Asus M3N HD User Manual

M3N-HD/

HDMI

Contents

Contents ...................................................................................................... iii

Notices........................................................................................................ vii

Safety information .................................................................................... viii

About this guide ......................................................................................... ix

M3N-HD/HDMI speciﬁcations summary .................................................... xi

Welcome! ...................................................................................... 1-1

Package contents......................................................................... 1-1

Special features............................................................................ 1-2

1.3.1

1.3.2

1.3.3

Product highlights ........................................................... 1-2

ASUS AI Lifestyle unique feature s .................................. 1-4

ASUS intelligent performance and

overclocking feature s ...................................................... 1-7

Chapter 2:

Hardware information

2.1

Before you proceed ..................................................................... 2-1

Onboard LED ................................................................................. 2-1

Motherboard overview................................................................. 2-2

Placement direction ........................................................ 2-2

Screw holes .................................................................... 2-2

Motherboard layou t ......................................................... 2-3

Layout contents............................................................... 2-4

2.3

2.4

Central Processing Unit (CPU) ................................................... 2-6

2.3.1

2.3.2

Installing the CPU ........................................................... 2-6

Installing the heatsink and fan ........................................ 2-8

System memory ......................................................................... 2-11

Overvie w ........................................................................2-11

Memory conﬁgurations ...................................................2-11

Installing a DIMM .......................................................... 2-15

Removing a DIMM ........................................................ 2-15

2.5

Expansion slots.......................................................................... 2-16

Installing an expansion card ......................................... 2-16

Conﬁguring an expansion card ..................................... 2-16

Interrupt assignments ................................................... 2-17

PCI slots........................................................................ 2-18

iii

Contents

2.5.5

2.5.6

2.5.7

PCI Express x1 slots..................................................... 2-18

PCI Express 2.0 x16 slot (blue) .................................... 2-18

Universal PCI Express x16 slot (black)......................... 2-18

2.6

2.7

Jumper ........................................................................................ 2-20

Connectors ................................................................................. 2-21

2.7.1

2.7.2

Rear panel connectors.................................................. 2-21

Internal connectors ....................................................... 2-24

Chapter 3:

Powering up

3.1

Starting up for the ﬁrst time ........................................................ 3-1

3.2

Turning off the computer............................................................. 3-2

3.2.1

3.2.2

Using the OS shut down function.................................... 3-2

Using the dual function power switch.............................. 3-2

Chapter 4:

4.1

BIOS setup

Managing and updating your BIOS ............................................ 4-1

ASUS Update utility ........................................................ 4-1

Creating a bootable ﬂoppy disk ....................................... 4-4

ASUS EZ Flash 2 utility................................................... 4-5

Updating the BIO S .......................................................... 4-6

Saving the current BIOS ﬁle ............................................ 4-8

4.2

BIOS setup program .................................................................... 4-9

BIOS menu screen........................................................ 4-10

Menu bar....................................................................... 4-10

Legend bar.....................................................................4-11

Menu items ....................................................................4-11

Sub-menu items.............................................................4-11

Conﬁguration ﬁelds ........................................................4-11

Pop-up window ............................................................. 4-12

General help ................................................................. 4-12

4.3

Main menu .................................................................................. 4-13

System Time ................................................................. 4-13

System Date ................................................................. 4-13

Legacy Diskette A ......................................................... 4-13

Primary IDE Master/Slave............................................. 4-14

SATA1/2/3/4 .................................................................. 4-16

Contents

4.3.6

4.3.7

4.3.8

HDD SMART Monitorin g ............................................... 4-17

Installed Memory........................................................... 4-17

Usable Memory............................................................. 4-17

4.4

Advanced menu ......................................................................... 4-18

JumperFree Conﬁguration ............................................ 4-18

AI Net 2 ......................................................................... 4-20

CPU Conﬁguratio n ........................................................ 4-20

Chipset.......................................................................... 4-22

PCIPnP ......................................................................... 4-23

Onboard Device Conﬁguration ...................................... 4-24

USB Conﬁguration ........................................................ 4-26

4.5

4.6

Power menu................................................................................ 4-27

ACPI Suspend Type...................................................... 4-27

ACPI APIC Support....................................................... 4-27

APM Conﬁguration ........................................................ 4-27

Hardware Monitor ......................................................... 4-29

Boot menu .................................................................................. 4-31

Boot Device Priority ...................................................... 4-31

Removable Drives......................................................... 4-31

Boot Settings Conﬁguration ......................................... 4-32

Securit y ......................................................................... 4-33

4.7

4.8

Tools menu ................................................................................. 4-35

4.7.1

4.7.2

4.7.3

ASUS O.C. Proﬁle ......................................................... 4-35

ASUS EZ Flash 2.......................................................... 4-37

Express Gate Lite ......................................................... 4-38

Exit men u .................................................................................... 4-39

Installing an operating system ................................................... 5-1

Support DVD informatio n ............................................................ 5-1

Running the support DV D ............................................... 5-1

Drivers menu................................................................... 5-2

Utilities menu .................................................................. 5-3

Make Disk menu ............................................................. 5-5

Manual menu .................................................................. 5-6

ASUS Contact informatio n .............................................. 5-6

Contents

5.2.7

Other information ............................................................ 5-7

5.3

Software information ................................................................... 5-9

ASUS MyLogo2™........................................................... 5-9

Cool ‘n’ Quiet!™ T e chnology ..........................................5-11

Audio conﬁgurations ..................................................... 5-14

ASUS PC Probe II......................................................... 5-18

ASUS AI Suite............................................................... 5-24

ASUS AI Gear 2 ............................................................ 5-26

ASUS AI Nap ................................................................ 5-27

ASUS Q-Fan 2 .............................................................. 5-28

ASUS AI Booster........................................................... 5-29

5.3.10 ASUS Express Gate Lite............................................... 5-30

5.4

RAID conﬁgurations .................................................................. 5-37

5.4.1

RAID deﬁnitions ............................................................ 5-37

5.4.2

NVIDIA^®RAID conﬁgurations........................................ 5-38

5.5

Creating a RAID driver disk....................................................... 5-45

5.5.1

5.5.2

Creating a RAID driver disk without entering the OS.... 5-45

Creating a RAID/SATA driver disk in Windows^®............ 5-45

Chapter 6:

NVIDIA^®SLI™ technology support

6.1

Overview ....................................................................................... 6-1

Requirements................................................................................. 6-1

Dual graphics card setup ............................................................ 6-2

Installing SLI-ready graphics cards................................. 6-2

Installing the device drivers............................................. 6-5

Enabling the multi-GPU feature in Windows^®................. 6-5

Notices

Federal Communications Commission Statement

This device complies with Part 15 of the FCC Rules. Operation is subject to the

following two conditions:

•

This device may not cause harmful interference, and

This device must accept any interference received including interference that

may cause undesired operation.

This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a

Class B digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are

designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a

residential installation. This equipment generates, uses and can radiate radio

frequency energy and, if not installed and used in accordance with manufacturer’s

instructions, may cause harmful interference to radio communications. However,

there is no guarantee that interference will not occur in a particular installation. If

this equipment does cause harmful interference to radio or television reception,

which can be determined by turning the equipment off and on, the user is

encouraged to try to correct the interference by one or more of the following

measures:

•

Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna.

Increase the separation between the equipment and receiver.

Connect the equipment to an outlet on a circuit different from that to which the

receiver is connected.

•

Consult the dealer or an experienced radio/TV technician for help.

The use of shielded cables for connection of the monitor to the graphics card is

required to assure compliance with FCC regulations. Changes or modiﬁcations

to this unit not expressly approved by the party responsible for compliance

could void the user’s authority to operate this equipment.

Canadian Department of Communications Statement

This digital apparatus does not exceed the Class B limits for radio noise emissions

from digital apparatus set out in the Radio Interference Regulations of the

Canadian Department of Communications.

This class B digital apparatus complies with Canadian ICES-003.

vii

Safety information

Electrical safety

•

To prevent electrical shock hazard, disconnect the power cable from the

electrical outlet before relocating the system.

•

When adding or removing devices to or from the system, ensure that the power

cables for the devices are unplugged before the signal cables are connected. If

possible, disconnect all power cables from the existing system before you add

a device.

•

Before connecting or removing signal cables from the motherboard, ensure

that all power cables are unplugged.

Seek professional assistance before using an adpater or extension cord.

These devices could interrupt the grounding circuit.

Make sure that your power supply is set to the correct voltage in your area. If

you are not sure about the voltage of the electrical outlet you are using, contact

your local power company.

•

If the power supply is broken, do not try to ﬁx it by yourself. Contact a qualiﬁed

service technician or your retailer.

Operation safety

•

Before installing the motherboard and adding devices on it, carefully read all

the manuals that came with the package.

•

Before using the product, make sure all cables are correctly connected and the

power cables are not damaged. If you detect any damage, contact your dealer

immediately.

•

To avoid short circuits, keep paper clips, screws, and staples away from

connectors, slots, sockets and circuitry.

Avoid dust, humidity, and temperature extremes. Do not place the product in

any area where it may become wet.

•

Place the product on a stable surface.

•

If you encounter technical problems with the product, contact a qualiﬁed

service technician or your retailer.

This symbol of the crossed out wheeled bin indicates that the product (electrical,

electronic equipment, and mercury-containing button cell battery) should not

be placed in municipal waste. Check local regulations for disposal of electronic

products.

viii

About this guide

This user guide contains the information you need when installing and conﬁguring

the motherboard.

How this guide is organized

This guide contains the following parts:

•

Chapter 1: Product introduction

This chapter describes the features of the motherboard and the new

technology it supports.

•

Chapter 2: Hardware information

This chapter lists the hardware setup procedures that you have to perform

when installing system components. It includes description of the switches,

jumpers, and connectors on the motherboard.

•

Chapter 3: Powering up

This chapter describes the power up sequence and ways of shutting down

the system.

Chapter 4: BIOS setup

This chapter tells how to change system settings through the BIOS Setup

menus. Detailed descriptions of the BIOS parameters are also provided.

Chapter 5: Software support

This chapter describes the contents of the support DVD that comes with the

motherboard package and the software.

Chapter 6: NVIDIA SLI™ technology support

This chapter describes the NVIDIA SLI™ feature and shows the graphics

card installation procedures.

Where to ﬁnd more information

Refer to the following sources for additional information and for product and

software updates.

ASUS websites

The ASUS website provides updated information on ASUS hardware and

software products. Refer to the ASUS contact information.

Optional documentation

Your product package may include optional documentation, such as warranty

ﬂyers, that may have been added by your dealer. These documents are not

part of the standard package.

Conventions used in this guide

To make sure that you perform certain tasks properly, take note of the following

symbols used throughout this manual.

DANGER/WARNING: Information to prevent injury to yourself

when trying to complete a task.

CAUTION: Information to prevent damage to the components

when trying to complete a task.

IMPORTANT: Instructions that you MUST follow to complete a

task.

NOTE: Tips and additional information to help you complete a

task.

Typography

Bold text

Italics

Indicates a menu or an item to select.

Used to emphasize a word or a phrase.

<Key>

Keys enclosed in the less-than and greater-than sign

means that you must press the enclosed key.

Example: <Enter> means that you must press the

Enter or Return key.

<Key1+Key2+Key3>

If you must press two or more keys simultaneously, the

key names are linked with a plus sign (+).

Example: <Ctrl+Alt+D>

Command

Means that you must type the command exactly as

shown, then supply the required item or value enclosed

in brackets.

Example: At the DOS prompt, type the command line:

afudos ��M3N-HD.ROM

M3N-HD/HDMI speciﬁcations summary

CPU

AMD^®Socket AM2+ Phenom™ FX / Phenom™ /

Athlon™ / Sempron™ processors

AMD^®Socket AM2 Athlon Series / Sempron processors

AMD Cool ‘n’ Quiet™ Technology

Chipset

NVIDIA^®nForce 750a SLI

System bus

Up to 5200 MT/s; HyperTransport™ 3.0 interface for

AM2+ CPU

2000 / 1600 MT/s for AM2 CPU

Memory

Dual-channel memory architecture

4 x 240-pin DIMM sockets support unbufferred

ECC/non-ECC DDR2 1066*/800/667 MHz memory

modules

Supports up to 8 GB system memory

*DDR2 1066 is supported by some of the AM2+ CPUs

only. Refer to www.asus.com for the supported CPU

models and the Memory QVL (Qualiﬁed Vendors Lists).

VGA

Integrated NVIDIA^®GPU

Maximum shared memory of 512MB

Supports HDMI™ Technology with HDCP compliant

with max. resolution up to 1920 x 1200

Supports D-Sub with max. resolution up to 1920 x

1440 @ 75 Hz

Multi VGA output support: HDMI/DVI & D-Sub

Hybrid SLI Support (For Windows Vista only)

Supports PCIe 2.0/1.0 architecture

Expansion slots

Storage

2 x PCIe x16 slots @ dual x8 mode

2 x PCIe x1 slots

2 x PCI 2.2 slots

1 x Ultra DMA 133/100 interface

6 x SATA 3.0 Gb/s connectors supporting RAID 0, 1, 0+1,

5, and JBOD conﬁguration

LAN

Atheros^®F1 Phy Gigabit LAN controller

High Deﬁnition audio

Realtek^®ALC1200 8-channel High Deﬁnition audio

CODEC

Supports Jack-Detection and Multi-Streaming

Coaxial S/PDIF Out port at back I/O

IEEE 1394

USB

LSI^®FW322 controller supports 2 x IEEE 1394a ports

(1 at mid-board; 1 on the rear panel)

12 x USB 2.0 ports (6 at mid-board; 6 on the rear panel)

(continued on the next page)

M3N-HD/HDMI speciﬁcations summary

ASUS AI Lifestyle

unique features

ASUS Express Gate Lite:

Web browser, ﬁle downloading and uploading*

Further free features upgradable

* File downloading and uploading through USB devices

only.

ASUS Quiet Thermal Solution:

ASUS 4+1 Phase Power Design

ASUS AI Gear 2

ASUS AI Nap

ASUS Fanless Design: Heat-pipe solution

ASUS Q-Fan 2

ASUS Crystal Sound

ASUS Noise Filter

ASUS EZ DIY

ASUS Q-Shield

ASUS Q-Connector

ASUS O.C. Proﬁle

ASUS EZ Flash 2

Other features

ASUS MyLogo 2™

ASUS exclusive

Intelligent overclocking tools:

overclocking features

AI Overclocking (intelligent CPU frequency tuner)

ASUS AI Booster utility

Precision Tweaker:

vCore: Adjustable CPU voltage at 0.0125V increment

vDIMM: 8-step DRAM voltage control

vChipset: 4-step Chipset voltage control

SFS (Stepless Frequency Selection):

FSB tuning from 200MHz up to 600MHz at 1MHz

increment

Memory tuning from 533MHz up to 1066MHz

PCI Express frequency tuning from 100MHz to 200

MHz at 1MHz increment

Overclocking protection:

ASUS C.P.R. (CPU Parameter Recall)

(continued on the next page)

xii

M3N-HD/HDMI speciﬁcations summary

Rear panel I/O ports

1 x PS/2 keyboard port (purple)

1 x S/PDIF Out (Coaxial)

1 x HDMI Out

1 x IEEE 1394a port

1 x LAN (RJ-45)

6 x USB 2.0/1.1

8-channel audio I/O

Internal I/O connectors

3 x USB connectors support additional 6 USB ports

1 x Floppy disk drive connector

1 x COM connector

1 x IDE connector

6 x SATA connectors

1 x CPU Fan connector

1 x Chassis Fan connector

1 x Power Fan connector

1 x IEEE1394a connector

1 x Front panel audio connector

1 x S/PDIF Out Header

1 x VGA connector

1 x Chassis Intrusion connector

1 x CD audio in

1 x 24-pin ATX Power connector

1 x 4-pin ATX 12V Power connector

1 x System Panel (Q-Connector)

BIOS features

8 Mb Flash ROM, Award BIOS, PnP, DMI 2.0, WfM2.0,

SM BIOS 2.3, ACPI 2.0a, ASUS EZ Flash 2

Support DVD contents

Drivers

Express Gate Lite

ASUS PC Probe II

ASUS Update

Anti-virus Utility (OEM version)

Form factor

ATX form factor: 12 in x 9.6 in (30.5 cm x 24.4 cm)

*Speciﬁcations are subject to change without notice.

xiii

xiv

This chapter describes the motherboard

features and the new technologies

it supports.

Chapter 1:

Product

introduction

Chapter summary

1.1

1.2

1.3

Welcome! ...................................................................................... 1-1

Package contents......................................................................... 1-1

Special features............................................................................ 1-2

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

1.1

Welcome!

Thank you for buying an ASUS^®M3N-HD/HDMI motherboard!

The motherboard delivers a host of new features and latest technologies, making it

another standout in the long line of ASUS quality motherboards!

Before you start installing the motherboard, and hardware devices on it, check the

items in your package with the list below.

1.2

Package contents

Check your motherboard package for the following items.

Motherboard

Cables

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

1 x ASUS SLI bridge cable

Serial ATA power cable for 4 devices

Serial ATA signal cable for 6 devices

1 x Ultra DMA 133/100/66 cable

1 x Floppy disk drive cable

Accessories

1 x ASUS Q-Shield

1 x ASUS Q-Connector Kit

(USB, 1394, system panel; Retail version only)

1 x D-Sub connector module

1 x HDMI to DVI convertor

1 x USB module supporting 2 ports

Application DVD

Documentation

ASUS motherboard support DVD

User guide

If any of the above items is damaged or missing, contact your retailer.

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

1-1

1.3

Special features

1.3.1

Product highlights

Green ASUS

This motherboard and its packaging comply with the European Union’s Restriction

on the use of Hazardous Substances (RoHS). This is in line with the ASUS vision

of creating environment-friendly and recyclable products/packaging to safeguard

consumers’ health while minimizing the impact on the environment.

AMD^®Socket AM2+ Phenom™ FX / Phenom /

Athlon™ / Sempron™ CPU support

This motherboard supports AMD^®Socket AM2+ multi-core processors with

unique L3 cache and delivers better overclocking capabilities with less power

consumption. It features dual-channel DDR2 1066 memory support and

accelerates data transfer rate up to 5200MT/s via HyperTransport™ 3.0 based

system bus. See page 2-6 for details.

HyperTransport™ 3.0 support

HyperTransport™ 3.0 technology provides 2.6 times more bandwidth than

HyperTransport™ 1.0, radically improving system efﬁciency to create a smoother,

faster computing environment.

AMD^®Socket AM2 Athlon™ Series / Sempron™

CPU support

This motherboard supports AMD^®Socket AM2 Athlon™ Series / Sempron™

processors. It features 2000 / 1600 MT/s HyperTransport™-based system bus,

dual-channel un-buffered DDR2 800 memory support, and AMD^®Cool ‘n’ Quiet™

Technology. See page 2-6 for details.

NVIDIA^®nForce 750a Chipset

NVIDIA^®nForce 750a Chipset is designed to support up to 5200MT/s

HyperTransport™ 3.0 (HT 3.0) interface speed and dual PCI Express™ 2.0 x16

graphics. It is optimized with AMD^®’s latest AM2+ and multi-core CPUs to provide

excellent system performance and overclocking capabilities.

Native DDR2 1066 support

This motherboard provides native DDR2 1066 support. It provides faster data

transfer rate and more bandwidth to increase memory computing efﬁciency,

enhancing system performance in 3D graphics and other memory demanding

applications. See page 2-11 for details.

DDR2 1066 is supported by some of the AM2+ CPUs only. Refer to www.asus.

com for the supported CPU models.

1-2

Chapter 1: Product Introduction

NVIDIA^®Hybrid SLI Technology

Hybrid SLI™ Technology is a unique hybrid multi-GPU technology. It includes

two primary features: GeForce Boost and HybridPower™. GeForce Boost

turbo-charges performance of discrete graphics cards when combined with M3N

series motherboard GPUs. HybridPower™ unleashes graphics performance

for demanding 3D applications and enables low-power operation for everyday

computing needs. You can switch from the discrete GeForce GPU(s) to the

motherboard GPU for a quiet, low power PC experience. See page 2-19 for details.

Geforce Boost and HybridPower™ are independent on select GeForce GPUs.

Visit www.nvidia.com/hybridsli for more information.

HDMI / DVI / D-Sub Interface

HDMI (High-Deﬁnition Multimedia Interface) is a set of digital video standards that

delivers multi-channel audio and uncompressed digital video through a single

cable for full HD 1080p visuals. Supporting HDCP copy protection such as HD

DVD and Blu-ray Discs, HDMI provides you with the highest-quality home theater

experience.

DVI (Digital Visual Interface) provides high quality visuals for digital display devices

like LCD monitors. See page 2-22 for details.

This motherboard is bundled with an HDMI-to-DVI converter.

PCIe 2.0 support

This motherboard supports the latest PCIe 2.0 devices for double speed and

bandwidth which enhances system performance. See page 2-18 for details.

Serial ATA 3.0 Gb/s technology

This motherboard supports the next-generation hard disk drives based on the

Serial ATA (SATA) 3Gb/s storage speciﬁcations, delivering enhanced scalability

and doubling the bus bandwidth for high-speed data retrieval and save. It allows

RAID 0, 1, 0+1, 5 and JBOD conﬁgurations for two SATA connectors. See page

2-26 for details.

IEEE 1394a support

The IEEE 1394a interface provides high speed digital interface for audio/video

appliances such as digital television, digital video camcorders, storage peripherals,

and other PC portable devices. See page 2-21 and 2-28 for details.

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

1-3

S/PDIF digital sound ready

This motherboard provides convenient connectivity to external home theater

audio systems via the coaxial S/PDIF (SONY-PHILIPS Digital Interface) Out

jack. It allows digital audio transferring without converting it to analog format, and

therefore well preserves signal quality. See page 2-22 and 2-34 for details.

High Deﬁnition Audio

Enjoy high-end sound quality on your PC! The onboard 8-channel HD audio (High

Deﬁnition Audio, previously codenamed Azalia) CODEC enables high-quality

192KHz/24-bit audio output that simultaneously sends different audio streams to

different destinations. You can now talk to your partners on the headphones while

playing multi-channel network games. See pages 2-21 and 2-22 for details.

