Copyright and Warranty Notice The information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on part of the vendor, who assumes no liability or responsibility for any errors that may appear in this manual. No warranty or representation, either expressed or implied, is made with respect to the quality, accuracy or fitness for any particular part of this document. In no event shall the manufacturer be liable for direct, indirect, special, incidental or consequential damages arising from any defect or error in this manual or product. Product names appearing in this manual are for identification purpose only and trademarks and product names or brand names appearing in this document are property of their respective owners. This document contains materials protected under International Copyright Laws. All rights reserved. No part of this manual may be reproduced, transmitted or transcribed without the expressed written permission of the manufacturer and authors of this manual. If you do not properly set the motherboard settings causing the motherboard to malfunction or fail, we cannot guarantee any responsibility. BF6 Motherboard User's Manual Table of Contents CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION OF BF6 FEATURES 1-1. FEATURES OF THIS MOTHERBOARD 1-2. SPECIFICATIONS 1-3. LAYOUT DIAGRAM 1-4. THE SYSTEM BLOCK DIAGRAM CHAPTER 2. INSTALLING THE MOTHERBOARD 2-1. INSTALLING THE MOTHERBOARD TO THE CHASSIS 2-2. INSTALLATION OF THE PENTIUM II/III, CELERONTM CPU 2-3. INSTALLING SYSTEM MEMORY 2-4. CONNECTORS, HEADERS AND SWITCHES 2-5. CPU FREQUENCY SETTINGS CHAPTER 3. INTRODUCTION OF THE BIOS 3-1. SOFTMENU III SETUP 3-2. STANDARD CMOS FEATURES SETUP MENU 3-3. ADVANCED BIOS FEATURES SETUP MENU 3-4. ADVANCED CHIPSET FEATURES SETUP MENU 3-5. INTEGRATED PERIPHERALS 3-6. POWER MANAGEMENT SETUP MENU 3-7. PNP/PCI CONFIGURATIONS 3-8. PC HEALTH STATUS 3-9. LOAD FAIL-SAFE DEFAULTS 3-10. LOAD OPTIMIZED DEFAULTS 3-11. SET PASSWORD 3-12. SAVE & EXIT SETUP 3-13. EXIT WITHOUT SAVING 1-1 1-1 1-2 1-5 1-6 2-1 2-2 2-3 2-3 2-6 2-17 3-1 3-4 3-9 3-14 3-20 3-24 3-29 3-37 3-42 3-43 3-43 3-44 3-45 3-46 MN-172-2A2-81 Rev. 1.02 APPENDIX A APPENDIX B APPENDIX C BIOS FLASHING USER INSTRUCTIONS INSTALLING THE HIGHPOINT XSTORE PRO UTILITY HARDWARE MONITORING FUNCTION (INSTALLING THE WINBOND HARDWARE DOCTOR UTILITY) THE THERMAL CABLE BX 133 OVERCLOCKING GUIDE HOW TO GET TECHNICAL SUPPORT TROUBLESHOOTING (NEED ASSISTANCE?) APPENDIX D APPENDIX E APPENDIX F APPENDIX G Introduction of BF6 Features 1-1 Chapter 1. Introduction of BF6 Features 1-1.Features of This Motherboard The motherboard is designed for a new generation CPUs. It supports the Intel SLOT1 structure (Pentium II/III and CeleronTM processors), up to 768MB of memory, super I/O, and Green PC functions. The motherboard provides high performance for server systems and meets the requirements for desktop system for multimedia in the future. The BF6 has built-in hardware monitoring functions (you can refer to Appendix C for detailed information), they can monitor and protect your computer insuring a safe computing environment. The BF6 also supports the PS/2 keyboard, PS/2 mouse, password and hot key wake up features (you can refer to section 3-5 for detailed information), letting you easily wake up your system by these devices. The motherboard can provide high performance for workstations and meets the requirements for desktop systems for multimedia in the future. The BF6 uses the ABIT newest BIOS technology ­ CPU Soft MenuTM III. The ABIT CPU Soft MenuTM III technology not only lets you configure CPU settings easily but also lets you have a greater choice of CPU FSB clock settings. It provides 120 different CPU FSB clock settings. From 84 to 200 MHz, the increment for CPU FSB clock settings is 1Mhz by 1MHz (you can refer to section 3-1 for detailed information). Sets You Free From the Y2K Threat The potential threat of Year 2000 (Y2K) problems are making everyone very nervous. The Y2K issue applies to almost any device, firmware, or software that operates on or with year based dates. This problem is caused by a design flaw in the Real Time Clock (RTC) unit. The RTC only changes the last two digits of the year code, but not the century information. As a result, when it comes to 12:00 AM January 1, 2000 the RTC will switch from