AOpen N250AL User Manual

Table of Contents

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 ..............................................................19

Connecting IrDA........................................................................................20

10/100/1000Mbps LAN Supported...............................................................21

Connecting USB2.0....................................................................................22

Connecting 1394 (only for n250a-FR) ..........................................................23

1

Connecting S/PDIF ....................................................................................24

Super 5.1 Channel Audio Effect...................................................................25

Connecting Front Audio..............................................................................26

Connecting Game Port ...............................................................................27

Connecting CD_IN.....................................................................................28

Connecting AUX_IN ...................................................................................29

Connecting Case Open...............................................................................30

Colored Coded Back Panel ..........................................................................31

LED Indication ..........................................................................................32

3.4 Jumper Settings........................................................................................33

Chapter 4 Special Features and Utilities................................................... 36

RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) ...................................................36

RAID Configuration Utility...........................................................................36

Silicon Image SATARaid GUI Overview (only for n250a-FR)............................37

SilentTek – Noise is Gone!................................................................................38

Other Useful Features......................................................................................41

Chapter 5 Setting BIOS......................................................................... 42

Introduction .............................................................................................42

How To Use Phoenix-Award™ BIOS Setup Program .......................................43

How To Enter BIOS Setup ..........................................................................43

BIOS Upgrade under Windows environment..................................................44

WinBIOS Utility (only for n250a-FR) ............................................................46

Vivid BIOS technology ...............................................................................48

Chapter 6 Installing Drivers................................................................... 49

6.1 Auto-run Menu from Bonus CD.................................................................... 49

6.2 Installing NVIDIA Windows nForce Drivers....................................................50

6.3 Installing NVIDIA NvMixer Driver................................................................. 50

6.4 Installing Gigabit LAN Driver (for n250a-FR and n250a-L) ..............................51

2

6.5 Installing LAN Driver for n250a................................................................... 51

6.6 Installing USB2.0 Driver.............................................................................52

6.7 Installing NVidia SATA RAID Driver..............................................................52

6.8 Installing Silicon Image 3114 SATARaid Driver (for n250a-FR only) ................. 53

6.9 Installing Silicon Image 3114 Java SATARaid Utility (for n250a-FR only)........... 58

6.10 JAVA 2 Runtime Environment Installation (for n250a-FR only).......................58

Chapter 7 Troubleshooting..................................................................... 59

Chapter 8 Technical Support .................................................................. 60

Model Name and BIOS Version....................................................................61

Register Your Motherboard .........................................................................61

3

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.

1996-2004 Copyrights, AOpen Ltd. All rights reserved.

4

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.

5

Chapter 2 Introduction to This Motherboard

Chapter 2 Introduction to This Motherboard

2.1 How does your motherboard look like?

13

1. JP28 PS2 KB/Mouse Wakeup Jumper 17. Front Audio Connector

2. AGP 8X Expansion Slot 18. Game Port Connector

3. 4-pin 12V ATX Power Connector 19. S/PDIF Connector

4. AGP Protection LED 20. 32-bit PCI Expansion Slots X 5 (Slot 5:

5. CPUFAN Connector 21. Case Open Connector

6. SYSFAN1 Connector 22. SYSFAN2 Connector

7. 184-pin DIMMs X 3 23. IrDA Connector

8. 754-pin CPU socket supporting
AMD

9. NVIDIA nForce3 Chipsets 25. USB2.0 Connectors X 2

10. IDE Connectors x 2 26. JP25 BIOS Protection Jumper (for n250a-FR)

11. ATX Power Connector 27. JP24 BIOS Rescue Jumper (for n250a-FR)

12. FDD Connector 28. Serial ATA Ports X 6

13. Realtek LAN Chip 29. Front Panel Connector

14. CD-IN Connector 30. JP2 Speaker Output Jumper (for n250a-FR)

15. AUX-IN Connector 31. JP15, 16 Dr. Voice II Language Selection

16. Onboard AC’97 CODEC 32. JP14 CMOS Data Clear Jumper

15

17

19

21

23

25

27

29

31

TM

Athlon

14

16

18

20

22

24

26

28

30

32

TM

64 CPU

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

Self-Powered PCI Slot, only for n250a-FR)

24. IEEE1394 Connectors X 2
(only for n250a-FR)

(for n250a and n250a-L, Serial AT A Ports X 4)

(for n250a-FR)

6

2.2 Specification

Here is the main function of your motherboard.