1.3.2

ASUS AI Lifestyle unique features

ASUS Express Gate Lite

Just 5 seconds to boot up, the ASUS Express Gate Lite allows you to instantly surf

the Internet without entering Windows. You can now enjoy Skype, IM, YouTube,

webmail and Internet ﬁle downloads and sharing whenever and wherever you

want! See page 5-30 to 5-36 for details .

•

ASUS Express Gate Lite supports USB devices or SATA HDDs (IDE mode)

only. Set the SATA Operation Mode item in the BIOS to [IDE] before

installing and using ASUS Express Gate Lite.

•

Currently, ASUS Express Gate Lite DOES NOT support PATA IDE HDDs.

Visit www.asus.com for future BIOS and Express Gate Lite software

updates.

ASUS Quiet Thermal Solution

ASUS Quiet Thermal solution makes system more stable and enhances the

overclocking capability.

AI Gear 2

AI Gear 2 allows you to choose from proﬁles to adjust CPU frequency and

vCore voltage, minimizing system noise and saving CPU power consumption

at most. You can real-time chnage the mode under operating system to suit

your needs. See page 5-26 for details.

1-4

Chapter 1: Product Introduction

AI Nap

With AI Nap, the system can continue running at minimum power and noise

when you are temporarily away. To wake the system and return to the OS

environment, simply click the mouse or press a key. See page 5-27 for

details.

Q-Fan 2

ASUS Q-Fan2 technology intelligently adjusts both CPU fan and chassis

fan speeds according to system loading to ensure quiet, cool and efﬁcient

operation. See pages 4-29 and 5-28 for details.

Fanless Design - Heat-pipe

The Heat Pipe design effectively directs the heat generated by the chipsets to

the heatsink near the back IO ports, where it can be carried away by existing

airﬂow from CPU fan or bundled optional fan. The purpose of the innovative

heat pipe design on this motherboard is that the groundbreaking fanless

design does not have lifetime problems as a chipset fan does. Furthermore, it

provides options for users to install side-ﬂow fan or passive cooler. The Heat

Pipe design is the most reliable fanless thermal solution to date.

DO NOT uninstall the heat-pipe by yourself. Doing so may bend the tubing and

affect the heat dissipation performance.

ASUS Crystal Sound

This feature can enhance speech-centric applications like Skype, online game,

video conference and recording.

Noise Filter

This feature detects repetitive and stationary noises (non-voice signals) like

computer fans, air conditioners, and other background noises then eliminates

it in the incoming audio stream while recording. See page 5-17 for details.

ASUS EZ DIY

ASUS EZ DIY feature collection provides you easy ways to install computer

components, update the BIOS or back up your favorite settings.

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

1-5

ASUS Q-Shield

The specially designed ASUS Q-Shield does without the usual “ﬁngers”—

making it convenient and easy to install. With better electric conductivity,

it ideally protects your motherboard against static electricity and shields it

against Electronic Magnetic Interference (EMI).

ASUS Q-Connector

ASUS Q-Connector allows you to easily connect or disconnect the chassis

front panel cables to the motherboard. This unique module eliminates the

trouble of connecting the system panel cables one at a time and avoiding

wrong cable connections. See page 2-36 for details.

ASUS O.C. Proﬁle

The motherboard features the ASUS O.C. Proﬁle that allows users to

conveniently store or load multiple BIOS settings. The BIOS settings can be

stored in the CMOS or a separate ﬁle, giving users freedom to share and

distribute their favorite settings. See page 4-35 for details.

ASUS EZ Flash 2

ASUS EZ Flash 2 is a user-friendly BIOS update utility. Simply press the

predeﬁned hotkey to launch the utility and update the BIOS without entering

the OS. Update your BIOS easily without preparing a bootable diskette or

using an OS-based ﬂash utility. See page 4-5 and 4-37 for details.

Smart Support DVD

This feature provides a checklist that allows the user to know which drivers

are already installed, as well as those that are not. When using ASUS PC

Probe II, you can easily monitor the critical components of the computer.

ASUS MyLogo 2™

This feature allows you to convert your favorite photo into a 256-color boot logo

for a more colorful and vivid image on your screen. See pages 4-33 and 5-9 for

details.

1-6

Chapter 1: Product Introduction

1.3.3

ASUS intelligent performance and overclocking

features

Precision Tweaker

This feature allows you to ﬁne tune the CPU/memory voltage and gradually

increase the memory, Front Side Bus (FSB) and PCI Express frequency at 1MHz

increment to achieve maximum system performance.

AI Booster

The ASUS AI Booster allows you to overclock the CPU speed in Windows

environment without the hassle of booting the BIOS. See page 5-29 for details.

C.P.R. (CPU Parameter Recall)

The C.P.R. feature of the motherboard BIOS allows automatic re-setting to the

BIOS default settings in case the system hangs due to overclocking. When the

system hangs due to overclocking, C.P.R. eliminates the need to open the system

chassis and clear the RTC data. Simply shut down and reboot the system, and the

BIOS automatically restores the CPU default setting for each parameter.

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

1-7

1-8

Chapter 1: Product Introduction

This chapter lists the hardware setup

procedures that you have to perform

when installing system components. It

includes description of the jumpers and

connectors on the motherboard.

Chapter 2: Hardware

information

Chapter summary

Before you proceed ..................................................................... 2-1

Motherboard overview................................................................. 2-2

Central Processing Unit (CPU) ................................................... 2-6

System memory ......................................................................... 2-11

Expansion slots.......................................................................... 2-16

Jumper ........................................................................................ 2-20

Connectors ................................................................................. 2-21

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

2.1

Before you proceed

Take note of the following precautions before you install motherboard components

or change any motherboard settings.

•

Unplug the power cord from the wall socket before touching any

component.

Use a grounded wrist strap or touch a safely grounded object or to a metal

object, such as the power supply case, before handling components to

avoid damaging them due to static electricity.

•

Hold components by the edges to avoid touching the ICs on them.

Whenever you uninstall any component, place it on a grounded antistatic

pad or in the bag that came with the component.

•

Before you install or remove any component, ensure that the ATX power

supply is switched off or the power cord is detached from the power

supply. Failure to do so may cause severe damage to the motherboard,

peripherals, and/or components.

Onboard LED

The motherboard comes with a standby power LED. The green LED lights up

to indicate that the system is ON, in sleep mode, or in soft-off mode. This is a

reminder that you should shut down the system and unplug the power cable before

removing or plugging in any motherboard component. The illustration below shows

the location of the onboard LED.

M3N-HD/HDMI

SB_PWR

Standy Power

OFF

Powered Off

M3N-HD/HDMI Onboard LED

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

2-1

2.2

Motherboard overview

Before you install the motherboard, study the conﬁguration of your chassis to

ensure that the motherboard ﬁts into it.

Make sure to unplug the power cord before installing or removing the

motherboard. Failure to do so can cause you physical injury and damage

motherboard components.

2.2.1

Placement direction

When installing the motherboard, make sure that you place it into the chassis in

the correct orientation. The edge with external ports goes to the rear part of the

chassis as indicated in the image below.

2.2.2

Screw holes

Place nine (9) screws into the holes indicated by circles to secure the motherboard

to the chassis.

Do not overtighten the screws! Doing so can damage the motherboard.

Place this side towards

the rear of the chassis

M3N-HD/HDMI

2-2

Chapter 2: Hardware information

2.2.3

Motherboard layout

24.5cm (9.6in)

CPU_FAN

PWR_FAN

KB_USB56

ATX12V

SPDIF_O1

HDMI

F_USB34

LAN1_USB12

EATXPWR

AUDIO

NVIDIA

nForce

750a SLI

CHA_FAN1

Attansic

PCIEX1_1

PCIEX16_1

M3N-HD/HDMI

PCI1

VGA

BIOS

PCI2

agere

L-FW3227

ALC883

Super

I/O

SB_PWR

PCIEX16_2

Lithium Cell

CMOS Power

CHASSIS

CLRTC

PCIEX1_2

FLOPPY

COM1

IE1394_2

USB78

USB910

USB1112

PANEL

AAFP

Refer to 2.7 Connectors for more information about rear panel connectors and

internal connectors.

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

2-3

2.2.4

Layout contents

Slots

Page

2-11

2-18

DDR2 DIMM slots

PCI slots

PCI Express x1 slots

PCI Express 2.0 x16 slot (blue)

Universal PCI Express x16 slot (black)

Jumper

Page

Clear RTC RAM (3-pin CLRTC)

2-20

Rear panel connectors

Page

2-21

2-22

PS/2 keyboard port (purple)

IEEE 1394a port

LAN (RJ-45) port.

Center/Subwoofer port (orange)

Rear Speaker Out port (black)

Line In port (light blue)

Line Out port (lime)

Microphone port (pink)

Side Speaker Out port (gray)

USB 2.0 ports 1 and 2

USB 2.0 ports 3 and 4

HDMI Out port

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

Coaxial S/PDIF Out port

USB 2.0 ports 5 and 6

2-4

Chapter 2: Hardware information

Internal connectors

Page

2-24

2-25

2-26

Floppy disk drive connector (34-1 pin FLOPPY)

IDE connector (40-1 pin PRI_IDE)

nVIDIA^®nForce 750a SLI Serial ATA connectors

(7-pin SATA1-6)

2-27

USB connectors (10-1 pin USB78, USB910, USB1112)

IEEE 1394a port connector (10-1 pin IE1394_2)

2-28

2-29

CPU, chassis, and power fan connectors

(4-pin CPU_FAN; 3-pin CHA_FAN1; 3-pin PWR_FAN)

Chassis intrusion connector (4-1 pin CHASSIS)

ATX power connectors (24-pin EATXPWR; 4-pin ATX12V)

Front panel audio connector (10-1 pin AAFP)

Optical drive audio connector (4-pin CD)

2-30

2-31

2-32

2-33

2-34

2-35

2-36

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

Serial port connector (10-1 pin COM1)

Digital audio connector (4-1 pin SPDIF_OUT)

Video Graphics Adapter (VGA) connector (16-pin VGA)

System panel connector (20-8-pin PANEL)

ASUS Q-Connector (system panel)

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

2-5

2.3

Central Processing Unit (CPU)

The motherboard comes with an AM2+/AM2 socket designed for AMD^®Socket

AM2+ Phenom™ FX / Phenom / Athlon™ / Sempron™ processors or for Socket

AM2 Athlon series / Sempron processors.

The AM2+/AM2 socket has a different pinout from the 940-pin socket designed

for the AMD Opteron processor. Make sure you use a CPU designed for the

AM2+/AM2 socket. The CPU ﬁts in only one correct orientation. DO NOT force

the CPU into the socket to prevent bending the connectors on the socket and

damaging the CPU!

2.3.1

Installing the CPU

To install a CPU:

1. Locate the CPU socket on the motherboard.

M3N-HD/HDMI

M3N-HD/HDMI CPU SOCKET AM2

Unlock the socket by pressing the

lever sideways, then lift it up to a

90º angle.

Socket lever

Make sure that the socket lever is lifted up to a 90º angle; otherwise, the CPU

will not ﬁt in completely.

2-6

Chapter 2: Hardware information

Position the CPU above the socket

such that the CPU corner with the

gold triangle matches the socket

corner with a small triangle.

Carefully insert the CPU into the

socket until it ﬁts in place.

Gold triangle

Small triangle

When the CPU is in place, push

down the socket lever to secure the

CPU. The lever clicks on the side tab

to indicate that it is locked.

Install a CPU heatsink and fan

following the instructions that came

with the heatsink package.

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

2-7

2.3.2

Installing the heatsink and fan

The AMD^®Phenom™ FX / Phenom / Athlon™/ Sempron™ processor requires a

specially designed heatsink and fan assembly to ensure optimum thermal condition

and performance.

Make sure that you use only AMD-certiﬁed heatsink and fan assembly.

To install the CPU heatsink and fan:

Place the heatsink on top of the installed CPU, making sure that the heatsink

ﬁts properly on the retention module base.

•

The retention module base is already installed on the motherboard upon

purchase.

You do not have to remove the retention module base when installing the

CPU or installing other motherboard components.

If you purchased a separate CPU heatsink and fan assembly, make sure

that a Thermal Interface Material is properly applied to the CPU heatsink or

CPU before you install the heatsink and fan assembly.

CPU fan

CPU heatsink

Retention module base

Retention bracket

Retention bracket lock

Your boxed CPU heatsink and fan assembly should come with installation

instructions for the CPU, heatsink, and the retention mechanism. If the

instructions in this section do not match the CPU documentation, follow the

latter.

2-8

Chapter 2: Hardware information

Attach one end of the retention bracket

to the retention module base.

Align the other end of the retention

bracket (near the retention bracket

lock) to the retention module base.

A clicking sound denotes that the

retention bracket is in place.

Make sure that the fan and

heatsink assembly perfectly ﬁts

the retention mechanism module

base, otherwise you cannot snap

the retention bracket in place.

Push down the retention bracket lock

on the retention mechanism to secure

the heatsink and fan to the module

base.

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

2-9

When the fan and heatsink assembly is in place, connect the CPU fan cable

to the connector on the motherboard labeled CPU_FAN.

CPU_FAN

M3N-HD/HDMI

M3N-HD/HDMI CPU fan connector

•

Do not forget to connect the CPU fan connector! Hardware monitoring

errors can occur if you fail to plug this connector.

•

This connector is backward compatiable with old 3-pin CPU fan.

2-10

Chapter 2: Hardware information

2.4

System memory

2.4.1

Overview

The motherboard comes with four Double Data Rate 2 (DDR2) Dual Inline Memory

Modules (DIMM) sockets.

The ﬁgure illustrates the location of the DDR2 DIMM sockets:

M3N-HD/HDMI

M3N-HD/HDMI 240-pin DDR2 DIMM sockets

Channel

Sockets

Channel A

Channel B

DIMM_A1 and DIMM_A2

DIMM_B1 and DIMM_B2

2.4.2

Memory conﬁgurations

You may install 512 MB, 1 GB, and 2 GB unbuffered ECC and non-ECC DDR2

DIMMs into the DIMM sockets.

Recommended Memory Conﬁgurations

Sockets

Mode

DIMM_A1

(yellow)

DIMM_A2

(black)

DIMM_B1

(yellow)

DIMM_B2

(black)

–

Populated

–

Single-Channel

Populated

Dual-channel (1)

Dual-channel (2)

Populated

–

Populated

–

Populated

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

2-11

Always use identical DDR2 DIMM pairs for dual channel mode. For optimum

compatibility, it is recommended that you obtain memory modules from the

same vendor. Visit the ASUS website (www.asus.com) for the latest Qualiﬁed

Vendors list.

Important notice on installing Windows^®XP 32-bit version

If you install Windows^®XP 32-bit version Operating System (OS), the limitation

of this OS version is that it may reserve a certain amount of memory space for

system devices. We recommend that you install less than 3 GB system memory

if you would like to work under Windows^®XP 32-bit version OS. The excess

memory installation will not cause any usage problem, but it will not give users

the beneﬁt of manipulating this excess memory space.

Visit the ASUS FAQ site for further

explanation:

http://support.asus.com/faq/faq.

aspx?SLanguage=en-us

Under General Search, make the

selections as shown, then click Search. Click the article titled “4GB memory

installed but less memory size detected.”

You also may check the URLs below for third party comments on this issue:

http://dlsvr01.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/4GB_Rev1.pdf

http://www.intel.com/support/motherboards/server/sb/cs-016594.htm

This motherboard can support 4 GB physical memory on the operating systems

listed below. You may install a maximum of 2 GB DIMMs on each slot.

64-bit

Windows^®XP Professional x64 Edition

Windows^®Vista x64 Edition

2-12

Chapter 2: Hardware information

M3N-HD/HDMI Motherboard Qualiﬁed Vendors Lists (QVL)

DDR2-800MHz capability for AM2 CPU

DIMM socket support

(Optional)

Chip

Brand

SS/

Size

Vendor

Chip No.

Part No.

•

512MB

1GB

KINGSTON

Qimonda

Hynix

K4T51083QC

SEC

KVR800D2N5/512

•

Heat-Sink Package

V59C1512804QBF25

Heat-Sink Package

HYB18T512800BF25F

HY5PS12821CFP-S5

D9GKX

4-4-4-12

N/A

5-5-5

N/A

KHX6400D2LLK2/1GN

KVR800D2N5/1G

•

1GB

N/A

•

1GB

N/A

KHX6400D2ULK2/1G

HYS64T64000HU-25F-B

HYMP564U64CP8-S5

HYMP512U64CP8-S5

MT8HTF6464AY-80ED4

CM2X1024-6400C4

BL12864AL804.16FD3

BL12864AA804.16FD3

AHU01GE800C5K1C

M2OAD6G3I4170I1E58

KLDC28F-A8KI5

512MB

1GB

N/A

•

Hynix

N/A

Hynix

•

512MB

1GB

MICRON

CORSAIR

Crucial

Heat-Sink Package

AD26908A8A-25EG

KKA8FEIBF-HJK-25A

Heat-Sink Package

NT5TU64M8BE-25C

NT5TU64M8CE-25D

A3R12E3HEF641B9A05

N2TU51280BE-25C

N/A

•

1GB

N/A

1GB

Crucial

N/A

1GB

Apacer

N/A

1GB

A-DATA

KINGMAX

Super Talent

NANYA

N/A

•

512MB

1GB

KINGMAX

N/A

KLDD48F-ABKI5

512MB

1GB

T800UA12C4

•

N/A

T800UB1GC4

512MB

1GB

NANYA

PSC

NT512T64U880BY-25C

NT1GT64U8HB0BY-25C

NT1GT64U8HCOBY-25D

AL6E8E63B8E1K

•

NANYA

•

1GB

NANYA

N/A

512MB

1GB

PSC

AL7E8E63B-8E1K

1GB

Elixir

N/A

Elixir

M2Y1G64TU8HB0B-25C

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

2-13

M3N-HD/HDMI Motherboard Qualiﬁed Vendors Lists (QVL)

DDR2-667MHz capability for AM2 CPU

Size

Vendor

Chip No.

Chip

Brand

SS/

Part No.

DIMM socket

support (Optional)

•

512MB

256MB

2GB

KINGSTON

Qimonda

SAMSUNG

Hynix

D6408TEBGGL3U

6SBI2D9DCG

KINGSTON

MICRON

ELPIDA

N/A

KVR667D2N5/512

KVR667D2N5/256

KVR667D2N5/2G

•

E1108AB-6E-E

N/A

•

512MB

1GB

HYB18T512800BF3S(ECC)

HYB18T512800BF3S

K4T51163QE-ZCE6

K4T51083QE

5-5-5

HYS72T64000HU-3S-B

HYS72T128020HU-3S-B

HYS64T64000HU-3S-B

HYS64T128020HU-3S-B

M378T3354EZ3-CE6

M378T6553EZS-CE6

M378T2953EZ3-CE6

HYMP532U64CP6-Y5

HYMP512U64CP8-Y5

VS256MB667D2

5-5-5

N/A

512MB

1GB

N/A

•

N/A

512MB

256MB

1GB

SAMSUNG

Hynix

K4T51083QE

256MB

1GB

HY5PS121621CFP-Y5

HY5PS12821CFP-Y5

MIII00605

•

Hynix

•

256MB

512MB

1GB

CORSAIR

ELPIDA

N/A

64M8CFEG

N/A

VS512MB667D2

64M8CFEG

N/A

VS1GB667D2

256MB

512MB

2GB

E2508AB-6E-E

ELPIDA

A-DATA

N/A

EBE25UC8ABFA-6E-E

M2OAD5G3H3166I1C52

M2ONY5H3J4170I1C5Z

BL6464AA663.8FD

BL12864AA663.16FD

BL12864AL664.16FD

BL12864AA663.16FD2

AU01GE667C5KBGC

KLCB68F-36KH5

A-DATA

AD29608A8A-3EG

NT5TU128M8BJ-3C

Heat-Sink Package

AM4B5708GQJS7E

N2TU51216AG-3C

KKEA88B4LAUG-29DX

Heat-Sink Package

•

A-DATA

N/A

512MB

1GB

crucial

N/A

crucial

N/A

•

1GB

crucial

N/A

1GB

crucial

N/A

1GB

Apacer

APACER

NANYA

KINGMAX

N/A

256MB

512MB

1GB

Kingmax

Super Talent

KLCC28F-A8KB5

•

KLCD48F-A8KB5

512MB

1GB

T6UA512C5

•

N/A

T6UB1GC5

•

Side(s): SS - Single-sided DS - Double-sided

DIMM support:

•

A*: Supports one module inserted into either slot as Single-channel

memory conﬁguration.

B*: Supports two modules inserted into either the yellow slots or the black

slots as one pair of Dual-channel memory conﬁguration.

C*: Supports four modules inserted into both the yellow slots and the

black slots as two pairs of Dual-channel memory conﬁguration.

Visit the ASUS website for the latest QVL.

2-14

Chapter 2: Hardware information

2.4.3

Installing a DIMM

Unplug the power supply before adding or removing DIMMs or other

system components. Failure to do so can cause severe damage to both the

motherboard and the components.

To install a DIMM:

DDR2 DIMM notch

Unlock a DIMM socket by

pressing the retaining clips

outward.

Align a DIMM on the socket

such that the notch on the DIMM

matches the break on the socket.

Firmly insert the DIMM into the

socket until the retaining clips

snap back in place and the

DIMM is properly seated.

Unlocked retaining clip

•

A DDR2 DIMM is keyed with a notch so that it ﬁts in only one direction. Do

not force a DIMM into a socket to avoid damaging the DIMM.

•

The DDR2 DIMM sockets do not support DDR DIMMs. DO not install DDR

DIMMs to the DDR2 DIMM sockets.

2.4.4

Removing a DIMM

To remove a DIMM:

1. Simultaneously press the retaining

clips outward to unlock the DIMM.

Support the DIMM lightly with

your ﬁngers when pressing the

retaining clips. The DIMM might

get damaged when it ﬂips out

with extra force.

DDR2 DIMM notch

Remove the DIMM from the socket.

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

2-15

2.5

Expansion slots

In the future, you may need to install expansion cards. The following sub-sections

describe the slots and the expansion cards that they support.

Make sure to unplug the power cord before adding or removing expansion

cards. Failure to do so may cause you physical injury and damage motherboard

components.

