Supero X8DAi, X8DA3 User Manual

®

SUPER

X8DA3
X8DAi

(Preliminary Draft)

USER’S MANUAL

Revision 1.0

The information in this User’s Manual has been carefully reviewed and is believed to be accurate.
The vendor assumes no responsibility for any inaccuracies that may be contained in this document,
makes no commitment to update or to keep current the information in this manual, or to notify any
person or organization of the updates. Please Note: For the most up-to-date version of this

manual, please see our web site at www.supermicro.com.

Super Micro Computer, Inc. ("Supermicro") reserves the right to make changes to the product
described in this manual at any time and without notice. This product, including software, if any,
and documentation may not, in whole or in part, be copied, photocopied, reproduced, translated or
reduced to any medium or machine without prior written consent.

IN NO EVENT WILL SUPERMICRO BE LIABLE FOR DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL,
SPECULATIVE OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING FROM THE USE OR INABILITY TO
USE THIS PRODUCT OR DOCUMENTATION, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
SUCH DAMAGES. IN PARTICULAR, SUPERMICRO SHALL NOT HAVE LIABILITY FOR ANY
HARDWARE, SOFTWARE, OR DATA STORED OR USED WITH THE PRODUCT, INCLUDING THE
COSTS OF REPAIRING, REPLACING, INTEGRATING, INSTALLING OR RECOVERING SUCH
HARDWARE, SOFTWARE, OR DATA.

Any disputes arising between manufacturer and customer shall be governed by the laws of Santa
Clara County in the State of California, USA. The State of California, County of Santa Clara shall
be the exclusive venue for the resolution of any such disputes. Super Micro's total liability for all
claims will not exceed the price paid for the hardware product.

FCC Statement: 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 in a residential installation. This equipment generates,
uses, and can radiate radio frequency energy and, if not installed and used in accordance with the
manufacturer’s instruction manual, may cause interference with 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, you are 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/television
technician for help.

California Best Management Practices Regulations for Perchlorate Materials: This Perchlorate
warning applies only to products containing CR (Manganese Dioxide) Lithium coin cells. “Perchlorate
Material-special handling may apply. See www.dtsc.ca.gov/hazardouswaste/perchlorate”

WARNING: Handling of lead solder materials used in this
product may expose you to lead, a chemical known to
the State of California to cause birth defects and other
reproductive harm.

Manual Revision 1.0 (Draft 3)

Release Date: April 28 2008

Unless you request and receive written permission from Super Micro Computer, Inc., you may not
copy any part of this document.

Information in this document is subject to change without notice. Other products and companies
referred to herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies or mark
holders.

Copyright © 2008 by Super Micro Computer, Inc.
All rights reserved.

Printed in the United States of America

Preface

About This Manual

This manual is written for system integrators, PC technicians and knowledgeable

PC users. It provides information for the installation and use of the

X8DAi motherboard. The

platform, the fi rst dual-processing platform that supports the Intel QuickPath Inter-

connect Technology, providing the next generation point-to-point system interface,

replacing the current Front Side Bus. With the Tylersburg-EP platform built-in,

the X8DA3/X8DAi offers substantial enhancement in system performance with

increased bandwidth and unprecedented scalability optimized for workstations,

high-end CAD systems and intensive applications. Please refer to our web site

(http://www.supermicro.com/products/) for updates on supported processors. This

product is intended to be professionally installed.

X8DA3/X8DAi supports the Intel Tylersburg-EP

Preface

X8DA3/

Manual Organization

Chapter 1 describes the features, specifi cations and performance of the mother-

board and provides detailed information about the chipset.

Chapter 2 provides hardware installation instructions. Read this chapter when

installing the processor, memory modules and other hardware components into

the system. If you encounter any problems, see Chapter 3, which describes

troubleshooting procedures for the video, the memory and the system setup stored

in the CMOS.

Chapter 4 includes an introduction to BIOS and provides detailed information on

running the CMOS Setup utility.

Appendix A lists BIOS POST Error Codes. Appendix B and Appendix C provide

the Windows OS and Other Software Installation Instructions.

Conventions Used in the Manual

Special attention should be given to the following symbols for proper installation and

to prevent damage done to the components or injury to yourself:

Danger/Caution: Instructions to be strictly followed to prevent catastrophic

system failure or to avoid bodily injury.

