AM2NF3-VSTA User Manual Version 1.2 Published December 2006 Copyright©2006 ASRock INC. All rights reserved.
Copyright Notice: No part of this manual may be reproduced, transcribed, transmitted, or translated in any language, in any form or by any means, except duplication of documentation by the purchaser for backup purpose, without written consent of ASRock Inc. Products and corporate names appearing in this manual may or may not be registered trademarks or copyrights of their respective companies, and are used only for identification or explanation and to the owners’ benefit, without intent to infringe.
Contents 1 . Introduction ............................................................ 5 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Package Contents ..................................................................... Specifications ........................................................................... Minimum Hardware Requirement Table for Windows® VistaTM Logo ........................................................................................ Motherboard Layout .......................................................
3.6 3.7 3.5.1 Boot Settings Configuration ........................................... 38 Security Screen ........................................................................ 39 Exit Screen ............................................................................... 40 4 . Software Support ................................................... 41 4.1 4.2 Install Operating System ........................................................... Support CD Information .........................................
1. Introduction Thank you for purchasing ASRock AM2NF3-VSTA motherboard, a reliable motherboard produced under ASRock’s consistently stringent quality control. It delivers excellent performance with robust design conforming to ASRock’s commitment to quality and endurance. In this manual, chapter 1 and 2 contain introduction of the motherboard and step-bystep guide to the hardware installation. Chapter 3 and 4 contain the configuration guide to BIOS setup and information of the Support CD.
1.2 Specifications Platform CPU Chipset Memory Hybrid Booster Expansion Slot Audio LAN Rear Panel I/O - ATX Form Factor: 12.0-in x 8.0-in, 30.5 cm x 20.
Connector BIOS Feature Support CD Hardware Monitor OS Certifications - 2 x Serial ATA 1.5Gb/s connectors, support RAID (RAID 0, RAID 1, JBOD) and “Hot Plug” functions - 2 x ATA133 IDE connectors (support 4 x IDE devices) - 1 x Floppy connector - 1 x IR header - 1 x Game header - CPU/Chassis FAN connector - 20 pin ATX power connector - 4 pin 12V power connector - CD in header - Front panel audio connector - 2 x USB 2.0 headers (support 4 USB 2.
CAUTION! 1. For power-saving’s sake, it is strongly recommended to enable AMD’s Cool ‘n’ QuietTM technology under Windows system. See APPENDIX on page 42 to 2. enable AMD’s Cool ‘n’ QuietTM technology. This motherboard supports Untied Overclocking Technology. Please read “Un- 3. tied Overclocking Technology” on page 24 for details. This motherboard supports Dual Channel Memory Technology.
1.3 Minimum Hardware R equirement TTable able for W indows ® Requirement Windows Vista TM Premium and Basic Logo For system integrators and users who purchase this motherboard and plan to submit Windows® VistaTM Premium and Basic logo, please follow the below table for minimum hardware requirement. CPU Sempron 2800+ Memory VGA 512MB Single Channel DX9.
1.4 Motherboard Layout 1 2 3 5 4 6 20.3cm (8.0-in) 1 PS2_USB_PW1 PS2 Mouse Center: SIDE SPK Center: FRONT Top: LINE IN Bottom: CTR BASS Top: REAR SPK Bottom: MIC IN ATXPWR1 27 SATA2 SATA1 7 8 SATA DDRII800 LAN PHY Dual Channel 9 1.5V_AGP1 ATA133 Super I/O 7.1CH AGP 8X RAID 4Mb BIOS CD1 10 NVIDIA nForce3 250 Chipset PCI2 22 IDE2 IDE1 PCI1 24 23 AM2NF3-VSTA PCI3 RoHS 11 12 USB45 PCI4 AUDIO CODEC 1 USB2.
1.5 ASRock 8CH I/O 1 13 1 2 3 4 5 6 *7 2 11 12 10 Parallel Port RJ-45 Port Side Speaker (Gray) Rear Speaker (Black) Central / Bass (Orange) Line In (Light Blue) 8 9 10 11 12 13 3 6 4 7 5 8 9 Microphone (Pink) USB 2.0 Ports (USB01) USB 2.0 Ports (USB23) Serial Port: COM1 PS/2 Keyboard Port (Purple) PS/2 Mouse Port (Green) Front Speaker (Lime) * If you use 2-channel speaker, please connect the speaker’s plug into “Front Speaker Jack”.
