AOpen AX4SPEMAXII User Manual

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Table of Contents

Table of Contents ................................................................................... 1

1.1 A Thank-you Note Before You Get Start..........................................................4

1.2 Features of This Manual ...............................................................................5

1.3 Safety Information ......................................................................................5

Chapter 2 Introduction to This Motherboard............................................... 6

2.1 How does your motherboard look like?...........................................................6

2.2 Specification...............................................................................................7

2.3 Block Diagram ............................................................................................8

Chapter 3 Hardware Installation............................................................... 9

3.1 Quick Installation Procedure .........................................................................9

3.2 Installation You Have to Know..................................................................... 10

Installing CPU...........................................................................................10

Installing CPU and System Fans ..................................................................11

Installing Memory Modules.........................................................................12

Connecting IDE and Floppy Cables ..............................................................13

Connecting ATX Power Cables.....................................................................14

Connecting Front Panel Cable .....................................................................15

3.3 Other Installation for Your Reference ...........................................................16

Setting CPU Voltage and Frequency.............................................................16

Connecting Serial ATA................................................................................17

Adjusting your Hard Disk Setting.................................................................18

Connecting AGP 8X Expansion Slot ..............................................................20

Connecting IrDA........................................................................................21

10/100/1000Mbps LAN Supported...............................................................22

Connecting USB2.0....................................................................................23

Connecting 1394.......................................................................................24

Connecting EX_Sound................................................................................25

Connecting SSR_OUT (Surrounding Out) Connector.......................................26

Super 7.1 Channel Audio Effect...................................................................27

Connecting Front Audio..............................................................................28

Connecting Game Port ...............................................................................29

Connecting COM2 (for AX4SG Max II only)...................................................30

Connecting CD_IN.....................................................................................31

Connecting Case Open...............................................................................32

Colored Coded Back Panel (for AX4SG Max II) ..............................................33

Colored Coded Back Panel (for AX4SPE Max II).............................................34

LED Indication ..........................................................................................35

3.4 Jumper Settings........................................................................................36

Chapter 4 Special Features and Utilities................................................... 38

RAID............................................................................................................. 38

(Redundant Array of Independent Disks) ........................................................... 38

RAID Configuration Utility...........................................................................38

Serial ATA RAID for Silicon Image 3114.......................................................39

Silicon Image SATARaid GUI Overview.........................................................40

PBE – Performance Boost Engine.................................................................41

SilentTek – Noise is Gone!..........................................................................42

Other Useful Features......................................................................................45

Chapter 5 Setting BIOS......................................................................... 46

Introduction .............................................................................................46

How To Use Phoenix-Award™ BIOS Setup Program .......................................47

How To Enter BIOS Setup ..........................................................................47

BIOS Upgrade under Windows environment..................................................48

WinBIOS Utility.........................................................................................50

Vivid BIOS technology ...............................................................................52

Chapter 6 Installing Drivers................................................................... 53

6.1 Installing Drivers.......................................................................................54

6.2 Installing Utilities ...................................................................................... 55

Chapter 7 Troubleshooting..................................................................... 56

Chapter 8 Technical Support .................................................................. 57

Model Name and BIOS Version....................................................................58

1.1 A Thank-you Note Before You Get Start

First of all, we would like to express our gratitude for purchasing AOpen products. Once again, this motherboard is designed uniquely to meet all your personal needs with our gre at industr y-d esigning ability and our ev erlasti ng perse ver ance to the quality of all our products.

This manual will introduce you how this motherboard is installed. Please keep it well for your future reference. If you lost your printed manual, you may also go to our website at

Now, we would like to invite you to personally experience this user-friendly manual and all of the powerful functions this AOpen product offers.

The logos of Adobe and Acrobat are the registered trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated.

The logos of AMD, Athlon, and Duron are the registered trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.

The logos of Intel, Intel Celeron, Pentium II, III and Pentium 4 are the registered trademarks of Intel Corporation.

The logos of nVidia are the registered trademarks of nVidia Corporation. The logos of Microsoft, Windows are the registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in

America and other countries.

http://www.aopen.com to download the updated file.

All the titles of the products and the trademarks mentioned in this manual are for the purpose of illustrative conveniences and are possessed by their respective firms.

We regret not informing about any changes in usage standards and other related information. AOpen reserves the right of altering or modifying the content of this manual. In case of any mistakes or incorrect descriptions, which include those on the products, AOpen makes no guarantee or commitments.

This document is based on the copyright laws in order to protect our company and reserve all rights.

Under no circumstances are any types of duplicating and loading this brochure in any databases and media permitted except the permission signed on formal document by AOpen Company.

1.2 Features of This Manual

T o help you g rab the useful information of this motherboard and aware of certain conditions that you might need to know, you will see the icons below frequently:

Note

Warning / Caution

Warning

Tip

Warning

This contains knowledge you should know in process of assembling, or some helpful tips.

Please be careful when you see this mark. It highlights mistakes that occur often during assembling, or something you need to pay attention to.

This tip tells you some useful information that will make your installation smoothly.

1.3 Safety Information

Please wear a wrist strap and attach it to a metal part of the system unit before handling a component. Alternatively, you can also touch an objec t that is of ground connection or with metal surface.

Always unplug the power before you make any jumper setting.

Before you install or remove any components on the motherboard, please make sure to disconnect the power first in case of damaging motherboard or other components.

Chapter 2 Introduction to This Motherboard

2.1 How does your motherboard look like?

1. JP28 PS2 KB/Mouse Wakeup Jumper 16. CD-IN Connector

2. AGP 8X Expansion Slot 17. Front Audio Connector

3. 4-pin 12V ATX Power Connector 18. EX_SOUND Connector

4. AGP Protection LED 19. IrDA Connector

5. 478-pin CPU socket supporting Intel P4 CPU 20. 32-bit PCI Expression Slots X 5

6. SYSFAN1 Connector 21. USB2.0 Connectors X 2

7. CPUFAN Connector 22. JP24 BIOS Rescue Jumper

8. Intel 865G/865PE Chipsets 23. IEEE1394 Connectors X 2

9. 184-pin DIMMs X 4 24. SYSFAN2 Connector

10. ATX Power Connector 25. Front Panel Connector

11. FDD Connector 26. JP14 CMOS Data Clear Jumper

12. IDE Connectors x 2 27. Case Open Connector

13. COM2 Connector 28. Serial ATA Ports X 6

14. Game Port Connector 29. JP15, 16 Dr. Voice II Language Selection

15. SSR_OUT Connector 30. JP2 Speaker Output Jumper

2.2 Specification

Here is the main function of your motherboard.

