AOpen MX3W-OV User Manual

Chapter 1

Overview

MX3W is a new generation Socket 370 based system board that utilizes Intel
810 AGPset on Micro ATX PCI/ISA platform. This AGPset is designed for
Celeron PPGA CPU, and supports new architectures such as high speed AGP
graphic port, PC100 SDRAM, AMR slot, Ultra DMA 33/66, Bus master IDE,
PCI 2.2 and USB port. It has two Dual in-line Memory Module (DIMM) slots
that allow to install PC100 SDRAMs and expand up to a maximum of 512MB.
Also, MX3W uses 4M bit Flash ROM BIOS to reserve for future new functions.

In addition to the above features, MX3W also implements many special
features as follows.

Jumper-less Design Celeron PPGA VID signal and SMbus clock generator
provide CPU voltage auto-detection and allows the user to set the CPU
frequency through the CMOS setup, therefore no jumpers or switches are used.
The correct CPU information is saved into the EEPROM. With these
technologies, the disadvantages of the Pentium based jumper-less designs are
eliminated. There will be no worry of wrong CPU voltage detection and no need
to re-open the housing in case of CMOS battery loss. The only jumper left is to
clear the CMOS, which is a safety hook if you forget the password.

Battery-less This motherboard implements EEPROM and a special circuit
(patent applied) 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 EEPROM and
the system will recover as usual.

ACPI Suspend to DRAM You can resume your original work directly from
DRAM without going through the Win98 booting process and run your
application again. Suspend to DRAM saves your current work into the system
memory.

ACPI Suspend to Hard Drive The conventional "Suspend to Hard Drive"
function is a private design of AOpen motherboards, the requirement to run it is
a BIOS revision and correct chipset that supports this function. However,
nowadays "Suspend to Hard Drive" has been become widely known as the "S4

1-1

Overview

- Hibernation" state defined in the ACPI specification; in this case not only the
BIOS itself but also the operation system (i.e. Windows98) and even the display
card are involved in the execution of this function. With regard to how to
implement this function, please refer to section “1.3 ACPI Suspend to Hard
Drive”.

0V Wake On Modem In conjunction with ATX soft power On/Off, it is possible
to have the system totally power off and wakeup to automatically answer a
phone call to serve as an answering machine or to send/receive a fax. The
most important break through is not only an externally cased modem but also
an internal modem card can be used to support Wake On Modem. This
motherboard and MP56 internal modem card implement a special circuit
(patent applied) to make sure the modem card works properly without any
power.

Wake On LAN This feature is very similar as the Wake On Modem feature, but
it is through a local area network. To use the Wake On LAN function, you must
have a network card that supports this feature and have installed proper
network management software, such as ADM.

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

Wake On Keyboard This function allows you to power on your system by
clicking the hot key that you specified. Besides, you also may disable the
function of power button and let the system can only be powered on through
the preset keys (like a password).

Wake On Mouse This function allows you power on the system by clicking a
specified mouse button twice successively.

AC Power Auto Recovery 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. In BIOS Setup settings if this item is set to
“Enabled” the system will automatically power-on after AC power resumes.

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. MX3W implements high
efficient synchronous switching design that the temperature of MOS FET is far
less than Schottky diode of asynchronous design.

Over Current Protection The Over Current Protection was very popular
implemented on the Baby AT or ATX 3.3V/5V/12V switching power supply.
However, the new generation Celeron PPGA CPU uses different voltage that
have regulator to transfer 5V to CPU voltage (for example, 2.0V), and make 5V

1-2

Overview

over current protection useless. MX3W 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.

CPU and Housing Fan Monitoring This motherboard has one more "fan
monitoring" function to prevent system overheat. There are two fan connectors.
One is for the CPU and the other can be an extra housing fan. The system will
report an alarm fan malfunction through utility software such as Hardware
Monitoring Utility.

CPU Thermal Protection MX3W has a special thermal detection circuit to
have warning through application software when the temperature is higher than
a predefined value.

System Voltage Monitoring Further more, MX3W 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
Hardware Monitor utility (Small Icon for Hardware Monitoring) for a warning to
user.

Full-range CPU core voltage This motherboard supports the CPU core
voltage from 1.3V to 2.05V, that can be applied to various CPU type in future.

Resetable Fuse This motherboard implements resetable fuses to prevent any
accidental short circuit caused by keyboard or USB devices hot plug.

FCC DoC certificate MX3W has passed FCC DoC test. The radiation is very
low, you can use any kind of housing.

Powerful Utility Software AOpen Bonus Pack CD disc contains many useful
utilities, such as Norton Antivirus, AOchip, Hardware Monitoring utility, and
Suspend to Hard Drive utility.

Note: This motherboard is battery-less, that means the RTC
(real time clock) can keep running without battery as long as
the power cord is plugged. But in case of power failure or the
power cord unplugged, you need to reset date and time from
"Standard CMOS Setup" section of BIOS Setup. For more
information, please see "Chapter 3 BIOS Setup".

1-3

Overview

1.1 Specifications

Form Factor
Board Size
CPU
System Memory
Chipset
Onboard AGP
Audio CODEC
Expansion Slots
Serial Port

Parallel Port

Floppy Interface

IDE Interface

USB Interface

PS/2 Mouse
Keyboard
RTC and Battery

BIOS

Micro ATX
244 mm x 220 mm
Celeron PPGA
168-pin DIMM x2, maximum 512 PC100 SDRAM.
Intel 810 AGPset
Intel I752 (Onboard 4MB Display Cache)
AD1881
PCI x3 and AMR x1
Two serial ports UART 16C550 compatible, and the

3rd UART for IR function.
One parallel port supports standard parallel port (SPP),

enhanced parallel port (EPP) or extended capabilities
port (ECP).

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

Dual-channel IDE interface support maximum 4 IDE
hard disks or CDROM, mode 4 , bus master hard disk
drives and Ultra DMA 33/66 mode hard drives are also
supported.

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

Mini-Din PS/2 mouse connector onboard.
Mini-Din PS/2 keyboard connector onboard.
RTC within Intel ICH chipset. Lithium (CR-2032)

battery is an option, no battery is needed if power cord
is plugged.

AWARD Plug-and-Play, 4M bit Flash ROM BIOS.

1-4

Overview

1.2 ACPI Suspend to Hard Drive

For a detailed installation procedure please refer to the following procedure to
enable ACPI Suspend to Hard Drive on the AOpen MX3W motherboard. First
please check if your system meets the following requirements, then follow the
procedure step by step.

System Requirement

1. AOZVHDD.EXE 1.30b or later (http://www.aopen.com.tw/tech/mbdrv/
default.htm#Suspend to Hard Disk Drivers).

2. Delete config.sys and autoexec.bat.

I. Fresh installation

1. Execute "Setup.exe /p j" to install Windows 98.

2. After Windows 98's installation is completed, go to Control Panel --> Power
Management.

a. Set "Power Schemes -> System Standby" to "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. Run AOZVHDD utility.

a. If you assign the whole disk to your Win 98 system (FAT 16 or FAT 32),

please run "aozvhdd /c /file" in DOS mode. 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 system.

5. You've already implemented ACPI with Suspend-to-Harddisk. 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
harddrive; the larger the memory size the longer this process will take.

1-5