Warning: Important information given to ensure proper system installation

or to prevent damage to the components.

Note: Additional Information given to differentiate various models or to

ensure correct system setup.

iii

X8DA3/X8DAi User's Manual

Table of Contents

Preface

About This Manual ........................................................................................... iii

Manual Organization ........................................................................................ iii

Conventions Used in the Manual ....................................................................... iii

Chapter 1: Introduction

1-1 Overview .................................................................................................. 1-1

1-2 Checklist ................................................................................................. 1-1

Contacting Supermicro ............................................................................. 1-2

X8DA3/X8DAi Image ................................................................. 1-3

X8DA3/X8DAi Layout ................................................................ 1-4

Quick Reference ...................................................................................... 1-5

Motherboard Features ................................................................................ 1-6

Intel Tylersburg-E System Block Diagram ............................................... 1-8

1-3 Chipset Overview ................................................................................... 1-9

1-4 Special Features ................................................................................... 1-10

1-5 PC Health Monitoring ............................................................................ 1-10

1-6 ACPI Features ...................................................................................... 1-11

1-7 Power Supply ....................................................................................... 1-12

1-8 Super I/O ................................................................................................ 1-13

Chapter 2: Installation

2-1 Static-Sensitive Devices ......................................................................... 2-1

Precautions ................................................................................................ 2-1

Unpacking ................................................................................................ 2-1

2-2 Processor and Heatsink Installation ....................................................... 2-2

2-3 Installing DIMMs ..................................................................................... 2-6

2-4 Control Panel Connectors and IO Ports ................................................. 2-9

1. Back Panel Connectors/IO Ports .............................................................. 2-8

2. Front Control Panel ................................................................................. 2-10

3. Front Control Panel Pin Defi nitions ..........................................................2-11

NMI Button ..............................................................................................2-11

Power LED ..............................................................................................2-11

HDD LED .............................................................................................. 2-12

NIC1/NIC2 LED ..................................................................................... 2-12

Overheat/Fan Fail LED ......................................................................... 2-13

Power Fail LED ........................................................................................ 2-13

Reset Button ......................................................................................... 2-14

vi

Table of Contents

Power Button .......................................................................................... 2-14

2-5 Connecting Cables ............................................................................... 2-15

ATX Power Connector .......................................................................... 2-15

Processor Power Connector ................................................................. 2-15

Universal Serial Bus (USB0/1) ................................................................ 2-16

Chassis Intrusion .................................................................................... 2-16

Fan Headers .......................................................................................... 2-17

Keylock ..................................................................................................... 2-17

ATX PS/2 Keyboard and Mouse Ports ..................................................... 2-18

Serial Ports ............................................................................................. 2-18

Wake-On-LAN .......................................................................................... 2-19

Overheat LED/Fan Fail ............................................................................ 2-19

GLAN (Ethernet Ports) ............................................................................. 2-20

T-SGPIO Headers .................................................................................... 2-20

Power SMB Connector ............................................................................. 2-21

IPMB I

2

C SMB Connector ........................................................................ 2-21

High Defi nition Audio ................................................................................ 2-22

CD Header ............................................................................................... 2-22

Front Panel Audio ..................................................................................... 2-23

2-6 Jumper Settings .................................................................................... 2-24

Explanation of Jumpers ......................................................................... 2-24

GLAN Enable/Disable ............................................................................ 2-24

Clear CMOS ............................................................................................. 2-25

Watch Dog ................................................................................................ 2-25

2

I

C Bus to PCI-X/PCI-Exp. Slots Enable/Disable ..................................... 2-26

2

I

C Bus to PCI-X/PCI-X Slots Enable/Disable ......................................... 2-26

SAS Enable .............................................................................................. 2-27

SAS RAID Enable .................................................................................... 2-27

1394_1/1394_2 Enable ............................................................................ 2-28

2-7 Onboard Indicators ............................................................................... 2-29

GLAN LEDs .............................................................................................. 2-29

Onboard Power LED ................................................................................ 2-29

SAS LED Indicators ................................................................................. 2-30

2-8 Floppy, SIMSO, Serial ATA and Hard Disk Drive Connections ........... 2-31

Floppy Connector .................................................................................... 2-31

Serial ATA Ports ....................................................................................... 2-32

SIMLP IPMI Slot ...................................................................................... 2-32

