Appendix B
Frequently Asked Question
Note: FAQ may be updated without notice. If you cannot find the information that you need in this appendix, visit our WWW home page, (address: http://www.aopen.com.tw) and check the FAQ area and other new information.
Q: How can I identify the mainboard BIOS version? A: The AOpen mainboard BIOS version appears on the upper-left corner of the POST (Power-On Self Test) screen. Normally, it starts with R and is found in between the model name and the date. For example:
AP53/AX53 R3.80 Oct.22.1996 BIOS revision
Q: How can I identify version of the mainboard? A: The AOpen mainboard version appears as ppppp-x on the PCB, near the PCI slot and is enclosed in a white bordered box. The ppppp is the project code used by AOpen internally and -x is the version code. For example, for AP53 with 95140 project code and -3 version code, the mainboard version appears on the PCB as follows:
AP53 95140-3 MADE IN TAIWAN MB verison -3 (AP53-3)
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Why the AOpen mainboards (MB) do not have cache module expansion slot? A: Faster CPU speed requires more difficult and complex MB timing design. Every trace and components delay must be taken into consideration. The expansion cache slot design will cause 2 or 3ns delay in PBSRAM timing, and the extended trace length to the cache module through the golden finger will further delay the timing by 1 or 2ns. This may result in unreliable system once the cache module and slot becomes worn. All AOpen MBs support 512KB PBSRAM onboard. For better performance (around 3% higher than 256KB), we strongly recommend you to use 512KB onboard. Otherwise, reliable 256KB is better than unreliable 512KB with cache module. AOpen is the first company to promote this concept since the fourth quarter of 1995.
Q: Why do AOpen MBs have two regulators onboard? A: Heat dissipation becomes a big problem when CPU speed increases. New generation CPUs use lower voltage or split power plane to reduce power dissipation. If you use dual-power PP/MT (P55C) CPU, then you need separate requlators for 3.3V CPU io voltage and 2.8V CPU core voltage. Refer to section 2.2 "Jumper Settings" for voltage of current CPUs available on the market. Theoretically, the more regulators, the more reliable power becomes. For VX chipset MB (AP5V), we even incorporated a third requlator to support SDRAM. AOpen fully supports PP/MT and SDRAM in its product line and this puts them ahead among other companies. There is one exception, ATX MB may use 3.3V power from ATX power supply, it is possible to reduce one regulator.
Q: What is the difference of Linear Regulator and Switching Regulator? A: Switching regulator turns on/off Power FET with very high frequency and uses L/C charge and discharge circuit to do voltage drop. The efficient is better but voltage ripple and EMI noise is higher. The reason for mainboard designer to consider switching regulator, is simply because they are worry about linear regulator can not fully support the coming new CPU. Actually, this depends on the design and layout quality of mainboard manufacturer. According to AOpen RD's testing, Intel PP/MT-233, AMD K6-166/200/233 are all fine on AP5T to run winstone97. (The CPU is at 53 degree C, heatsink is at 60 degree C and regulator IC is at 79 degree C). But for future CPU (perhaps CPU of 1998), AOpen will still consider to phase-in switching regulator on new version mainboard.

Q: What is MMX? B-2

A: MMX is the new single-line multiple-instruction technology of the new Intel Pentium PP/MT (P55C) and Pentium II (Klamath) CPU. The AMD K6 and Cyrix M2 will support MMX too. The MMX instructions are specifically useful for multimedia applications (such as 3D video, 3D sound, video conference). The performance can be improved if applications use these instructions. All AOpen MBs have at least dual power onboard to support MMX. It is not necessary to have special chipset for MMX CPU. Q: What is USB (Universal Serial Bus)? A: USB is a new 4-pin serial peripheral bus that is capable of cascading low/medium speed peripherals (less than 10Mbit/s) such as keyboard, mouse, joystick, scanner, printer and modem/ISDN. With USB, the traditional complex cables from back panel of your PC can be eliminated. You need the USB driver to support USB device(s). AOpen MBs are all USB ready, you may get latest BIOS from AOpen web site (http://www.aopen.com.tw). Our latest BIOS includes the keyboard driver (called Legacy mode), that simulates USB keyboard to act as AT or PS/2 keyboard and makes it possible to use USB keyboard if you don't have driver in your OS. For other USB devices, you may get the drivers from your device vendor or from OS (such as Win95). Be sure to turn off " USB Legacy Support" in BIOS "Chipset Setup" if you have another driver in your OS. Q: What is P1394? A: P1394 (IEEE 1394) is another standard of high-speed serial peripheral bus. Unlike low or medium speed USB, P1394 supports 50 to 1000Mbit/s and can be used for video camera, disk and LAN. Since P1394 is still under development, , there is no P1394 device currently available in the PC market. Also, there is no chipset that can support P1394. Probably in the near future, a card will be developed to support P1394 device. Q: What is SMBus (System Management Bus, also called I2C bus)? A: SMBus is a two-wire bus developed for component communicati on (especially for semiconductor IC). It is most useful for notebook to detect component status and replace hardware configuration pin (pull-high or pulllow). For example, disabling clock of DIMM that does not exist, or detecting battery low condition. The data transfer rate of SMBus is only 100Kbit/s, it allows one host to communicate with CPU and many masters and slaves to send/receive message. The SMBus may be used for jumpless mainboard, the components which support SMbus are not ready yet, we will keep eyes on it.

Q: When can we have real jumperless mainboard? A: PnP had achieved the goal of jumperless add-on card, but true jumperless mainboard still has some technical concerns. For example, CPU clock and voltage do not have standard interface. Currently, the so called jumperless mainboard is actually depends on the BIOS to detect or manually set the CPU clock and voltage. If the setting is wrong, it will cause system unstable or damage after long time use. The other disadvantage is, because some of the jumper setting information is stored in CMOS, if the battery is lost or BIOS setup is accidentally changed, end user (or distributor) may need to open the housing and check the CPU again. Most of all, you need a start voltage to boot CPU and go into BIOS for jumperless setting. 2.85V may be OK for P55C and K6-166, but minimum voltage of K6-233MHz is 3.1V, it can not boot if user plugs K6-233 onto current jumperless mainboard. We probably need to wait after the mature of SMbus, if CPU and clock generator and other ICs are all SMbus compliance. Chipset can then detect and report the system configuration right after power on. Then we can have true jumperless mainboard. Q: What is PBSRAM (Pipelined Burst SRAM)? A: For Pentium CPU, the Burst means reading four QWord (Quad-word, 4x16 = 64 bits) continuously with only the first address decoded by SRAM. The PBSRAM will automatically send the remaining three QWord to CPU according to predefined sequence. The normal address decoding time for SRAM is 2 to 3 clocks. This makes the CPU data read timing of four QWord to be at least 3-2-2-2 and a total of 9 clocks if traditional asynchronous SRAM is used. However, with PBSRAM, there is no need to decode address for rest three Qword. Therefore, data read timing can be 3-1-1-1, that is equivalent to 6 clocks and is faster than asynchronous SRAM. Q: What is EDO (Extended Data Output) memory? A: The EDO DRAM technology of EDO is actually very similar to FPM (Fast Page Mode). Unlike traditional FPM that tri-states the memory output data to start the pre-charge activity, EDO DRAM holds the memory data valid until the next memory access cycle, that is similar to pipeline effect and reduces one clock state. Q: What is SDRAM (Synchronous DRAM)? A: The SDRAM is a new generation DRAM technology that allows DRAM t o use the same clock as the CPU host bus (EDO and FPM are asynchronous and do not have clock signal). The idea is the same as "Burst" (refer to the previous Q & A). It requires only one clock for the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th QWord B-4

