VIA Technologies PT-6VAX User manual

PT-6VAX/6VAX2
Pentium II/!!!
ATX MAINBOARD
( VER: 2.x )
USER’S MANUAL
DOC. NO. UM-6VAX-E1 .................................................................PRINTED IN TAIWAN

VIA 693/693A Twin Processor Mainboard TABLE OF CONTENTS
i
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter & Section Page
1. INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................1-1
1.1 OVERVIEW ............................................................................................. 1-1
1.2 MAINBOARD LAYOUT ....................................................................... 1-2
1.3 SPECIFICATIONS.................................................................................. 1-3
2. INSTALLATION ................................................................................2-1
2.1 UNPACKING ........................................................................................... 2-1
2.2 AMAZING WAYS TO POWER ON THE PC SYSTEM.................... 2-2
2.3 POWER OFF THE PC SYSTEM .......................................................... 2-4
3. HARDWARE SETUP........................................................................3-1
3.1 INSTALLATION OF CPU ..................................................................... 3-1
3.2 INSTALLING THE DRAM MODULES ........................................... 3-2
3.3 CONNECTORS........................................................................................ 3-3
3.4 JUMPERS................................................................................................. 3-13
3.5 INSTALLATION OF DEVICE DRIVERS........................................... 3-22
4. AWARD BIOS SETUP .....................................................................4-1
4.1 GETTING STARTED ............................................................................ 4-1
4.2 MAIN MENU .......................................................................................... 4-2
4.3 CONTROL KEYS................................................................................... 4-2
4.4 STANDARD CMOS SETUP................................................................. 4-3
4.5 BIOS FEATURES SETUP.................................................................... 4-4
4.6 CHIPSET FEATURES SETUP............................................................ 4-7
4.7 POWER MANAGEMENT SETUP ..................................................... 4-11
4.8 PNP/PCI CONFIGURATION............................................................... 4-15
4.9 INTEGRATED PERIPHERALS .......................................................... 4-19
4.10 LOAD SETUP DEFAULTS .............................................................. 4-22
4.11 SUPERVISOR PASSWORD.............................................................. 4-23
4.12 USER PASSWORD............................................................................. 4-24
4.13 IDE HDD AUTO DETECTION....................................................... 4-26
4.14 SAVE & EXIT SETUP...................................................................... 4-26
4.15 EXIT WITHOUT SAVING............................................................... 4-28

VIA 693/693A Twin Processor Mainboard
ii
SOMETHING IMPORTANT !
¶TRADEMARKS
All trademarks used in this manual are the property of their respective owners.
¶LOAD SETUP DEFAULTS
“LOAD SETUP DEFAULTS” is the function which will have the BIOS default
settings loaded into the CMOS memory. These default settings are the suggested
settings which will optimize system performance and increase system stability Load
the setup default is recommended when you receive this mainboard or when the
system CMOS data is corrupted. Please refer to the Section 4.8 for the procedures.
¶DISCHARAGE CMOS DATA
Whenever you want to discharge the CMOS data or open the system chassis, Make
sure to disconnect the AC power first because there is always the 5V standby voltage
connected to the ATX form-factor mainboard. Without disconnecting the AC power
connector from the PC system, the mainboard can be damaged by any improper
action .
¶WAKE ON LAN
In order to support the Wake On LAN feature, the system requires a special SPS
(Switching Power Supply), Such power supply must be able to provide at least 700
mA of driving capability on the “5V standby” voltage. Please refer to the Section 3.3
for pin assignment.
¶WARNING !
The "Static Electricity" may cause damage to the components on the mainboard, In
order to avoid the damage to the mainboard accidentally, please discharge all static
electricity from your body before touching this mainboard.
¶NOTICE
Information presented in this manual has been carefully checked for reliability;
however, no responsibility is assumed for inaccuracies. The information contained in
this manual is subject to change without notice.

VIA 693/693A Twin Processor Mainboard INTRODUCTION
1-1
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 OVERVIEW
This Mainboard is a revolutionary high performance personal computer
mainboard. It is the ATX form-factor with Slot 1 connector designed on the board
for Pentium II and Pentium !!! processors. VIA693A chipset is chosen as the
system core logic of the mainboard to give the most outstanding performance and
reliability. It is designed for 233, 266, 300 , 333, 350, 366, 400, 433, 450, 466,
500, 550, 600MHz and higher speed Pentium™ II , Pentium™ !!! processors
This mainboard two channel “PIO” and “Ultra DMA33/66 Bus Master” mode PCI
IDE ports are built on the mainboard to support the most updated Ultra DMA 66
HDD. One Floppy Disk controller, two high speed Serial ports (UARTs), one
multi-mode Parallel port, one PS/2™ mouse port, one IR interface and two USB
ports is designed on the board for wide variety of peripheral connection.
The ALS300 PCI sound chip is designed on board (sound interface is optional on
the board). The ALS300 has built-in 2D/3D Sound Effect Processor, Enhanced
normal & digital Game port, MPU-401 MIDI controller, ALSFM Synthesizer.
When you find the ALS300 sound interface (CN18) installed on the mainboard,
you don't have to purchase another sound card because there is the 3D audio
interface on this mainboard.
Pentium™ II and Pentium™ !!! processors are the 64-bit processors with RISC
technology, which offers several key features such as built-in 512K/256/128K L2
cache, 12-stage super-pipeline architecture, out of order execution … etc. In order
to optimize of its capabilities and performances, the 32-bit Operating System
(such as Windows® and OS/2™) and 32-bit applications are recommended.

