AOpen AX6L User Manual

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Chapter 1

Overview

The AX6L is a new generation Pentium II based system board that utilizes Intel
82440LX chipset on ATX PCI/ISA platform. This chipset is designed for
Pentium II CPU, and supports new architectures such as high speed AGP
graphic port, SDRAM, Ultra DMA/33, Bus master IDE and USB port. It has
four Dual in-line Memory Module (DIMM) that allow to mix 3V EDO and
SDRAM memory and expand up to a maximum of 1GB. There is no second
level cache onboard, since the cache is on the Pentium II CPU card
(connector SLOT1). Also, AX6L uses 2M bit Flash ROM BIOS to reserve for
future new functions.

Not only above features, AX6L implements most advanced technology such as
user-friendly Jumper-less configuration, CMOS and RTC battery-less backup,
Synchronous switching regulator, CPU thermal protection, CPU fan
monitoring, System voltage monitoring, Over current protection, Modem Wake
Up and Suspend to Hard Drive.

Jumper-less Design

Pentium II VID signal and SMbus clock generator provide CPU voltage auto­detection and allows user to set CPU frequency through CMOS setup, no
jumper or switch is needed. The correct CPU information is saved into
EEPROM, with these technologies, the disadvantages of Pentium base
jumper-less design are eliminated. There will be no worry of wrong CPU
voltage detection and no need to re-open the housing if CMOS battery loss.
The only jumper left is to clear CMOS, which is a safety hook if you forget the
password.

Battery-less Motherboard

AX6L implements EEPROM and special circuit (patent applied) that allows you
to save your current CPU and CMOS Setup configurations without the need of
battery. The RTC (real time clock) can also keep running as long as power
cord is plugged. If you lose your CMOS data by accident, you can just reload
the CMOS configurations from EEPROM and the system will recover as usual.

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Suspend To Hard Drive

"Immediately" turns on system and goes back to the original screen before
power down. You can resume your original work directly from hard disk without
go through the Win95 booting process and run your application again.
Suspend to Hard Drive saves your current work (system status, memory
image) into hard disk. Note that you have to use VESA compatible PCI VGA,
Sound Blaster compatible sound card with APM driver, for Suspend to Hard
Drive to work properly.

Internal Modem Card Wake-up

In conjunction with ATX soft power On/Off, it is possible to have system totally
power off and wakeup to automatically answer a phone call such as answering
machine or to send/receive fax. The most important break through is not only
external box modem but also internal modem card can be used to support
Modem Wake Up. The AX6L and MP56 internal modem card implement
special circuit (patent applied) to make sure the modem card work properly
without any power.

RTC Wake Up Timer

The Wake Up Timer is more like an alarm, which wakes up and power on your
system at a pre-defined time for specific application. It can be set to wake up
everyday or on specific date within a month. The date/time accurate is second.

High Efficient Synchronous Switching Regulator

Most of the current switching designs are Asynchronous mode, which from the
technical point of view, still consumes very high power as well as heat. AX6L
implements high efficient synchronous switching design that the temperature
of MOS FET is far less than Schottky diode of Asynchronous design.

Over Current Protection Circuit

The Over Current Protection was very popular implemented on the Baby AT or
ATX 3.3V/5V/12V switching power supply. But unfortunately, the new
generation Pentium II CPU uses different voltage that have regulator to
transfer 5V to CPU voltage (for example, 2.8V), and make 5V over current
protection useless. AX6L with switching regulator onboard support CPU over
current protection, in conjunction with 3.3V/5V/12V power supply provide the
full line over current protection.

Overview

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CPU Thermal Protection

AX6L has a special thermal detection circuit to have warning through
application software when the temperature is higher than a predefined value.

CPU and Housing Fan Monitoring

AX6L has one more "fan monitoring" function to prevent system overheat.
There are two fan connectors, one is for CPU and the other can be a extra
housing fan. The system will report and alarm fan malfunction though utility
software such as HWMON2 (Small Icon for Hardware Monitoring).

System Voltage Monitoring

Further more, AX6L implements a voltage monitoring system, As you turn on
your system, this smart design will continue to monitor your system working
voltage. If any of the system voltage is over the component's standard. There
will be alarm though utility software such as HWMON2 (Small Icon for
Hardware Monitoring) for a warning to user.

FCC DoC certificate

AX6L has passed FCC DoC test. The radiation is very low, you can use any
kind of housing.

Overview

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1.1 Specifications

Form Factor

ATX

Board Size

305 mm x 244 mm

CPU

Intel Pentium II Processor

System Memory

3V EDO or SDRAM, 168-pin DIMM x4, maximum
1GB.

Second-level Cache

On the CPU card (Slot1 connector)

Chipset

Intel 82440LX

Expansion Slots

ISA x3, PCI x4 and AGP x1

Serial Port

Two serial ports UART 16C550 compatible, and the
3rd UART for IR function.

