Asus P4G8X, User Manual

Page 1: ...Motherboard P4G8X series P4G8X Deluxe P4G8X User Guide NOTE The IEEE 1394 Gigabit LAN SATA RAID and POST Reporter features are present in P4G8X Deluxe models only ...

Page 2: ...A PARTICULAR PURPOSE IN NO EVENT SHALL ASUS ITS DIRECTORS OFFICERS EMPLOYEES OR AGENTS BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT SPECIAL INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES INCLUDING DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF PROFITS LOSS OF BUSINESS LOSS OF USE OR DATA INTERRUPTION OF BUSINESS AND THE LIKE EVEN IF ASUS HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES ARISING FROM ANY DEFECT OR ERROR IN THIS MANUAL OR PRODUCT SPECI...

Page 3: ...utions 1 5 1 4 Motherboard overview 1 6 1 4 1 Major components 1 6 1 4 2 Core specifications 1 8 Chapter 2 Hardware information 2 1 Motherboard installation 2 1 2 1 1 Placement direction 2 1 2 1 2 Screw holes 2 1 2 2 Motherboard layouts 2 2 2 2 1 P4G8X Deluxe 2 2 2 2 2 P4G8X 2 3 2 3 Before you proceed 2 4 2 4 Central Processing Unit CPU 2 5 2 4 1 Overview 2 5 2 4 2 Installing the CPU 2 6 2 4 3 Ins...

Page 4: ...1 Managing and updating your BIOS 4 1 4 1 1 Using ASUS EZ Flash to update the BIOS 4 1 4 1 2 Using AFLASH to update the BIOS 4 3 4 1 3 CrashFree BIOS feature 4 7 4 2 BIOS Setup program 4 8 4 2 1 BIOS menu bar 4 9 4 2 2 Legend bar 4 9 4 3 Main Menu 4 11 4 3 1 Primary and Secondary Master Slave 4 13 4 3 2 Keyboard Features 4 17 4 4 Advanced Menu 4 18 4 4 1 Chip Configuration 4 21 4 4 2 I O Device Co...

Page 5: ...ities menu 5 5 5 2 4 ASUS Contact Information 5 6 5 2 5 Other information 5 7 5 3 Software information 5 9 5 3 1 ASUS Update 5 9 5 3 2 ASUS MyLogo2 5 10 5 3 3 ASUS PC Probe 5 12 5 3 4 Winbond Voice Editor 5 17 5 3 5 Multi channel audio feature 5 21 5 4 RAID 0 RAID 1 configurations 5 23 5 4 1 Install the hard disks 5 23 5 4 2 Creating and Deleting RAID sets 5 24 Index I 1 ...

Page 6: ... 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 Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna Increase the separation between the equipment and receiver Connect the equipment to an outlet on a circuit different from that to which the rec...

Page 7: ...your area If you are not sure about the voltage of the electrical outlet you are using contact your local power company If the power supply is broken do not try to fix it by yourself Contact a qualified service technician or your retailer Operation safety Before installing the motherboard and adding devices on it carefully read all the manuals that came with the package Before using the product ma...

Page 8: ... the hardware setup procedures that you have to perform when installing system components It includes description of the switches jumpers and connectors on the motherboard Chapter 3 Powering up This chapter describes the power up sequence and gives information on the BIOS beep codes Chapter 4 BIOS setup This chapter tells how to change system settings through the BIOS Setup menus Detailed descript...

Page 9: ...are products The ASUS websites are listed in the ASUS Contact Information on page x 2 Optional Documentation Your product package may include optional documentation such as warranty flyers that may have been added by your dealer These documents are not part of the standard package WARNING Information to prevent injury to yourself when trying to complete a task CAUTION Information to prevent damage...

Page 10: ...PUTER INTERNATIONAL America Address 6737 Mowry Avenue Mowry Business Center Building 2 Newark CA 94560 USA General Fax 1 510 608 4555 General Email tmd1 asus com Technical Support Support Fax 1 510 608 4555 General Support 1 502 933 8713 Web Site www asus com Support Email tsd asus com ASUS COMPUTER GmbH Germany and Austria Address Harkortstr 25 40880 Ratingen BRD Germany General Fax 49 2102 44206...

Page 11: ...PC1600 unbuffered ECC or non ECC DDR DIMMs 1 x AGP Pro 8X 1 5V only 5 x PCI includes one ASUS BlueMagic PCI slot 2 x UltraDMA 100 66 33 connectors Silicon Image Sil3112A controller 2 x Serial ATA connectors TI TSB43AB22 IEEE 1394 controller 2 x IEEE 1394 connectors RealTek ALC650 6 channel audio CODEC BROADCOM BCM5702 Gigabit Ethernet controller or BROADCOM BCM4401 Fast Ethernet controller ASUS Ju...

Page 12: ...n connectors 20 pin 4 pin ATX 12V power connectors IDE LED Power LED connectors Chassis intrusion SMBus and SIR connectors 2 x IEEE 1394 connectors optional GAME MIDI connector optional S PDIF In Out connector optional CD AUX Modem audio connectors optional Front panel audio connector optional 4Mb Flash ROM Award BIOS TCAV PnP DMI2 0 WfM2 0 SM BIOS2 3 CrashFree BIOS Multi language BIOS ASUS EZ Fla...

Page 13: ...Chapter 1 This chapter describes the features of the P4G8X motherboard It includes brief explanations of the special attributes of the motherboard and the new technology it supports Product introduction ...

Page 14: ...ASUS P4G8X series motherboard Chapter summary 1 1 Welcome 1 1 1 2 Package contents 1 1 1 3 Special features 1 2 1 4 Motherboard overview 1 6 ...

Page 15: ...ad in the world of power computing Before you start installing the motherboard and hardware devices on it check the items in your package with the list below 1 2 Package contents Check your P4G8X series package for the following items If any of the above items is damaged or missing contact your retailer Package Item P4G8X Deluxe P4G8X ASUS P4G8X motherboard ATX form factor 12 in x 9 6 in 30 5 cm x...

