Foxconn A78AX-S manual

A78AX 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 A78AX Series motherboa[...]

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 A78AX-S/A78AX-K is in conformity with (reference to the specication under which conformity is declared in accordance with 89/336 EEC-EMC Directive) ■ EN 550[...]

Declaration of conformity T rade Name: FOXCONN Model Name: A78AX-S/A78AX-K A78AX-S/A78AX-K 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 COM[...]

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 A78AX 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 connec- tivity features for today multi-media computing requirements, A78AX Series enables you to unleash more power fro[...]

1 2 1-1 Product Specications CPU Support AMD socket AM2+ Phenom TM series processors series processors Support AMD socket AM2 series processors : Support AMD socket AM2 series processors : Athlon Athlon TM 64X2 Dual-Core (<=95W) / Athlon TM X2 Dual-Core / Athlon TM 64 / Sempron TM HyperT ransport HT3.0 up to 5.2GT/s (depends on CPU) Chipset N[...]

1 3 Back Panel 1 x PS/2 keyboard port Connectors 1 x PS/2 mouse port 2 x Serial ports 1 x Parallel port 1 x Parallel port 4 x USB 2.0 ports 1 x RJ-45 LAN port 6-channel Audio ports (A78AX-K) (A78AX-K) 8-channel Audio ports (A78AX-S) -channel Audio ports (A78AX-S) Hardware Monitor CPU/System temperature detection CPU/System fan speed detection CPU/S[...]

1 4 1-2 Layout 1. NB (North Bridge) Fan Header 2. Chassis Intrusion Alarm Header 3. PCI Express x1 Slots 4. PCI Express x16 Slot 5. PCI Slots 6. CD_IN Connector 7. Front Audio Connector 8. Floppy Connector 9. Front USB Connectors 10. USBPWR2, USBPWR3 Jumper 1 1. Front Panel Connector 12. SA T A Connectors 13. Buzzer 14. South Bridge: AMD SB700 15. [...]

1 5 1. PS/2 Mouse Port Use the upper port (green) to connect a PS/2 mouse. 2. PS/2 Keyboard Port Use the lower port (purple) to connect a PS/2 keyboard. 3. Parallel Port This connector provides printer port interface. 4. Serial Port This is output of RS232 COM1 port. 5. Serial Port This is output of RS232 COM2 port. 6. USB Port The USB port support[...]

1 6 Audio Ports of A78AX-S : Audio Ports of A78AX-K : * : Please refer to Chapter 4, and install the Realtek audio driver (in CD) to assign the audio output ports for different applications of 2/4/5.1 channels. The fundamental audio outputs are depicted in the table above. 8. RJ-45 LAN Port The Ethernet LAN port provides Internet connection at up t[...]

Please visit this website for more supporting information about CPU, Memory and VGA for your motherboard : http://www .foxconnchannel.com/product/Motherboards/compatibility .aspx This chapter introduces the hardware installation proce ss, in- cluding the installation of the CPU, memory , power supply , slots, pin headers and the mounting of jumpers[...]

2 8 2-1 Install the CPU and CPU Cooler Install the CPU Locate the pin-1 CPU triangle mark and the pin-1 corner of the CPU socket. Pin-1 triangle marking of CPU Pin-1 corner of the CPU socket Read the following guidelines before you begin to install the CPU : ■ Make sure that the motherboard supports the CPU. ■ Always turn off the computer and u[...]

2 9 3. W h e n CP U i s pr o pe r l y se a te 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 . It is very simple to fasten and seat the CPU cooler onto your motherboard. (The following procedures use Foxconn cooler as the example.) 1. Apply and spread an e[...]

2 10 2-2 Install the Memory Dual Channel Memory Conguration This motherboard provides two DDR2 memory sockets and supports Dual Channel T echnology . When memory is installed, the BIOS will automatically check the memory in your system. T wo DDR2 memory sockets are divided into two channels : Channel 0 : DIMM1 Channel 1 : DIMM2 The combinations [...]

2 1 1 Installing a Memory If you take a look at fron t side of mem ory mod ule, it has asymm etric pin cou nts on both sides sep arate 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. Place t[...]

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 pi[...]

2 14 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) Attac[...]

2 15 Audio Connector : CD_IN CD_IN is a Sony standard audio connector , it can be connected to a CD/DVD-ROM drive through a CD/DVD audio cable. Audio Connector : F_AUDIO The audio connector supports HD Audio standard. It provides the Front Audio output choice. Floppy Disk Drive Connector : FLOPPY This motherboard includes a standard oppy disk dr[...]

2 16 2-5 Jumpers For some featur es needed, user s can chang e the jumper sett ings on this moth erboard to modi fy 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 17 USB device wake-up Jumpers: USBPWR1 / USBPWR2 / USBPWR3 1. Set the jumper to pins 1-2 (+5V) to wake up the computer from S1 sleep mode using the connected USB devices. 2. Set the jumper to pins 2-3 (+5VSB) to wake up the computer from S3 and S4 sleep modes using the connected USB devices. At the same time, a corresponding setting must be set i[...]