(for example, 5-1-1-1 compares with EDO 5-2-2-2). The SDRAM comes in 64-bit 168-pin DIMM (Dual-in-line Memory Module) and operates at 3.3V. Note that some old DIMMs are made by FPM/EDO and only operate at 5V. Do not confuse them with SDRAM DIMM. AOpen is the first company to support dual-SDRAM DIMMs onboard (AP5V), from Q1 1996. Q: Can SDRAM DIMM work together with FPM/EDO SIMM? A: The FPM/EDO operate at 5V while SDRAM operates at 3.3V. The current MB design provides different power to DIMM and SIMM but connects the data bus together. If you combine SIMM and DIMM, the system will still work fine; however, only temporarily. After a few months, the SDRAM 3.3V data input will be damaged by 5V FPM/EDO data output line. Therefore, we strongly NOT recommend DIMM and SIMM combined together. There is one exception, if your SDRAM supports 5V tolerance (such as TI or Samsung), which accepts 5V signal at 3.3V operating power, you can combine them. Manufacturer Samsung NEC Micron TI TI Model KM416S1120AT-G12 D4516161G5-A12-7JF MT4LC1M16E5TG-6 TMS626162DGE -15 TMS626162DGE M-67 Suggested CAS Latency Time 3 5V Tolerance Yes No No Yes Yes
Q: What is Bus Master IDE (DMA mode)? A: The traditional PIO (Programmable I/O) IDE require s the CPU to involve in all the activities of the IDE access including waiting for the mechanical events. To reduce the workload of the CPU, the bus master IDE device transfers data from/to memory without interrupting CPU, and releases CPU to operate concurrently while data is transferring between memory and IDE device. You need the bus master IDE driver and the bus master IDE HDD to support bus master IDE mode. Note that it is different with master/slave mode of the IDE device connection. For more details, refer to section 2.3 "Connectors". Q: What is the Ultra DMA/33? A: This is the new specification to improve IDE HDD data transfer rate. Unlike traditional PIO mode, which only uses the rising edge of IDE command signal to transfer data, the DMA/33 uses both rising edge and falling edge. Hence, the data transfer rate is double of the PIO mode 4 or DMA mode 2. (16.6MB/s x2 = 33MB/s). B-5
The following table lists the transfer rate of IDE PIO and DMA modes. The IDE bus is 16-bit, which means every t ransfer is two bytes. Mode Clock per 33MHz PCI 30ns 30ns 30ns 30ns 30ns 30ns 30ns 30ns 30ns Clock count 4 Cycle time 600ns 383ns 240ns 180ns 120ns 480ns 150ns 120ns 120ns Data Transfer rate
PIO mode 0 PIO mode 1 PIO mode 2 PIO mode 3 PIO mode 4 DMA mode 0 DMA mode 1 DMA mode 2 DMA/33

(1/600ns) x 2byte = 3.3MB/s (1/383ns) x 2byte = 5.2MB/s (1/240ns) x 2byte = 8.3MB/s (1/180ns) x 2byte = 11.1MB/s (1/120ns) x 2byte = 16.6MB/s (1/480ns) x 2byte = 4.16MB/s (1/150ns) x 2byte = 13.3MB/s (1/120ns) x 2byte = 16.6MB/s (1/120ns) x 2byte x2 = 33MB/s
Q: What is PnP (Plug and Play)? A: In the past, the IRQ/DMA and memory or I/O space of add-on cards are normally set manually, i.e., by jumper or by proprietary utility. The user has to check the user's guide for the correct setting. Sometimes, resource conflict occurs and this leads to unstable system. The PnP specification suggests a standard register interface for both BIOS and OS (such as Win95). These registers are used by BIOS and OS to configure system resource and prevent any conflicts. The IRQ/DMA/Memory will be automatically allocated by PnP BIOS or OS. Currently, almost all the PCI cards and most ISA cards are PnP compliant. If you are still using a Legacy ISA card that cannot support PnP, set the corresponding resource (IRQ/DMA/memory) to ISA in the BIOS "PCI/PnP Setup". Q: What is ACPI (Advanced Configuration & Power Interface) and OnNow? A: The ACPI is new power management specification of 1997 (PC97). It intends to save more power by taking full control of power management to operating system and not through BIOS. Because of this, the chipset or super I/O chip needs to provide standard register interface to OS (such as Win97) and provides the ability for OS to shutdown and resume power of different part of chip. The idea is a bit similar to the PnP register interface. ACPI defines momentary soft power switch to control the power state transition. Most likely, it uses the ATX form factor with momentary soft B-6
power switch. The most attractive part of ACPI for desktop user is probably the "OnNow" feature, an idea from notebook. This feature allows you to immediately resume to your original work without the long time waiting from bootup, entering Win95 and running Winword. The AX5T with Intel TX chipset can support ACPI. Q: What is the Modem Wake Up? A: With the help of ACPI OnNow and ATX soft power On/Off, it is possible to have system totally power off (The traditional suspend mode of power management function does not really turn off the system power supply), and wakeup to automatically answer a phone call such as answering machine or to send/receive fax. You may identify the true power off by checking fan of your power supply. Both external box modem and internal modem card can be used to support Modem Wake Up, but if you use external modem, you have to keep the box modem always power-on. AOpen AX5T/AX58 and internal modem card implement special circuit (patent applied) and make sure the modem card works properly without any power. We recommend you choose AOpen modem card (F34 or MP32) for Modem Wake Up applications. Q: What is the Suspend to Hard Drive? A: This is the same as Notebook. You can resume your original work directly from hard disk without go through the Win95 booting process and run your application again. Suspend to Hard Drive saves your current work (system status, memory image) into hard disk. If your memory is 16MB, normally, you need to reserve at least 16MB HDD space to save your memory image. ACPI OnNow is possible to do the same function, since the ACPI specification is not fully ready. AOpen AP5T/AX5T/AX58 support Suspend to Hard Drive through BIOS. Note that you have to use VESA compatible VGA (AOpen S3 Trio64V+ PV60), Sound Blaster compatible sound card (AOpen AW32 or MP32) for Suspend to Hard Drive to work properly. Of course, we recommend to use AOpen products for maximum compatibility. Q: Why will the system BIOS assign an IRQ to the PCI VGA card? A: Based on the PCI/PnP specif ication, system BIOS will automatically assign an IRQ to each PCI add-on card detected regardless of VGA requirement. If you do not want BIOS to assign an IRQ to the installed PCI VGA card, enter the BIOS PCI/PnP Setup and set the specific PCI slot IRQ Priority to "None". Q: Does Pentium or Pentium Pro MB support Deturbo mode? B-7