Models n250a-FR n250a-L n250a

CPU

Chipset nForce3 250 nForce3 250 nForce3 250

Main Memory

Graphics 8X AGP slot 8X AGP slot 8X AGP slot

IDE

LAN

Sound

USB USB 2.0 x 8 USB 2.0 x 8 USB 2.0 x 8
IEEE1394

Slots

Back Panel I/O

On Board
Connector

BIOS
Board Size 305 mm x 244 mm 305 mm x 244 mm 305 mm x 244 mm

AMD Athlon 64 CPU
Socket 754
800MHz

DDR 266/333/400MHz
DDR DIMM x 3
DIMM T yp e :
64/128/256/512MB & 1GB
Max Memory : 3GB

Integrated ATA133 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.]
Realtek Gigabit LAN
Controller, support
10/100/1000Mbps
Realtek AC'97 CODEC
onboard, support 5.1 Channel

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,
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,Sy stem FAN x
1,Chassis FAN x 1
Power FAN x 1, Power
Temperature Connector x 1
SmartEar Connector x 1
Case Open Connector x 1
S/PDIF Connector x 1,
CD_IN x 1, AUX_IN x 1
IrDA x 1,Game Connector x 1
IEEE 1394 x 2, USB Port x 2
USB Connectors x 2
Award PnP 4Mb Flash ROM
BIOS x 2

AMD Athlon 64 CPU
Socket 754
800MHz

DDR 266/333/400MHz
DDR DIMM x 3
DIMM T yp e :
64/128/256/512MB &
1GB
Max Memory : 3GB

Integrated ATA133 and
Serial ATA Controller
Max
Disk: 144,000,000GB
[by 48 bits LBA Spec.]

Realtek Gigabit LAN
Controller, support
10/100/1000Mbps
Realtek AC'97 CODEC
onboard, support 5.1
Channel

AGP x 1
PCI x 5
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
FAN x 1,Chassis FAN x
1, Power FAN x 1,
Power Temperature
Connector x 1
Case Open Connector x
1 , IrDA Connector x 1
S/PDIF Connector x 1,
CD_IN x 1, AUX_IN x 1
Game Connector x 1
USB Connectors x 2
Award PnP 4Mb Flash
ROM BIOS

AMD Athlon 64 CPU
Socket 754
800MHz

DDR 266/333/400MHz
DDR DIMM x 3
DIMM T yp e :
64/128/256/512MB &
1GB
Max Memory : 3GB

Integrated AT A133 and
Serial ATA Controller
Max
Disk: 144,000,000GB
[by 48 bits LBA Spec.]

Realtek 10/100Mbps
LAN Controller , support
10/100Mbps
Realtek AC'97 CODEC
onboard, support 5.1
Channel

AGP x 1
PCI x 5
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
FAN x 1,Chassis FAN x
1, Power FAN x 1,
Power Temperature
Connector x 1
Case Open Connector x
1 , IrDA Connector x 1
S/PDIF Connector x 1,
CD_IN x 1, AUX_IN x 1
Game Connector x 1
USB Connectors x 2
Award PnP 4Mb Flash
ROM BIOS

7

2.3 Block Diagram

p

Socket 754

AMD Athlon

64 CPU

AGP 8X

DIMM Sockets x3

Realtek

LAN Chip

LAN connect
Com

onent

USB Ports x8

800MHz
System Bus

AGP bus

DDR400/333/266
Up to 3GB

NVIDIA

nForce3 250

PCI Bus

ATA 66/100/133

150MB/s

Only for n250a-FR

Silicon Image

SATA Controller

Only for n250a-FR

Agere

FW323

For n250a-FR,
4Mbit Flash EEPROM x2

32-bit PCI Slot

IDE Drives x 4

Serial ATA Ports

Serial ATA Ports

IEEE 1394 Ports

4Mbit Flash
EEPROM

Floppy Disk
Drive

RealTek

AC97

CODEC

Winbond
Super IO

8

Parallel Port

Serial Ports x2

Chapter 3 Hardware Installation

Chapter 3 Hardware

q

Installation

3.1 Quick Installation Procedure

2. Installing CPU
Fan & System Fan

3. Installing
Memory Module

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

5. Connecting Front
Panel Cable

1. Installing CPU

6. Connecting ATX
Power Cable

12. Installing Drivers &
Utilities

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

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

7. Installing AGP & PCI
Cards

10. Loading
Default BIOS,
Setting CPU

uency

Fre

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

9

3.2 Installation You Have to Know

Installing CPU

This motherboard supports AMD® Athlon 64 Socket 754 CPU. Be careful of CPU
orientation when you plug it into CPU socket (with CPU Overheat Protection
function implemented, the system will be automatically power off when the
temperature of CPU reached 97 degree).

