Contents

Notices ........................................................................................................

v

Safety information ......................................................................................

vi

A7V8X-MX SE specification summary* .....................................................

vii

About this guide ........................................................................................

viii

Chapter 1: Product introduction

1.1

Welcome! .......................................................................................

1-2

1.2

Package contents ..........................................................................

1-2

1.3

Special features .............................................................................

1-2

1.4

Motherboard components ..............................................................

1-4

1.5

Motherboard layout ........................................................................

1-7

1.6

Motherboard installation ................................................................

1-8

 

1.6.1

Placement direction .........................................................

1-8

 

1.6.2

Screw holes .....................................................................

1-8

1.7

Before you proceed .......................................................................

1-9

1.8

Central Processing Unit (CPU) ....................................................

1-10

1.9

System memory ...........................................................................

1-11

1.10

Expansion slots ...........................................................................

1-12

 

1.10.1 Configuring an expansion card ......................................

1-12

 

1.10.2

AGP slot .........................................................................

1-13

 

1.10.3

PCI slots ........................................................................

1-13

1.11

Switch and jumpers .....................................................................

1-14

1.12

Connectors ..................................................................................

1-17

Chapter 2: BIOS information

2.1

Managing and updating your BIOS ...............................................

2-2

 

2.1.1 Creating a bootable floppy disk .......................................

2-2

 

2.1.2 Using the AwardBIOS Flash Utility ..................................

2-3

 

2.1.3

CrashFree BIOS feature ..................................................

2-4

2.2

BIOS beep codes ..........................................................................

2-5

2.3

BIOS Setup program .....................................................................

2-5

 

2.3.1

BIOS menu bar ................................................................

2-6

 

2.3.2

Legend bar .......................................................................

2-6

iii