User manual ASUS P5VDC-MX

[. . . ] Motherboard P5VDC-MX E2545 Revised Edition V2 March 2006 Copyright © 2006 ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. All Rights Reserved. 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. ("ASUS"). 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. [. . . ] 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 shutdown 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 "P5VDCMX. 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 P5VDCMX. ROM. ASUS P5VDC-MX 2-3 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 600 KB free space to save the file. The actual BIOS screen displays may not be exactly the same as shown. 1. 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. 10 Copyright (C) 2002 American Megatrends, Inc. done A:\> The utility returns to the DOS prompt after copying the current BIOS file. 2-4 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. Save the BIOS file to a bootable floppy disk. Write the BIOS filename on a piece of paper. 3. 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 /i[filename] where [filename] is the latest or the original BIOS file on the bootable floppy disk. A:\>afudos /iP5VDCMX. ROM 4. The utility verifies the file and starts updating the BIOS. A:\>afudos /iP5VDCMX. 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 to prevent system boot failure!The utility returns to the DOS prompt after the BIOS update process is completed. Reboot the system from the hard disk drive. A:\>afudos /iP5VDCMX. ROM AMI Firmware Update Utility - Version 1. 10 Copyright (C) 2002 American Megatrends, Inc. done A:\> ASUS P5VDC-MX 2-5 2. 1. 4 ASUS CrashFree BIOS 2 utility The ASUS CrashFree BIOS 2 is an auto recovery tool that allows you to restore the BIOS file when it fails or gets corrupted during the updating process. You can update a corrupted BIOS file using the motherboard support CD or the floppy disk that contains the updated BIOS file. · · Prepare the motherboard support CD or the floppy disk containing the updated motherboard BIOS before using this utility. Make sure that you rename the original or updated BIOS file in the floppy disk to P 5 V D C M X . R O M M. To use CrashFree BIOS2 feature on motherboards with onboard VGA, you will not see the screen display when the BIOS crashes even when you reboot the system. [. . . ] A list e, of valid array block sizes are displayed on a pop-up menu. 6. 4K 8K 16K 32K 64K T I P : For server systems, use of a lower array block size is recommended. For multimedia computer systems used mainly for audio and video editing, a higher array block size is recommended for optimum performance. Use arrow keys to move selection bar on items and press <Enter> to select. Select S t a r t C r e a t e P r o c e s s and press <Enter> to set up hard disk for RAID system. The following confirmation message appears: The data on the selected disks will be destroyed. [. . . ]