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E1766
First Edition
September
Chapter 1: Product introduction
Chapter 2: BIOS setup
Chapter 3: Software support
Federal Communications Commission Statement
Canadian Department of Communications Statement
Electrical safety
Operation safety
How this guide is organized
Where to find more information
Conventions used in this guide
A7S8X-MXspecifications summary
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1.1Welcome
Thank you for buying an ASUS® A7S8X-MXmotherboard
1.2Package contents
Motherboard
Cables
1.3.1Product highlights
AMD Athon™ XP/Sempron™ processor support
AGP 8X support
Powerful integrated graphics
Serial ATA technology
1.3.2Innovative ASUS features
C.O.P. (CPU Overheating Protection)
ASUS EZ Flash BIOS
ASUS CrashFree BIOS
ASUS MyLogo™
Onboard LED
1.5.1Placement direction
1.5.2Screw holes
1.5.3Motherboard layout
Installing the CPU
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1.7.1Overview
1.7.2Memory Configurations
Recommended memory configurations
Memory frequency/CPU FSB synchronization
1.7.3Installing a DIMM
1.7.4Removing a DIMM
1.8.1Installing an expansion card
1.8.2Configuring an expansion card
1.8.3Interrupt assignments
Standard interrupt assignments
IRQ assignments for this motherboard
1.8.4PCI slots
1.8.5AGP slot
1.9 Jumpers
1 . Clear RTC RAM (3-pinCLRTC1)
2 . USB device wake-up (3-pinUSBPW1234, USBPW5678)
3 . External frequency selection (3-pinFSB_SEL1, FSB_SEL0)
1.10.1 Rear panel connectors
Audio 2, 4, or 6-channelconfiguration
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1.10.2 Internal connectors
2 . IDE connectors (40-1pin PRI_IDE, SEC_IDE)
Serial ATA Master/Slave connectors
4 . CPU, and Chassis fan connectors (3-pinCPU_FAN1, 3-pinCHA_FAN1)
5 . USB connectors (10-1pin USB56, USB78)
6 . GAME/MIDI connector (16-1pin GAME1)
7 . ATX power connector (20-pinATXPWR1)
8 . Internal audio connectors (4-pinCD, AUX)
9 . Front panel audio connector (10-1pin FP_AUIDO1)
10 . Serial port connector (10-1pin COM1)
11 . Speaker out connector (4-pinSPEAKER1)
12 . Power LED connector (3-1pin PWR_LED1)
13 . System panel connector (10-1pin PANEL)
•System power LED (Green 2-pinPLED)
•Hard disk drive activity (Red 2-pinHDLED)
•Power/Soft-offbutton (Black 2-pinPWRBTN)
•Reset button (Blue 2-pinRST)
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Important notes
2.1.1Creating a bootable floppy disk
2.1.2AwardBIOS Flash Utility
Updating the BIOS file
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2.1.3ASUS EZ Flash utility
2.1.4 ASUS CrashFree BIOS utility
Recovering the BIOS from a floppy disk
2.1.5ASUS Update utility
Installing ASUS Update
Updating the BIOS through the Internet
Updating the BIOS through a BIOS file
2.2BIOS Setup program
2.2.1BIOS menu bar
2.2.2Legend bar
General help
Scroll bar
Sub-menu
2.3.1System Time [xx:xx:xx]
2.3.2System Date [xx/xx/xxxx]
2.3.3Legacy Diskette A [1.44M, 3.5 in.]
2.3.4HDD SMART Monitoring [Disabled]
2.3.5Installed Memory [xxx MB]
2.3.6Primary and Secondary IDE Master/Slave
Primary IDE Master [Auto]
Access Mode [Auto]
PIO Mode [Auto]
UDMA Mode [Auto]
2.3.7First and Second SATA Master
Extended IDE Drive [Auto]
2.4Advanced Menu
2.4.1CPU configuration
2.4.2Chipset configuration
AGP Bridge Configuration
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Frequency Control
Init Display First [PCI slot]
2.4.3PCIPnP
Plug & Play OS [No]
Resources Controlled By [Auto]
PCI/VGA Palette Snoop [Disabled]
2.4.4Onboard device configuration
Onboard LAN [Enabled]
Onboard LAN Boot ROM [Disabled]
Internal PCI/IDE[Both]
IDE Burst Mode [Enabled]
OnChip SATA [Enabled]
Serial Port1 Address [3F8/IRQ4]
Parallel Port Address [378/IRQ7]
Parallel Port Mode [ECP+EPP]
EPP Mode Select [EPP1.7]
2.4.5USB configuration
USB 1.1 Controller [Enabled]
USB 2.0 Supports [Enabled]
USB Legacy Support [Enabled]
ACPI Suspend Type [S3(STR)]
ACPI APIC Support [Enabled]
2.5.1APM configuration
Restore on AC Power Loss [Power Off]
Suspend Mode [Disabled]
Switch Function[Break/Wake]
Hot Key Function [Power Off]
Power Button Override [Instant-Off]
Ring Power Up Control [Disabled]
MACPME Power Up Control [Disabled]
PCIPME Power Up Control [Disabled]
PS2KB Wakeup from S3/S4/S5 [Ctrl+Alt+B_Space]
Month Alarm [NA]
Day of Month Alarm [NA]
Time (hh:mm:ss) Alarm [0 : 0 : 0]
2.5.2Hardware monitor
Power System Temperature [xxxoC/xxxo F ]
CPU Temperature [xxxoC/xxxoF ]
CPU FAN Speed [xxxxRPM]
Chassis FAN Speed [xxxxRPM] or [N/A]
2.6.1Boot Device Priority
1st ~ xth Boot Device
2.6.2Removable drives
2.6.3Hard Disk Drives
2.6.4CD-ROMdrives
2.6.5Boot settings configuration
Quick Boot [Enabled]
Boot Up Floppy Seek [Disabled]
Boot Up Num-Lock[On]
OS Select for DRAM > 64MB [Non-OS2]
Full Screen Logo [Enabled]
Halt On [All, But Keyboard]
2.6.6Security
Supervisor Password [Clear]
User Password [Clear]
A note about passwords
Password Check [Setup]
Exit & Save Changes
Exit & Discard Changes
Load Setup Defaults
Discard Changes
Software3 support
3.2.1Running the support CD
3.2.2Drivers menu
SiS IDE Driver
SiS741/SiS741GX Graphic Driver
AD1888 SoundMAX Driver
SiS Ethernet Device Driver
3.2.3Utilities menu
ASUS PC Probe
ASUS Update
Microsoft DirectX
Anti-VirusUtility
3.2.4ASUS Contact information