2.5.1

Installing an expansion card

To install an expansion card:

Before installing the expansion card, read the documentation that came with

it and make the necessary hardware settings for the card.

Remove the system unit cover (if your motherboard is already installed in a

chassis).

Remove the bracket opposite the slot that you intend to use. Keep the screw

for later use.

Align the card connector with the slot and press ﬁrmly until the card is

completely seated on the slot.

Secure the card to the chassis with the screw you removed earlier.

Replace the system cover.

2.5.2

Conﬁguring an expansion card

After installing the expansion card, conﬁgure the it by adjusting the software

settings.

Turn on the system and change the necessary BIOS settings, if any. See

Chapter 4 for information on BIOS setup.

Assign an IRQ to the card. Refer to the tables on the next page.

Install the software drivers for the expansion card.

When using PCI cards on shared slots, ensure that the drivers support “Share

IRQ” or that the cards do not need IRQ assignments; otherwise, conﬂicts will

arise between the two PCI groups, making the system unstable and the card

inoperable.

2-16

Chapter 2: Hardware information

2.5.3

Interrupt assignments

Standard interrupt assignments

IRQ

Priority Standard function

System Timer

Keyboard Controller

–

Redirect to IRQ#9

Communications Port (COM1)*

IRQ Holder for PCI Steering*

Floppy Disk Controller

Reserved

System CMOS/Real Time Clock

IRQ Holder for PCI Steering*

Reserved

Numeric Data Processor

Primary IDE Channel

* These IRQs are usually available for ISA or PCI devices.

IRQ assignments for this motherboard

–

PCIE x16_1

shared shared shared shared

–

PCIE x16_2

–

USB 1.0 controller 1

USB 1.0 controller 2

USB 1.0 controller 3

USB 1.0 controller 4

USB 2.0 controller

HD audio

–

shared

–

shared

–

Onboard SATA

–

shared

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

2-17

2.5.4

PCI slots

The PCI slots support cards such as a LAN card, SCSI card, USB card, and other

cards that comply with PCI speciﬁcations. Refer to the ﬁgure below for the location

of the slots.

2.5.5

PCI Express x1 slots

This motherboard supports PCI Express x1 network cards, SCSI cards and other

cards that comply with the PCI Express speciﬁcations. Refer to the ﬁgure below for

the location of the slots.

2.5.6

PCI Express 2.0 x16 slot (blue)

This motherboard supports PCI Express 2.0 x16 graphics cards that complies with

the PCI Express speciﬁcations. Refer to the ﬁgure below for the location of the slot.

2.5.7

Universal PCI Express x16 slot (black)

This motherboard also supports a universal PCI Express 2.0 x16 slot at maximum

x8 mode. The operating frequency of this slot changes, depending on the type of

PCI Express card you install. Refer to the ﬁgure below for the location of the slot.

PCI Express x1_1 slot

PCI Express x16_1 slot

PCI_1 slot

PCI_2 slot

Universal PCI Express x16_2 slot

PCI Express x 1_2 slot

2-18

Chapter 2: Hardware information

PCI Express operating mode

VGA conﬁguration

PCIex16_1

PCIex16_2

Single VGA/PCIe card

Dual VGA/PCIe card

x16

•

Currently, only Windows^®Vista operation system supports Hybrid SLI™

mode.

Currently, only NVIDIA^®GeForce^®8500 GT and GeForce^®8400 GS

graphics cards support GeForce Boost function under Hybrid SLI™ mode.

Currently, only NVIDIA^®GeForce^®9800 GX2 and GeForce^®9800 GTX

graphics cards support Hybrid Power function under Hybrid SLI™ mode.

Use only the onboard HDMI/DVI/D-Sub port for video signal output when

activating the Hybird Power function under Hybrid SLI™ mode.

Visit www.nvidia.com/hybridsli for more information about Hybrid SLI™

support.

If you install two VGA cards, we recommend that you plug the rear chassis

fan cable to the motherboard connector labeled CHA_FAN1 for better

thermal environment. See page 2-29 for the connector location.

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

2-19

2.6

Jumper

Clear RTC RAM (3-pin CLRTC)

This jumper allows you to clear the Real Time Clock (RTC) RAM in

CMOS. You can clear the CMOS memory of date, time, and system setup

parameters by erasing the CMOS RTC RAM data. The onboard button

cell battery powers the RAM data in CMOS, which include system setup

information such as system passwords.

To erase the RTC RAM:

1. Turn OFF the computer and unplug the power cord.

2. Move the jumper cap from pins 1-2 (default) to pins 2-3. Keep the cap on

pins 2-3 for about 5~10 seconds, then move the cap back to pins 1-2.

3. Plug the power cord and turn ON the computer.

4. Hold down the <Del> key during the boot process and enter BIOS setup

to re-enter data.

Except when clearing the RTC RAM, never remove the cap on CLRTC jumper

default position. Removing the cap will cause system boot failure!

If the steps above do not help, remove the onboard battery and move the

jumper again to clear the CMOS RTC RAM data. After the CMOS clearance,

reinstall the battery.

M3N-HD/HDMI

CLRTC

Disable

Enable

(Default)

M3N-HD/HDMI Clear RTC RAM

•

You do not need to clear the RTC when the system hangs due to

overclocking. For system failure due to overclocking, use the C.P.R. (CPU

Parameter Recall) feature. Shut down and reboot the system so the BIOS

can automatically reset parameter settings to default values.

•

Due to the chipset limitation, AC power off is required prior using C.P.R.

function. You must turn off and on the power supply or unplug and plug the

power cord before reboot the system.

2-20

Chapter 2: Hardware information

2.7

Connectors

2.7.1

Rear panel connectors

4 5 6 7

PS/2 keyboard port (purple). This port is for a PS/2 keyboard.

IEEE 1394a port. This 6-pin IEEE 1394a port provides high-speed

connectivity for audio/video devices, storage peripherals, PCs, or portable

devices.

LAN (RJ-45) port. Supported by Marvell^®88E1116 Gigabit LAN controller,

this port allows Gigabit connection to a Local Area Network (LAN) through a

network hub. Refer to the table below for the LAN port LED indications.

LAN port LED indications

ACT/LINK SPEED

LED LED

Activity/Link LED

Speed LED

Status

Description

No link

Description

OFF

10 Mbps connection

100 Mbps connection

1 Gbps connection

ORANGE

BLINKING

Linked

ORANGE

GREEN

Data activity

LAN port

Center/Subwoofer port (orange). This port connects the center/subwoofer

speakers.

Rear Speaker Out port (black). This port connects the rear speakers in a

4-channel, 6-channel, or 8-channel audio conﬁguration.

Line In port (light blue). This port connects the tape, CD, DVD player, or

other audio sources.

Line Out port (lime). This port connects a headphone or a speaker. In

4-channel, 6-channel, and 8-channel conﬁguration, the function of this port

becomes Front Speaker Out.

Microphone port (pink). This port connects a microphone.

Side Speaker Out port (gray). This port connects the side speakers in an

8-channel audio conﬁguration.

Refer to the audio conﬁguration table on the next page for the function of the

audio ports in 2, 4, 6, or 8-channel conﬁguration.

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

2-21

Audio 2, 4, 6, or 8-channel conﬁguration

Headset

2-channel

Light Blue Line In

Port

4-channel

6-channel

8-channel

Line In

Lime

Line Out

Front Speaker Out Front Speaker Out

Front Speaker Out

Mic In

Pink

Mic In

Orange

Black

Gray

–

Center/Subwoofer

Rear Speaker Ou

–

Center/Subwoofer

Rear Speaker Out

Side Speaker Out

Rear Speaker Out

–

10. USB 2.0 ports 1 and 2. These 4-pin Universal Serial Bus (USB) ports are

available for connecting USB 2.0 devices.

11. USB 2.0 ports 3 and 4. These 4-pin Universal Serial Bus (USB) ports are

available for connecting USB 2.0 devices.

12. HDMI Out port. This port is for a high-deﬁnition multimedia interface (HDMI)

connector.

•

This motherboard comes with dual-VGA

outputs that features different displays on

2 monitors at the same time if you connect

2 monitors to both the onboard VGA and

HDMI ports.

•

With the bundled HDMI-to-DVI conversion

adapter, this motherboard can also support

DVI output.

Playback of HD DVD and Blu-Ray Discs

The speed and bandwidth of the CPU/Memory, DVD player, and drivers will

affect the playback quality. Following is a conﬁguration example for your

reference. Using the CPU/Memory of higher speed and bandwidth with the

higher-version DVD player and drivers will upgrade the playback quality.

CPU: AMD Athlon64 ADH3200IAA4DE/512KB (single core)

DIMM: Kingston DDR2-800 1G x1 (BIOS share memory: 256MB)

HDD: Seagate ST3160023A (ATA100)

ODD: Sony BWU100A

•

To play HD DVD or Blu-Ray Disc, make sure to use an HDCP compliant

monitor.

Before enabling the HybridPower™ function, ensure that you have connected

your display to the onboard VGA port or the HDMI/DVI port at the rear panel.

13. Coaxial S/PDIF Out port. This port connects an external audio output device

via a coaxial S/PDIF cable.

14. USB 2.0 ports 5 and 6. These 4-pin Universal Serial Bus (USB) ports are

available for connecting USB 2.0 devices.

2-22

Chapter 2: Hardware information

Troubleshooting on HDTV overscaling or underscaling:

If your desktop is extending beyond the viewable display area or the desktop or

image is not ﬁlling the entire display area while using the onboard HDMI out port

and the HDMI cable, you can resize the desktop appearing on your HDTV screen.

To resize your HDTV desktop:

Install NVIDIA Chipset Driver Program from the motherboard support DVD.

Right-click the desktop and select NVIDIA Control Panel.

Under Video & Television, select Resize HDTV desktop.

Select Resize my desktop and click Resize Desktop.

A full-screen adjustment tool

appears. Use the scroll bar to

resize the desktop to ﬁt your display

device. Click OK to exit.

The Resize my desktop function in the NVIDIA Control Panel appears only

when you are using an HDTV compliance resolution such as 480i, 720i, or

1080i.

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

2-23

2.7.2

Internal connectors

Floppy disk drive connector (34-1 pin FLOPPY)

This connector is for the provided ﬂoppy disk drive (FDD) signal cable. Insert

one end of the cable to this connector, then connect the other end to the

signal connector at the back of the ﬂoppy disk drive.

Pin 5 on the connector is removed to prevent incorrect cable connection when

using a FDD cable with a covered Pin 5.

M3N-HD/HDMI

FLOPPY

PIN1

NOTE:Orient the red markings

on the floppy ribbon cable to PIN 1.

M3N-HD/HDMI Floppy disk drive connector

2-24

Chapter 2: Hardware information

IDE connector (40-1 pin PRI_IDE)

The onboard IDE connector is for the Ultra DMA 133/100/66 signal cable.

There are three connectors on each Ultra DMA 133/100/66 signal cable:

blue, black, and gray. Connect the blue connector to the motherboard’s IDE

connector, then select one of the following modes to conﬁgure your device.

PRI_IDE

NOTE:Orient the red markings

on the IDE ribbon cable to PIN 1.

M3N-HD/HDMI

PIN1

M3N-HD/HDMI IDE connector

Drive jumper setting

Mode of

Cable connector

device(s)

Single device

Two devices

Cable-Select or Master

Cable-Select

–

Black

Master

Slave

Master

Slave

Black

Gray

Master

Slave

Black or gray

•

Pin 20 on the IDE connector is removed to match the covered hole on the

Ultra DMA cable connector. This prevents incorrect insertion when you

connect the IDE cable.

Use the 80-conductor IDE cable for Ultra DMA 100/66 IDE devices.

If any device jumper is set as “Cable-Select,” make sure all other device

jumpers have the same setting.

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

2-25

NVIDIA^®nForce 750a SLI Serial ATA connectors (7-pin SATA1-6)

These connectors are for the Serial ATA signal cables for Serial ATA hard disk

and optical disk drives.

If you install SATA hard disk drives to the SATA connectors, you can create

a RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 0+1, RAID 5, or JBOD conﬁguration through the

onboard NVIDIA^®nForce 750a SLI controller.

SATA5

SATA2

SATA1

SATA6

SATA4

SATA3

GND

RSATA_TXP5

RSATA_TXN5

GND

RSATA_RXP5

RSATA_RXN5

GND

RSATA_TXP6

RSATA_TXN6

GND

RSATA_RXP6

RSATA_RXN6

GND

RSATA_TXP2

RSATA_TXN2

GND

RSATA_RXP2

RSATA_RXN2

GND

RSATA_TXP4

RSATA_TXN4

GND

RSATA_RXP4

RSATA_RXN4

GND

M3N-HD/HDMI

GND

RSATA_TXP1

RSATA_TXN1

GND

RSATA_TXP3

RSATA_TXN3

GND

RSATA_RXP1

RSATA_RXN1

GND

RSATA_RXP3

RSATA_RXN3

GND

M3N-HD/HDMI SATA connectors

•

SATA1-4 connectors are set to [IDE] by default. If you intend to create

a Serial ATA RAID set using these connectors, set the SATA Operation

Mode item in the BIOS to [RAID].

•

Before creating a RAID set, refer to the manual bundled in the motherboard

support DVD.

SATA 5-6 connectors support AHCI mode and RAID mode only. Make sure

to install the AHCI driver or RAID driver in the bundled support DVD before

connecting devices to SATA 5-6 connectors. Otherwise, the devices will not

work.

•

Due to chipset limitation, when set any of SATA ports to RAID mode, all

SATA ports run at RAID mode together.

You must install the Windows XP^®Service Pack 1 before using Serial ATA

hard disk drives. The Serial ATA RAID feature (RAID 0 and RAID 1) is

available only if you are using Windows XP^®or later version.

right angle side

Connect the right-angle side of SATA signal

cable to SATA device. Or you may connect

the right-angle side of SATA cable to the

onboard SATA port to avoid mechanical

conﬂict with huge graphics cards.

2-26

Chapter 2: Hardware information

USB connectors (10-1 pin USB 78, USB910, USB1112)

These connectors are for USB 2.0 ports. Connect the USB module cable

to any of these connectors, then install the module to a slot opening at the

back of the system chassis. These USB connectors comply with USB 2.0

speciﬁcation that supports up to 480 Mbps connection speed.

USB78

USB910

USB1112

M3N-HD/HDMI

M3N-HD/HDMI USB 2.0 connectors

Never connect a 1394 cable to the USB connectors. Doing so will damage the

motherboard!

You can connect the front panel USB cable to the ASUS Q-Connector (USB,

blue) ﬁrst, and then install the Q-Connector (USB) to the USB connector

onboard if your chassis supports front panel USB ports.

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

2-27

IEEE 1394a port connector (10-1 pin IE1394_2)

This connector is for a IEEE 1394a port. Connect the IEEE 1394a module

cable to this connector, then install the module to a slot opening at the back

of the system chassis.

M3N-HD/HDMI

IE1394_2

M3N-HD/HDMI IEEE 1394 connector

Never connect a USB cable to the IEEE 1394a connector. Doing so will damage

the motherboard!

You can connect the front panel 1394 cable to the ASUS Q-Connector (1394,

red) ﬁrst, and then install the Q-Connector (1394) to the 1394 connector

onboard if your chassis supports front panel 1394 ports.

The IEEE 1394a module is purchased separately.

2-28

Chapter 2: Hardware information

CPU, chassis, and power fan connectors

(4-pin CPU_FAN; 3-pin CHA_FAN1; 3-pin PWR_FAN)

The fan connectors support cooling fans of 350 mA~2000 mA (24 W max.)

or a total of 1 A~7 A (84 W max.) at +12V. Connect the fan cables to the fan

connectors on the motherboard, making sure that the black wire of each

cable matches the ground pin of the connector.

Do not forget to connect the fan cables to the fan connectors. Insufﬁcient air

ﬂow inside the system may damage the motherboard components. These are

not jumpers! Do not place jumper caps on the fan connectors!

CPU_FAN

PWR_FAN

CHA_FAN1

GND

+12V

Rotation

M3N-HD/HDMI

M3N-HD/HDMI Fan connectors

•

Only the CPU_FAN and CHA_FAN 1 connectors support the ASUS Q

FAN2 feature.

If you install two VGA cards, we recommend that you plug the rear chassis

fan cable to the motherboard connector labled CHA_FAN1 for better themal

environment.

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

2-29

Chassis intrusion connector (4-1 pin CHASSIS)

This connector is for a chassis-mounted intrusion detection sensor or switch.

Connect one end of the chassis intrusion sensor or switch cable to this

connector. The chassis intrusion sensor or switch sends a high-level signal to

this connector when a chassis component is removed or replaced. The signal

is then generated as a chassis intrusion event.

By default , the pin labeled “Chassis Signal” and “Ground” are shorted with

a jumper cap. Remove the jumper caps only when you intend to use the

chassis intrusion detection feature.

M3N-HD/HDMI

CHASSIS

GND

Chassis Signal

+5VSB_MB

M3N-HD/HDMI Chassis intrusion connector

2-30

Chapter 2: Hardware information

ATX power connectors (24-pin EATXPWR; 4-pin ATX12V)

These connectors are for ATX power supply plugs. The power supply plugs

are designed to ﬁt these connectors in only one orientation. Find the proper

orientation and push down ﬁrmly until the connectors completely ﬁt.

ATX12V

+12V DC

GND

EATXPWR

+3 Volts

+12 Volts

+5V Standby

Power OK

GND

+5 Volts

-5 Volts

GND

M3N-HD/HDMI

+5 Volts

GND

+5 Volts

GND

PSON#

GND

+3 Volts

-12 Volts

+3 Volts

M3N-HD/HDMI ATX power connectors

•

For a fully conﬁgured system, we recommend that you use a power supply

unit (PSU) that complies with ATX 12 V Speciﬁcation 2.0 (or later version)

and provides a minimum power of 600 W.

•

Do not forget to connect the 4-pin ATX +12 V power plug; otherwise, the

system will not boot.

•

Use of a PSU with a higher power output is recommended when

conﬁguring a system with more power-consuming devices. The system

may become unstable or may not boot up if the power is inadequate.

•

If you are uncertain about the minimum power supply requirement for your

system, refer to the Recommended Power Supply Wattage Calculator

at http://support.asus.com/PowerSupplyCalculator/PSCalculator.

aspx?SLanguage=en-us for details.

•

The ATX 12 V Speciﬁcation 2.0-compliant (500W) PSU has been tested

to support the motherboard power requirements with the following

conﬁguration:

CPU: AMD FX-62

Memory 1024 MB DDR2-800 (x4)

Graphics card: PCI Express x16 NVIDIA 7900GTX

Serial ATA device: SATA hard disk drive (x2)

Optical drives: DVD-RW

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

2-31

Front panel audio connector (10-1 pin AAFP)

This connector is for a chassis-mounted front panel audio I/O module that

supports either HD Audio or legacy AC`97 audio standard. Connect one end

of the front panel audio I/O module cable to this connector.

AAFP

M3N-HD/HDMI

HD-audio-compliant

pin definition

Legacy AC’97

compliant definition

M3N-HD/HDMI Analog front panel connector

•

We recommend that you connect a high-deﬁnition front panel audio

module to this connector to avail of the motherboard’s high-deﬁnition audio

capability.

•

If you want to connect a high-deﬁnition front panel audio module to this

connector, set the Front Panel Support Type item in the BIOS setup to

[HD Audio]; if you want to connect an AC'97 front panel audio module

to this connector, set the item to [AC97]. By default, this connector is set

to [HD Audio]. See section 4.4.6 Onboard Devices Conﬁguration for

details.

2-32

Chapter 2: Hardware information

10. Optical drive audio connector (4-pin CD)

These connectors allow you to receive stereo audio input from sound sources

such as a CD-ROM, TV tuner, or MPEG card.

M3N-HD/HDMI

Left Audio Channel

GND

Right Audio Channel

M3N-HD/HDMI Internal audio connector

11. Serial port connector (10-1 pin COM1)

This connector is for a serial (COM) port. Connect the serial port module

cable to this connector, then install the module to a slot opening at the back

of the system chassis.

COM1

M3N-HD/HDMI

M3N-HD/HDMI Serial port (COM1) connector

The COM module is purchased separately.

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

2-33

12. Digital audio connector (4-1 pin SPDIF_OUT)

This connector is for an additional Sony/Philips Digital Interface (S/PDIF)

port(s). Connect the S/PDIF Out module cable to this connector, then install

the module to a slot opening at the back of the system chassis.

M3N-HD/HDMI

SPDIF_OUT

M3N-HD/HDMI Digital audio connector

The S/PDIF module is purchased separately.

13. Video Graphics Adapter (VGA) connector (16-pin VGA)

This connector is for the onboard VGA connection, allowing you to connect

a display device to your system. Connect the VGA Out module cable to this

connector, then install the module to a slot opening at the back of the system

chassis.

M3N-HD/HDMI

Graphics card

M3N-HD/HDMI Onboard VGA connector

For easier VGA module installation,

install the VGA module to an expansion

slot below the discrete graphics card.

VGA module

2-34

Chapter 2: Hardware information

14. System panel connector (20-8 pin PANEL)

This connector supports several chassis-mounted functions.

PLED

SPEAKER

M3N-HD/HDMI

PANEL

IDE_LED

PWRSW RESET

* Requires an ATX power supply

M3N-HD/HDMI System panel connector

•

System power LED (2-pin PLED)

This 2-pin connector is for the system power LED. Connect the chassis

power LED cable to this connector. The system power LED lights up when

you turn on the system power, and blinks when the system is in sleep mode.

Hard disk drive activity LED (2-pin IDE_LED)

This 2-pin connector is for the HDD Activity LED. Connect the HDD Activity

LED cable to this connector. The IDE LED lights up or ﬂashes when data is

read from or written to the HDD.

•

System warning speaker (4-pin SPEAKER)

This 4-pin connector is for the chassis-mounted system warning speaker. The

speaker allows you to hear system beeps and warnings.

ATX power button/soft-off button (2-pin PWRSR)

This connector is for the system power button. Pressing the power button

turns the system on or puts the system in sleep or soft-off mode depending

on the BIOS settings. Pressing the power switch for more than four seconds

while the system is ON turns the system OFF.