Parallel Port

One parallel port supports standard parallel port (SPP),
enhanced parallel port (EPP) or extended capabilities
port (ECP).

Floppy Interface

Floppy interface supports 3.5 inches drives with
720KB, 1.44MB or 2.88MB format or 5.25 inches
drives with 360KB, 1.2MB format

IDE Interface

Dual-channel IDE interface support maximum 4 IDE
hard disks or CDROM, mode 4 , bus master hard disk
drives and Ultra DMA/33 mode hard drives are also
supported.

USB Interface

Two USB ports supported by USB bracket, the BIOS
also supports USB driver to simulate legacy keyboard.

PS/2 Mouse

Mini-Din PS/2 mouse connector onboard.

Keyboard

Mini-Din PS/2 keyboard connector onboard.

RTC and Battery

RTC within Intel PIIX4 chipset. Lithium (CR-2032)
battery is an option, no battery is needed if power cord
is plugged.

BIOS

AWARD Plug-and-Play, 2M bit Flash ROM BIOS

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Suspend to Hard Drive

Supported by BIOS, save your work to hard disk and
resume within a very short time. VESA compatible VGA
and Sound Blaster compatible sound card required.

Modem Card Wake
Up

Special circuit (patent applied) to support modem ring
wake up by external box modem or internal AOpen MP56
modem card.

RTC Wake Up Timer

Program the date/time to wake up your system.

Synchronous
Switching Regulator

High efficient synchronous switching regulator.

Over-current
Protection

Full line (5V,12V,3.3V and CPU) over-current protection
to prevent any accident short circuit.

CPU Thermal
Protection

Warning when CPU temperature is overheat. Option for
OEM to have sensor at CPU heatsink.

Fan Monitoring

Two fan connectors, warning when CPU or housing fan is
malfunction.

System Voltage
Monitoring

Warning when system voltage (5V,12V,3.3V and CPU) are
abnormal

Overview

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1.2 Suspend to Hard Drive

Suspend to Hard Drive 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 second without go through the Win95 booting process and
run your application again. If your memory is 16MB, normally, you need to
reserve at least 16MB HDD space to save your memory image. Note that you
have to use VESA compatible PCI VGA (AOpen PV60/PT70), Sound Blaster
compatible sound card and sound driver that supports APM (AOpen
AW32/AW35) for Suspend to Hard Drive to work properly. Of course, we
recommend to use AOpen products for best compatibility.

To use Suspend to Hard Drive:

1. Go into BIOS setup, Power Management Suspend Mode Option, select
"Suspend to Drive".

2. Go into BIOS setup, PNP/PCI Configuration PnP OS Installed, select
"No". This can give BIOS the capability to allocate system resources for
Suspend to Hard Drive.

3. Bootup your system into DOS command prompt. If you are Win'95 user,
Please restart you Windows 95 under "Command Prompt" by pressing "F8"
while system shows "Windows 95 Starting ...". Choose "Command
Prompt Mode" from selection so that system will start in DOS command
prompt.

4. Use utility "AOZVHDD" to create a partition in your hard disk drive. This
partition is used to save your system status and memory image. Just type:

C:>AOZVHDD /c /partition /M:mmm

Where mmm is the partition space you want to create. It is recommended
to reserve enough space for your feature memory expansion. For example,
if you plan to have 64MB main memory and 4MB VGA memory in the near
future. Please create at least 64+4=68MB.

If you are using FAT32 file system, please use this partition method.

5. There is another method to create a hidden file in your hard disk drive for
Suspend to Hard Drive to save your system status and memory image.

C:>AOZVHDD /c /file

Please make sure that you have enough continuous HDD space for
creating this hidden file. For example, if you have 16MB of system memory,
you need at least 16MB (+ VGA memory size) of continuous HDD space. If

Overview

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AOZVHDD failed to allocate the HDD space, you may run "DEFRAG" Utility
or "Disk Defragmenter" which come with MS-DOS or Win'95 to free HDD
space.

6. After creating above partition or hidden file, please reboot your system.

7. Push suspend switch (momentary mode) or use Win95 Suspend icon to
force system goes into Suspend to Hard Drive mode and then turn system
power off by power switch of your power supply.

8. Next time you turn on your system, it will resume to your original work
automatically.

Tip: Following VGA card have been tested &
recognized as VESA compatible VGA device.

AOpen PV90 (Trident 9680)
AOpen PT60 (S3 Virge/BIOS R1.00-01)
AOpen PV60 (S3 Tiro64V+)
AOpen PT70 (S3 Virge/DX)
ProLink Trident GD-5440
ProLink Cirrus GD-5430
ProLink Cirrus GD-5446
ATI Mach 64 GX
ATI 3D RAGE II
Diamond Stealth64D (S3 868)
Diamond Stealth64V (S3 968)
KuoWei ET-6000.