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 arrow on the CPU upper
interface. Match Pin 1 and golden arrow. 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 Arrow

10

Installing CPU and System Fans

R

R

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.

SENSO

+12V

GND

SYSFAN2 Connector

GND
+12V
SENSOR

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

SYSFAN1 Connector

SENSO

+12V

GND

CPUFAN Connector

11

Installing Memory Modules

DIMM slots are designed in Navy Blue or 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.

12

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

Pin 1

Secondary

Slave (4th)

Primary

Slave (2nd)

Secondary

Master (3rd)

Pin 1

IDE 1 (Primary)

Primary

Master (1st)

AT A 66/100/133

IDE Connector

13

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.

14

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.

15

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 0.80V to 1.55V 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!!)

AMD CPU CPU Core Freq. CPU Clock L2 Cache Ratio

Athlon 64 2800+ 1800MHz 200MHz 512KB 9x
Athlon 64 3000+ 2000MHz 200MHz 512KB 10x
Athlon 64 3200+ 2000MHz 200MHz 1024KB 10x
Athlon 64 3200+ 2200MHz 200MHz 512KB 11x
Athlon 64 3400+ 2200MHz 200MHz 1024KB 11x
Athlon 64 3400+ 2400MHz 200MHz 512KB 12x
Athlon 64 3700+ 2400MHz 200MHz 1024KB 12x

Note: With CPU speed changing rapidly, there might be faster CPU on the
market by the time you received this installation guide. This table is kindly
for your references only, please contact with your distributor for more
information

CPU Core Frequency = CPU FSB

Warning:

NVidia nForce3 250
chipset supports
maximum 200MHz
system clock and
66MHz AGP clock;
higher clock setting
may cause serious
system damage.

Note: If your system hangs or fails to boot because of overclocking, simply use

<Home> key to restore the default setting or you can wait the AOpen “Watch Dog
ABS” reset the system in five seconds and system will auto-detect hardware again .

Warning: Supposed you have had adjusted CPU ratio on your current CPU,

and you plan to replace a new CPU. Please use <Home> key or Clear CMOS to
restore the default setting when changing a new CPU, because the system will still
implement the previous CPU setting on the new one.

CPU Ratio From 4x to 25x step 1x
CPU FSB (Adjustment

manually)

FSB = 200 MHz-250 MHz by 1 MHz Stepping CPU Overclocking

16

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
ATA ports, the one connected on Port1(SATA1) will be set as the first boot device
automatically.

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

SATA
Port4

SATA
Port3

Only for n250a-FR

SATA
Port5

SATA
Port6

SATA
Port2

SATA
Port1

17

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. You may simply press

Function Setup

Æ

Silicon SATA” to enable or disable SATA interface.

“Integrated Peripherals Æ IDE

18

Connecting AGP 8X Expansion Slot

n250a-FR / n250a-L / n250a 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 1.60V.

Warning: It is strongly recommended 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

system will therefore be unstable.

19

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

20

10/100/1000Mbps LAN Supported

On the strength of Gigabit LAN controller on board (for n250a-FR and n250a-L),
this motherboard provides 10/100/1000Mbps Ethernet for office and home use
(for n250a, it is 10/100 Mbps). 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. T o 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

Orange Gigabit mode

ACT LED (Right)

Orange

21

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

Pin 1

22

Connecting 1394 (only for n250a-FR)

This motherboard comes with AGERE 1394 Control Chip onboard, the IEEE 1394
provides 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.