•

Reset button (2-pin RESET)

This 2-pin connector is for the chassis-mounted reset button for system

reboot without turning off the system power.

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

2-35

15. ASUS Q-Connector (system panel)

You can use the ASUS Q-Connector to connect/disconnect chassis front

panel cables in a few steps. Refer to the instructions below to install the

ASUS Q-Connector.

Connect the front panel cables to the

ASUS Q-Connector.

Refer to the labels on the Q-Connector

to know the detailed pin deﬁnitions, then

match them to the respective front panel

cable labels.

Install the ASUS Q-Connector to the

system panel connector, making sure

the orientation matches the labels on the

motherboard.

The front panel functions are now enabled.

The ﬁgure shows the Q-Connector properly

installed on the motherboard.

2-36

Chapter 2: Hardware information

This chapter describes the power up

sequence, the vocal POST messages,

and ways of shutting down the system.

Chapter 3:

Powering up

Chapter summary

3.1

Starting up for the ﬁrst time........................................................ 3-1

3.2

Turning off the computer............................................................. 3-2

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

3.1

Starting up for the ﬁrst time

After making all the connections, replace the system case cover.

Be sure that all switches are off.

Connect the power cord to the power connector at the back of the system

chassis.

Connect the power cord to a power outlet that is equipped with a surge

protector.

Turn on the devices in the following order:

a. Monitor

b. External SCSI devices (starting with the last device on the chain)

c. System power

After applying power, the system power LED on the system front panel case

lights up. For systems with ATX power supplies, the system LED lights up

when you press the ATX power button. If your monitor complies with “green”

standards or if it has a “power standby” feature, the monitor LED may light up

or switch between orange and green after the system LED turns on.

The system then runs the power-on self tests or POST. While the tests are

running, the BIOS beeps or additional messages appear on the screen. If you

do not see anything within 30 seconds from the time you turned on the power,

the system may have failed a power-on test. Check the jumper settings and

connections or call your retailer for assistance.

At power on, hold down the <Delete> key to enter the BIOS Setup. Follow the

instructions in Chapter 4.

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

3-1

3.2

Turning off the computer

3.2.1

Using the OS shut down function

If you are using Windows^®XP:

Click the Start button then select Turn Off Computer.

Click the Turn Off button to shut down the computer.

The power supply should turn off after Windows^®shuts down.

If you are using Windows^®Vista™:

Click the Start button then select ShutDown.

The power supply should turn off after Windows^®shuts down.

3.2.2

Using the dual function power switch

While the system is ON, pressing the power switch for less than four seconds puts

the system to sleep mode or to soft-off mode, depending on the BIOS setting.

Pressing the power switch for more than four seconds lets the system enter the

soft-off mode regardless of the BIOS setting. Refer to section 4.5 Power Menu in

Chapter 4 for details.

3-2

Chapter 3: Powering up

This chapter tells how to change

the system settings through the BIOS

Setup menus. Detailed descriptions

of the BIOS parameters are also

Chapter 4:

provided.

BIOS setup

Chapter summary

Managing and updating your BIOS ............................................ 4-1

BIOS setup program .................................................................... 4-9

Main menu .................................................................................. 4-13

Advanced menu ......................................................................... 4-18

Power menu................................................................................ 4-27

Boot menu .................................................................................. 4-31

Tools menu ................................................................................. 4-35

Exit men u .................................................................................... 4-39

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

4.1

Managing and updating your BIOS

The following utilities allow you to manage and update the motherboard Basic

Input/Output System (BIOS) setup.

ASUS Update (Updates the BIOS in Windows^®environment.)

ASUS EZ Flash 2 (Updates the BIOS using a ﬂoppy disk or USB ﬂash disk.)

ASUS AFUDOS (Updates the BIOS using a bootable ﬂoppy disk.)

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

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.

4.1.1

ASUS Update utility

The ASUS Update is a utility that allows you to manage, save, and update the

motherboard BIOS in Windows^®environment. The ASUS Update utility allows you

to:

•

Save the current BIOS ﬁle

Download the latest BIOS ﬁle from the Internet

Update the BIOS from an updated BIOS ﬁle

Update the BIOS directly from the Internet, and

View the BIOS version information.

This utility is available in the support DVD that comes with the motherboard

package.

ASUS Update requires an Internet connection either through a network or an

Internet Service Provider (ISP).

Installing ASUS Update

To install ASUS Update:

Place the support DVD in the optical drive. The Drivers menu appears.

Click the Utilities tab, then click Install ASUS Update.

The ASUS Update utility is copied to your system.

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

4-1

Quit all Windows^®applications before you update the BIOS using this utility.

Updating the BIOS through the Internet

To update the BIOS through the Internet:

Launch the ASUS Update utility from the Windows^®desktop by clicking Start

> Programs > ASUS > ASUSUpdate > ASUSUpdate. The ASUS Update

main window appears.

Select Update BIOS from the

Internet option from the drop-down

menu, then click Next.

Select the ASUS FTP site nearest

you to avoid network trafﬁc, or

click Auto Select. Click Next.

4-2

Chapter 4: BIOS setup

From the FTP site, select the BIOS

version that you wish to download.

Click Next.

Follow the screen instructions to

complete the update process.

The ASUS Update utility is

capable of updating itself through

the Internet. Always update the

utility to avail all its features.

Updating the BIOS through a BIOS ﬁle

To update the BIOS through a BIOS ﬁle:

Launch the ASUS Update utility from the Windows^®desktop by clicking Start

> Programs > ASUS > ASUSUpdate > ASUSUpdate. The ASUS Update

main window appears.

Select Update BIOS from a ﬁle

option from the drop-down menu,

then click Next.

Locate the BIOS ﬁle from the Open

window, then click Open.

M3N-HD-HDMI.rom

Follow the screen instructions to

complete the update process.

M3N-HD-HDMI

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

4-3

4.1.2

Creating a bootable ﬂoppy disk

Do either one of the following to create a bootable ﬂoppy disk.

DOS environment

a. Insert a 1.44MB ﬂoppy disk into the drive.

b. At the DOS prompt, type format A:/Sthen press <Enter>.

Windows^®XP environment

a. Insert a 1.44 MB ﬂoppy disk to the ﬂoppy disk drive.

b. Click Start from the Windows^®desktop, then select My Computer.

c. Select the 3 1/2 Floppy Drive icon.

d. Click File from the menu, then select Format. A Format 3 1/2 Floppy

Disk window appears.

e. Select Create an MS-DOS startup disk from the format options ﬁeld,

then click Start.

Windows^®Vista environment

a. Insert a formatted, high density 1.44 MB ﬂoppy disk to the ﬂoppy disk

drive.

b. Click

from the Windows^®desktop, then select Computer.

c. Right-click Floppy Disk Drive then click Format to display the Format 3

1/2 Floppy dialog box .

d. Select the Create an MS-DOS startup disk check box.

e. Click Start.

Copy the original or the latest motherboard BIOS ﬁle to the bootable ﬂoppy

disk.

4-4

Chapter 4: BIOS setup

4.1.3

ASUS EZ Flash 2 utility

The ASUS EZ Flash 2 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 2 utility is built-in the BIOS chip so it is accessible by pressing

<Alt> + <F2> during the Power-On Self Tests (POST).

To update the BIOS using EZ Flash 2:

Visit the ASUS website (www.asus.com) to download the latest BIOS ﬁle for

the motherboard.

Save the BIOS ﬁle to a ﬂoppy disk or a USB ﬂash disk, then restart the

system.

You can launch the EZ Flash 2 by two methods.

(1) Insert the ﬂoppy disk / USB ﬂash disk that contains the BIOS ﬁle to the

ﬂoppy disk drive or the USB port.

Press <Alt> + <F2> during POST to display the following.

ASUSTek EZ Flash 2 BIOS ROM Utility B325

FLASH TYPE: EON EN25F80 8MB SPI

Current ROM

Update ROM

BOARD: Unknown

BOARD: M3N-HD

VER: Unknown

DATE: Unknown

VER: 0104

DATE: 01/10/2008

PATH: A:\

Note

[Enter] Select or Load

[B] Backup

[ESC] Exit

[Tab] Switch

[Up/Down/Home/End] Move

(2) Enter BIOS setup program. Go to the Tools menu to select EZ Flash 2

and press <Enter> to enable it.

You can switch between drives by pressing <Tab> before the correct ﬁle

is found. Then press <Enter>.

When the correct BIOS ﬁle is found, EZ Flash 2 performs the BIOS update

process and automatically reboots the system when done.

•

This function can support devices such as USB ﬂash disk, or ﬂoppy disk

with FAT 32/16 format and single partition only.

•

Do not shut down or reset the system while updating the BIOS to prevent

system boot failure!

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

4-5

4.1.4

Updating the BIOS

The Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) can be updated using the AwardBIOS

Flash Utility. Follow these instructions to update the BIOS using this utility.

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. You need to type the exact BIOS

ﬁlename at the DOS prompt.

Copy the AwardBIOS Flash Utility (awdﬂash.exe) from the Software folder of

the support DVD to the ﬂoppy disk, DVD ROM or a USB ﬂash disk with the

latest BIOS ﬁle.

Boot the system in DOS mode using the bootable ﬂoppy disk, DVD ROM or a

USB ﬂash disk you created earlier.

Under the DOS mode,

AwardBIOS Flash Utility for ASUS V1.33

use <X:> (X stands for

the name of the disk

assignment) to switch to

the folder of ﬂoppy disk,

DVD ROM or USB ﬂash

disk you saved the BIOS

ﬁleand AwardBIOS Flash

Utility.

For MCP72P-M3N-HD-00

Flash Type -

DATE:01/09/2008

File Name to Program:

At the prompt, type

Message: Please input File Name!

awdﬂash then press

<Enter>. The Award BIOS

Flash Utility screen appears.

4-6

Chapter 4: BIOS setup

Type the BIOS ﬁle name

in the File Name to

Program ﬁeld, then press

<Enter>.

AwardBIOS Flash Utility for ASUS V1.33

For MCP72P-M3N-HD-00

Flash Type -

DATE:01/09/2008

File Name to Program: M3N-HD.bin

Message: Do You Want To Save Bios (Y/N)

Press <N> when the utility prompts you to save the current BIOS ﬁle. The

following screen appears.

The utility veriﬁes the BIOS

AwardBIOS Flash Utility for ASUS V1.33

ﬁle in the ﬂoppy disk, DVD

ROM or a USB ﬂash disk

and starts ﬂashing the

BIOS ﬁle.

For MCP72P-M3N-HD-00

Flash Type -

DATE:01/09/2008

File Name to Program: M3N-HD.bin

Programming Flash Memory - OFE00 OK

Write OK

No Update

Write Fail

Warning: Don’t Turn Off Power Or Reset System!

Do not turn off or reset the system during the ﬂashing process!

The utility displays a

Flashing Complete

message indicating that

you have successfully

ﬂashed the BIOS ﬁle.

Remove the disk then

press <F1> to restart the

system.

AwardBIOS Flash Utility for ASUS V1.33

For MCP72P-M3N-HD-00

Flash Type -

DATE:01/09/2008

File Name to Program: M3N-HD.bin

Flashing Complete

Press <F1> to Continue

Write OK

F1 Reset

No Update

Write Fail

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

4-7

4.1.5

Saving the current BIOS ﬁle

You can use the AwardBIOS Flash Utility to save the current BIOS ﬁle. You can

load the current BIOS ﬁle when the BIOS ﬁle gets corrupted during the ﬂashing

process.

Make sure that the ﬂoppy disk, DVD ROM or a USB ﬂash disk has enough disk

space to save the ﬁle.

To save the current BIOS ﬁle using the AwardBIOS Flash Utility:

Follow steps 1 to 6 of the

previous section.

AwardBIOS Flash Utility for ASUS V1.14

For MCP72P-M3N-HD-00

Flash Type -

DATE:01/09/2008

Press <Y> when the utility

prompts you to save the

current BIOS ﬁle. The

File Name to Program: 0112.bin

Save current BIOS as:

following screen appears.

Message:

Type a ﬁlename for the

current BIOS ﬁle in the

AwardBIOS Flash Utility for ASUS V1.14

Save current BIOS as ﬁeld, For MCP72P-M3N-HD-00

then press <Enter>.

DATE:01/09/2008

Flash Type -

File Name to Program: 0112.bin

Checksum: 810DH

Save current BIOS as: 0113.bin

Message: Please Wait!

The utility saves the

AwardBIOS Flash Utility for ASUS V1.14

current BIOS ﬁle to the

ﬂoppy disk, then returns to

the BIOS ﬂashing process.

For MCP72P-M3N-HD-00

Flash Type -

DATE:01/09/2008

File Name to Program: 0113.bin

Now Backup System BIOS to

File!

Message: Please Wait!

4-8

Chapter 4: BIOS setup

4.2

BIOS setup program

This motherboard supports a programmable Low-Pin Count (LPC) chip that you

can update using the provided utility described in section 4.1 Managing and

updating your BIOS.

Use the BIOS Setup program when you are installing a motherboard, reconﬁguring

your system, or prompted to “Run Setup.” This section explains how to conﬁgure

your system using this utility.

Even if you are not prompted to use the Setup program, you can change the

conﬁguration of your computer in the future. For example, you can enable the

security password feature or change the power management settings. This

requires you to reconﬁgure your system using the BIOS Setup program so that the

computer can recognize these changes and record them in the CMOS RAM of the

LPC chip.

The LPC chip on the motherboard stores the Setup utility. When you start up the

computer, the system provides you with the opportunity to run this program. Press

<Del> during the Power-On Self-Test (POST) to enter the Setup utility; otherwise,

POST continues with its test routines.

If you wish to enter Setup after POST, restart the system by pressing

<Ctrl+Alt+Delete>, or by pressing the reset button on the system chassis. You can

also restart by turning the system off and then back on. Do this last option only if

the ﬁrst two failed.

The Setup program is designed to make it as easy to use as possible. Being a

menu-driven program, it lets you scroll through the various sub-menus and make

your selections from the available options using the navigation keys.

•

The default BIOS settings for this motherboard apply for most conditions

to ensure optimum performance. If the system becomes unstable after

changing any BIOS settings, load the default settings to ensure system

compatibility and stability. Select the Load Default Settings item under the

Exit Menu. See section 4.8 Exit Menu.

•

The BIOS setup screens shown in this section are for reference purposes

only, and may not exactly match what you see on your screen.

•

Visit the ASUS website (www.asus.com) to download the latest BIOS ﬁle for

this motherboard.

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

4-9

4.2.1

BIOS menu screen

Menu items

Menu bar

Conﬁguration ﬁelds

General help

Phoenix-AwardBIOS CMOS Setup Utility

Power Boot Tools Exit

Main

Advanced

System Time

System Date

15 : 30 : 36

Sat, Oct 26 2007

Select Menu

Item Speciﬁc Help

Legacy Diskette A:

[1.44M, 3.5 in.]

Change the internal

time.

Primary IDE Master

Primary IDE Slave

SATA1

[ST321122A]

[ASUS DVDS520/A]

[None]

SATA3

[None]

SATA2

SATA4

HDD SMART Monitoring

[None]

[Disabled]

Installed Memory

Usable Memory

1024MB

991MB

F1:Help

ESC: Exit

↑↓ : Select Item

→←: Select Menu

-/+: Change Value

Enter: Select SubMenu

F5: Setup Defaults

F10: Save and Exit

Sub-menu items

Legend bar

4.2.2

Menu bar

The menu bar on top of the screen has the following main items:

Main

For changing the basic system conﬁguration

Advanced

Power

For changing the advanced system settings

For changing the advanced power management (APM)

conﬁguration

Boot

Tools

Exit

For changing the system boot conﬁguration

For conﬁguring options for special functions

For selecting the exit options and loading default

settings

To select an item on the menu bar, press the right or left arrow key on the keyboard

until the desired item is highlighted.

•

The BIOS setup screens shown in this chapter are for reference purposes

only, and may not exactly match what you see on your screen.

Visit the ASUS website (www.asus.com) to download the latest BIOS

information.

4-10

Chapter 4: BIOS setup

4.2.3

Legend bar

At the bottom of the Setup screen is a legend bar. The keys in the legend bar allow

you to navigate through the various setup menus. The following table lists the keys

found in the legend bar with their corresponding functions.

Navigation Key

<F1>

Function

Displays the General Help screen

Loads setup default values

<F5>

<Esc>

Exits the BIOS setup or returns to the main menu from a

sub-menu

Left or Right arrow

Up or Down arrow

Page Down or – (minus)

Page Up or + (plus)

<Enter>

Selects the menu item to the left or right

Moves the highlight up or down between ﬁelds

Scrolls backward through the values for the highlighted ﬁeld

Scrolls forward through the values for the highlighted ﬁeld

Brings up a selection menu for the highlighted ﬁeld

Saves changes and exit

<F10>

4.2.4

Menu items

The highlighted item on the menu bar displays the speciﬁc items for that menu.

For example, selecting Main shows the Main menu items.

The other items (Advanced, Power, Boot, Tools and Exit) on the menu bar have

their respective menu items.

4.2.5

Sub-menu items

A solid triangle before each item on any menu screen means that the item has a

sub-menu. To display the sub-menu, select the item and press <Enter>.

4.2.6

Conﬁguration ﬁelds

These ﬁelds show the values for the menu items. If an item is user-conﬁgurable,

you can change the value of the ﬁeld opposite the item. You cannot select an item

that is not user-conﬁgurable.

A conﬁgurable ﬁeld is enclosed in brackets, and is highlighted when selected. To

change the value of a ﬁeld, select it then press <Enter> to display a list of options.

Refer to 4.2.7 Pop-up window.

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

4-11

4.2.7

Pop-up window

Select a menu item then press <Enter> to display a pop-up window with the

conﬁguration options for that item.

Phoenix-AwardBIOS CMOS Setup Utility

Main

Advanced

Power

Boot

Tools

Exit

System Time

System Date

15 : 30 : 36

Select Menu

Thu, Apr 6 2006

[1.44M, 3.5 in.]

Item Speciﬁc Help

Legacy Diskette A:

Speciﬁes the capacity

and physical size of

diskette drive A.

Legacy Diskette A:

[ST321122A]

Primary IDE Master

Primary IDE Slave

SATA1

[ASUS CDS520/A]

[None]

Disabled

..... [ ]

SATA3

[None]

720K , 3.5 in.

SATA2

SATA4

[None]

1.44M, 3.5 in.

[None]

HDD SMART Monitoring

[Disabled]

Installed Memory

Usable Memory

512MB

↑↓ :

ENTER:Accept ESC:Abort

F1:Help

ESC: Exit

↑↓ : Select Item

→←: Select Menu

-/+: Change Value

Enter: Select SubMenu

F5: Setup Defaults

F10: Save and Exit

Pop-up menu

4.2.8

General help

At the top right corner of the menu screen is a brief description of the selected

item.

4-12

Chapter 4: BIOS setup

4.3

Main menu

When you enter the BIOS Setup program, the Main menu screen appears, giving

you an overview of the basic system information.

Refer to section 4.2.1 BIOS menu screen for information on the menu screen

items and how to navigate through them.

Phoenix-AwardBIOS CMOS Setup Utility

Main

Advanced

Power

Boot

Tools

Exit

System Time

System Date

19 : 49 : 36

Select Menu

Fri, Dec 21 2007

Item Speciﬁc Help

Legacy Diskette A:

[1.44M, 3.5 in.]

Change the internal

time.

Primary IDE Master

Primary IDE Slave

SATA1

[None]

[HDT722516DLA380]

SATA3

[ASUS

CRW-5232]

SATA2

[None]

SATA4

HDD SMART Monitoring

[Disabled]

Installed Memory

Usable Memory

1024MB

911MB

F1:Help

ESC: Exit

↑↓ : Select Item

→←: Select Menu

-/+: Change Value

Enter: Select SubMenu

F5: Setup Defaults

F10: Save and Exit

4.3.1

System Time [xx:xx:xx]

Allows you to set the system time.

4.3.2

System Date [Day xx/xx/xxxx]

Allows you to set the system date.

4.3.3

Legacy Diskette A [1.44M, 3.5 in.]

Sets the type of ﬂoppy drive installed.

Conﬁguration options: [Disabled] [720K , 3.5 in.] [1.44M, 3.5 in.]

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

4-13

4.3.4

Primary IDE Master/Slave

While entering Setup, the BIOS automatically detects the presence of IDE devices.

There is a separate sub-menu for each IDE device. Select a device item then

press <Enter> to display the IDE device information.

Phoenix-Award BIOS CMOS Setup Utility

Main

Primary IDE Master

Select Menu

PIO Mode

UDMA Mode

[Auto]

Item Speciﬁc Help

Primary IDE Master

Access Mode

[Auto]

Capacity

0 GB

Cylinder

Head

Sector

Transfer Mode

None

F1:Help

ESC: Exit

↑↓ : Select Item

→←: Select Menu

-/+: Change Value

Enter: Select SubMenu

F5: Setup Defaults

F10: Save and Exit

The BIOS automatically detects the values opposite the dimmed items

(Capacity, Cylinder, Head, Sector and Transfer Mode). These values are not

user-conﬁgurable. These items show N/A if no IDE device is installed in the

system.

PIO Mode [Auto]

Sets the PIO mode for the IDE device.

Conﬁguration options: [Auto] [Mode 0] [Mode 1] [Mode 2] [Mode 3] [Mode 4]

UDMA Mode [Auto]

Disables or sets the UDMA mode. Conﬁguration options: [Disable] [Auto]

Primary IDE Master/Slave [Auto]

Select [Auto] to automatically detect an IDE hard disk drive. If automatic detection

is successful, the BIOS automatically ﬁlls in the correct values for the remaining

ﬁelds on this sub-menu. If the hard disk was already formatted on a previous

system, the setup BIOS may detect incorrect parameters. Select [Manual] to

manually enter the IDE hard disk drive parameters. If no drive is installed select

[None].

Conﬁguration options: [None] [Auto] [Manual]

4-14

Chapter 4: BIOS setup

Access Mode [Auto]

The default [Auto] allows automatic detection of an IDE hard disk drive.

Select [CHS] for this item if you set the IDE Primary Master/Slave to [Manual].