A: The Deturbo mode was originally designed to slow down CPU speed for old applications (especially old games). It uses programming loop to wait or delay special event. This programming method is considered very bad since the delay of loop highly depends on the CPU speed and the application fails at high-speed CPU. Almost all new applications (including games) use RTC or interrupt to wait event. There is no need for Deturbo mode now. The Turbo switch is now used as Suspend switch. However, some MBs still support Turbo/Deturbo function via keyboard. You can set the system to Deturbo by pressing <Ctrl> <Alt> <->. To back to Turbo mode, press <Ctrl> <Alt> <+>. Note that the Deturbo mode has been removed in new MBs since these require more code space in Flash ROM. Q: Power Management Icon does not appear in the Windows 95 Control Panel even though the APM under BIOS Setup is enabled. A: This problem occurs if you did not enable the APM function before you install Windows 95. If you have already installed Windows 95, re-install it after the BIOS APM function is enabled. Q: Why does the system fail to go into suspend mode under Win95? A: This problem may be caused by your CDRO M settings. The CDROM Auto Insert Notification of Win95 is dafault enabled, the system will continue to monitor your CDROM, auto-execute application when a CD diskette is loaded, and prevents the system from entering into suspend mode. To resolve this, go into Control Panel System Device Manager CDROM Setting, and disable the "Auto Insert Notification" function. Q: What is Windows 95 Registry? A: The functions of Windows 95 Registry and the Windows 3.1 INI files are almost the same. Both store the hardware and software configurations. The only difference is that Registry is a database while INI is text file. You can run REGEDIT.EXE to further understand the Registry structure. Checking and studying the structure of this file will help you solve some configuration problems. Q: How to solve the error message "System Resource Conflict" on the BIOS POST screen? A: This error message appears when PnP BIOS detects a resource conflict while initializing the system resource during POST. You may try to force the PnP BIOS to reconfigure the resource by pressing <Ins> during POST. Q: Which version of the Windows '95 that I am using? B-8
A: You may determine the version of Windows '95 by following steps. 1. Double click "System" in "Control Panel". 2. Click "General". 3. Look for "System" heading & refer to following, 4.00.950 4.00.950A 4.00.950B Windows 95 Windows 95 + Service Pack or OEM Service Release 1 OEM Service Release 2 or OEM Service Release 2.1

If you are running OSR 2.1, you may tell it from by checking "USB Supplement to OSR2" in the list of installed program of Add/Remove program tool under Control Panel, and checking for version 4.03.1212 of the Ntkern.vxd file in the Windows\System\Vmm32 folder. Q: What is LDCM (LAN Desktop Client Manager)? A: This is a software of Intel. The major goal is to provide an easy way for corporate network administrator to monitor the status of all the clients (workstation). You need at least DMI BIOS for LDCM. AOpen BIOS is also DMI ready but unfortunately, Intel LDCM needs Intel network and ATI VGA card to work properly. It is obviously not suitable for home user to pay LDCM extra cost.

User's Guide

Printed in Taiwan
PART NO.: 49.87822.081 DOC. NO.: AX6BC-1-E9904E

AX6BC Mainboard

Document Number Model and revision Manual version Release Date
: AX6BC-1-E9811D : For AX6BC rev 1.xx : English, rev D : Nov 23, 1998
More help for latest information: Taiwan USA http://www.aopen.com.tw http://www.aopen-usa.com http://www.aopenusa.om http://www.aopenamerica.com Europe http://www.aopen.nl

Copyright

Copyright 1998 by this company. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, transcribed, stored in a retrieval system, or translated into any language or computer language, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, magnetic, optical, manual or otherwise, without the prior written permission of this company.

Disclaimer

This company makes no representations or warranties, either expressed or implied, with respect to the contents hereof and specifically disclaims any warranties, merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose. Any software described in this manual is sold or licensed "as is". Should the programs prove defective following their purchase, the buyer (and not this company, its distributor, or its dealer) assumes the entire cost of all necessary servicing, repair, and any incidental or consequential damages resulting from any defect in the software. Further, this company reserves the right to revise this publication and to make changes from time to time in the contents hereof without obligation to notify any person of such revision or changes.
Intel and Pentium are registered trademarks of Intel Corporation. XT/AT is a registered trademark of International Business Machines Corporation. AMI is a registered trademark of American Megatrends Inc. AWARD is a registered trademark of Award Software Inc. Sound Blaster is a registered trademark of Creative Technology Ltd in the United States and certain other countries. Sound Blaster-LINK and SB-LINK are trademarks of Creative Technology Ltd. Other brand and product names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective holders.
FCC Class B Radio Frequency Declaration of Conformity
This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B Subassembly -CPU Board device, pursuant to Part 15 of FCC Rules. Operation is subject to the following two conditions: 1. This device may not cause harmful interference, and 2. This device must accept any interference received, including interference that may cause undesired operation. Equipment Classification Type of Product Chipset(s) : FCC Class B Subassembly - CPU Board : Intel Pentium II Micro ATX Motherboard : Intel 82440BX
Test To Comply With FCC Standards FOR HOME OR OFFICE USE
The limits of FCC Part 15 Class B are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residential installation. This equipment generates, uses, and can radiate radio frequency energy and, if not installed and used in accordance with the instructions, may cause harmful interference to radio communications. However, there is no guarantee that interference will not occur in a particular installation. If this equipment does cause harmful interference to radio or television reception, which can be determined by turning the equipment off and on, the user is encouraged to try to correct the interference by one or more of the following measures: 1. Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna. 2. Increase the separation between the equipment and receiver. 3. Connect the equipment into an outlet on a circuit different from that to which the receiver is connected. 4. Consult the dealer or an experienced radio/television technician for help. Notice 1: The changes or modifications not expressly approved by the party responsible for compliance could void the user's authority to operate the equipment. Notice 2: Shielded interface cables, if any, must be used in order to comply with emission limits.