Page 16: ...d has the Silicon Image Sil3112A controller and two Serial ATA SATA interfaces compliant to the SATA specification The SATA allows for thinner more flexible cables with lower pin count reduced voltage requirement up to 150 MB s data transfer rate and software compatibility with legacy Parallel ATA See page 2 21 Onboard LAN solution on LAN models only Gigabit LAN models include the BROADCOM BCM5702...

Page 17: ... 18 bit full duplex AC 97 2 2 stereo audio CODEC is onboard to provide 6 channel audio capability The ALC650 supports independent variable sampling rates and built in 3D effects mono outputs multiple stereo and mono inputs and flexible mixing gain mute functions for a complete integrated audio solution A digital audio connector is onboard to accommodate the bundled Sony Philips Digital Interface S...

Page 18: ... to select the language of your choice from the available options The localized BIOS menus allow you to configure easier and faster Visit the ASUS website for information on the supported languages ASUS EZ Flash BIOS With the ASUS EZ Flash you can easily update the system BIOS even before loading the operating system No need to use a DOS based utility or boot from a floppy disk ASUS Q Fan technolo...

Page 19: ... ensure stable supply of current for critical components Dual function power switch While the system is ON pressing the power switch for less than 4 seconds puts the system to sleep mode or to soft off mode depending on the BIOS setting Pressing the power switch for more than 4 seconds lets the system enter the soft off mode regardless of the BIOS setting ACPI ready The Advanced Configuration powe...

Page 20: ...mation on the components 1 ATX 12V connector 2 North Bridge controller 3 CPU socket 4 DDR DIMM sockets 5 ATX power connector 6 ASUS EZ Plug 12V connector 7 Floppy disk connector 8 IDE connectors 9 AGP Pro 8X slot 10 Speech controller 11 ASUS ASIC 12 South Bridge controller 13 IEEE 1394 controller optional 14 SATA RAID controller 15 Flash ROM 16 Standby power LED 17 Audio CODEC 18 PCI slots 19 Supe...

Page 21: ...ASUS P4G8X series motherboard user guide 1 7 22 31 30 29 25 26 27 28 23 24 3 5 4 15 17 2 9 8 18 10 19 7 1 6 13 11 21 20 16 14 12 ...

Page 22: ...t least 1A on the 5V standby lead 5VSB ASUS EZ Plug 12V connector This ASUS patented auxilliary power connector is used if you don t have an ATX 12V power supply Connect a 4 pin device connector from a standard power supply to this connector to provide sufficient power to the CPU Floppy disk connector This connector accommodates the provided ribbon cable for the floppy disk drive One side of the c...

Page 23: ...wer before plugging or unplugging devices Audio CODEC The RealTek ALC650 AC 97 2 2 stereo audio CODEC provides a 6 channel audio capability The ALC650 supports independent variable sampling rates and built in 3D effects mono outputs multiple stereo and mono inputs and flexible mixing gain mute functions for a complete integrated audio solution on audio models only PCI slots These five 32 bit PCI 2...

Page 24: ... light blue jack connects a tape player or other audio sources In 6 channel mode the function of this jack becomes Rear Speaker Out on audio models only Line Out jack This Line Out lime jack connects a headphone or a speaker In 6 channel mode the function of this jack becomes Front Speaker Out on audio models only Microphone jack This Mic pink jack connects a microphone In 6 channel mode the funct...

Page 25: ... Hardware information This chapter describes the hardware setup procedures that you have to perform when installing system components It includes details on the switches jumpers and connectors on the motherboard ...

Page 26: ...ard Chapter summary 2 1 Motherboard installation 2 1 2 2 Motherboard layouts 2 2 2 3 Before you proceed 2 4 2 4 Central Processing Unit CPU 2 5 2 5 System memory 2 11 2 6 Expansion slots 2 14 2 7 Jumpers 2 17 2 8 Connectors 2 19 ...

Page 27: ... 2 1 1 Placement direction When installing the motherboard make sure that you place it into the chassis in the correct orientation The edge with external ports goes to the rear part of the chassis as indicated in the image below 2 1 2 Screw holes Place nine 9 screws into the holes indicated by circles to secure the motherboard to the chassis Make sure to unplug the power cord before installing or ...

Page 28: ...AN PWR_FAN CHA_FAN SATA2 SATA1 FP_AUDIO AGP_WARN Audio Codec TRPWR SB_PWR USB2 0 T USB4 B USB3 Top RJ 45 GAME DDR DIMM_B1 64 72 bit 184 pin module DDR DIMM_A2 64 72 bit 184 pin module DDR DIMM_B2 64 72 bit 184 pin module ATX Power Connector PCI2 PCI3 PCI4 PCI5 BlueMagic PCI Slot BroadCom Gbit Fast BCM5702 Ethernet Socket 478 Intel E7205 Memory Controller Hub Intel 82801DB ICH4 EZ_PLUG IE1394_2 IE1...

Page 29: ...t AGP PRO ASUS ASIC with Hardware Monitor CPU_FAN PWR_FAN CHA_FAN FP_AUDIO AGP_WARN Audio Codec TRPWR SB_PWR USB2 0 T USB4 B USB3 Top RJ 45 GAME DDR DIMM_B1 64 72 bit 184 pin module DDR DIMM_A2 64 72 bit 184 pin module DDR DIMM_B2 64 72 bit 184 pin module ATX Power Connector PCI2 PCI3 PCI4 PCI5 BlueMagic PCI Slot BroadCom BCM4401 Fast Ethernet Socket 478 Intel E7205 Memory Controller Hub Intel 828...

Page 30: ...ou install or remove any component ensure that the ATX power supply is switched off or the power cord is detached from the power supply Failure to do so may cause severe damage to the motherboard peripherals and or components When lit the green LED SB_PWR indicates that the system is ON in sleep mode or in soft off mode a reminder that you should shut down the system and unplug the power cable bef...

