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E2138
First Edition
July
Chapter 1: Product introduction
Chapter 2: BIOS setup
Chapter 3: Software support
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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
A8N5X specifications summary
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1.1Welcome
Thank you for buying an ASUS® A8N5X motherboard
1.2Package contents
Motherboard
I/O modules
1.3.1Product highlights
AMD Dual-CoreArchitecture
Latest processor technology
Built-inNVFirewall™
AMD Cool ‘n’ Quiet!™ Technology
Dual Channel DDR memory support
Serial ATA technology
RAID solution
PCI Express™ interface
S/PDIF digital sound ready
1.3.2ASUS Proactive features
AI NOS™ (Non-DelayOverclocking System)
Precision Tweaker
PEG Link mode
AI NET
1.3.3Innovative ASUS features
CrashFree BIOS
ASUS Q-Fantechnology
ASUS Multi-languageBIOS
ASUS MyLogo2™
Onboard LEDs
1.5.1Placement direction
1.5.2Screw holes
1.5.3Motherboard layout
1.6.1Overview
1.6.2Installling the CPU
1.6.3Installing the heatsink and fan
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1.7.1Overview
1.7.2Memory Configurations
DDR400 Qualified Vendors List
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
1.8.5PCI Express x16 slot
1.8.6PCI Express x1 slot
1.8.7Universal PCIe slot (PCI Express x4 slot)
1.9 Jumpers
1 . Clear RTC RAM (CLRTC)
1.10.1 Rear panel connectors
LAN port LED indications
Audio 2, 4, 6, or 8-channelconfiguration
1.10.2 Internal connectors
3 . Serial ATA connectors
(7-pinSATA1, SATA2, SATA3, SATA4)
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5 . Serial port connector (10-1pin COM1)
6 . USB connectors (10-1pin USB56, USB78, USB910)
8 . ATX power connectors
(24-pinEATXPWR1, 4-pinATX12V1)
9 . Internal audio connectors (4-pinCD, AUX)
10 . GAME/MIDI port connector (16-1pin GAME)
11 . Chassis intrusion connector (4-1pin CHASSIS)
12 . Front panel audio connector (10-1pin FP_AUDIO)
13 . System panel connector (20-pinPANEL)
•System power LED (Green 3-pinPLED)
•Hard disk drive activity (Red 2-pinIDE_LED)
System warning speaker (Orange
•Power/Soft-offbutton (Yellow 2-pinPWRSW)
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2.1.1Creating a bootable floppy disk
2.1.2Updating the BIOS
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2.1.3Saving the current BIOS file
2.1.4ASUS CrashFree BIOS 2 utility
Recovering the BIOS from the support CD
Recovering the BIOS from a floppy disk
2.1.5ASUS EZ Flash utility
2.1.6ASUS 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 screen
2.2.2Menu bar
2.2.3Legend bar
2.2.4Menu items
2.2.5Sub-menuitems
2.2.6Configuration fields
2.2.7Pop-upwindow
2.2.8General help
2.3.1System Time [xx:xx:xxxx]
2.3.2System Date [Day xx/xx/xxxx]
2.3.3Language [English]
2.3.4Legacy Diskette A [1.44M, 3.5 in.]
