AOpen MX4L Setup guide

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Overview
Hardware
Installation Drivers &
Utilities AWARD
BIOS Setup Glossary
Troubleshooting &
Technical Support
MX4L
DOC. NO.: MX4L-OL-E0204A

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Wh ha at t’ ’s s i in n t th hi is s m ma an nu ua al l
MX4L ...............................................................................................................................................1
What’s in this manual......................................................................................................................................................2
You Must Notice..............................................................................................................................................................8
Before You Start..............................................................................................................................................................9
Overview.......................................................................................................................................................................10
Feature Highlight........................................................................................................................................................... 11
Quick Installation Procedure .........................................................................................................................................15
Motherboard Map..........................................................................................................................................................16
Block Diagram...............................................................................................................................................................17
Hardware Installation..................................................................................................................18
About “User Upgrade Optional” and “Manufacture Upgrade Optional”….......................................................................19
JP14 Clear CMOS Data ................................................................................................................................................20
CPU Installation ............................................................................................................................................................21
CPU Jumper-less Design ..............................................................................................................................................24
Full-range Adjustable CPU Core Voltage.......................................................................................................................26
CPU and System Fan Connector (with H/W Monitoring) ...............................................................................................28
JP28 Keyboard/Mouse Wake-up Enable/Disable Jumper..............................................................................................29

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DIMM Sockets support DDR 200(PC1600)/266(PC2100)..............................................................................................30
Front Panel Connector..................................................................................................................................................32
ATX Power Connector...................................................................................................................................................33
AC Power Auto Recovery..............................................................................................................................................34
IDE and Floppy Connector............................................................................................................................................35
IrDA Connector .............................................................................................................................................................37
S/PDIF (Sony/Philips Digital Interface) Connector.........................................................................................................38
ADD (AGP Digital Display) Slot.....................................................................................................................................39
CNR (Communication and Network Riser) Expansion Slot............................................................................................40
PC99 Color Coded Back Panel .....................................................................................................................................41
Support 10/100 Mbps LAN onboard ..............................................................................................................................42
Support 2nd and 3rd USB2.0 Ports..................................................................................................................................43
Chassis Intrusion Connector.........................................................................................................................................44
CD Audio Connector .....................................................................................................................................................45
Modem Audio Connector...............................................................................................................................................46
Front Audio Connector ..................................................................................................................................................47
COM2 Connector ..........................................................................................................................................................48
Battery-less and Long Life Design ................................................................................................................................49
CPU Over-current Protection.........................................................................................................................................50

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Hardware Monitoring.....................................................................................................................................................51
Resettable Fuse............................................................................................................................................................52
2200µF Low ESR Capacitor..........................................................................................................................................53
Layout (Frequency Isolation Wall).................................................................................................................................54
Enlarged Aluminum Heatsink ........................................................................................................................................55
Driver and Utility .........................................................................................................................56
Auto-run Menu from Bonus CD .....................................................................................................................................57
Installing Intel® Chipset Software Installation Utility......................................................................................................58
Installing Intel 845GL VGA driver ..................................................................................................................................59
Installing Intel IAA Driver...............................................................................................................................................60
Installing Onboard Audio Driver.....................................................................................................................................61
Installing LAN Driver .....................................................................................................................................................62
Installing USB2.0 Driver................................................................................................................................................63
Installing Hardware Monitoring Utility............................................................................................................................66
ACPI Suspend to Hard Drive.........................................................................................................................................67
ACPI Suspend to RAM (STR)........................................................................................................................................71
Phoenix-AWARD BIOS..................................................................................................................73
About BIOS Function Description… ..............................................................................................................................74
How To Use Award™ BIOS Setup Program ..................................................................................................................75

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How To Enter BIOS Setup.............................................................................................................................................77
BIOS Upgrade under Windows environment .................................................................................................................78
Overclocking................................................................................................................................80
VGA Card & Hard Disk..................................................................................................................................................81
Glossary.......................................................................................................................................82
AC97.............................................................................................................................................................................82
ACPI (Advanced Configuration & Power Interface) .......................................................................................................82
AGP (Accelerated Graphic Port) ...................................................................................................................................82
AMR (Audio/Modem Riser)............................................................................................................................................83
AOpen Bonus Pack CD.................................................................................................................................................83
APM (Advanced Power Management)...........................................................................................................................83
ATA (AT Attachment) .....................................................................................................................................................83
ATA/66 ..........................................................................................................................................................................83
ATA/100 ........................................................................................................................................................................84
ATA/133 ........................................................................................................................................................................84
BIOS (Basic Input/Output System)................................................................................................................................84
Bus Master IDE (DMA mode) ........................................................................................................................................85
CNR (Communication and Networking Riser)................................................................................................................85
CODEC (Coding and Decoding)....................................................................................................................................85