December 31 11:59 PM 1999 to 12:00 AM January 1 1900. Y2K compliance deals with the date change over from 31 December 1999 to 1 January 2000, and with recording and reporting of all dates from the RTC including leap year dates. This motherboard is free from the Y2K problem because its BIOS are Y2K compliant. User's Manual 1-2 Chapter1 Please Note If the operating system or application software cannot handle Year 2000 dates, you will still be facing the Y2K threat because it is not a hardware problem that relates to the motherboard itself. According to Award BIOS, it is BIOS source code released after 31 May 1995 complies with all known Y2K issues; however, it may still fail the 2000.exe test. Award has modified its BIOS source code to accommodate the requirements of 2000.exe. Award BIOS source code issued later than 18 November 1996 passes the NTSL 2000.exe test program. 1-2. Specifications 1. CPU ! ! ! ! Supports Intel Pentium III 450 ~800 MHz Processor cartridge. Supports Intel Pentium II 233 ~ 450 MHz Processor cartridge. Supports Intel® CeleronTM 266 ~ 533MHz processors (Based on 66MHz PPGA package) Supports 66 and 100MHz CPU external clock speeds 2. Chipset ! ! ! ! Intel® 440BX chipset (82443BX and 82371EB) Supports Ultra DMA/33 IDE protocol Supports Advanced Configuration and Power Management Interface (ACPI) Accelerated Graphics Port connector supports AGP 1x and 2x mode (Sideband) 3.3V device 3. Memory (System Memory) ! Three 168-pin DIMM sockets support SDRAM modules ! Supports up to 768MB MAX. (8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256 MB SDRAM) ! Supports ECC 4. System BIOS ! ! ! ! ! ! CPU SOFT MENUTM III, can easily set the processor parameters AWARD 6.0 Version BIOS Supports Plug-and-Play (PnP) Supports Advanced Configuration Power Interface (ACPI) Supports Desktop Management Interface (DMI) Year 2000 compliant BF6 Introduction of BF6 Features 1-3 5. Multi I/O Functions ! ! ! ! ! ! 2x Channels of Bus Master IDE Ports supporting up to four Ultra DMA 33 devices PS/2 Keyboard and PS/2 Mouse Connectors 1x Floppy Port ( up to 2.88MB) 1x Parallel Port (EPP/ECP) 2x Serial Ports 2x USB Connectors 6. Miscellaneous ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ATX form factor One AGP slot, six PCI slots and one ISA slot Supports PS/2 keyboard, PS/2 mouse, password and hot key wake-up functions Built-in Wake on LAN header Built-in IrDA TX/RX header Built-in SB-LinkTM header Built-in Wake On Ring header Built-in two SMBus headers Hardware monitoringIncluded fan speed, voltages, CPU and system environment temperature ! One Thermal Sensor Cable included ! Board size: 305 * 200mm User's Manual 1-4 Chapter1 " Supports Wake On LAN, Keyboard or Mouse, but your ATX power supply 5V standby power must be able to provide at least a 720mA current capacity. Otherwise, the functions may not work normally. " PCI slot 2 shares IRQ signals with the PCI slot 5 " PCI slot 3 shares IRQ signals with the PCI slot 6 " PCI slot 4 shares IRQ signals with the USB controller " PCI slot 6 is fully bus slave. Thus you can't install a PCI card that needs to use bus master signals into PCI slot 6. But you can install voodoo 1 or 2 that doesn't need to use bus aster signals into PCI slot 6. # Above 66MHz/100MHz bus speeds are supported but not guaranteed due to the PCI and chipset specifications. # Sound BlasterTM is a registered trademark of Creative Technology Ltd. in the United States and certain other countries. Sound Blaster - LINKTM and SB-LINKTM are trademarks of Creative Technology Ltd. # Specifications and information contained in this manual are subject to change without notice. Note All brand names and trademarks are the property of their respective owners. BF6 Introduction of BF6 Features 1-5 1-3. Layout Diagram Figure 1-2. Motherboard component location User's Manual 1-6 Chapter1 1-4. The System Block Diagram Figure 1-3. System diagram of the 440BX chipset BF6 Installing the Motherboard 2-1 Chapter 2. Installing the Motherboard This BF6 motherboard not only provides all standard equipment for classic personal computers, but also provides great flexibility for meeting future upgrade demands. This chapter will introduce step by step all the standard equipment and will also present, as completely as possible, future upgrade capabilities. This motherboard