LANPARTY 790FX B User Manual

System Board
User’s Manual

935-DK79B1-000G

06700831E

Copyright

This publication contains information that is protected by copyright. No part of it
may be reproduced in any form or by any means or used to make any transfor­mation/adaptation without the prior written permission from the copyright hold­ers.

This publication is provided for informational purposes only. The manufacturer
makes no representations or warranties with respect to the contents or use of
this manual and specifically disclaims any express or implied warranties of
merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose. The user will assume the
entire risk of the use or the results of the use of this document. Further, the
manufacturer reserves the right to revise this publication and make changes to its
contents at any time, without obligation to notify any person or entity of such
revisions or changes.

© 2008. All Rights Reserved.

Trademarks

Windows® 2000 and Windows® XP are registered trademarks of Microsoft
Corporation. Award is a registered trademark of Award Software, Inc. Other
trademarks and registered trademarks of products appearing in this manual are
the properties of their respective holders.

FCC and DOC Statement on Class B

This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class
B digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC rules. These limits are designed
to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference when the equip­ment is operated in a residential installation. This equipment generates, uses and
can radiate radio frequency energy and, if not installed and used in accordance
with the instruction manual, may cause harmful interference to radio communica­tions. However, there is no guarantee that interference will not occur in a par­ticular installation. If this equipment does cause harmful interference to radio or
television reception, which can be determined by turning the equipment off and
on, the user is encouraged to try to correct the interference by one or more of
the following measures:

• Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna.

• Increase the separation between the equipment and the receiver.

• Connect the equipment into an outlet on a circuit different from that to
which the receiver is connected.

• Consult the dealer or an experienced radio TV technician for help.

Notice:

1. The changes or modifications not expressly approved by the party responsi­ble for compliance could void the user's authority to operate the equipment.

2. Shielded interface cables must be used in order to comply with the emission
limits.

Table of Contents

About this Manual................................................................................

Warranty.................................................................................................

Static Electricity Precaution................................................................

Safety Measures.....................................................................................

About the Package...............................................................................

Before Using the System Board.........................................................

System Board Layout............................................................................

English.....................................................................................................

Français...................................................................................................

Deutsch...................................................................................................

Italiano...................................................................................................

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5

5

6

6

7

8

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59

85

Español....................................................................................................

Debug LED POST and Troubleshooting..........................................

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1

Introduction

About this Manual

An electronic file of this manual is included in the CD. To view the
user’s manual in the CD, insert the CD into a CD-ROM drive. The
autorun screen (Main Board Utility CD) will appear. Click the
“TOOLS” icon then click “Manual” on the main menu.

For additional information on the system board, please download
the complete version of the manual from DFI’s website. Visit
www.dfi.com.

Warranty

1. Warranty does not cover damages or failures that arised from
misuse of the product, inability to use the product, unauthorized
replacement or alteration of components and product specifica­tions.

2. The warranty is void if the product has been subjected to physi­cal abuse, improper installation, modification, accidents or unau­thorized repair of the product.

3. Unless otherwise instructed in this user’s manual, the user may
not, under any circumstances, attempt to perform service, adjust­ments or repairs on the product, whether in or out of warranty.
It must be returned to the purchase point, factory or authorized
service agency for all such work.

4. We will not be liable for any indirect, special, incidental or
consequencial damages to the product that has been modified
or altered.

4

Static Electricity Precautions

It is quite easy to inadvertently damage your PC, system board,
components or devices even before installing them in your system
unit. Static electrical discharge can damage computer components
without causing any signs of physical damage. You must take extra
care in handling them to ensure against electrostatic build-up.