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DDR (Double Data Rated) SDRAM ...............................................................................................................................85
DIMM (Dual In Line Memory Module)............................................................................................................................86
DMA (Direct Memory Access)........................................................................................................................................86
ECC (Error Checking and Correction)...........................................................................................................................86
EDO (Extended Data Output) Memory ..........................................................................................................................86
EEPROM (Electronic Erasable Programmable ROM)....................................................................................................87
EPROM (Erasable Programmable ROM) ......................................................................................................................87
EV6 Bus........................................................................................................................................................................87
FCC DoC (Declaration of Conformity)...........................................................................................................................87
FC-PGA (Flip Chip-Pin Grid Array)................................................................................................................................88
Flash ROM....................................................................................................................................................................88
FSB (Front Side Bus) Clock ..........................................................................................................................................88
I2C Bus..........................................................................................................................................................................88
IEEE 1394.....................................................................................................................................................................89
Parity Bit .......................................................................................................................................................................89
PBSRAM (Pipelined Burst SRAM).................................................................................................................................89
PC-100 DIMM ...............................................................................................................................................................90
PC-133 DIMM ...............................................................................................................................................................90
PC-1600 or PC-2100 DDR DRAM.................................................................................................................................90

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PCI (Peripheral Component Interface) Bus ...................................................................................................................90
PDF Format...................................................................................................................................................................90
PnP (Plug and Play)......................................................................................................................................................91
POST (Power-On Self Test) ..........................................................................................................................................91
RDRAM (Rambus DRAM) .............................................................................................................................................91
RIMM (Rambus Inline Memory Module) ........................................................................................................................91
SDRAM (Synchronous DRAM)......................................................................................................................................92
Shadow E2PROM..........................................................................................................................................................92
SIMM (Single In Line Memory Module) .........................................................................................................................92
SMBus (System Management Bus)...............................................................................................................................92
SPD (Serial Presence Detect).......................................................................................................................................93
Ultra DMA .....................................................................................................................................................................93
USB (Universal Serial Bus) ...........................................................................................................................................93
VCM (Virtual Channel Memory).....................................................................................................................................94
ZIP file...........................................................................................................................................................................94
Troubleshooting...........................................................................................................................95
Technical Support .......................................................................................................................99
Product Registration .................................................................................................................102
How to Contact Us ....................................................................................................................103

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Yo ou u M Mu us st t N No ot ti ic ce e
Adobe, the Adobe logo, Acrobat is trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated.
AMD, the AMD logo, Athlon and Duron are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
Intel, the Intel logo, Intel Celeron, Pentium II, Pentium III are trademarks of Intel Corporation.
Microsoft, Windows, and Windows logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United
States and/or other countries.
All product and brand names used on this manual are used for identification purposes only and may be the registered
trademarks of their respective owners.
All of the specifications and information contained in this manual are subject to change without notice. AOpen reserves the right
to revise this publication and to make reasonable changes. AOpen assumes no responsibility for any errors or inaccuracies that
may appear in this manual, including the products and software described in it.
This documentation is protected by copyright law. All rights are reserved.
No part of this document may be used or reproduced in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval
system without prior written permission from AOpen Corporation.
Copyright©1996-2002, AOpen Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Be ef fo or re e Y Yo ou u S St ta ar rt t
This Online Manual will introduce to the user how this product is installed. All useful information will be described in later
chapters. Please keep this manual carefully for future upgrades or system configuration changes. This Online Manual is saved
in PDF format, we recommend using Adobe Acrobat Reader 4.0 for online viewing, it is included in Bonus CD or you can get
free download from Adobe web site.
Although this Online Manual is optimized for screen viewing, it is still capable for hardcopy printing, you can print it by A4 paper
size and set 2 pages per A4 sheet on your printer. To do so, choose File > Page Setup and follow the instruction of your printer
driver.
Thanks for the help of saving our earth.