Page 31: ...rk on one corner This mark indicates the processor Pin 1 that should match a specific corner of the CPU socket Incorrect installation of the CPU into the socket may bend the pins and severely damage the CPU Gold Mark Notes on Intel Hyper Threading Technology 1 This motherboard supports Intel Pentium 4 CPUs with Hyper Threading Technology 2 Hyper Threading Technology is supported under Windows XP a...

Page 32: ...all the CPU 2 Power up the system and enter BIOS Setup see Chapter 4 Under the Advanced Menu make sure that the item Hyper Threading Technology is set to Enabled The item appears only if you installed a CPU that supports Hyper Threading Techonology 3 Reboot the computer 2 Unlock the socket by pressing the lever sideways then lift it up to a 90 100 angle Make sure that the socket lever is lifted up...

Page 33: ...er 4 Carefully insert the CPU into the socket until it fits in place The CPU fits only in one correct orientation DO NOT force the CPU into the socket to prevent bending the pins and damaging the CPU 5 When the CPU is in place push down the socket lever to secure the CPU The lever clicks on the side tab to indicate that it is locked Gold Mark ...

Page 34: ...therboard components Follow these steps to install the CPU heatsink and fan 1 Place the heatsink on top of the installed CPU making sure that the heatsink fits properly on the retention module base When you buy a boxed Intel Pentium 4 Processor the package includes the heatsink fan and retention mechanism In case you buy a CPU separately make sure that you use only Intel certified heatsink and fan...

Page 35: ...sm to the holes on each corner of the module base Keep the retention locks lifted upward while fitting the retention mechanism to the module base Make sure that the fan and retention mechanism assembly perfectly fits the heatsink and module base otherwise you cannot snap the hooks into the holes Retention Hole Retention Hook Snapped to the Retention Hole Retention Lock ...

Page 36: ...to the connector on the motherboard labeled CPU_FAN 3 Push down the locks on the retention mechanism to secure the heatsink and fan to the module base When secure the retention locks should point to opposite directions Don t forget to connect the CPU fan connector Hardware monitoring errors may occur if you fail to plug this connector CPU Fan Connector CPU_FAN ...

Page 37: ...gy evolved from the mainstream PC66 PC100 PC133 memory known as Single Data Rate SDR SDRAM DDR memory however has the ability to perform two data operations in one clock cycle thus providing twice the throughput of SDR memory A DDR DIMM has the same physical dimensions as an SDR DIMM but it has a 184 pin footprint compared to the 168 pin of the SDR DIMM Also a DDR DIMM is single notched while an S...

Page 38: ...gurations 3 Make sure that the memory frequency matches the CPU FSB Front Side Bus Refer to Table 2 below 4 Double sided x16 DDR DIMMs are not supported on this motherboard 5 It is not recommended to create a three DIMM configuration in dual channel mode The third DIMM is ignored in the dual channel operation Sockets Mode DIMM_A1 DIMM_B1 DIMM_A2 DIMM_B2 Single channel Installed Dual channel 1 Inst...

Page 39: ...ak on the socket 2 5 4 Removing a DIMM Follow these steps to remove a DIMM 3 Firmly insert the DIMM into the socket until the retaining clips snap back in place and the DIMM is properly seated Locked Retaining Clip 1 Simultaneously press the retaining clips outward to unlock the DIMM Support the DIMM lightly with your fingers when pressing the retaining clips The DIMM might get damaged when it fli...

Page 40: ...he bracket opposite the slot that you intend to use Keep the screw for later use 4 Align the card connector with the slot and press firmly until the card is completely seated on the slot 5 Secure the card to the chassis with the screw you removed earlier 6 Replace the system cover Make sure to unplug the power cord before adding or removing expansion cards Failure to do so may cause you physical i...

Page 41: ...mary IDE Channel 15 10 Secondary IDE Channel These IRQs are usually available for ISA or PCI devices When using PCI cards on shared slots ensure that the drivers support Share IRQ or that the cards do not need IRQ assignments Otherwise conflicts will arise between the two PCI groups making the system unstable and the card inoperable IRQ assignments for this motherboard A B C D E F G H PCI slot 1 s...

Page 42: ...ds When you buy an AGP card make sure that you ask for one with 1 5V specification Note the notches on the card golden fingers to ensure that they fit the AGP slot on your motherboard If you installed an incorrect AGP card such as a SiS305 based AGP card or any other 3 3V AGP card the onboard red LED AGP_WARN lights up an indication that the card is not supported on the motherboard As long as this...

Page 43: ...CPU stopped DRAM refreshed system running in low power mode using the connected USB devices Set to 5VSB to wake up from S3 and S4 sleep modes no power to CPU DRAM in slow refresh power supply in reduced power mode P4G8X P4G8X USB Device Wake Up USBPW56 Default 5V 1 2 5VSB 2 3 P4G8X 1 3 2 4 5 3 6 4 P4G8X WPCI_USB Setting WPCI_USB Wireless PCI_USB Default Original PCI reserved pin The rear panel USB...

Page 44: ...ns 2 3 Keep the cap on pins 2 3 for about 5 10 seconds then move the cap back to pins 1 2 3 Plug the power cord and turn ON the computer 4 Hold down the Del key during the boot process and enter BIOS setup to re enter data You do not need to clear the RTC when the system hangs due to overclocking For system failure due to overclocking use the C P R CPU Parameter Recall feature Shut down and reboot...

Page 45: ... floppy drive ribbon cable After connecting one end to the motherboard connect the other end to the floppy drive Pin 5 is removed to prevent incorrect insertion when using ribbon cables with pin 5 plug P4G8X NOTE Orient the red markings on the floppy ribbon cable to PIN 1 P4G8X Floppy Disk Drive Connector PIN 1 FLOPPY 1 Hard disk activity LED 2 pin IDE_LED This connector supplies power to the hard...

Page 46: ...entation for the jumper settings BIOS supports specific device bootup If you have more than two UltraDMA 100 66 devices purchase another UltraDMA 100 66 cable You may configure two hard disks to be both master devices with two ribbon cables one for the primary IDE connector and another for the secondary IDE connector 1 Pin 20 on each IDE connector is removed to match the covered hole on the UltraD...

