User manual ASUS A8N-SLI

[. . . ] Motherboard A8N-SLI E2068 Revised Edition V2 April 2005 Copyright © 2005 ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. No part of this manual, including the products and software described in it, may be reproduced, transmitted, transcribed, stored in a retrieval system, or translated into any language in any form or by any means, except documentation kept by the purchaser for backup purposes, without the express written permission of ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. Product warranty or service will not be extended if: (1) the product is repaired, modified or altered, unless such repair, modification of alteration is authorized in writing by ASUS; or (2) the serial number of the product is defaced or missing. ASUS PROVIDES THIS MANUAL "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. [. . . ] Click S t a r t from the Windows® desktop, then select M y r. Click F i l e from the menu, then select F o r m a t A F o r m a t 3 1 / 2 t. Select C r e a t e a n M S - D O S s t a r t u p d i s k from the format options field, then click S t a r t t. ® Windows 2000 environment To create a set of boot disks for Windows® 2000: 2-2 Chapter 2: BIOS setup a. Insert a formatted, high density 1. 44 MB floppy disk into the drive. Insert the Windows® 2000 CD to the optical drive. From the Open field, type D:\bootdisk\makeboot a: assuming that D: is your optical drive. Press <Enter>, then follow screen instructions to continue. Copy the original or the latest motherboard BIOS file to the bootable floppy disk. 2. 1. 2 AwardBIOS Flash Utility The Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) can be updated using the built-in Flash Memory Writer utility or using a bootable floppy disk with the executable Flash Memory Writer Utility (AWDFLASH. EXE). Follow these instructions to update the BIOS using this utility. Save only the updated BIOS file in the floppy disk to avoid loading a wrong BIOS file. The succeeding screens are for reference only. The actual displays may not exactly match what you see on your screen. Updating the BIOS file 1. Download the latest BIOS file from the system builder's website. Rename the file to (BIOS file name on the support CD). BIN and save it to the bootable floppy disk you created earlier. Copy the AwardBIOS Flash Utility (awdflash. exe) from the Software folder of the support CD to the floppy disk with the latest BIOS file. Boot the system in DOS mode using the bootable floppy disk you created earlier. 2. 3. ASUS A8N-SLI 2-3 4. When the A : > appears, replace the bootable floppy disk with the floppy disk containing the new BIOS file and the Award BIOS Flash Utility. At the prompt, type a w d f l a s h then press <Enter>. The Award BIOS Flash Utility screen appears. AwardBIOS Flash Utility for ASUS V1. 09 (C) Phoenix Technologies Ltd. All Rights Reserved For NF-KC804-A8N-SLI-00 DATE: 11/30/2004 Flash Type - SST 49LF004A/B /3. 3V File Name to Program: 5. Message: Please input File Name! 6. Type the BIOS file name in the F i l e N a m e t o P r o g r a m field, then press <Enter>. AwardBIOS Flash Utility for ASUS V1. 09 (C) Phoenix Technologies Ltd. All Rights Reserved For NF-KC804-A8N-SLI-00 DATE: 11/30/2004 Flash Type - SST 49LF004A/B /3. 3V File Name to Program: 1001-001. bin Message: Do You Want To Save Bios (Y/N) 7. The utility prompts you to save the current BIOS file. Press <Y> to save the current BIOS file to the floppy disk, or <N> to continue. If you intend to save the current BIOS file, make sure that the floppy disk has enough disk space to save the file. See the next section for details on saving the current BIOS file. 2-4 Chapter 2: BIOS setup 8. The utility verifies the BIOS file in the floppy disk and starts flashing the BIOS file. AwardBIOS Flash Utility for ASUS V1. 09 (C) Phoenix Technologies Ltd. [. . . ] Select [Yes] to discard any changes and load the previously saved values. 2-38 Chapter 2: BIOS setup This chapter tells how to install SLI-ready PCI Express graphics cards. NVIDIA® SLITM technology support 3 3. 1 Overview The motherboard supports the NVIDIA® SLITM (Scalable Link Interface) technology that allows you to install two identical PCI ExpressTM x16 graphics cards. Follow the installation procedures in this section. 3. 1. 1 · · 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). [. . . ]