Organization

Chapter 1, Overview, covers the introduction and specifications of the system board and special features. Chapter 2, Hardware Installation, describes hardware jumpers, connectors and memory configuration. There are user friendly drawings to locate jumper and connector. Chapter 3, AWARD BIOS, explains the system BIOS and tells how to configure the system by setting the BIOS parameters. Appendix A, Frequently Asked Question, collects most frequently asked question of this product. Appendix B, Troubleshooting Guide, includes first aid information you need if you meet trouble, the WWW address and worldwide service telephone/fax are also included. Appendix C, Jumper Table Summary, gives you a tabular summary of the jumper settings discussed in Chapter 2.

Conventions

The following conventions are used in this manual: Text entered by user, default settings, recommended selections <Enter>, <Tab>,<Ctl>, <Ins>, <Del>, etc <Alt>,
Represent text input by the user, default settings and recommended selections Represent the actual keys that you have to press on the keyboard. Note: Gives bits and pieces of additional information related to the current topic. Warning: Alerts you to any damage that might result from doing or not doing specific actions. Caution: Suggests precautionary measures to avoid potential hardware or software problems. Important: Reminds you to take specific action relevant to the accomplishment of the procedure at hand. Tip: Tells how to accomplish a procedure with minimum steps through little shortcuts.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1 OVERVIEW
1.1 SPECIFICATIONS...4 1.2 OVERCLOCKING...6 1.3 SUSPEND TO HARD DRIVE..9 1.4 ZERO VOLTAGE MODEM WAKE UP..12 1.5 SYSTEM VOLTAGE MONITORING..14 1.6 FAN MONITORING...14 1.7 CPU THERMAL PROTECTION...15 1.8 MULTI-LANGUAGE BIOS..15 1.9 BATTERY-LESS DESIGN..16 1.10 SOUND BLASTER LINK...16
CHAPTER 2 HARDWARE INSTALLATION
2.1 JUMPER AND CONNECTOR LOCATIONS..2 2.2 JUMPERS...4 2.2.1 Selecting the CPU Frequency..4 2.2.2 Setting the CPU Voltage..5 2.2.3 Clearing the CMOS..5 2.2.4 AGP Ratio...6 2.2.5 APAR..7 2.3 CONNECTORS..8 2.3.1 Power Cable...8 2.3.2 ATX Soft-Power Switch Connector.8 2.3.3 Fan.9 2.3.4 PS/2 Mouse..9 2.3.5 Keyboard...10 2.3.6 Serial Devices (COM1/COM2).10 2.3.7 Printer...11 2.3.8 USB Device..11 2.3.9 Floppy Drive..12 2.3.10 IDE Hard Disk and CD ROM..12 2.3.11 Hard Disk LED..13
2.3.12 Panel Connector...14 2.3.13 IrDA Connector...15 2.3.14 Modem Wake-up Connector..16 2.3.15 LAN Wake-up Connector..16 2.3.16 Sound Blaster LINK...17 2.4 CONFIGURING THE SYSTEM MEMORY..18

CHAPTER 3 AWARD BIOS

3.1 ENTERING THE AWARD BIOS SETUP MENU..2 3.2 STANDARD CMOS SETUP...3 3.3 BIOS FEATURES SETUP..6 3.4 CHIPSET FEATURES SETUP..11 3.5 POWER MANAGEMENT SETUP..16 3.6 PNP/PCI CONFIGURATION SETUP..22 3.7 LOAD SETUP DEFAULTS...27 3.8 LOAD TURBO DEFAULTS..27 3.9 INTEGRATED PERIPHERALS..28 3.10 PASSWORD SETTING..32 3.11 IDE HDD AUTO DETECTION..32 3.12 SAVE & EXIT SETUP..32 3.13 LOAD EEPROM DEFAULT...33 3.14 SAVE EEPROM DEFAULT..33 3.15 EXIT WITHOUT SAVING..33 3.16 NCR SCSI BIOS AND DRIVERS..33 3.17 BIOS FLASH UTILITY..34

Hardware Monitor utility (Small Icon for Hardware Monitoring) for a warning to user. Full-range CPU core voltage This motherboard supports the CPU core voltage from 1.3V to 3.5V, that can be applied to various CPU type in future. FCC DoC certificate AX6BC has passed FCC DoC test. The radiation is very low, you can use any kind of housing. Powerful utility software supported AOpen Bonus Pack bundled CD contains many useful utilities, such as AOchip, Hardware Monitoring Utility, Suspend to Hard Drive utility, and BIOS flash utility. Sound Blaster Link The SB-LINK connector can be used to link Creative PCI sound card. If you have a Creative PCI sound card installed, it is necessary to link the card to this connector for compatibility issue under DOS environment. Multi-language BIOS This breakthrough will help you set BIOS items without the language barrier.
Note: This motherboard is battery-less, that means the RTC (real time clock) can keep running without battery as long as the power cord is plugged. But in case of power failure or the power cord unplugged, you need to reset date and time from "Standard CMOS Setup" section of BIOS Setup. For more information, please see "Chapter 3 BIOS Setup".

Specifications

ATX 305 mm x 202 mm Intel Pentium II Processor SDRAM or Registered SDRAM, 168-pin DIMM x3, maximum 768MB. On the CPU card (Slot1 connector) Intel 82440BX AGPset ISA x2, PCI x5 and AGP x1 Two serial ports UART 16C550 compatible, and the 3rd UART for IR function. One parallel port supports standard parallel port (SPP), enhanced parallel port (EPP) or extended capabilities port (ECP). Floppy interface supports 3.5 inches drives with 720KB, 1.44MB or 2.88MB format or 5.25 inches drives with 360KB, 1.2MB format Dual-channel IDE interface support maximum 4 IDE hard disks or CDROM, mode 4 , bus master hard disk drives and Ultra DMA/33 mode hard drives are also supported. Two USB ports supported by USB bracket, the BIOS also supports USB driver to simulate legacy keyboard. Mini-Din PS/2 mouse connector onboard. Mini-Din PS/2 keyboard connector onboard. RTC within Intel PIIX4E chipset. Lithium (CR-2032) battery is an option, no battery is needed if power cord is plugged. AWARD Plug-and-Play, 2M bit Flash ROM BIOS. Multi-language versions supported.
Form Factor Board Size CPU System Memory Second-level Cache Chipset Expansion Slots Serial Port Parallel Port

Floppy Interface

IDE Interface
USB Interface PS/2 Mouse Keyboard RTC and Battery

Multi-language BIOS

For giving AOpen's worldwide users the best support, AOpen software team made every effort to overcome all difficulties and successfully develop a method to provide multi-language BIOS. You may download and reflash a specified BIOS version from AOpen 's web site (For example, Chinese). After entering BIOS Setup, you can switch to another language by pressing F9. Then pressing F9 again will let you return to English screen. This breakthrough will help you set BIOS items without the language barrier.

