting value from CMOS.

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

Key Description

F6 Load fail-save setting value from CMOS. F7 Load turbo setting value from CMOS. F10 Save changed setting and exit setup program.

Note: A Open 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. Hence, you don’t need read this manual while you changing the BIOS setting.

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

HHooww TToo EEnntteerr BBIIOOSS SSeettuupp

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.

Del

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.

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

BBIIOOSS UUppggrraaddee

By flashing your motherboard, you agree to accept the possibility of BIOS flash failure. If you motherboard is working and is stable, and there are no major bugs that were fixed by a latter BIOS revision, we recommend that you DO NOT try to upgrade your BIOS.

By doing so, you are taking a risk of BIOS flash failure. If you indeed intent on upgrading, PLEASE BE SURE to use the right BIOS revision for the right motherboard model.

AOpen Easy Flash is a little different than traditional flash method. The BIOS you simpl y r un a sing le c omm en d t o comp let e the f la sh p roc ess .

binary file and flash routine are linked together and

Caution: AOpen Easy Flash BIOS programs are designed to be compatible with the Award BIOS. At the date of this note, AOpen Easy Flash BIOS programs are not available for AMI BIOS. AMI BIOS appears mostly only on old 486 boards and some early Pentium boards. Please be sure to view the README compressed inside the BIOS package before upgrading, and follow upgrade instructions carefully. This will minimize the chance of flash failures.

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

Below are the steps for easy flashing procedures: (applies for Award BIOS ONLY)

1. Download new BIOS upgrade zip For example, AX37P102.ZIP.

2. Run shareware PKUNZIP (http://www.pkware.com/ BIOS file and the flash utility. Or Winzip (http://www.winzip.com/

3. Save the unzipped file into a bootable floppy disk. For example, AX37P102.BIN & AX37P102.EXE

4. Reboot the system to DOS mode without loading any memory handler (such as EMM386) or device driver. It needs around 520K free memory spaces.

5. Execute A:> AX37P102 and the program will do the rest of it.

DO NOT turn off the power during FLASH PROCESS until you are asked to!!

6. Reboot system and press <Del> to enter BIOS setup

Warning: The new BIOS upgrade will permanently replace your original BIOS's settings and PnP information when flashing. You may need to reconfigure your BIOS setting and re-install Win95/Win98 as well as your add-on cards, so that your system can go back to work as normal.

file from AOpen's web site.

) which supports miscellaneous operation systems to extract the binary

) in Windows environment.

, Choose "Load Setup Defaults", then “Save & Exit Setup”. Done!

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

OOvveerrcclloocckkiinngg

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".

This section is dedicated to overclockers. This high performance motherboard is designed for maximum 100MHz CPU bus clock. But it comes with clock generator of

150MHz when we design it to accommodate future CPU bus clock. Our lab test results shown that 150MHz is achievable when proper setting and qualified components were presented, we feel quite comfortable overclocking to 150MHz. Not only that, this motherboard has full-range (CPU core voltage) settings and an option to adjust CPU core voltage. The CPU clock ratio can be up to 8x that supports almost all of Pentium III/Celeron CPUs in the future and provides flexibility for overclockers. For your reference, the following configurations are what we feel comfortable at 150MHz bus clock.

But not guaranty.

Tip: Note that overclocking may also cause thermal problem. Please make sure that the cooling fan and the heatsink were adequate to dissipate excessive heat that's generated by overclocking the CPU.

☺

Warning: The design of this product follows CPU and chipset vendor's design guideline. Any attempts to push beyond product specification are not recommended and you are taking your own risk to damage your system or important data. Before doing overclocking, you must make sure your components are able to tolerate such abnormal setting, especially CPU, DRAMs, hard disks, and AGP VGA cards.

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

VVGGAA CCaarrdd && HHaarrdd DDiisskk

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.