Conﬁguration options: [CHS] [LBA] [Large] [Auto]

Before attempting to conﬁgure a hard disk drive, make sure you have the

correct conﬁguration information supplied by the drive manufacturer. Incorrect

settings may cause the system to fail to recognize the installed hard disk.

Capacity

Displays the auto-detected hard disk capacity. This item is not conﬁgurable.

Cylinder

Shows the number of the hard disk cylinders. This item is not conﬁgurable.

Head

Shows the number of the hard disk read/write heads. This item is not conﬁgurable.

Sector

Shows the number of sectors per track. This item is not conﬁgurable.

Transfer Mode

Shows the Transfer mode. This item is not conﬁgurable.

After entering the IDE hard disk drive information into BIOS, use a disk utility,

such as FDISK, to partition and format new IDE hard disk drives. This is

necessary so that you can write or read data from the hard disk. Make sure to

set the partition of the Primary IDE hard disk drives to active.

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

4-15

4.3.5

SATA1/2/3/4

While entering Setup, the BIOS automatically detects the presence of Serial ATA

devices. There is a separate sub-menu for each SATA device. Select a device item

then press <Enter> to display the SATA device information.

Phoenix-Award BIOS CMOS Setup Utility

Main

SATA1

Select Menu

Extended IDE Drive

Access Mode

[Auto]

Item Speciﬁc Help

[Auto]

164 GB

Selects the type of

ﬁxed disk connected

to the system.

Capacity

Cylinder

Head

Landing Zone

Sector

65535

65534

255

F1:Help

ESC: Exit

↑↓ : Select Item

→←: Select Menu

-/+: Change Value

Enter: Select SubMenu

F5: Setup Defaults

F10: Save and Exit

The BIOS automatically detects the values opposite the dimmed items (Capacity,

Cylinder, Head, Landing Zone and Sector). These values are not user-

conﬁgurable. These items show 0 if no SATA device is installed in the system.

Extended IDE Drive [Auto]

Selects the type of ﬁxed disk connected to the system.

Conﬁguration options: [None] [Auto]

Access Mode [Auto]

Sets the sector addressing mode.

Conﬁguration options: [Large] [Auto]

Before attempting to conﬁgure a hard disk drive, make sure you have the

correct conﬁguration information supplied by the drive manufacturer. Incorrect

settings may cause the system to fail to recognize the installed hard disk.

Capacity

Displays the auto-detected hard disk capacity. This item is not conﬁgurable.

Cylinder

Shows the number of the hard disk cylinders. This item is not conﬁgurable.

4-16

Chapter 4: BIOS setup

Head

Shows the number of the hard disk read/write heads. This item is not conﬁgurable.

Landing Zone

Shows the number of landing zone per track. This item is not conﬁgurable.

Sector

Shows the number of sectors per track. This item is not conﬁgurable.

After entering the IDE hard disk drive information into BIOS, use a disk utility,

such as FDISK, to partition and format new IDE hard disk drives. This is

necessary so that you can write or read data from the hard disk. Make sure to

set the partition of the Primary IDE hard disk drives to active.

4.3.6

HDD SMART Monitoring [Disabled]

Allows you to enable or disable the HDD Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting

Technology (SMART) feature.

Conﬁguration options: [Disabled] [Enabled]

4.3.7

Installed Memory [xxx MB]

Shows the size of installed memory. This item is not conﬁgurable.

4.3.8

Usable Memory [XXX MB]

Shows the size of usable memory. This item is not conﬁgurable.

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

4-17

4.4

Advanced menu

The Advanced menu items allow you to change the settings for the CPU and other

system devices.

Take caution when changing the settings of the Advanced menu items. Incorrect

ﬁeld values can cause the system to malfunction.

The conﬁguration options for the Advanced menu items vary depending on the

CPU and DIMMs you install on the motherboard.

Phoenix-Award BIOS CMOS Setup Utility

Main

Advanced

Power

Boot

Tools

Exit

JumperFree Conﬁguration

Select Menu

AI NET 2

Item Speciﬁc Help

CPU Conﬁguration

Chipset

PCIPnP

Onboard Device Conﬁguration

USB Conﬁguration

Adjust system

frequency/voltage.

F1:Help

ESC: Exit

↑↓ : Select Item

→←: Select Menu

-/+: Change Value

Enter: Select SubMenu

F5: Setup Defaults

F10: Save and Exit

4.4.1

JumperFree Conﬁguration

Phoenix-Award BIOS CMOS Setup Utility

Advanced

JumperFree Conﬁguration

Select Menu

Item Speciﬁc Help

AI Tuning

[Auto]

Disabled

[AUTO]

Auto

Overclock Options

CPU VTT Voltage

Memory Voltage

1.2V HT Voltage

NB CHIP Voltage

CPU Multiplier

CPU Frequency

PCIE Clock

Press [Enter] to

select overclock

proﬁle

200

100

AI Tuning [Auto]

Allows selection of CPU overclocking options to achieve desired CPU internal

frequency. Select either one of the preset overclocking conﬁguration options:

Manual

Allows you to individually set overclocking parameters.

Loads the optimal settings for the system.

Auto

Standard

AI Overclock

Loads the standard settings for the system.

Loads overclocking proﬁles with optimal parameters for stability

when overclocking.

4-18

Chapter 4: BIOS setup

Overclock Options [Disabled]

This item becomes user-conﬁgurable only when you set the AI Tuning item to [AI

Overclock] and allows you to set the overclocking options.

Conﬁguration options: [Disabled] [Overclock 3%] [Overclock 5%] [Overclock 8%]

[Overclock 10%]

CPU VTT Voltage [AUTO]

Allows you to set the CPU VTT voltage.

Conﬁguration options: [AUTO] [0.8000v] [0.8125v] [0.8250v] [0.8375v] [0.8500v] ~

[1.6250v] [1.6375v] [1.6500v] [1.6625v] [1.6750v]

Memory Voltage [Auto]

Allows you to set the memory voltage.

Conﬁguration options: [Auto] [1.978V] [2.080V] [2.155V] [2.237V] [2.313V] [2.415V]

[2.490V]

1.2V HT Voltage [Auto]

Allows you to set the 1.2V HyperTransport voltage.

Conﬁguration options: [Auto] [1.309V] [1.425V] [1.525V]

NB CHIP Voltage [Auto]

Conﬁguration options: [Auto] [1.213V] [1.313V] [1.409V]

CPU Multiplier [Auto]

This item becomes user-conﬁgurable only when you set the AI Tuning item to

[Manual] and allows conﬁguration of the CPU Multiplier.

Conﬁguration options: [Auto] [5x] [5.5x] [6x]...[10.5x] [11.x] [11.5x]

CPU Frequency [200]

This item becomes user-conﬁgurable only when you set the AI Tuning item to

[Manual] and allows conﬁguration of the CPU frequency. Depending on the CPU

model you install, the minimum and maximum values of this item vary or may not

be user-conﬁgurable.

PCIE Clock [100]

This item becomes user-conﬁgurable only when you set the AI Tuning item to

[Manual] and is adjusted by typing the desired values using the numeric keypad

and press the <Enter> key. The values range from 100 to 200.

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

4-19

4.4.2

AI Net 2

This menu displays the status of the Local Area Network (LAN) cable connected to

the LAN (RJ-45) port.

Phoenix-Award BIOS CMOS Setup Utility

Advanced

AI NET 2

Select Menu

Item Speciﬁc Help

POST Check LAN Cable

[Disabled]

Enable or Disable LAN

cable check during

POST.

Pair

Status Length

LAN1(1-2)

LAN1(3-6)

LAN1(4-5)

LAN1(7-8)

Open

N/A

Open

POST Check LAN cable [Disabled]

Allows you to enable or disable LAN cable check during POST. When enabled, the

menu reports the cable faults or shorts, and displays the point (length) where the

faults or shorts are detected.

Conﬁguration options: [Disabled] [Enabled]

4.4.3

CPU Conﬁguration

Phoenix-Award BIOS CMOS Setup Utility

Advanced

CPU Conﬁguration

Select Menu

Item Speciﬁc Help

CPU Type

AMD Phenom(tm)9600 Quad-Core

Processor

2300MHz

512K x4

DRAM timing and

control

CPU Speed

Cache RAM

DRAM Conﬁguration

AMD Virtualization

AMD Live!

[Enabled]

[Disabled]

AMD Cool’n’Quiet Function [Disabled]

DRAM Conﬁguration

This sub-menu allows you to adjust the DRAM-related items. Select an item, then

press <Enter> to edit.

Phoenix-Award BIOS CMOS Setup Utility

Advanced

DRAM Conﬁguration

Select Menu

Item Speciﬁc Help

Timing Mode

Memory clock Frequency

Memory Hole Remapping

[Auto]

Auto

[Enabled]

Auto, no user limit

MaxMemClk, limit by

Memory clock value

Manual, use Memory

Clock value

4-20

Chapter 4: BIOS setup

Timing Mode [Auto]

Allows selection of the DRAM timing mode.

Conﬁguration options: [Auto] [MaxMemClk] [Manual]

Memory Clock Frequency [Auto]

This item becomes user-conﬁgurable when you set the Timing Mode item

to [MaxMemClk] or [Manual] and allows you to adjust the memory clock

frequency.

Conﬁguration options: [Auto] [DDR2 533] [DDR2 667] [DDR2 800] [DDR2

1066]

Memory Hole Remapping [Enabled]

Allows you to enable or disable memory hole remapping support.

Conﬁguration options: [Disabled] [Enabled]

AMD Virtualization [Enabled]

The Vanderpool Technology allows a hardware platform to run multiple operating

systems separately and simultaneously, enabling one system to virtually function

as several systems.

Conﬁguration options: [Enabled] [Disabled]

AMD Live! [Disabled]

Enables or disables the AMD^®Live! Technology.

Conﬁguration options: [Disabled] [Enabled]

AMD Cool’n’Quiet Function [Disabled]

Enables or disables the AMD Cool’n’Quiet function.

Conﬁguration options: [Disabled] [Enabled]

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

4-21

4.4.4

Chipset

Phoenix-Award BIOS CMOS Setup Utility

Chipset

Advanced

Select Menu

Item Speciﬁc Help

iGPU Frame Buffer Control [Auto]

Frame Buffer Size

Onboard GPU

128M

[Auto]

K8<->NB HT Speed

[Auto]

K8<->NB HT Width

CPU Spread Spectrum

PCIE Spread Spectrum

SATA Spread Spectrum

Primary Display Adapter

[Disabled]

[PCI-E]

iGPU Frame Buffer Control [Auto]

Allows you to set the onboard GPU frame buffer control mode.

Conﬁguration options: [Auto] [Manual]

Frame Buffer Size [128M]

This item becomes user-conﬁgurable when you set the iGPU Frame Buffer

Control item to [Manual] and allows you to set frame buffer size for onboard GPU.

Conﬁguration options: [64M] [128M] [256M] [512M]

Onboard GPU [Auto]

Allows you to enable or disable the onboard GPU. Set this item to [Auto] to disable

the onboard GPU if the system detects any external graphics card. Set this item

to [Always Enable] to enable the onboard GPU even if the system detects any

external graphics card.

Conﬁguration options: [Auto] [Always Enable]

K8<->NB HT Speed [Auto]

Allows you to set the HyperTransport speed between the CPU and the

Northbridge.

Conﬁguration options: [Auto] [200 MHz] [400 MHz] [600 MHz].[800 MHz] [1 GHz]

[1.2 GHz] [1.4 GHz] [1.6 GHz] [1.8 GHz] [2 GHz] [2.2 GHz] [2.4 GHz] [2.6 GHz]

K8<->NB HT Width [Auto]

Allows you to set the HyperTransport width between the CPU and the Northbridge..

Conﬁguration options: [

↓

↑

8 ] [↓

16 ↑16 ] [Auto]

CPU Spread Spectrum [Disabled]

Set to [Disabled] to enhance FSB overclocking ability or [Enabled] for EMI control.

Conﬁguration options: [Disabled] [Enabled]

PCIE Spread Spectrum [Disabled]

Set to [Disabled] to enhance PCIE overclocking ability or [Down Spread] for EMI

control.

Conﬁguration options: [Disabled] [Down Spread]

4-22

Chapter 4: BIOS setup

SATA Spread Spectrum [Disabled]

Allows you to adjust the SATA spread spectrum setting.

Conﬁguration options: [Disabled] [Down Spread]

Primary Display Adapter [PCI-E]

Allows you to select which graphics controller to use as the primary boot device.

Conﬁguration options: [PCI] [Onboard] [PCI-E]

4.4.5

PCIPnP

Phoenix-Award BIOS CMOS Setup Utility

Advanced

PCIPnP

Select Menu

Item Speciﬁc Help

Plug & Play O/S

[No]

Select Yes if you are

using a Plug and Play

capable operating

system Select No if

you need the BIOS to

conﬁgure non-boot

devices

Resources Controlled By

IRQ Resources

[Auto]

**PCI Express relative items **

Maximum Payload Size [4096]

Plug & Play O/S [No]

When set to [No], the BIOS conﬁgures all the devices in the system. When set to

[Yes] and if you install a Plug and Play operating system, the operating system

conﬁgures the Plug and Play devices not required for boot.

Conﬁguration options: [No] [Yes]

Resources Controlled By [Auto]

When set to [Auto], the BIOS automatically conﬁgures all the boot and Plug and

Play compatible devices. Set to [Manual] if you want to assign the IRQ DMA and

memory base address ﬁelds.

Conﬁguration options: [Auto] [Manual]

When the item Resources Controlled By is set to [Auto], the item IRQ

Resources is grayed out and not user-conﬁgurable. Refer to the section IRQ

Resources for information on how to enable this item.

IRQ Resources

This sub-menu is activated only when the Resources Controlled By item is set to

[Manual].

Phoenix-Award BIOS CMOS Setup Utility

Advanced

Select Menu

IRQ Resources

Item Speciﬁc Help

IRQ-5 assigned to

IRQ-7 assigned to

IRQ-9 assigned to

IRQ-10 assigned to

IRQ-11 assigned to

IRQ-14 assigned to

[PCI Device]

Legacy ISA for devices

compliant with the

original PC AT bus

speciﬁcation, PCI/

ISA PnP for devices

compliant with the

Plug and Play standard

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

4-23

IRQ-xx assigned to [PCI Device]

When set to [PCI Device], the speciﬁc IRQ is free for use of PCI/PnP

devices. When set to [Reserved], the IRQ is reserved for legacy ISA devices.

Conﬁguration options: [PCI Device] [Reserved]

Maximum Payload Size [4096]

Sets maximum TLP payload size for the PCI Express devices. The unit is byte.

Conﬁguration options: [128] [256] [512] [1024] [2048] [4096]

4.4.6

Onboard Device Conﬁguration

Phoenix-Award BIOS CMOS Setup Utility

Advanced

Onboard Device Conﬁguration

Select Menu

Item Speciﬁc Help

IDE Function Setup

MCP Storage Conﬁg

Onboard 1394

HD Audio

[Enabled]

[Auto]

Front Panel Support Type [HD Audio]

HDMI Audio

[Auto]

Onboard LAN Device

Onboard LAN Boot ROM

Serial Port1 Address

[Enabled]

[Disabled]

[3F8/IRQ4]

IDE Function Setup

Phoenix-Award BIOS CMOS Setup Utility

Advanced

IDE Function Setup

Select Menu

OnChip IDE Channel0

IDE DMA transfer access

SATA Controller

[Enabled]

Item Speciﬁc Help

IDE Prefetch Mode

OnChip IDE Channel 0 [Enabled]

Allows you to enable or disable the onchip IDE channel 0 controller .

Conﬁguration options: [Disabled] [Enabled]

IDE DMA transfer access [Enabled]

Allows you to enable or disable the IDE DMA transfer access.

Conﬁguration options: [Disabled] [Enabled]

SATA Controller [Enabled]

Allows you to enable or disable the onboard SATA controller.

Conﬁguration options: [Disabled] [Enabled]

IDE Prefetch Mode [Disabled]

Allows you to enable or disable the IDE PIO read prefetch mode.

Conﬁguration options: [Disabled] [Enabled]

4-24

Chapter 4: BIOS setup

MCP Storage Conﬁg

Phoenix-Award BIOS CMOS Setup Utility

Advanced

MCP Storage Conﬁg

Select Menu

SATA Operation Mode

[IDE]

Item Speciﬁc Help

SATA Operation Mode [IDE]

Allows you to select the onboard Serial ATA type.

Conﬁguration options: [IDE] [RAID] [AHCI]

•

If you want to use the Serial ATA hard disk drives as Parallel ATA physical

storage devices, keep the default setting [IDE].

If you want the Serial ATA hard disk drives to use the Advanced Host

Controller Interface (AHCI), set this item to [AHCI]. The AHCI allows

the onboard storage driver to enable advanced Serial ATA features that

increases storage performance on random workloads by allowing the drive

to internally optimize the order of commands.

•

If you want to create a RAID 0, 1, 0+1, 5, or JBOD conﬁguration from the

Serial ATA hard disk drives, set this item to [RAID].

•

SATA 5-6 connectors support AHCI mode and RAID mode only. Make sure

to install the AHCI driver or RAID driver in the bundled support DVD before

connecting devices to SATA 5-6 connectors. Otherwise, the devices will not

work.

•

Due to chipset limitation, when set any of SATA ports to RAID mode, all

SATA ports run at RAID mode together.

Onboard 1394 [Enabled]

Allows you to enable or disable the onboard 1394 device support.

Conﬁguration options: [Disabled] [Enabled]

HD Audio [Auto]

Allows you to enable or disable the High-Deﬁnition audio CODEC.

Conﬁguration options: [Auto] [Disabled]

Front Panel Support Type [HD Audio]

Allows you to set the front panel audio connector (AAFP) mode to legacy AC`97

or high-deﬁnition audio depending on the audio standard that the front panel audio

module supports.

Conﬁguration options: [AC97] [HD Audio]

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

4-25

HDMI Audio [Auto]

Allows you to disable or enable the HDMI Audio function.

Conﬁguration options: [Auto] [Disabled]

Make sure to set the HDMI Audio item to [Auto] to enable HDMI audio output.

Onboard LAN Device [Enabled]

Allows you to enable or disable the OnBoard LAN device.

Conﬁguration options: [Disabled] [Enabled]

Onboard LAN Boot ROM [Disabled]

Allows you to enable or disable the OnBoard LAN Boot ROM.

Conﬁguration options: [Enabled] [Disabled]

Serial Port1 Address [3F8/IRQ4]

Allows you to select the Serial Port1 base address.

Conﬁguration options: [Disabled] [3F8/IRQ4][2F8/IRQ3] [3E8/IRQ4] [2E8/IRQ3]

[Auto]

4.4.7

USB Conﬁguration

Phoenix-Award BIOS CMOS Setup Utility

Advanced

USB Conﬁguration

Select Menu

USB Controller

USB 2.0 Controller

USB Legacy support

[Enabled]

Item Speciﬁc Help

USB Controller [Enabled]

Allows you to enable or disable the USB 1.1 and 2.0 controller.

Conﬁguration options: [Disabled] [Enabled]

USB 2.0 Controller [Enabled]

Allows you to enable or disable the USB 2.0 controller.

Conﬁguration options: [Disabled] [Enabled]

USB Legacy support [Enabled]

Allows you to enable or disable support for USB devices on legacy operating

systems (OS).

Conﬁguration options: [Disabled] [Enabled]

4-26

Chapter 4: BIOS setup

4.5

Power menu

The Power menu items allow you to change the settings for the Advanced

Conﬁguration and Power Interface (ACPI) and the Advanced Power Management

(APM). Select an item then press <Enter> to display the conﬁguration options.

Phoenix-Award BIOS CMOS Setup Utility

Main

Advanced

Power

Boot

Tools

Exit

ACPI Suspend Type

ACPI APIC support

APM Conﬁguration

Hardware Monitor

[S1&S3]

[Enabled]

Select Menu

Item Speciﬁc Help

Select the ACPI state

used for System

Suspend.

F1:Help

ESC: Exit

↑↓ : Select Item

→←: Select Menu

-/+: Change Value

Enter: Select SubMenu

F5: Setup Defaults

F10: Save and Exit

4.5.1

ACPI Suspend Type [S1&S3]

Allows you to select the Advanced Conﬁguration and Power Interface (ACPI) state

to be used for system suspend.

Conﬁguration options: [S1(POS)] [S3(STR)] [S1&S3]

4.5.2

ACPI APIC Support [Enabled]

Allows you to enable or disable the Advanced Conﬁguration and Power Interface

(ACPI) support in the Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller (APIC). When

set to [Enabled], the ACPI APIC table pointer is included in the RSDT pointer list.

Conﬁguration options: [Disabled] [Enabled]

4.5.3

APM Conﬁguration

Phoenix-Award BIOS CMOS Setup Utility

Power

APM Conﬁguration

Select Menu

Restore on AC Power Loss

[Power-Off]

[Instant-Off]

[Disabled]

0 : 0 : 0

[Enabled]

[Disabled]

Item Speciﬁc Help

PWR Button < 4 secs

Power Up On PCI/PCIE Devices

Power On By External Modems

Power On by RTC Alarm

Date(of Month) Alarm

Alarm Time(hh:mm)

HPET Support

Power On By PS/2 Keyboard

Press [Enter] to

select whether or not

to restart the system

after AC power loss

Restore on AC Power Loss [Power-Off]

Allows you to enable or disable the Restore on AC Power Loss function.

Conﬁguration options: [Power-Off] [Power-On] [Last State]

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4-27

PWR Button < 4 secs [Instant-Off]

When set to [Instant-Off], the system goes into Soft-off mode after you press the

power button for less than 4 seconds. When set to [Suspend], the system goes

into Suspend mode after you press the power button for less than 4 seconds.

Conﬁguration options: [Suspend] [Instant-Off]

Power Up On PCI/PCIE Devices [Disabled]

Allows you to enable or disable the PME to wake up from S5 by PCI/PCIE devices

and the NVIDIA^®onboard LAN.

Conﬁguration options: [Disabled] [Enabled]

Power On By External Modems [Disabled]

When set to [Enabled], this item allows you to power on the computer in Soft-off

mode with an external modem.

Conﬁguration options: [Disabled] [Enabled]

When a computer is off, turning an external modem off and then on causes an

initialization string that turns on the computer.