1. To prevent electrostatic build-up, leave the system board in its
anti-static bag until you are ready to install it.

2. Wear an antistatic wrist strap.

3. Do all preparation work on a static-free surface.

4. Hold the device only by its edges. Be careful not to touch any of
the components, contacts or connections.

5. Avoid touching the pins or contacts on all modules and connec­tors. Hold modules or connectors by their ends.

Introduction

1

Important:

Electrostatic discharge (ESD) can damage your processor, disk
drive and other components. Perform the upgrade instruction
procedures described at an ESD workstation only. If such a
station is not available, you can provide some ESD protection
by wearing an antistatic wrist strap and attaching it to a metal
part of the system chassis. If a wrist strap is unavailable, estab­lish and maintain contact with the system chassis throughout
any procedures requiring ESD protection.

Safety Measures

To avoid damage to the system:

• Use the correct AC input voltage range

To reduce the risk of electric shock:

• Unplug the power cord before removing the system chassis
cover for installation or servicing. After installation or servicing,
cover the system chassis before plugging the power cord.

..

.

..

Battery:

• Danger of explosion if battery incorrectly replaced.

• Replace only with the same or equivalent type recommend
the manufacturer.

• Dispose of used batteries according to local ordinance.

by

5

1

Introduction

About the Package

The system board package contains the following items. If any of
these items are missing or damaged, please contact your dealer or
sales representative for assistance.

; One system board
; One IDE cable
; One floppy cable
; Two Serial ATA data cables
; One power cable with 2 Serial ATA power connectors
; Smart connectors
; One I/O shield
; One RAID driver diskette
; One “Mainboard Utility” CD
; One user’s manual
; Auto Boost System (ABS) installation guide

The system board and accessories in the package may not come
similar to the information listed above. This may differ in accordance
to the sales region or models in which it was sold. For more infor­mation about the standard package in your region, please contact
your dealer or sales representative.

Before Using the System Board

Before using the system board, prepare basic system components.

If you are installing the system board in a new system, you will need
at least the following internal components.

• A CPU

• Memory module

• Storage devices such as hard disk drive, CD-ROM, etc.

You will also need external system peripherals you intend to use
which will normally include at least a keyboard, a mouse and a video
display monitor.

6

System Board Layout

Introduction

1

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English

English

Chapter 1 - Introduction

Specifications

Processor

• AMD® AM2+ processors:
PhenomTM FX / Phenom
AMD® AM2 processors: Athlon series / Sempron

• HyperTransport 3.0 (5200MT/s for AM2+)
HyperTransport 1.0 (2000/1600MT/s for AM2)

•AMD OverDrive provides tuning options using the new
“Advanced Clock Calibration” overclocking feature.

• Socket 940 AM2+ 65nm

TM

/ AthlonTM / Sempron

TM

TM

Chipset

System Memory

Expansion Slots

BIOS

Audio

• AMD chipset

- Northbridge: AMD 790FX

- Southbridge: AMD SB750

• Four 240-pin DDR2 DIMM sockets

• Supports DDR2 667/800/1066 MHz DIMMs

• Suppor ts dual channel (128-bit wide) memory interface

• Suppor ts up to 8GB system memory

• Suppor ts unbuffered non-ECC x8 and x16 DIMMs

• 3 PCI Express (Gen 2) x16 slots

- 2-way or 4-way CrossFire at x16/x16/NC bandwidth

- 3-way CrossFire at x16/x8/x8 bandwidth

- 2-way CrossFire + Physics at x16/x8/x8 bandwidth

• 3 PCI slots

• Award BIOS

• CMOS Reloaded

• CPU/DRAM overclocking

• CPU/DRAM/Chipset overvoltage

• 8Mbit SPI flash memory

• Realtek ALC885 8-channel HD Audio Codec

• High-performance DACs with 106dB dynamic range (A-Weight),
ADCs with 101dB dynamic range (A-Weight)

LAN

IDE

• Marvell 88E8053 PCIE Gigabit LAN controller

• Fully compliant to IEEE 802.3 (10BASE-T), 802.3u (100BASE­TX) and 802.3ab (1000BASE-T) standards