Models AX4SG Max II AX4SPE Max II

CPU

Chipset Intel 865G/ICH5 Intel 865PE/ICH5

Main Memory

Graphics

IDE

LAN

Sound USB Integrated in chipset, USB 2.0 x 8 Integrated in chipset, USB 2.0 x 8 IEEE1394

Slots

Back Panel I/O

On Board Connector

BIOS Award PnP 4Mb Flash ROM BIOS x 2 Award PnP 4Mb Flash ROM BIOS x 2 Board Size 305 mm x 244 mm 305 mm x 244 mm

Intel Pentium 4 CPU Socket 478 400/533/800MHz

Dual Channel Mode DDR 266/333/400MHz DDR DIMM x 4 DIMM Type : 64/128/256/512MB & 1GB Max Memory : 4GB Integrated VGA Engine in chipset 8X AGP slot, support ADD card Integrated ATA100 and Serial ATA Controller Silicon Image Serial AT A C ontrol Chip [Support RAID 0,1,0+1] Max Disk: 144,000,000GB [by 48 bits LBA Spec.] Intel Gigabit LAN Controller, support 10/100/1000Mbps Realtek AC'97 CODEC onboard, support 7.1 Channel

Integrated Agere 1394 Control Chip Integrated Agere 1394 Control Chip

AGP x 1 PCI x 4, Self-Powered PCI x 1 PS/2 Keyboard x 1, PS/2 Mouse x 1 USB Port x 4, LAN Port x 1, VGA Port x 1 COM Port x 1, Printer Port x 1 Speaker_Out x 1, Line_In x 1, MIC_In x 1 Front Panel x 1 Front Audio x 1 CPU FAN x 1,Syst em F AN x 1,Chassis FAN x 1 Power FAN x 1, Power Temperature Connector x 1 Case Open Connector x 1 SSR_OUT Connector x 1, CD_IN x 1 IrDA x 1, EX_Sound connector x 1 COM2 x 1, Game Connector x 1 IEEE 1394 x 2, USB Port x 4

Intel Pentium 4 CPU Socket 478 400/533/800MHz

Dual Channel Mode DDR 266/333/400MHz DDR DIMM x 4 DIMM Type : 64/128/256/512MB & 1GB Max Memory : 4GB

8X AGP slot

Integrated ATA100 and Serial ATA Controller Silicon Image Serial ATA Control Chip [Support RAID 0,1,0+1] Max Disk: 144,000,000GB [by 48 bits LBA Spec.] Intel Gigabit LAN Controller, support 10/100/1000Mbps Realtek AC'97 CODEC onboard, support 7.1 Channel

AGP x 1 PCI x 4, Self-Powered PCI x 1 PS/2 Keyboard x 1, PS/2 Mouse x 1 USB Port x 4, LAN Port x 1 COM Port x 2, Printer Port x 1 Speaker_Out x 1, Line_In x 1, MIC_In x 1

Front Panel x 1 Front Audio x 1 CPU FAN x 1,System F AN x 1 ,Chassis F AN x 1 Power FAN x 1, Power Temperature Connector x 1 Case Open Connector x 1 SSR_OUT Connector x 1, CD_IN x 1 IrDA x 1, EX_Sound connector x 1 Game Connector x 1 IEEE 1394 x 2, USB Port x 4

2.3 Block Diagram

(For AX4SG Max II)

VGA Onboard

AGP 8X

AGP 8X Slot Support ADD Card

(for AX4SG Max II)

DIMM Sockets x4

Intel

Gigabit

LAN Chip

LAN connect Com

onent

Socket 478

Intel

Pentium 4

CPU

400/533/800MHz System Bus

Intel

AGP bus

865 chipset

DDR400/333/266 Dual Channel RAM Up to 4GB

USB Ports x8

Floppy Disk Drive

Serial Ports x2

PCI Bus

32-bit PCI Slot

150MB/s

Serial ATA Ports

ATA 33/66/100

IDE Drives x 4

RealTek

AC97

CODEC

ICH5

4Mbit Flash EEPROM x2

Parallel Port

Chapter 3 Hardware Installation

Chapter 3 Hardware

Installation

3.1 Quick Installation Procedure

1. Installing CPU

2. Installing CPU Fan & System Fan

12. Installing D Utilities

ivers &

11. Installing Operating System (such as, Windows XP)

3. Installing Memory Module

4. Installing HD, CD-ROM and SATA Disk, etc

5. Connecting ATX Power Cable

6. Connecting Front Panel Cable

10. Loading Default BIOS, Setting CPU Fre

9. Connecting Back Panel Ports (Keyboard, Mouse, etc)

8. Installing Other Devices (USB, Front Audio, etc)

7. Installing AGP & PCI Cards

uency

3.2 Installation You Have to Know

Installing CPU

This socket supports FC-PGA2 package CPU, which is the latest CPU package developed by Intel. Other forms of CPU package are impossible to be fitted in.

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

2. Locate Pin 1 in the socket and look for a (golden) cut edge on the CPU upper interface. Match Pin 1 and cut edge. Then insert the CPU into the socket.

3. Press down the CPU socket lever to finish CPU installation.

CPU socket lever

Socket Pin 1

Golden Cut Edge

Installing CPU and System Fans

Plug the CPU fan cable to the 3-pin CPUFAN connector. If you have chassis fan, you can also plug it in SYSFAN1 or SYSFAN2 connector.

SYSFAN2 Connector

GND +12V SENSOR

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

SYSFAN1 Connector

CPUFAN Connector

GND +12V SENSOR

Installing Memory Modules

DIMM slots are designed in Navy Blue and Electronic Blue which are very easy to recognize. Insert the module straight down to the DIMM slot with both hands and press down firmly until the DIMM module is securely in place.