Power On By RTC Alarm [Disabled]

Allows you to enable or disable RTC to generate a wake event. When this item

is set to [Enabled], the items Date (of Month) Alarm and Alarm Time (hh:mm)

become user-conﬁgurable with set values.

Conﬁguration options: [Disabled] [Enabled]

Date (of Month) Alarm [XX]

To set the date of alarm, highlight this item and press <Enter> to display the Date

(of Month) Alarm pop-up menu. Key-in a value within the speciﬁed range then

press <Enter>. Value ‘0’ means everyday. Conﬁguration options: [Min=0] [Max=31]

Alarm Time (hh:mm) [ XX: XX: XX]

To set the time of alarm, highlight this item and press <Enter> to display the Alarm

Time pop-up menu. Key-in a value within the speciﬁed range then press <Enter>.

Conﬁguration options: [Min=0] [Max=23]---hour

[Min=0] [Max=59]---minute

[Min=0] [Max=59]---second

HPET Support [Enabled]

The hardware High Precision Efﬁcient Timer (HPET) is to increase the

performance of the Vista Multimedia player and can meet Vista’s requirement.

Disable this feature if your system is running under XP environment.

Conﬁguration options: [Disabled] [Enabled]

4-28

Chapter 4: BIOS setup

Power Up By PS/2 Keyboard [Disabled]

Allows you to disable the Power On by PS/2 keyboard function or set speciﬁc keys

on the PS/2 keyboard to turn on the system. This feature requires an ATX power

supply that provides at least 1A on the +5VSB lead.

Conﬁguration options: [Disabled] [Space Bar] [Ctrl-ESC] [Power Key]

4.5.4

Hardware Monitor

The items in this sub-menu displays the hardware monitor values automatically

detected by the BIOS. It also allows you to change CPU Q-Fan feature-related

parameters. Select an item then press <Enter> to display the conﬁguration options.

Phoenix-Award BIOS CMOS Setup Utility

Power

Hardware Monitor

Select Menu

CPU Fan Type

[DC]

Item Speciﬁc Help

CPU Q-Fan Control

CPU Q-Fan Proﬁle

Chassis Q-Fan Control

Chassis Q-Fan Proﬁle

Vcore Voltage

[Disabled]

Performance

[Disabled]

Performance

[ 1.16V]

[ 3.31V]

[ 4.97V]

[11.96V]

Press [Enter] to

enable or disable

3.3V Voltage

5V Voltage

12V Voltage

CPU Temperature

M/B Temperature

CPU Fan Speed

39ºC

33ºC

2922 RPM

0 RPM

CHA_FAN1 Speed

PWR_FAN Speed

0 RPM

[800 RPM]

CPU Fan Speed Warning

F1:Help

ESC: Exit

↑↓ : Select Item

→←: Select Menu

-/+: Change Value

Enter: Select SubMenu

F5: Setup Defaults

F10: Save and Exit

CPU Fan Type [DC]

Allows you to select the CPU fan type you installed on the motherboard.

Conﬁguration options: [DC] [PWM]

•

If you install a PWM (4-pin) fan but set this item to [DC], the fan you

installed may not work.

If you install a DC (3-pin) fan but set this item to a [PWM], the Q-Fan

Control function will not work and the fan you install will always run at full

speed.

CPU Q-Fan Control [Disabled]

Allows you to enable or disable the CPU Q-Fan controller.

Conﬁguration options: [Disabled] [Enabled]

The CPU Q-Fan Proﬁle item becomes user-conﬁgurable when you enable the

CPU Q-Fan Control feature.

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

4-29

CPU Q-Fan Proﬁle [Performance]

Allows you to set the appropriate performance level of the CPU Q-Fan. When

set to [Optimal], the CPU fan automatically adjusts depending on the CPU

temperature. Set this item to [Silent] to minimize fan speed for quiet CPU fan

operation, or [Performance] to achieve maximum CPU fan speed.

Conﬁguration options: [Performance] [Optimal] [Silent]

Chassis Q-Fan Control [Disabled]

Allows you to enable or disable the Chassis Q-Fan controller.

Conﬁguration options: [Disabled] [Enabled]

The Chassis Q-Fan Proﬁle item becomes user-conﬁgurable when you enable

the Chassis Q-Fan Control feature.

Chassis Q-Fan Proﬁle [Auto]

Allows you to set the appropriate performance level of the Chassis Q-Fan.

Conﬁguration options: [Performance] [Optimal] [Silent]

Vcore Voltage, 3.3V Voltage, 5V Voltage, 12V Voltage

The onboard hardware monitor automatically detects the voltage output through

the onboard voltage regulators. Select [Ignored] if you do not want to detect this

item.

CPU Temperature [xxxºC/xxxºF]

M/B Temperature [xxxºC/xxxºF]

The onboard hardware monitor automatically detects and displays the motherboard

and CPU temperatures. These items are not user-conﬁgurable.

CPU Fan Speed [xxxxRPM]

CHA_FAN1 Speed [xxxxRPM]

PWR_FAN Speed [xxxxRPM]

The onboard hardware monitor automatically detects and displays the CPU/

Chassis/Power fan speed in rotations per minute (RPM). If the fan is not connected

to the motherboard, the ﬁeld shows 0 RPM. These items are not user-conﬁgurable.

CPU Fan Speed Warning [800 RPM]

Allows you to set the CPU fan warning speed function, which gives off a warning

when the CPU fan speed is too low. If you set this item to [Disabled], the system

will not warn you even if no fan is installed or if the fan is not functioning properly.

Conﬁguration options: [Disabled] [800 RPM] [1200 RPM] [1600 RPM]

4-30

Chapter 4: BIOS setup

4.6

Boot menu

The Boot menu items allow you to change the system boot options. Select an item

then press <Enter> to display the sub-menu.

Phoenix-Award BIOS CMOS Setup Utility

Main

Advanced

Power

Boot

Tools

Exit

Boot Device Priority

Removable Drives

Select Menu

Boot Settings Conﬁguration

Item Speciﬁc Help

Security

Select Boot Device

Priority

F1:Help

ESC: Exit

↑↓ : Select Item

→←: Select Menu

-/+: Change Value

Enter: Select SubMenu

F5: Setup Defaults

F10: Save and Exit

4.6.1

Boot Device Priority

Phoenix-Award BIOS CMOS Setup Utility

Boot

Boot Device Priority

Select Menu

1st Boot Device

[Removable]

[Hard Disk]

[CDROM]

Item Speciﬁc Help

2nd Boot Device

3rd Boot Device

4th Boot Device

[Disabled]

Select Your Boot

Device Priority

1st ~ 4th Boot Device [Removable]

These items specify the boot device priority sequence from the available devices.

The number of device items that appears on the screen depends on the number of

devices installed in the system.

Conﬁguration options: [Removable] [Hard Disk] [CDROM] [Disabled]

4.6.2

Removable Drives

Phoenix-Award BIOS CMOS Setup Utility

Boot

Removable Drives

Select Menu

1. Floppy Disks

Item Speciﬁc Help

1. Floppy Disks

Allows you to assign a removable drive attached to the system.

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

4-31

4.6.3

Boot Settings Conﬁguration

Phoenix-Award BIOS CMOS Setup Utility

Boot

Boot Settings Conﬁguration

Select Menu

Case Open Warning

[Enabled]

[Disabled]

[On]

Item Speciﬁc Help

Quick Boot

Allows the system to

skip certain tests

while booting. This

will decrease the time

needed to boot the

system

Boot Up Floppy Seek

Bootup Num-Lock

Typematic Rate Setting

Typematic Rate (Chars/Sec)

Typematic Delay (Msec)

OS Select For DRAM > 64MB

Full Screen LOGO

[Disabled]

250

[Non-OS2]

[Enabled]

[All, But Keyboard]

Halt On

Case Open Warning [Enabled]

Enables or disables the chassis open status feature. Setting to [Enabled] to send

warning messages when the chassis is opened.

Conﬁguration options: [Disabled] [Enabled]

Quick Boot [Enabled]

Allows you to enable or disable the system quick boot feature. When Enabled, the

system skips certain tests while booting.

Conﬁguration options: [Disabled] [Enabled]

Boot Up Floppy Seek [Disabled]

Enable this item to run ﬂoppy drives test during POST to determine whether they

have 40 or 80 tracks.

Conﬁguration options: [Disabled] [Enabled]

Bootup Num-Lock [On]

Allows you to select the power-on state for the NumLock.

Conﬁguration options: [Off] [On]

Typematic Rate Setting [Disabled]

Allows you to set the keystroke rate. Enable this item to conﬁgure the Typematic

Rate (Chars/Sec) and the Typematic Delay (Msec) items.

Conﬁguration options: [Disabled] [Enabled]

Typematic Rate (Chars/Sec) [6]

Allows you to select the rate at which a character repeats when you hold a key.

Conﬁguration options: [6] [8] [10] [12] [15] [20] [24] [30]

Typematic Delay (Msec) [250]

Allows you to set the delay before keystrokes begin to repeat.

Conﬁguration options: [250] [500] [750] [1000]

4-32

Chapter 4: BIOS setup

OS Select for DRAM > 64MB [Non-OS2]

Set this item to OS2 only when you are running on an OS/2 operating system with

an installed RAM of greater than 64 MB.

Conﬁguration options: [Non-OS2] [OS2]

Full Screen LOGO [Enabled]

This allows you to enable or disable the full screen logo display feature.

Conﬁguration options: [Disabled] [Enabled]

Set this item to [Enabled] to use the ASUS MyLogo 2™ feature.

Halt On [All, But Keyboard]

Allows you to set the error report type.

Conﬁguration options: [All Errors] [No Errors] [All, But Keyboard] [All, But Diskette]

[All, But Disk/Key]

4.6.4

Security

Phoenix-Award BIOS CMOS Setup Utility

Boot

Security

Select Menu

Supervisor Password

User Password

Password Check

Clear

Item Speciﬁc Help

Clear

[Setup]

Supervisor Password

User Password

These ﬁelds allow you to set passwords:

To set a password:

Select an item then press <Enter>.

Type in a password using a combination of a maximum of eight (8)

alpha-numeric characters, then press <Enter>.

When prompted, conﬁrm the password by typing the exact characters again,

then press <Enter>. The password ﬁeld setting is changed to [Set].

To clear the password:

Select the password ﬁeld and press <Enter> twice. The following message

appears:

PASSWORD DISABLED !!!

Press any key to continue...

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

4-33

Press any key to continue. The password ﬁeld setting is changed to [Clear].

A note about passwords

The Supervisor password is required to enter the BIOS Setup program

preventing unauthorized access. The User password is required to boot the

system preventing unauthorized use.

Forgot your password?

If you forget your password, you can clear it by erasing the CMOS Real Time

Clock (RTC) RAM. The RAM data containing the password information is

RAM, refer to section 2.6 Jumper for instructions.

Password Check

This ﬁeld requires you to enter the password before entering the BIOS setup or the

system. Select [Setup] to require the password before entering the BIOS Setup.

Select [System] to require the password before entering the system.

Conﬁguration options: [Setup] [System]

4-34

Chapter 4: BIOS setup

4.7

Tools menu

The Tools menu items allow you to conﬁgure options for special functions. Select

an item then press <Enter> to display the sub-menu.

Phoenix-Award BIOS CMOS Setup Utility

Main

Advanced

Power

Boot

Tools

Exit

ASUS O.C. Proﬁle

ASUS EZ Flash 2

Express Gate Lite

Select Menu

Item Speciﬁc Help

F1:Help

ESC: Exit

↑↓ : Select Item

→←: Select Menu

-/+: Change Value

Enter: Select SubMenu

F5: Setup Defaults

F10: Save and Exit

4.7.1

ASUS O.C. Proﬁle

This item allows you to store or load multiple BIOS settings.

Phoenix-Award BIOS CMOS Setup Utility

Tools

ASUS BIOS Proﬁle

Select Menu

Load BIOS Proﬁle

Save BIOS Proﬁle

Item Speciﬁc Help

Press [Enter] to

select.

Load BIOS Proﬁle

Phoenix-Award BIOS CMOS Setup Utility

Tools

Load BIOS Proﬁle

Select Menu

Load from Proﬁle 1

Load from Proﬁle 2

Load from File

Item Speciﬁc Help

Load BIOS Proﬁle

from Proﬁle 1.

Load from Proﬁle 1/2

Allows you to load the previous BIOS settings saved in the BIOS Flash. Press

<Enter> to load the ﬁle.

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

4-35

Load from File

Allows you to load the previous BIOS ﬁle saved in the hard disk/ﬂoppy disk/USB

ﬂash disk with the FAT32/16/12 format. Follow the instructions below to load the

BIOS ﬁle.

1. Insert the storage devices that contains the “xxx.CMO” ﬁle.

2. Turn on the system.

3. Enter BIOS setup program. Go to the “Tools” menu to select ASUS O.C.

Proﬁle > Load from File. Press <Enter> then the setup screen will

appear.

4. Press <Tab> to switch between drives before the correct “xxx.CMO” ﬁle

is found. Then press <Enter> to load the ﬁle.

5. A pop-up message will inform you when the loading process ﬁnishes.

•

Suggest only to update the BIOS ﬁle coming from the same memory/CPU

conﬁguration and BIOS version.

Only the “xxx.CMO” ﬁle can be loaded.

Save BIOS Proﬁle

Phoenix-Award BIOS CMOS Setup Utility

Tools

Save BIOS Proﬁle

Select Menu

Save to Proﬁle 1

Save to Proﬁle 2

Save to File

Item Speciﬁc Help

Save current BIOS

Proﬁle to Proﬁle 1.

Save to Proﬂe 1/2

Allows you to save the current BIOS ﬁle to the BIOS Flash. Press <Enter> to save

the ﬁle.

Save to File

Allows you to save the current BIOS ﬁle to the hard disk/ﬂoppy disk/USB ﬂash disk

with FAT32/16/12 format. Follow the instructions below to save the BIOS ﬁle.

1. Insert the storage devices with enough space.

2. Turn on the system.

3. Enter the BIOS setup program. Go to the “Tools” menu to select “Save to

File.” Press <Enter> then the setup screen will appear.

4. Press <Tab> to switch between the drives. Press hot-key <S> to save

the ﬁle.

5. Key in the ﬁle name. Then press <Enter>.

6. A pop-up message will inform you when the saving process ﬁnishes.

4-36

Chapter 4: BIOS setup

ASUSTek O.C. Proﬁle Utility B325

Current CMOS

Update CMOS

BOARD: M3N-HD

BOARD: Unknown

VER: Unknown

DATE: Unknown

VER: 0101

DATE: 11/20/2007

PATH: A:\

CMOS backup is done! Press any key to Exit.

Note

[Enter] Select

[S] Save

[ESC]: Exit

[Tab] Switch

[Up/Down/Home/End] Move

The BIOS ﬁle will be saved as “xxx.CMO“.

4.7.2

ASUS EZ Flash 2

Allows you to run ASUS EZ Flash 2. When you press <Enter>, a conﬁrmation

message appears. Use the left/right arrow key to select between [Yes] or [No],

then press <Enter> to conﬁrm your choice.

ASUSTek EZ Flash 2 BIOS ROM Utility B325

FLASH TYPE: EON EN25F80 8MB SPI

Current ROM

Update ROM

BOARD: Unknown

BOARD: M3N-HD

VER: Unknown

DATE: Unknown

VER: 0101

DATE: 11/20/2007

PATH: A:\

Note

[Enter] Select or Load

[B] Backup

[ESC] Exit

[Tab] Switch

[Up/Down/Home/End] Move

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

4-37

4.7.3

Express Gate Lite

Phoenix-Award BIOS CMOS Setup Utility

Tools

Express Gate Lite

Select Menu

Express Gate Lite

[Enabled]

[10]

[No]

Item Speciﬁc Help

Timeout

Reset User Data

Express Gate Lite [Enabled]

Allows you to enable or disable the ASUS Express Gate Lite feature. The ASUS

Express Gate Lite is a unique instant-on environment that provides quick access to

the Internet browser and Skype. Refer to section 5.3.10 ASUS Express Gate Lite

for details.

Conﬁguration options: [Enabled] [Disabled]

Boot Out Timer [10]

Sets countdown duration that the system waits at the Express Gate Lite’s ﬁrst

screen before starting Windows or other installed OS. Choose [Disabled] to

stay at the ﬁrst screen of Express Gate Lite for user action.

Conﬁguration options: [Disabled] [1 second] ~ [30 seconds]

The time length is adjusted by typing the desired values using the numeric

keypad and press the <Enter> key.

Reset User Data [No]

Allows you to clear Express Gate Lite’s user data.

Conﬁguration options: [No] [Reset]

When setting this item to [Reset], make sure to save the setting to the BIOS

so that the user data will be cleared the next time you enter the Express

Gate Lite. User data includes the Express Gate Lite’s settings as well as

any personal information stored by the web browser (bookmarks, cookies,

browsing history, etc.). This is useful in the rare case where corrupt settings

prevent the Express Gate Lite environment from launching properly.

The ﬁrst time wizard will run again when you enter the Express Gate

environment after clearing its settings.

4-38

Chapter 4: BIOS setup

4.8

Exit menu

The Exit menu items allow you to load the optimal or failsafe default values for the

BIOS items, and save or discard your changes to the BIOS items.

Phoenix-Award BIOS CMOS Setup Utility

Main

Advanced

Power

Boot

Tools

Exit

Exit & Save Changes

Exit & Discard Changes

Load Setup Default

Discard Changes

Select Menu

Item Speciﬁc Help

This option save data

to CMOS and exiting

the setup menu.

F1:Help

ESC: Exit

↑↓ : Select Item

→←: Select Menu

-/+: Change Value

Enter: Select SubMenu

F5: Setup Defaults

F10: Save and Exit

Pressing <Esc> does not immediately exit this menu. Select one of the options

from this menu or <F10> from the legend bar to exit.

Exit & Save Changes

Once you are ﬁnished making your selections, choose this option from the Exit

menu 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 PC is turned

off. When you select this option, a conﬁrmation window appears. Select YES to

save changes and exit.

If you attempt to exit the Setup program without saving your changes, the

program prompts you with a message asking if you want to save your changes

before exiting. Press <Enter> to save the changes while exiting.

Exit & Discard Changes

Select this option only if you do not want to save the changes that you made to the

Setup program. If you made changes to ﬁelds other than System Date, System

Time, and Password, the BIOS asks for a conﬁrmation before exiting.

Load Setup Default

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 YES to load default values. Select Exit & Save Changes

or make other changes before saving the values to the non-volatile RAM.

Discard Changes

This option allows you to discard the selections you made and restore the

previously saved values. After selecting this option, a conﬁrmation appears. Select

YES to discard any changes and load the previously saved values.

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

4-39

4-40

Chapter 4: BIOS setup

This chapter describes the contents of

the support DVD that comes with the

motherboard package.

Chapter 5: Software

support

Chapter summary

5.1

5.2

5.3

5.4

5.5

Installing an operating system ................................................... 5-1

Support DVD informatio n ............................................................ 5-1

Software information ................................................................... 5-9

RAID conﬁgurations .................................................................. 5-37

Creating a RAID driver disk....................................................... 5-45

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

5.1

Installing an operating system

This motherboard supports Windows^®XP / 64-bit XP / Vista / 64-bit Vista 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. Use the setup

procedures presented in this chapter for reference only. Refer to your OS

documentation for detailed information.

•

Make sure that you install Windows^®XP Service Pack 2 or later versions

before installing the drivers for better compatibility and system stability.

5.2

Support DVD information

The support DVD that came with the motherboard package contains the drivers,

software applications, and utilities that you can install to avail all motherboard

features.

The contents of the support DVD are subject to change at any time without

notice. Visit the ASUS website(www.asus.com) for updates.

5.2.1

Running the support DVD

Place the support DVD to the optical drive. The DVD automatically displays the

Drivers menu if Autorun is enabled in your computer.

Click an icon to

display support

DVD/motherboard

information

Click an item to install

If Autorun is NOT enabled in your computer, browse the contents of the support

DVD to locate the ﬁle ASSETUP.EXE from the BIN folder. Double-click the

ASSETUP.EXE to run the DVD.

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

5-1

5.2.2

Drivers menu

The drivers menu shows the available device drivers if the system detects installed

devices. Install the necessary drivers to activate the devices.

ASUS InstAll - Installation Wizard for Drivers

Installs all of the drivers through the installation wizard.

NVIDIA Chipset Driver Program

Installs the nVIDIA^®chipset drivers for the nVIDIA nForce 750a SLI chipset.

Realtek Audio Driver

Installs the Realtek^®ALC883 audio driver and application.

AMD Cool ‘n’ Quiet Driver

Installs the AMD^®Cool ‘n’ Quiet™ technology driver.

USB 2.0 Driver

Installs the Universal Serial Bus 2.0 (USB 2.0) driver.

5-2

Chapter 5: Software support

5.2.3

Utilities menu

The Utilities menu shows the applications and other software that the motherboard

supports.

Click to display the

Click to return to the

ASUS InstAll - Installation Wizard for Utilities

Installs all of the utilities through the Installation Wizard.

ASUS PC Probe II

This smart utility monitors the fan speed, CPU temperature, and system voltages,

and alerts you of any detected problems. This utility helps you keep your computer

in healthy operating condition.

ASUS AI Suite

Installs the ASUS AI Suite.

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

5-3

ASUS Update

Allows you to download the latest version of the BIOS from the ASUS website.

Before using the ASUS Update, make sure that you have an Internet connection

so you can connect to the ASUS website.

ASUS Cool‘n’Quiet Utility

This item installs the ASUS Cool‘n’Quiet utility.

ASUS Express Gate Lite Installer

Allows you to Install or update ASUS Express Gate Lite functions.

Adobe Acrobat Reader V7.0

Installs the Adobe^®Acrobat^®Reader that allows you to open, view, and print

documents in Portable Document Format (PDF).

Microsoft DirectX 9.0c

Installs the Microsoft^®DirectX 9.0 driver. The Microsoft DirectX^®9.0 is a multimedia

technology that enhances computer graphics and sound. DirectX^®improves the

multimedia features of you computer so you can enjoy watching TV and movies,

capturing videos, or playing games in your computer. Visit the Microsoft website

(www.microsoft.com) for updates.