• One IDE connector allows connecting up to two UltraDMA
133Mbps hard drives

8

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Serial ATA with
RAID

Rear Panel I/O

Internal I/O

• Supports up to 6 SATA devices

• SATA speed up to 3Gb/s

• RAID 0, RAID 1 and RAID 0+1

• 1 mini-DIN-6 PS/2 mouse port

• 1 mini-DIN-6 PS/2 keyboard port

• 1 optical S/PDIF-out port

• 1 coaxial RCA S/PDIF-out port

• 6 USB 2.0/1.1 ports

• 1 RJ45 LAN port

• Center/subwoofer, rear R/L and side R/L jacks

• Line-in, line-out (front R/L) and mic-in jacks

• 3 connectors for 6 additional external USB 2.0 ports

• 1 connector for an external COM port

• 1 front audio connector

• 1 CD-in connector

• 1 IrDA connector

• 1 CIR connector

• 6 Serial ATA connectors

• 1 40-pin IDE connector

• 1 floppy connector

• 1 24-pin ATX power connector

• 1 8-pin 12V power connector

• 2 4-pin 5V/12V power connectors (FDD type)

• 1 front panel connector

• 6 fan connectors

• EZ touch switches (power switch and reset switch)

English

Power
Management

Hardware
Monitor

PCB

• ACPI and OS Directed Power Management

• ACPI STR (Suspend to RAM) function

• Wake-On-PS/2 Keyboard/Mouse

• Wake-On-USB Keyboard/Mouse

• Wake-On-Ring

• Wake-On-LAN

• RTC timer to power-on the system

• AC power failure recovery

• Monitors CPU/system/chipset temperature

• Monitors 12V/5V/3.3V/Vcore/Vbat/5Vsb/Vdimm/Vchip voltages

• Monitors the speed of the cooling fans

• CPU Overheat Protection function monitors CPU temperature
during system boot-up

• ATX form factor

• 24.5cm (9.64") x 30.5cm (12")

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Chapter 2 - Hardware Installation

Jumper Settings

Clear CMOS Data

JP10

X

1-2 On: Normal

(default)

JP8

3
2
1

Clear CMOS Data

312

3
2

1

2-3 On:

312

X

1-2 On: Normal

(default)

If you encounter the following,

a) CMOS data becomes corrupted.
b) You forgot the supervisor or user password.
c) The overclocked settings in the BIOS resulted to the system’s in-

stability or caused system boot up problems.

2-3 On:

Clear CMOS Data

10

you can reconfigure the system with the default values stored in the
ROM BIOS.

JP10 is accessible from the rear panel of the system. This provides
convenience by allowing you to clear the CMOS without having to
remove the chassis cover.

To load the default values stored in the ROM BIOS, please follow
the steps below.

1. Power-off the system then unplug the power cord.

2. Set JP8 or JP10 pins 2 and 3 to On. Wait for a few seconds
and set JP8 or JP10 back to its default setting, pins 1 and 2 On.

3. Now plug the power cord then power-on the system.

PS/2 Power Select

English

E

JP7

X

1-2 On: 5V

Important:

The 5VSB power source of your
power supply must support
≥720mA.

1

2

3

(default)

1
2

3

2-3 On:

5VSB

Selecting 5VSB will allow you to use the PS/2 keyboard or PS/2
mouse to wake up the system.

English

USB Power Select

Selecting 5VSB will allow you to use the USB keyboard or USB
mouse to wake up the system..

USB 0-5
(JP5)

USB 6-11
(JP6)

X

1-2 On: 5V

(default)

X

1-2 On: 5V

(default)

312

2-3 On: 5VSB

312

2-3 On: 5VSB

312

312

Important:

The 5VSB power source of your power supply must support ≥1.5A (2 devices)
or ≥2A (3 or more devices).

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Speaker On/Off Select

The system board is equipped with a buzzer which serves as the
PC’s speaker. By default the buzzer is “on” allowing you to hear the
system’s beep messages and warnings. If you intend to use an exter­nal speaker, turn this function off by setting JP2 pins 1 and 2 to On.