Tab

Pin 1

Key

Note: The tabs of the DIMM slot will clip to hold the DIMM in place when the DIMM touches the slot’s bottom.

Connecting IDE and Floppy Cables

(

Connect the 34-pin floppy cable and 40-pin, 80-wire IDE cable to floppy connector and IDE connector. Be careful of the pin1 orientation. Wrong orientation may cause system damage.

FDD Connector

Secondary Slave

Pin 1

4th)

Primary

2nd)

Slave

Secondary Master

Primary Master

3rd)

1st)

Pin 1

ATA 66/100 IDE Connector

Connecting ATX Power Cables

This motherboard comes with a 20-pin and 4-pin ATX power connector as shown below. Make sure you plug them in the right direction. We strongly recommend you to insert the 4-pin connector before connecting the 20-pin connector.

Connecting Front Panel Cable

Attach the power LED, speaker and reset switch connectors to the corresponding pins. If you enable “Suspend Mode” item in BIOS Setup, the ACPI & Power LED will keep flashing while the system is in suspend mode.

Locate the power switch cable from your ATX housing, which is a 2-pin female connector from the housing front panel. Plug this connector to the soft-power switch connector marked SPWR.

3.3 Other Installation for Your Reference

Setting CPU Voltage and Frequency

Setting CPU Core Voltage

This motherboard supports Voltage ID (VID) function to detect CPU voltage automatically during power-on. However, if users are willing to do overclocking, we also provide a range from 1.10V to 1.85V in the BIOS. Sometimes increasing the original core voltage a little bit will make CPU overclock more properly.

Setting CPU Frequency

This motherboard is of CPU jumper-less design; you can set CPU frequency by 1MHz stepping CPU Overclocking in the BIOS.

clock x CPU Ratio

. However, all CPU now sold in market belong to "Fixed Multiplier". That means users can not adjust the CPU Ratio but change CPU FSB clock to achieve overclocking only.

BIOS Setup > Frequency / Voltage Control > CPU Speed Setup

(Users will do the overclocking at their own risks!!)

Northwood CPU

Pentium 4 1.8G 1800MHz 100MHz 400MHz 18x Pentium 4 2.0G 2000MHz 100MHz 400MHz 20x Pentium 4 2.2G 2200MHz 100MHz 400MHz 22x Pentium 4 2.2G 2200MHz 133MHz 533MHz 16x Pentium 4 2.26G 2260MHz 133MHz 533MHz 17x Pentium 4 2.4G 2400MHz 100MHz 400MHz 24x Pentium 4 2.4G 2400MHz 133MHz 533MHz 18x Pentium 4 2.53G 2530MHz 133MHz 533MHz 19x Pentium 4 2.6G 2600MHz 200MHz 800MHz 13x Pentium 4 2.66G 2660MHz 133MHz 533MHz 20x Pentium 4 2.8G 2800MHz 133MHz 533MHz 21x Pentium 4 2.8G 2800MHz 200MHz 800MHz 14x Pentium 4 3.06G 3066MHz 133MHz 533MHz 23x Pentium 4 3.20G 3200MHz 200MHz 800MHz 16x

Note: With CPU speed changing rapidly, there might be fastest CPU on the market by the time you received this installat ion guide. This table is kindly for your references only.

CPU Ratio 8x, 10x… 24x, 25x, 26x, 27x, 28x CPU FSB (Adjustment

manually)

CPU Core Freq.

FSB = 100MHz-400MHz by 1MHz Stepping CPU Overclocking

FSB Clock

System Bus

CPU Core Frequency = CPU FSB

Ratio

Note: Some CPU

fans do not have sensor pin so that they cannot support fan monitoring

Warning:

Intel 865G/PE chipset support maximum 800MHz (200MHz*4) system bus and 66MHz AGP clock; higher clock setting may cause serious system damage.

Connecting Serial ATA

To connect a serial ATA disk, you have to have a 7-pin serial ATA cable. Connect two ends of the serial AT A cable to the serial A T A header on the motherboard and the disk. Like every other traditional disk, you also have to connect a power cable. Please be noted that it is a jumper free implement; you don’t need to set jumpers to define a master or slave disk. When serial AT A hard disks are installed on serial AT A ports, the one connected on Port 0(SA T A 1) will be set as the first boot device automatically.

Please note that it doesn’t support Hot-Plug in function.

SATA Port3

SATA

rt4 Po

SATA

rt5 Po

SPATA

ort6

SPATA

ort1

SPATA

ort2

Adjusting your Hard Disk Setting

Except its original 2 sets of parallel IDE, this motherboard supports the latest serial AT A hard disk. If you are unable to find your newly installed serial A T A hard disks on your operating system after having them installed, the problem may lie in the BIOS setting. You can simply adjust BIOS settings to have them work properly.

After installing your hard disks properly, you can directly go to BIOS setting screen for adjustment. Simply pressing

IDE Device

On-Chip Serial ATA” to choose your preferable mode. If you

have no intention of changing its original setting, the default would be Auto.

“Integrated Peripherals Æ OnChip

If you desire to change the default setting, press Enter for selection list:

Disabled: You can choose this item if there are only traditional IDE hard disks had been installed on your system. Disabling this item will also cancel the detection of serial ATA hard disks during POST, which will theoretically speed up

your boot-up time a little bit; however, please remember to re-adjust the setting here if you want to use serial ATA hard disk later.

Auto: This is factory default setting on this motherboard. Basically, if your system functions properly , there is necessary to change it. The system will automatically recognize the first hard disk on IDE1 as first boot device.

Note: Please be informed that when you are using Windows98/ME with the capacity of all six hard disks being installed, the Auto mode will not function properly. It is because Windows98/Me is not able to energize Enhanced Mode to detect all hard disks.

Combined Mode: If you have traditional IDE hard disks and serial A TA hard disks installed at the same time, then you can choose this mode. Under this mode, you can randomly choose either IDE hard disks or serial AT A had disk as your first boot device. But please note, serial ATA will exist with IDE in a mapping way, which means it will occupy one of the IDE Channel and leave you one IDE Channel only .