Anti-Virus Utility

The anti-virus application detects and protects your computer from viruses that

destroys data.

WinDVD Copy5 Trial

Installs the InterVideo DVD Copy5 trial version.

Corel Snapﬁre Plus SE

Installs Corel Snapﬁre Plus SE.

5-4

Chapter 5: Software support

5.2.4

Make Disk menu

The Make Disk menu contains items to create the NVIDIA^®nForce™ 750 SLI

SATA/RAID driver disk.

Click to display the

Click to return to the

NVIDIA 32/64bit XP SATA RAID Driver (Disk 1/2)

Allows you to create NVIDIA SATA RAID driver disks for 32/64bit Windows^®XP.

NVIDIA 32/64bit XP AHCI Driver (Disk 1/2)

Allows you to create an NVIDIA AHCI driver disk for 32/64bit Windows^®XP.

Due to ﬂoppy disc capacity limitation, when creating a RAID conﬁguration

under 32/64bit Windows^®Vista, please install the AHCI/RAID driver through the

motherboard support DVD or a USB device.

Find RAID driver in the support DVD through the path below:

Drivers\Chipset\Disk\RAID

Find AHCI driver in the support DVD through the path below:

Drivers\Chipset\Disk\AHCI

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

5-5

5.2.5

Manual menu

The Manual menu contains a list of supplementary user manuals. Click an item to

open the folder of the user manual.

Most user manual ﬁles are in Portable Document Format (PDF). Install the

Adobe^®Acrobat^®Reader from the Utilities menu before opening a user manual

ﬁle.

5.2.6

ASUS Contact information

Click the Contact tab to display the ASUS contact information. You can also ﬁnd

this information on the inside front cover of this user guide.

5-6

Chapter 5: Software support

5.2.7

Other information

The icons on the top right corner of the screen give additional information on the

motherboard and the contents of the support DVD. Click an icon to display the

speciﬁed information.

Motherboard Info

Displays the general speciﬁcations of the motherboard.

Browse this DVD

Displays the support DVD contents in graphical format.

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

5-7

Technical support Form

Displays the ASUS Technical Support Request Form that you have to ﬁll out when

requesting technical support.

File list

Displays the contents of the support DVD and a brief description of each in text

format.

5-8

Chapter 5: Software support

5.3

Software information

Most of the applications in the support DVD have wizards that will conveniently

guide you through the installation. View the online help or readme ﬁle that came

with the software application for more information.

5.3.1

ASUS MyLogo2™

The ASUS MyLogo2™ utility lets you customize the boot logo. The boot logo is the

image that appears on screen during the Power-On Self-Tests (POST). The ASUS

MyLogo2™ is automatically installed when you install the ASUS Update utility from

the support DVD. See section 5.2.3 Utilities menu for details.

•

Before using the ASUS MyLogo2™, use the AFUDOS utility to make a copy

of your original BIOS ﬁle, or obtain the latest BIOS version from the ASUS

website. See section 4.1.4 AFUDOS utility.

•

Make sure that the BIOS item Full Screen Logo is set to [Enabled] if

you wish to use ASUS MyLogo2. See section 4.6.2 Boot Settings

Conﬁguration.

•

You can create your own boot logo image in GIF, or BMP ﬁle formats.

The ﬁle size should be smaller than 150 K.

To launch the ASUS MyLogo2™:

Launch the ASUS Update utility. Refer to section 4.1.1 ASUS Update utility

for details.

Select Options from the drop down menu, then click Next.

Check the option Launch MyLogo to replace system boot logo before

ﬂashing BIOS, then click Next.

Select Update BIOS from a ﬁle from the drop down menu, then click Next.

When prompted, locate the new BIOS ﬁle, then click Next. The ASUS

MyLogo window appears.

From the left window pane, select the

folder that contains the image you

intend to use as your boot logo.

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

5-9

When the logo images appear on the

right window pane, select an image to

enlarge by clicking on it.

Adjust the boot image to your desired

size by selecting a value on the Ratio

box.

When the screen returns to the ASUS Update utility, ﬂash the original BIOS to

load the new boot logo.

10. After ﬂashing the BIOS, restart the computer to display the new boot logo

during POST.

5-10

Chapter 5: Software support

5.3.2

Cool ‘n’ Quiet!™ Technology

The motherboard supports the AMD Cool ‘n’ Quiet!™ Technology that dynamically

and automatically change the CPU speed, voltage, and amount of power

depending on the task the CPU performs.

Enabling Cool ‘n’ Quiet!™ Technology

To enable Cool ‘n’ Quiet!™ Technology:

Turn on the system and enter BIOS by pressing the <Del> key during the

Power On Self-Tests (POST).

Go to Advanced > CPU Conﬁguration > AMD Cool ‘n’Quiet Function and

set it to [Enabled]. See section 4.4 Advanced menu.

Save your changes and exit BIOS Setup.

Reboot your computer and set your Power Option Properties depending on

your operating system.

Windows^®XP

From the Windows^®XP operating system, click Start. Select Settings >

Control Panel.

Make sure the Control Panel is set to Classic View.

Double-click the Display icon in the Control Panel then select the Screen

Saver tab.

Click the Power button. The following dialogue box appears.

From the Power schemes combo list box, select Minimal Power

Management.

Click OK to effect settings.

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

5-11

Windows^®Vista

From the Windows^®Vista operating system, click Start. Select Control

Panel.

Make sure the Control Panel is set to Classic View.

Double-click the Personalization icon in the Control Panel then click the

Screen Saver item.

Click “Change power settings...”. The following dialogue box appears.

From the Preferred plans, select Power saver.

Close all windows.

•

Make sure to install the AMD Cool ‘n’ Quiet!™ driver and application before

using this feature.

The AMD Cool ‘n’ Quiet!™ technology feature works only with the AMD

heatsink and fan assembly with monitor chip

If you purchased a separate heatsink and fan package, use the ASUS

Q-Fan technology feature to automatically adjust the CPU fan speed

according to your system loading.

5-12

Chapter 5: Software support

Launching the Cool ‘n’ Quiet!™ software

The motherboard support DVD includes the Cool ‘n’ Quiet!™ software that enables

you to view your system’s real-time CPU Frequency and voltage.

Make sure to install the Cool ‘n’ Quiet!™ software from the motherboard support

DVD. Refer to section 5.2.3 Utilities menu for details.

To launch the Cool ‘n’ Quiet!™ program:

If you are using Windows^®XP, click the Start button. Select Programs >

ASUS > Cool & Quiet > Cool & Quiet.

If you are using Windows^®Vista, click the Start button. Select All Programs

> ASUS > Cool & Quiet > Cool & Quiet.

The Cool ‘n’ Quiet!™ technology screen appears and displays the current

CPU Frequency and CPU Voltage.

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

5-13

5.3.3

Audio conﬁgurations

The Realtek^®ALC1200 audio CODEC provides 8-channel audio capability to

deliver the ultimate audio experience on your computer. The software provides

Jack-Sensing function, S/PDIF Out support, and interrupt capability. The ALC1200

also includes the Realtek^®proprietary UAJ^®(Universal Audio Jack) technology for

all audio ports, eliminating cable connection errors and giving users plug and play

convenience.

Follow the installation wizard to install the Realtek^®Audio Driver from the Support

DVD that came with the motherboard package.

If the Realtek audio software is correctly installed, you will ﬁnd the Realtek HD

Audio Manager icon on the taskbar.

From the taskbar, double-click on the SoundEffect

icon to display the Realtek HD Audio Manager.

Realtek HD Audio Manager

Exit button

Conﬁguration

options

Minimize

button

Control settings

window

Information

button

5-14

Chapter 5: Software support

Information

Click the information button (

) to display

information about the audio driver version, DirectX

version, audio controller, audio codec, and

language setting.

Minimize

Click the minimize button (

) to minimize the window.

Exit

Click the exit button (

) to exit the Realtek HD Audio Manager.

Conﬁguration options

Click any of the tabs in this area to conﬁgure your audio settings.

Sound Effect

The Realtek^®ALC1200 Audio CODEC

allows you to set your listening

environment, adjust the equalizer, set

the karaoke, or select pre-programmed

equalizer settings for your listening

pleasure.

To set the sound effect options:

From the Realtek HD Audio

Manager, click the Sound Effect

tab.

Click the shortcut buttons or the drop-down menus for options on changing

the acoustic environment, adjust the equalizer, or set the karaoke to your

desired settings.

Click

to effect the Sound Effect settings and exit.

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

5-15

Mixer

The Mixer option allows you to

conﬁgure audio output (playback)

volume and audio input (record)

volume.

To set the mixer options:

From the Realtek HD Audio

Manager, click the Mixer tab.

Turn the volume buttons to adjust

the Playback and/or Record

volume.

The Mixer option activates voice input from all channels by default. Make sure

to set all channels to mute (

) if you do not want voice input.

Make adjustments to Wave, SW Synth, Front, Rear, Subwoofer, CD volume,

Mic volume, Line Volume, and Stereo mix by clicking the control tabs and

dragging them up and down until you get the desired levels.

Click

to effect the Mixer settings and exit.

Audio I/O

The Audio I/O option allows you

conﬁgure your input/output settings.

To set the Audio I/O options:

From the Realtek HD Audio

Manager, click the Audio I/O tab.

Click the drop-down menu to

select the channel conﬁguration.

The control settings window

displays the status of connected

devices. Click

digital options.

for analog and

Click <OK> to effect the Audio I/O settings and exit

5-16

Chapter 5: Software support

Microphone

The Microphone option allows you

conﬁgure your input/output settings

and to check if your audio devices are

connected properly.

To set the Microphone options:

From the Realtek HD Audio

Manager, click the Microphone tab.

Click the Noise Suppression

option button to reduce the static

background noise when recording.

Click the Acoustic Echo Cancellation option button to reduce the echo from

the front speakers when recording.

Click

to effect the Microphone settings and exit.

3D Audio Demo

The 3D Audio Demo option gives you a

demonstration of the 3D audio feature.

To start the 3D Audio Demo:

From the Realtek HD Audio

Manager, click the 3D Audio

Demo tab.

Click the option buttons to change

the sound, moving path, or

environment settings.

Click

to test your settings.

to effect the 3D Audio Demo settings and exit.

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

5-17

5.3.4

ASUS PC Probe II

PC Probe II is a utility that monitors the computer’s vital components, and detects

and alerts you of any problem with these components. PC Probe II senses fan

rotations, CPU temperature, and system voltages, among others. Because PC

Probe II is software-based, you can start monitoring your computer the moment

you turn it on. With this utility, you are assured that your computer is always at a

healthy operating condition.

Installing PC Probe II

To install PC Probe II on your computer:

Place the support DVD to the optical drive. The Drivers installation tab

appears if your computer has an enabled Autorun feature.

If Autorun is not enabled in your computer, browse the contents of the support

DVD to locate the setup.exe ﬁle from the ASUS PC Probe II folder. Double-click

the setup.exe ﬁle to start installation.

Click the Utilities tab, then click ASUS PC Probe II.

Follow the screen instructions to complete installation.

Launching PC Probe II

You can launch the PC Probe II right after installation or anytime from the

Windows^®desktop.

To launch the PC Probe II from the Windows^®desktop, click Start > All Programs

> ASUS > PC Probe II > PC Probe II v1.xx.xx. The PC Probe II main window

appears.

After launching the application, the PC Probe II icon appears in the Windows^®

taskbar. Click this icon to close or restore the application.

Using PC Probe II

Main window

The PC Probe II main window

allows you to view the current

status of your system and change

the utility conﬁguration. By

default, the main window displays

the Preference section. You can

close or restore the Preference

section by clicking on the triangle on the main window right handle.

Click to close the

Preference panel

5-18

Chapter 5: Software support

Button

Function

Opens the Conﬁguration window

Opens the Report window

Opens the Desktop Management Interface window

Opens the Peripheral Component Interconnect window

Opens the Windows Management Instrumentation window

Opens the hard disk drive, memory, CPU usage window

Shows/Hides the Preference section

Minimizes the application

Closes the application

Sensor alert

When a system sensor detects a problem, the main window right handle

turns red, as the illustrations below show.

When displayed, the monitor panel for that sensor also turns red. Refer to the

Monitor panels section for details.

Preference

You can customize the application using

the Preference section in the main window.

Click the box before each preference to

activate or deactivate.

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

5-19

Hardware monitor panels

The hardware monitor panels display the current value of a system sensor such as

fan rotation, CPU temperature, and voltages.

The hardware monitor panels come in two display modes: hexagonal (large) and

rectangular (small). When you check the Enable Monitoring Panel option from the

Preference section, the monitor panels appear on your computer’s desktop.

Small display

Large display

Changing the monitor panels position

To change the position of the monitor panels in the desktop,

click the arrow down button of the Scheme options, then select

another position from the list box. Click OK when ﬁnished.

Moving the monitor panels

All monitor panels move together using a magnetic effect. If

you want to detach a monitor panel from

the group, click the horseshoe magnet

icon. You can now move or reposition the

panel independently.

Adjusting the sensor threshold value

You can adjust the sensor threshold

value in the monitor panel by

clicking the or buttons. You can

also adjust the threshold values

Click to

increase

value

using the Conﬁg window.

Click to

You cannot adjust the sensor

threshold values in a small

monitoring panel.

decrease

value

5-20

Chapter 5: Software support

Monitoring sensor alert

The monitor panel turns red when a component value exceeds or is lower

than the threshold value. Refer to the illustrations below.

Small display

Large display

WMI browser

Click to display the

WMI (Windows Management

Instrumentation) browser. This

browser displays various Windows®

management information. Click an

item from the left panel to display on

the right panel. Click the plus sign (+)

before WMI Information to display the

available information.

You can enlarge or reduce the browser size by dragging the bottom right corner

of the browser.

DMI browser

Click to display the DMI

(Desktop Management Interface)

browser. This browser displays various

desktop and system information.

Click the plus sign (+) before DMI

Information to display the available

information.

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

5-21

PCI browser

Click

to display the PCI

(Peripheral Component Interconnect)

browser. This browser provides

information on the PCI devices installed

on your system. Click the plus sign

(+) before the PCI Information item to

display available information.

Usage

The Usage browser displays real-time information on the CPU, hard disk drive

space, and memory usage. Click

to display the Usage browser.

CPU usage

The CPU tab displays real-

time CPU usage in line graph

representation. If the CPU has

an enabled Hyper-Threading,

two separate line graphs display

the operation of the two logical

processors.

Hard disk drive space usage

The Hard Disk tab displays the

used and available hard disk

drive space. The left panel of the

tab lists all logical drives. Click

a hard disk drive to display the

information on the right panel.

The pie chart at the bottom of

the window represents the used

(blue) and the available HDD

space.

5-22

Chapter 5: Software support

Memory usage

The Memory tab shows both used

and available physical memory. The

pie chart at the bottom of the window

represents the used (blue) and the

available physical memory.

Conﬁguring PC Probe II

Click

to view and adjust the sensor threshold values.

The Conﬁg window has two tabs: Sensor/Threshold and Preference. The Sensor/

Threshold tab enables you to activate the sensors or to adjust the sensor threshold

values. The Preference tab allows you to customize sensor alerts, or change the

temperature scale.

Loads the default

Loads your saved

conﬁguration

threshold values for

each sensor

Cancels or

ignores your

changes

Applies your

changes

Saves your

conﬁguration

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

5-23

5.3.5

ASUS AI Suite

ASUS AI Suite allows you to launch AI Gear 2, AI Booster, AI Nap, and Q-Fan 2

utilities easily.

Installing AI Suite

To install AI Suite on your computer:

Place the support DVD to the optical drive. The Drivers installation tab

appears if your computer has an enabled Autorun feature.

Click the Utilities tab, then click AI Suite.

Follow the screen instructions to complete installation.

Launching AI Suite

You can launch the AI Suite right after installation or anytime from the Windows^®

desktop.

To launch the AI Suite from the Windows^®desktop, click Start > All Programs >

ASUS > AI Suite > AI Suite v1.xx.xx. The AI Suite main window appears.

After launching the application, the AI Suite icon appears in the Windows^®taskbar.

Click this icon to close or restore the application.

Using AI Suite

Click the AI Gear 2, AI Nap, AI Booster, or Q-Fan 2 icon to launch the utility, or click

the Normal icon to restore the system to normal state.

Press to restore to normal

Press to launch AI Nap

Press to launch AI Gear 2

Press to launch AI Booster

Press to launch Q-Fan 2

5-24

Chapter 5: Software support

Other feature buttons

Click on right corner of the main window to open the monitor window.

Displays the CPU/

system temperature,

CPU/memory/PCIE

voltage, and CPU/

chassis fan speed

Displays the FSB/CPU

frequency

Click

on right corner of the expanded window to switch the temperature from

degrees Centigrade to degrees Fahrenheit.

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

5-25

5.3.6

ASUS AI Gear 2

ASUS AI Gear 2 provides four system performance options that allows you to

select the best performance setting for your computing needs. This easy-to-use

utility adjusts the processor frequency and vCore voltage to minimize system noise

and power consumption.

After installing AI Suite from the bundled support DVD, you can launch AI Gear 2

by double-clicking the AI Suite icon on your Windows OS taskbar and then click the

AI Gear 2 button on the AI Suite main window.

Shift the gear to the performance setting that you like.

Maximum

Medium

Performance

High

Maximum

Performance

Power Saving

5-26

Chapter 5: Software support

5.3.7

ASUS AI Nap

This feature allows you to minimize the power consumption of your computer

whenever you are away. Enable this feature for minimum power consumption and

a more quiet system operation.

After installing AI Suite from the bundled support DVD, you can launch the utility by

double-clicking the AI Suite icon on the Windows OS taskbar and click the AI Nap

button on the AI Suite main window.

Click Yes on the conﬁrmation screen.

To exit AI Nap mode, press the system power or mouse button then click Yes on

the conﬁrmation screen.

To switch the power button functions from AI Nap to shutting down, just right

click the AI Suite icon on the OS taskbar, select AI Nap and click Use power

button. Unclick the the item to switch the function back.

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

5-27

5.3.8

ASUS Q-Fan 2

This ASUS Q-Fan 2 Control feature allows you to set the appropriate performance

level of the CPU Q-Fan 2 or the Chassis Q-Fan 2 for more efﬁcient system

operation. After enabling the Q-Fan 2 function, the fans can be set to automatically

adjust depending on the temperature, to decrease fan speed, or to achieve the

maximum fan speed.

After installing AI Suite from the bundled support DVD, you can launch the utility by

double-clicking the AI Suite icon on the Windows^®OS taskbar and click the Q-Fan

2 button on the AI Suite maIn window.

Click the drop-down menu button and display the fan names. Select CPU Q-Fan 2

or CHASSIS Q-Fan 2. Click the box of Enable Q-Fan 2 to activate this function.

drop-down list

button

Enable Q-Fan 2 box

Proﬁle list appears after clicking the Enable Q-Fan 2 box. Click the drop-down

list button and select a proﬁle. Optimal mode makes the fans adjust speed

with the temperature; Silent mode minimizes fan speed for quiet fan operation;

Performance mode boosts the fan to achieve maximal fan speed for the best

cooling effect.

click to display the drop-

down list and select a

Q-Fan 2 mode

Click Apply at the bottom to save the setup.

5-28

Chapter 5: Software support

5.3.9

ASUS AI Booster

The ASUS AI Booster application allows you to overclock the CPU speed in

WIndows^®environment without the hassle of booting the BIOS.

After installing AI Suite from the bundled support DVD, you can launch the utility

by double-clicking the AI Suite icon on the Windows^®OS taskbar and click the AI

Booster button on the AI Suite main window.

The options on the taskbar allow you to use the default settings, adjust CPU/

Memory/PCI-E frequency manually, or create and apply your personal overclocking

conﬁgurations.

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

5-29

5.3.10

ASUS Express Gate Lite

ASUS Express Gate Lite is an instant-on environment that gives you quick access

to web and Skype. Within a few seconds of powering on your computer, you will

be at the Express Gate Lite menu where you can start the web browser, Skype, or

other Express Gate Lite softwares.

Installing ASUS Express Gate Lite

•

ASUS Express Gate Lite supports USB devices or SATA HDDs (IDE mode)

only. Set the SATA Operation Mode item in the BIOS to [IDE] before

installing and using ASUS Express Gate Lite.

•

Currently, ASUS Express Gate Lite DOES NOT support PATA IDE HDDs.

Visit www.asus.com for future BIOS and Express Gate Lite software

updates.

To install Express Gate Lite on your computer:

Place the support DVD to the optical drive. The Drivers installation tab

appears if your computer has enabled Autorun feature.

Click the Utilities tab, then click ASUS Express Gate Lite Installer.

Select the language for installation

and click OK.

The InstallShield Wizard for Express

Gate Lite appears. Click Next to

continue.

Select the target disk volume for

you to install Express Gate Lite.

If you have multiple volumes and

OS installed in your hard drive, it

is recommended to install Express

Gate Lite in Volume C. Click Next

to continue.

Follow the screen instructions to

complete installation.

5-30

Chapter 5: Software support

The First Screen

Express Gate Lite’s ﬁrst screen appears within a few seconds after you power on

the computer. From here, you can immediately start the web browser or Skype.

You can also choose to continue booting normally (e.g. to your installed OS such

as Windows), enter BIOS setup, or power off.

If you don’t make any selection, Express Gate Lite will automatically exit and boot

to your normal OS after a certain amount of time. The timer countdown is shown

on-screen inside the “boot to OS” button. As you move the mouse or type a key,

the countdown stops and the timer disappears, so you can take your time to make

a selection.

The Express Gate Lite Environment

The very ﬁrst time you enter the Express Gate Lite environment (by launching

either web or Skype from the ﬁrst screen), a ﬁrst time wizard will guide you through

basic Express Gate Lite conﬁgurations. Basic conﬁgurations include language,

date and time and screen resolution.

Once inside the Express Gate LIte environment, click on the icons on the

LaunchBar, by default at bottom of the screen, to launch or switch between

softwares. You can re-arrange, re-size and move windows. Bring a window to the

foreground by clicking within it or by clicking on its corresponding software icon.

Re-size a window by dragging any of its four corners. Move a window by dragging

its title bar.