Pin 1

Pin 1

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

damage the

23

Connecting S/PDIF

S/PDIF (Sony/Philips Digital Interface) is a newest audio transfer file format,
which provides impressive audio quality through optical fiber and allows you to
enjoy digital audio instead of analog audio. Through a specific audio cable, you
can connect the S/PDIF connector to other end of the S/PDIF audio module, which
bears S/PDIF digital output. Normally there are two S/PDIF outputs as shown,
one for RCA connector, the most common one used for consumer audio products,
and the other for optical connector with better audio quality. Same as outputs,
you can also connect RCA or optical audio products to input connectors on the
module and have the voice or music come out from your computer . However, you
must have a S/PDIF supported speaker/amplifier/decoder with S/PDIF digital
input/output to connect to the S/PDIF digital input/output to make the most out
of this function.

Pin 1

(RCA)

S/PDIF OUT

S/PDIF IN

S/PDIF OUT

S/PDIF IN

(Optical)

S/PDIF Module

24

S/PDIF
Cable

Super 5.1 Channel Audio Effect

This motherboard comes with an AC’97 CODEC, which supports high quality of

5.1 Channel audio effects, bringing you a brand new audio experience. On the
strength of the innovative design of AC’97 CODEC, you're able to use standard
line-jacks for surround audio output without connecting any external module. To
apply this function, you have to install the audio driver in the Bonus Pack CD as
well as an audio application supporting 5.1 Channel. Picture below represents the
standard location of all speakers in 5.1 Channel sound tracks. Please connect the
plug of your front speakers to the green “Speaker out” port, rear speakers’ plug
to the blue “Line in” port and both of the center and subwoofer speakers to the red
“MIC in” port.

25

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

26

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)

27

Connecting CD_IN

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

28

Connecting AUX_IN

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

29

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

30

Colored Coded Back Panel

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

PS/2 Keyboard
Connector

USB 2.0
Ports

COM 1 Port

SPP/EPP/ECP
Parallel Port

COM 2 Port

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.

RJ45

LAN Jack

USB 2.0
Ports

Line-In

Speaker Out

MIC-In

COM1 Port: To connect with pointing devices, modem or others serial
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: For Microphone

31

LED Indication

LED indication including Standby LED and AGP LED are AOpen’s considerate
designs that aim at providing you friendly system information.

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.

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 NVIDIA nForce3 250 chipset, the AGP LED on the motherboard will
light up to warn you the possible damage of the exceeding voltage.

AGP LED

STBY LED

32

3.4 Jumper Settings

(

JP2 Speaker Output

(only for n250a-FR)

1

Buzzer

(default)

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

1

Speaker

JP2 Speaker Output Jumper

JP14 Clear CMOS Jumper

1

Normal
default)

1

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.

33

JP15/16 Dr. Voice Language
Select
(only for n250a-FR)

English
(Default)

Chinese

JP15 JP16

Pin1

JP15/16 Dr. Voice Languages Select Jumper

Pin1

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

JP15

Pin1

1

Disable

(Default)

JP28 KB/Mouse
Wakeup Jumper

JP16

Japanese

German

Pin1

1

Enable

JP28 Keyboard / Mouse
Wakeup Jumper

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

34

JP24/25 BIOS Rescue/Protection Jumper
(only for n250a-FR)

This motherboard provides DieHard BIOS II function to
rescue your BIOS and protect BIOS from viruses. Once
your BIOS were crashed, please set JP24 to Pin2-3 to boot
up the system with BIOS 2. Then set the JP24 back to
Pin1-2. You can go to our website

http://download.aopen.com.tw/downloads) to download

(
your BIOS version suited for your motherboard, and have
it flashed.

Moreover BIOS 2 is further enhanced with data saving
function. DieHard BIOS II allows you to turn BIOS2 into a
Read-and-write ROM with larger space provided.

1

Normal

(default)

JP24 BIOS Rescue Jumper

1

Rescue

(Boot from BIOS2)

35

1

Protection

(default)

JP25 BIOS2 Protection Jumper

1

No Protection

Chapter 4 Special Features and Utilities

Chapter 4 Special Features and Utilities

RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks)

This motherboard supports RAID 0, RAID 1 and RAID 0+1 (n250a-FR only)
functions. For more RAID introduction, please visit our website:

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

RAID Configuration Utility

Nvidia nForce3 250 chipsets support RAID 0 and RAID 1 functions. In order to
make sure your system can recognize and operate Serial ATA RAID device
smoothly , we have to ente r RAID Configuration Utility to do some settings. After
finishing the BIOS setup and reboot, you will see [Press F10 to enter RAID setup
utility] about half way through the boot up. Pressing F10 immediately, you will
later be presented with a screen as shown below, Y ou can use this utility to create
or delete your disk arrays.

