Asrock A55M-DGS manual

1 A55M-DGS User Manual V ersion 1.0 Published May 2012 Copyright©2012 ASRock INC. All rights reserved.[...]

2 Copyright Notice: No part of this manual may be reproduced, transcribed, transmitted, or translated in any language, in any form or by any means, except duplication of documentation by the purchaser for backup purpose, without written consent of ASRock Inc. Products and corporate names appearing in this manual may or may not be regis- tered trade[...]

3 Contents 1. Introduction ................................................................. 5 1.1 Package Contents ......................................................... ............ 5 1.2 Specications ............................................................................. 6 1.3 Motherboard Layout ......................................[...]

4 3. UEFI SETUP UTILITY.......................................................... 36 3.1 Introduction ................................................................................ 36 3.1.1 UEFI Menu Bar ................................................................ 36 3.1.2 Navigation Keys ......................................................[...]

5 1. Introduction Thank you for purchasing ASRock A55M-DGS motherboard, a reliable motherboard produced under ASRock’s consistently stringent quality control. It delivers excellent performance with robust design conforming to ASRock’s commitment to quality and endurance. In this manual, chapter 1 and 2 contain introduction of the motherboard an[...]

6 1.2 Specifications Platform - Micro A TX Form Factor: 8.8-in x 6.8-in, 22.4 cm x 17.3 cm - Solid Capacitor for CPU power CPU - Support for Socket FM1 100W processors - Supports AMD’s Cool ‘n’ Quiet TM T echnology - UMI-Link GEN2 Chipset - AMD A55 FCH (Hudson-D2) Memory - Dual Channel DDR3 Memory T echnology (see CAUTION 1 ) - 2 x DDR3 DIMM [...]

7 - 1 x D-Sub Port - 1 x DVI-D Port - 4 x Ready-to-Use USB 2.0 Ports - 1 x RJ-45 LAN Port with LED (ACT/LINK LED and SPEED LED) - HD Audio Jack: Line in/Front Speaker/Microphone Connector - 4 x SA T A2 3.0 Gb/s connectors, support RAID (RAID 0, RAID 1 and RAID 10), NCQ, AHCI and “Hot Plug” functions - 1 x IR header - 1 x CIR header - 1 x Print [...]

8 W ARNING Please realize that there is a certain risk involved with overclocking, including adjusting the setting in the BIOS, applying Untied Overclocking T echnology , or using the third-party over- clocking tools. Overclocking may affect your system stability , or even cause damage to the components and devices of your system. It should be done[...]

9 6. AS Rock In stant Fl ash is a BIOS as h utili ty embe dded in Fla sh ROM. Th is co nven ien t BIO S up date t ool a llo ws yo u to up dat e sys tem BI OS without entering operating systems rst like MS-DOS or Windows ® . With this utility , you can press <F6> key during the POST or press <F2> key to BIOS setup menu to access A[...]

10 12. ASRock XFast RAM is not supported by Microsoft ® Windows ® XP / XP 64-bit. 13. EuP , stands for Energy Using Product, was a provision regulated by Eu- ropean Union to dene the power cons umption for the completed system. According to EuP , the total AC power of the completed system shall be under 1.00W in of f mode condition. T o meet E[...]

11 1.3 Motherboard Layout 1 A TX 12V Power Connector (A TX12V1) 14 Southbridge Controller 2 Power Fan Connector (PWR_F AN1) 15 System Panel Header (P ANEL1, Black) 3 CPU Fan Connector (CPU_F AN1) 16 Infrared Module Header (IR1) 4 CPU Socket 17 Print Port Header (LPT1, Black) 5 CPU Heatsink Retention Module 18 USB 2.0 Header (USB6_7, Black) 6 2 x 24[...]

12 1.4 I/O P anel 1 PS/2 Mouse Port (Green) 6 USB 2.0 Ports (USB01) * 2 LAN RJ-45 Port 7 USB 2.0 Ports (USB23) 3 Line In (Light Blue) 8 DVI-D Port ** 4 Front Speaker (Lime) 9 D-Sub Port 5 Microphone (Pink) 10 PS/2 Keyboard Port (Purple) ** T o enable Multi-Streaming function, you need to connect a front panel audio cable to the front panel audio he[...]

