Foxconn A9DA-S manual

A9DA Series Motherboard User ’ s Manual[...]

Statement: This manual is the intellectual property of Foxconn, Inc. Although the information in this manual may be changed or modied at any time, Foxconn does not obligate itself to inform the user of these changes. T rademark: All trademarks are the property of their respective owners. V ersion: User ’s Manual V1.0 for A9DA Series motherboar[...]

Declaration of conformity HON HAI PRECISION INDUSTRY COMP ANY L TD 66 , CHUNG SHAN RD., TU-CHENG INDUSTRIAL DISTRICT , T AIPEI HSIEN, T AIW AN, R.O.C. declares that the product Motherboard A9DA-S/A9DA is in conformity with (reference to the specication under which conformity is declared in accordance with 89/336 EEC-EMC Directive) ■ EN 55022:1[...]

Declaration of conformity T rade Name: FOXCONN Model Name: A9DA-S/A9DA Responsible Party: PCE Industry Inc. Address: 458 E. Lambert Rd. Fullerton, CA 92835 T elephone: 714-738-8868 Facsimile: 714-738-8838 Equipment Classication: FCC Class B Subassembly T ype of Product: Motherboard Manufacturer: HON HAI PRECISION INDUSTRY COMP ANY L TD Address: [...]

Installation Precautions Please carefully read the following procedures to install your computer : ■ It is suggested to select high-quality , certied fans in order to avoid damage to the motherboard and CPU due to high temperature. Never turn on the computer if the CPU fan is not properly installed. ■ We cannot guarantee that your system can[...]

T ABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1 Product Introduction Product Specications .............................................................................. 2 Layout....................................................................................................... 4 Back Panel Connectors .............................................................[...]

Congure ......................................................................................... 64 About & Help .................................................................................... 66 FOX LOGO ............................................................................................. 67 FOX DMI ...........................[...]

Thank you for buying Foxconn A9DA Series motherboard. Foxconn products are engineered to maximize computing power , providing only what you need for break-through performance. With advanced overclocking capability and a range of connectivity features for today multi-media computing requirements, A9DA-S/ A9DA enables you to unleash more power from y[...]

1 2 CPU Support AM3 socket processors, Max processor power up to 140W For the latest CPU information, please visit ： http://www .foxconnsupport.com/cpusupportlist.aspx HyperT ransport Up to 4800MT/s (HT3.0) for AM3 CPU Chipset North Bridge: RS880D South Bridge: SB850 Memory 4 x 240-pin DDR3 DIMMs Support up to 16GB of system memory Dual channel D[...]

1 3 Internal Connectors 1 x 24-pin A TX main power connector 1 x 8-pin A TX 12V power connector 5 x SA T A connectors 1 x ESA T A connector 4 x USB 2.0 connectors (supporting 8 x USB devices) 1 x CPU fan header (4-pin) 1 x System fan header (4-pin) 1 x NB fan header (4-pin) 1 x Front panel connector 1 x CD_IN connector 1 x Front Audio connector 1 x[...]

1 4 1-2 Layout 1. CPU_F AN Header 2. NB_F AN Header 3. PCI Express x16 Slots 4. PCI Express x1 Slots 5. PCI Slots 6. CD_IN Connector 7. Front Audio Connector 8. 1394a Connector (only for A9DA-S) 9. System Fan Header 10. Front USB Connectors 1 1. Reset Button (only for A9DA-S) 12. Power on Button (only for A9DA-S) 13 . Front Panel Connector 14. COM1[...]

1 5 1-3 Back Panel Connectors 1. PS/2 Keyboard Port Use the PS/2 port (purple) to connect a PS/2 keyboard. 2. USB Port The USB port supports the USB 2.0/1.1 specication. Use this port for USB devices such as an USB keyboard/mouse, USB printer , USB ash drive and etc. 3. VGA Port T o connect with external display devices, such as monitor or LC[...]

1 6 9. Audio Ports For the denition of each audio port, please refer to the table below : Port 2-channel 4-channel 5.1-channel 7.1-channel Blue Line In Line In Line In Line In Green Line Out Front Speaker Out Front Speaker Out Front Speaker Out Pink Microphone In Microphone In Microphone In Microphone In Orange - - Center/Subwoofer Out Center/Su[...]

This chapter introduces the hardware installation process, including the installation of the CPU, memory , power supply , slots, pin headers and the mounting of jumpers. Caution should be exercised during the installation of these modules. Please refer to the motherboard layout prior to any installation and read the contents in this chapter careful[...]

2 8 2-1 Install the CPU and CPU Cooler Install the CPU Locate the Pin-1 CPU triangle mark and the Pin-1 of the CPU socket. Pin-1 triangle marking of CPU Pin-1 corner of the CPU socket 1. Release the CPU socket lever . 2. A lign Pin-1 of the CPU with the CPU so cke t, an d ge ntl y pu t t he CP U onto the socket. Read the following guidelines before[...]