Chapter 3: Troubleshooting

3-1 Troubleshooting Procedures ................................................................... 3-1

vii

X8DA3/X8DAi User's Manual

Before Power On ....................................................................................... 3-1

No Power ................................................................................................... 3-1

No Video .................................................................................................. 3-2

Losing the System’s Setup Confi guration ................................................ 3-2

Memory Errors ........................................................................................... 3-2

3-2 Technical Support Procedures ................................................................ 3-3

3-3 Frequently Asked Questions .................................................................. 3-3

3-4 Returning Merchandise for Service ......................................................... 3-4

Appendices

Appendix A: BIOS POST Error Codes ............................................................ A-1

Appendix B: Installing the Windows OS .........................................................B-1

Appendix C: Installing Other Software Programs and Drivers .......................C-1

viii

Chapter 1: Introduction

Chapter 1

Introduction

1-1 Overview

Checklist

Congratulations on purchasing your computer motherboard from an acknowledged

leader in the industry. Supermicro boards are designed with the utmost attention to

detail to provide you with the highest standards in quality and performance. Check

that the following items have all been included with your motherboard. If anything

listed here is damaged or missing, contact your retailer.

The following items are included in the retail box.

One (1) Supermicro Mainboard

•

Two (2) SAS cable for SATA/SAS Backplane (CBL-0097L-02) (For X8DA3)

•

One (1) fl oppy ribbon cable (CBL-0022L)

•

Four (4) Serial ATA cables (CBL-0044Lx4) (For X8DA3)

•

Six (6) Serial ATA cables (CBL-0044Lx6) (For X8DAi)

•

One (1) I/O backpanel shield (MCP-260-74301-001)

•

One (1) Supermicro CD containing drivers and utilities

•

One (1) User's/BIOS Manual (MNL#1031)

•

1-1

X8DA3/X8DAi User's Manual

1-2 Contacting Supermicro

Headquarters

Address: Super Micro Computer, Inc.

980 Rock Ave.

San Jose, CA 95131 U.S.A.

Tel: [phone]

Fax: [phone]

Email: [e-mail] (General Information)

[e-mail] (Technical Support)

Web Site: www.supermicro.com

Europe

Address: Super Micro Computer B.V.

Het Sterrenbeeld 28, 5215 ML

's-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands

Tel: [phone]

Fax: [phone]

Email: [e-mail] (General Information)

[e-mail] (Technical Support)

[e-mail] (Customer Support)

Asia-Pacifi c

Address: Super Micro Computer, Inc.

4F, No. 232-1, Liancheng Rd.

Chung-Ho 235, Taipei County

Taiwan, R.O.C.

Tel: [phone]

Fax: [phone]

Web Site: www.supermicro.com.tw

Technical Support:

Email: [e-mail]

Tel: [phone], ext.132 or 139

1-2

X8DA3/X8DAi Image

Chapter 1: Introduction

Note: The drawings and pictures shown in this manual were based on the

latest PCB Revision available at the time of publishing of the manual. The

motherboard you’ve received may or may not look exactly the same as

the graphics shown in the manual.

1-3

X8DA3/X8DAi User's Manual

X8DA3/X8DAi Motherboard Layout

0/1

USB

COM1

COM2

LAN1

AUDIO

JC2

82573V

LAN

CTRL

82573L

LAN
CTRL

CD1

KB/Mouse

2/3

USB

Fan8/CPU2 Fan

JPL2

JI2C1

JI2C2

Fan5

LAN2

Fan6

JPL1

JPW2

P2 DIMM1A

P2 DIMM1B

P2 DIMM2A

P2 DIMM2B

P2 DIMM3A

P2 DIMM3B

Slot6 PCI-E x16

1

Slot5 PCI 33MH

Slot4 PCI 33MH

Slot3 PCI-E X16

1394_2

Slot2 PCI-E X4

Slot1 PCI 33MH

Slot0 SIMLC

X8DA3/i

JI2C3
JI2C4

1394_1

CPU2

JPW3

JPF1

Battery

USB6/7

JBT1

JUSB3

SPI BIOS

USB4/5

JUSB2

Super IO

ICH9R
Intel
South
Bridge

USB8

J24

J6

JPW1

Fan1

CPU1

Fan7/CPU1

SP1

JD1

JOH1

P1 DIMM3B

P1 DIMM3A

P1 DIMM2B

P1 DIMM2A

P1 DIMM1B

P1 DIMM1A

LE1

Fan2

JF1

Fan3

Intel IOH

Floppy

USB9

J23

J15

T-SGPIO2

I-SATA5

I-SATA4

T-SGPIO1

I-SATA3

I-SATA2

I-Button

J14

I-SATA1

I-SATA0

LES2

1068E

SAS CTRL

JWD

LES1

JL1

JPS1

JPS2

JSM2

JSM1

J5

SAS 4~7

SAS 0~3

JWOL1

Fan4

Notes:

Jumpers not indicated are for test purposes only.