Enhanced Mode: If you are using the latest operating system (say , Windows XP, Windows.NET Server), it is highly recommended that you select Enhanced Mode. Under this mode the system will detect all six devices (traditional IDE x 4, Serial AT A x 2) completely and function perfectly. But please note that traditional IDE is set to first boot device under this mode.

Note: According to practical lab tests of us, there are no obvious problems or mistakes happened when we set this mode under Windows2000 operating system; however, it is not recommended by Intel.

SATA Only: You may select this mode if you install serial ATA hard disks only. This mode also allows you to se lect b ootin g seq uence from P o rt0 (S erialAT A1) o r Port1 (SerialATA2).

Connecting AGP 8X Expansion Slot

AX4SG Max II / AX4SPE Max II provide an AGP 8X slot, a sky blue slot having the latest AGP specification on motherboard. The AGP 8X is a bus interface targeted for high-performance 3D graphic. Traditionally AGP used both rising and falling edge of the 66MHz clock for 4X AGP, and the data transfer rate could achieve 66MHz x 4bytes x 4 = 1056MB/s. Now AGP is moving to AGP 8X mode, which is upgraded to 66MHz x 4bytes x 8 =2.1GB/s. You can also adjust AGP voltage in BIOS with range from 1.5V to 1.875V. For AX4SG Max II, the AGP slot can automatically recog niz e an AG P or a Mu ltiple x ed I ntel DVO Out put d epe nding on which cards being inserted, such as AGP , or ADD (AGP Digital Display) cards. With an ADD card implemented to this slot, Multiplexed Intel DVO output will provide high-speed digital connection for digital displays or TV-OUT functionality.

Warning: It is strongly rec ommended

not adjust AGP/PCI voltage/clock when you connect SATA device. It is because when the voltage/clock for AGP/PCI is adjusted, the SATA clock cannot remain at 100MHz, and the therefore be unstable.

system will

Warning: It is strongly

recommended not install a 3.3V AGP card, which is not supported by Intel 865G / 865PE on this motherboard.

chipsets

Connecting IrDA

The IrDA connector can be configured to support wireless infrared module, with this module and application software such as Laplink or Windows Direct Cable Connection, user can transfer files to or from laptops, notebooks, PDA devices and printers. This connector supports both HPSIR (115.2Kbps, 2 meters) and ASK-IR (56Kbps).

Install an infrared module onto the IrDA connector and enable the infrared function from BIOS Setup, UART Mode, you can use this function. Please make sure you connect correct orientation when plugging IrDA module.

Pin 1

10/100/1000Mbps LAN Supported

On the strength of Gigabit LAN controller on board, this motherboard provides 10/100/1000Mbps Ethernet for office and home use. The Ethernet RJ45 connector is located on the top of USB connectors. The right hand side LED indicates link mode; it lights in orange when linking to network. The left hand side LED indicates the transfer mode and will light in green when data is transferring at 100Mbps (never lights while at 10Mbps), but will light in orange when transferring in Gigabit’s mode. To enable or disable this function, you may simply adjust it through BIOS. To enable LAN wakeup function, you have to set the “Wake on PCI Card” enable in the BIOS “Power Management Setup” section.

Speed LED (Left)

Green 100Mbps

ACT LED (Right)

Orange

Connecting USB2.0

This motherboard provides eight USB 2.0 ports to connect USB devices such as mouse, keyboard, modem, printer, etc. There are four ports on the back panel. You can use proper cables to connect Front USB connector to USB modules or chassis front panel.

Pin 1

Connecting 1394

With IEEE1394 Chip on board (AGERE 1394), having its data transfer rate up to 400Mb/s, this interface can connect to devices that require high data transferring performance such as digital camera, scanner or others IEEE 1394 devices. Please use appropriate cables to connect IEEE1394 devices.

Pin1

Warning: Please note that Hot-Plug is not allowed on IEEE 1394 headers; doing so will burn the controller IC and damage the motherboard.

Connecting EX_Sound

EX_SOUND Connector supports the latest 7.1 Channel and S/PDIF function. S/PDIF (Sony/Phil ips Digital Interface) is a new a u d i o t ransfer file format, which provides impressive audio quality through optical fiber and allows you to enjoy digital audio instead of analog audio. Through two specific audio cables, you can connect the EX_SOUND connector to our special EX_SOUND audio module, whi ch bears six ports for S/PDIF and 7.1 Channel. The output and input ports are shown as following.

Center & Subwoofer OUT

Side Surround OUT

S/PDIF OUT (RCA)

Rear OUT

S/PDIF OUT

S/PDIF IN

EX_SOUND Module

EX_SOUND Cable

SSR_OUT Cable

Connecting SSR_OUT (Surrounding Out) Connector

This connector is designed to support 7.1 channels function. Please connect SSR_OUT cable to the Green connector on the EX_SOUND module and this SSR_OUT connector onboard.

SSR_OUT Connector

L GND GND R

Super 7.1 Channel Audio Effect

This motherboard comes with an ALC850 CODEC, which supports the latest 7.1 Channel with high quality of audio effects, bringing you a brand new audio experience. T o enjoy this function, you have to connect one EX_SOUND Cable and one SSR_OUT cable to our specially designed EX_SOUND module, all of which c an be found in accessory. Picture bellow represents the standard location of all speakers in 7.1 Channel sound tracks. Please connect the plug of your front speakers to the green “Speaker out” port on the back panel of mother board, rear speakers to black port, side surround speakers to purple port and both of the center and subwoofer speakers to orange port. Those ports are provided by EX_SOUND module.

Connecting Front Audio

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

Pin1

Connecting Game Port

This motherboard comes with a game port (Joystick-Midi) for you to connect any midi devices or joysticks. T o use this function you have to have a joystick module and connect it with a game port cable to this port on the motherboard.

Pin1

(User Upgrade Optional)

Connecting COM2 (for AX4SG Max II only)

This motherboard provides two serial ports. One of them is on back panel connector, and the other is on the upper left of board between PCI slots. With proper cable, you can connect it to the back panel of chassis.

Pin 1

DCD# SOUT

GND

RI#

RTS#

SIN DTR# DSR# CTS#

Connecting CD_IN

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

Connecting Case Open

The “CASE OPEN” header provides chassis intrusion-monitoring function. To make this function work, you have to enable it in the system BIOS, connect this header to a sensor somewhere on the chassis. So, whenever the sensor is triggered by lights or by the opening of the chassis, the system will beep to inform you. Please be informed that this useful function only applies to advanced chassis; you may purchase an extra sensor, attach it on your chassis and make a good use of this function.