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Ov ve er rv vi ie ew w
Thank you for choosing AOpen MX4L motherboard. MX4L is Intel®Socket 478 motherboard (M/B) based on the ATX form factor
featuring the Intel® 845GL(Brookdale) chipset. As high performance chipset built in the M/B, MX4L motherboard support Intel®
Socket 478 Pentium®4 (Brookdale) and 400 MHz Front Side Bus (FSB) clock. On the strength of Intel 845GL chipset, this
motherboard multiplexes the AGP signal interface with two Intel DVO ports that are capable of supporting a variety of digital
display devices such as TV-Out encoders. According to different customer’s requirements, the Intel 845GL chipset memory
interface supports DDR200/266 SDRAM devices with densities of 64, 128, 256, 512MB or 1GB DDR SDRAM DIMM modules
and the maximum memory size can be up to 2 GB. The onboard IDE controller supports Ultra DMA 33/66/100 mode and the
transfer rate up to 100MB/s. Further flexibility can be achieved by taking
advantage of the Communication and Network Riser (CNR) card option
that allows audio and modem configuration on a single
baseboard design. Besides, the MX4L has an AC97 CODEC
chipset onboard, providing high performance and magic
surround stereo sound to let people enjoy working with it. Now,
let’s enjoy all features from AOpen MX4L motherboard.

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Fe ea at tu ur re e H Hi ig gh hl li ig gh ht t
CPU
Supports Intel® Socket 478 Pentium®4 (Brookdale) 1.4GHz~2.4GHz+ with 400MHz Front Side Bus (FSB) designed for Socket
478 technology.
Chipset
With Intel®845GL (Brookdale) chipset, Intel delivers a discrete graphics solution with all the performance, innovative features
and proven reliability of the Intel®845GL chipset. With its highly scalable design, the new 845GL chipset offers an ideal,
multiplexed Intel DVO Port for Intel®Pentium®4 processor platforms. And the smart integration in the Intel 845GL chipset's I/O
Controller Hub (ICH4) features USB controllers supporting six USB2.0 ports. With support for AC’97 audio and the ability to
make the most of soft audio/modem technology, the 845GL chipset delivers an ideal solution for innovative new form factors.
Expansion Slots
Including three 32-bit/33MHz PCI, one CNR and one multiplexed Intel DVO Port. The PCI local bus throughput can be up to
132MB/s. The Communication & Nectworking Riser (CNR) slot provided from MX4L support CNR interface for a Modem/Audio
card. The multiplexed Intel DVO Port specification provides a new level of video display sophistication and speed which
supports DVI/TV-Out add-on card. Of three PCI slots provided, all of them are master PCI slots with arbitration and decoding for
all integrated functions and LPC bus.

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Memory
Provides two 184-pin DDR SDRAM DIMM sockets that support up to 2GB of PC-200/266 compliant DDR SDRAM (Synchronous
Dynamic Random Access Memory). You may install 64, 128, 256, 512MB or 1GB DDR SDRAM DIMM modules into each socket.
Ultra DMA 33/66/100 Bus Master IDE
Comes with an on-board PCI Bus Master IDE controller with two connectors that supports four IDE devices in two channels,
supports Ultra DMA 33/66/100, PIO Modes 3 and 4 and Bus Master IDE DMA Mode 5, and supports Enhanced IDE devices.
On-board AC’97 Sound
MX4L uses the AC97 sound chip. This on-board audio includes a complete audio recording and playback system.
1MHz Stepping Frequency Adjustment
Provides “1MHz Stepping Frequency Adjustment” function in the BIOS. This magic function allows you adjust FSB frequency
from 100~248 by 1MHz stepping adjustment, and lets your system can get maximum performance.
Watch Dog Timer
Includes AOpen “Watch Dog Timer” function that can auto-reset default settings in 4.8 seconds when you fail to system
overclocking.

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S/PDIF Connectors
S/PDIF (Sony/Philips Digital Interface) is the newest audio transfer file format, which provides impressive quality through optical
fiber and allows you to enjoy digital audio instead of analog audio.
Six USB2.0 Connectors
Provides three ports, six USB connectors for USB interface devices, such as mouse, keyboard, modem, scanner, etc.
AGP Protection Technology
With AGP Protection Technology implemented, this motherboard will automatically detect the voltage of AGP card and prevent
your chipsets from being burnt out.
Power Management/Plug and Play
Supports the power management function that confirms to the power-saving standards of the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) Energy Star program. It also offers Plug-and-Play, which helps save users from configuration problems, thus
making the system much user-friendlier.
Hardware Monitoring Management
Supports CPU or system fans status, temperature and voltage monitoring and alert, through the on-board hardware monitor
module.

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Enhanced ACPI
Fully implement the ACPI standard for Windows®98/ME/2000 series compatibility, and supports Soft-Off, STR (Suspend to RAM,
S3), STD (Suspend to Disk, S4) features.
Super Multi-I/O
Provides two high-speed UART compatible serial ports and one parallel port with EPP and ECP capabilities. UART can also be
directed from COM1 to the Infrared Module for the wireless connections.