RAID CLASS DRIVER and NVIDIA NForce Storage Controller.

NVIDIA RAID IDE ROM BIOS 4.34
Copyright (c) 2003 NVIDIA Corp.

Detecting array…
Press F10 to enter RAID setup utility
SiI 3114 SATARAID BIOS Version 5.0.34

Copyright (c) 1997-2004 Silicon Iamge, Inc.
Press <Ctrl+S> or F4 to ebter RAID utility

Note: For operating RAID 0 or RAID 1 smoothly, user has to install both NVIDIA

36

Silicon Image SATARaid GUI Overview (only for n250a-FR)

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.

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.

37

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.

38

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.

39

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.

40

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

41

Chapter 5 Setting BIOS

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.

42

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.

43

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 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.

44

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: N250AFR102.ZIP) with WinZip
(

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

Save the unzipped files into a folder, for example, N250AFR102.EXE &
N250AFR102.BIN.

Double click N250AFR102.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.

45

WinBIOS Utility (only for n250a-FR)

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.

46

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.

47

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!

48

Chapter 6 Installing Drivers

Chapter 6 Installing Drivers

There are motherboard drivers and utilities included in AOpen Bonus CD. 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 XP) before you can install any drivers or utilities. Please refer to your
operation system’s installation guide.

6.1 Auto-run Menu from Bonus CD

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

49

6.2 Installing NVIDIA Windows nForce Drivers

You can install NVIDIA Windows nF orce drivers from the Bonus P ack CD auto-run
menu.

6.3 Installing NVIDIA NvMixer Driver

You can install NVIDIA NvMixer Driver for nForce3 250 from the Bonus Pack CD
auto-run menu.

50

6.4 Installing Gigabit LAN Driver (for n250a-FR and n250a-L)

On the strength of Realtek Gigabit LAN controller on board, this motherboard
provides 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet for office and home use. You can install the
LAN driver from the Bonus Pack CD auto-run menu.

6.5 Installing LAN Driver for n250a

For n250a motherboard, it provides 10/100 Mbps Ethernet for office and home
use. You can install the LAN driver from the Bonus Pack CD auto-run menu.

51

6.6 Installing USB2.0 Driver

This motherboard comes with USB2.0 function. For Windows 98SE and Windows
ME you need to install USB2.0 Driver from the Bonus Pack CD auto-run menu.

6.7 Installing NVidia SATA RAID Driver

This mother board comes with two serial AT A ports (SATA port1 and SA TA port2)
provided by nForce3 250 chipset. When you install NVIDIA Windows nForce
drivers, you have also installed SATA RAID driver at the same time. So you don’t
have to install SATA RAID driver again.

Note: Buil ding RAID 0 or RAID 1 in Windows 2000, user needs to update Windows

2000 to Service Pack 4 for smooth operation.

52

6.8 Installing Silicon Image 3114 SATARaid Driver (for n250a-FR only)

1) Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000/XP Fresh Installation
Follow the instructions in this section if you are performing a new installation of

Windows NT 4.0 or Windows 2000/XP, and you wish to boot from a device
attached to the SiI 3114 controller.

1. Power off the system. Connect the hard drives to the SiI 3114 controller and
insert the controller into a PCI slot. Power up the system.

2. Put your Windows NT/2000/XP CD into the CD-ROM/DVD drive, or the
NT/2000/XP boot diskette #1 in the floppy drive if your system cannot boot from
the CD.

3. Press F6 for third party SCSI or driver installation at the beginning of text mode
installation. Press’s’ when setup asks if you want to specify an additional device,
and insert the diskette labeled 'Silicon Image SiI 3114 SATARaid Driver
Installation Disk'. Press 'Enter' and select 'Silicon Image SiI 3114 SATARaid
Controller'.

4. Press 'Enter' to continue on with text mode setup.

5. Follow the setup instructio ns to select y our choice for pa rtition and file sy stem.

6. After setup examines your disks, it will copy files to Windows 2000 installation
folders and restart the system. The setup program will continue and finish the
installation after restart.

7. Wait until Windows 2000 finishes installing devices, regional settings,
networking settings, components, and final set of tasks, reboot the system if it is
required.

8. See instructions in section 4 to verify controller was installed correctly.

2) Adding the SiI RAID controller to an existing Windows NT 4.0 installation
Follow the instructions in this section to install the Silicon Image SiI 3114 driver

on a system already running Windows NT 4.0.