PCIE 3 Setting

JP2

1-2 On:

Speaker Off

X

2x

312

Speaker On

312

2-3 On:

(default)

4x

12

X

JP11

JP12

JP14

4

1

1-2, 4-5 On
1-2, 4-5 On

41

63

63

JP12JP11

1-2 On

1

3

JP14

2-3, 5-6 On
2-3, 5-6 On

2-3 On

PCIE Gen 1 / Gen 2 Select

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Set this jumper according to the type of PCI Express card that you
are using.

Rear Panel I/O Ports

PS/2

Mouse

JP13

312312

X

1-2 On: Gen 2

(default)

LAN

2-3 On: Gen 1

Center/
Subwoofer

Rear R/L

Line-in

Front R/L

Mic-in

PS/2 K/B

S/PDIF-out

Optical

Coaxial

S/PDIF-out

Clear
CMOS
jumper

USB 0-1

USB 4-5

USB 2-3

Side R/L

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English

PS/2 Ports and S/PDIF Ports

English

PS/2 Mouse

PS/2 KB

W

W

Optical

S/PDIF

Coaxial RCA

S/PDIF

PS/2 Mouse and PS/2 Keyboard Ports

These ports are used to connect a PS/2 mouse and a PS/2 key­board.

Optical S/PDIF

The optical S/PDIF jack is used to connect an external audio output
device using an optical S/PDIF cable.

Coaxial RCA S/PDIF

The coaxial RCA S/PDIF jack is used to connect an external audio
output device using a coaxial S/PDIF cable.

Important:

DO NOT use optical S/PDIF and Coaxial RCA S/PDIF at the
same time.

14

USB and LAN Ports

USB 1

English

E

USB 5

USB 4

USB 0

LAN

USB 3

USB 2

2
1

W

VCC

-Data

VCC

-Data

W

W

GND

+Data

GND

+Data

N. C.

10

9

Key

USB 6-7

English

USB 10-11

USB 8-9

USB

The USB ports are used to connect USB 2.0/1.1 devices. The 10-pin
connectors allow you to connect 6 additional USB 2.0/1.1 ports.
Your USB ports may come mounted on a card-edge bracket. Install
the card-edge bracket to an available slot at the rear of the system
chassis then connect the USB port cables to these connectors.

LAN

The LAN port allows the system board to connect to a local area
network by means of a network hub.

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English

Audio and CD-In

Rear audio

English

Center/

Subwoofer

Rear R/L

Side R/L

Ground Ground

Left audio

channel

CD-in

AuD_L_Return

AuD_R_Return

14

Key

AuD_Vcc

GND

Right audio
channel

9

10

12

Line-in

Front R/L

Mic-in

W

AuD_L_Out

N. C.

AuD_R_Out

Mic Power
Mic

W

Front
audio

W

Rear Panel Audio

Center/Subwoofer Jack (Orange)

This jack is used to connect to the center and subwoofer speak­ers of the audio system.

Rear Right/Left Jack (Black)

This jack is used to connect to the rear right and rear left speak­ers of the audio system.

Side Right/Left Jack (Gray)

This jack is used to connect to the side left and side right speak­ers of the audio system.

Line-in (Light Blue)

This jack is used to connect any audio devices such as Hi-fi set,
CD player, tape player, AM/FM radio tuner, synthesizer, etc.

Line-out - Front Right/Left Jack (Lime)

This jack is used to connect to the front right and front left
speakers of the audio system.

16

Mic-in Jack (Pink)

This jack is used to connect an external microphone.

Front Audio

English

E

The front audio connector is used to connect to the line-out and
mic-in jacks that are at the front panel of your system.

CD-in

The CD-in connector is used to receive audio from a CD-ROM
drive, TV tuner or MPEG card.

Internal I/O Connectors

Serial ATA Connectors

English

SATA 5-6
SATA 3-4

SATA 1-2

The Serial ATA (SATA) connectors are used to connect Serial ATA
drives. Connect one end of the Serial ATA cable to a Serial ATA
connector and the other end to your Serial ATA device.

Configuring RAID

Refer to the RAID chapter in this manual for more information
about creating RAID on Serial ATA drives.