Battery-less Design

Battery
To preserve the earth, AOpen AX6BC implements the world first battery-less motherboard design. There is no need to have battery for RTC (real time clock) and CMOS Setup as long as ATX power cable is plugged. In case of the AC power is shutdown or power cord is removed by accident, the CMOS Setup and system configuration can be restored from EEPROM, only the system clock needed to be re-set to current date/time. For the convenience of end user, AX6BC still shipped with one Lithium (CR2032) battery. If you prefer to use battery, you can still Insert it into battery socket. The RTC will still keep running even power cord is removed.

1.10 Sound Blaster Link

AX6BC implements a SB-LINK connector to support Creative-compatible PCI sound card. If you have a Creative-compatible PCI sound card installed, it is necessary to link the card to SB-LINK connector for compatibility issue under DOS environment.

Chapter 2

Hardware Installation
This chapter gives you a step-by-step procedure on how to install your system. Follow each section accordingly.
Caution: Electrostatic discharge (ESD) can damage your processor, disk drives, expansion boards, and other components. Always observe the following precautions before you install a system component. 1. Do not remove a component from its protective packaging until you are ready to install it. Wear a wrist ground strap and attach it to a metal part of the system unit before handling a component. If a wrist strap is not available, maintain contact with the system unit throughout any procedure requiring ESD protection.
2.1 Jumper and Connector Locations
The following figure shows the locations of the jumpers and connectors on the system board:
IrDA Modem-WKUP JP14 LAN Wakeup COM2 PRINTER COM1 USB KB PS/2

I S A 2

I S A 1

P C I 5

P C I 4

P C I 3

P C I 2

P C I 1 A G P

CPU SLOT 1

CPU FAN SB-Link

DIMM1 DIMM2 DIMM3 HDD LED JP25 FAN SPWR PANEL JP23 IDE2 IDE1 PWR2

Jumpers:

JP14: JP23: JP25: Clear CMOS AGP Turbo APAR

Connectors:

PS2: KB: COM1: COM2: PRINTER: PWR2: USB: FDC: IDE1: IDE2: CPUFAN: FAN: IrDA: HDD LED: PANEL: SPWR: MODEM-WKUP: LAN-WKUP: SB-LINK: PS/2 mouse connector PS/2 keyboard connector COM1 connector COM2 connector Printer connector ATX power connector USB connector Floppy drive connector IDE1 primary channel IDE2 secondary channel CPU Fan connector Housing Fan Connector IrDA (Infrared) connector HDD LED connector Front panel (Multifunction) connector ATX Soft-Power Switch Connector Modem Wake Up Connector Lan Wake Up Connector Creative PCI sound card connector

2.2 Jumpers

With the help of Pentium II VID signal and SMbus, this motherboard is jumperless design.
2.2.1 Selecting the CPU Frequency
Pentium II VID signal and SMbus clock generator provide CPU voltage autodetection and allow user to set CPU frequency through CMOS setup, no jumper or switch is needed. The correct CPU information is saved into EEPROM, with these technologies, the disadvantages of Pentium base jumper-less design are eliminated. There will be no worry of wrong CPU voltage detection and no need to re-open the housing if CMOS battery loss. The CPU frequency selection is set by going into: BOIS Setup Chipset Features Setup CPU Clock Frequency (The possible setting is 66.8, 68.5, 75, 83.3, 100, 103, 112, 117, 124, 129, 133.3, 138, 143, 148 and 153 MHz) BOIS Setup Chipset Features Setup CPU Clock Ratio (The possible setting is 1.5x, 2x, 2.5x, 3x, 3.5x, 4x, 4.5x, 5x, 5.5x, 6x, 6.5x, 7x, 7.5x, and 8x)
Core frequency = Ratio * External bus clock
INTEL Pentium II Pentium II - 233 Pentium II - 266 Pentium II - 300 Pentium II - 333 Pentium II - 350 Pentium II - 400 Pentium II - 450 CPU Core Frequency 233MHz = 266MHz = 300MHz = 333MHz = 350MHz= 400MHz= 450MHz= Ratio 3.5x 4x 4.5x 5x 3.5x 4x 4.5x External Bus Clock 66MHz 66MHz 66MHz 66MHz 100MHz 100MHz 100MHz
Warning: INTEL 440BX chipset supports maximum 100MHz external CPU bus clock, the higher clock settings are for internal test only. These settings exceed the specification of BX chipset, which may cause serious system damage.
2.2.2 Setting the CPU Voltage

Pin Description +5V NC IRRX GND IRTX NC
2.3.14 Modem Wake-up Connector
This mainboard implements special circuit to support Modem Ring-On, both Internal Modem Card (AOpen MP56) and external box Modem are supported. Since Internal Modem card consumes no power when system power is off, it is recommended to use Internal Modem. To use AOpen MP56, connect 4-pin cable from RING connector of MP56 to MODEM-WKUP connector on the mainboard.
Pin Description +5V SB NC RING GND

MODEM-WKUP

2.3.15 LAN Wake-up Connector
This mainboard implements a LAN-WKUP connector. To use LAN Wake-up function, you need a network card that supports this feature. In addition, you also need to install a network management software.
Pin 3 Description +5V SB GND LID

LAN-WKUP

2.3.16 Sound Blaster LINK
SB-LINK is used to connect Creative PCI sound card. If you have a Creative PCI sound card installed, it is necessary to link the card to this connector for compatibility issue under DOS environment.

Pin 5 6

Description GNT# GND NC REQ# GND SIRQ#

SB-LINK

2.4 Configuring the System Memory
The DIMM types supported are SDRAM (Synchronous DRAM) and Registered SDRAM. This mainboard has three 168 pin DIMM sockets (Dual-in-line Memory Module) that allow you to install system memory up to 768MB. But note that mixing SDRAM and Registered SDRAM is not allowed, you can install one of the DRAM types only.
Warning: This motherboard does not support EDO DRAM.
DIMM modules can be identified by following factors: I. Size: single side, 1Mx64 (8MB), 2Mx64 (16MB), 4Mx64 (32MB), 8Mx64 (64MB), 16Mx64 (128MB), and double side, 1Mx64x2 (16MB), 2Mx64x2 (32MB), 4Mx64x2 (64MB), 8Mx64x2 (128MB). Tip: Here is a trick to check if your DIMM is single-side or double-side -- if there are traces connected to golden finger pin 114 and pin 129 of the DIMM, the DIMM is probably double-side; otherwise, it is single-side. Following figure is for your reference.

