American Megatrends Atlas PCI-II User manual

Atlantis Pentium II
PCI ISA Motherboard
Guide
MAN-773
11/20/97

Atlantis PCI Pentium II ISA Motherboard User’s Guide
ii
© Copyright 1997 American Megatrends, Inc.
All rights reserved.
American Megatrends, Inc.
6145F Northbelt Parkway
Norcross, GA 30071
This publication contains proprietary information which is protected by copyright. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transcribed,
stored in a retrieval system, translated into any language or computer language, or transmitted in any form whatsoever without the prior written
consent of the publisher, American Megatrends, Inc.
Limited Warranty
Buyer agrees if this product proves to be defective, that American Megatrends, Inc. is only obligated to replace or refund the purchase price of
this product at American Megatrends’ discretion according to the terms and conditions on the motherboard warranty card. American Megatrends
shall not be liable in tort or contract for any loss or damage, direct, incidental or consequential. Please see the Warranty Registration Card
shipped with this product for full warranty details.
Limitations of Liability
In no event shall American Megatrends be held liable for any loss, expenses, or damages of any kind whatsoever, whether direct, indirect,
incidental, or consequential, arising from the design or use of this product or the support materials provided with the product.
Trademarks
Intel and Pentium II are registered trademarks of Intel Corporation.
MS-DOS, Microsoft Word, and Microsoft are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.
SMC is a registered trademark of Standard Microsystems Corporation.
IBM, AT, VGA, PS/2, OS/2, and EGA are registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation. XT and CGA are trademarks
of International Business Machines Corporation.
Fujitsu is a registered trademark of Fujitsu America, Inc.
Motorola is a registered trademark of Motorola Corporation.
Hitachi is a registered trademark of Hitachi America, Ltd.
PNY is a registered trademark of PNY Corporation.
Oki is a registered trademark of Oki America, Inc.
NEC is a registered trademark of NEC Corporation.
Samsung is a registered trademark of Samsung Electronics Corporation.
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SCO, UnixWare, and Unix are registered trademarks of The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc.
Toshiba is a registered trademark of Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba.
VESA is a trademark of the Video Electronics Standards Association.
All other brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.
Revision History
11/20/97 Initial release.

Preface iii
Preface
To the OEM Thank you for purchasing the high performance American Megatrends
Atlantis PCI Pentium II ISA motherboard. This product is a state of the art
motherboard that includes the famous AMIBIOS. It is assumed that you have
also licensed the rights to use the American Megatrends documentation for
the American Megatrends Atlantis motherboard
This manual was written for the OEM to assist in the proper installation and
operation of this motherboard. This manual describes the specifications and
features of the Atlantis motherboard. It explains how to assemble a system
based on the Atlantis motherboard and how to use the AMIBIOS that is
specifically designed for this motherboard.
This manual is not meant to be read by the computer owner who purchases a
computer with this motherboard. It is assumed that you, the computer
manufacturer, will use this manual as a sourcebook of information, and that
parts of this manual will be included in the computer owner's manual.
Technical Support
If you need help installing, configuring, or running this product, call
American Megatrends technical support at 770-246-8645. You can also send
questions to tech support at:
[email protected].
American Megatrends BBS The American Megatrends BBS permits you to access technical
information about American Megatrends motherboard, peripheral, and BIOS
products. Product Engineering Change Notices, Tech Tips, and technical
documentation are available on the BBS. Some parts of the BBS are not
accessible to all callers. Call American Megatrends Technical Support at 770-
246-8645 to find out how to access the BBS.
Phone Numbers The BBS requires no parity, eight data bits, and one stop bit. The
characteristics of the BBS phone numbers are:
Phone Number Characteristics
770-246-8780 28,800 baud rate. Supports v.34.
770-246-8781 28,800 baud rate. Supports v.34.
770-246-8782 Supports HST and v.42.
770-246-8783 Supports HST and v.42.
Web Site We invite you to access the American Megatrends world wide web site at:
http://www.ami.com.

Atlantis PCI Pentium II ISA Motherboard User’s Guide
iv
Packing List
You should have received the following:
• an Atlantis Pentium II PCI ISA motherboard,
• a diskette containing the American Megatrends Client Care utility,
• the American Megatrends Client Care User’s Guide,
• a Warranty Card, and
• the American Megatrends Atlantis Pentium II PCI ISA Motherboard User's
Guide.
Warning
The pinout for the optional USB Cable Box is:
Pin 1 Red VCC
Pin 2 Green Data +
Pin 3 White Data -
Pin 4 Black Ground
Please make sure that the USB cable is correctly installed. Incorrect
installation will damage the motherboard.
Static Electricity
The Atlantis motherboard can easily be damaged by static electricity. Make
sure you take appropriate precautions against static electric discharge:
• wear a properly-grounded wristband while handling the motherboard or any other
electrical component,
• touch a grounded anti-static surface or a grounded metal fixture before handling
the Atlantis motherboard,
• handle system components by the mounting bracket, if possible.
Batteries Make sure you dispose of used batteries according to the battery
manufacturer’s instructions. Improper use of batteries may cause an
explosion. Make sure you follow the battery manufacturer’s instructions about
using the battery. Replace used batteries with the same type of battery or an
equivalent recommended by the battery manufacturer.