13 2. Installation This is a Micro A TX form factor (8.8-in x 6.8-in, 22.4 cm x 17.3 cm) motherboard. Before you install the motherboa rd, study the conguration of your chassis to ensure that the motherboard ts into it. Pre-installation P recautions T ak e n ote o f t he fo llow ing p rec auti ons b efor e y ou in sta ll mo ther boa rd compon[...]

14 2.1 CPU Installation Step 1. Unlock the socket by lifting the lever up to a 90 o angle. Step 2. Position the CPU directly above the socket such that the CPU corner with the golden triangle matches the socket corner with a small triangle. Step 3. Carefully insert the CPU into the socket until it ts in place. The CPU ts only in one correct o[...]

15 2.3 Installation of Memor y Modules (DIMM) This mot herboar d pr ovides t wo 2 40-pin D DR3 (Dou ble Data R ate 3) DI MM slots , and su pport s Dual C hannel M emory T ec hnolo gy . F or dua l c hanne l conf igura tion, yo u alw ays n eed to i nst all tw o ide nti cal (t he sa me b ran d, s peed , si ze a nd ch ip- type) memory modules in the DD[...]

16 2.4 Expansion Slots (PCI and PCI Express Slots) There is 1 PCI slot and 1 PCI Express slot on this motherboard. PCI Slot: PCI slot is used to install expansion cards that have the 32-bit PCI interface. PCIE Slot: PCIE1 (PCIE x16 slot; Black) is used for PCI Express x16 lane width graphics cards. Installing an expansion card Step 1. Before instal[...]

17 2.5 AMD Dual Graphics Operation Guide This motherboard supports AMD Dual Graphics feature. AMD Dual Graphics brings multi-GPU performance capabilities by enabling an AMD A55 FCH (Hudson-D2) integrated graphics processor and a discrete graphics processor to operate simultaneously with combined output to a single display for blisteringly-fast fram[...]

18 * Dual Graphics appearing here is a registered trademark of AMD T echnologies Inc., and is used only for identication or explanation and to the owners’ benet, without intent to infringe. * For further information of AMD Dual Graphics technology , please check AMD website for up dates and details. Step 9. Click “Enable CrossFire TM ” [...]

19 2. If you have installed onboard VGA driver from our support CD to your system already , you can freely enjoy the benets of dual monitor function after your system boots. If you haven’t installed onboard VGA driver yet, please install onboard VGA driver from our support CD to your system and restart your computer . 2.6 Dual Monitor and Surr[...]

20 Surround Display Feature This motherboard supports surround display upgrade. With the internal VGA output support (D-Sub and DVI-D) and external add-on PCI Express VGA cards, you can easily enjoy the benets of surround display feature. Please refer to the following steps to set up a surround display environment: 1. Install the PCI Express VGA[...]

21 For Windows ® 7 / 7 64-bit / Vista TM / Vista TM 64-bit OS: Right click the desktop, choose “Personalize”, and select the “Display Settings” tab so that you can adjust the parameters of the multi-monitor according to the steps below . A. Click the number ”2” icon. B. Cli ck the ite ms “ Thi s is my ma in m oni tor” an d “E xte[...]

22 USB 2.0 header (9-pin, black) CIR header (4-pin, gray) 2.7 ASRock Smart Remote Installation Guide AS Roc k S mar t Re mot e i s o nly u sed fo r AS Roc k m oth erb oar d wi th C IR he ade r . Plea se ref er to b elow pr ocedur es for th e q uick i nstall ation a nd usa ge of ASR ock Smart Remote. Step1. Find the CIR header located next to the US[...]

23 * ASRock Smart Remote is only supported by some of ASRock motherboards. Please refer to ASRock website for the motherboard support list: http://www .asrock.com 1. Only one of the front USB port can support CIR function. When the CIR function is enabled, the other port will remain USB function. 2. Multi-Angle CIR Receiver is used for front USB on[...]

24 2.8 Jumpers Setup T h e i l l u s t r a t io n s h o ws h o w j u m p e r s a r e setup. When the jumper cap is placed on pins, the jumper is “Short”. If no jumper cap is placed on pins, the jumper is “Open”. The i l lu s t r at i o n s h ow s a 3 -p i n j u m pe r w h o s e pin1 and pin2 are “Short” when jumper cap is placed on thes[...]