1. Power off the system. Connect the hard drives to the SiI 3114 controller and

insert the controller into a PCI slot. Power up the system.

2. After OS boots up, Click 'Start'.

3. Under 'Settings', click 'Control Panel'.

53

4. Select 'SCSI Adapters' from the Control Panel.

5. Select the 'Drivers' tab and cli ck 'Add'.

6. Click 'Have Disk'.

7. Insert the diskette labeled ' Silicon Image SiI 3114 SATARaid Driver

Installation Disk' into A: and press 'Enter'.

8. Choose 'Silicon Image SiI 3114 SATARaid Controller' and click 'OK'.

9. See instructions in section 4 to verify controller was installed correctly.

3) Adding the SiI RAID controller to an existing Windows 2000/XP installation
Follow the instructions in this section to install the Silicon Image SiI 3114 driver

on a system already running Windows 2000.

1. Power off the system. Connect the hard drives to the SiI 3114 controller and

insert the controller into a PCI slot. Power up the system.

2. During OS boot up, Windows 2000 will display the 'Found New Hardware

Wizard'. Click 'Next'.

3. Select 'Search for a suitable drive r fo r m y d e vice (Recommended)' and Click

'Next'.

4. Under 'Optional search locations' insure that 'Floppy disk drives' is checked.

5. Insert the diskette labeled 'Silicon Image SiI 3114 SATARaid Driver

Installation Disk' into A: and click 'Next'.

6. When the wizard indicates that it found a driver for the device click 'Next'.

7. If the 'Digital Signature Not Found' dialog appears, click 'Yes' to continue

installing the driver.

8. The wizard will now copy the required files to the system and start the driver .

After starting the driver the wizard will display a completion dialog, click
'Finish' to exit the wizard.

9. See instructions in section 4 to verify controller was installed correctly.

4) Verifying controller installation under Windows NT, 2000 and XP
Follow the instructions in this section to verify that the controller was installed

correctly.
For Windows 2000/XP

54

1. Right click on 'My Computer' icon, select 'Pr opert ies', le ft clic k on ' Hard ware '

tab, and then on 'Device Manager' button.

2. Double click on 'SCSI and RAID Controllers', If there is no yellow '! ‘or ‘? ' in

front of 'Silicon Image SiI 3114 SATARaid Controller', the driver is started
correctly.

3. To view information about the devices attached to the controller, use the

SiICfg Utility and click on the device from the list.

For Windows NT 4.0

1. Double click on 'My Computer' icon, select 'Control Panel', click on 'SCSI

Adapters' icon, 'Silicon Image SiI 3114 SAT ARaid Controller' should displayed
correctly under 'Device' and 'Driver' tab.

2. To view information about the devices attached to the controller, use the

SiICfg Utility and click on the device from the list.

5) Update SiI RAID driver on Windows NT 4.0 with existing Silicon Image driver

1. After OS boots up, Click 'Start'.

2. Under 'Settings', click 'Control Panel'.

3. Select 'SCSI Adapters' from the Control Panel.

4. Select the 'Drivers' tab and cli ck 'Add'.

5. Click 'Have Disk'.

6. Insert the diskette labeled 'Silicon Image SiI 3114 SATARaid Driver

Installation Disk' into A: and press 'Enter'.

7. Choose 'Silicon Image SiI 3114 SATARaid Controller' and click 'OK'.

8. Refer to instructions in section 4 to verify controller was installed correctly.

6) Update SiI RAID driver on Windows 2000/XP with existing Silicon Image driver
With the Silicon Image controller already plugged in and the driver already

installed. Follow the instructions to update SiI RAID driver.

1. Right click on 'My Computer' and select 'Properties'. Under the 'System

Properties' section, click on 'Hardware' tab, and then on 'Device Manager'
click 'SCSI and RAID Controller' and right click 'Silicon Image Ultra-133
Medley ATA Raid Controller'.

2. Click ‘Driver’,'Update Driver’ and select 'Search for a suitable driver for my

55

device [Recommended]'. Insert the driver diskette into floppy drive. Click
'Next' and complete the driver installation.

3. System will go through the enumeration process and install the driver. At the

end of the process, click 'Yes' to reboot your system when necessary.