This chapter tells how to change system settings through the BIOS Setup menus. Detailed descriptions of the BIOS parameters are also provided. Y ou have to run the Setup Program when the following cases oc- cur: 1. An error message appears on the screen during the system Power On Self T est (POST) process. 2. Y ou want to change the default CMOS se[...]

3 19 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 20 ► 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 21 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 22 ► 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 . ► Mouse Th e s ys t em b o ot w i ll n o t st o p fo r a m o us e e rr or if y o u en a bl ed th is it em . ► Floppy Th e s ys t em b o ot w i ll n o t st o p fo r a f l op py er ro r i f y ou e n ab le d t hi s i te m . [...]

3 23 Advanced BIOS Features ► IDE Detect Timer Out This item is used to select the time out value for detecting A T A/A T API devices. If the checking time is over the set value, the system will skip it. ► MPS Revision This feature is only applicable to multiprocessor motherboards as it species the version of the MPS that the motherboard wil[...]

3 24 [Disabled] : Displays the normal POST messages. [Enabled] : Displays OEM customer logo instead of POST messages. ► 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[...]

3 25 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 26 ► Smart Power LED (Optional) 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 27 ► CPU Frequency Multiplier 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 will be valid if your CPU ratio is unlocked and will be displayed only if your CPU is supporting this feature. ► Spread Spectrum If you enabled [...]

3 28 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 29 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 ti[...]

3 30 Memory Conguration ► Bank Interleaving Interleaving allows banks of SDRAM to alternate their refresh and access cycles. One bank will undergo its refresh cycle while another is being accessed. This improves memory performance by masking the refresh cycles of each memory bank. However , bank interleaving only works if the addresses request[...]

3 31 resulting in the loss of effective RAM. More complex systems will take the RAM that would occupy that 3.5-4GB address space and re-map it into the 4.0-4.5 address space. The RAM doesn't care because it's just an array of storage cells, it's up to the memory controller to as - sociate addresses with those storage cells. Of course[...]

3 32 DRAM Timing Conguration ► Memory Speed Mode This item is used to enable/disable provision of DRAM timing by SPD device. The Serial Presence Detect (SPD) device is a small EEPROM chip, mounted on a DDR2 memory module. It contains important information about the module's speed, size, addressing mode and various other parameters, so tha[...]

3 33 strobe signals. ► tRP (Precharge Command Period) This item allows you to select the row precharge time (in clock cycles). ► tRTP (Internal Read to Precharge Command Delay) This time allows you to set the delay time (in clock cycles) between read command and precharge command. ► tRAS (Active-to-Precharge Delay) This item allows you to set[...]

3 34 Integrated Peripherals ► IDE Configuration / USB Configuration / SuperIO Configuration USB Configuration / SuperIO Configuration / SuperIO Configuration 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[...]

3 35 IDE Conguration ► OnBoard PCI IDE Controller [Disabled]: Disable the integrated IDE controller . [Primary]: Enable only the Primary IDE controller . [Secondary]: Enable only the Secondary IDE controller . [Both]: Enable both IDE controllers. ► OnChip SA T A Channel [Disabled] : Disable SA T A ports 1,2,3,4. [Enabled] : Enable SA T A por[...]

3 36 ► Combined Mode Option Combined Mode Option When "SA T A IDE Combined Mode" is enabled, you can choose : [SA T A as Primary] : Set SA T A ports 5, 6 to function as the Primary IDE. [SA T A as Secondary] : Set SA T A ports 5, 6 to function as the Secondary IDE. With P A TA IDE drives Without P A TA IDE drives RAID/ AHCI OnChip SA T [...]

3 37 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 2.0 Controller Mode This item is used to set the transmission rate mode of USB 2.0. The available settings are : [High Speed] in 480Mbps; [Full Speed] in 12Mbps. ?[...]

3 38 SuperIO Conguration ► OnBoard Floppy Controller This item is used to enable/disable Floppy Controller . ► Serial Port1 Address This item is used to assign the I/O address and interrupt request (IRQ) for the onboard serial port 1. ► Serial Port2 Address This item is used to assign the I/O address and interrupt request (IRQ) for the onb[...]

3 39 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 40 ► ACPI Suspend T ype This item is used to set the energy saving mode of the ACPI function. When you select “S1 (POS)” mode, the power is always on and computer can be resumed at any time. When you select “S3 (STR)” mode, the power will be down after a period of time. The status of the computer before it entering STR will be saved in [...]

3 41 PC Health Status ► W arning T emperature This option is used to set the warning temperature for the system. When the temperature of CPU is higher than the set value, the motherboard will send out warning information. ► Shut Down T emperature This item is used to set the system temperature upper limit. When the temperature exceeds the set v[...]

3 42 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 . ► User Access Level This item is used to set user access level. The available settings are: [No Access]: Prevent user access to the set[...]

3 43 Load Optimal Defaults Optimal defaults are the best settings of this motherboard. Always load the Optimal defaults after updating the BIOS or after clearing the CMOS values. Select this option and press Enter , it will pop out a dialogue box to let you load the defaults. Select <OK> and then press <Enter> to load the defaults. Sele[...]