is able to support all Intel Pentium II/III processors and Intel Celeron processor now on the market. (For details, see specifications in Chapter 1.) This chapter is organized according the following features: 2-1 2-2 2-3 2-4 2-5 Installing the Motherboard to the Chassis Installation of the Pentium II/III, Celeron CPU Installing System Memory Connectors, Headers and Switches CPU Frequency Settings $$$$ Before Proceeding with the Installation $$$$ Before you install or unplug any connectors or add-on cards, please remember to turn the ATX power supply switch off (fully turn the +5V standby power off), or take the power cord off. Otherwise, you may cause the motherboard components or add-on cards to malfunction or be damaged. % User Friendly Instructions Our objective is to enable the novice computer user to perform the installation by himself. We have attempted to write this document in a very clear, concise and descriptive manner to help overcome any obstacles you may face during installation. Please read our instructions carefully and follow them step-by-step. User's Manual 2-2 Chapter2 2-1. Installing the Motherboard to the Chassis Most computer chassis will have a base on which there will be many mounting holes that allows the motherboard to be securely attached and at the same time, prevents short circuits. There are two ways to attach the motherboard to the base of chassis: ! with studs ! or with spacers Please refer to the figure 2-1 that shows the studs and spacers, they may have several types, but all look like the figures below: In principle, the best way to attach the motherboard is with studs, and only if you are unable to do this should you attach the board with spacers. Take a careful look at the motherboard and you will see many mounting holes on it. Line these holes up with the mounting holes on the base. If the holes line up, and there are screw holes this means you can attach the motherboard with studs. If the holes line up and there are only slots, this means you can only attach the motherboard with spacers. Take the tip of the spacers and insert them into the slots. After doing this to all the slots, you can slide the motherboard into position aligned with the slots. After the motherboard has been positioned, check to make sure everything is OK before putting the casing back on. Figure 2-2 shows you the way to affix the motherboard using studs or spacers: BF6 Installing the Motherboard 2-3 Note If the motherboard has mounting holes, but they don't line up with the holes on the base and there are no slots to attach the spacers, don't worry, you can still attach the spacers to the mounting holes. Just cut the bottom portion of spacers (the spacer may be a little hard to cut off, so be careful of your hands). In this way you can still attach the motherboard to the base without worrying about short circuits. Sometimes you may need to use the plastic springs to isolate the screw from the motherboard PCB surface, because the circuit wire may be near by the hole. Be careful, don't let the screw contact any printed circuit wire or parts on the PCB that are near the fixing hole, otherwise it may damage the board or cause board malfunctioning. 2-2. Installation of the Pentium II/III, CeleronTM CPU The installation method for the CPU is printed on the package of the retention mechanism that comes with the motherboard. You can refer to it while you install the CPU. This motherboard also supports the CeleronTM PPGA processor. If you want to install the CeleronTM PPGA processor, you have to use an additional adapter that allows you to use a CeleronTM PPGA processor in a slot 1 board. For this ABIT makes the SlotKET adapter. Note: ! Installing a heat sink and cooling fan is necessary for proper heat dissipation from your CPU. Failing to install these items may result in overheating and damage of your CPU. ! Please refer to your boxed processor installation or other documentation attached with your CPU for detailed installing instructions. 2-3. Installing System Memory This motherboard provides three 168-pin DIMM sites for memory expansion. The DIMM sockets support 1Mx64 (8MB), 2Mx64 (16MB), 4Mx64 (32MB), 8Mx64 (64MB), 16Mx64 (128MB), and 32Mx64 (256MB) or double sided DIMM modules. Minimum memory size is 8MB and maximum memory size is 768MB SDRAM. ...