Page 47: ...gned with intrusion detection feature This requires an external detection mechanism such as a chassis intrusion sensor or microswitch When you remove any chassis component the sensor triggers and sends a high level signal to this lead to record a chassis intrusion event By default the pins labeled Chassis Signal and Ground are shorted with a jumper cap If you wish to use the chassis intrusion dete...

Page 48: ...an connectors support cooling fans of 350mA 740mA 8 88W max or a total of 1A 2 22A 26 64W max at 12V Connect the fan cables to the fan connectors on the motherboard making sure that the black wire of each cable matches the ground pin of the connector Do not forget to connect the fan cables to the fan connectors Lack of sufficient air flow within the system may damage the motherboard components The...

Page 49: ... power to the CPU If you are using a standard ATX power supply that does not have the ATX 12V plug connect one 4 pin device power plug to the ASUS EZ Plug connector labeled EZ_PLUG Make sure that your ATX 12V power supply can provide 8A on the 12V lead and at least 1A on the 5 volt standby lead 5VSB The minimum recommended wattage is 230W or 300W for a fully configured system The system may become...

Page 50: ...G8X Digital Audio Connector SPDIF GND 5V SPDIF_IN SPDIF_OUT 1 GND 10 GAME MIDI connector 16 1 pin GAME This connector supports a GAME MIDI module If your package came with the USB 2 0 GAME module connect the GAME MIDI cable to this connector The GAME MIDI port on the module connects a joystick or a game pad for playing games and MIDI devices for playing or editing audio files P4G8X P4G8X Game Conn...

Page 51: ...1 1 allows faster Internet connection interactive gaming and simultaneous running of high speed peripherals Connect the USB 2 0 GAME module to this header The module has two USB 2 0 ports that support the next generation USB peripherals such as high resolution cameras scanners and printers You must install the driver before you can use the USB 2 0 capability NEVER connect a 1394 cable to the USB56...

Page 52: ...ilar connector It also allows the sharing of mono_in such as a phone and a mono_out such as a speaker between the audio and a voice modem card P4G8X P4G8X Internal Audio Connectors MODEM CD Black AUX White Right Audio Channel Left Audio Channel Ground Ground Modem In Ground Modem Out Ground 13 Power supply thermal connector 2 pin TRPWR If your power supply has a thermal monitoring feature connect ...

Page 53: ...ared module This module mounts to a small opening on system chassis that support this feature You must also configure the UART2 Use As parameter in BIOS to set UART2 for use with IR See section 4 4 2 I O Device Configuration for details Use the five pins as shown in Back View and connect a ribbon cable from the module to the motherboard SIR connector according to the pin definitions NEVER connect ...

Page 54: ...mper caps Remove the caps only when you are connecting the front panel audio cable P4G8X P4G8X Front Panel Audio Connector FP_AUDIO BLINE_OUT_L MIC2 Line out_R Line out_L BLINE_OUT_R NC MICPWR 5VA AGND 17 System panel connector 20 pin PANEL This connector accommodates several system front panel functions P4G8X P4G8X System Panel Connectors Requires an ATX power supply PLED Ground PWR Keylock 5V Sp...

Page 55: ... SMI This 2 pin connector allows you to manually place the system into a suspend mode or green mode where system activity is instantly decreased to save power and to expand the life of certain system components Attach the case mounted suspend switch to this 2 pin connector ATX Power Switch Soft Off Switch Lead 2 pin PWRBTN This connector connects a switch that controls the system power Pressing th...

Page 56: ...2 30 Chapter 2 Hardware information ...

Page 57: ...Chapter 3 Powering up This chapter describes the power up sequence and gives information on the BIOS beep codes ...

Page 58: ...ASUS P4G8X series motherboard Chapter summary 3 1 Starting up for the first time 3 1 3 2 Vocal POST Messages 3 2 3 3 Powering off the computer 3 4 ...

Page 59: ...reen standards or if it has a power standby feature the monitor LED may light up or switch between orange and green after the system LED turns on The system then runs the power on tests While the tests are running the BIOS beeps or additional messages appear on the screen If you do not see anything within 30 seconds from the time you turned on the power the system may have failed a power on test C...

Page 60: ... Action No CPU installed Install an Intel Pentium 4 Processor into the CPU socket System failed CPU test Check the CPU if properly installed Call ASUS technical support for assistance See the ASUS contact information on page x System failed memory test Install 184 pin unbuffered PC2100 1600 DIMMs into the DIMM sockets Check if the DIMMs on the DIMM sockets are properly installed Make sure that you...

Page 61: ...onnectors No IDE hard disk detected Make sure you have connected an IDE hard disk drive to the one of the IDE connectors on the motherboard See section 2 8 Connectors CPU temperature too high Check CPU fan if working properly CPU fan failed Check the CPU fan and make sure it turns on after you applied power to the system Make sure that your CPU fan supports the fan speed detection function CPU vol...

Page 62: ...you can press the ATX power switch after exiting or shutting down the operating system If you use Windows ME 2000 XP click the Start button click Shut Down then click the OK button to shut down the computer The power supply should turn off after Windows shuts down The message You can now safely turn off your computer does not appear when shutting down with ATX power supplies ...

Page 63: ...Chapter 4 BIOS setup This chapter tells how to change system settings through the BIOS Setup menus Detailed descriptions of the BIOS parameters are also provided ...

Page 64: ...P4G8X series motherboard Chapter summary 4 1 Managing and updating your BIOS 4 1 4 2 BIOS Setup program 4 8 4 3 Main Menu 4 11 4 4 Advanced Menu 4 18 4 5 Power Menu 4 28 4 6 Boot Menu 4 34 4 7 Exit Menu 4 36 ...