Pin 1

Colored Coded Back Panel (for AX4SG Max II)

The onboard I/O devices have PS/2 Keyboard, PS/2 Mouse, RJ-45 LAN Connector , COM1, VGA port, Printer, USB, AC’97 sound and game ports. The view angle of drawing shown here is from the back panel of the housing.

PS/2 Mouse Connector

SPP/EPP/ECP Parallel Port

RJ45 10/100/1000 LAN Jack

Line-In

PS/2 Keyboard Connector

USB 2.0

COM 1 Port

VGA Port

Speaker Out

MIC-In

USB 2.0

PS/2 Keyboard: For standard keyboard, which use a PS/2 plug. PS/2 Mouse: For PC-Mouse, which use a PS/2 plug. USB Port: Available for connecting USB devices. Parallel Port: To connect with SPP/ECP/EPP printer. COM1 Port: To connect with pointing devices, modem or others serial

devices.

RJ-45 LAN Port: To connect Ethernet for home or office use. 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

Colored Coded Back Panel (for AX4SPE Max II)

The onboard I/O devices have PS/2 Keyboard, PS/2 Mouse, RJ-45 LAN Connector , COM1, COM2 port, Printer, USB, AC’97 sound and game ports. The view angle of drawing shown here is from the back panel of the housing.

PS/2 Mouse Connector

SPP/EPP/ECP Parallel Port

RJ45 10/100/1000 LAN Jack

Line-In

PS/2 Keyboard Connector

USB 2.0

COM 1 Port

COM 2 Port

Speaker Out

MIC-In

USB 2.0

devices. COM2 Port: To connect with pointing devices, modem or others serial

devices.

RJ-45 LAN Port: To connect Ethernet for home or office use. Speaker Out: To External Speaker, Earphone or Amplifier. Line-In: Comes from the signal sources, such as CD/Tape player. MIC-In: From Microphone

LED Indication

LED indication including Boot LED, Standby LED and AGP LED are AOpen’s considerate designs that aim at providing you friendly system information. The STBY LED will light up when power is provided to the motherboard, giving you a convenient indication check the system power status in circumstances such as power on/off, stand-by mode and RAM power status during Suspend to RAM mode.

BOOT LED will keep blinking when you power the system on and when your system is under right and finishes the booting, the LED will stay on otherwise it will remain flashing to warn you that mistakes have occurred during POST

AGP LED aims to protect your motherboard from being damaged by over voltage of AGP card. When AGP Protection T echnolog y is imp lemente d, this mo therboa rd will automatically detect the voltage of AGP card and prevent your chipsets from being burnt out. Please note that if you install an AGP card with 3.3V , which is not supported by Intel 865 chipset, the AGP LED on the motherboard will light up to warn you the possible damage of the exceeding voltage.

POST (Power-On Self Test). After POST diagnoses everything all

BOOT LED

AGP LED

STBY LED

3.4 Jumper Settings

JP2 Speaker Output

Buzzer (default)

Allows you to turn off the voice from buzzer and speaker. You can choose not to be bothered by the warning made from Dr. Voice when it detects any error in operating system.

JP14 Clear CMOS Jumper

Normal (default)

JP2 Speaker Output Jumper

Speaker

Clear CMOS

JP14 Clear CMOS Data

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 s horting pin 1 & pin 2.

5. Connect ATX power cable back to connector PWR2.

JP15/16 Dr. Voice Language Select

English (Default)

Chinese

JP16

Pin1

JP15

Pin1

Dr. Voice provides four language versions: Englis h, German, Japanese and Chinese. You can select your preferred language by JP15 & JP16 jumpers.

Disable (Default)

JP28 KB/Mouse Wakeup Jumper

JP15/16 Dr. Voice Languages Select Jumper

JP16

Pin1

JP15

Japanese

German

Pin1

Enable

JP28 Keyboard / Mouse Wakeup Jumper

This motherboard provides PS2 keyboard / mouse wake-up function.

Chapter 4 Special Features and Utilities

RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks)

This motherboard supports RAID 0, RAID 1 and RAID 0+1 functions. For more RAID introduction, please visit our website:

http://english.aopen.com.tw/tech/techinside/RAID.htm

RAID Configuration Utility

In order to make sure your system can recognize and operate Serial ATA RAID device smoothly , we have to enter RAID Configur ation Utilit y to do some set tings. After finishing the BIOS setup and reboot, you will see [Press CTRL + S to enter configuration Utility] about half way through the boot up. Please press these two buttons simultaneously . You will later be presented with a screen as shown below .

Warning: The Serial ATA RAID function can be supported under Windows XP and Windows .Net environments.

Serial ATA RAID for Silicon Image 3114

Silicon Image’s SATARaidTM provides Serial ATA RAID 0 (Striping), RAID 1 (Mirroring) and RAID 0+1 (Striping and Mirroring) functionality to enhance the industry’ s lea d ing P CI -t o-S AT A hos t co ntro ller products. Standard with SATARaid software is a Graphical User Interface (GUI) that provides easy-to-use configurations for different RAID Sets supported.

JAVA 2 Runtime Environment Installation

The Java 2 Runtime Environment is required for the SATARaid GUI. The Java 2 Runtime Installer and executable package must be downloaded from the Sun Microsystems website at computer must have an Internet connection set up before installation can proceed.

Save the installer file to a known location such as the My Documents folder . Using Windows Explorer or by clicking My Computer icon on the desktop, you can select the installation file and execute it. The installation will begin. The installer program will download the required files from Internet.

http://java.sun.com/j2se/downloads.html. The

Silicon Image SATARaid GUI Overview

The SATARaid GUI Installation program configures the SATARaid GUI to automatically start when Windows is started. If the SATARaid GUI does not automatically start or is closed by user, choose the JAV A SATARaid progr am from Start Menu to launch the GUI.

