Table of Contents Table of Contents 1.1 A Thank-you Note Before You Get Start..........................................................4 1.2 Features of This Manual ...............................................................................5 1.3 Safety Information ......................................................................................5 Table of Contents ................................................................................... 1 Chapter 2 Introduction to This Motherboard ............................................... 6 2.1 How does your motherboard look like?...........................................................6 2.2 Specification ...............................................................................................7 2.3 Block Diagram ............................................................................................8 Chapter 3 Hardware Installation ............................................................... 9 3.1 Quick Installation Procedure .........................................................................9 3.2 Installation You Have to Know..................................................................... 10 Installing CPU ...........................................................................................10 Installing CPU and System Fans ..................................................................11 Installing Memory Modules .........................................................................12 Connecting IDE and Floppy Cables ..............................................................13 Connecting ATX Power Cables .....................................................................14 Connecting Front Panel Cable .....................................................................15 3.3 Other Installation for Your Reference ........................................................... 16 Setting CPU Voltage and Frequency .............................................................16 Connecting Serial ATA................................................................................17 Adjusting your Hard Disk Setting.................................................................18 Connecting AGP 8X Expansion Slot ..............................................................19 Connecting IrDA........................................................................................20 10/100/1000Mbps LAN Supported ...............................................................21 Connecting USB2.0....................................................................................22 Connecting 1394 (only for n250a-FR) ..........................................................23 1 Connecting S/PDIF ....................................................................................24 Super 5.1 Channel Audio Effect ...................................................................25 Connecting Front Audio ..............................................................................26 Connecting Game Port ...............................................................................27 Connecting CD_IN .....................................................................................28 Connecting AUX_IN ...................................................................................29 Connecting Case Open ...............................................................................30 Colored Coded Back Panel ..........................................................................31 LED Indication ..........................................................................................32 3.4 Jumper Settings ........................................................................................ 33 Chapter 4 Special Features and Utilities................................................... 36 RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) ................................................... 36 RAID Configuration Utility...........................................................................36 Silicon Image SATARaid GUI Overview (only for n250a-FR) ............................37 SilentTek ­ Noise is Gone!................................................................................ 38 Other Useful Features...................................................................................... 41 Chapter 5 Setting BIOS......................................................................... 42 Introduction .............................................................................................42 How To Use Phoenix-AwardTM BIOS Setup Program .......................................43 How To Enter BIOS Setup ..........................................................................43 BIOS Upgrade under Windows environment..................................................44 WinBIOS Utility (only for n250a-FR) ............................................................46 Vivid BIOS technology ...............................................................................48 Chapter 6 Installing Drivers ................................................................... 49 6.1 Auto-run Menu from Bonus CD.................................................................... 49 6.2 Installing NVIDIA Windows nForce Drivers.................................................... 50 6.3 Installing NVIDIA NvMixer Driver................................................................. 50 6.4 Installing Gigabit LAN Driver (for n250a-FR and n250a-L) .............................. 51 2 6.5 Installing LAN Driver for n250a ................................................................... 51 6.6 Installing USB2.0 Driver ............................................................................. 52 6.7 Installing NVidia SATA RAID Driver .............................................................. 52 6.8 Installing Silicon Image 3114 SATARaid Driver (for n250a-FR only) ................. 53 6.9 Installing Silicon Image 3114 Java SATARaid Utility (for n250a-FR only)........... 58 6.10 JAVA 2 Runtime Environment Installation (for n250a-FR only)....................... 58 Chapter 7 Troubleshooting..................................................................... 59 Chapter 8 Technical Support .................................................................. 