2 9 3. W he n C P U i s p r op e rl y s e at e d , push the CPU socket lever back to its locked position. Install the CPU Cooler Follow the steps below to correctly install the CPU cooler. (The following procedures use Foxconn cooler as the example.) 1. Apply and spread an even thermal grease on the surface of CPU. 2. Buckle the heatsink rmly at[...]

2 10 2-2 Install the Memory Dual Channel Memory Conguration This motherboard provides four DDR3 memory sockets and supports Dual Channel T echnology . When memory is installed, the BIOS will automatically check the memory in your system. Four DDR3 memory sockets are divided into two channels : Channel 0 : DIMM1, DIMM3 Channel 1 : DIMM2, DIMM4 Th[...]

2 1 1 Installing a Memory If you take a look at fro nt sid e of memor y modu le, it has asym metr ic pin cou nts on both side s sepa rate d by a notch in the middle, so it can only t in one direction. Follow the steps below to correctly install your memory modules into the sockets. Step 1: Spread the clips at both ends of the memory socket. Plac[...]

2 12 2-3 Install an Expansion Card Follow the steps below to correctly install your expansion card in the expansion slot. 1. Locate an expansion slot that supports your card. Remove the metal slot cover from the chassis back panel. 2. Align the card with the slot, and press down on the card until it is fully seated in the slot. 3. Make sure the met[...]

2 13 2-4 Install other Internal Connectors Power Connectors This motherboard uses an A TX power supply . In order not to damage any device, make sure all the devices have been installed properly before applying the power supply . 24-pin A TX power connector : PWR1 PWR1 is the A TX power supply connector . Make sure that the power supply cable and p[...]

2 14 Connect a 4-pin power plug We recommend you using an 8-pin A TX 12V power supply . If you are using a 4-pin power supply , you need to align the A TX power connector according to the picture on the right. C A U T I O N ! Fan Connectors : CPU_F AN, SYS_F AN, NB_F AN There are three main fan headers on this motherboard. The fan speed can be cont[...]

2 15 Front Panel Connector : FP1 This motherboard includes one connector for connecting the front panel switch and LED Indicators. Hard Disk LED Connector (HDD-LED) Connect to the chassis front panel IDE indicator LED. It indicates the active status of the hard disks. This 2-pin connector is directional with +/- sign. Reset Switch (RESET -SW) Att a[...]

2 16 Audio Connector : CD_IN CD_IN is a Sony standard audio connector , it can be conn ecte d to a CD/D VD-R OM driv e thro ugh a CD/DVD audio cable. Audio Connector : F_AUDIO The audio connector supports HD Audio standard. It provides the Front Audio output choice. 1394a Connector : F_1394 ( only for A9DA-S ) The 1394a expans ion cable can be conn[...]

2 17 2-5 Jumpers For some featur es neede d, user s can change the jump er sett ings on this mother board to modify them. This section explains how to use the various functions of this motherboard by changing the jumper settings. Users should read the following content carefully prior to modifying any jumper setting. Description of Jumpers 1. For a[...]

2 18 2-6 OnBoard Button (only for A9DA-S) Power on Button: POWER_ON Push the power on button to power on the system. Reset Button: RESET Push the reset button to reboot the system. PWR_ON RST[...]

Since BIOS could be updated some other times, the BIOS information described in this manual is for reference only . We do not guarantee the content of this manual will remain consistent with the newly released BIOS at any given time in the future. Please visit our website for updated manual if it is available. This chapter tells how to change syste[...]

3 20 Enter BIOS Setup The BIOS is the communication bridge between hardware and software, correctly setting up the BIOS parameters is critical to maintain optimal system performance. Power on the computer , when the message " Press <DEL> to enter Setup, <ESC> to boot menu " appears at the bottom of the screen, you can press &l[...]

3 21 ► Power Management Setup All the items related with Green function features can be set up through this menu. ► PC Health Status This setup enables you to read/change Fan speeds, and displays temperatures and voltages of your CPU/System. ► BIOS Security Features The Supervisor/User password can be set up through this menu to prevent unaut[...]

3 22 System Information This sub-menu is used to set up the standard BIOS features, such as the date, time, oppy drive and so on. Use the arrow up/down keys to select an item, then use the <+> or <-> keys to change the setting. ► Date (mm:dd:yy) <weekday><month><date> <year> format. Day—weekday from Sun. t[...]

3 23 [All Errors] : All errors can result in system halt. [All Errors But...] : All errors but keyboard or mouse or oppy can result in system halt. The halt condition can be enabled/disabled in the next three settings. ► Keyboard Th e s ys t em b o ot w i ll n o t st o p fo r a k e yb oa r d er r or i f y ou en ab l ed t h is i t em . ► Mous[...]

