Biostar A770E3 Owner's Manual

A770E3 Setup Manual

FCC Information and Copyright

This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits of a Class
B digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed
to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residential
installation. This equipment ge nerates, uses, and can radiate radio frequency
energy and, if not i nstalled and used in accordance with the instructions, may
cause harmful interference to radio communications. There is no guarantee
that interference will not occur in a particular installation.

The vendor makes no representations or warranties with respect to the
contents here and specially disclaims any implied warranties of merchantability
or fitness for any purpose. Further the vendor reserves the right to revise this
publication and to make changes to the contents here without obligation to
notify any party beforehand.

Duplication of this publication, in part or in whole, is not allowed without first
obtaining the vendor’s approval in writing.

The content of this user’s manual is subject to be changed without notice and
we will not be responsible for any mistakes found in this user’s manual. All the
brand and product names are trademarks of their respective companies.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction ........................................ 1

1.1 Before You Start ................................................................................ 1

1.2 Package Checklist............................................................................. 1

1.3 Motherboard Features...................................................................... 2

1.4 Rear Panel Connectors ..................................................................... 3

1.5 Motherboard Layout......................................................................... 4

Chapter 2: Hardware Installation .......................... 5

2.1 Installing Central Processing Unit (CPU)....................................... 5

2.2 FAN Headers...................................................................................... 7

2.3 Installing System Memory................................................................ 8

2.4 Connectors and Slots....................................................................... 10

Chapter 3: Headers & Jumpers Setup .................. 13

3.1 How to Setup Jumpers .................................................................... 13

3.2 Detail Settings.................................................................................. 13

Chapter 4: RAID Functions .................................. 17

4.1 Operating System............................................................................ 17

4.2 Raid Arrays...................................................................................... 17

4.3 How RAID Works............................................................................. 17

Chapter 5: Useful Help ........................................ 20

5.1 Driver Installation Note.................................................................. 20

5.2 Software ............................................................................................ 21

5.3 Extra Information............................................................................ 25

5.4 AMI BIOS Beep Code....................................................................... 27

5.5 Troubleshooting............................................................................... 28

Appendix: SPEC In Other Languages ................... 30

German.................................................................................................................. 30

French .................................................................................................................... 32

Italian..................................................................................................................... 34

Spanish ................................................................................................................... 36

Portugue se ............................................................................................................ 38

Polish...................................................................................................................... 40

Russian ................................................................................................................... 42

Arabic..................................................................................................................... 44

Japanese ................................................................................................................ 46

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

A770E3

1.1 B

EFORE YOU START

Thank you for choosing our product. Before you start installing the
motherboard, please make sure you follow the instructions below:

 Prepare a dry and stable working environment with

sufficient lighting.

 Always disconnect the computer from power outlet

before operation.

 Before you take the motherboard out from anti-static

bag, ground yourself properly by touching any safely
grounded appliance, or use grounded wrist strap to
remove the static charge.

 Avoid touching the components on motherboard or the

rear side of the board unless necessary. Hold the board
on the edge, do not try to bend or flex the board.

 Do not leave any unfastened small parts inside the

case after installation. Loose parts will cause short
circuits which may damage the equipment.

 Keep the computer from dangerous area, such as heat

source, humid air and water.

 The operating temperatures of the computer should be

0 to 45 degrees Celsius.

1.2 PACKAGE CHECKLIST

HDD Cable X 1 (optional)
Serial ATA Cable X 2
Rear I/O Panel for ATX Case X 1
User’s Manual X 1
Fully Setup Driver CD X 1
Serial ATA Power Cable X 1 (optional)
FDD Cable X 1 (optional)
USB 2.0 Cable X1 (optional)

Note: The package contents may be different due to area or your motherboard version.

1

Motherboard Manual

1.3 MOTHERBOARD FEATURES

Socket AM3

CPU

FSB

Chipset

Super I/O

Main

Memory

IDE Int egrat ed ID E Co ntro l le r

SATA II Integrated Serial ATA Controller

LAN Realtek RTL 8111DL

Sound ALC662

Slots

On Board

Connector

AMD Phenom II/ Athlon II processors

(Maximum Watt: 95W)

Support HyperTransport 3.0

Supports up to 5.2 GT/s Bandwidth

Northbridge: AMD 770

Southbridge: AMD SB710

ITE 8718

Prov ides the most commonly used leg acy

Super I/O functionality

DDR3 DIMM Slots x 4

Max Memory Capacity 16GB

Each DIMM supports 512MB/

1GB/2GB/4GB DDR3

PCI Express Gen2 x16 slot x1

PCI Express Gen2 x1 slot x2

PCI slot x3

Floppy Connector x1 Each connector supports 2 Floppy drives

IDE Conn ector x1 Each connector supports 2 IDE device

SATA Connector x6 Each connect or supports 1 SATA devices

Front Panel Connector x1 Supports front panel facilities

Front Audio Connector x1 Supports front panel audio function

SPEC

AMD 64 Architecture enables 32 and 64 bit

computing

Supports Hyper Transport 3.0

Low Pin Count Interface

En v ironm ent C o ntro l in it iat ives

H/W Mon ito r

ITE's "S mart Guardian " function

Dual Channel Mode DDR3 me mo ry modu le

Supports DDR3 800 / 1066 / 1333

Supports DDR3 1600 (OC)