1.

See Chapter 2 for detailed information on jumpers, I/O ports and JF1 front

2.

panel connections.

" " indicates the location of Pin 1.

3.

When LE1 LED is on, the onboard power connection is on. Make sure to

4.

unplug the power cables before removing or installing components.

1-4

Chapter 1: Introduction

X8DA3/X8DAi Quick Reference

Jumper Description Default Setting

JBT1 CMOS Clear (See Section 5-10)

2

JI

C1/JI2C2 SMB to PCI-Express Slots 2-3 (Disabled)

2

JI

C3/JI2C4 SMB to PCI Slots 2-3 (Disabled)

JPF1 1394_1/1394_2 Enable 1-2 (Normal)

JPL1/JPL2 LAN1/2 Enable Pins 1-2 (Enabled)

JPS1 SAS Enable Pins 1-2 (Enabled)

JPS2 SAS RAID Enable Closed (SR RAID Enabled)

JWD Watch Dog Pins 1-2 (Reset)

Connector Description

1394_1/1394_2 1394 Connection Headers

Audio/CD1/JC2 Audio Input_Output_Mic/CD-ROM/HD Audio Headers

COM1/COM2 COM1/COM2 Serial Port/Header

FAN 1-8 System/CPU Fan Headers (Fans 7~8: CPU Fans)

Floppy Floppy Disk Drive Connector

J5 IPMB I

J6 Power Supply SMBbus I

2

C Header (for IPMI Card)

2

C Header

JD1 Speaker Header

JF1 Front Panel Connector

JL1 Chassis Intrusion Header

JOH1 Overheat LED Header

JPW1/JPW2 +12V 8-pin Secondary Power Connector

JPW3 24-pin ATX Main Power Connector

JWOL1 Wake-On-LAN Header

LAN1/2 Gigabit Ethernet (RJ45) Ports

I-SATA0 ~ I-SATA5 (Intel South Bridge) SATA Ports

SIMLC (Low Profi le) SIMLC IPMI 2.0 Socket

T-SGPIO-1/T-SGPIO-2 Serial General Purpose Input/Output Headers

(B/P) USB0/1/2/3 (Back Panel) Universal Serial Bus (USB) Ports

F/P USB 4/5, 6/7, 8, 9 Front Panel Accessible USB Headers

LED Description

LE1 Onboard Standby PWR warning LED Indicator

LES1/LES2 SAS LED Indicators

1-5

X8DA3/X8DAi User's Manual

Motherboard Features

CPU

•

Two Intel® Nehalem-EP (LGA 1336) processors, each processor supporting two

full-width Intel QuickPath Interconnect links with a total of up to 51.2 GB/s Data

Transfer Rate (6.4 GB/s per direction)

Memory

Twelve 240-pin DIMM sockets support up to 96 GB of DDR3 Registered ECC

•

Memory (See Section 2-3 in Chapter 2 for DIMM Slot Population.)

Chipset

Intel Tylersburg chipset, including: the Tylersburg Hub (IOH-36D) and the

•

ICH9R.

Expansion Slots

Two PCI-E x16 slot (Slot3 and Slot6)

•

One PCI-E x4 slot (Slot2)

•

Three 32-bit PCI 33 slot (Slot1, Slot4 and Slot5)

•

One SIMLC IPMI Slot (Slot0)

•

BIOS

32 Mb AMI SPI Flash ROM

•

PCI 2.2, ACPI 1.0/2.0/3.0, Plug and Play (PnP), DMI 2.3, RTC (Real Time Clock)