3 24 Advanced BIOS Features ► MPS Revision This feature is only applicable to multiprocessor motherboards as it species the version of the MPS that the motherboard will use. The MPS is a specication by which PC manufacturers design and build CPU architecture systems with two or more processors. MPS 1.1 was the original specication. MPS v[...]

3 25 ► Quick Boot While Enabled, this option allows BIOS to skip certain tests while booting, this will shorten the time needed to boot the system. ► Bootup Num-Lock This item denes if the keyboard Num Lock key is active when your system is started. The available settings are: On (default) and Off.[...]

3 26 Fox Central Control Unit ► Super BIOS Protect T o protect the system BIOS from virus attack, there is a BIOS write-protection mechanism provided. Super BIOS Protect function protects your BIOS from being affected by viruses, e.g. CIH. ► Auto Detect PCI Clock This option is used to auto detect PCI slot. When enabled, the system will turn of[...]

3 27 Smart BIOS ► Smart Power LED Smart Power LED is a feature built on your motherboard to indicate different states during Power On Self T est (POST). The LED is located at the front panel, and it displays POST state by different long-short blinking intervals. Y ou can always leave this state enabled. ► Smart Boot Menu When PC starts, it will[...]

3 28 Fox Intelligent Stepping ► CPU Clock This option is used to adjust the CPU clock. ► Current CPU Speed This item displays the current CPU speed. ► CPU Multiplier Adjust This option is used to adjust the CPU Clock Ratio. Multiply CPU clock with this ratio, you can get the CPU speed. Increase this ratio may overclock your CPU. This option w[...]

3 29 "Memory Speed Adjust". ► Current DRAM Speed This item displays the current DRAM speed. ► GFX Engine Clock Override This item allows you to enable/disable GFX Engine Clock Override support. ► PCI Express Clock This option is used to adjust the speed of PCI Express slot. It may enhance the graphics card speed. ► Spread Spectrum[...]

3 30 V oltage Options ► Memory V oltage Control This option is used to change the DRAM voltage in a step of 25mV . The voltage can be incre - mented from +25mV to +775mV . ► CPU V oltage Control This option is used to change the CPU voltage in a step of 50mV . The voltage can be incre - mented from +50mV to +600mV . ► HT V oltage Control This[...]

3 31 CPU Conguration This menu shows most of the CPU specications. ► Cool ‘N‘ Quiet (Appear only when CPU supports) This option helps lowering down the CPU frequency and voltage when system is idling. When the CPU speed is slowing down, the temperature will drop as well. ► C1E Support C1E represents Enhanced HAL T State. It is a featu[...]

3 32 Advanced Chipset Features ► Memory Conguration / DRAM Timing Conguration Press <Enter> to go to its submenu. The following six items display the values configured at the settings of " DRAM Timing Mode ". ► CAS Latency This item shows the CAS latency . The CAS Latency is the number of clock cycles that elapse from the [...]

3 33 within the BIOS. [UMA+SIDEPORT] -The SidePort is a 32-bit DDR memory interface that the integrated graph - ics can use either instead of or alongside the Athlon 64’s memory controller . In this mode, the integrated graphics cores will request data from both the UMA space and SidePort memory . ► UMA Frame Buffer Size Allocates system memory[...]

3 34 Burst lengths supported When both DCT s are enabled in unganged mode, BIOS must initialize the frequency of each DCT in order . Memory Conguration ► DCT Unganged Mode DCT stands for DRAM Controller . Ganged refers to the use of both DRAM controllers within a memory controller acting in con- cert to access memory . For a description of gan[...]

3 35 DRAM Timing Conguration ► DRAM Timing Mode When both DCT s (DRAM controller) are enabled in unganged mode, BIOS must initialize the frequency of each DCT in order , you also can congure the timings manually . Settings are : [Auto], [DCT 0], [DCT 1], [Both]. [DCT 1] and [Both] will appear only in AM2+ CPU. CMOS Setup Utility - Copyright[...]

3 36 Integrated Peripherals ► IDE Configuration / USB Configuration / SuperIO Configuration Press <Enter> to go to relative submenu. ► OnBoard LAN This item is used to enable or disable the onboard LAN controller . ► OnBoard LAN Boot ROM This item is used to enable or disable the onboard LAN boot optional ROM. A LAN boot ROM lets you se[...]

3 37 IDE Conguration ► OnChip SA T A Channel [Disabled] : Disable SA T A ports 1,2,3,4. [Enabled] : Enable SA T A ports 1,2,3,4. ► OnChip SA T A T ype This item is used to set the operating mode of your SA T A ports. Options : [Native IDE]; [RAID]; [AHCI]; [Legacy IDE]. [Native IDE] - This congures the SA T A ports to support native IDE m[...]

