Copyright Notice: No part of this installation guide may be reproduced, transcribed, transmitted, or translated in any language, in any form or by any means, except duplication of documentation by the purchaser for backup purpose, without written consent of ASRock Inc. Products and corporate names appearing in this guide may or may not be registered trademarks or copyrights of their respective companies, and are used only for identification or explanation and to the owners' benefit, without intent to infringe. Disclaimer: Specifications and information contained in this guide are furnished for informational use only and subject to change without notice, and should not be constructed as a commitment by ASRock. ASRock assumes no responsibility for any errors or omissions that may appear in this guide. With respect to the contents of this guide, ASRock does not provide warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties or conditions of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. In no event shall ASRock, its directors, officers, employees, or agents be liable for any indirect, special, incidental, or consequential damages (including damages for loss of profits, loss of business, loss of data, interruption of business and the like), even if ASRock has been advised of the possibility of such damages arising from any defect or error in the guide or product. This device complies with Part 15 of the FCC Rules. Operation is subject to the following two conditions: (1) this device may not cause harmful interference, and (2) this device must accept any interference received, including interference that may cause undesired operation. CALIFORNIA, USA ONLY The Lithium battery adopted on this motherboard contains Perchlorate, a toxic substance controlled in Perchlorate Best Management Practices (BMP) regulations passed by the California Legislature. When you discard the Lithium battery in California, USA, please follow the related regulations in advance. "Perchlorate Material-special handling may apply, see www.dtsc.ca.gov/hazardouswaste/perchlorate" ASRock Website: http://www.asrock.com Published December 2007 Copyright©2007 ASRock INC. All rights reserved. 1 ASRock ALiveXFire-eSATA2 Motherboard English Layout Motherboard L ayout 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 PS2_USB_PW1 Jumper 19 ATX 12V Connector (ATX12V1) 20 CPU Fan Connector (CPU_FAN1) 21 ATX Power Connector (ATXPWR1) AM2 940-Pin CPU Socket 22 CPU Heatsink Retention Module 23 2 x 240-pin DDR2 DIMM Slots 24 (Dual Channel A: DDRII_1, DDRII_2; Yellow) 25 2 x 240-pin DDR2 DIMM Slots 26 (Dual Channel B: DDRII_3, DDRII_4; Orange) 27 IDE1 Connector (IDE1, Blue) 28 North Bridge Controller 29 Clear CMOS Jumper (CLRCMOS1) 30 PCI Express x16 Slot (PCIE3) 31 South Bridge Controller 32 Serial ATAII Connector (SATAII_ORANGE (PORT 2))33 Serial ATAII Connector (SATAII_RED (PORT 1)) 34 Serial ATAII Connector (SATAII_BLACK (PORT 3)) 35 USB 2.0 Header (USB2_3, Blue) 36 USB 2.0 Header (USB4_5, Blue) USB 2.0 Header (USB6_7, Blue) USB 2.0 Header (USB8_9, Blue) Serial ATAII Connector (SATAII_BLUE (PORT 4)) Chassis Fan Connector (CHA_FAN1) System Panel Header (PANEL1) Chassis Speaker Header (SPEAKER 1) Floppy Connector (FLOPPY1) Front Panel Audio Header (HD_AUDIO1) PCI Slots (PCI1- 3) HDMI_SPDIF Header (HDMI_SPDIF1) BIOS LPC Chip Infrared Module Connector (IR1) PCIE Express Slot (PCIE2/PCIE SWITCH) PCI Express x1 Slot (PCIE1) SLI / XFIRE Power Connector Internal Audio Connector: CD1 (Black) eSATAII Connector (eSATAII_TOP) eSATAII Connector (eSATAII_BOTTOM) English 2 ASRock ALiveXFire-eSATA2 Motherboard ASRock 6CH_eSAT ASRock 6CH_eSATAII I/O 1 2 3 4 5 Parallel Port RJ-45 Port Rear Speaker (Black) Central / Bass (Orange) Line In (Light Blue) Front Speaker (Lime) 7 8 9 10 11 12 Microphone (Pink) USB 2.0 Ports (USB01) eSATAII Ports COM Port PS/2 Keyboard Port (Purple) PS/2 Mouse Port (Green) *6 * If you use 2-channel speaker, please connect the speaker's plug into "Front Speaker Jack". See the table below for connection details in accordance with the type of speaker you use. TABLE for Audio Output Connection Audio Output Channels Front Speaker (No. 6) 2 V 4 V 6 V Rear Speaker Central / Bass (No. 3) (No. 4) --V -V V * To enable Multi-Streaming function, you need to connect a front panel