•

Wakeup, USB Keyboard support, and SMBIOS 2.3

PC Health Monitoring

Onboard voltage monitors for CPU cores, chipset voltage, Memory voltage,

•

+3.3V, +3.3V Standby, +5V, +5V Standby, +12V, −12V and Vbatt

Fan status monitor with fi rmware control

•

CPU/chassis temperature monitors

•

Platform Environment Control Interface (PECI) ready

•

Thermal Monitor 2 (TM2) support

•

CPU fan auto-off in sleep mode

•

CPU slow-down on temperature overheat

•

Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) Fan Control

•

CPU thermal trip support for processor protection, power LED

•

Power-up mode control for recovery from AC power loss

•

Auto-switching voltage regulator for CPU cores

•

System overheat/Fan Fail LED Indicator and control

•

Chassis intrusion detection

•

System resource alert via Supero Doctor III

•

1-6

Chapter 1: Introduction

ACPI Features

Slow blinking LED for suspend state indicator

•

Main switch override mechanism

•

ACPI Power Management

•

Keyboard Wakeup from Soft-off

•

Onboard I/O

Intel ICH9R supports six SATA2 ports (with RAID0, RAID1, RAID10, RAID5

•

supported in the Windows OS Environment)

LSI 1068E supports eight SAS ports (For X8DA3)

•

One SIMLC IPMI socket

•

Intel 82573V and 82573L Gigabit Ethernet controllers support dual Giga-bit

•

LAN ports

One fl oppy port interface

•

Two COM ports(1 header, 1 port)

•

PS/2 mouse and PS/2 keyboard ports

•

Up to ten USB 2.0 (Universal Serial Bus) (4 Ports, 2 Front Headers, and 2

•

Type A H ea d er s)

Super I/O: Winbond W83627HG

•

High Defi nition 7.1 Audio with Line-in, Line-out and Microphone

•

Two TI 13 94 p or ts

•

Other

External modem ring-on

•

Wake-on-LAN (WOL)

•

Console redirection

•

Onboard Fan Speed Control by Thermal Management via BIOS

•

CD/Diskette Utilities

BIOS fl ash upgrade utility and device drivers

•

Dimensions

Ext. ATX 13.05" (L) x 12.075" (W) (331.47 mm x 306.71 mm)

•

1-7

X8DA3/X8DAi User's Manual

DDR3

1333/1066/800

Ports
#0~3

Ports
#4~7

P2DIMM2B

P2DIMM2A

P2DIMM1B

P2DIMM1A

#6

PCI-E X16

SAS

LSI 1068

#1

PCI-E X8

PHY#1

iI82573V

PHY#2
i82573L

1394

TI

PCI-33

PCI-33

PCI-33

SIMLC

P2DIMM3B

P2DIMM3A

PROCESSOR#2

PCI-E x16

#3

PCI-Ex16

PCI-E X16

PCI-Ex4

PCI-Ex4

PCI-Ex1

PCI-Ex1

PCI 33MMZ

#5

#4

#1

#0

QPI

Ports

#3-6

TYLERSBURG

Ports
#7-10

Ports

#1-2

LANES1/2

LANE5

LANE6

MS

KB

QPI

IOH-36D

ICH9

PROCESSOR#1

QPI

Port

#0

ESI

PCIEx4

DMI

R

SIO

W83627

HG

COM1
External

3.0 Gb/S

USB 2.0

LPC

COM2
External/SOL

SPI
TPM

#0

#0

#1

#1

DDR3

#2

#2

P1DIMM3B

P1DIMM3A

1333/1066/800

AC'97

#5

#4

#3

SATA

#5

#3

USB

P1DIMM1B

P1DIMM1A

P1DIMM2B

P1DIMM2A

4 Rear
4 Front
2 Type-A

#9

#8

#7

#6

Block Diagram of the Tylersburg-EP Platform

Note: This is a general block diagram. Please see the previous Mother-

board Features pages for details on the features of each motherboard.

1-8

Chapter 1: Introduction

1-3 Chipset Overview

Built upon the functionality and the capability of the Tylersburg-EP platform, the

X8DA3/X8DAi motherboard provides the performance and feature set required for

dual-processor-based high-end systems with confi guration options optimized for

workstations, high-end CAD systems, and intensive applications. The Tylersburg-

EP platform consists of the Nehalem-EP (LGA 1336) processor, the Tylersburg

IOH (IOH-D36), and the South Bridge (ICH9R). With the Intel QuickPath intercon-

nect controller built in the processor, the Tylersburg-EP platform is the fi rst dual-

processing platform to offer the next generation point-to-point system interconnect

interface, replacing the current Front Side Bus Technology, providing substantial

system performance enhancement by utilizing serial link interconnections, allowing

for increased bandwidth and scalability.