2.3.5Primary and Secondary IDE Master/Slave
PIO Mode
UDMA Mode
IDE Primary Master/Slave [Auto]; IDE Secondary Master/ Slave [Auto]
Access Mode [Auto]
Transfer Mode
2.3.6First, Second, Third, Fourth SATA Master
Extended Drive
Access Mode
Precomp
Landing Zone
2.3.7HDD SMART Monitoring
2.3.8Installed Memory
2.4.1CPU Configuration
DRAM Configuration
Hyper Transport Frequency [Auto]
AMD K8 Cool’n’Quiet control [Auto]
2.4.2PCIPnP
Plug & Play O/S [No]
Resources Controlled By [Auto]
IRQ Resources
PCI/VGA Palette Snoop [Disabled]
2.4.3Onboard Devices Configuration
IDE Function Setup
OnChip IDE Channel0 [Enabled]
OnChip IDE Channel1 [Enabled]
IDE DMA transfer access [Enabled]
Serial Port 1, 2 [Enabled]
SATA DMA access [Enabled]
Serial Port 3, 4 [Enabled]
SATA DMA transfer [Enabled]
IDE Primary, Secondary Master/Slave RAID [Disabled]
First, Second, Third, Fourth SATA Master RAID [Disabled]
USB Configuration
USB Controller [Enabled]
USB 2.0 Controller [Enabled]
Serial Port1 Address [3F8/IRQ4]
Parallel Port Address [378/IRQ7]
Parallel Port Mode [ECP+EPP]
ECP Mode Use DMA [3]
Game Port Address [201]
2.4.4JumperFree Configuration
Overclock Profile [Auto]
CPU Frequency [XXX] (value is auto-detected)
PCI Express Clock [100MHz]
DDR Voltage [Auto]
CPU Multiplier [Auto]
CPU Voltage [Auto]
Overclock Options [Disable]
2.4.5LAN Cable Status
POST Check LAN cable [Disabled]
2.4.6PEG Link Mode
PEG Link Mode [Disabled]
PEG Root Control [Auto]
2.4.7Instant Music
Instant Music [Disabled]
Instant Music CD-ROMDrive [Primary Master]
2.5.1ACPI Suspend Type [S1&S3]
2.5.2ACPI APIC Support [Enabled]
2.5.3APM Configuration
Restore on AC Power Loss [Disabled]
PWR Button < 4 secs [Instant-Off]
Power On By PCI Devices [Disabled]
Power On By External Modems [Disabled]
Power On By RTC Alarm [Disabled]
Day of Month Alarm [Disabled]
Time (hh:mm:ss) Alarm [Disabled]
Power Up By PS/2 Mouse [Disabled]
Power On By PS/2 Keyboard [Disabled]
2.5.4Hardware Monitor
Q-FanController [Disabled]
VCORE Voltage, +12V Voltage, 3.3V Voltage, 5VCC Voltage
CPU Temperature, M/B Temperature
CPU Fan Speed
2.6.1Boot Device Priority
1st ~ xxth Boot Device [Removable]
2.6.2Removable Drives
1. Floppy Disks
2.6.3Hard Disk Drives
1. 1st Master:
2.6.4CDROM Drives
2.6.5Boot Settings Configuration
Case Open Warning [Enabled]
Quick Boot [Enabled]
Boot Up Floppy Seek [Enabled]
Bootup Num-Lock[On]
2.6.6Security
Supervisor Password
User Password
Password Check
Exit & Save Changes
Exit & Discard Changes
Load Setup Defaults
Discard Changes
Software3 support
3.2.1Running the support CD
3.2.2Drivers menu
Nvidia Chipset Driver Program
Make NVIDIA PATA RAID Driver Disk
Make NVIDIA SATA RAID Driver Disk
Realtek ALC850 Driver
3.2.3Utilities menu
ASUS PC Probe
ASUS Update
ASUS AI Booster
Microsoft DirectX
3.2.4Manuals menu
NVIDIA Firewall Administrator’s Guide
NVIDIA RAID User’s Guide
Sil3114 User’s Manual
NVIDIA nTune Manual
3.2.5ASUS Contact information
3.3.1ASUS MyLogo2™
Ratio
3.3.2AI NET
Using the Virtual Cable Tester™
3.3.3Audio configurations
Sound Effect options
S/PDIF option
Speaker Configuration
AI Audio feature
HRTF Demo
General settings
Rear panel audio ports function variation
3.3.4Using the NVIDIA® Firewall™
Launching the NVFirewall™ summary
Setting security profiles
Turning the NVFirewall™ off
3.4RAID configurations
RAID
RAID 0+1
JBOD
Just a Bunch of Disks
3.4.1Installing hard disks
Installing Parallel ATA hard disks
Installing Serial ATA (SATA) hard disks
3.4.2NVIDIA® RAID configurations
Setting the BIOS RAID items
Entering the NVIDIA® RAID utility
Creating a RAID Volume
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Rebuilding a RAID array
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Deleting a RAID array
Clearing a disk data
Creating a RAID driver disk
3.6.1Enabling Cool ‘n’ Quiet!™ Technology
Windows® 2000/XP
3.6.2Launching the Cool ‘n’ Quiet!™ software