Page 65: ...US website see ASUS contact information on page x Save the file to a floppy disk 2 Reboot the computer 3 To use EZ Flash press Alt F2 during POST to display the following screen Write down the BIOS file name on a piece of paper You need to type the exact BIOS file name at the EZ Flash screen 4 Insert the disk that contains the new BIOS file into the floppy drive You will receive the error message ...

Page 66: ...the correct file name Press Enter 6 At the above prompt type Y to continue with the update process Pressing N exits the EZ Flash screen and reboots the system without updating the BIOS The following prompts appear if you typed Y 7 Press Y to update the main BIOS area BIOS Information in File BIOS Version P4G8X Boot Block WARNING Continue to update the BIOS Y N _ DO NOT shutdown or reset the system...

Page 67: ... DO NOT copy AUTOEXEC BAT and CONFIG SYS to the disk 2 Type COPY D AFLASH AFLASH EXE A assuming D is your CD ROM drive to copy AFLASH EXE to the boot disk you created BIOS setup must specify Floppy as the first item in the boot sequence 4 In DOS mode type A AFLASH Enter to run AFLASH If the word unknown appears after Flash Memory the memory chip is either not programmable or is not supported by th...

Page 68: ...apter 4 BIOS Setup 5 Select 1 Save Current BIOS to File from the Main menu and press Enter The Save Current BIOS To File screen appears 6 Type a filename and the path for example A XXX XX XXX then press Enter ...

Page 69: ...n Menu type 2 then press Enter The Update BIOS Including Boot Block and ESCD screen appears 5 Type the filename of your new BIOS and the path for example A XXX XX XXX then press Enter To cancel this operation press Enter 6 When prompted to confirm the BIOS update press Y to start the update Update the BIOS only if you have problems with the motherboard and you are sure that the new BIOS revision w...

Page 70: ...ge Flashed Successfully appears 8 Follow the onscreen instructions to continue If you encounter problems while updating the new BIOS DO NOT turn off the system because this may cause boot problems Just repeat the process and if the problem persists load the original BIOS file you saved to the boot disk If the Flash Memory Writer utility is not able to successfully update a complete BIOS file the s...

Page 71: ...2 The bootable floppy disk could be the one that you created following the procedure in section 4 1 2 and should contain the AFLASH EXE utility 3 If the BIOS fails ROM data or codes are corrupted a message appears during POST indicating the failure To update the BIOS 1 Turn on the computer and when prompted place the bootable floppy disk into the floppy drive so that the computer boots from the fl...

Page 72: ...hem in the CMOS RAM of the Flash ROM The Flash ROM on the motherboard stores the Setup utility When you start up the computer the system provides you with the opportunity to run this program Press Delete during the Power On Self Test POST to enter the Setup utility otherwise POST continues with its test routines If you wish to enter Setup after POST restart the system by pressing Ctrl Alt Delete o...

Page 73: ...a legend bar The keys in the legend bar allow you to navigate through the various setup menus The following table lists the keys found in the legend bar with their corresponding functions Navigation Key s Function Description F1 or Alt H Displays the General Help screen from any where in the BIOS Setup Esc Jumps to the Exit menu or returns to the main menu from a sub menu Left or Right arrow Selec...

Page 74: ... press Enter or Esc Sub menu Note that a right pointer symbol as shown on the left appears to the left of certain fields This pointer indicates that you can display a sub menu from this field A sub menu contains additional options for a field parameter To display a sub menu move the highlight to the field and press Enter The sub menu appears Use the legend keys to enter values and move from field ...

Page 75: ...is month day year Valid values for month day and year are Month 1 to 12 Day 1 to 31 Year up to 2099 Use the Tab or Shift Tab keys to move between the month day and year fields Legacy Diskette A 1 44M 3 5 in Sets the type of floppy drive installed Configuration options None 360K 5 25 in 1 2M 5 25 in 720K 3 5 in 1 44M 3 5 in 2 88M 3 5 in Floppy 3 Mode Support Disabled This is required to support old...

Page 76: ...ng system startup Passwords are not case sensitive meaning passwords typed in either uppercase or lowercase letters are accepted The BIOS Setup program allows you to specify two different passwords a Supervisor password and a User password If you did not set a Supervisor password anyone can access the BIOS Setup program If you did the Supervisor password is required to enter the BIOS Setup program...

Page 77: ...s this may be because the hard disk drive is too old or too new If the hard disk was already formatted on an older system Setup may detect incorrect parameters In these cases select User Type HDD to manually enter the IDE hard disk drive parameters Refer to the next section for details Before attempting to configure a hard disk drive make sure you have the correct configuration information supplie...

Page 78: ...Esc key to return to the Main menu When the Main menu appears the hard disk drive field displays the size for the hard disk drive that you configured User Type HDD After entering the IDE hard disk drive information into BIOS use a disk utility such as FDISK to partition and format new IDE hard disk drives This is necessary so that you can write or read data from the hard disk Make sure to set the ...

Page 79: ...e HDD and the Translation Method field to Manual Head This field configures the number of read write heads Refer to the drive documentation to determine the correct value To make changes to this field set the Type field to User Type HDD and the Translation Method field to Manual Sector This field configures the number of sectors per track Refer to the drive documentation to determine the correct v...

Page 80: ...isabled This field allows you to enable or disable the S M A R T Self Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology system that utilizes internal hard disk drive monitoring technology This parameter is normally disabled because the resources used in the SMART monitoring feature may decrease system performance Configuration options Disabled Enabled PIO Mode 4 This option lets you set a PIO Programme...

Page 81: ... On Keyboard Auto Repeat Rate 6 Sec This controls the speed at which the system registers repeated keystrokes Options range from 6 to 30 characters per second Configuration options 6 Sec 8 Sec 10 Sec 12 Sec 15 Sec 20 Sec 24 Sec 30 Sec Keyboard Auto Repeat Delay 1 4 Sec This field sets the time interval for displaying the first and second characters Configuration options 1 4 Sec 1 2 Sec 3 4 Sec 1 S...