Register ed DIMM and ECC D IMM is no t supported

Multi-word DMA, and Ultra DMA 33/66/100/133

mod es

Data transfer rates up to 3 Gb/s

SATA Vers io n 2.5 specif ic at io n co mpliant

10 / 100 /1000 Mb/s auto negotiation

Half / Full duplex capability

5.1 channels audio out

High Definition Audio

Supports PCI-E Gen2 x16 expansion cards

Supports PCI-E Gen2 x1 expansion cards

Supports PCI expansion cards

2

SPEC

S/PDIF Out Connector x1 Supports digital audio out function

CPU Fan Header x1 CPU Fan power supply (with Smart Fan funct ion)

System Fan Header x1 System Fan Power supply

CMOS C lear Header x1 Restore CMOS dat a to facto ry default

USB Connector x2 Each connect or supports 2 front panel USB ports

Power Connector (24pin) x1 Connects to Power supply

Power Connector (4pin) x1 Connects to Power supp ly

Printer Port Connector x1 Each connector supports 1 Printer port

PS/2 Keyboard x1

PS/2 Mous e x1

Back Panel

I/O

Board Size 205 mm(W) x 305 mm(L) ATX

Special

Features

OS Support Windows XP / Vista 32 / 64 / 7

Serial Port x1

LAN port x1

USB Port x4

Audio Jack x3

RAID 0 / 1 / 1+0 support

Connects to PS/2 Keyboard

Connects to PS/2 Mouse

Connects to RS-232 Port

Connect to RJ- 45 ethernet cab le

Connect to USB devices

Provide Audio-In/Out and microphone connection

Biostar reserves the r ight to add or remove support

for any OS With or without notice.

A770E3

1.4 REAR PANEL CONNECTORS

PS/2
Mouse

P S /2
Keyboard

COM1 USBX2USBX2

LAN

Line In/
Surround

Line Out

Mic In 1/
Bass/ Center

3

Motherboard Manual

1.5 MOTHERBOARD LAYOUT

KBM S1

JUSBV1

COM1

USB1

RJ45USB1

AUDIO1

LAN

ATX PWR2

AT XP W R 1

PEX1 _1

PEX16_1

AMD

770

CPU_FAN1

Sock e t A M 3

DDR3_A1

DDR3_B1

DDR3_B2

DDR3_A2

IDE 1

BAT

JCMOS1

4

Super I/O

Codec

F_AUDIO1

Note: represents the 1■

JSPDIFOUT1

PEX1_2

J_PRINT1

PCI1

PCI2

PCI3

st

pin.

AMD

BIOS

SB710

SATA1 S ATA3 SAT A5

JUSBV2

F_USB1F_ USB2

FDD1

SYS_FAN1

SATA 2 S ATA4 SATA6

PA N E L 1

CHAPTER 2: HARDWARE INSTALLATION

A770E3

2.1 I

NSTALLING CENTRAL PROCESSING UNIT (CPU)

Step 1: Pull the lever toward direction A from the socket and then raise the

lever up to a 90-degree angle.

Step 2: Look for the white triangle on socket, and the gold triangle on

CPU should point towards this white triangle. The CPU will fit only
in the correct orientation.

5

Motherboard Manual

Step 3: Hold the CPU down firmly, and then close the lever toward direct

B to complete the installation.

Step 4: Put the CPU Fan on the CPU and buckle it. Connect the CPU

FAN power cable to the CPU_FAN1. This completes the
installation.

Note: Please update the BIOS to the latest version while using AM2+/AM3 CPUs. Due to the latest

CPU transition, you may encounter the situation that the new system failed to boot while
using new AM2+/AM3 CPUs. In this case, please install one standard AM2 CPU to boot your
system, and update the latest BIOS from our website for AM2+/AM3 CPUs support.

6

2.2 FAN HEADERS

These fan headers support cooling-fans built in the computer. The fan
cable and connector may be different according to the fan manufacturer.
Connect the fan cable to the connector while matching the black wire to
pin#1.

CPU_FAN1: CPU Fan Header

14

SYS_FAN1: System Fan Header

Pin

Assignment

1 Ground
2 +12V
3

FAN RPM r ate
sense

4 Smart Fan

Control (By Fan)

Pin Assignment

1 Ground
2 +12V
3

FAN RPM r ate
sense

A770E3

13

Note:

The CPU_FAN1 and SYS_FAN1 support 4-pin and 3-pin head connector. When
connecting with wires onto connectors, please note that the red wire is the positive and
should be co nnected to pin#2, and the black wire is Ground and should be connected to
GND.