3 38 USB Conguration ► Legacy USB Support This item is used to enable the support for USB devices on legacy OS. If you have a USB keyboard or mouse, set to auto or enabled. ► USB Kerboard Legacy Support This item is used to enable Legacy Support for USB Kerboard. ► USB Mouse Legacy Support This item is used to enable Legacy Support for USB[...]

3 39 SuperIO Conguration ► Serial Port1 Address This item is used to assign the I/O address and interrupt request (IRQ) for the onboard serial port 1. CMOS Setup Utility - Copyright (C) 1985-2006, American Megatrends, Inc. SuperIO Conguration SuperIO Conguration Help Item Serial Port1 Address Allows BIOS to select serial port1 base addre[...]

3 40 Power Management Setup ACPI (Advanced Conguration and Power Interface) is an open industry standard interfaces enabling OS-directed conguration, power management, and thermal management of mobile, desktop, and server platforms. It denes ve sleeping states, they are : S1 - The S1 sleeping state is a low wake latency sleeping state. [...]

3 41 computer before it entering STR will be saved in memory , and the computer can quickly return to previous state when the STR function wakes. When you select [Auto], it means OS will automatically take care and assign which mode is the most suitable now . ► Energy-using Products This item is used to enable/disable the EuP(Energy-using Product[...]

3 42 PC Health Status ► W arning T emperature This item is used to enable or disable “W arning T emperature” function. ► Shut Down T emperature This item is used to enable or disable “Shut Down T emperature” function. ► CPU/System T emperature The CPU/System temperature are automatically detected and displayed by the system. ► CPU F[...]

3 43 BIOS Security Features ► Change Supervisor Password This item is used to install or change supervisor password. After you input Supervisor password, it then will ask you to input user password optionally . CMOS Setup Utility - Copyright (C) 1985-2006, American Megatrends, Inc. BIOS Security Features Scurity Settings Help Item Supervisor Pass[...]

The utility CD that came with the motherboard contains useful software and several utility drivers that enhance the mother- board features. This chapter includes the following information: ■ Utility CD content ■ Install driver and utility ■ FOX ONE ■ FOX LiveUpdate ■ FOX LOGO ■ FOX DMI Note : Because each module is independent, so the s[...]

4 45 Utility CD content This mot herbo ard c omes with one Util ity C D. Y ou can simpl y put it into your CD/DVD-R OM dr ive, and the main menu will be displayed on your PC screen to guide you how to install. 1. Install Driver Use these options to install all the drivers for your system. Y ou should install the drivers in order , and you need to r[...]

4 46 Install driver and utility 1. Install Driver Y ou must click "AMD Chipset Driver" to install it rst. After that, you can click "One Click Setup" to install all the other drivers left, or you can click on each individual driver to install it manually . 2. Install Utility Y ou can select the specic utility to install. M[...]

4 47 FOX ONE FOX ONE is a powerful utility for easily modifying system settings. It also allows users to monitor various temperature values, voltage values, frequencies and fan speeds at any time. With FOX ONE, you can : ■ Modify system performance settings, such as the CPU and memory bus speeds, CPU voltages, fan speeds, and other system perform[...]

4 48 1. Main Page T oolbar Use the toolbar to navigate to other pages. Alert Lamp When the system is in healthy state, the color of alert lamp is green. When the system is in abnormal state, the alert lamp color is red. Switch Button Click this button, it will simplify the whole FOX ONE control panel to a smaller information bar (i.e. Simple Mode) [...]

4 49 Skin Button There are more choices of FOX ONE screen panels. Click this button, you can select your favorite skin (FOX ONE Panel). Exit Click this button to exit the program. Minimum Click this button to drop the FOX ONE to Windows system tray located at the lower right corner of your screen. Homepage Click this button to visit Foxconn motherb[...]

4 50 Conguration This menu allows you to congure : 1). Monitor interval (ms) : This is to dene the interval of different messages of system settings which are to be displayed on Simple Mode screen. Minimum value is 1 second. 2). Simple Mode : T o select which message of system settings are to be displayed in the Simple Mode. Messages such [...]

4 51 Step 1 : Click Calibration icon, a message pops out to ask for continue. Select Y es. Step 2 : After data is collected, it will ask you to restart your computer now . Later on, when the FOX ONE program is activated, and F .I.S. feature (in CPU Page) is also enabled, FOX ONE will automatically adjust your CPU clock according to your system load[...]

4 52 2. CPU Page - CPU Control This page lets you select (or overclock) CPU clock to meet the current performance level of the system. The fastest and suitable CPU clock running for current system can be calculated by FOX ONE automatically or manually input by yourselves. Manual : Y ou can press the up/down button to adjust your CPU clock. Auto : C[...]