Page 82: ...nual This field sets the frequency multiple between the CPU s internal frequency CPU speed and external frequency Set this field in conjunction with CPU Frequency MHz to match the speed of the CPU The item CPU Frequency Multiple is accessible only if you have an unlocked processor If your processor frequency multiple is locked you cannot change the setting of this item CPU External Frequency MHz w...

Page 83: ... be unstable CPU VCore Setting Auto The Manual setting allows you to manually select the core voltage supplied to the CPU see next item However it is recommended that you keep the default setting Auto to allow the system to automatically determine the appropriate CPU core voltage Configuration options Auto Manual CPU VCore 1 850V When the CPU VCore Setting parameter above is set to Manual the CPU ...

Page 84: ... If a mouse is detected the BIOS assigns IRQ12 to the PS 2 mouse Otherwise IRQ12 can be used for expansion cards When you set this field to Enabled BIOS reserves IRQ12 whether or not a PS 2 mouse is detected at startup Configuration options Enabled Auto USB Legacy Support Auto This motherboard supports Universal Serial Bus USB devices The default of Auto allows the system to detect a USB device at...

Page 85: ... command and the read write command Configuration options 3T 2T SDRAM RAS Precharge Delay value depends on SDRAM SPD This item controls the idle clocks after issuing a precharge command to the DDR SDRAM Configuration options 3T 2T SDRAM Configuration By SPD This parameter allows you to set the optimal timings for items 2 5 depending on the memory modules that you are using The default setting is B...

Page 86: ...peculative write combining is a new cache technology for the video memory of the processor It can greatly improve the display speed by caching the display data You must set this to UC uncacheable if your display card does not support this feature otherwise the system may not boot Configuration options UC USWC Delay Transaction Enabled When set to Enabled this feature frees the PCI bus when the CPU...

Page 87: ... IRQ3 These fields allow you to set the addresses for the onboard serial connectors Serial Port 1 and Serial Port 2 must have different addresses Configuration options 3F8H IRQ4 2F8H IRQ3 3E8H IRQ4 2E8H IRQ10 Disabled UART2 Use As COM Port This field allows you to select the device on which to assign UART2 Configuration options COM Port IR Onboard Parallel Port 378H IRQ7 This field allows you to s...

Page 88: ...o controller is enabled if no audio device is detected the controller is disabled Configuration options Disabled Auto If the Onboard AC97 Audio Controller item is set to Disabled you will not hear the POST messages during the boot process Onboard Game Port 200H 207H This field sets the I O address for the game port Configuration options Disabled 200H 207H 208H 20FH Onboard MIDI I O 330H 331H This ...

Page 89: ...VGA cards like graphics accelerators or MPEG video cards may not show colors properly Setting this field to Enabled corrects this problem If you are using standard VGA cards leave this field to the default setting Disabled Configuration options Disabled Enabled PCI Latency Timer 32 Leave this field to the default setting 32 for best performance and stability USB 1 1 Controllers 3 Controllers This ...

Page 90: ...he onboard LAN controller chipset Configuration options Disabled Enabled If you set the Onboard LAN Boot ROM item to Enabled and rebooted the computer the BROADCOM MBA appears in the Other Boot Device Select configuration options See section 4 6 Boot Menu Onboard 1394 Device Enabled This field allows you to enable or disable the onboard 1394 controller Configuration options Disabled Enabled Onboar...

Page 91: ...cy non PnP ISA card The setting No ICU for an IRQ field indicates that you are using the ISA Configuration Utility ICU and that this particular IRQ is NOT required by a legacy ISA card Set the IRQ field to Yes if you install a legacy ISA card that requires a unique IRQ and you are NOT using ICU Configuration options No ICU Yes 4 4 3 1 PCI IRQ Resource Exclusion ...

Page 92: ...Saving system power is conserved to its greatest amount This setting automatically puts the system into suspend mode after a brief period of system inactivity Min Saving allows the least power saving as the system enters suspend mode only after a long period of inactivity Configuration options User Defined Disabled Min Saving Max Saving You should install the Advanced Power Management APM utility ...

Page 93: ... scanning Configuration options Blank Screen V H SYNC Blank DPMS Standby DPMS Suspend DPMS OFF DPMS Reduce ON HDD Power Down Disabled Shuts down any IDE hard disk drives in the system after a period of inactivity as set in this user configurable field This feature does not affect SCSI hard drives Configuration options Disabled 1 Min 2 Min 3 Min 15 Min ACPI Suspend To RAM Disabled This field allows...

Page 94: ...ds Suspend allows the button to have a dual function where pressing less than 4 seconds puts the system in sleep mode Regardless of the setting holding the ATX switch for more than 4 seconds powers off the system Configuration options Soft off Suspend AC PWR Loss Restart Disabled This allows you to set whether or not to reboot the system after power interruptions Disabled leaves your system off wh...

Page 95: ...ature requires an ATX power supply that provides at least 1A on the 5VSB lead Configuration options Disabled Enabled Power On By PS 2 Keyboard Space Bar This parameter allows you to use specific keys on the keyboard to turn on the system This feature requires an ATX power supply that provides at least 1A on the 5VSB lead Configuration options Disabled Space Bar Ctrl Esc Power Key Power On By PS 2 ...

Page 96: ... to auto detect the power supply temperature see page 2 26 for the location of the TRPWR connector The POWER temperature item shows the detected value if you have the appropriate power supply Select Ignore to disable the power temperature auto detect function CPU Fan Speed xxxxRPM or N A Chassis Fan Speed xxxxRPM or N A Power Fan Speed xxxxRPM or N A The onboard hardware monitor automatically dete...

Page 97: ...ed Speed Up Down Response Time 64 Sec 128 Sec This item indicates the time period before the fan speeds adjust to the value set in the Fan Speed Ratio field This item appears only when the Q Fan Control item is set to Enabled Configuration options 16 Sec 32 Sec 32 Sec 64 Sec 48 Sec 96 Sec 64 Sec 128 Sec Q Fan Control Disabled This item allows you to enable or disable the ASUS Q Fan feature that sm...