Pin 129

Pin 114
Note: 768MB memory is achieved by using 128M bit Registered SDRAMs. II. Speed: Normally marked as -12, which means the clock cycle time is 12ns and maximum clock of this SDRAM is 83MHz. Sometimes you can also find the SDRAM marked as -67, which means maximum clock is 67MHz. 2-18
Caution: Some SDRAMs marked as -10 may work fine with 100 MHz CPU clock, but not all this kind of modules can work properly under 100MHz external clock. We suggest you choose and install SDRAMs that match PC 100 specification if 100MHz or above CPU clock is selected. III. Buffered and non-buffered: This motherboard supports non-buffered DIMMs. You can identify non-buffered DIMMs and buffered DIMMs according to the position of the notch, following figure is for your reference:

Size 32M 32M 32M 64M 64M 64M 64M 64M 64M 64M 128M 128M Vendor NEC SEC LGS Fujitsu Mitsubishi NEC SEC Toshiba LGS LGS LGS Simens Model D4516821AG5-A10-7JF KM48S2020CT-GH GM72V661641CT7J 81F64842B-103FN M5M4V64S30ATP-10 D4564841G5-A10-9JF KM48S8030BT-GH TC59S6408FTL-80H GM72V661641CT7J GM72V66841CT7J GM72V66841CT7J HYS72V16220GU Single/Double x1 x1 x1 x2 x1 x1 x1 x1 x2 x1 x2 x2 Chip Count 18 18
Memory error checking is supported by parity check. To use parity check you need 72 bit DIMM (64+8 bit parity), which are automatically detected by BIOS. Warning: The driving capability of new generation chipset is limited because the lack of memory buffer (to improve performance). This makes DRAM chip count an important factor to be taking into consideration when you install DIMM. Unfortunately, there is no way that BIOS can identified the correct chip count, you need to calculate the chip count by yourself. The simple rule is: By visual inspection, use only DIMM which is less than 16 chips. Tip: The parity mode uses 1 parity bit for each byte, normally it is even parity mode, that is, each time the memory data is updated, parity bit will be adjusted to have even count "1" for each byte. When next time, if memory is read with odd number of "1", the parity error is occurred and this is called single bit error detection.

Chapter 3

Award BIOS
This chapter tells how to configure the system parameters. You may update your BIOS via AWARD Flash Utility.
Important: Because the BIOS code is the most often changed part of the mainboard design, the BIOS information contained in this chapter (especially the Chipset Setup parameters) may be a little different compared to the actual BIOS that came with your mainboard.

AWARD BIOS

Entering the Award BIOS Setup Menu
The BIOS setup utility is a segment of codes/routines residing in the BIOS Flash ROM. This routine allows you to configure the system parameters and save the configuration into the 128 byte CMOS area, (normally in the RTC chip or directly in the main chipset). To enter the BIOS Setup, press during POST (Power-On Self Test). The BIOS Setup Main Menu appears as follows.
Tip: Choose "Load Setup Defaults" for recommended optimal performance. Choose "Load Turbo Defaults" for best performance with light system loading. Refer to section 3.7. The section at the bottom of the screen tells how to control the screen. Use the arrow keys to move between items, to color scheme of the display, to exit, and to save the changes before exit. Another section at the bottom of the screen displays a brief description of the highlighted item. After selecting an item, press to select or enter a submenu.

DMA 0 Legacy ISA PCI/ISA PnP
DMA 0 DMA 1 DMA 3 DMA 5 DMA 6 DMA 7
If your ISA card is not PnP compatible and requires a special DMA channel to support its function, set the selected DMA channel to Legacy ISA. This setting informs the PnP BIOS to reserve the selected DMA channel for the installed legacy ISA card. The default is PCI/ISA PnP. Take note that PCI card does not require DMA channel.

PCI IDE IRQ Map To

ISA PCI-Slot1 PCI-Slot2 PCI-Slot3 PCI-Slot4 PCI-Auto
Some old PCI IDE add-on cards are not fully PnP compatible. These cards require you to specify the slot in use to enable BIOS to properly configure the PnP resources. This function allows you to select the PCI slot for any PCI IDE add-on card present in your system. Set this item to Auto to allow BIOS to automatically configure the installed PCI IDE card(s).
PNP/PCI Configuration PNP/PCI Configuration

Primary IDE INT# A B C D

Primary IDE INT# Secondary IDE INT#
These two items, in conjunction with item "PCI IDE IRQ Map To", specify the IRQ routing of the primary or secondary channel of the PCI IDE add-on card (not the onboard IDE). Each PCI slot has four PCI interrupts aligned as listed in the table below. You must specify the slot in the "PCI IDE IRQ Map To", and set the PCI interrupt (INTx) here according to the interrupt connection on the card.
PCI Slot Slot 1 Slot 2 Slot 3 Slot 4 Slot 5 (if any) Location 1 (pin A6) INTA INTB INTC INTD INTD Location 2 (pin B7) INTB INTC INTD INTA INTA Location 3 (pin A7) INTC INTD INTA INTB INTB Location 4 (pin B8) INTD INTA INTB INTC INTC
Assign IRQ for USB Enabled Disabled

Assign IRQ for USB

This item lets you set an IRQ for USB.
Used MEM Base Addr N/A C800 CC00 D000 D400 D800 DC00

Used MEM Base Addr

This item, in conjunction with the "Used MEM Length", lets you set a memory space for non-PnP compatible ISA card. This item specifies the memory base (start address) of the reserved memory space. The memory size is specified in the "Used MEM Length".
Used MEM Length 8K 16K 32K 64K

Used MEM Length

If your ISA card is not PnP compatible and requires special memory space to support its function, specify the memory size in this parameter to inform the PnP BIOS to reserve the specified memory space for installed legacy ISA card.
PNP/PCI Configuration PNP/PCI Configuration PNP/PCI Configuration PNP/PCI Configuration

PCI Slot1 IRQ Auto

PCI Slot1 IRQ (Right) PCI Slot2 IRQ PCI Slot3 IRQ PCI Slot4 IRQ (Left)
This item is reserved for engineering purpose to let you assign an IRQ manually to the add-on card on each PCI slot. If you select Auto, system will automatically assign an available value to the device. It is suggested to use default setting, which is Auto, in order to comply with PnP specification completely.

USB Keyboard Support Enabled Disabled

USB Keyboard Support

This item lets you enable or disable the USB keyboard driver within the onboard BIOS. The keyboard driver simulates legacy keyboard command and let you use USB keyboard during POST or after boot if you don't have USB driver in the operating system. Caution: You can not use both USB driver and USB legacy keyboard at the same time. Disable "USB Legacy Support" if you have USB driver in the operating system.
Init Display First PCI AGP

Init Display First

If you installed a PCI VGA card and an AGP card at the same time, this item lets you decide which one is the initial display card.
Onboard FDC Controller Enabled Disabled

Onboard FDC Controller

Setting this parameter to Enabled allows you to connect your floppy disk drives to the onboard floppy disk connector instead of a separate controller card. Change the setting to Disabled if you want to use a separate controller card.