Chapter 1 Hardware Installation 1
1Hardware Installation
Overview
The American Megatrends Atlantis PCI Pentium II ISA ATX motherboard
supports intelligent diagnostic and power management, hardware monitoring,
DMI reporting and modification, Ultra DMA/33, USB, the ACPI (Advanced
Configuration and Power Interface) specification, and includes an
Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) socket for a super fast AGP video display
card
CPU The CPU socket on the motherboard is a 242-pin slot. A switching voltage
regulator is required. You can install a 233, 266, 300, or 333 MHz Intel®
Pentium® II CPU in this socket.
MMX Technology This motherboard supports Intel Pentium II CPUs that include MMX
support. MMX technology allows you to experience richer video, audio,
digital imaging and communications when running the latest generation of
multimedia software on your computer.
AGP The Intel Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) specification provides a new level
of video display sophistication and speed. The Atlantis motherboard includes
an AGP expansion slot for a bus mastering AGP graphics card. AGP video
cards support data transfer rates up to 528 MBs.
Client Care The Atlantis motherboard is shipped with a copy of the American Megatrends
Client Care utility. Client Care allows you to display system information, run
diagnostic test, and monitor environmental parameters such as the CPU
temperature, fan speed, and system voltage levels. Cont’d

Atlantis PCI Pentium II ISA Motherboard User’s Guide
2
Overview, Continued
Chipset The Atlantis motherboard uses an Intel 440LX chipset, including CPU
interface controller, advanced cache controller, integrated SDRAM controller,
synchronous ISA bus controller, concurrent PCI 2.0 and 2.1 local bus
interface, and an integrated power management unit. This chipset supports
intelligent diagnostic and power management through features like:
• hardware monitoring,
• DMI support, and
• ACPI (Advanced Configuration and Power Interface) support.
Expansion Slots The motherboard includes:
• two 16-bit ISA expansion slots and
• five 32-bit PCI expansion slots.
The PCI local bus throughput can be up to 132 megabytes per second.
Cache Memory The Intel Pentium II card includes all cache memory. This includes 256 KB or
512 KB of synchronous pipeline burst L2 secondary cache memory. All of
system memory can be cached.
Supported Standards The Atlantis motherboard supports:
• ACPI,
• AGP,
• DMI,
• the Intel DPMA (Dynamic Power Management Architecture,
• Concurrent PCI V2.0 and V2.1, and
• USB (Universal Serial Bus). Cont’d

Chapter 1 Hardware Installation 3
Overview, Continued
ACPI This motherboard fully implements the ACPI standard. ACPI is an open PC
hardware, operating system, and peripheral device interface specification.
ACPI allows the computer to come to full power instantly and to complete
tasks even after power is turned off. ACPI is being implemented in
Microsoft® Windows 95™, Windows 98™, and new versions of Windows
NT™. ACPI:
• provides improved thermal management,
• reduced energy consumption, and
• Plug and Play features that are managed by the operating system.
Atlantis ACPI This motherboard provides the following key ACPI features:
Feature Description
soft-off support You can turn off the computer via the Windows 95 operating
system. The computer must have a power supply with a soft-
off controller before this feature can be implemented..
remote ring on Your computer can be turned on from a remote location via a
modem signal when the computer is in Sleep Mode. This
feature is useful if you are expecting a late-night fax. The only
power you leave on is power to the modem. When the phone
rings, the modem wakes up, powers on the entire computer,
answers the phone, and the fax is received. The computer
power is then turned off again to minimize power use. This
feature can only be implemented in a computer that has a
power supply with a soft-off controller. This motherboard
supports the LDCM V3.0 specification.
RTC alarm You can set a timer to turn computer power on at a certain
time to perform a certain task.
Switching Voltage Regulator This motherboard includes a switching voltage regulator that
significantly reduces the CPU and voltage regulator temperature. This voltage
regulator is also fully upgradable to the next generation of Socket 7 CPUs.
These new CPUs will require more electrical current and will generate more
heat. Cont‘d

