User manual ASUS P8Q77-M

[. . . ] IN NO EVENT SHALL ASUS, 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 USE OR DATA, INTERRUPTION OF BUSINESS AND THE LIKE), EVEN IF ASUS HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES ARISING FROM ANY DEFECT OR ERROR IN THIS MANUAL OR PRODUCT. SPECIFICATIONS AND INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS MANUAL ARE FURNISHED FOR INFORMATIONAL USE ONLY, AND ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE AT ANY TIME WITHOUT NOTICE, AND SHOULD NOT BE CONSTRUED AS A COMMITMENT BY ASUS. ASUS ASSUMES NO RESPONSIBILITY OR LIABILITY FOR ANY ERRORS OR INACCURACIES THAT MAY APPEAR IN THIS MANUAL, INCLUDING THE PRODUCTS AND SOFTWARE DESCRIBED IN IT. Products and corporate names appearing in this manual may or may not be registered trademarks or copyrights of their respective companies, and are used only for identification or explanation and to the owners' benefit, without intent to infringe. ii Contents Notices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [. . . ] System Management Interrupt (2-pin SMI) This connector is for the chassis-mounted suspend switch that allows you to manually place the system into a suspend mode, or "green" mode. When in suspend mode, the system activity is instantly decreased to save power and to expand the life of certain system components. Hard disk drive activity LED (2-pin HDLED) This 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. · · · · 1-26 Chapter 1: Product introduction Reset Ground This chapter tells how to change the system settings through the BIOS Setup menus. Detailed descriptions of the BIOS parameters are also provided. BIOS setup 2 2. 1 Managing and updating your BIOS The following utilities allow you to manage and update the motherboard Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) setup. A w a r d B I O S F l a s h U t i l i t y (Updates the BIOS in DOS mode using a bootable floppy disk. ) ASUS CrashFree BIOS (Updates the BIOS using a floppy disk when the BIOS file fails or gets corrupted. ) ASUS EZ Flash (Updates the BIOS in DOS mode using a floppy disk. ) A S U S U p d a t e (Updates the BIOS in Windows® environment. ) Refer to the corresponding sections for details on these utilities. Save a copy of the original motherboard BIOS file to a floppy disk in case you need to restore the BIOS in the future. Copy the original motherboard BIOS using the ASUS Update or AwardBIOS Flash utilities. 2. 1. 1 1. 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. At the DOS prompt, type format A:/S then press <Enter>. W i n d o w s® X P e n v i r o n m e n t a. You can update a corrupted BIOS file using a floppy disk that contains the updated BIOS file and the AWDFLASH utility. Before using this utility, prepare the bootable floppy disk containing the updated motherboard BIOS and the AWDFLASH. EXE utility. The AWDFLASH. EXE utility is available from the support CD. To update the BIOS using CrashFree BIOS: 1. When prompted, place the floppy disk with the updated BIOS file and the AWDFLASH. EXE utility to the floppy disk drive. The AwardBIOS Flash Utility window appears. Follow the instructions in the previous section to update the BIOS. Before using the ASUS CrashFree BIOS feature on this motherboard, you must install an AGP or PCI VGA card to one of the expansion slots before you turn on the computer. Motherboards with onboard VGA (such as P8Q77-M) do not display the screen when the BIOS crashes even after you reboot the computer. 2. 1. 4 ASUS EZ Flash utility The ASUS EZ Flash 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 utility is built-in the BIOS chip so it is accessible by pressing <Alt> + <F2> during the Power-On Self Tests (POST). Before using this utility, prepare the floppy disk containing the updated motherboard BIOS. To update the BIOS using EZ Flash: 1. Insert the floppy disk with the updated BIOS file to the floppy disk drive, then turn on the system. Press <Alt> + <F2> during POST to display the AwardBIOS Flash Utility screen. Follow the instructions in section "2. 1. 2 Award BIOS Flash Utility" to update the BIOS. After updating the BIOS file using the AwardBIOS Flash Utility, ASUS CrashFree BIOS, or ASUS EZ Flash, enter the BIOS Setup and load the default values using the Exit Menu. See section "2. 7 Exit menu" for details. 2-4 Chapter 2: BIOS setup 2. 1. 5 ASUS Update utility The ASUS Update is a utility that allows you to manage, save, and update the motherboard BIOS in Windows® environment. [. . . ] The RAM data containing the password information is powered by the onboard button cell battery. If you need to erase the CMOS RAM, refer to section "1. 11 Switch and Jumpers" for instructions. 2. Password Check [Setup] Requires users to enter the password before entering the BIOS setup or the operating system. Select [Setup] to require the password before entering the BIOS Setup. Select [System] to require the password before entering the operating system. [. . . ]