2. Installation AM2NF3-VSTA is an ATX form factor (12.0-in x 8.0-in, 30.5 cm x 20.3 cm) motherboard. Before you install the motherboard, study the configuration of your chassis to ensure that the motherboard fits into it. Pre-installation Precautions Take note of the following precautions before you install motherboard components or change any motherboard settings. Before you install or remove any component, ensure that the power is switched off or the power cord is detached from the power supply.
2.1 CPU Installation Step 1. Step 2. Step 3. o Unlock the socket by lifting the lever up to a 90 angle. Position the CPU directly above the socket such that the CPU corner with the golden triangle matches the socket corner with a small triangle. 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 avoid bending of the pins. Step 4.
2.3 Installation of Memory Modules (DIMM) AM2NF3-VSTA motherboard provides four 240-pin DDRII (Double Data Rate II) DIMM slots, and supports Dual Channel Memory Technology. For dual channel configuration, you always need to install identical (the same brand, speed, size and chip-type) DDRII DIMM pair in the slots of the same color. In other words, you have to install identical DDRII DIMM pair in Dual Channel A (DDRII_1 and DDRII_2; Yellow slots; see p.10 No.
Installing a DIMM Please make sure to disconnect power supply before adding or removing DIMMs or the system components. Step 1. Step 2. Unlock a DIMM slot by pressing the retaining clips outward. Align a DIMM on the slot such that the notch on the DIMM matches the break on the slot. notch break notch break The DIMM only fits in one correct orientation. It will cause permanent damage to the motherboard and the DIMM if you force the DIMM into the slot at incorrect orientation. Step 3.
2.4 Expansion Slots (PCI Slots and AGP Slot) There are 5 PCI slots and 1 AGP slot on AM2NF3-VSTA motherboard. PCI Slots: PCI slots are used to install expansion cards that have the 32-bit PCI interface. AGP slot: The AGP slot is used to install a graphics card. The ASRock AGP slot has a special design of clasp that can securely fasten the inserted graphics card. Please do NOT use a 3.
2.5 Jumpers Setup The illustration shows how jumpers are setup. When the jumper cap is placed on pins, the jumper is “Short”. If no jumper cap is placed on pins, the jumper is “Open”. The illustration shows a 3-pin jumper whose pin1 and pin2 are “Short” when jumper cap is placed on these 2 pins. Jumper PS2_USB_PW1 Setting Short pin2, pin3 to enable +5VSB (standby) for PS/2 or +5V +5VSB USB wake up events. Note: To select +5VSB, it requires 2 Amp and higher standby current provided by power supply.
2.6 Onboard Headers and Connectors Onboard headers and connectors are NOT jumpers. Do NOT place jumper caps over these headers and connectors. Placing jumper caps over the headers and connectors will cause permanent damage of the motherboard! • Floppy Connector (33-pin FLOPPY1) (see p.10 No. 18) Pin1 FLOPPY1 the red-striped side to Pin1 Note: Make sure the red-striped side of the cable is plugged into Pin1 side of the connector.
Serial ATA (SATA) Power Cable (Optional) connect to the SATA HDD power connector connect to the power supply USB 2.0 Header USB_PWR P-5 P+5 GND DUMMY (9-pin USB45) (see p.10 No. 12) 1 GND P+4 P-4 USB_PWR Shared USB 2.0 Header (see p.10 No. 28) 1 (9-pin USB2_3) USB_PWR USB_PWR P-2 P-3 P+2 P+3 GND GND DUMMY Infrared Module Header IRTX +5VSB DUMMY (5-pin IR1) (see p.10 No. 16) 1 Please connect the black end of SATA power cable to the power connector on each drive.
System Panel Header PLED+ PLEDPWRBTN# GND (9-pin PANEL1) (see p.10 No. 14) 1 This header accommodates several system front panel functions. DUMMY RESET# GND HDLEDHDLED+ Chassis Speaker Header (4-pin SPEAKER 1) 1 SPEAKER DUMMY DUMMY +5V (see p.10 No. 13) Chassis Fan Connector (3-pin CHA_FAN1) (see p.10 No. 15) GND +12V CHA_FAN_SPEED CPU Fan Connector (4-pin CPU_FAN1) (see p.10 No. 26) +12V CPU_FAN_SPEED GND FAN_SPEED_CONTROL 1 2 3 4 Please connect the chassis speaker to this header.