Atlantis PCI Pentium II ISA Motherboard User’s Guide
4
Overview, Continued
CPU Thermal Monitor The Atlantis motherboard includes a special heat sensor under the
CPU that monitors the CPU temperature. This heat sensor generates an SMI
(System Management Interrupt) when the CPU temperature is too hot. The
SMI can be set to turn on the external cooling fan and/or lower the CPU clock
frequency. You are waned that the CPU is overheating. The CPU is returned
to normal operating conditions when the CPU temperature returns to normal.
This feature can only be implemented if a power supply with a soft-off power
controller is installed in the computer.
High Voltage Protection The Atlantis motherboard automatically shuts down the computer if
the system voltage is 5% over the following standard voltage levels:
• +12V,
• +5V,
• +3.3V, and
• +2.8V.
SDRAM The Atlantis motherboard provides three 168-pin DIMM system memory
sockets that support up to 384 MB of SDRAM (Synchronous Dynamic
Random Access Memory). SDRAM increases the CPU-to-memory data
transfer rate to 528 MBs. The data transfer rate is 264 MBs if EDO DRAM is
installed.
You can install 8 MB, 16 MB, 32 MB, 64 MB, or 128 MB SDRAM DIMM
modules.
The integrated I2C controller optimizes the memory timing parameters.
Cont’d

Chapter 1 Hardware Installation 5
Overview, Continued
PC 97 Compliant The Atlantis motherboard is fully compliant with the Microsoft PC 97
specification at both the hardware and the BIOS levels.
PC 97 is a set of hardware, bus, and device design requirements specified by
Microsoft that make computers easier to use. PC 97 supports cooperation
between the operating system, the hardware, and the applications software.
Key PC 97 features include:
• Plug and Play compatibility,
• power management support for configuring and managing all system
components
• 32-bit device drivers, and
• standard installation procedures for Microsoft Windows 95 and Windows
NT.
The Atlantis motherboard provides hardware monitoring and DMI features
that permit continuous monitoring of key system performance parameters,
such as ambient temperature and cooling fan status.
AMIBIOS Features This motherboard has an AMIBIOS system BIOS on a Flash ROM with
built-in AMIBIOS Setup. AMIBIOS features include:
• IDE block mode and 32-bit data transfer support,
• IDE Programmed I/O modes 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 support,
• PS/2 mouse support,
• IDE LBA mode support,
• APM (Advanced Power Management) and Flash BIOS hooks,
• EPA Green PC-compliant,
• PCI and Plug and Play (PnP) support, and
• DIM (Device Initialization Manager) support,
• DMI (Desktop Management Interface) support,
• can boot from a CD-ROM drive,
• automatically detects system memory, cache memory, and hard disk drive
parameters,
• Intel NSP-compliant,
• Fast ATA IDE mode programming and ATAPI support,
• Boot sector virus protection,
• instant-on support,
• automatically configures PnP and PCI devices. Cont’d

Atlantis PCI Pentium II ISA Motherboard User’s Guide
6
Overview, Continued
BIOS Shadowing The system BIOS is always copied from ROM to RAM for faster execution.
The end user can shadow 16 KB ROM segments from C0000h – DCFFFh.
IDE The Atlantis motherboard has two 40-pin IDE connectors onboard that
support up to four IDE drives (hard disk drives, CD-ROM drives, or tape
drives). The integrated PCI bus master enhanced IDE controller is on the PCI
local bus. The IDE controller supports the Ultra DMA/33 protocol, which
doubles the hard disk drive data transfer rates specified in the ATA-2
standards to 33 MBs while maintaining full backward compatibility with
existing PIO mode 3, PIO mode 4, and DMA mode 2 devices.
Fast ATA The motherboard supports the Fast ATA specification using PIO mode 4 and
multiword DMA mode 2.
Ultra DMA/33 This motherboard includes an integrated enhanced IDE PCI bus master IDE
controller that supports the Ultra DMA/33 protocol. The Ultra DMA/33
protocol permits data transfer rates up to 33 MBs. Ultra DMA/33 also reduces
the CPU workload and permits increased CPU utilization. Ultra DMA/33 is
completely backward-compatible with older DMA standards.
Floppy The Atlantis motherboard has an onboard floppy controller that supports up
to two 360 KB, 720 KB, 1.2 MB, 1.44 MB, or 2.88 MB floppy drives.
Parallel Port The Atlantis motherboard has an onboard ECP and EPP-capable parallel port
connector.
Serial Ports The Atlantis motherboard has two onboard serial port connectors and two
16550 UART serial ports.
Keyboard The Atlantis motherboard Includes a standard miniDIN keyboard connector.
Cont’d