The IOH connects to each processor through an independent QuickPath Inter-

connect link. Each link consists of 20 pairs of unidirectional differential lanes for

transmission and receiving in addition to a differential forwarded clock. A full-width

QuickPath interconnect link pair provides 84 signals. Each processor supports two

QuickPath link, one going to the other processor and the other to the Tylersburg

IOH-36D.

The Tylersburg IOH-36D supports up to 36 PCI Express Gen2 lanes, and the

IOH-36D supports peer-to-peer read and write transactions. The ICH9R provides

up to 6 PCI-Express ports, six SATA ports and 10 USB connections.

In addition, the Tylersburg- EP platform also of fers a wide range of RAS (Reliabilit y,

Availability and Serviceability) features. These features include memory interface

ECC, x4/x8 Single Device Data Correction (SDDC), Cyclic Redundancy Check

(CRC), parity protection, out-of-band register access via SMBus, memory mirror-

ing, memory sparing, and Hot-plug support on the PCI-Express Interface.

Nehalem-EP Processor and Tylersburg IOH Features

Four processor cores in each processor with 8MB shared cache among cores

•

Two full-width Intel QuickPath interconnect links, up to 6.4 GT/s of data transfer

•

rate in each direction

Virtualization Technology, Integrated Management Engine supported

•

Point-to-point cache coherent interconnect, Fast/narrow unidirectional links, and

•

Concurrent bi-directional traffi c

Error detection via CRC and Error correction via Link level retry

•

1-9

X8DA3/X8DAi User's Manual

1-4 Special Features

Recovery from AC Power Loss

BIOS provides a setting for you to determine how the system will respond when

AC power is lost and then restored to the system. You can choose for the system

to remain powered off (in which case you must hit the power switch to turn it back

on) or for it to automatically return to a power- on state. See the Advanced BIOS

Setup section to change this setting. The default setting is Last State.

1-5 PC Health Monitoring

This section describes the PC health monitoring features of the X8DA3/X8DAi. All

have an onboard System Hardware Monitor chip that supports PC health monitoring.

An onboard voltage monitor will scan these onboard voltages continuously: CPU

Core, Chipset Voltage, Memory Voltage, +5V, +3.3V, +3.3V Standby, +5V Standby,

+12V, −12V and VBatt. Once a voltage becomes unstable, a warning is given or

an error message is sent to the screen. Users can adjust the voltage thresholds

to defi ne the sensitivity of the voltage monitor.

Fan Status Monitor with Firmware Control

The PC health monitor can check the RPM status of the cooling fans. The onboard

CPU and chassis fans are controlled by Thermal Management via BIOS (under

Hardware Monitoring in the Advanced Setting).

Environmental Temperature Control

The thermal control sensor monitors the CPU temperature in real time and will turn

on the thermal control fan whenever the CPU temperature exceeds a user-defi ned

threshold. The overheat circuitry runs independently from the CPU. Once it detects

that the CPU temperature is too high, it will automatically turn on the thermal fan

control to prevent any overheat damage to the CPU. The onboard chassis thermal

circuitry can monitor the overall system temperature and alert users when the chas-

sis temperature is too high.

CPU Fan Auto-Off in Sleep Mode

The CPU fan becomes active when the power is turned on. It continues to operate

when the system enters the Standby mode. When in the sleep mode, the CPU will

not run at full power, thereby generating less heat.

1-10

Chapter 1: Introduction

CPU Overheat LED and Control

This feature is available when the user enables the CPU overheat warning func-

tion in the BIOS. This allows the user to defi ne an overheat temperature. When

the CPU temperature passes this threshold, both the overheat fan and the warning

LED are triggered.

System Resource Alert

This feature is available when used with Supero Doctor III in the Windows OS

environment or used with Supero Doctor II in Linux. Supero Doctor is used to

notify the user of certain system events. For example, you can also confi gure

Supero Doctor to provide you with warnings when the system temperature, CPU

temperatures, voltages and fan speeds go beyond a pre-defi ned range.

1-6 ACPI Features

ACPI stands for Advanced Confi guration and Power Interface. The ACPI specifi ca-

tion defi nes a fl exible and abstract hardware interface that provides a standard

way to integrate power management features throughout a PC system, including

its hardware, operating system and application software. This enables the system

to automatically turn on and off peripherals such as CD-ROMs, network cards, hard

disk drives and printers.