PBE – Performance Boost Engine

Configuring Intel 865 chipset, the performance of this motherboard had been uplifted by implementing PBE T echnology (Performance Boosting Engine). Acting as similar as PAT in uplifting the system performance, PBE enables users to optimize the accessing speed and quality between CPU and Memory. Theoretically speaking, CPU must go through some standard paths to access memory. Howe ver , with an optimized path created, CPU can access memory through optimized path in a faster way . Therefore, PBE effectively shortens the distance between CPU and memory and thus increases system performance. T o enable it, all you ha ve to do is to go to BIOS screen, select Advanced Chipset Feature/Performance Boost Engine.

Chipsets

PBE Technology Optimized Access

Memory

Normal Access

Dual Channel DDR Memory

Note: Enabling this feature will make maximum use of your RAM modules though this is not standard specification of Intel 865G/865PE chipset. Uneven quality RAM modules in the market may not be able to withstand this kind of extreme usage and will cause your system unstable. You have to take your own risk for using this advantageous benefit.

Enable or Disabled selection

PBE item: Disabled (Default)

SilentTek – Noise is Gone!

As CPU clock keeps rocketing higher and higher, it has inevitably brought higher heat and system temperature in a relative way. The way we deal with this heat problem, however , is to spare no effort to add one fan after another to protect our pampered system, expecting these fans cool down our machine as much as they can.

But at the same time, we believe that same users are affected terribly by the irritating noises of these fans while working with their PC. As a matter of fact, we do not have to get our fans running at such a high speed in most cases; on the contrary, we discovered that having your fans running at appropriate time and speed not only reduces the noise, but also consumes the least power the system needs, so as to prevent over-wasting of energy resource.

Today, AOpen Motherboard is honored to bring you a new overall solution, SilentTek, to make your system quiet. To collocate with hardware circuit, BIOS and the utility under Windows, SilentT ek combines “Hardware-Status Monitoring”, “Overheat Warning” and “Fan Speed Control” in a user-friendly interface to provide you a perfect balance among noises, system performance and stability.

The first image you have here is Voltage Status page. You can find current status of all voltages here and set your expected margins of warning level.

You may check your system voltage from the indicating bar here.

In “Temp/Fan/Case” page, you can get aware of the current temperature of CPU and the heat inside chassis. Also, you can check if fans are running properly.

Of course, you can set your defaulted lowest margin for your fans and SilentTek will also pop up a message box to alarm you when the fan is rotating slower than this specified speed.

You can set the highest margin of your CPU and system temperature as default, and SilentTek will pop up a message box to alert you with an alarm when the temperature goes beyond the specified margin.

The following page is surely the most important part of this utility . Y ou can control

The following page is surely the most important part of this utility . Y ou can control the rotation speed of specific fans that you have got the options inside this page.

the rotation speed of specific fans that you have got the options inside this page.

CD-ROM Rotation Speed Control: by enabling the CD-ROM Rotation Speed Control, you can adjust the rotation speed of your CD-ROM. When you set the speed to high level, the CD-ROM will work at its fastest speed and it will run at basic required speed while you set the value to low speed.

Smart FAN Control:Smart FAN Control: This is the default setting of SilentT ek and can be used for any branded computer housing. With a special algorithm developed by AOpen , the fan speed is automatically adjusted by the parameters of CPU and ambient temperature which is ease-of-use and trouble free at your service.

Fixed FAN Control: Under this setting, a desired fan speed is set fixed when operating.

Multiple Level Controls: This is the most versatile setting that allows you to set fan speed in relation to temperature. You may find that this setting fits you best.

AOpen Recommend Setting: This setting is designed specifically for AOpen housing. A series of lab tests were conducted under the real world scenario to determine optimum fan spe ed to reduce noise le vel within CPU wo rking condition and temperature. Most of the time, the fan would remain still when CPU is not fully utilized.

Note: Due to hundreds brands of fans on market, inaccuracy may happen in some cases when you have your rotation speed adjusted. It is still under the criterion and please rest assured that it won’t cause any problem to your system.

Other Useful Features

With excellent design ability of R&D team, AOpen boasts for its various powerful and handy features that come with our product like follows. You are welcomed to visit our technical website to learn more about those features.

http://english.aopen.com.tw/tech/techinside

Chapter 5 Setting BIOS

Introduction

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 chipset).

The Phoenix-Award BIOS™ that installed in the Flash ROM of the motherboard is a custom version of an industry standard BIOS. The BIOS provides critical low-level support for standard devices such as hard disk drives, serial and parallel ports.

AOpen’s R&D engineering team had optimized most BIOS settings of this motherboard. However, some default settings of BIOS cannot fi ne-tune those sections that controlled by chipset. Therefore, this chapter is intended to guide you and help you to configure some other settings.

T o enter BIOS setup menu, press <Del> when POST (P ower-On Self Test) screen is shown on your monitor.

Note: Because BIOS code is the most often changed part on motherboard, the BIOS information contained in this manual may be different from the BIOS version that comes with your motherboard.

How To Use Phoenix-Award™ BIOS Setup Program

Generally, you can use arrow keys to highlight items that you want to choose, press <Enter> key to select, and use <Page Up> and <Page Down> keys to change setting values. You can press <Esc> key to quit Phoenix-Award™ BIOS setup program. The following table provides details about how to use keyboard in the Phoenix-Award  BIOS setup program. Alternatively, it's strongly recommended to install AOpen’s newest WinBIOS Utility to get more detailed description, further powerful functions and advanced setting of BIOS.

Key Description

Page Up or + Change setting to next value or increase the value. Page Down or - Change setting to previous value or decrease value. Enter Select the item. Esc In main menu: Quit without saving any changes.

In sub menu: Exit current menu to main menu.

Up Arrow Highlight previous item. Down Arrow 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. F6 Load Setup Default setting value from CMOS. F7 Load turbo setting value from CMOS. F10 Save changed settings and exit setup program.

How To Enter BIOS Setup

After finishing the jumper settings and connecting cables, you can power on and enter the BIOS Setup. Press <Del> during POST (Power-On Self T est) and choose "Load Setup Defaults" for recommended optimal performance.

Del

Warning: Please avoid of using “Load Turbo Defaults”, unless you are certain your system components (CPU, SDRAM, HDD, etc.) are good enough for turbo setting.