VGA: http://www.aopen.com.tw/tech/report/overclk/mb/vga-oc.htm HDD: http://www.aopen.com.tw/tech/report/overclk/mb/hdd-oc.htm

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

GGlloossssaarryy

AACC9977

Basically, AC97 specification separates sound/modem circuit to two parts, digital processor and a CODEC for analogy I/O t hey are linked by AC97 link bus. Since digital processor can be put into motherboard main chipset, the cost of sound/modem onboard solution can be reduced.

AACCPPII ((AAddvvaanncceedd CCoonnffiigguurraattiioonn && PPoowweerr IInntteerrffaaccee))

ACPI is the power management specification of PC97 (1997). It intends to save more power by taking full control of power management to operating system and bypass BIOS operating system (such as Windows 98). This is a bit similar as the PnP power switch to control the power state transition.

AAGGPP ((AAcccceelleerraatteedd GGrraapphhiicc PPoorrtt))

AGP is a bus interface targeted for high-performance 3D graphic. AGP supports only memory read/write operation and single-master single-slave one-to-one only. 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 first company to support 4X AGP motherboards by both AX6C (Intel 820) and MX64/AX64 (VIA 694x), started from Oct 1999.

. The chipset or super I/O chip needs t o provide standard register interface to

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

AAMMRR ((AAuuddiioo//MMooddeemm RRiisseerr))

The CODEC circuit of AC97 sound/modem solution can be put on motherboard or put on a riser card (AMR card) that connects to motherboard through AMR connector.

AAOOppeenn BBoonnuuss PPaacckk CCDD

A disc bundled with AOpen motherboard product, there are motherboard drivers, Acrobat Reader for PDF online manual and other useful u til it ies .

AAPPMM ((AAddvvaanncceedd PPoowweerr MMaannaaggeemmeenntt))

Unlike ACPI, BIOS controls most APM power management functions. AOpen Suspend to Hard Drive is a good example of APM power management.

AATTAA ((AATT AAttttaacchhmmeenntt))

ATA is the specification of diskette interface. In 80’s, many software and hardware manufacturers instituted the ATA specification together. The AT is meaning International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) personal computer/AT’s bus structure.

AATTAA//6666

ATA/ 66 uses both rising edge and falling edge but doubles UDMA/33 transfer rate. The data transfer rate is 4 times of the PIO mode 4 or DMA mode 2, 16.6MB/s x4 = 66MB/s. To use ATA/66, you need special ATA/66 IDE cable.

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

AATTAA//110000

ATA /100 is a new IDE specification under developing. ATA/100 uses both rising edge and falling edge as ATA/66 but c lock cycl e 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, t he s am e as ATA/66.

BBIIOOSS ((BBaassiicc IInnppuutt//OOuuttppuutt SSyysstteemm))

BIOS is a s et of assembly routine/prog ram that reside i n EPROM or Flash ROM. BIOS controls Input/output devices and other hardware devices of motherboard. In general, to provide hardware independent portability, operation system and drivers is required to access BIOS without directly access hardware devices.

BBuuss MMaasstteerr IIDDEE ((DDMMAA mmooddee))

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. You need the bus master IDE driver and the bus master IDE HDD t o support bus m aster IDE mode.

CCNNRR ((CCoommmmuunniiccaattiioonn aanndd NNeettwwoorrkkiinngg RRiisseerr))

The CNR specification provides the PC industry the opportunity to deliver a flexible and cost reduced method of implementing LAN, home networking, DSL, USB, wireless, audio and modem subsystems widely used in today's "connected PCs". The CNR specification is an open industry specification and is supported by OEMs, IHV card manufacturers, silicon supplier and Microsoft.

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

CCOODDEECC ((CCooddiinngg aanndd DDeeccooddiinngg))

Normally, CODEC means a circuit that can do digital to analog conversion and also the analog to digital conversion. It is part of

AC97

sound/modem solution.

DDDDRR ((DDoouubbllee DDaattaa RRaatteedd)) SSDDRRAAMM

DDR SDRAM utilizes the existing DRAM infrastructure and technology while doubling the nominal bandwidth available to systems in an easy to design and simple to adopt way. Initially a perfect solution for memory intensive server and workstation applications, DDR low cost and low voltage will ultimately make it an ideal solution for all segments of the PC market, high performance desktop and mobile PCs, Value PCs and even Internet Appliances and mobile devices.

