User manual ASUS M2N8-VMX

[. . . ] Motherboard M2N8-VMX E2813 First Edition V1 September 2006 Copyright © 2006 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. [. . . ] Reset button This 2-pin connector is for the chassis-mounted reset button for system reboot without turning off the system power. · · · · ASUS M2N8-VMX 1-31 1-32 Chapter 1: Product introduction This chapter tells how to change the system settings through the BIOS Setup menus. Detailed descriptions of the BIOS parameters are also provided. BIOS setup 2 2. 1 Managing and updating your BIOS The following utilities allow you to manage and update the motherboard Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) setup. ASUS EZ Flash (Updates the BIOS in DOS mode using a floppy disk or the motherboard support CD. ) ASUS AFUDOS (Updates the BIOS in DOS mode using a bootable floppy disk. ) ASUS CrashFree BIOS 2 (Updates the BIOS using a bootable floppy disk, or the motherboard support CD when the BIOS file fails or gets corrupted. ) ASUS Update (Updates the BIOS in Windows® environment. ) Refer to the corresponding sections for details on these utilities. Save a copy of the original motherboard BIOS file to a bootable floppy disk or a USB flash 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. Chapter 2: BIOS setup 2-2 2. Copy the original or the latest motherboard BIOS file to the bootable floppy disk. 2. 1. 2 ASUS EZ Flash utility The ASUS EZ Flash feature allows you to update the BIOS without having to go through the long process of booting from a floppy disk and using a DOS-based utility. The EZ Flash utility is built-in the BIOS chip so it is accessible by pressing <Alt> + <F2> during the Power-On Self Tests (POST). Visit the ASUS website (www. asus. com) to download the latest BIOS file for the motherboard and rename the same to M2N8-VMX. ROM. Press <Alt> + <F2> during POST to display the following. EZFlash starting BIOS update Checking for floppy. . . 4. Insert the floppy disk that contains the BIOS file to the floppy disk drive. When the correct BIOS file is found, EZ Flash performs the BIOS update process and automatically reboots the system when done. EZFlash starting BIOS update Checking for floppy. . . Rebooting. · · Do not shut down or reset the system while updating the BIOS to prevent system boot failure!A "Floppy not found!" error message appears if there is no floppy disk in the drive. A "M2N8-VMX. ROM not found!" error message appears if the correct BIOS file is not found in the floppy disk. Make sure that you rename the BIOS file to M2N8-VMX. ROM. ASUS M2N8-VMX 2- 2. 1. 3 AFUDOS utility The AFUDOS utility allows you to update the BIOS file in DOS environment using a bootable floppy disk with the updated BIOS file. This utility also allows you to copy the current BIOS file that you can use as backup when the BIOS fails or gets corrupted during the updating process. Copying the current BIOS To copy the current BIOS file using the AFUDOS utility: · · Make sure that the floppy disk is not write-protected and has at least 1024KB free space to save the file. 2. Copy the AFUDOS utility (afudos. exe) from the motherboard support CD to the bootable floppy disk you created earlier. Boot the system in DOS mode, then at the prompt type: afudos /o[filename] where the [filename] is any user-assigned filename not more than eight alphanumeric characters for the main filename and three alphanumeric characters for the extension name. A:\>afudos /oOLDBIOS1. rom Main filename Extension name 3. Press <Enter>. The utility copies the current BIOS file to the floppy disk. A:\>afudos /oOLDBIOS1. rom AMI Firmware Update Utility - Version 1. 19(ASUS V2. 07(03. 11. 24BB)) Copyright (C) 2002 American Megatrends, Inc. ok A:\> The utility returns to the DOS prompt after copying the current BIOS file. 2- Chapter 2: BIOS setup Updating the BIOS file To update the BIOS file using the AFUDOS utility: 1. Visit the ASUS website (www. asus. com) and download the latest BIOS file for the motherboard. [. . . ] Select OK to discard any changes and load the previously saved values. Load Setup Defaults This option allows you to load the default values for each of the parameters on the Setup menus. When you select this option or if you press <F5>, a confirmation window appears. Select Exit & Save Changes or make other changes before saving the values to the non-volatile RAM. 2-6 Chapter 2: BIOS setup This chapter describes the contents of the support CD that comes with the motherboard package. Software support 3 3. 1 Installing an operating system This motherboard supports Windows® 2000/XP operating systems (OS). Always install the latest OS version and corresponding updates to maximize the features of your hardware. · Motherboard settings and hardware options vary. [. . . ]