User manual ASUS A7N8X-XE

[. . . ] A7N8X-XE User Guide Motherboard E2126 First Edition July 2005 Copyright © 2005 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. [. . . ] ASUS AFUDOS (Updates the BIOS in DOS mode using a bootable floppy disk. ) ASUS CrashFree BIOS (Updates the BIOS using a floppy disk when the BIOS file fails or gets corrupted. ) ASUS Update (Updates the BIOS in Windows® environment. ) ASUS EZ Flash (Updates the BIOS in DOS mode using a floppy disk. ) Refer to the corresponding sections for details on these utilities. Save a copy of the original motherboard BIOS file to a floppy disk in case you need to restore the BIOS in the future. Copy the original motherboard BIOS using the ASUS Update or AFUDOS utilities. 2. 1. 1 1. Creating a bootable floppy disk Do either one of the following to create a bootable floppy disk. Select Create an MS-DOS startup disk from the format options field, then click Start. Windows® 2000 environment To create a set of boot disks for Windows® 2000: a. From the Open field, type D:\bootdisk\makeboot a: assuming that D: is your optical drive. Press <Enter>, then follow screen instructions to continue. 2. Copy the original or the latest motherboard BIOS file to the bootable floppy disk. 2-2 Chapter 2: BIOS Setup 2. 1. 2 Using AFUDOS to copy the current BIOS The AFUDOS. EXE utility can also be used to copy the current system BIOS settings to a floppy or hard disk. The copy can be used as a backup in case the system BIOS fails or gets corrupted. At the DOS prompt, type the command line: afudos /o[filename] where "filename" can be any user-provided filename of not more than eight alphanumeric characters for the main filename and three alphanumeric characters for the extension name. Press <Enter>. The BIOS information on the screen is for reference only. Main filename Extension name A:\>afudos /oMYBIOS03. rom AMI Firmware Update Utility - Version 1. 10 Copyright (C) 2002 American Megatrends, Inc. The utility will copy the current system BIOS by default to the floppy disk. Make sure that the floppy disk is not write-protected and has enough space (at least 600KB) to store the file. A:\>afudos /oMYBIOS03. rom AMI Firmware Update Utility - Version 1. 10 Copyright (C) 2002 American Megatrends, Inc. done A:\> When the BIOS copy process is complete, the utility returns to the DOS prompt. 2. 1. 3 Using AFUDOS to update the BIOS The AFUDOS is a DOS-based application that lets you update the BIOS file using a bootable floppy diskette. AFUDOS also allows you to copy the original BIOS file to a floppy diskette. Download the latest BIOS file from the website provided by the system builder. ASUS A7N8X-XE Motherboard 2-3 Write the BIOS filename on a piece of paper. Copy the AFUDOS. EXE utility from the support CD to the bootable floppy disk that contains the BIOS file. At the DOS prompt, type the command line: afudos /i [filename. rom] where [filename. rom] means the latest (or original) BIOS file that you copied to the bootable floppy disk. The screen displays the status of the update process. The BIOS information on the screen is for reference only. What you see on your screen may not be exactly the same as shown. A:\>afudos /iA7N8X-XE. rom AMI Firmware Update Utility - Version 1. 10 Copyright (C) 2002 American Megatrends, Inc. 0x0008CC00 (9%) DO NOT shut down or reset the system while updating the BIOS!Doing so can cause system boot failure! When the BIOS update process is complete, the utility returns to the DOS prompt. A:\>afudos /iA7N8X-XE. rom AMI Firmware Update Utility - Version 1. 10 Copyright (C) 2002 American Megatrends, Inc. Reboot the system from the hard disk. 2-4 Chapter 2: BIOS Setup 2. 1. 4 ASUS CrashFree BIOS utility The ASUS CrashFree BIOS allows you to update the BIOS file when it fails or gets corrupted. [. . . ] To change the user password, follow the same steps as in setting a user password. 2-30 Chapter 2: BIOS Setup 2. 7 Exit menu BIOS SETUP UTILITY Exit Options Exit & Save Changes Exit & Discard Changes Discard Changes Load Setup Default Exit system setup after saving the changes. F10 key can be used for this operation. The Exit menu items allow you to save or discard your changes to, and/or load the optimal or failsafe default values for the BIOS items. Enter F1 F10 ESC Select Screen Select Item Go to Sub Screen General Help Save and Exit Exit v02. 58 (C)Copyright 1985-2004, American Megatrends, Inc. Pressing <Esc> does not immediately exit this menu. Select one of the options from this menu, or press <F10> to exit. Exit & Save Changes Once you are finished making your selections, choose this option to ensure the values you selected are saved to the CMOS RAM. An onboard backup battery sustains the CMOS RAM so it stays on even when the system is turned off. [. . . ]