Onboard Serial Port 1

Auto 3F8/IRQ4 2F8/IRQ3 3E8/IRQ4 2E8/IRQ3 Disabled
Onboard Serial Port 1 Onboard Serial Port 2
This item allow you to assign address and interrupt for the board serial port. Default is Auto.
Note: If you are using an network card, make sure that the interrupt does not conflict.
UART Mode Select ASKIR IrDA

UART Mode Select

mode of onboard wireless IrDA standard includes both driver in the Win95 will different mode according to
This item selects the Infrared controller. The HPSIR and FIR, the automatically change to different chip.
ASKIR - Select this setting if you installed an Infrared module via IrDA connector (refer to section 2.3 "Connectors"). This ASKIR setting allows infrared serial communication at a maximum baud rate of 56K baud. HPSIR - Select this setting if you installed an Infrared module in your system via IrDA connector (refer to section 2.3 "Connectors"). The HPSIR setting allows infrared serial communication at a maximum baud rate of 115K baud.
FIR - Select this setting if you installed an Infrared module via IrDA connector (refer to section 2.3 "Connectors"). This FIR (Fast IR) setting allows infrared serial communication at a maximum baud rate of 4M baud.

RxD, TxD Active

Hi, Lo Lo, Hi Lo, Lo Hi, Hi
This item is used to select RxD (Receive Data) and TxD (Transmit Data) mode for UART, for instance, IR device, modem, etc. Normally, we suggest you keep the default setting. Please see the documentation that comes with your device.

IR Transmission Delay

Enabled Disabled

Parallel Port Mode

SPP EPP ECP ECP + EPP
This item lets you set the parallel port mode. The mode options are SPP (Standard and Bidirection Parallel Port), EPP (Enhanced Parallel Port) and ECP (Extended Parallel Port). SPP is the IBM AT and PS/2 compatible mode. EPP enhances the parallel port throughput by directly writing/reading data to/from parallel port without latch. ECP supports DMA and RLE (Run Length Encoded) compression and decompression.

3.10 Password Setting

Password prevents unauthorized use of your computer. If you set a password, the system prompts for the correct password before boot or access to Setup. To set a password: 1. At the prompt, type your password. Your password can be up to 8 alphanumeric characters. When you type the characters, they appear as asterisks on the password screen box. After typing the password, press. At the next prompt, re-type your password and press again to confirm the new password. After the password entry, the screen automatically reverts to the main screen.
To disable the password, press when prompted to enter the password. The screen displays a message confirming that the password has been disabled.
3.11 IDE HDD Auto Detection
If your system has an IDE hard drive, you can use this function to detect its parameters and enter them into the "Standard CMOS Setup" automatically. This routine only detects one set of parameters for your IDE hard drive. Some IDE drives can use more than one set of parameters. If your hard disk is formatted using different parameters than those detected, you have to enter the parameters manually. If the parameters listed do not match the ones used to format the disk, the information on that disk will not be accessible. If the autodetected parameters displayed do not match those that used for your drive, ignore them. Type N to reject the values and enter the correct ones manually from the Standard CMOS Setup screen.
3.12 Save & Exit Setup
This function automatically saves all CMOS values before leaving Setup.

3.13 Load EEPROM Default

Except "Load Setup Default" and "Load Turbo Default", you may also use "Save EEPROM Default " to save your own settings into EEPROM, and reload by using this item.

3.14 Save EEPROM Default

You may use this item to save your own settings into EEPROM. Then, if the data in CMOS is lost or you forget the previous settings, you may use "Load EEPROM Default " to reload.

3.15 Exit without Saving

Use this function to exit Setup without saving the CMOS value changes. Do not use this option if you want to save the new configuration.
3.16 NCR SCSI BIOS and Drivers
The NCR 53C810 SCSI BIOS resides in the same flash memory chip as the system BIOS. The onboard NCR SCSI BIOS is used to support NCR 53C810 SCSI control card without BIOS code. The NCR SCSI BIOS directly supports DOS, Windows 3.1 and OS/2. For better system performance, you may use the drivers that come with the NCR SCSI card or with your operating system. For details, refer to the installation manual of your NCR 53C810 SCSI card.

You can see that Klamath-233 is no better than PP/MT-233 on Business Winstone97, but it has large improvement on High-End Winstone97. It is probably because Klamath has very good floating point performance and is suitable for graphic operation. Q: What is USB (Universal Serial Bus)? A: USB is a new 4-pin serial peripheral bus that is capable of cascading low/medium speed peripherals (less than 10Mbit/s) such as keyboard, mouse, joystick, scanner, printer and modem/ISDN. With USB, the traditional complex cables from back panel of your PC can be eliminated. You need the USB driver to support USB device(s). AOpen MBs are all USB ready, you may get latest BIOS from AOpen web site (http://www.aopen.com.tw). Our latest BIOS includes the keyboard driver (called Legacy mode), that simulates USB keyboard to act as AT or PS/2 keyboard and makes it possible to use USB keyboard if you don't have driver in your OS. For other USB devices, you may get the drivers from your device A-2
vendor or from OS (such as Win95). Be sure to turn off "USB Legacy Support" in BIOS "Chipset Setup" if you have another driver in your OS. Q: What is FCC DoC (Declaration of Conformity)? A: The DoC is new certification standard of FCC regulations. This new standard allows DIY component (such as mainboard) to apply DoC label separately without a shielding of housing. The rule to test mainboard for DoC is to remove housing and test it with regulation 47 CFR 15.31. The DoC test of mainboard is more difficult than traditional FCC test. If the mainboard passes DoC test, that means it has very low EMI radiation and you can use any kind of housing (even paper housing). Following is an example of DoC label.
Q: What is Bus Master IDE (DMA mode)? A: The traditional PIO (Programmable I/O) IDE requires the CPU to involve in all the activities of the IDE access including waiting for the mechanical events. To reduce the workload of the CPU, the bus master IDE device transfers data from/to memory without interrupting CPU, and releases CPU to operate concurrently while data is transferring between memory and IDE device. You need the bus master IDE driver and the bus master IDE HDD to support bus master IDE mode. Note that it is different with master/slave mode of the IDE device connection. For more details, refer to section 2.3 "Connectors". Q: What is the Ultra DMA/33? A: This is the new specification to improve IDE HDD data transfer rate. Unlike traditional PIO mode, which only uses the rising edge of IDE command signal to transfer data, the DMA/33 uses both rising edge and falling edge. Hence, the data transfer rate is double of the PIO mode 4 or DMA mode 2. (16.6MB/s x2 = 33MB/s). The following table lists the transfer rate of IDE PIO and DMA modes. The IDE bus is 16-bit, which means every transfer is two bytes.
Mode Clock per 33MHz PCI 30ns 30ns 30ns 30ns 30ns 30ns 30ns 30ns 30ns Clock count 4 Cycle time 600ns 383ns 240ns 180ns 120ns 480ns 150ns 120ns 120ns Data Transfer rate