audio cable to the front panel audio header. Please refer to below steps for the software setting of Multi-Streaming. For Windows® XP: After restarting your computer, you will find "Mixer" tool on your system. Please select "Mixer ToolBox" , click "Enable playback multi-streaming", and click "ok". Choose "2CH" or "4CH" and then you are allowed to select "Realtek HDA Primary output" to use Rear Speaker and Front Speaker, or select "Realtek HDA Audio 2nd output" to use front panel audio. Then reboot your system. For Windows® VistaTM: After restarting your computer, please double-click "Realtek HD Audio Manager" on the system tray. Set "Speaker Configuration" to "5.1 Speaker". Click "Device advanced settings", choose "Make front and rear output devices playbacks two different audio streams simultaneously", and click "ok". Then reboot your system. 3 ASRock ALiveXFire-eSATA2 Motherboard English 1. Introduction Thank you for purchasing ASRock ALiveXFire-eSATA2 motherboard, a reliable motherboard produced under ASRock's consistently stringent quality control. It delivers excellent performance with robust design conforming to ASRock's commitment to quality and endurance. This Quick Installation Guide contains introduction of the motherboard and step-bystep installation guide. More detailed information of the motherboard can be found in the user manual presented in the Support CD. Because the motherboard specifications and the BIOS software might be updated, the content of this manual will be subject to change without notice. In case any modifications of this manual occur, the updated version will be available on ASRock website without further notice. You may find the latest VGA cards and CPU support lists on ASRock website as well. ASRock website http://www.asrock.com If you require technical support related to this motherboard, please visit our website for specific information about the model you are using. www.asrock.com/support/index.asp 1.1 ackage P ack age Contents 1 x ASRock ALiveXFire-eSATA2 Motherboard (ATX Form Factor: 12.0-in x 8.2-in, 30.5 cm x 20.8 cm) 1 x ASRock ALiveXFire-eSATA2 Quick Installation Guide 1 x ASRock ALiveXFire-eSATA2 Support CD 1 x Ultra ATA 66/100/133 IDE Ribbon Cable (80-conductor) 1 x 3.5-in Floppy Drive Ribbon Cable 2 x Serial ATA (SATA) Data Cables (Optional) 1 x Serial ATA (SATA) HDD Power Cable (Optional) 1 x HDMI_SPDIF Cable (Optional) 1 x ASRock 6CH_eSATAII I/O Shield 1 x USB Bracket 1 x PCIE Switch Card This motherboard is bundled with one PCIE Switch card installed on PCIE2/ PCIE SWITCH slot, which allows you better flexibility to choose PCIE functions between one PCIE x16 slot and two PCIE slots for ATI TM CrossFireTM without setting up jumpers. English 4 ASRock ALiveXFire-eSATA2 Motherboard 1.2 Specifications - ATX Form Factor: 12.0-in x 8.2-in, 30.5 cm x 20.8 cm - Socket AM2 for AMD PhenomTM X4 / X2, Athlon 64FX / 64X2 / X2 / 64 and Sempron processors - AMD LIVE!TM Ready - Supports AMD's Cool `n' QuietTM Technology - FSB 1000 MHz (2.0 GT/s) - Supports Untied Overclocking Technology (see CAUTION 1) - Supports Hyper-Transport Technology - Northbridge: AMD 480X CrossFireTM - Southbridge:ATITM SB600 - Dual Channel DDR2 Memory Technology (see CAUTION 2) - 4 x DDR2 DIMM slots - Support DDR2 1066/800/667/533 (see CAUTION 3) - Max. capacity: 16GB (see CAUTION 4) - CPU Frequency Stepless Control (see CAUTION 5) - ASRock U-COP (see CAUTION 6) - Boot Failure Guard (B.F.G.) - AM2 Boost: ASRock Patented Technology to boost memory performance up to 12.5% (see CAUTION 7) - Supports ATITM CrossFireTM graphics cards (see CAUTION 8) - 1 x PCI Express x16 slot with PCIE Switch card or 2 x PCI Express Graphics slots for ATITM CrossFireTM (see CAUTION 9) - 1 x PCI Express x1 slot - 3 x PCI slots - 5.1 CH Windows® VistaTM Premium Level HD Audio (ALC662 Audio Codec) - PCIE x1 Gigabit LAN 10/100/1000 Mb/s - Realtek RTL8111B - Supports Wake-On-LAN ASRock 6CH_eSATAII I/O - 1 x PS/2 Mouse Port - 1 x PS/2 Keyboard Port - 1 x Serial Port: COM1 - 1 x Parallel Port (ECP/EPP Support) - 2 x Ready-to-Use USB 2.0 Ports - 2 x eSATAII Ports - 1 x RJ-45 Port Platform CPU Chipset Memory Hybrid Booster Expansion Slot Audio LAN Rear Panel I/O 5 ASRock ALiveXFire-eSATA2 Motherboard English Connector BIOS Feature Support CD Hardware Monitor OS Certifications - HD Audio Jack: Rear Speaker / Central/Bass / Line in / Front Speaker / Microphone (see CAUTION 10) - 4 x SATAII 3.0Gb/s connectors, support RAID (RAID 0, RAID 1 and RAID 10), NCQ, AHCI and "Hot Plug" functions (see CAUTION 11) - 2 x eSATAII 3.0Gb/s connectors (shared with 2 SATAII ports), support RAID (RAID 0 and RAID 1), NCQ, AHCI and "Hot Plug" functions (see CAUTION 12) - 1 x ATA133 IDE connector (supports 2 x IDE devices) - 1 x Floppy connector - 1 x IR header - 1 x HDMI_SPDIF header - CPU/Chassis FAN connector - 20 pin ATX power connector - 4 pin 12V power connector - SLI/XFire power connector - CD in header - Front panel audio connector - 4 x USB 2.0 headers (support 8 USB 2.0 ports) (see CAUTION 13) - 4Mb AMI BIOS - AMI Legal BIOS - Supports "Plug and Play" - ACPI 1.1 Compliance Wake Up Events - Supports jumperfree - SMBIOS 2.3.1 Support - Drivers, Utilities, AntiVirus Software (Trial Version) - CPU Temperature Sensing - Chassis Temperature Sensing - CPU Fan Tachometer - Chassis Fan Tachometer - CPU Quiet Fan - Voltage Monitoring: +12V, +5V, +3.3V, Vcore - Microsoft® Windows® 2000 / XP / XP Media Center / XP 64-bit / VistaTM / VistaTM 64-bit compliant - FCC, CE, Microsoft® WHQL Certificated English 6 ASRock ALiveXFire-eSATA2 Motherboard WARNING Please realize that there is a certain risk involved with overclocking, including adjusting the setting in the BIOS, applying Untied Overclocking Technology, or using the thirdparty overclocking tools. Overclocking may affect your system stability, or even cause damage to the components and devices of your system. It should be done at your own risk and expense. We are not responsible for possible damage caused by overclocking. CAUTION! 1. 2. This motherboard supports Untied Overclocking Technology. Please read "Untied Overclocking Technology" on page 37 for details. This motherboard supports Dual Channel Memory Technology. Before you implement Dual Channel Memory Technology, make sure to read the installation guide of memory modules on page 11 for proper installation. Whether 1066MHz memory speed is supported depends on the AM2+ CPU you adopt. If you want to adopt DDR2 1066 memory module on this motherboard, please refer to the memory support list on our website for the compatible memory modules. ASRock website http://www.asrock.com Due to the operating system and chipset limitation, the actual memory size may be less than 4GB for the reservation for system usage under Windows® XP, Windows® VistaTM, and Windows® VistaTM 64-bit. For Windows® XP 64-bit with 64-bit CPU, there is no such limitation. Although this motherboard offers stepless control, it is not recommended to perform over-clocking. Frequencies other than the recommended CPU bus frequencies may cause the instability of the system or damage the CPU. While CPU overheat is detected, the system will automatically shutdown. Before you resume the system, please check if the CPU fan on the motherboard functions properly and unplug the power cord, then plug it back again. To improve heat dissipation, remember to spray thermal grease between the CPU and the heatsink when you install the PC system. This motherboard supports ASRock AM2 Boost overclocking technology. If you enable this function in the BIOS setup, the memory performance will improve up to 12.5%, but the effect still depends on the AM2 CPU you adopt. Enabling this function will overclock the chipset/CPU reference clock. However, we can not guarantee the system stability for all CPU/DRAM configurations. If your system is unstable after AM2 Boost function is enabled, it may not be applicative to your system. You may choose to disable this function for keeping the stability of your system. Please remove PCIE Switch card from PCIE2/PCIE SWITCH slot before you use ATITM CrossFireTM function. In CrossFireTM mode, the two ATITM graphics cards you install should be from the same GPU family. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 7 ASRock ALiveXFire-eSATA2 Motherboard English 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. This motherboard is bundled with one PCIE Switch card installed on PCIE2/ PCIE SWITCH slot, which allows you better flexibility to choose PCIE functions between one PCIE x16 slot and two PCIE slots for ATITM CrossFireTM without setting up ju ...