Asrock FM2A55M-DGS manual

1 FM2A55M-DGS User Manual V ersion 1.0 Published August 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 Unique Features ..........................................[...]

4 3. UEFI SETUP UTILITY .................................................. 37 3.1 Introduction ................................................................................ 37 3.1.1 UEFI Menu Bar ................................................................ 37 3.1.2 Navigation Keys .............................................................[...]

5 1. Introduction Thank you for purchasing ASRock FM2A55M-DGS motherboard, a reliable moth- erboard produced under ASRock’s consistently stringent quality control. It delivers excellent performance with robust design conforming to ASRock’s comm itment to quality and endurance. In this manual, chapter 1 and 2 contain introduction of the motherbo[...]

6 1.2 Specications Platform - Micro A TX Form Factor: 8.9-in x 7.6-in, 22.6 cm x 19.3 cm - Solid Capacitor for CPU power CPU - Support for Socket FM2 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 - 2 x DDR3 DIMM slots - Support [...]

7 Rear Panel I/O I/O Panel - 1 x PS/2 Mouse/Keyboard Port - 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 - 6 x SA T A2 3.0 Gb/s connectors, support RAID (RAID 0, RAID 1 and RAID 10), NCQ, AHCI and “Hot Plu[...]

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 third-party overclocking tools. Overclocking may affect your system’ s stability , or even cause damage to the components and devices of your system. It should be done [...]

9 1.3 Unique Features ASRock Extreme T uning Utility (AXTU) A SRock Extre me T uning Utility (AXTU) is an all-in-o ne tool to ne-tu ne di f fe rent syste m fun ctions in a user -friendly inter face, whic h in clude s Ha rdware Moni tor , Fa n Co ntrol, Over clocki ng, OC DNA, IES and XFast RAM. In Hardware Monitor , it shows the major readings of y[...]

10 ASRock APP Charger I f y o u d es i r e a f as t e r, l e ss r e s tr i c te d w a y o f c h a rg i n g y o u r Apple device s, suc h as iPhone /iPad/iPo d T ouch, ASRock has prepared a wonderful solution for you - ASRock APP Charger . Si mpl y in sta ll t he AP P C har ge r d riv er, i t m ake s y ou r i Pho ne charge much quickly from your com[...]

1 1 ASRock Crashless BIOS  AS Ro ck Cr as hl es s B IO S a ll ow s u se rs to up da te th ei r B IO S without fear of failing. If power loss occurs during the BIOS up- date process, ASRock Crashless BIOS will automatically nish the BIOS update procedu[...]

12 ASRock Interactive UEFI  A SR oc k I nt er act iv e U EF I i s a b len d of sy st em c on fig ur at io n to ol s , c oo l s ou nd ef fe ct s a nd s tu n ni ng v is ua ls . T he u np re c- edented UEFI provides a more attractive interface and bringsa lotmore[...]

13 1.4 Motherboard Layout 1 A TX 12V Power Connector (A TX12V1) 16 Chassis Fan Connector (CHA_F AN1) 2 CPU Heatsink Retention Module 17 System Panel Header (P ANEL1) 3 CPU Socket 18 Print Port Header (LPT1) 4 CPU Fan Connector (CPU_F AN1) 19 USB 2.0 Header (USB4_5) 5 2 x 240-pin DDR3 DIMM Slots 20 USB 2.0 Header (USB8_9) (Dual Channel: DDR3_A1, DDR[...]

14 1.5 I/O Panel * There are two LED next to the LAN port. Please refer to the table below for the LAN port LED indications. LAN Port LED Indications Activity/Link LED SPEED LED Status Description Status Description Off No Link Of f 10Mbps connection Blinking Data Activity Orange 100Mbps connection On Link Green 1Gbps connection 1 PS/2 Mouse Port ([...]

15 2. Installation This is a Micro A TX form factor (8.9-in x 7.6-in, 22.6 cm x 19.3 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 Precautions T ak e no te of th e fo llo wing pr ecau tio ns be fore you ins tal l m othe rbo ard components[...]

16 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[...]

17 2.3 Installation of Memory 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 hnolog y . F or dua l chan nel co nfigu ratio n, 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 DDR[...]