BIOS Upgrade under Windows environment

y p

With outstanding R&D ability of AOpen, we now bring you a whole new BIOS Flash wizard ---- EzWinFlash. With an eye to convenience for users, EzWinFlash combines the BIOS binary code and flash module together, so the only thing you have to do is just c lic kin g o n th e u tilit y y ou do wnloa d ed fro m web and le t it help you complete the flash process automatically. EzWinFlash detects your motherboard and checks the BIOS version cleverly to prevent your system from any possible failure. Moreover, EzWinFlash has been taken into consideration to go with any windows platform you might be using, no matter if you’re using Windows 95/98, 98SE/ME, NT4.0/2000, or Windows XP.

In the meanwhile, in order to provide a much more user-friendly operating environment, AOpen EzWinFlash is natively designed to have multi-language function to provide easier way for user in changing BIOS setting.

Caution: You are taking a risk of BIOS flash failure when you update your system. If your motherboard is working stable, and there are no major bugs to be fixed by a latter BIOS revision, we recommend that you DO NOT upgrade your BIOS. If you intent on upgrade PLEASE MAKE SURE you get the right BIOS revision for your motherboard model so as to avoid an

ossible failure.

Note: The model name on this BIOS picture is for reference only. It may not be the same model with your motherboard.

You may accomplish BIOS upgrade procedure with EzWinFlash according to following steps, and it’s STRONGLY RECOMMENDED to close all applications before you start the upgrades.

Download the latest ve rsion of BIOS package (Ex:

http://english.aopen.com.tw/)

zip file from AOpen official web site.

Unzip the downloaded BIOS package (ex: WSGMAXII102.ZIP) with WinZip (

http://www.winzip.com) in Windows environment.

Save the unzipped files into a folder, for example, WSGMAXII102.EXE & WSGMAXII102.BIN.

Double click WSGMAXII102.EXE; EzWinFlash will detect the model name and BIOS version of your motherboard. If you collect wrong BIOS, you will not be allowed to proceed with the flash steps.

You may select a preferred language in main menu, then click [Start Flash] to begin the BIOS upgrade procedure.

EzWinFlash will complete all the process automatically, and a dialogue box will pop up to ask you to restart Windows. Click [YES] to reboot Windows.

Press <Del> at POST to enter BIOS setup screen; choose "Load Setup Defaults", then “Save & Exit Setup”. Done!

It is strongly recommended NOT to turn off the power or run any applications during FLASH PROCESS.

Warning: The new BIOS upgrade will permanently replace your original BIOS setting when flashing. You may need to reconfigure the BIOS setting before your system goes back to work as normal.

WinBIOS Utility

In the past, users have to keep punching the DEL key during POST (Power-On-Self-Test) screen to get into the BIOS, which is inconvenient and clumsy. From now on, AOpen provides an easier way to configure your BIOS. WinBIOS is a customized utility, running exc lusively on AOpen mother b o ards, to allow you setting up BIOS under Windows environment. Designed to remain traditional-BIOS-alike interface, you can adjust BIOS parameter with clear descriptions for every item.

WinBIOS is natively designed with multi-language support. There are various widely-used languages provided on our website for you to download, which also helps to prevent wrong settings caused by misunderstanding of the languages. The only thing you have to do is to visit our official website and download your respective language pack (of few KB size), then double-click on it to activate the support with your chosen language.

Moreover , with high scalability, either for newly bought motherboard or the latest BIOS version with new function, you don’t have to re-install the whole program again and again. All you have to do is to grab the latest profile from our website, double-click on the profile. You don’t have to spend any extra effort to have your motherboard supported by WinBIOS.

Function keys:

It’s rather easy to handle WinBIOS as if you’re using traditional BIOS setting. Users can use the arrow keys such as WinBIOS screen. And use Press

to go back to previous screen. Furthermore, the hotkeys shown in the

, “+” or “-” to change the setting value.

to move around items in

table may help you and save your time. Some settings may not c ome into effect until you reboot your system.

Hotkey Function Description F1 Get help description. F2 Item Help F3 Changing menu language. F5 Load previous setting F6 Load setup default setting F7 Load turbo setting F10 Save changed setting and exit setup program. F12 Full Screen / Normal Mode

Caution: After updating your BIOS, please remember to update WinBIOS profile as well. If the upgraded BIOS version is newer than WinBIOS profile, WinBIOS will not be able to launch and a dialog box of error message will pop up. This verification is designed on purpose to protect your BIOS from being damaged by wrong profile version.

For the latest WinBIOS profile and language pack modules, you can find them on AOpen official web site:

(

http://download.aopen.com.tw/downloads/default.asp)

Note: Because BIOS versions are

updated in an extremely fast speed, it is strongly recommended to download the latest BIOS version and WinBIOS profile from our website upon receipt of the motherboard.

Vivid BIOS technology

Have you been fed up with the conservative and immutable POST screen? Let’s rule out the tradition idea that POST screen are stiff and frigid, and let AOpen show you the newly developed VividBIOS to experience the lively vivid colorful POST screen!

Unlike earlier graphic POST screen which could occupy the whole screen and mask text information during POST, AOpen VividBIOS deals with graphics and texts separately , and makes them running simultaneously during POST. With this innovative design, VividBIOS now brings you a beautiful and sleek 256 colors screen without missing any important information shown on POST screen.

In addition, the limited space of BIOS ROM is another big issue. When all of the traditional BIOS can only show space-consuming and uncompressed Bitmap, AOpen has considerately tuned the BIOS to next generation, to recognize the smaller-sized GIF format and even dynamic-showing GIF animation.

Vivid BIOS shares the same fundamental technology with Open JukeBox CD Player , you may use the same EzSkin utility to change your VividBIOS screen or to download your fav orite Open JukeBo x skin. If you se e this little logo s hown beside

your model name on the motherboard download page,

http://english.aopen.com.tw/tech/ezskin/vivid.htm, it is assured

that your motherboard supports this innovative feature!

Chapter 6 Installing Drivers

You may think that installing drivers and utili ties would be a repeated task of going through those installation wizards and steps-by-steps. Now, you will be surprised with how “Ez” EzInstall could do. Without wizards or steps, all you have to do is to do one click and then it’s done. Click and done. Yes. EzInstall makes installation easy and even foolproof!