4. See instructions in section 4 to verify controller was installed correctly.

7) Windows 98SE and Windows ME Fresh Installation Instructions
Follow the instructions in this section if you are performing a new installation of

Windows 98SE/ME and you wish to boot from a device attached to the SiI 3114
controller.

You may start up the Windows 98SE/ME installation from CD. If either your
Windows 98SE/ME CD or CD-ROM drive is not bootable, your can start up with
floppy diskettes.

1. Power off the system. Connect the hard drives to the SiI RAID controller and

insert the controller into a PCI slot. Power up the system

2. Put your Windows 98SE/ME CD into the CD-ROM/DVD drive, and the

Windows 98SE/ME boot diskette in the floppy drive if your system cannot
boot from the CD.

3. Follow the normal Windows 98SE/ME setup instructions to select your choice

for partition and file system.

4. Wait until Windows 98SE/ME finishes installing devices, regional settings,

networking settings, components, and final set of tasks, reboot the system.

5. After the system reboot, right click on 'My Computer' and select 'Properties'.

From the 'System Properties’ , select 'Device Manager', right click on the '? PCI
RAID controller' and select 'Properties' from the pop-up menu.

6. Click ‘Driver’,'Update Driver’ and select 'Automatic search for a better driver

[Recommended]'. Insert the driver diskette into floppy drive. Click 'Next' and
complete the driver installation.

7. System will go through the enumeration process and install the driver. At

the end of the process, click ‘Yes’ to reboot your system.

8. See instructions in section 4 to verify controller was installed correctly.

8) First time installing SiI RAID driver with existing Windows 98SE/ME
If you have an existing Windows 98SE/ME system and just obtained a Silicon

56

Image SiI 3114 controller card, you need to run the update program to install
Silicon Image driver. The driver package is located in the Silicon Image driver
diskette or the diskette provided by OEM vendor.

1. Power off the system. Connect the hard drives to the SiI 3114 controller and

insert the controller into a PCI slot. Power up the system.

2. During the system boot up, the Hardware Wizard will display that it found a '

PCI RAID Controller’, click ' Next’. Select ' Search for the best dr iv er for y o ur
device [Recommended]’ and click ' Next’.

3. Check the ' Floppy disk drives’ and insert the driver diskette into floppy drive.

Click ' Next’.

4. System will go through the enumeration process and install the driver. At the

end of the process, click ' finish’ to complete the installation. Reboot the
system if your Windows 98SE/ME drive is connected on the SiI RAID
Controller.

5. See instructions in section 4 to verify controller was installed correctly.

9) Update SiI RAID driver on Windows 98SE/ME with existing Silicon Image driver
With the Silicon Image controller already plugged in and the driver already

installed. Follow the instructions to update SiI 3114 driver.

1. Right click on 'My Computer' and select 'Properties'. Under 'System

Properties', click 'SCSI and RAID Controller’ and right click 'Silicon Image
Ultra-133 Medley ATA Raid Controller'.

2. Click ‘Driver’,'Update Driver’ and select 'Automatic search for a better driver

[Recommended]'. Insert the driver diskette into floppy drive. Click 'Next' and
complete the driver installation.

3. System will go through the enumeration process and install the driver. At

the end of the process, click 'Yes' to reboot your system.

4. See instructions in section 4 to verify controller was installed correctly.

57

6.9 Installing Silicon Image 3114 Java SATARaid Utility (for n250a-FR only)

You can install Silicon Image 3114 Java SATAR aid Utility from the Bonus P ack CD
auto-run menu.

6.10 JAVA 2 Runtime Environment Installation (for n250a-FR only)

The Java 2 Runtime Environment is required for the SAT ARaid GUI. Y ou can install
it from the Bonus Pack CD auto-run menu.

58

Chapter 7 Troubleshooting

g

Chapter 7 Troubleshootin

59

Chapter 8 Technical Support

L

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: [phone]

Support@AOpen.N

Email:

Germany

AOpen Computer GmbH.
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Europe Email: [e-mail]
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://usa.aopen.com/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: [phone]

Fax: [phone]

Japan

AOpen Japan Inc.
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Pacific Rim

AOpen Inc.
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

America

AOpen America Inc.
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

60

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

Copyright (C) 2003, Phoenix Technologies, LTD.

n250a-FR R1.02 Mar. 01. 2004 AOpen Inc.

n250a-FR 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.

61

62