User manual ASUS A7V266-MX

[. . . ] A7V266-MX User Guide Motherboard E1444 Checklist First Edition V1 October 2003 Copyright © 2003 ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. No part of this manual, including the products and software described in it, may be reproduced, transmitted, transcribed, stored in a retrieval system, or translated into any language in any form or by any means, except documentation kept by the purchaser for backup purposes, without the express written permission of ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. Product warranty or service will not be extended if: (1) the product is repaired, modified or altered, unless such repair, modification of alteration is authorized in writing by ASUS; or (2) the serial number of the product is defaced or missing. ASUS PROVIDES THIS MANUAL "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. [. . . ] Pressing the power switch while in the ON mode for more than 4 seconds turns the system OFF. · Hard Disk Activity Lead (2-pin IDE LED) This connector supplies power to the hard disk activity LED. The read or write activities of any device connected to the primary or secondary IDE connector cause this LED to light up. 1-22 Chapter 1: Product introduction Reset Ground Chapter 2 This chapter tells how to change system settings through the BIOS Setup menus. Detailed descriptions of the BIOS parameters are also provided. BIOS information 2. 1 Managing and updating your BIOS · · The original BIOS file for this motherboard is in the support CD. Copy the original BIOS to a bootable floppy disk in case you need to restore the BIOS in the future. 2. 1. 1 Creating a bootable floppy disk 1. Do either one of the following to create a bootable floppy disk. DOS environment Insert a 1. 44 MB floppy disk into the drive. At the DOS prompt, type: format a: /s , then press the <Enter> key Windows® 98SE environment a. From your Windows desktop, click Start, point to Settings, then click Control Panel. Follow the suceeding screen instructions to complete the process. Windows® XP environment a. Select "Create an MS-DOS Startup Disk" in the Format Options field, then click Start. Copy the original (or the latest) motherboard BIOS to the bootable floppy disk. 2-2 Chapter 2: BIOS Information 2. 1. 2 Updating BIOS using the AwardBIOS Flash Utility The Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) can be updated using the built-in Flash Memory Writer utility or using a bootable floppy disk with the executable Flash Memory Writer Utility (AWDFLASH. EXE). Download the latest BIOS file from the ASUS website (see ASUS contact info on page vi). Save only the updated BIOS file in the floppy disk to avoid loading a wrong BIOS file. Insert the disk that contains the new BIOS file into the floppy drive. Press <Alt> + <F2> during POST to display the following screen. 5. After the new BIOS file is copied, the computer returns to POST. ASUS A7V266-MX motherboard user guide 2-3 Updating BIOS via a bootable floppy disk 1. At the "A:\" prompt, type "C:\" and then press <Enter>. At the "C:\" prompt, type "AWDFLASH/ BIOSFILENAME" and then <Enter>. For example: "AWDFLASH/ aw0702. bin" The AWDFLASH screen appears. Follow steps 5 to 7 in "2. 1. 2 Updating BIOS using the Built-in Award BIOS Flash Utility. " 2. 1. 3 CrashFree BIOS feature The CrashFree BIOS feature allows you to boot the computer from a floppy disk and update the BIOS in case the original BIOS fails or gets corrupted. The bootable floppy disk could be the one that you created following the procedure in section 2. 1. 1, and should contain the AWDFLASH. EXE utility. If the BIOS fails (ROM data or codes are corrupted), a message appears during POST indicating the failure. Turn on the computer, and when prompted, place the bootable floppy disk into the floppy drive, so that the computer boots from the floppy disk. [. . . ] Configuration options: [Yes] [No] Reset Configuration Data [Disabled] Select [Enabled], if you want to clear the Extended System Configuration Data (ESCD). Configuration options: [Disabled] [Enabled] Quick Power-On-Self-Test [Disabled] This field speeds up the Power-On-Self Test (POST) routine by skipping retesting several times. Configuration options: [Disabled] [Enabled] Boot up Floppy Seek [Disabled] When enabled, the BIOS will seek the floppy disk drive to determine whether the drive has 40 or 80 tracks. Configuration options: [Disabled] [Enabled] APIC Mode [Enabled] When enabled, this option allows you to distribute interrupt routings other than the 16 IRQs. [. . . ]