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Qu ui ic ck k I In ns st ta al ll la at ti io on n P Pr ro oc ce ed du ur re e
This page gives you a quick procedure on how to install your system. Follow each step accordingly.
1. Installing CPU and Fan
2. Installing System Memory (DIMM)
3. Connecting Front Panel Cable
4. Connecting IDE and Floppy Cable
5. Connecting ATX Power Cable
6. Connecting Back Panel Cable
7. Power-on and Load BIOS Setup Default
8. Setting CPU Frequency
9. Reboot
10. Installing Operating System (such as Windows 98)
11. Installing Driver and Utility

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Motherboard Map
PC99 Colored Back Panel
Resettable Fuse
Onboard AC’97 CODEC
CNR Expansion Slot
IrDA Connecto
r
Front Panel Connecto
r
FAN3 Connecto
r
2
nd
& 3
rd
USB Connector
4Mbit Flash ROM
Front Audio Connecto
r
A
TA/33/66/100
IDE Connector x2
FDD Connecto
r
184-pin DIMMx2 supports
DDR200/266 (Max. to 2GB)
A
TX Power Connecto
r
CPU Fan Connector
Intel 845GL chi
p
set
478-pin CPU socket with Voltage
and Frequency Auto-detection that
supports Intel®Pentium®4
1.4~2.4GHz+ CPU
32-bit PCI Ex
p
ansion Slot x3
4-
p
in 12V. ATX Power Connecto
r
2200
μ
FLow ESR Capacitors
MODEM-CN Connecto
r
SPDIF Connecto
r
COM2 Connecto
r
CD-IN Connector
JP14 CMOS Clear Jumpe
r
Intrusion Detecto
r
JP28 Mouse/Keyboard Wakeup
Jum
p
e
r
FAN2 Connecto
r
A
DD Slot (for ADD card only)

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Intel 845GL
GMCH
Socket 478
Intel
Pentium 4
CPU
400MHz System
Bus
DIMM Socket x2
ADD Slot
Intel ICH4
Serial Port x2
2nd USB Port
1st USB Port
USB2.0
Connector x6
32-bit PCI Slot x3
Parallel Port
IDE Drive x4
ATA
33/66/100
PC-200/266 DDR
SDRAM Up to 2GB
Primary
Channel
Secondary
Channel
4Mbit Flash EEPROM
AC Link
PCI Bus
CNR Slot
Firmware Hub
Low Pin
Count
Super
I/O
Floppy Disk Drive x2
AC97
CODEC
3rd USB Port
LAN connect Component
B
Bl lo oc ck k D Di ia ag gr ra am m

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Ha ar rd dw wa ar re e I In ns st ta al ll la at ti io on n
This chapter describes jumpers, connectors and hardware devices of this motherboard.
Note: Electrostatic discharge (ESD) can damage your processor, disk drives, expansion boards, and
other components. Always observe the following precautions before you install a system component.
1. Do not remove a component from its protective packaging until you are ready to install it.
2. Wear a wrist ground strap and attach it to a metal part of the system unit before handling a
component. If a wrist strap is not available, maintain contact with the system unit throughout any
procedure requiring ESD protection.

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Ab bo ou ut t “ “U Us se er r U Up pg gr ra ad de e O Op pt ti io on na al l” ” a an nd d “ “M Ma an nu uf fa ac ct tu ur re e U Up pg gr ra ad de e
O
Op pt ti io on na al l” ”… …
When you read this online manual and start to assemble your computer system, you may notice that some of the functions are
marked as “User Upgrade Optional” or “Manufacture Upgrade Optional”. Although all of AOpen’s motherboards have included
many amazing and powerful features, sometimes not every user is familiar with these powerful features. As a result of this we
define features that can be upgraded by users as “User Upgrade Optional”. You can upgrade these functions by purchasing
additional devices. As for functions that cannot be upgraded by users, we define them as “Manufacture Upgrade Optional”. If
need be, you can contact our local distributors or resellers to purchase “Manufacture Upgrade Optional” components, and again
you are also welcome to visit our official website at www.aopen.com for detail information.

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JP P1 14 4 C Cl le ea ar r C CM MO OS S D Da at ta a
You can clear CMOS to restore system default setting. To clear the CMOS, follow the procedure below.
1. Turn off the system and unplug the AC power.
2. Remove ATX power cable from connector PWR2.
3. Locate JP14 and short pins 2-3 for a few seconds.
4. Return JP14 to its normal setting by shorting pin1 & pin2.
5. Connect ATX power cable back to connector PWR2.
Tip: When should I Clear CMOS?
1. Boot fail because of overclocking…
2. Forget password…
3. Troubleshooting…
Pin 1
1
Normal
(
default
)
1
Clear
CMOS