DDIIMMMM ((DDuuaall IInn LLiinnee MMeemmoorryy MMoodduullee))

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 that some old DIMMs are made by FPM/EDO

DDMMAA ((DDiirreecctt MMeemmoorryy AAcccceessss))

Channel for communications between the memory and surrounding devices.

, which operate at 3.3V. Note

and only operate at 5V. Do not confuse them with SDRAM DIMM.

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

EECCCC ((EErrrroorr CChheecckkiinngg aanndd CCoorrrreeccttiioonn))

The ECC mode needs 8 ECC bits for 64-bit data. Each time memory is accessed; ECC bits are updated and checked by a special algorithm. The ECC algorithm has the ability to detect double-bit error and automatically correct single-bit error while parity mode can only detect single-bit error.

EEDDOO ((EExxtteennddeedd DDaattaa OOuuttppuutt)) MMeemmoorryy

The EDO DRAM technology is actually very similar to FPM (Fast Page Mode). Unlike traditional FPM that tri-states the memory output data to start the pre-charge activity, EDO DRAM holds the memory data valid until the next memory access cycle, that is similar to pipeline effect and reduces one clock state.

EEEEPPRROOMM ((EElleeccttrroonniicc EErraassaabbllee PPrrooggrraammmmaabbllee RROOMM))

Also known as E2PROM. Both EEPROM and Flash ROM can be re-programmed by electronic s ignals, but the interface technology is different. Size of EEPROM is much smaller than flash ROM.

EEPPRROOMM ((EErraassaabbllee PPrrooggrraammmmaabbllee RROOMM))

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.

AAXX3377 PPlluuss//AAXX3377 PPrroo OOnnlliinnee MMaannuuaall

EEVV66 BBuuss

EV6 Bus in the technology of Alpha processor from Digital Equipment Corporation. EV6 bus uses both rising and falling clock edge to transfer data, similar as DDR SDRAM or ATA/66 IDE bus. EV6 Bus Speed = CPU external bus clock x 2. For example, 200 MHz EV6 bus is actually using 100 MHz external bus clock, but the equivalent speed is 200 MHz.

FFCCCC DDooCC ((DDeeccllaarraattiioonn ooff CCoonnffoorrmmiittyy))

The DoC is component certification standard of FCC EMI regulations. This standard allows DIY component (such as motherboard) to apply DoC label separately without a shielding of housing.

FFCC--PPGGAA ((FFlliipp CChhiipp--PPiinn GGrriidd AArrrraayy))

FC means Flip Chip, FC-PGA is a new package of Intel for Pentium III CPU. It can plug into SKT370 socket, but require motherboard to add some signals on socket 370. That is, the motherboard needs to be redesigned. Intel is going to ship FC-PGA 370 CPU and phase out slot1 CPU.

FFllaasshh RROOMM

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. Now flash ROM size is moving to 4M bit on AX6C (Intel 820) and MX3W (Intel

810) motherboard. , AOpen motherboard uses EEPROM for jumper-less and battery-less design.

100

AOpen AX37 Plus User Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

AX37 Plus/AX37 Pro

Chipset

Expansion Slots

Memory

Ultra DMA 33/66/100 Bus Mater IDE

On-board ATA/100 IDE RAID (AX37 Plus Onl y)

On-board AC97 Sound

Six USB Connectors

1MHz Stepping Frequency Adjustment

Watch Dog Timer

Die-Hard BIOS with external contro ller (User Opt ional)

Dr. LED (User Optional)

Power Management/Plug and Play

Hardware Monitoring Management

Enhanced ACPI

Super Multi-I/O

Motherboard Map

IrDA Connector

System Requirement

Fresh installation of Windows 98 on a new system

Changing from APM to ACPI (Windows 98 only)

Changing from ACPI to APM

System Requirement

Procedures