18 2.4 Expansion Slots (PCI and PCI Express Slots) There is 1 PCI slot and 2 PCI Express slots on this motherboard. PCI Slots: PCI slots are used to install expansion cards that have the 32-bit PCI interface. PCIE Slots: PCIE1 (PCIE x16 slot) is used for PCI Express x16 lane width graphics cards. PCIE2 (PCIE x1 slot) is used for PCI Express cards w[...]

19 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[...]

20 * 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 ” [...]

21 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[...]

22 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[...]

23 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[...]

24 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[...]

25 * 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[...]

26 2.8 Jumpers Setup T h e i l l u s t r a t io n s h o w s 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 - pi n j u m p er w h os e pin1 and pin2 are “Short” when jumper cap is placed on thes[...]

27 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 six Serial A T A2 (SA T A_1: see p.13, No. 7) (SA T A2) connectors su[...]

28 Infrared Module Header This header supports an (5-pin IR1) optional wireless transmitting (see p.13 No. 26) 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.13 No. 24) convenient connection and control of audio devices. Consumer Infrared Module Heade[...]

29 Chassis Speaker Header Please connect the chassis (4-pin SPEAKER 1) speaker to this header . (see p.13 No. 14) System Panel Header This header accommodates (9-pin P ANEL1) several system front panel (see p.13 No. 17) functions. Connect the po wer switch , reset switc h and s ystem stat us indica tor on the chassis to this header according to the[...]

30 CPU Fan Connectors Please connect the CPU fan (4-pin CPU_F AN1) cable to the connector and (see p.13 No. 4) match the black wire to the ground pin. Though this motherboard provides 4-Pin CPU fan (Quiet Fan) support, the 3-Pin CPU fan still can work successfully even without the fan speed control function. If you plan to connect the 3-Pin CPU fan[...]

31 2.10 Serial A T A2 (SA T A2) Hard Disks Installation This motherboard adopts AMD A55 FCH (Hudson-D2) chipset that supports Serial A T A2 (SA T A2) hard disks and RAID (RAID 0, RAID 1 and RAID 10) functions. Y ou may install SA T A3 hard disks on this motherboard for internal storage devices. This section will guide you to install the SA T A2 har[...]

32 Caution 1. Without SA T A 15-pin power connector interface, the SA T A2 Hot Plug cannot be processed. 2. Even some SA T A2 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 and will cause the H[...]

33 How to Hot Plug a SA T A2 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 A2 HDD damage and data loss. Connect SA T A 15-pin power cable connector (Black) end to SA T A2 HDD. How to Hot Unplug a SA T A2 HDD: Points of attention,[...]

34 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[...]

35 Using SA T A2 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 OS on your system. 2.15 Installing Windows ® 7 / 7 64-bit / Vista TM / Vista TM 64-bit / XP W ithout RAID Functions [...]

36 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 A2 HDDs without NCQ and Hot Plug functions (IDE mode) 2.15.2 Installing Windows ® 7 / 7 64-bit / Vista TM / Vist[...]

37 3. UEFI SETUP UTILITY 3.1 Introduction ASRock Inter active UEF I is a blend of syst em congu ration to ols, cool sound ef- fects and stunning visuals. Not only will it make BIOS setup less difcult but also a lot more amusing. This section explains how to use the UEFI SETUP UTILITY to congure your system. The UEFI chip on the motherboard[...]

38 3.1.2 Navigation Keys 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 up[...]

39 3.3 OC T weaker Screen In the OC T weaker screen, you can set up overclocking features. EZ OC Mode Y ou can use this option to adjust 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 to se le ct O[...]

40 Multiplier/V oltage Change This item is set to [Auto] by default. If it is set to [Manual], you may adjust the value of Processor Frequency and Processor V oltage. However , it is recommended to keep the default value for system stability . Boost Frequency Multiplier For safety and system stability , it is not recommended to adjust the value of [...]

41 DRAM Timing Control Power Down Enable Use this item to enable or disable DDR power down mode. Bank Interleaving Interleaving allows memory accesses to be spread out over banks on the same node, or accross nodes, decreasing access contention. Channel Interleaving It allo ws you to enab le Cha nnel M emory Interl eaving. Con guration op- tions:[...]