4 53 Y ou can see the system is raising CPU clock until the system hangs. Push RESET button on the front panel of your system to restart the computer . Run FOX ONE program again, it will inform you the previous test found that 255MHz is the recommended CPU clock for your system. Click Y es to apply it to your system. Now , your system is running at[...]

4 54 FOX Intelligent Stepping (F .I.S., Optional) Select FOX Intelligent Stepping will allow your system to automatically adjust your CPU clock rate based on different system loadings. For example, if you select Power Gaming, CPU clock will be driven to run at its maximum speed. While in Energy Saving, CPU will lower down its speed to a minimum. Th[...]

4 55 4. Limit Setting 4.1 Limit Setting - CPU T emperature This page lets you to set CPU high limit temperature and enable the alert function. 4.2 Limit Setting - System T emperature This page lets you to set system high limit temperature and enable the alert function. Go to Limit Setting page Set high limit by dragging the lever Show current CPU t[...]

4 56 4.3 Limit Setting - CPU Fan This page lets you to set CPU fan low limit rpm and enable the alert function. 4.4 Limit Setting - System Fan This page lets you to set system fan low limit rpm and enable the alert function. Set low limit rpm by dragging the lever Show current CPU fan rpm value Enable alert function when the CPU fan runs slower tha[...]

4 57 4.5 Limit Setting - NB Fan This page lets you to set NB fan low limit rpm and enable the alert function. 5. V oltage Page - V oltage Control (Optional) This page lets you set CPU voltage, memory voltage and North Bridge voltage manually . CPU voltage can be stepped up/down by a unit of 12.5mV , while memory is 0.05V/step, and North Bridge is 0[...]

4 58 6. Fan Page - Fan Control This page lets you enable Smart Fan function or set the fan speed by manual. When Smart Fan is selected, you must use a 4-pin CPU cooler in your system. Go to Fan page Set fan speed by dragging the lever Enable or disable smart fan function Apply the changes[...]

4 59 FOX LiveUpdate FOX LiveUpdate is a useful utility to backup and update your system BIOS, drivers and utilities by local or online. Supporting Operating Systems : ■ Windows 2000 ■ Windows XP (32-bit and 64-bit) ■ Windows 2003 (32-bit and 64-bit) ■ Windows Vista (32-bit and 64-bit) ■ Windows 7 (32-bit and 64-bit) Using FOX LiveUpdate :[...]

4 60 1-2 Local Update - Backup This page can backup your system BIOS. Y ou can click “Backup”, and key in a le name, then click “Save” to nish the backup operation. The extension of this backup le is ".BIN" for Award BIOS and ".ROM" for AMI BIOS. Default directory is "C:DesktopMy Documents" in Window[...]

4 61 2. Online Update 2-1 Online Update - Update BIOS This page lets you update your system BIOS from Internet. Click “start”, it will search the new BIOS from Internet. Then follow the wizard to nish the update operation. 2-2 Online Update - Update Driver This page lets you update your system drivers from Internet. Click “start”, it wil[...]

4 62 2-3 Online Update - Update Utility This page lets you update utilities from Internet. Click “start”, it will search the new utilities from Internet. Then follow the wizard to nish the update operation. Browse detailed information Install the selected driver Close the window Select the driver to update Click here Current information Sear[...]

4 63 2-4 Online Update - Update All This page lets you update your system drivers from Internet. Click “start”, it will search all new BIOS/drivers/utilities from Internet. Then follow the wizard to nish the update operation. Click here Current information Search all new BIOS/ drivers/utilities from Internet Browse detailed BIOS information [...]

4 64 3. Congure 3-1 Congure - option This page lets you set auto search options. After you enable the auto search function, FOX LiveUpdate will start its searching from Internet and if any qualied item found, it will pop out a message on the task bar to inform you to do the next step. Double click on the icon as show below , you can see th[...]

4 65 When you enable "Auto Search FOX LiveUpdate", if your FOX LiveUpdate version is older , it will auto search from internet and prompt you to install the new version. 3-2 Congure - System This page lets you set the backup BIOS location. Click here Set the location of download les or auto backup BIOS Determine if the FOX LiveUpdat[...]

4 66 3-3 Congure - Advance This page lets you select to ash BIOS / Boot Block and clear CMOS. If you choose Flash Boot Block, it means BIOS is not protective, and you must make sure the ash process is continuous and without any interruption. 4. About & Help This page shows some information about FOX LiveUpdate. C A U T I O N ! We recom[...]

4 67 FOX LOGO FOX LOGO is a simple and useful utility to backup, change and delete the boot time Logo. The boot Logo is the image that appears on screen during POST (Power-On Self-T est). Y ou can prepare a JPG image (1024x768) le, then use FOX LOGO to open it and change the boot time Logo. Boot time Logo will be displayed if you enable the BIOS[...]