17

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English

FDD Connector and IDE Connector

English

40

39

X

21

IDE

X

FDD

FDD Connector

The floppy disk drive connector is used to connect a floppy drive.
Insert one end of the floppy cable into this connector and the other
end-most connector to the floppy drive. The colored edge of the
cable should align with pin 1 of this connector.

IDE Connector

The IDE disk drive connector is used to connect 2 IDE disk drives.
An IDE cable have 3 connectors on them, one that plugs into this
connector and the other 2 connects to IDE devices. The connector
at the end of the cable is for the Master drive and the connector in
the middle of the cable is for the Slave drive. The colored edge of
the cable should align with pin 1 of this connector.

Note:

When using two IDE drives, one must be set as the master
and the other as the slave. Follow the instructions provided by
the drive manufacturer for setting the jumpers and/or switches
on the drives.

18

IrDA,CIR and Serial (COM) Connectors

IRRX

Ground

IRTX

51

IrDA

Ground

CIRTX

51

CIR

N. C.

VCC

CIRRX

N. C.

5VSB

X

English

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English

DSR

DTR

TD

GND

CTS

X

9

RI

RTS

COM

RD

2
1

CD

IrDA and CIR Connectors

Connect the cable connector from your IrDA module to the IrDA
connector or CIR connector.

Note:

The sequence of the pin functions on some IrDA/CIR cable
may be reversed from the pin function defined on the system
board. Make sure to connect the cable connector to the IrDA/
CIR connector according to their pin functions.

You may need to install the proper drivers in your operating system
to use the IrDA/CIR function. Refer to your operating system’s
manual or documentation for more information.

Serial (COM) Connector

The serial (COM) connector is used to connect modems, serial print­ers, remote display terminals, or other serial devices. Your COM port
may come mounted on a card-edge bracket. Install the card-edge
bracket to an available slot at the rear of the system chassis then
connect the serial port cable to this connector. The colored edge of
the cable should align with pin 1 of this connector.

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Cooling Fan Connectors

Ground

English

Power

Sense

13

Fan 2

3

Power

Fan 3

Sense

Power

Fan 5

Ground

Ground

N. C.

3

X

1

X

1

X

X

Ground

X

X

Power

1

CPU Fan

1

3

Fan 6

3

Sense

Power

Fan 4

Sense

Speed
Control

On/Off
Power

Sense

1

Ground

These fan connectors are used to connect cooling fans. Cooling fans
will provide adequate airflow throughout the chassis to prevent over­heating the CPU and system board components.

4

20

EZ Touch Switches

Reset

Power

X

The presence of the power switch and reset switch on the system
board are user-friendly especially to DIY users. They provide conven­ience in powering on and/or resetting the system while fine tuning
the system board before it is installed into the system chassis.

LEDs

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DRAM
Power LED

Diagnostic

LED

Standby Power LED

DRAM Power LED

This LED will light when the system’s power is on.

Standby Power LED

This LED will light when the system is in the standby mode.

Diagnostic LED

The Diagnostic LED displays POST codes. POST (Power-On Self
Tests) which is controlled by the BIOS is performed whenever you
power-on the system. POST will detect the status of the system and
its components. Each code displayed on the LED corresponds to a
certain system status.

.

.

.

.

Warning:

.

.

.

.

When the DRAM Power LED and/or Standby Power LED lit red,
it indicates that power is present on the DIMM sockets and/or
PCI slots. Power-off the PC then unplug the power cord prior to
installing any memory modules or add-in cards. Failure to do so
will cause severe damage to the motherboard and components.

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Power Connectors

Use a power supply that complies with the ATX12V Power Supply
Design Guide Version 1.1. An ATX12V power supply unit has a
standard 24-pin ATX main power connector that must be inserted
into this connector.