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Tip: Following Sound card have been tested OK for

Suspend to Hard Drive.

AOpen AW32
AOpen AW35
AOpen MP32
Creative SB 16 Value PnP
Creative SB AWE32 PnP
ESS 1868 PnP

If your sound card can not work after resume from
Suspend to Hard Drive, check your sound card
vendor see if there is driver to support APM, and
install it again.

Note: The USB function has not been tested for
Suspend to Hard Drive. If you find any unstable
problem, please go into BIOS, Integrated Peripherals

USB Legacy Support. Disable the USB Legacy

function.

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1.3 Modem Wake Up

The Modem Wake Up discussed here is to wakeup from true power off
(identified by fan of power supply is off), This motherboard still supports
traditional green PC suspend mode but it is not discussed here.

With the help ATX soft power On/Off, it is possible to have system totally
power off (The traditional suspend mode of power management function does
not really turn off the system power supply), and wakeup to automatically
answer a phone call such as answering machine or to send/receive fax. You
may identify the true power off by checking fan of your power supply. Both
external box modem and internal modem card can be used to support Modem
Wake Up, but if you use external modem, you have to keep the box modem
always power-on. AOpen AX6L and internal modem card implement special
circuit (patent applied) and make sure the modem card works properly without
any power. We recommend you choose AOpen modem card (MP56) for
Modem Wake Up applications.

Internal Modem Card Wake Up (such as MP56

)

External Box Modem

Extaernal Modem Wake Up

COM portTEL LineTEL Lin

e

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For Internal Modem Card (AOpen MP56):

1. Go into BIOS setup , Power Management Modem Wake Up, select
Enable.

2. Setup your application, put into Windows 95 StartUp or use Suspend to
Hard Drive function.

3. Turn system power off by soft power switch.

4. Connect 4-pin Modem Ring-On cable from MP56 RING connector to AX6L
connector WKUP.

5. Connect telephone line to MP56. You are now ready to use Modem Ring­On.

For External Box Modem:

1. Go into BIOS setup , Power Management Modem Wake Up, select
Enable.

2. Setup your application, put into Windows 95 StartUp or use Suspend to
Hard Drive function.

3. Turn system power off by soft power switch.

4. Connect RS232 cable of external box Modem to COM1 or COM2.

4. Connect telephone line to external box Modem. Turn on Modem power
(you must keep Modem power always on). You are now ready to use
Modem Ring

Tip: External modem wake up signal is detected through
COM1 or COM2. Internal modem card wake up signal is
detected through cable from connector RING (on modem
card) to WKUP (on mainboard).

Tip: You can combine Suspend to Hard Drive, Modem
Wake Up and the software Acephone for the best
solution of answering machine or to send/receive fax.

Note: If you use external modem, the power of external
modem must be kept on to receive signal from telephone
line. Internal modem card has no such limitation.

Overview

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1.4 System Voltage Monitoring

AX6L implements a voltage monitoring system. As you turn on your system,
this smart design will continue to monitor your system working voltage. If any
of the system voltage is over the component's standard. There will be alarm
through application software such as HWMON2 (Small Icon for Hardware
Monitoring) for a warning to user. System voltage monitoring function monitors
5V, 12V, 3.3V and CPU core voltage. It is automatically implemented by BIOS
and HWMON2, no hardware installation is needed.

1.5 Fan Monitoring

FAN

CPU FAN

There are two fan connectors, one is for CPU, the other can be a housing fan.
The fan monitoring function is implemented by connecting fan to 3-pin fan
connector CPUFAN or FAN and installing HWMON2 (Small Icon for Hardware
Monitoring).

Note: You need 3-pin fan that supports SENSE
signal for fan monitoring function to work
properly.

Overview

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1.6 CPU Thermal Protection

hw monitor IC

thermistor

This mainboard implements special thermal protection circuits. When
temperature is higher than a predefined value, there will be warning through
application software such as HWMON2 (Small Icon for Hardware Monitoring)
to notify user. It is automatically implemented by BIOS and HWMON2, no
hardware installation is needed.

For OEM customer who needs more accurate temperature, AX6L reserves an
option to use special CPU heatsink with thermal sensor on it. The CPU thermal
sensor should be connected to CN3.

Overview

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1.7 Battery-less Design

battery

To preserve the earth, AOpen AX6L implements the world first battery-less
motherboard design. There is no need to have battery for RTC (real time
clock) and CMOS Setup as long as ATX power cable is plugged. In case of
the AC power is shutdown or power cord is removed by accident, the CMOS
Setup and system configuration can be restored from EEPROM, only the
system clock needed to be re-set to current date/time.

For the convenience of end user, AX6L still shipped with one Lithium (CR-

2032) battery. If you prefer to use battery, you can still Insert it into battery

socket. The RTC will still keep running even power cord is removed.