PIO mode 0 PIO mode 1 PIO mode 2 PIO mode 3 PIO mode 4 DMA mode 0 DMA mode 1 DMA mode 2 DMA/33
(1/600ns) x 2byte = 3.3MB/s (1/383ns) x 2byte = 5.2MB/s (1/240ns) x 2byte = 8.3MB/s (1/180ns) x 2byte = 11.1MB/s (1/120ns) x 2byte = 16.6MB/s (1/480ns) x 2byte = 4.16MB/s (1/150ns) x 2byte = 13.3MB/s (1/120ns) x 2byte = 16.6MB/s (1/120ns) x 2byte x2 = 33MB/s
Q: What is ACPI (Advanced Configuration & Power Interface) and OnNow? A: The ACPI is new power management specification of 1997 (PC97). It intends to save more power by taking full control of power management to operating system and not through BIOS. Because of this, the chipset or super I/O chip needs to provide standard register interface to OS (such as Win97) and provides the ability for OS to shutdown and resume power of different part of chip. The idea is a bit similar to the PnP register interface. ACPI defines momentary soft power switch to control the power state transition. Most likely, it uses the ATX form factor with momentary soft power switch. The most attractive part of ACPI for desktop user is probably the "OnNow" feature, an idea from notebook. This feature allows you to immediately resume to your original work without the long time waiting from bootup, entering Win95 and running Winword. Intel 430TX PCIset, 440LX AGPset and 440BX AGPset can support ACPI. Q: What is ATX Soft Power On/Off and Momentary Switch? A: The Soft Power On of the ATX specification means to provide a standby current for special circuit to wait for wakeup event when main power is off. For example, Infrared wakeup, modem wakeup, or voice wakeup. Currently, the most simple usage is to provide standby current for power switch circuit so that power switch can turn on/off the main power through soft power control pin. The ATX power specification does not mention anything about the power switch type. You can use toggle or momentary switch, note that ACPI specification requires momentary switch for power state control. All the AOpen ATX MBs support momentary switch and AX5T/AX5TC/AX6L/AX6LC/ AX6B/AX6BC support modem wakeup (Modem Ring-On). A-4
Soft Power Off means to turn off system through software, Windows 95 Shutdown function can be used to verify if your mainboard supports soft power off. AOpen AX5T/AX5TC/AX6F/AX6L/AX6LC/AX6B/AX6BC support soft power off. Q: What is RTC Wake Up Timer (Alarm)? A: RTC (Real Time Clock) is a device like electronic watch, and keep the date/time of the computer system running. The Wake Up Timer is more like an alarm, which wakes up and powers on your system at a pre-defined time for specific application. It can be set to wake up everyday or on specific date within a month. The date/time accurate is second. To set the date/time, go into BIOS setup, Power Management RTC Wake Up Timer, select Enable. RTC is a standard device of all the mainboard, but Wake Up Timer is not a standard design, AOpen AX5T/AX5TC/AX6F/AX6L/AX6LC/AX6B/AX6BC support RTC Wake Up Timer. Q: What is Lan Wake Up? A: Lan Wake Up is a technology that enables you to remotely manage the PCs in your network even if they have been turned off. When the client has been powered off, the remote network management software could send a wake-up frame ( or Magic packet) to the client if needed. The Lan Wake Up enabled adapter in the client will receive that frame can check it to determine whether the frame contains the correct MAC address. If so, the client turns on the system by Wake-up call, just as the user turns on the system manually with the ON/OFF button. The network management software will continue to perform the tasks that have been programmed to do. Q: What is the AGP (Accelerated Graphic Port)? A: AGP is a PCI-like bus interface targeted for high-performance 3D graphic. AGP supports only memory read/write operation and single-master singleslave one-to-one only. The AGP uses both rising and falling edge of the 66MHz clock and produces 66MHz x 4byte x 2 = 528MB/s data transfer rate. The AOpen AX6L/AX6LC/AX6B/AX6BC MB are designed to support AGP via the new Intel LX & BX chipset. Q: What is the AGP bus clock on Intel 440BX chipset? A: AGP used to perform as the same bus clock as the Intel 440LX chipset were. If we provide 75Mzh of bus clock to 440LX chipset, AGP will also perform with 75Mhz of clock. The Intel 440BX chipset which supports 100Mhz of bus clock behaves to meet the specification so that AGP bus clock is always kept by 66Mhz of clock no matter how 440BX chipset bus clock may be set. In this manner, it will ensure the compatibility & stability of the AGP within defined specification. A-5

Q: Why is there a resource conflict between my AGP VGA card & PCI-to-PCI bridge (or AGP bridge) within Device Manger under Windows'95? A: It is normal for AGP cards to conflict with the PCI standard PCI-to-PCI bridge (or AGP bridge). Since Windows'95 does not inherently support AGP technology, it reports this conflict incorrectly. This conflict will not adversely affect the performance of your system. Attempting to resolve it will result in improper operation of the PC. This issue is expected to be fixed by Microsoft when Windows 98 released. Q: Does Pentium, Pentium Pro or Pentium II support Deturbo mode? A: The Deturbo mode was originally designed to slow down CPU speed for old applications (especially old games). It uses programming loop to wait or delay special event. This programming method is considered very bad since the delay of loop highly depends on the CPU speed and the application fails at high-speed CPU. Almost all new applications (including games) use RTC or interrupt to wait event. There is no need for Deturbo mode now. The Turbo switch is now used as Suspend switch. However, some MBs still support Turbo/Deturbo function via keyboard. You can set the system to Deturbo by pressing <Ctrl> <Alt> <->. To back to Turbo mode, press <Ctrl> <Alt> <+>. Note that the Deturbo mode has been removed in new MBs since these require more code space in Flash ROM. Q: Power Management Icon does not appear in the Windows 95 Control Panel even though the APM under BIOS Setup is enabled. A: This problem occurs if you did not enable the APM function before you install Windows 95. If you have already installed Windows 95, re-install it after the BIOS APM function is enabled. Q: Why does the system fail to go into suspend mode under Win95? A: This problem may be caused by your CDROM settings. The CDROM Auto Insert Notification of Win95 is dafault enabled, the system will continue to monitor your CDROM, auto-execute application when a CD diskette is loaded, and prevents the system from entering into suspend mode. To resolve this, go into Control Panel System Device Manager CDROM Setting, and disable the "Auto Insert Notification" function.
Q: Which version of the Windows '95 that I am using? A: You may determine the version of Windows '95 by following steps. 1. Double click "System" in "Control Panel". 2. Click "General". 3. Look for "System" heading & refer to following, 4.00.950 4.00.950A 4.00.950B 4.00.950C Windows 95 Windows 95 + Service Pack or OEM Service Release 1 OEM Service Release 2 or OEM Service Release 2.1 OEM Service Release 2.5