In addition to enabling operating system-directed power management, ACPI

provides a generic system event mechanism for Plug and Play and an operating

system-independent interface for confi guration control. ACPI leverages the Plug

and Play BIOS data structures while providing a processor architecture-independent

implementation that is compatible with both Windows 2000 and Windows 2003

Operating Systems.

Slow Blinking LED for Suspend-State Indicator

When the CPU goes into a suspend state, the chassis power LED will start blinking

to indicate that the CPU is in suspend mode. When the user presses any key, the

CPU will wake-up and the LED will automatically stop blinking and remain on.

Main Switch Override Mechanism

When an ATX power supply is used, the power button can function as a system

suspend button to make the system enter a SoftOff state. The monitor will be

suspended and the hard drive will spin down. Pressing the power button again

will cause the whole system to wake-up. During the SoftOff state, the ATX power

supply provides power to keep the required circuitry in the system "alive." In case

1-11

X8DA3/X8DAi User's Manual

the system malfunctions and you want to turn off the power, just press and hold

the power button for 4 seconds. This option can be set in the Power section of

the BIOS Setup routine.

Wake-On-LAN (WOL)

Wake-On-LAN is defi ned as the ability of a management application to remotely

power up a computer that is powered off. Remote PC setup, up-dates and asset

tracking can occur after hours and on weekends so that daily LAN traffi c is kept to

a minimum and users are not interrupted. The motherboard has a 3-pin header

(WOL) to connect to the 3-pin header on a Network Interface Card (NIC) that has

WOL capability. In addition, an onboard LAN controller can also support WOL

without any connection to the WOL header. The 3-pin WOL header is to be used

with a LAN add-on card only.

Note: Wake-On-LAN requires an ATX 2.01 (or above) compliant power

supply.

1-7 Power Supply

As with all computer products, a stable power source is necessary for proper and

reliable operation. It is even more important for processors that have high CPU

clock rates.

The X8DA3/X8DAi can accommodate 24-pin ATX power supplies. Although most

power supplies generally meet the specifi cations required by the CPU, some are

inadequate. In addition, the 12V 8-pin power connections are also required to ensure

adequate power supply to the system. Also your power supply must supply 1.5A

for the Ethernet ports.

Note: The + 12V 8-pin CPU Power Connector (JPW2) is also required to

support Intel 64-bit CPUs. Failure to provide this extra power will result in

CPU PWR Failure. See Section 2-5 for details on connecting the power

supply.

It is strongly recommended that you use a high quality power supply that meets ATX

power supply Specifi cation 2.02 or above. It must also be SSI compliant (For more

information, please refer to the web site at http://www.ssiforum.org/). Additionally, in

areas where noisy power transmission is present, you may choose to install a line

fi lter to shield the computer from noise. It is recommended that you also install a

power surge protector to help avoid problems caused by power surges.

1-12

Chapter 1: Introduction

1-8 Super I/O

The disk drive adapter functions of the Super I/O chip include a fl oppy disk drive

controller that is compatible with industry standard 82077/765, a data separator,

write pre-compensation circuitry, decode logic, data rate selection, a clock genera-

tor, drive interface control logic and interrupt and DMA logic. The wide range of

functions integrated onto the Super I/O greatly reduces the number of components

required for interfacing with fl oppy disk drives. The Super I/O supports 360 K, 720

K, 1.2 M, 1.44 M or 2.88 M disk drives and data transfer rates of 250 Kb/s, 500 Kb/s

or 1 Mb/s. It also provides two high-speed, 16550 compatible serial communication

ports (UARTs). Each UART includes a 16-byte send/receive FIFO, a programmable

baud rate generator, complete modem control capability and a processor interrupt

system. Both UARTs provide legacy speed with baud rate of up to 115.2 Kbps

as well as an advanced speed with baud rates of 250 K, 500 K, or 1 Mb/s, which

support higher speed modems.

The Super I/O provides functions that comply with ACPI (Advanced Confi guration

and Power Interface), which includes support of legacy and ACPI power manage-

ment through an SMI or SCI function pin. It also features auto power management

to reduce power consumption.

1-13

X8DA3/X8DAi User's Manual

Notes

1-14