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 mothe rboard comes with one Ut ility CD. Y ou can simpl y put it int o your CD/DVD-RO M driv e, 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 res[...]

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 which are to 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 [...]

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 - F AN1 Fan This page lets you to set F AN1 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 Bridg[...]

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) Using FOX LiveUpdate : 1. Local Update 1-1 Local Update [...]

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 and change different skin of the FOX LiveUpdate utility . Click here Set the location of download [...]

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 Creating a Bootable Array - Installing a new Windows XP 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 [...]

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 FastBuild Driver The FastBuild driver supports RAID 0 ,RAID 1 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 four hard disk[...]

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, when the screen appears, click on "Utility" icon, then click on " Create RAID Driver Floppy " icon. 2. A message pops out telling you where to nd the routine in driver CD to create the dri[...]

5 76 6. Insert a diskette, click "OK" to continue. 7. Y ou can input a volume label for this diskette, click on "Start" to format. 8. Click on "OK" to go through this warning message. 9. Format nished. Click "OK" to continue copying of RAID driver into this diskette. 10. Check if the diskette contains the [...]

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, "Dene LD Menu" appears. 2. Press [Enter], the screen appears as below . 3. Use [↓] key to select the hard disks, press [Space] key to change its assignment status to "Y"[...]

5 79 5. A message prompts. Press [Ctrl-Y] to erase the RAID array . 6. Another screen prompts. Press [Ctrl-Y]. Input 80GB to select the rst logical drive (LD1) and press [Enter]. 7. The selection of LD1 array is completed. As we want to introduce how to create two logical drives by using the same two hard drives here, so we will press [↓] to s[...]

5 80 8. When LD2 is selected, press [Enter] to continue. 9. 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 RAID0 again. Press [Ctrl-Y] to save the setting. [ Dene LD Menu ] LD No RAID Mode T otal Drv Capacity(GB) Status LD 1 RAID 0 2 79.99 Functional LD 2 ?[...]

5 81 10. A message prompts. Press [Ctrl-Y] to erase the RAID array . 1 1. The remaining disk spaces are assigned to LD2. The size is about 42GB*2 = 84GB. [ Dene LD Menu ] LD No RAID Mode T otal Drv Capacity(GB) Status LD 1 RAID 0 2 79.99 Functional LD 2 −−−− −−−− −−−−−−−− −−−− LD 3 −−−− −−−?[...]

5 82 Create RAID 1 (Mirrored) 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, "Dene LD Menu" appears. 2. Press [Enter], the screen appears as below . 3. Use [↓] key to select the hard disks, press [Space] key to change its assignment status to "Y&qu[...]

5 83 5. A message prompts. Press [Ctrl-Y] to erase the RAID array . 6. Another screen prompts. Press any key to use the maximum capacity . 7. The selection of LD1 array is completed. The nal capacity of 249.99GB (250GB) is the smaller size of the two hard drives. [ Dene LD Menu ] LD No RAID Mode T otal Drv Capacity(GB) Status LD 1 RAID 0 2 16[...]

5 84 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, "Dene LD Menu" appears. 2. Press [Enter], the screen appears as below . 3. Use [↓] key to select the hard disks, press [Space] key to change its assignment status[...]

5 85 5. A message prompts. Press [Ctrl-Y] to erase the RAID array . 6. Another screen prompts. Press any key to use the maximum capacity . 7. The selection of LD1 array is completed. The nal capacity of 164.56GB (82.28GB*2) is twice capacities of the smallest size of the four hard drives. [ Dene LD Menu ] LD No RAID Mode T otal Drv Capacity(G[...]

5 86 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, "Dene[...]

5 87 5. A message prompts. Press [Ctrl-Y] to erase the RAID array . 6. The conguration of LD1 array is completed. [ Dene LD Menu ] LD No RAID Mode T otal Drv Capacity(GB) Status LD 1 RAID 0 2 163.99 Functional LD 2 −−−− −−−− −−−−−−−− −−−− LD 3 −−−− −−−− −−−−−−−− −−−[...]

5 88 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, "Dene LD Menu" appears. 2. Press [Enter], the screen appears as below . 3. Use [↓] key to select the hard disks, press [Space] key to change its assignment status to "Y". 4. Press [Ctr[...]

5 89 5. A message prompts. Press [Ctrl-Y] to erase the RAID array . 6. The conguration of LD1 array is completed. T otal size is 82.28+1 19.96+250.00+320.00 = 772.24GB LD No RAID Mode T otal Drv LD 1 JBOD 4 Stripe Block: 64 KB Fast Init: ON Gigabyte Boundary: ON Cache Mode: WriteThru Channel :ID Drive Model Compatibilities Capacity(GB) Assignmen[...]

5 90 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 91 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 92 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 93 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 94 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 95 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 FastBuild BIOS setup and congure the mirrored RAID array as described in the 5-3 section. Finally , you can reach this step as depicted. 3. Exit FastBuild [...]

5 96 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 97 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 98 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 instructions[...]

5 99 17. The format of disk array (Disk1) is in processing. 18. Format completed, now you can start using your RAID array .[...]