After putting in the CD, you will be prompted with AOpen welcome page and our branches information.

First, click on the install driver ICON at left side for necessary drivers. Second, click on the install utility ICON at left side for preferred utilities. Practically , it’ s done. But you may a lso browse CD contents, R eadme to get more

information or just exit the CD installation.

Install driver

Install utility

Browse CD Contents

Readme

Click to install online manual

AOpen branches information

Exit CD

6.1 Installing Drivers

As you may see from the Installing driver page, EzInstall had picked up necessary for your motherboard. All you have to do is just click on the “GO”, and no more steps afterward, of all listed drivers, grey checks indicate necessary drivers; you cannot click them off. R ed checks can be disabled if you don’t want to install them now.

Press the icon will prompt the “Install Driver” page. You may also press “Back” to return to the Main page.

Once clicking “GO”, EzInstall will run the installing procedure automatically, and prompt a reboot dialog (Some drivers or utilities may skip the reboot part).

6.2 Installing Utilities

Installing Utilities is virtually the same as installing drivers. AOpen provides you many friendly and powerful utilities to manage your system. Y ou may find lots of fabulous utilities l iste d th ere, a nd a ll you ha ve to d o is to click o n th e “ GO”, then it will install the utilities to your system right away without complicated steps.

Press the icon will prompt the “Install Utilities” page for your selection. You may also press “Back” to get back to the Main page.

Chapter 7 Troubleshooting

Chapter 7 Troubleshootin

Chapter 8 Technical Support

Dear Customer, Thanks for choosing AOpen products. We invite you to register at

http://www.aopen.com to become a Gold Member of Club AOpen so as to

ensure quality service in the future. In order to maintain the best service to every customer of us, we recommend you to follow the procedures below and seek help from our branches according to the region you buy the product. With your help, we can then continue to provide efficient and the best quality service to every customer.

Thanks very much for your understanding! AOpen Technical Supporting Team

Europe

AOpen Computer b.v. Tel: 31-73-645-9516

Support@AOpen.N

Email:

Germany

AOpen Computer GmbH. Tel: 49-2131-1243-710 Fax: 49-2131-1243-999

Europe Email: Support@AOpen.NL Pacific Rim: http://www.aopen.com.tw/tech/default.htm China: http://www.aopen.com.cn/tech/default.htm Germany: http://www.aopencom.de/tech/default.htm America: http://english.aopen.com.tw/tech/default.htm Japan: http://www.aopen.co.jp/tech/default.htm

China

艾爾鵬國際貿易(上海)有限公司 Tel: 86-21-6225-8622

Fax: 86-21-6225-7926

Japan

AOpen Japan Inc. Tel: 81-048-290-1800 Fax: 81-048-290-1820

Pacific Rim

AOpen Inc. Tel: 886-2-3789-5888 Fax: 886-2-3789-5899

America

AOpen America Inc. Tel: 1-408-232-1200 Fax: 1-408-232-1280

Model Name and BIOS Version

Model name and BIOS version can be found on upper left corner of first boot screen (POST screen). For example:

Phoenix AwardBIOS v6.00PG, An Energy Star Ally

AX4SG Max II R1.02 Mar. 01. 2003 AOpen Inc.

AX4SG Max II is model name of motherboard; R1.02 is BIOS version

Register Your Motherboard

Thanks for choosing AOpen product, please register this motherboard at

http://club.aopen.com.tw/productreg/ to become a Gold member of Club AOpen,

and to ensure high service quality and priority from AOpen. You will also have a chance to play slot machine game to win prize from AOpen. Please prepare the following information before you start: Model Name, Part Number (P/N), Serial Number (S/N) and Purchase Date. The Part Number and Serial number are printed on bar code label. You can find this bar code label on the outside packing or on component side of PCB. For example:

P/N: 91.88110.201 is part number, S/N: 91949378KN73 is serial number.

Phoenix-Award BIOS ERROR Message

Beep Sound Message 1 short(Beep) System booting is normally. 1 long - 1 short(Beep) DRAM ERROR 1 long - 2 short(Beep) Display card or monitor connected error 1 long - 3 short(Beep) Keyboard Error Long(Beep) continuous DRAM hasn't inset correctly.

Part No. Serial No.

AOpen AX4SPEMAXII User Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

Table of Contents

1.2 Features of This Manual

1.3 Safety Information

Chapter 2 Introduction to This Motherboard

2.1 How does your motherboard look like?

2.2 Specification

2.3 Block Diagram

Chapter 3 Hardware Installation

3.1 Quick Installation Procedure

3.2 Installation You Have to Know

Installing CPU

Installing CPU and System Fans

Installing Memory Modules

Connecting IDE and Floppy Cables

Connecting ATX Power Cables

Connecting Front Panel Cable

3.3 Other Installation for Your Reference

Setting CPU Voltage and Frequency

Connecting Serial ATA

Adjusting your Hard Disk Setting

Connecting AGP 8X Expansion Slot

Connecting IrDA

10/100/1000Mbps LAN Supported

Connecting USB2.0

Connecting 1394

Connecting EX_Sound

Connecting SSR_OUT (Surrounding Out) Connector

Super 7.1 Channel Audio Effect

Connecting Front Audio

Connecting Game Port

Connecting COM2 (for AX4SG Max II only)

Connecting CD_IN

Connecting Case Open

Colored Coded Back Panel (for AX4SG Max II)

Colored Coded Back Panel (for AX4SPE Max II)

LED Indication

Chapter 4 Special Features and Utilities

RAID Configuration Utility

Serial ATA RAID for Silicon Image 3114

Silicon Image SATARaid GUI Overview

Other Useful Features

Chapter 5 Setting BIOS

Introduction

How To Use Phoenix-Award™ BIOS Setup Program

How To Enter BIOS Setup

BIOS Upgrade under Windows environment

WinBIOS Utility

Vivid BIOS technology

Chapter 6 Installing Drivers

6.1 Installing Drivers

6.2 Installing Utilities

Chapter 7 Troubleshooting

Chapter 8 Technical Support

Model Name and BIOS Version

Register Your Motherboard