Game Port Header +5V JBB1 JBX MIDI_OUT JBY JBB2 MIDI_IN (15-pin GAME1) (see p.10 No. 19) 1 +5V JAB2 JAY GND GND JAX JAB1 +5V a 21 Connect a Game cable to this header if the Game port bracket is installed.
2.7 Serial A ATTA (SA (SATTA) Hard Disks Installation This motherboard adopts NVIDIA® nForce3 250 chipset that supports Serial ATA (SATA) hard disks and RAID functions. You may install SATA hard disks on this motherboard for internal storage devices. This section will guide you to install the SATA hard disks. STEP 1: Install the SATA hard disks into the drive bays of your chassis. STEP 2: Connect the SATA power cable to the SATA hard disk.
install all-in-1 non-logo driver which supports Hot Plug and RAID functions, but it has not passed Microsoft® logo certification yet. Please choose the driver which meets your requirement most from the abovementioned items during driver installation process. For users who install Windows® VistaTM / VistaTM 64-bit OS, since Windows® VistaTM / VistaTM 64-bit driver keeps on updating now. As long as we have the latest driver, we will update it to our website in the future.
C. When you see the message on the screen, “Generate Serial ATA driver diskette [YN]?”, press . D. Then you will see these messages, Please insert a blank formatted diskette into floppy drive A: press any key to start Please insert a floppy diskette into the floppy drive, and press any key. E. The system will start to format the floppy diskette and copy SATA drivers into the floppy diskette. STEP 2: Set Up BIOS. A. Enter BIOS SETUP UTILITY Advanced screen IDE Configuration. B.
3. BIOS SETUP UTILITY 3.1 Introduction This section explains how to use the BIOS SETUP UTILITY to configure your system. The Flash Memory on the motherboard stores the BIOS SETUP UTILITY. You may run the BIOS SETUP UTILITY when you start up the computer. Please press during the Power-On-Self-Test (POST) to enter the BIOS SETUP UTILITY, otherwise, POST will continue with its test routines.
3.1.2 Navigation Keys Please check the following table for the function description of each navigation key. Navigation Key(s) / / + / 3.
3.3 Advanced Screen In this section, you may set the configurations for the following items: CPU Configuration, Chipset Configuration, ACPI Configuration, IDE Configuration, PCIPnP Configuration, Floppy Configuration, SuperIO Configuration, and USB Configuration. Main Advanced BIOS SETUP UTILITY H/W Monitor Boot Security Exit Options for CPU Advanced Settings WARNING : Setting wrong values in below sections may cause system to malfunction.
AGP Frequency (MHz) Use this option to adjust AGP frequency. The default value is [66]. Boot Failure Guard Enable or disable the feature of Boot Failure Guard. Spread Spectrum This feature will be set to [Auto] as default. Cool ‘n’ Quiet Use this item to enable or disable AMD’s Cool ‘n’ QuietTM technology. Dual Core Support This item will show if you use Dual Core CPU. Configuration optiona: [Enabled], [Disabled]. The default value is [Enabled].
Memory Clock This item can be set by the code using [Auto]. You can set one of the standard values as listed: [200 MHz (DDRII 400)], [266 MHz (DDRII 533)], [333 MHz (DDRII 667)], and [400MHz (DDRII 800)]. Flexibility Option The default value of this option is [Disabled]. It will allow better tolerance for memory compatibility when it is set to [Enabled]. CAS Latency (CL) Use this item to adjust the means of memory accessing. Configuration options: [Auto], [2.0], [3.0], and [2.5].
3.3.2 Chipset Configuration BIOS SETUP UTILITY Advanced Chipset Settings To set DRAM Voltage. OnBoard UAA Audio OnBoard LAN [Auto] [Enabled] AGP Data Rate AGP Aperture Size AGP Fast Write AGP SideBand Address Primary Graphics Adapter [4X] [64MB] [Disabled] [Enabled] [PCI] CPU-NB Link Speed CPU-NB Kink Width DRAM Voltage AGP Voltage [Auto] [Auto] [Auto] [Auto] +F1 F9 F10 ESC Select Screen Select Item Change Option General Help Load Defaults Save and Exit Exit v02.
CPU - NB Link Width This feature allows you selecting CPU to NB link width. Configuration options: [Auto], [8 bit], and [16 bit]. DRAM Voltage Use this to select DRAM voltage. Configuration options: [Auto], [Ultra High], [High], and [Normal]. The default value is [Auto]. AGP Voltage Use this to select among [Low] and [High] for AGP Voltage. The default value is [Auto]. 3.3.