60 Model Name and BIOS Version....................................................................61 Register Your Motherboard .........................................................................61 3 1.1 A Thank-you Note Before You Get Start First of all, we would like to express our gratitude for purchasing AOpen products. Once again, this motherboard is designed uniquely to meet all your personal needs with our great industry-designing ability and our everlasting perseverance to the quality of all our products. This manual will introduce you how this motherboard is installed. Please keep it well for your future reference. If you lost your printed manual, you may also go to our website at http://www.aopen.com to download the updated file. Now, we would like to invite you to personally experience this user-friendly manual and all of the powerful functions this AOpen product offers. The logos of Adobe and Acrobat are the registered trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated. The logos of AMD, Athlon, and Duron are the registered trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. The logos of Intel, Intel Celeron, Pentium II, III and Pentium 4 are the registered trademarks of Intel Corporation. The logos of nVidia are the registered trademarks of nVidia Corporation. The logos of Microsoft, Windows are the registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in America and other countries. All the titles of the products and the trademarks mentioned in this manual are for the purpose of illustrative conveniences and are possessed by their respective firms. We regret not informing about any changes in usage standards and other related information. AOpen reserves the right of altering or modifying the content of this manual. In case of any mistakes or incorrect descriptions, which include those on the products, AOpen makes no guarantee or commitments. This document is based on the copyright laws in order to protect our company and reserve all rights. Under no circumstances are any types of duplicating and loading this brochure in any databases and media permitted except the permission signed on formal document by AOpen Company. 1996-2004 Copyrights, AOpen Ltd. All rights reserved. 4 1.2 Features of This Manual To help you grab the useful information of this motherboard and aware of certain conditions that you might need to know, you will see the icons below frequently: Note This contains knowledge you should know in process of assembling, or some helpful tips. Warning / Caution Warning Please be careful when you see this mark. highlights mistakes that occur often during It assembling, or something you need to pay attention to. Tip Warning This tip tells you some useful information that will make your installation smoothly. 1.3 Safety Information Please wear a wrist strap and attach it to a metal part of the system unit before handling a component. Alternatively, you can also touch an object that is of ground connection or with metal surface. Always unplug the power before you make any jumper setting. Before you install or remove any components on the motherboard, please make sure to disconnect the power first in case of damaging motherboard or other components. 5 Chapter 2 Introduction to This Motherboard Chapter 2 Introduction to This Motherboard 13 15 17 16 18 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 26 28 30 32 17. Front Audio Connector 18. Game Port Connector 19. S/PDIF Connector 20. 32-bit PCI Expansion Slots X 5 (Slot 5: Self-Powered PCI Slot, only for n250a-FR) 21. Case Open Connector 22. SYSFAN2 Connector 23. IrDA Connector 24. IEEE1394 Connectors X 2 (only for n250a-FR) 25. USB2.0 Connectors X 2 26. JP25 BIOS Protection Jumper (for n250a-FR) 27. JP24 BIOS Rescue Jumper (for n250a-FR) 28. Serial ATA Ports X 6 (for n250a and n250a-L, Serial ATA Ports X 4) 29. Front Panel Connector 30. JP2 Speaker Output Jumper (for n250a-FR) 31. JP15, 16 Dr. Voice II Language Selection (for n250a-FR) 32. JP14 CMOS Data Clear Jumper 12 10 11 20 22 24 2 4 6 8 9 1 3 5 7 2.1 How does your motherboard look like? 14 1. JP28 PS2 KB/Mouse Wakeup Jumper 2. AGP 8X Expansion Slot 3. 4-pin 12V ATX Power Connector 4. AGP Protection LED 5. CPUFAN Connector 6. SYSFAN1 Connector 7. 184-pin DIMMs X 3 8. 754-pin CPU socket supporting AMDTM AthlonTM 64 CPU 9. NVIDIA nForce3 Chipsets 10. IDE Connectors x 2 11. ATX Power Connector 12. FDD Connector 13. Realtek LAN Chip 14. CD-IN Connector 15. AUX-IN Connector 16. Onboard AC'97 CODEC 6 2.2 Specification Here is the main function of your motherboard. Models CPU Chipset n250a-FR AMD Athlon 64 CPU Socket 754 800MHz nForce3 250 DDR 266/333/400MHz DDR DIMM x 3 DIMM Type : 64/128/256/512MB & 1GB Max Memory : 3GB 8X AGP slot Integrated ATA133 and Serial ATA Controller Silicon Image Serial ATA Control Chip [Support RAID 0,1,0+1] Max Disk: 144,000,000GB [by 48 bits LBA Spec.] Realtek Gigabit LAN Controller, support 10/100/1000Mbps Realtek AC'97 CODEC onboard, support 5.1 Channel USB 2.0 x 8 Integrated Agere 1394 Control Chip AGP x 1 PCI x 4, Self-Powered PCI x 1 PS/2 Keyboard x 1, PS/2 Mouse x 1 USB Port x 4, LAN Port x 1, COM Port x 2, Printer Port x 1 Speaker_Out x 1, Line_In x 1, MIC_In x 1 Front Panel x 1 Front Audio x 1 CPU FAN x 1,System FAN x 1,Chassis FAN x 1 Power FAN x 1, Power Temperature Connector x 1 SmartEar Connector x 1 Case Open Connector x 1 S/PDIF Connector x 1, CD_IN x 1, AUX_IN x 1 IrDA x 1,Game Connector x 1 IEEE 1394 x 2, USB Port x 2 USB Connectors x 2 Award PnP 4Mb Flash ROM BIOS x 2 305 mm x 244 mm n250a-L AMD Athlon 64 CPU Socket 754 800MHz nForce3 250 DDR 266/333/400MHz DDR DIMM x 3 DIMM Type : 64/128/256/512MB & 1GB Max Memory : 3GB 8X AGP slot Integrated ATA133 and Serial ATA Controller Max Disk: 144,000,000GB [by 48 bits LBA Spec.] n250a AMD Athlon 64 CPU Socket 754 800MHz nForce3 250 DDR 266/333/400MHz DDR DIMM x 3 DIMM Type : 64/128/256/512MB & 1GB Max Memory : 3GB 8X AGP slot Integrated ATA133 and Serial ATA Controller Max Disk: 144,000,000GB [by 48 bits LBA Spec.] Main Memory Graphics IDE LAN Sound USB IEEE1394 Slots Realtek Gigabit LAN Controller, support 10/100/1000Mbps Realtek AC'97 CODEC onboard, support 5.1 Channel USB 2.0 x 8 Realtek 10/100Mbps LAN Controller, support 10/100Mbps Realtek AC'97 CODEC onboard, support 5.1 Channel USB 2.0 x 8 Back Panel I/O On Board Connector BIOS Board Size AGP x 1 PCI x 5 PS/2 Keyboard x 1, PS/2 Mouse x 1 USB Port x 4, LAN Port x 1, COM Port x 2, Printer Port x 1 Speaker_Out x 1, Line_In x 1, MIC_In x 1 Front Panel x 1 Front Audio x 1 CPU FAN x 1,System FAN x 1,Chassis FAN x 1, Power FAN x 1, Power Temperature Connector x 1 Case Open ...