4 68 FOX DMI FOX DMI is a full Desktop Management Interface viewer , and it provides three DMI data formats : Report, Data Fields and Memory Dump. With DMI information, system maker can easily analyze and troubleshoot your mother- board if there is any problem occurred. Supporting Operating Systems : ■ Windows 2000 ■ Windows XP (32-bit and 64-b[...]

This chapter will cover two topics : ■ Creating a Bootable Array - Installing a new Windows XP (or Vista) in a brand new RAID system. ■ Creating a Non-Bootable Array - Existing Windows XP (or Vista) system with new RAID built as data storage. It includes the following information : ■ RAID Conguration Introduction ■ Option ROM Utility ■[...]

5 70 Creating a Bootable Array - Installing a new Windows XP (or V ista) in a brand new RAID system. 1. Follow 5-1 to create a RAID driver diskette. 2. Follow 5-2 to set RAID enabled in BIOS. 3. Follow 5-3 to select a RAID array for use. 4. Follow 5-4 to Install a new Windows Operating System. What kinds of hardware and software you need here : 1. [...]

5 71 RAID Conguration Introduction RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) is a method for computer data storage schemes that divide and/or replicate data among multiple hard drives. RAID can be designed to provide increased data reliability (fault tolerance) or increased I/O (input/ output) performance, or both. The following RAID congur[...]

5 72 RAID 0 (Striped) RAID 0 reads and writes sectors of data interleaved among multiple drives. If any disk member fails, it affects the entire array . The disk array data capacity is equal to the number of drive members times the capacity of the smallest member . RAID 0 does not support fault tolerance. RAID 1 (Mirror) RAID 1 writes duplicate dat[...]

5 73 Option ROM Utility The Option ROM Utility supports RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID5 and RAID10 functions. It allows you to get high performance with fault tolerance, big capacity , or data safety provided by different RAID functions. Here, we will use four SA T A hard disks as an example to guide you through how to congure your RAID system. Assume fou[...]

5 74 T wo topics will be covered in the following sections : 1). Creating a Bootable Array - Installing a new Windows XP in a brand new RAID system. 2). Creating a Non-Bootable Array - Existing Windows XP system with new RAID built as data storage. Install SA T A Hard Disks before we continue : ■ Shut down your computer . ■ Install SA T A hard [...]

5 75 1. Find a PC, put a diskette into its oppy drive A:, this diskette will be formatted later . Put the driver CD into DVD-ROM drive. 2. Depending on which platform your system is, normally , it is a 32-bit XP system. Use Windows explorer , and go to CD:Driver AMDRAIDFloppyWinXP , click on RaidT ool icon to start the creation. 3. Click &[...]

5 76 6. Y ou can input a volume label for this diskette, click on "Start" to format. 7. Click on "OK" to go through this warning message. 8. Format nished. Click "OK" to continue copying of RAID driver into this diskette. 9. Check if the diskette contains the driver les.[...]

5 77 5-2 RAID Enable in BIOS 1. Enter the BIOS setup by pressing <DEL> key when boot up. 2. Select the “Integrated Peripherals” from the “Main menu”, then select the “IDE Conguration” menu and press <Enter> to go to the conguration items. 3. Enable RAID function and individual SA T A port for hard drive or DVD connecti[...]

5 78 Create RAID 0 (Striped) Here, we will show you how to create two RAID 0 Logical Drives (LD) by using two hard disks. 1. Select [2] from the main menu, " LD View Menu" appears. 2. Press [Crtl-C], the screen appears as below , select RAID 0. 3. Use [↓] key to select the hard disks, press [Space] key to change its assignment status to[...]

5 79 4. Another message prompts. Press [Ctrl-Y] to erase the RAID array . 5. Then the screen appears as below . LD No LD Name RAID Mode Drv LD 1 Logical Drive 1 RAID 0 2 Stripe Block: 64 KB Fast Init: ON Gigabyte Boundary: ON Cache Mode: WriteThru Port :ID Drive Model Compatibilities Capacity(GB) Assignment 1 :Mas HDS728090PLA380 SA T A 3G 82.34 Y [...]

5 80 LD No LD Name RAID Mode Drv Capacity(GB) LD 1 Logical Drive 1 RAID 0 2 164.56 Stripe Block: 64 KB Fast Init: ON Gigabyte Boundary: OFF Cache Mode: WriteThru Channel :ID Drive Model Compatibilities Capacity(GB) Assignment 1 :Mas HDS728090PLA380 SA T A 3G 82.34 Y 2 :Mas WDC WD1200JD-98HBB0 SA T A 1.5G 120.03 Y 3 :Mas Hitachi HDT725025VLA3 SA T A[...]

5 81 8. Y ou can see in the previous example, about 40GB of Channel 1 and 2 hard disks were allocated. Select the remaining spaces from them for RAID 0 again. LD No LD Name RAID Mode Drv LD 2 Logical Drive 1 RAID 0 2 Stripe Block: 64 KB Fast Init: ON Gigabyte Boundary: ON Cache Mode: WriteThru Port :ID Drive Model Compatibilities Capacity(GB) Assig[...]