+3.3VDC

+12VDC

X

+12VDC

PWR_OK

+5VDC

+5VDC

+3.3VDC
+3.3VDC

+5VSB

COM

COM

COM

12 24

COM
+5VDC
+5VDC
+5VDC
NC
COM

COM
COM

PS_ON#
COM

-12VDC
+3.3VDC

131

Your power supply unit may come with an 8-pin or 4-pin +12V
power connector. The +12V power enables the delivery of more
+12VDC current to the processor’s Voltage Regulator Module
(VRM). If available, it is preferable to use the 8-pin power; otherwise
connect a 4-pin power to this connector.

4

Ground

1

X

8

+12V

5

22

English

The power connectors from the power supply unit are designed to
fit the 24-pin and 8-pin connectors in only one orientation. Make
sure to find the proper orientation before plugging the connectors.

E

The FDD-type power connectors are additional power connectors. If
you are using more than one graphics cards, we recommend that
you plug a power cable from your power supply unit to the 5V/12V
power connector. This will provide more stability to the entire system.
The system board will still work even if the additional power con­nector is not connected.

1

+5V

Ground

Ground

4

+12V

English

The system board requires a minimum of 300 Watt power supply
to operate. Your system configuration (CPU power, amount of
memory, add-in cards, peripherals, etc.) may exceed the minimum
power requirement. To ensure that adequate power is provided, we

strongly recommend that you use a minimum of 400 Watt (or
greater) power supply.

Important:

Insufficient power supplied to the system may result in instabil­ity or the add-in boards and peripherals not functioning prop­erly. Calculating the system’s approximate power usage is im­portant to ensure that the power supply meets the system’s
consumption requirements.

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Restarting the PC

Normally, you can power-off the PC by:

1. Pressing the power button at the front panel of the chassis.

or

2. Pressing the power switch that is on the system board (note: not
all system boards come with this switch).

If for some reasons you need to totally cut off the power supplied
to the PC, switch off the power supply or unplug the power cord.
Take note though that if you intend to restart it at once, please
strictly follow the steps below.

1. The time where power is totally discharged varies among power
supplies. It's discharge time is highly dependent on the system's
configuration such as the wattage of the power supply, the se­quence of the supplied power as well as the number of periph­eral devices connected to the system. Due to this reason, we
strongly recommend that you wait for the Standby Power LED
(refer to the “LEDs” section in this chapter for the location of the
Standby Power LED) to lit off.

2. After the Standby Power LED has lit off, wait for 6 seconds
before powering on the PC.

If the system board is already enclosed in a chassis which appar­ently will not make the Standby Power LED visible, wait for 15
seconds before you restore power connections. 15 seconds is
approximately the time that will take the LED to lit off and the
time needed before restoring power.

The above will ensure protection and prevent damage to the
motherboard and components.

24

Front Panel Connectors

SPEAKER

English

E

English

RESET

HD-LED

19

X

20

PWR-LED

ATX-SW

HD-LED: Primary/Secondary IDE LED

This LED will light when the hard drive is being accessed.

RESET: Reset Switch

This switch allows you to reboot without having to power off the
system thus prolonging the life of the power supply or system.

SPEAKER: Speaker Connector

This connects to the speaker installed in the system chassis.

ATX-SW: ATX Power Switch

Depending on the setting in the BIOS setup, this switch is a “dual
function power button” that will allow your system to enter the Soft­Off or Suspend mode.

1
2

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PWR-LED: Power/Standby LED

When the system’s power is on, this LED will light. When the system
is in the S1 (POS - Power On Suspend) or S3 (STR - Suspend To
RAM) state, it will blink every second.

English

Note:

If a system did not boot-up and the Power/Standby LED did
not light after it was powered-on, it may indicate that the CPU
or memory module was not installed properly. Please make
sure they are properly inserted into their corresponding socket.