25 2.9 Onboard Headers and Connectors Onboar d headers and con nectors a re NOT jum pers. Do NOT place jumper caps over these headers and connectors. Placing jumper caps over the headers and connectors will cause permanent damage of the motherboard! Serial A T A2 Connectors These four Serial A T A2 (SA T A_1: see p.1 1, No. 12) (SA T A2) connectors[...]

26 Infrared Module Header This header supports an (5-pin IR1) optional wireless transmitting (see p.1 1 No. 16) and receiving infrared module. Front Panel Audio Header This is an interface for the front (9-pin HD_AUDIO1) panel audio cable that allows (see p.1 1 No. 25) convenient connection and control of audio devices. Consumer Infrared Module Hea[...]

27 PWRBTN (Power Switch): Connect to the power switch on the chassis front panel. Y ou may con- gure the way to turn off your system using the power switch. RESET (Reset Switch): Connect to the reset switch on the chassis front panel. Press the reset switch to restart the computer if the computer freezes and fails to per- form a normal restart. [...]

28 Though this motherboard provides 24-pin A TX power connector, it can still work if you adopt a traditional 20-pin A TX power supply . T o use the 20-pin A TX power supply , please plug your power supply along with Pin 1 and Pin 13. 20-Pin A TX Power Supply Installation 12 1 24 13 Serial port Header This COM1 header supports a (9-pin COM1) serial[...]

29 2.10 Serial A T A (SA T A) / Serial A T AII (SA T AII) Hard Disks Installation This motherboard adopts AMD A55 FCH (Hudson-D2) chipset that supports Serial A T A (SA T A) / Serial A T AII (SA T AII) hard disks and RAID (RAID 0, RAID 1 and RAID 10) functions. Y ou may install SA T A / SA T AII hard disks on this motherboard for internal storage d[...]

30 Caution 1. Without SA T A 15-pin power connector interface, the SA T A / SA T AII Hot Plug cannot be processed. 2. Even some SA T A / SA T AII HDDs provide both SA T A 15-pin power connector and IDE 1x4-pin conventional power connector interfaces, the IDE 1x4-pin conventional power connector interface is denitely not able to support Hot Plug [...]

31 How to Hot Plug a SA T A / SA T AII HDD: Points of attention, before you process the Hot Plug: Please do follow below instruction sequence to process the Hot Plug, improper procedure will cause the SA T A / SA T AII HDD damage and data loss. Connect SA T A data cable to the motherboard’s SA T AII connector . Connect SA T A 15-pin power cable c[...]

32 2.13 Driver Installation Guide T o install the drivers to your system, please insert the support CD to your optical drive rst. Then, the drivers compatible to your system can be auto-detected and listed on the support CD driver page. Please follow the order from up to bottom side to install those required drivers. Therefore, the drivers you i[...]

33 2.14.2 Installing Windows ® 7 / 7 64-bit / Vista TM / Vista TM 64-bit With RAID F unctions If you want to install Windows ® 7 / 7 64-bit / Vista TM / Vista TM 64-bit on a RAID disk compos ed of 2 or more SA T A / SA T AII HDDs with RAID functions , ple ase f ollow below steps. STEP 1: Set up UEFI. A. Enter UEFI SETUP UTILITY Advanced screen St[...]

34 Using SA T A / SA T AII HDDs without NCQ and Hot Plug functions (IDE mode) STEP 1: Set up UEFI. A. Enter UEFI SETUP UTILITY Advanced screen Storage Conguration. B. Set the “SA T A Mode” option to [IDE]. STEP 2: Install Windows ® XP / XP 64-bit OS on your system. 2.15 Installing Windows ® 7 / 7 64-bit / Vista TM / Vista TM 64-bit / XP / [...]

35 STEP 1: Set up UEFI. A. Enter UEFI SETUP UTILITY Advanced screen Storage Conguration. B. Set the “SA T A Mode” option to [IDE]. STEP 2: Install Windows ® 7 / 7 64-bit / Vista TM / Vista TM 64-bit OS on your system. Using SA T A / SA T AII HDDs without NCQ and Hot Plug functions (IDE mode) 2.15.2 Installing Windows ® 7 / 7 64-bit / Vista[...]