5 82 LD No LD Name RAID Mode Drv LD 2 Logical Drive 2 RAID 0 2 Stripe Block: 64 K B Fast Init: ON Gigabyte Boundary: ON Cache Mode: WriteThru Port :ID Drive Model Compatibilities Capacity(GB) Assignment 1 :Mas HDS728090PLA380 SA T A 3G 82.34 Y 2 :Mas WDC WD1200JD-98HBB0 SA T A 1.5G 120.03 Y 3 :Mas Hitachi HDT725025VLA3 SA T A 3G 250.05 N 4 :Mas ST3[...]

5 83 Create RAID 1 (Mirror) Here, we will show you how to create one Mirrored Logical Drives (LD) by using two hard disks. 1. Select [2] from the main menu, and " LD View Menu" appears. Then press [Crtl-C], the screen appears as below , select RAID 1. 2. Use [↓] key to select the hard disks, press [Space] key to change its assignment st[...]

5 84 4. The screen appears as below . Press any key to use the maximum capacity . 5. The creation of RAID 1 is completed. The nal capacity of 249.99GB (250GB) is the smaller size of the two hard drives. LD No LD Name RAID Mode Drv LD 1 Logical Drive 1 RAID 1 2 Stripe Block: NA Fast Init: ON Gigabyte Boundary: ON Cache Mode: WriteThru Port :ID Dr[...]

5 85 Create RAID 5 (Parity) Here, we will show you how to create one Mirrored Logical Drives (LD) by using three hard disks. 1. Select [2] from the main menu, and " LD View Menu" appears. Then press [Crtl-C], the screen appears as below , select RAID 5. 2. Use [↓] key to select the hard disks, press [Space] key to change its assignment [...]

5 86 4. The screen appears as below . Press any key to use the maximum capacity . 5. The creation of RAID 5 is completed. The nal capacity of 239.99GB (1 19.995GB*2) is twice capacities of the smallest size of the three hard drives. LD No LD Name RAID Mode Drv LD 1 Logical Drive 1 RAID 5 3 Stripe Block: NA Fast Init: ON Gigabyte Boundary: ON Cac[...]

5 87 Create RAID 10 (Striped Mirror) Here, we will show you how to create one Striped Mirror Logical Drives (LD) by using four hard disks. 1. Select [2] from the main menu, and " LD View Menu" appears. Then press [Crtl-C], the screen appears as below , select RAID 10. 2. Use [↓] key to select the hard disks, press [Space] key to change [...]

5 88 4. The screen appears as below . Press any key to use the maximum capacity . 5. The creation of RAID 10 is completed. The nal capacity of 163.99GB (81.995GB*2) is twice capacities of the smallest size of the four hard drives. LD No LD Name RAID Mode Drv LD 1 Logical Drive 1 RAID 10 4 Stripe Block: NA Fast Init: ON Gigabyte Boundary: ON Cach[...]

5 89 Create RAID Ready A "RAID Ready" system is a specic system conguration that, with the addition of a second Serial A T A hard drive, can be seamlessly migrated to a conguration that provides either improved storage performance or data protection from a single hard drive failure. 1. Select [2] from the main menu, and " LD[...]

5 90 3. Another message prompts. Press [Ctrl-Y] to erase the RAID array . 4. The creation of RAID Ready is completed. LD No LD Name RAID Mode Drv LD 1 Logical Drive 1 RAID READY 1 Stripe Block: NA Fast Init: ON Gigabyte Boundary: ON Cache Mode: WriteThru Port :ID Drive Model Compatibilities Capacity(GB) Assignment 1 :Mas HDS728090PLA380 SA T A 3G 8[...]

5 91 Create JBOD Here, we will show you how to create a JBOD Logical Drives (LD) by using four hard disks. 1. Select [2] from the main menu, and " LD View Menu" appears. Then press [Crtl-C], the screen appears as below , select RAID JBOD. 2. Use [↓] key to select the hard disks, press [Space] key to change its assignment status to "[...]

5 92 3. Another message prompts. Press [Ctrl-Y] to erase the RAID array . 4. The creation of JBOD is completed. T otal size is 82.34+120.03+250.05+320.07 = 772.49GB LD No LD Name RAID Mode Drv LD 1 Logical Drive 1 RAID JBOD 4 Stripe Block: NA Fast Init: ON Gigabyte Boundary: ON Cache Mode: WriteThru Port :ID Drive Model Compatibilities Capacity(GB)[...]