Pin

Pin Assignment

HD-LED

(Primary/Secondary IDE LED)

Reserved

ATX-SW

(ATX power switch)

Reserved

RESET

(Reset switch)

SPEAKER

(Speaker connector)

PWR-LED

(Power/Standby LED)

3

HDD LED Power

5

HDD

14

N. C.

16

N. C.

8

PWRBT+

10

PWRBT-

18

N. C.

20

N. C.

7

Ground

9

H/W Reset

13

Speaker Data

15

N. C.

17

Ground

19

Speaker Power

2

LED Power (+)

4

LED Power (+)

6

LED Power (-) or Standby Signal

26

PCI Express Slots

PCI Express x16

PCI Express x16

PCI Express x16

English

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Download Flash BIOS Connector

SPI_CLK

GROUND

2
1

SPI_VCC3

SPI_MOSI

8
7

SPI_MIS0

SPI_CS0B

SPI_HOLD#

W

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Smart Connectors

The Smart Connectors (USB, IEEE 1394 and Front Panel) serve as
extended connectors allowing you to easily connect cables to the
connectors that are on the system board. This is specially advantageous
when using the front panel connectors as this will prevent wrong cable
connection.

USB 1394 Front Panel

Front Panel Connectors

1. Connect all front panel cables
from the chassis to the front
panel smart connector. Connect
according to the pin definition
shown on the smart connector.

2. Connect the front panel smart
connector to the front panel
connector on the system board.

USB and IEEE 1394 Connectors

1. Connect your USB/1394 port cable to the USB/1394 smart connector.
Connect according to the pin definition shown on the smart connector.

28

2. Connect the USB/1394 smart connector to the respective connectors
on the system board.

Chapter 3 - RAID

The AMD chip alows configuring RAID on Serial ATA drives. It sup­ports RAID 0, RAID 1 and RAID 0+1.

RAID Levels

RAID 0 (Striped Disk Array without Fault Tolerance)

RAID 0 uses two new identical hard disk drives to read and write
data in parallel, interleaved stacks. Data is divided into stripes and
each stripe is written alternately between two disk drives. This im­proves the I/O performance of the drives at different channel; how­ever it is not fault tolerant. A failed disk will result in data loss in the
disk array.

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RAID 1 (Mirroring Disk Array with Fault Tolerance)

RAID 1 copies and maintains an identical image of the data from
one drive to the other drive. If a drive fails to function, the disk array
management software directs all applications to the other drive since
it contains a complete copy of the drive’s data. This enhances data
protection and increases fault tolerance to the entire system. Use
two new drives or an existing drive and a new drive but the size of
the new drive must be the same or larger than the existing drive.

RAID 0+1 (Striping and Mirroring)

RAID 0+1 is a combination of data striping and data mirroring provid­ing the benefits of both RAID 0 and RAID 1. Use four new drives or
an existing drive and three new drives for this configuration.

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Settings

To enable the RAID function, the following settings are required.

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Step 1: Connect the Serial ATA Drives

Step 2: Configure Serial ATA in the Award BIOS

1. Connect the Serial ATA drives.

2. Configure Serial ATA in the Award BIOS.

3. Configure RAID in the RAID BIOS.

4. Install the RAID driver during OS installation.

Refer to chapter 2 for details on connecting the Serial ATA drives.

Important:

1. Make sure you have installed the Serial ATA drives and connected the data
cables otherwise you won’t be able to enter the RAID BIOS utility.

2. Treat the cables with extreme caution especially while creating RAID. A dam­aged cable will ruin the entire installation process and operating system. The
system will not boot and you will lost all data in the hard drives. Please give
special attention to this warning because there is no way of recovering back
the data.

1. Power-on the system then press <Del> to enter the main menu
of the Award BIOS.

2. Select the Integrated Peripherals submenu - OnChip IDE Device
section of the BIOS.

3. Configure Serial ATA in the appropriate fields.

4. Press <Esc> to return to the main menu of the BIOS setup
utility. Select “Save & Exit Setup” then press <Enter>.

5. Type <Y> and press <Enter>.

6. Reboot the system.

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Step 3: Configure RAID in the RAID BIOS

When the system powers-up and all drives have been detected, the
AMD BIOS status message screen will appear. Press the <F4> key
to enter the utility. The utility allows you to build a RAID system on
Serial ATA drives.