PS/2 Keyboard Power On Use this item to enable or disable PS/2 keyboard to turn on the system from the power-soft-off mode. RTC Alarm Power On Use this item to enable or disable RTC (Real Time Clock) to power on the system. ACPI HPET Table Set this item to enable to include High Precision Event Timers support. The default value is [Disabled]. Please set this option to [Enabled] if you plan to use this motherboard to submit Windows® VistaTM certification. 3.3.
BIOS SETUP UTILITY Advanced Primary IDE Master Device Vendor Size LBA Mode Block Mode PIO Mode Async DMA Ultra DMA S.M.A.R.T. Select the type of device connected to the system. :Hard Disk :MAXTOR 6L080J4 :80.0 GB :Supported :16Sectors :4 :MultiWord DMA-2 :Ultra DMA-6 :Supported Type LBA/Large Mode Block (Multi-Sector Transfer) PIO Mode DMA Mode S.M.A.R.T.
S.M.A.R.T. Use this item to enable or disable the S.M.A.R.T. (Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology) feature. Configuration options: [Disabled], [Auto], [Enabled]. 32Bit Data Transfer Use this item to enable 32-bit access to maximize the IDE hard disk data transfer rate. 3.3.5 PCIPnP Configuration BIOS SETUP UTILITY Advanced Value in units of PCI clocks for PCI device latency timer register.
3.3.6 Floppy Configuration In this section, you may configure the type of your floppy drive. BIOS SETUP UTILITY Advanced Floppy Configuration [1.44 MB 31 2"] Floppy A Select the type of floppy drive connected to the system. +F1 F9 F10 ESC Select Screen Select Item Change Option General Help Load Defaults Save and Exit Exit v02.54 (C) Copyright 1985-2003, American Megatrends, Inc. 3.3.
Parallel Port Address Use this item to set the address for the onboard parallel port or disable it. Configuration options: [Disabled], [378], and [278]. Parallel Port Mode Use this item to set the operation mode of the parallel port. The default value is [ECP+EPP]. If this option is set to [ECP+EPP], it will show the EPP version in the following item, “EPP Version”. Configuration options: [Normal], [Bi-Directional], and [ECP+EPP]. EPP Version Use this item to set the EPP version. Configuration options: [1.
Legacy USB Support Use this item to enable or disable the support to emulate the I/O devices of legacy OS (DOS) such as mouse, keyboard, USB flash... etc. Or you may select [Auto] so that the system will start to auto-detect; if there is no USB device connected, “Auto” option will disable the legacy USB support. 3.
3.5 Boot Screen In this section, it will display the available devices on your system for you to configure the boot settings and the boot priority. Main Advanced BIOS SETUP UTILITY H/W Monitor Boot Boot Settings Exit Configure Settings during System Boot.
3.6 Security Screen In this section, you may set or change the supervisor/user password for the system. For the user password, you may also clear it. Main Advanced BIOS SETUP UTILITY H/W Monitor Boot Security Settings Supervisor Password User Password Security Exit Install or Change the password. : Not Installed : Not Installed Change Supervisor Password Change User Password Enter F1 F9 F10 ESC Select Screen Select Item Change General Help Load Defaults Save and Exit Exit v02.
3.7 Exit Screen Main Advanced BIOS SETUP UTILITY H/W Monitro Boot Exit Options Security Exit Exit system setup after saving the changes. Save Changes and Exit Discard Changes and Exit Discard Changes F10 key can be used for this operation. Load Optimal Defaults Enter F1 F9 F10 ESC Select Screen Select Item Go to Sub Screen General Help Load Defaults Save and Exit Exit v02.54 (C) Copyright 1985-2003, American Megatrends, Inc.
4. Software Suppor Supportt 4.1 Install Operating System This motherboard supports various Microsoft® Windows® operating systems: 2000 / XP / XP 64-bit / VistaTM / VistaTM 64-bit. Because motherboard settings and hardware options vary, use the setup procedures in this chapter for general reference only. Refer to your OS documentation for more information. 4.
APPENDIX: echnology AMD’s Cool ‘n’ Quiet TM TTechnology For power-saving sake, it is strongly recommended to enable AMD’s Cool ‘n’ QuietTM technology under Windows® system. When using this feature, please make sure to install “AMD Processor Driver” from the “Support CD” first. If you are using Windows® 2000/XP operating system, please follow the instruction below to enable AMD’s Cool ‘n’ QuietTM technology: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. From the Windows® 2000/XP operating system, click the Start button.