Page 98: ...er up Configuration fields include Removable Devices IDE Hard Drive ATAPI CD ROM and Other Boot Device Removable Device Legacy Floppy Configuration options Disabled Legacy Floppy LS 120 ZIP ATAPI MO IDE Hard Drive This field allows you to select which IDE hard disk drive to use in the boot sequence Pressing Enter will show the product IDs of all connected IDE hard disk drives ATAPI CD ROM This fie...

Page 99: ...n Self Test POST routine by skipping retesting a second third and fourth time Configuration options Disabled Enabled Boot Up Floppy Seek Enabled When enabled the BIOS will seek the floppy disk drive to determine whether the drive has 40 or 80 tracks Configuration options Disabled Enabled Full Screen Logo Enabled This allows you to enable or disable the full screen logo display feature Configuratio...

Page 100: ...off When you select this option a confirmation window appears Select Yes to save changes and exit Pressing Esc does not immediately exit this menu Select one of the options from this menu or F10 from the legend bar to exit If you attempt to exit the Setup program without saving your changes the program prompts you with a message asking if you want to save your changes before exiting Pressing Enter...

Page 101: ...aving the values to the non volatile RAM Discard Changes This option allows you to discard the selections you made and restore the previously saved values After selecting this option a confirmation appears Select Yes to discard any changes and load the previously saved values Save Changes This option saves your selections without exiting the Setup program You can then return to other menus and mak...

Page 102: ...4 38 Chapter 4 BIOS Setup ...

Page 103: ...Chapter 5 Software support This chapter describes the contents of the support CD that comes with the motherboard package ...

Page 104: ...ASUS P4G8X series motherboard Chapter summary 5 1 Install an operating system 5 1 5 2 Support CD information 5 1 5 3 Software information 5 9 5 4 RAID 0 RAID 1 configurations 5 23 ...

Page 105: ...port CD that came with the motherboard contains useful software and several utility drivers that enhance the motherboard features 5 2 1 Running the support CD To begin using the support CD simply insert the CD into your CD ROM drive The CD automatically displays the Drivers menu if Autorun is enabled in your computer The contents of the support CD are subject to change at any time without notice V...

Page 106: ...ity in three modes interactive silent and unattended preload The interactive mode requires user input during installation This is not required in the silent and unattended preload modes Refer to the online help or readme file that came with the utility Intel Application Accelerator Driver This item installs the Intel Application Accelerator for Microsoft Windows ME 2000 XP This program is designed...

Page 107: ...ivers to support 10BASE T 100BASE TX networking Important note on BCM4401 LAN controller If you installed the BCM4401 controller drivers the default setting Wake Up Frame allows system wake up from S1 S3 and S4 sleep modes If you wish to wake up the system from S5 mode shut down mode you must manually change the Wake On LAN settings to Magic Frame To adjust Wake On LAN settings 1 Right click My Co...

Page 108: ... window that appears click the item Wake Up Capabilities under Property The default value is Wake Up Frame The Wake Up Frame setting wakes up the system from S1 S3 and S4 sleep modes 5 Click the arrow under Value to set to Magic Frame Click OK The Magic Frame setting wakes up the system from S1 S3 S4 and S5 sleep modes If the BCM4401 LAN controller is onboard the Wake On LAN feature does NOT work ...

Page 109: ... if you wish to change the default vocal POST messages See section 3 2 Vocal POST messages for a list of the default messages ASUS PC Probe V2 18 03 This smart utility monitors the fan speed CPU temperature and system voltages and alerts you on any detected problems This utility helps you keep your computer at a healthy operating condition Install ASUS Update V3 36 01 This program allows you to do...

Page 110: ...licon Image Serial ATA Utility This item installs the Serial ATA utility ASUS Screen Saver This item installs the ASUS screen saver E Color 3Deep This item installs the 3Deep software 3Deep is the first application that gives online gamers the competitive edge in multi player skirmishes This application removes dark washed out graphics to deliver true vibrant colors 5 2 4 ASUS Contact Information ...

Page 111: ...e screen give additional information on the motherboard and the contents of the support CD Click an icon to display the specified information Motherboard Info The window displays the general specifications of the P4G8X motherboard Browse this CD The window displays the support CD contents in graphical format ...

Page 112: ...l Support Form The window displays the ASUS Technical Support Request Form that you have to fill up when requesting technical support Filelist The window displays the contents of the support CD and a brief description of each in text format ...

Page 113: ...date The ASUS Update is a utility that allows you to update the motherboard BIOS and drivers This utility requires an Internet connection either through a network or an Internet Service Provider ISP Follow these steps to use the ASUS Update 2 Select your desired update method then click Next 1 Launch the utility from your Windows Start menu Programs AsusUpdate Vx xx xx AsusUpdate The ASUS Update i...

Page 114: ...atically installed when you install the ASUS Update utility from the software menu See section 5 2 3 Software menu 1 Launch the ASUS Update utility See section 5 3 1 ASUS Update 2 When prompted for the BIOS update method select the option Update BIOS from a file 3 Specify the location of the BIOS file such as from a floppy disk Click Next Before using ASUS MyLogo2 feature use the AFLASH utility to...

Page 115: ... to change your BIOS boot logo After you have modified the BIOS file with the new logo use the ASUS Update utility to upload the new BIOS 5 When you click on an image it displays larger on the MyLogo2 screen If you wish you may create your own boot logo image in GIF JPG or BMP file formats MyLogo2 may not support too complex images If you encounter any problems on complex images try using a simple...

Page 116: ...nal external frequencies through the DMI Explorer Starting ASUS PC Probe When ASUS PC Probe starts a splash screen appears allowing you to select whether to show the screen again when you open PC Probe or not To bypass this startup screen clear the Show up in next execution check box The PC Probe icon appears on the taskbar system tray indicating that ASUS PC Probe is running Clicking the icon all...

Page 117: ...temperature for supported processors only Temperature Warning threshold adjustment Move the slider up to increase the threshold level or down to decrease the threshold level Fan Monitor Shows the PC fan rotation Voltage Monitor Shows the PC voltages Fan Warning threshold adjustment Move the slider up to increase the threshold level or down to decrease the threshold level ...