5 93 5-4 Install a New Windows XP Assume a Mirrored array (249.99GB) was created as introduced in section 5-3, after the system restarts : 1. Press <DEL> to enter BIOS Setup during POST . 2. Insert the Windows installation CD into the optical drive. 3. Set the “1st Boot Device” to “CD/DVD-ROM”, save changes and exit BIOS. 4. The compu[...]

5 94 5. After some les are copied to your system, the following picture appears, press <S> to continue the specic driver installation. 6. It will ask you to insert the RAID driver diskette into you oppy drive. Press <Enter> after it is done. Windows Setup Please insert the disk labeled manufacturer-supplied hardware support dis[...]

5 95 7. There are two drivers, for your 32-bit XP system, press [Enter] to select the rst driver - "AMD AHCI Compatible RAID Controller-x86 platform". 8. A conrmation message appears to double check if the driver is really what we wanted, press <Enter> to continue. Windows Setup Setup will load support for the following mass s[...]

5 96 9. Windows will display the partition of your system. As we are using a Mirrored RAID array as an example, its size 232.88GB is now displayed as 238410MB. Y ou can press [C] to create partitions as many as you wish, assign them C:, D: or E: logical drive names. (Note : 238410MB/1024 = 232.82GB) 10. In this example, we will create a 30GB partit[...]

5 97 5-5 Setting Up a Non-Bootable RAID Array This section assumes the following setup : ■ Boot Disk with Windows XP installed : One hard disk HDS728090PLA T20 (80GB) is connected to the IDE channel, and set to Master . ■ A Mirrored RAID Array Disk : T wo SA T A hard disks are congured as a mirrored RAID1 array , they are : Hitachi HDT725025[...]

5 98 2. Select a RAID array for use (also can refer to section 5-3) After rebooting your computer , you will see the RAID software prompting you to press [Ctrl-F]. Press [Ctrl-F] to enter the Option ROM Utility and congure the mirrored RAID array as described in the 5-3 section. Finally , you can reach this step as depicted. 3. Exit Option ROM U[...]

5 99 5. After the AMD RAID driver is installed, it will ask you to click "Finish" to restart your computer . 6. When Windows starts, a message is prompting you to reboot again. Click "Y es" to restart your computer .[...]

5 100 7. After PC starts, the RAID array is now ready to be initialized under Windows. Launch Computer Management by clicking Start -> (Settings ->) Control Panel then open the Administrative T ools folder and double click on Computer Management. Click Disk Management (under the Storage section). The Initialize and Convert Disk Wizard appears[...]

5 101 1 1. The Computer Management window appears. The actual disks listed will depend on your system. In below gure, you can see there is a 232.82 GB unallocated partition. Y ou must format the unallocated disk space before using it. Right click "Unallocated space", select "New Partition…" and follow the Wizard instruction[...]

5 102 17. The format of disk array (Disk1) is in processing. 18. Format completed, now you can start using your RAID array .[...]

103 Appendix 103 Appendix - A TI Hybrid CrossFire™ T echnology Introduction AMD’s pioneering A TI Hybrid CrossFire™ T echnology can be used for scalable gaming action. The A TI Hybrid CrossFire™ T echnology can provide signicant performance boost to AMD based systems by enabling the ability for both discrete GPU and IGP graphics cores to[...]

Appendix 104 3. Then you may use the A TI Catalyst(TM) Control Center . Using an add-on graphics card 1. Right-click on the desktop, then click A TI Catalyst(TM) Control Center from the shortcut menu. The A TI Catalyst(TM) Control Center screen appears. 2.Click “Graphics Settings-> CrossFire ™”, then select the “Enable CrossFire™” ch[...]

105 Appendix 105 7. Click "Graphics Settings>CrossFire™”, then select the "Enable CrossFire™” check box. When a conrmation message pops up, click "Y es". The screen backs out for about one minute . 8. Click “OK”. The onboard graphics card is set to be the main monitor . 1. Follow steps 1 to 3 on Using the onboa[...]

Appendix 106 Appendix - A TI CrossFire TM T echnology Introduction CrossFire TM technology is a newly introduced product from A TI T echnologies. It is de- signed to dramatically improve the graphics performance for applications which is used by players and other high-end users. The CrossFire TM aspect requires the following components to be availa[...]

107 Appendix 107 4. Connect an auxiliary power source from the power supply to the graphics card. 5. Connect the DMS-59 cable to the DVI monitor connector and two graphics cards that you install as shown. 6. Power on your computer and get into OS (Windows ® XP 32-bit with SP2 or Windows ® XP Professional 64-bit Edition). 7. Install Microsoft’s [...]

Appendix 108 9. Double-click on the A TI Catalyst Control Center icon to launch it. Click “View”-->Select “Advanced V iew” -->Click “CrossFire TM ”-->Set “Enable CrossFire TM ” to Y es. Now you can enjoy the advanced CrossFire TM technology . ■ It is recommended using 400-450 Watt power supply or above to enjoy the bene?[...]