7

Motherboard Manual

2.3 INSTALLING SYSTEM MEMORY

A. DDR3 Modules

DDR3_ A1

DDR3_ B1

DDR3_ A2

DDR3_ B2

1. Unlock a DIMM slot by pressing the retaining clips outward. Align a
DIMM on the slot such that the notch on the DIMM matches the
break on the Slot.

2. Insert the DIMM vertically and firmly into the slot until the retaining
chip snap back in place and the DIMM is properly seated.

8

B. Memory Capacity

DIMM Socket

Location

DIMMA1 256MB/512MB/1GB/2GB/4GB

DIMMB1 256MB/512MB/1GB/2GB/4GB

DIMMA2 256MB/512MB/1GB/2GB/4GB

DIMMB2 256MB/512MB/1GB/2GB/4GB

DDR3 Module

Total Memory Size

Max is 16GB.

C. Dual Channel Memory installation

Please refer to the following requirements to activate Dual Channel function:

Install memory module of the same density in pairs, shown in the table..

Dual Channel Status

Enabled O O X X

Enabled X X O O

Enabled O O O O

(O means memory installed, X means memory not installed.)

The DRAM bus width of the memory module must be the same (x8 or
x16)

DDR3_A1 DDR3_B1 DDR3_A2 DDR3_B2

A770E3

9

Motherboard Manual

2.4 CONNECTORS AND SLOTS

FDD1: Floppy Disk Connector

The motherboard provides a standard floppy disk connector that supports 360K,
720K, 1.2M, 1.44M and 2.88M floppy disk types.

234

133

IDE1: Hard Disk Connector

The motherboard has a 32-bit Enhanced IDE Controller that provides PIO Mode
0~4, Bus Master, Multi-word DMA, and Ultra DMA 33/66/100/133 functionality.

40

2

SATA1~SATA6: Serial ATA Connectors

The motherboard has a PCI to SATA Controller with 6 channels SATA interface,
it satisfies the SATA 2.5 spec and with transfer rate of 3.0Gb/s.

SATA1 SATA3 SATA5
SATA2 SATA4 SATA6

1

4

7

10

39

1

Pin

Assignment

1 Ground
2 TX+
3 TX­4 Ground
5 RX­6 RX+
7 Ground

ATXP W R1: AT X P ower Source Connector

1

2

This connector allows user to connect 24-pin power connector on the ATX
power supply.

A770E3

13

24

Pin Assignment Pin Assignment

1

12

13 +3.3V 1 +3.3V
14 -12V 2 +3.3V
15 Gro und 3 Gro und
16 PS_ON 4 +5V
17 Gro und 5 Gro und
18 Ground 6 +5V
19 Gro und 7 Gro und
20 NC 8 PW_OK
21 +5V 9 Standby Voltage+5V
22 +5V 10 +12V
23 +5V 11 +12V
24 Ground 12 +3.3V

ATXP W R2: AT X P ower Source Connector

Connecting this connector will provide +12V to CPU power circuit.

Pin

34

1 +12V
2 +12V
3 Ground
4

Assignment

Ground

11

Motherboard Manual

PEX16_1: PCI-Express Gen2 x16 Slot

- PCI-Express 2.0 compliant.

- Maximum theoretical realized bandwidth of 8GB/s simultaneously per

direction, for an aggregate of 16GB/s totally.

PEX1_1/PEX1_2: PCI-Express Gen2 x1 Slots

- PCI-Express 2.0 compliant.

- Data transfer bandwidth up to 500MB/s per direction; 1GB/s in total.

- PCI-Express Gen2 supports a raw bit-rate of 5.0Gb/s on the data pins.

- 2X bandwidth over the PCI-Express 1.0 architecture.

PEX1_1

PEX16_1

PEX1_2

PCI1~PCI3: Peripheral Component Interconnect Slots

This motherboard is equipped with 3 standard PCI slots. PCI stands for
Peripheral Component Interconnect, and it is a bus standard for expansion
cards. This PCI slot is designated as 32 bits.

12

PCI1

PCI2

PCI3

CHAPTER 3: HEADERS & JUMPERS SETUP

A770E3

3.1 H

OW TO SETUP JUMPERS

The illustration shows how to set up jumpers. When the jumper cap is
placed on pins, the jumper is “close”, if not, that means the jumper is
“open”.

Pin opened Pin closed Pin1-2 closed

3.2 DETAIL SETTINGS

PANEL1: Front Panel Header

This 16-pin connector includes Power-on, Reset, HDD LED, Power LED, and
speaker connection. It allows user to connect the PC case’s front panel switch
functions.

D

E

_

L

P

W

R

+

916

1

+

+

S

K

P

H

f

f

/

n

O

O

-

8

-

T

S

R

E

D

L

Pin Assignment Function Pin Assignment Function

1 +5V 9 N/A
2 N/A 10 N/A
3 N/ A 1 1 N/A N/A
4 Speaker
5 HDD LED (+) 13 Power LED (+)
6 HDD LED (-)
7 Ground 15 Power button
8 Reset control

Speaker
Connector

Hard drive
LED

Reset button

12 Power LED (+)

14 Power LED (-)

16 Ground

N/A

Power LED

Power-on button

13