42 RAS# Cycle Time (tRC) Use this item to change RAS# Cycle T ime (tRC) Auto/Manual setting. The default is [Auto]. Write Recovery T ime (tWR) Use this item to change Write Recovery Time (tWR) Auto/Manual setting. The default is [Auto]. Refresh Cyle Time (tRFC) Use this item to change Refresh Cyle T ime (tRFC) Auto/Manual setting. The default is [A[...]

43 3.4 Advanced Screen In this section, you may set the congurations for the following items: CPU Congu- ration, Nouth Bridge Conguration, South Bridge Conguration, Storage Congura- tion, Super IO Conguration, ACPI Conguration, USB Conguration and Network Conguration. Setting wrong values in this section may cause the sys[...]

44 3.4.1 CPU Conguration Core C6 Mode Use this item to enable or disable Core C6 mode. The default value is [Enabled].  Package C6 Mode This item appears only when you enable the item “Core C6 Mode”. Use this item to enable or disable Package C6 mode. The default value is [Dis- abled]. Cool ‘n’ Quiet Use this item to enable or disable[...]

45 3.4.2 North Bridge Conguration 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 [...]

46 3.4.3 South Bridge Conguration 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 [...]

47 3.4.4 Storage Conguration 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 d efault va lue of th is option is [AHCI Mode]. Conguration options: [AHCI Mode], [RAID Mode] and [IDE Mode]. If you set this item to RAID mode, it is suggested to instal[...]

48 3.4.5 Super IO Conguration 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: [3F8h / IRQ4] and [3E8h / IRQ4]. Infrared Port Use this item to enable or disable the onboard infrared port. Infrared Port Address Use this[...]

49 3.4.6 ACPI Conguration 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 unex[...]

50 USB Mouse Power On Use this item to enable or disable USB Mouse to power on the system. 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.[...]

51 3.4.7 USB Conguration 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 description[...]

52 3.4.8 Network Conguration Internet Setting Use this item to set up the internet connection mode. Conguration options: [DHCP (Auto IP)] and [PPPOE]. UEFI Download Server Use this item to select UEFI rmware download server for Internet Flash. Conguration options: [Asia], [Europe], [USA] and [China].[...]

53 3.5 T ool Sound Effect Enable or disable sound effects in the setup utility . System Browser System Browser can let you easily check your current system congura- tion in UEFI setup. OMG(Online Management Guard) Administrators are able to establish an internet curfew or restrict internet access at specied times via OMG. Y ou may schedule th[...]

54 Internet Flash Int erne t F lash sea rche s f or av aila ble UE FI fi rmwa re up date s fr om ou r servers. In other words, the system can auto-detect the latest UEFI from our servers and ash them without entering Windows OS. Please note that you must be running on a DHCP congured computer in order to en- able this function. Would you like[...]

55 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]. Over T emperature Pro[...]

56 3.7 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 n ds t o w a i t f o r s e t u p a c t i v at i o n k e y . 65535(0xFFFF) means inde nite waiting. Bootup Num-Lock If this it[...]

57 CSM parameters Launch Video OpROM policy Use this to control the execution of UEFI and Legacy Video OpROM. The default value is [Legacy only].[...]

58 3.8 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. Secure Boot Control Use this t o enabl e or d isable Secure B oot Con trol. The d efault value is [Enabled]. Secure Boot Policy Internal FV Image Execution Policy on Security Violation. Image load [...]

59 Fixed Media The default value is [Deny Execute]. Key Management[...]

60 3.9 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 [...]

61 4. Software Support 4.1 Install Operating System T hi s m o t he r b oa r d s u pp o r ts v a ri o u s M i c ro s o ft ® W i nd o w s ® o p er a t in g s y s te m s : 7 / 7 6 4- b it / V is ta TM / Vi s ta TM 6 4- bi t / X P S P 3. B ec au se mo t he rb oa rd se t ti ng s and h ardware o ptions v ary , u se t he se tup proc edures i n thi s ch[...]

62 Installing OS on a HDD Larger Than 2TB 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> or <Delete&[...]

63 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[...]

64 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.[...]

65 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-[...]

66 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 [...]

67 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 Applicati ons>Service s”; The n double cl ick “V olume Shadow Copy”. c. Set “Startup type” to “Disable” then Click “OK”.[...]

68 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[...]