36 3. UEFI SETUP UTILITY 3.1 Introduction This section explains how to use the UEFI SETUP UTILITY to congure your system. The UEFI chip on the motherboard stores the UEFI SETUP UTILITY . Y ou may run the UEFI SETUP UTILITY when you start up the computer. Please press <F2> o r <De l> d uring the Power-On -Self-T est (POST) t o ent er [...]

37 3.1.2 Navigation K eys Please check the following table for the function description of each navigation key . Navigation Key(s) Function Description / Moves cursor left or right to select Screens / Moves cursor up or down to select items + / - T o change option for the selected items <T ab> Switch to next function <Enter> T o bring u[...]

38 3.3 OC T weak er Screen In the OC T weaker screen, you can set up overclocking features. EZ OC Mode Y ou can use this option to load EZ overclocking setting. Please note that overclocing may cause damage to your components and motherboard. It should be done at your own risk and expense. CPU Conguration Overclock Mode U se th is t o se l ec t [...]

39 CPU V oltage It allows you to adjust the value of CPU voltage. However , for safety and system stability , it is not recommended to adjust the value of this item. GFX Engine Clock Use this to adjust graphics engine clock. The default value is [Auto]. DRAM Conguration DRAM Frequency If [Auto] is selected, the motherboard will detect the memory[...]

40 Row Precharge Time (tRP) Use this item to change Row Precharge T ime (tRP) Auto/Manual setting. The default is [Auto]. RAS# Active Time (tRAS) Use this item to change RAS# Active T ime (tRAS) Auto/Manual setting. The default is [Auto]. Command Rate (CR) Use this item to change Command Rate (CR) Auto/Manual setting. Min: 1T . Max: 2T . The defaul[...]

41 Would you like to save current setting user defaults? In this option, you are allowed to load and save three user defaults according to your own requirements. Instant Flash Instant Flash is a UEFI ash utility embedded in Flash ROM. This conve- nient UEFI update tool allows yo u to update system UEFI without entering operating systems rst l[...]

42 3.4.1 CPU Configuration Core C6 Mode Use this item to enable or disable Core C6 mode. The default value is [Enabled]. Cstate Pmin Mode Use this item to enable or disable Cstate Pmin mode. The default value is [Disabled]. Cool ‘n’ Quiet Use this item to enable or disable AMD’s Cool ‘n’ Quiet TM technology . The default value is [Enabled[...]

43 3.4.2 North Bridge Configuration Primary Graphics Adapter This item will switch the PCI Bus scanning order while searching for video card. It allows you to select the type of Primary VGA in case of multiple video controllers. The default value of this feature is [PCI Express]. Con- guration options: [Onboard], [PCI] and [PCI Express]. Share M[...]

44 3.4.3 South Bridge Configuration Onboard HD Audio Select [Auto], [Enabled] or [Disabled] for the onboard HD Audio feature. If you select [Auto], the onboard HD Audio will be disabled when PCI Sound Card is plugged. Front Panel Select [Auto] or [Disabled] for the onboard HD Audio Front Panel. Onboard LAN This allows you to enable or disable the o[...]

45 3.4.4 Storage Configuration SA T A Controller Use this item to enable or disable the “SA T A Controller” feature. SA T A Mode Use th is item t o adjust SA T A Mode. The de fault val ue of thi s option is [AHCI Mode]. Conguration options: [AHCI Mode], [RAID Mode] and [IDE Mode]. Hard Disk S.M.A.R.T . Use this item to enable or disable the [...]

46 3.4.5 Super IO Configuration Serial Port Use this item to enable or disable the onboard serial port. Serial Port Address Use this item to set the address for the onboard serial port. Conguration options: [3F8 / IRQ4] and [3E8 / IRQ4]. Infrared Port Use this item to enable or disable the onboard infrared port. Infrared Port Address Use this it[...]

47 3.4.6 ACPI Configuration Suspend to RAM Use this item to select whether to auto-detect or disable the Suspend-to- RAM feature. Select [Auto] will enable this feature if the OS supports it. Check Ready Bit Use this item to enable or disable the feature Check Ready Bit. Restore on AC/Power Loss This allows you to set the power state after an unexp[...]

48 ACPI HPET table Use this item to enable or disable ACPI HPET T able. The default value is [Enabled]. Please set this option to [Enabled] if you plan to use this moth- erboard to submit Windows ® Vista TM certication.[...]