Page 118: ...ws the used and free space of the PC s hard disk drives and the file allocation table or file system used Fan Control Lets you enable disable Smart Fan Control Smart Fan Control adjusts the fan speed automatically based on the current CPU temperature and predefined threshold CPU Cooling System Setup Lets you select when to enable software CPU cooling When When CPU Overheated is selected the CPU co...

Page 119: ...ormation pertinent to the PC such as CPU type CPU speed and internal external frequencies and memory size Utility Lets you run programs outside of the ASUS Probe modules To run a program click Execute Program NOTE This feature is currently unavailable Information Memory Shows the PC memory load memory usage and paging file usage ...

Page 120: ...king the PC Probe icon brings up a menu to open or exit ASUS PC Probe and pause or resume all system monitoring When the ASUS PC Probe senses a problem with your PC portions of the ASUS PC Probe icon change to red the PC speaker beeps and the ASUS PC Probe monitor appears ...

Page 121: ...g the program Launch the program either from the Winbond Voice Editor icon on your desktop or from the Windows Start menu Programs Winbond Voice Editor Voice Editor The Winbond Voice Editor screen appears Playing the default wave files To play the default wave files simply click on a POST event on the left side of the screen then click the Play button The default language setting is English To avo...

Page 122: ...pen The event messages for the language you selected appear on the Voice Editor screen For some languages not all events have a corresponding message due to file size constraints 3 Click on the Write button to update the EEPROM 4 Click Yes on the confirmation window that appears The next time you boot your computer the POST messages are announced in the language that you selected ...

Page 123: ...list of POST events on the leftmost column of the screen 2 Prepare your message for each event The total compressed size for all the wave files must not exceed 1Mbit so make your messages as short as possible 3 Use a recording software such as Windows Recorder to record your messages 4 Save the messages as wave files WAV It is recommended that you save your files in low quality to keep them small ...

Page 124: ... the Edit button The Event Sound Editor window appears 8 Locate and select your wave file for the event then click on the arrow opposite Voice1 The file you selected appears on the space next to it 9 Click OK to return to the Voice Editor screen 10 Do steps 7 to 9 for the other events 11 When done click the Save button A window appears prompting you to save your configuration 12 Type a file name w...

Page 125: ...figuration 1 Install the RealTek ALC650 AC 97 audio driver from the support CD The RealTek Sound Effect icon appears on the taskbar after you have successfully installed the driver 4 Click on the Equalizer tab to display the individual control frequency bands and adjust the sound output Sound Effect Icon You may also launch the ALC650 AC97 Audio Application by clicking on the Start button on your ...

Page 126: ...nabled If you use the SPDIF In function the S PDIF frequency will be locked by the ALC650 controller 8 Click on the General tab for version information and multi language settings 9 Click OK when done Rear panel audio ports function variation Connector Headphone 2 Speaker 4 Speaker 6 Speaker Lime Line Out Line Out Line Out Front Speaker Out Front Speaker Out Front Speaker Out Light Blue Line In Re...

Page 127: ...array management software directs all applications to the surviving drive as it contains a complete copy of the data in the other drive This RAID configuration provides data protection and increases fault tolerance to the entire system 5 4 1 Install the hard disks The Sil3112A chipset supports Serial ATA hard disk drives For optimal performance install identical drives of the same model and capaci...

Page 128: ...g and deleting RAID sets is a built in function found in the BIOS The following sub sections describes how to use the RAID Configuration Utility Loading the RAID Configuration Utility During POST press CTRL S or F4 to enter RAID configuration utility The following menu options will appear Below this menu items are the listed drives installed on the system The top right half of the screen displays ...

Page 129: ...pecifically in the drive connection information If so this will a RAID set can neither be created nor rebuilt In order for the RAID set to function properly this old metadata must be first overwritten with the new metadata To resolve this select the option Resolve Conflict so that the correct metadata including the correct drive connection information may be written to the replacement disk What is...

Page 130: ...5 26 Chapter 5 Software support ...

Page 131: ...Index This part contains an alphabetical list of the topics found in this document ...

Page 132: ...ASUS P4G8X series motherboard ...

Page 133: ...ep Codes 3 1 BIOS AFLASH utility 4 3 Boot Device selection 4 35 Boot Up NumLock Status 4 16 Boot Virus Detection 4 36 C Central Processing Unit CPU fan connector 2 10 installation 2 6 Level 1 Level 2 Cache 4 19 Speed 4 17 CPU socket 1 8 2 6 Chip Configuration 4 21 Clear RTC RAM 2 18 Concurrent PCI 1 5 Connectors ASUS EZ Plug 1 3 1 8 2 23 ATX power 1 6 2 23 chassis intrusion 2 21 fan 2 22 floppy di...

Page 134: ... IRQ assignments 2 14 J Jumpers Clear RTC 2 18 wireless PCI USB 2 16 USB power 2 17 K Keyboard Auto Repeat Delay 4 16 Auto Repeat Rate 4 16 L LEDs AGP warning 1 10 2 3 standby power 1 10 2 3 Legacy Diskette 4 10 M Motherboard major components 1 6 IRQ Table 2 15 layouts 2 2 2 3 placement 2 1 screws 2 1 Multi sector transfers 4 15 O Operating system installation 5 1 Overclocking features 1 5 P Paral...

Page 135: ...ring 4 15 Sony Philips Digital Interface S PDIF 1 3 2 28 Super I O controller 1 9 Support CD 5 1 ASUS Update 5 9 Utilities menu 5 5 Drivers menu 5 2 motherboard information 5 7 multi channel audio 5 21 Technical Support Form 5 8 Suspend Mode 4 29 System Controller North Bridge 1 8 South Bridge 1 9 System Date 4 10 System memory configurations 2 11 System Time 4 10 U UART2 4 24 Ultra DMA Mode 4 15 ...

Page 136: ...I 4 Index ...