Besides using the LaunchBar, you can also switch between softwares by pressing

<Alt> +<Tab> on the keyboard. You can also right-click anywhere on the desktop to

bring up a menu of softwares.

The red triangle on an software icon in the LaunchBar denotes that the software is

already running. This means that you can switch to it without any delay. In the rare

case where an software stops responding, right-click on its icon to force close it.

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

5-31

Using the Conﬁguration Panel

Use the conﬁguration panel to change various Express Gate Lite settings.

Click on an icon to open a particular conﬁguration tool. The following tools are

available:

•

Date and Time: set current date and time as well as time zone.

Input Method: choose your preferred input language and method.

Language and Keyboard: choose your language and keyboard preferences.

LaunchBar Setting: customize your LaunchBar (where it docks, whether it

auto-hides, etc.)

•

Network: Specify how your computer connects to the Internet. Enable all

the network ports that you may use (LAN1, LAN2, and/or wireless [optional]).

LAN1 and LAN2 refer to the two RJ-45 network ports on your computer.

•

The number of the LAN ports may differ from motherboards.

You can connect the LAN cable to either port, and Express Gate Lite will

automatically use the connected port.

Also specify whether each port uses DHCP (most common) or static IP. For

PPPoE and wireless (optional), set the login credentials (user name, password,

SSID, etc.) as well.

•

Environment Settings: This function allows you to clear the Express Gate

Lite settings, as well as any personal information stored by the web browser

(Bookmarks, Cookies, History, etc.). The user data will be reset to the original

default conﬁguration.

After you click Restore System, a conﬁrmation dialog box will open. If you

click “Yes” in the conﬁrmation dialog box, your system will immediately restart

and then re-enter Express Gate Lite to ﬁnish clearing the settings. This is also

useful in the rare case where settings might become corrupted.

The ﬁrst-time Wizard will run again when you enter the Express Gate Lite

environment after clearing its settings.

5-32

Chapter 5: Software support

•

Screen Settings: Choose the most optimal screen resolution for your display.

•

Volume Control: Control the volume for your speaker output, microphone

input, etc.

Using the LaunchBar

The LaunchBar has several system icons that show you various system statuses

and let you conﬁgure individual Express Gate Lite settings. The LaunchBar can be

conﬁgured to auto-hide, if you want more screen space for the softwares. It can

also be conﬁgured to dock on any of the four sides of the screen.

Starts the Web Browser for quick access to the World Wide Web.

Starts the Chat instant messaging tool.

Start the Skype software, which lets you call other people on Skype

for free, as well as offering affordable, high quality voice communications

to phones all over the world.

Opens the Conﬁguration Panel, which lets you specify network settings

and other preferences.

In the rare case that one of the above softwares stops responding, you can right-

click on its icon and then select Close to force it to close.

The smaller icons on the right side of the LaunchBar are:

Click on this icon to open the File Manager window, which lets you

conveniently access the ﬁles on the USB drive. If a USB device is

detected, the icon contains a green arrow.

Shows network status; click to conﬁgure network.

Shows mute status; click to change volume.

Click to choose input language and method as well as keyboard

shortcuts (Ctrl-Space by default).

Click to change LaunchBar options (auto-hide, docking position, etc).

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

5-33

Click to show “About Express Gate Lite”.

Click to open Express Gate Lite Help.

Click to bring up power options window to boot to OS, restart or power

down. This window is also shown when you press Ctrl-Alt-Del on the

keyboard.

Power off

Enter OS

Restart

Cancel and return to

Express Gate Lite

How Do I Get on to the Internet

If Internet doesn’t seem to be working in the Express Gate Lite environment, check

the following:

Open the Conﬁguration Panel.

Open Conﬁguration Panel

Open Network.

Network

5-34

Chapter 5: Software support

Make the proper network conﬁgurations.

Each network interface is enabled immediately when you check the box next

to it.

•

If you use a network cable connected to a home router (which is then

connected to your DSL/cable modem), enable both LAN1 and LAN2. Express

Gate Lite will automatically use whichever port (LAN1 or LAN2) is connected.

If you plug the network cable into a different port while Express Gate Lite is

running (e.g. move the cable from LAN1 to LAN2), you may need to restart

Express Gate LIte for it to detect the change.

•

The most common scenario is for your computer to automatically obtain

network settings (i.e. DHCP). If this is the case, you don’t need to click Setup

for any LAN port. If this is not the case, click Setup to conﬁgure the static IP

settings manually.

If you use wireless, click Setup for the WiFi option. In the WiFi tab of the

Advanced Network Settings box, enter the name of your wireless access

point in the SSID ﬁeld. If your wireless access point has security enabled,

select the corresponding security algorithm from the drop-down list (e.g.

WEPAUTO) in the Encryption Type ﬁeld, and enter the password.

Click OK to enable WiFi and establish the wireless connection.

•

If you use a network cable connected directly to your DSL/cable modem (no

router in between), click Setup for xDSL/cable dial-up. This method is also

referred to as PPPoE. Choose whether the DSL/cable modem is connected

to your computer’s LAN port. Then enter the username and password for your

dial-up account.

Click OK to enable xDSL/cable dial-up and establish the PPPoE connection.

When PPPoE is enabled, the port it uses will automatically be unchecked and

grayed out.

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

5-35

Conﬁguring Express Gate Lite in BIOS Setup

Enter BIOS setup by pressing DEL key after powering on or by clicking on

the BIOS setup icon on Express Gate Lite’s ﬁrst screen. Express Gate Lite

conﬁguration options are under the Tools menu. Refer to section 4.7.2 Express

Gate Lite for details.

Phoenix-Award BIOS CMOS Setup Utility

Tools

Express Gate Lite

Select Menu

Express Gate Lite

Boot Out Timer

Reset User Data

[Enabled]

[10]

[No]

Item Speciﬁc Help

Updating Express Gate Lite

You may update your existing Express Gate Lite software to new versions. New

versions of the Express Gate Lite software will be released regularly, adding

reﬁnements or new applications. You can ﬁnd original version of the software on

the support DVD or download new versions from the ASUS support website.

To update Express Gate Lite:

Double-click the Express Gate Lite

setup ﬁle to start software update.

A software update conﬁrmation

dialog box appears. Click Yes to

continue.

The InstallShield Wizard for Express Gate Lite appears. Click Next to

continue.

Follow the screen instructions to complete installation.

Repairing Express Gate Lite

In case Express Gate Lite cannot start normally, you can repair Express Gate Lite

by reinstalling the software or using the repairing utility.

To repair Express Gate Lite:

•

Click Start > All Programs > Express

Gate > Express Gate Installer >

Repair this software.

•

Double click the Express Gate Lite

setup ﬁle, choose Repair, and click

Next to continue.

5-36

Chapter 5: Software support

5.4

RAID conﬁgurations

The motherboard comes with the NVIDIA GeForce 8200 chipset that allows you to

conﬁgure Serial ATA hard disk drives as RAID sets. The motherboard supports the

following RAID conﬁgurations: RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 0+1, RAID 5 and JBOD.

5.4.1

RAID deﬁnitions

RAID 0 (Data striping) optimizes two identical hard disk drives to read and write

data in parallel, interleaved stacks. Two hard disks perform the same work as a

single drive but at a sustained data transfer rate, double that of a single disk alone,

thus improving data access and storage. Use of two new identical hard disk drives

is required for this setup.

RAID 1 (Data mirroring) copies and maintains an identical image of data from

one drive to a second drive. If one drive fails, the disk array management software

directs all applications to the surviving drive as it contains a complete copy of

the data in the other drive. This RAID conﬁguration provides data protection and

increases fault tolerance to the entire system. Use two new drives or use an

existing drive and a new drive for this setup. The new drive must be of the same

size or larger than the existing drive.

RAID 0+1 is data striping and data mirroring combined without parity (redundancy

data) having to be calculated and written. With the RAID 0+1 conﬁguration you get

all the beneﬁts of both RAID 0 and RAID 1 conﬁgurations. Use four new hard disk

drives or use an existing drive and three new drives for this setup.

RAID 5 stripes both data and parity information across three or more hard

disk drives. Among the advantages of RAID 5 conﬁguration include better

HDD performance, fault tolerance, and higher storage capacity. The RAID

5 conﬁguration is best suited for transaction processing, relational database

applications, enterprise resource planning, and other business systems. Use a

minimum of three identical hard disk drives for this setup.

JBOD (Spanning) stands for Just a Bunch of Disks and refers to hard disk drives

that are not yet conﬁgured as a RAID set. This conﬁguration stores the same data

redundantly on multiple disks that appear as a single disk on the operating system.

Spanning does not deliver any advantage over using separate disks independently

and does not provide fault tolerance or other RAID performance beneﬁts.

For Windows XP, If you want to boot the system from a hard disk drive included

in a RAID set, ﬁrst copy the RAID driver from the support DVD to a ﬂoppy disk

before you install an operating system to a selected hard disk drive. Refer to

section 5.5 Creating a RAID driver disk for details.

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

5-37

5.4.2

NVIDIA^®RAID conﬁgurations

The motherboard includes a high performance SATA RAID controller integrated

in the NVIDIA^®nForce™ 750a SLI chipset. It supports RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 0+1

and RAID 5 for six independent Serial ATA channels.

Installing Serial ATA (SATA) hard disks

The motherboard supports Ultra DMA 133/100/66 and Serial ATA hard disk drives.

For optimal performance, install identical drives of the same model and capacity

when creating a disk array.

To install the SATA hard disks for a RAID conﬁguration:

Install the SATA hard disks into the drive bays.

Connect the SATA signal cables.

Connect a SATA power cable to the power connector on each drive.

Refer to the RAID controllers user manual in the motherboard support DVD for

detailed information on RAID conﬁgurations. See section 5.2.5 Manuals menu.

Setting the BIOS RAID items

After installing the hard disk drives, make sure to set the necessary RAID items in

the BIOS before setting your RAID conﬁguration.

To set the BIOS RAID items:

Boot the system and press <Del> during the Power-On Self-Test (POST) to

enter the BIOS Setup Utility.

Set the SATA Operation Mode item to [RAID]. See section 4.4.6 Onboard

Device Conﬁguration > MCP Storage Conﬁg for details.

Save your changes and Exit Setup.

•

Due to chipset limitation, when set any of SATA ports to RAID mode, all

SATA ports run at RAID mode together.

•

Make sure to re-enter your NVRAID settings after the CMOS is cleared;

otherwise, the system will not recognize your RAID setup.

•

For detailed descriptions on the NVIDIA^®RAID conﬁguration, refer to the

“NVIDIA^®RAID User Guide” found in your motherboard support DVD.

•

When using Windows^®XP operating system, make sure to install the

Windows^®XP Service Pack 2 or later versions.

5-38

Chapter 5: Software support

Entering the NVIDIA^®RAID utility

To enter the NVIDIA^®RAID utility:

Boot up your computer.

During POST, press <F10> to display the main menu of the utility.

The RAID BIOS setup screens shown in this section are for reference only, and

may not exactly match the items on your screen.

NVIDIA RAID Utility Oct 5 2004

- Deﬁne a New Array -

RAID Mode: Striping

Free Disks

Striping Block:

Optimal

Array Disks

Loc

Disk Model Name

Loc

Disk Model Name

1.0.M XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

1.1.M XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

2.0.M XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

2.1.M XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

[→] Add

[←] Del

[F6] Back [F7] Finish [TAB] Navigate [↑↓] Select [ENTER] Popup

At the bottom of the screen are the navigation keys. These keys allow you to move

through and select menu options.

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

5-39

Creating a RAID Volume

To create a RAID volume:

From the NVIDIA^®RAID utility Deﬁne a New Array menu, select RAID Mode

then press <Enter>. The following submenu appears.

Use the up or down arrow keys to select a

RAID mode then press <Enter>.

Mirroring

Striping

Stripe Mirroring

Spanning

Press <TAB> select the Striping

Block then press <Enter>. The

following submenu appears:

↑

16K

32K

64K

128K

Optim↓

If you selected Striping or Stripe Mirroring, use the up or down arrow keys to

select the stripe size for your RAID 0 array then press <Enter>.The available

values range from 8 KB to 128 KB. The default selection is 128 KB. The strip

value should be chosen based on the planned drive usage.

• 8 /16 KB - low disk usage

• 64 KB - typical disk usage

• 128 KB - performance disk usage

TIP: For server systems, we recommend using a lower array block size. For

multimedia computer systems used mainly for audio and video editing, we

recommend a higher array block size for optimum performance.

3.` Press <TAB> to select the Free Disks area. Use the left or right arrow keys to

assign the array disks.

Press <F7> to create RAID set. The following message box appears.

Clear disk data?

[Y] YES

[N] NO

Press <Y> to clear the selected disks or <N> to proceed without clearing the

disks. The following screen appears.

Take caution in using this option. All data on the RAID drives will be lost!

5-40

Chapter 5: Software support

NVIDIA RAID Utility Oct 5 2004

- Array List -

Boot

Id Status

Healthy

Vendor

NVIDIA

Array Model Name

MIRROR XXX.XXG

[Ctrl-X]Exit [↑↓]Select [B]Set Boot [N]New Array [ENTER]Detail

A new set of navigation keys is displayed on the bottom of the screen.

Press <Ctrl+X> to save settings and exit.

Rebuilding a RAID array

To rebuild a RAID array:

From the Array List menu, use the up or down arrow keys to select a RAID

array then press <Enter>. The RAID Array details appear.

Array 1 : NVIDIA MIRROR XXX.XXG

- Array Detail -

RAID Mode: Mirroring

Striping Width: 1

Striping Block: 64K

Adapt Channel M/S

Index Disk Model Name

Capacity

Master

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

XXX.XXGB

[R] Rebuild [D] Delete [C] Clear Disk [ENTER] Return

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

5-41

A new set of navigation keys is displayed on the bottom of the screen.

Press <R> to rebuild a RAID array. The following screen appears.

Array 1 : NVIDIA MIRROR XXX.XXG

- Select Disk Inside Array -

RAID Mode: Mirroring

Striping Width: 1

Striping Block: 64K

Adapt Channel M/S

Index Disk Model Name

Capacity

Master

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

XXX.XXGB

[↑↓] Select [F6] Back [F7] Finish

Use the up or down arrow keys to select a RAID array to rebuild, then press

<F7>. The following conﬁrmation message appears.

Rebuild array?

[ENTER] OK [ESC] Cancel

Press <Enter> to start rebuilding array or press <Esc> to cancel.

After the rebuild process, the Array list menu appears.

You will need to enter Window^®XP and run the NVIDIA utility in order to

complete the rebuilt process.

5-42

Chapter 5: Software support

Deleting a RAID array

To delete a RAID array:

From the Array List menu, use the up or down arrow keys to select a RAID

array then press <Enter>. The RAID Array details appear.

Array 1 : NVIDIA MIRROR XXX.XXG

- Array Detail -

RAID Mode: Mirroring

Striping Width: 1

Striping Block: 64K

Adapt Channel M/S

Index Disk Model Name

Capacity

Master

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

XXX.XXGB

[R] Rebuild [D] Delete [C] Clear Disk [ENTER] Return

A new set of navigation keys is displayed on the bottom of the screen.

Press <D> to delete a RAID array. The following conﬁrmation message

appears.

Delete this array?

[Y] YES [N] No

Press <Y> to delete array or press <N> to cancel.

Take caution in using this option. All data on the RAID drives will be lost!

If you selected Yes, the Deﬁne a New Array menu appears.

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

5-43

Clearing a disk data

To clear disk data:

From the Array List menu, use the up or down arrow keys to select a RAID

array then press <Enter>. The RAID Array details appear.

Array 1 : NVIDIA MIRROR XXX.XXG

- Array Detail -

RAID Mode: Mirroring

Striping Width: 1

Striping Block: 64K

Adapt Channel M/S

Index Disk Model Name

Capacity

Master

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

XXX.XXGB

[R] Rebuild [D] Delete [C] Clear Disk [ENTER] Return

A new set of navigation keys is displayed on the bottom of the screen.

Press <C> to clear disk. The following conﬁrmation message appears.

Clear disk data?

[Y] YES

[N]

Press <Y> to clear the disk data or press <N> to cancel.

Take caution in using this option. All data on the RAID drives will be lost!

5-44

Chapter 5: Software support

5.5

Creating a RAID driver disk

A ﬂoppy disk with the RAID driver is required when installing Windows^®XP

operating system on a hard disk drive that is included in a RAID set.

For Windows^®Vista™ operating system, use either the motherboard support DVD

or a USB device with the RAID driver.

5.5.1

Creating a RAID driver disk without entering the OS

To create a RAID/SATA driver disk without entering the OS:

Boot your computer.

Press <Del> during POST to enter the BIOS setup utility.

Set the optical drive as the primary boot device.

Insert the support DVD into the optical drive.

Save changes and exit BIOS.

Press any key when the system prompts “Press any key to boot from the

optical drive.”

When the menu appears, press <1> to create a RAID driver disk.

Insert a formatted ﬂoppy disk into the ﬂoppy drive then press <Enter>.

Follow succeeding screen instructions to complete the process.

5.5.2

Creating a RAID/SATA driver disk in Windows^®

To create a RAID driver disk in Windows^®:

Start Windows^®.

Place the motherboard support DVD into the optical drive.

Go to the Make Disk menu, then click NVIDIA 32/64bit XP SATA RAID

Driver to create a NVIDIA^®32/64 bit XP SATA RAID driver disk.

Insert a ﬂoppy disk or USB device into the ﬂoppy disk drive or USB port.

Follow succeeding screen instructions to complete the process.

Write-protect the ﬂoppy disk to avoid computer virus infection.

To install the RAID driver in Windows^®XP:

During the OS installation, the system prompts you to press the F6 key to

install third-party SCSI or RAID driver.

Press <F6> then insert the ﬂoppy disk with RAID driver into the ﬂoppy disk

drive.

Follow the succeeding screen instructions to complete the installation.

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

5-45

To install the RAID driver in Windows^®Vista™:

Insert the motherboard support DVD or USB device with RAID driver into the

optical drive or USB port.

Find RAID driver in the support DVD through the path below:

Drivers\Chipset\Disk\RAID

Find AHCI driver in the support DVD through the path below:

Drivers\Chipset\Disk\AHCI

Follow the succeeding screen instructions to complete the installation.

Due to chipset limitation, the Serial ATA ports supported by the NVIDIA chipset

doesn’t support Serial Optical Disk Drives (Serial ODD) under DOS.

5-46

Chapter 5: Software support

This chapter tells how to set up NVIDIA^®

SLI™ graphics cards to avail of nVIDIA’s

Multi-Video Processing technology.

Chapter 6:

NVIDIA^®SLI™

technology support

Chapter summary

6.1

6.2

6.3

Overview ....................................................................................... 6-1

Installing CrossFire™ graphics cards ....................................... 6-2

Software information ................................................................... 6-5

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

6.1

Overview

The motherboard supports the NVIDIA^®SLI™ (Scalable Link Interface)-Intel^®

Edition technology that allows you to install two identical PCI Express™ x16

graphics cards. Follow the installation procedures in this section.

Requirements

•

You should have two identical SLI-ready graphics cards that are NVIDIA^®

certiﬁed.

•

Make sure that your graphics card driver supports the NVIDIA^®SLI™

technology. Download the latest driver from the NVIDIA website (www.nvidia.

com).

•

Make sure that your power supply unit (PSU) can provide at least the

minimum power required by your system. See 9. ATX power connectors on

page 2-31 for details.

•

The NVIDIA^®SLI™ technology supports Windows^®XP™ 32-bit/64bit

operating system. Visit the NVIDIA website (www.nvidia.com) for the

NVIDIA^®SLI™ technology under Windows^®Vista™

•

Visit the NVIDIA zone website (http://www.nzone.com) for the latest certiﬁed

graphics card and supported 3D application list.

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

6-1

6.2

Dual graphics card setup

6.2.1

Installing SLI-ready graphics cards

Install only identical SLI-ready graphics cards that are NVIDIA^®-certiﬁed.

Different types of graphics cards will not work together properly.

To install the graphics cards:

Prepare two graphics cards. Each graphics card should have goldﬁngers for

the SLI connector.

Goldﬁngers

Remove the metal bracket covers opposite the two PCI Express x16 slots.

6-2

Chapter 6: nVIDIA^®SLI™ technology support

Insert one graphics card into either the blue or black slot. Make sure that the

card is properly seated on the slot.

Insert the second graphics card into the other slot. Make sure that the card is

properly seated on the slot.

If required, connect an auxiliary power source to the PCI Express graphics

cards.

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

6-3

Align and insert the SLI connector to the goldﬁngers on each graphics card.

Make sure that the connector is ﬁrmly in place.

SLI connector

When installing two VGA cards using a 20-pin ATX PSU with sufﬁcient+12v

capability, we recommend that you connect the auxillary power source from

the power supply to the graphics card. Refer to the PSU documentation for

dual VGA power requirements.

Connect a VGA cable or a DVI-I cable to the graphics card/s.

We recommend to install an additional chassis fan for better thermal

environment.

6-4

Chapter 6: nVIDIA^®SLI™ technology support

6.2.2

Installing the device drivers

Refer to the documentation that came with your graphics card package to install

the device drivers.

Make sure that your PCI Express graphics card driver supports the NVIDIA SLI

technology. Download the latest driver from the NVIDIA website (www.nvidia.

com).

6.2.3

Enabling the multi-GPU feature in Windows^®

After installing your graphics cards and the device drivers, enable the

Multi-Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) feature in the NVIDIA nView properties.

To enable the multi-GPU feature:

Click the NVIDIA Settings icon on

your Windows taskbar.

NVIDIA Settings icon

From the pop-up menu, select

nView Desktop Manager then click

nView Properties.

From the nView Desktop Manager

window, select the Desktop

Management tab.

Click Properties to display the

Display Properties dialog box.

ASUS M3N-HD/HDMI

6-5

From the Display Properties dialog

box, select the Settings tab then

click Advanced.

Select the NVIDIA GeForce tab.

Click the slider to display the

following screen, then select the SLI

multi-GPU item.

Slider

Click the Enable SLI multi-GPU check box.

Click OK when done.

6-6

Chapter 6: nVIDIA^®SLI™ technology support

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