49 3.4.7 USB Configuration USB 2.0 Controller Use this item to enable or disable the use of USB 2.0 controller . Legacy USB Support Use this option to select legacy support for USB devices. There are four con guration options: [Enabled] , [Auto], [Disabled] and [UEFI Setup Only]. The default value is [Enabled]. Please refer to below descriptions[...]

50 CPU Fan 1 Setting This allows you to set the CPU fan 1 speed. Con guration options: [Full On] and [Automatic Mode]. The default is value [Full On]. Chassis Fan 1 Setting This allows you t o set the chassis fan 1 speed. Con guration options: [Full On], [Manual Mode] and [Automatic Mode]. The default is value [Full On]. 3.5 Hardware Health E[...]

51 3.6 Boot Screen In this section, it will display the available devices on your system for you to cong- ure the boot settings and the boot priority . Setup Prompt Timeout T h is s h o w s t h e n u m b er o f s e c o nd s t o w a i t f o r s e t u p a c t i va t i o n k e y. 65535(0xFFFF) means inde nite waiting. Bootup Num-Lock If this it [...]

52 3.7 Security Screen In this section, you may set or change the supervisor/user password for the system. For the user password, you may also clear it.[...]

53 3.8 Exit Screen Save Changes and Exit When you select this option, it will pop-out the following message, “Save conguration changes and exit setup?” Select [OK] to save the changes and exit the UEFI SETUP UTILITY . Discard Changes and Exit When y ou select this op tion, it will pop- out the f ollowing message, “Discard changes and exit [...]

54 4. Sof tware Support 4.1 Install Operating System This motherboard supports various Microsoft ® Windows ® operating systems: 7 / 7 64-bit / Vista TM / Vista TM 64-bit / XP SP3 / XP 64-bit. Because motherboard settings and h ardware o ptions v ary , use the s etup pro cedures in t his chap ter f or g eneral reference only . Refer to your OS doc[...]

55 Installing OS on a HDD Larger Than 2TB in AHCI Mode This motherboard is adopting UEFI BIOS that allows Windows ® OS to be installed on a large size HDD (>2TB). Please follow below procedure to install the operating system. 1. Please make sure to use Windows ® Vista TM 64-bit (with SP1 or above) or Windows ® 7 64-bit . 2. Press <F2> o[...]

56 Installing OS on a HDD Larger Than 2TB in RAID Mode This motherboard is adopting UEFI BIOS that allows Windows ® OS to be installed on a large size HDD (>2TB). Please follow below procedure to install the operating system. 1. Please make sure to use Windows ® Vista TM 64-bit (with SP1 or above) or Windows ® 7 64-bit . 2. Press <F2> o[...]

57 7. And then key in drvcfg –s [Drv number] [Ctrl number] to enter Raid Utility . For example: key in drvcfg –s 4E B5 . 8. Choose Logical Drive Main Menu to set up Raid Drive. 9. Choose Logical Drive Create Menu to create a Raid Drive. 10. Choose Usable Physical Drive List to select Raid HDD.[...]

58 1 1. Press Space on keyboard to toggle checkbox. 12. Choose Ld Size setting , and key in the Raid size. 13. After set up Raid size, please click Start to Create . 14. Press <F10> to exit Utility . 15. During reboot, please press <F1 1> to enter Boot Manual. Choose UEFI: SCSI CD/DVD Drive . * This option only shows on Windows ® 7 64-[...]

59 16. Follow Windows ® Installation Guide to install OS. If you install Windows ® 7 64-bit / V ista TM 64-bit in a large hard disk (ex. Disk volume > 2TB), it m ay take more time to boot into Window s ® or install driver/ utilities. If you encounter this problem, you will need to following instructions to x this problem. Windows ® Vista [...]

60 B. Disable “V olume Shadow Copy” service. a. T ype “computer management” in the Start Menu, then press “Enter”. b. Go to “Ser vices and Applicatio ns>Services ”; Then double cli ck “V olume Shadow Copy”. c. Set “Startup type” to “Disable” then Click “OK”.[...]

61 17. Finish. C. Reboot your system. D. After reboot, please start to install motherboard drivers and utilities. Windows ® 7 64-bit: A. Please request the hotx KB2505454 thru this link: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2505454/ B. After installing Windows ® 7 64-bit, install the hotx kb2505454. (This may take long time; >30 mins.) C. Reb[...]