VIA 693/693A Twin Processor Mainboard INTRODUCTION
1-2
1.2 MAINBOARD LAYOUT
CN15
Power Connector
CN12
IR Port USB 1
USB 2
PS/2 Mouse
PS/2 K/B
1 2 3 4
1 2 3 4 PWR-L ED
SPK
CN13
CPU Fan
JP 8
So un d En ab l e/D i sab le
Short = Sound Enabled
Open = Sound Disabled
“G” = Ground
1
G G G G
1 1 1
RS(Reset But ton)
HL( HDD LE D)
SL (SleepLED)
PW (Po w e r S W )
P
W
S
L
H
L
R
S
JP9 ClearCMOS
1.CMOS DataClear
2.K/B Password Clear
SW( optional)
SelectCPU clock ratio.
CN17
C ha ssis Fan
CN16 WOL
1.SPK Out
2.Line In
3.Mic. In
4.Game
CN22 CD - I N
CN21 CD - I N
DIMM3
SLO
T1CPU
AGPSLOT
BIOS
CN
10IDE2
CN
9IDE1
DIMM2
DIMM1
BAT1
+
123
CN
8FDC
4
CN4 CN3
CN5
JP9
CN17
JP2
CN16 WOL
SW
JP11
JP100
5
5
Parallel Port
U1
W83783S
JP2: ( opt ional)
Se n se Tem p Fr om
Open = Socket 370
Sh or t = Slot 1
JP12
COM 2 COM 1
IMPORTANT NOTICE:
1. The standby voltage is always active even when system power is off.
Whenever you want to install or remove any component from the
mainboard, please make sure to remove the power cable from the PC
system. Otherwise, it may cause serious damage to the PC system.
2. If W83783S is installed on U1 as shown above, please make sure the
jumper setting on JP2 is correct so that the thermal resistor will
detect the CPU temperature properly. (Note: JP2 is optional, if there
is no JP2 on the board, then the mainboard will detect the CPU and
choose the thermal resistor automatically.)

VIA 693/693A Twin Processor Mainboard INTRODUCTION
1-3
1.3 SPECIFICATIONS
¥CPU
Intel® Pentium™ II, Pentium™ !!! or Celeron™ 233, 266, 300, 333. 350, 366,
400, 433, 450, 466, 500, 550, 600MHz and higher speed processors
¥CPU VCC
Switching Voltage Regulator circuits on board, supports +1.80V DC through
+3.5V DC CPU Core Voltage.
Note : The CPU Core Voltage will be Detected and adjusted automatically by the
VID-pin on the CPU, so there is no manual-adjustment required to select the CPU
voltage. Simply plug in the CPU and start immediately.
¥WORD SIZE
Data Path : 8-bit, 16-bit, 32-bit, 64-bit
Address Path : 32-bit
¥PC SYSTEM CHIPSET
VIA693A and 596B chipset
¥SUPER I/O CHIPSET
Winbond® W83977TF/EF-AW
¥FRONT SIDE BUS FREQUENCY
66 MHz 100MHz and 133MHzselectable.
¥MEMORY
Three 168-pin DIMM sockets, Maximum 384 MB with ECC.
CACHE :512KB pipelined burst SRAM in Pentium™ II, Pentium™ !!! processor.
0KB, 128KB, or 256KB SRAM in Celeron™ processor.
¥BIOS
AWARD System BIOS. 256KB x 8 Flash ROM
(Supports Plug & Play, ACPI, DMI and Green functions).
¥EXPANSION SLOTS
AGP Slots : One 32-bit AGP Slot (Supports 1x or 2x AGP graphics cards)
PCI Slots : Four 32bit PCI slots.
ISA Slots : 16-bit x 1 (One of the slot is PCI/ISA shared)

VIA 693/693A Twin Processor Mainboard INTRODUCTION
1-4
¥WOL PORTS
One WOL connector supports Wake-On-LAN (WOL up-designed)
¥USB PORTS
Two Universal Serial Bus (USB) ports.
¥IDE PORTS
Two channels of Ultra DMA33/66 Bus Master IDE ports, which will support up to
4 IDE devices like IDE hard disk, ATAPI CD-ROM and LS-120/ZIP-100 devices.
The IDE ports can be programmed to support PIO Mode 4, DMA mode 2 and Ultra
DMA33/66 to support the modern IDE devices.
¥SUPER I/O PORTS
1. Two high speed NS16C550 compatible serial ports (UARTs).
2. One parallel port, supports SPP/EPP/ECP mode.
3. One Floppy Disk Control port.
¥IR PORT
One HPSIR and ASKIR compatible IR transmission connector (5-pin).
One Consumer IR transmission connector (4-pin, optional).
¥MOUSE AND KEYBOARD
One PS/2™ mouse connector, One PS/2™ keyboard connector.
¥3D SOUND (Optional)
Avance Logic ALS-300 Sound Chip is optional on the mainboard. ALS300 built-in
the 2D/3D Sound Effect Processor, Enhanced normal & digital Game port, MPU-
401 MIDI controller, ALSFM Synthesizer.

VIA 693/693A Twin Processor Mainboard INTRODUCTION
1-5
¥HARDWARE MONITORING (optional)
Winbond W83783S (please refer to U1 on page 1-2) is designed on the board to
monitor hardware healthy status like system voltage, system temperature, and
cooling fans. When the CPU temperature is too high, the system BIOS will tell the
system board to give a series of beeping alarm and slow down the CPU speed
(throttling speed) so that you can take proper action to prevent your system from
damage. When you hear the beeping alarm, turn the power off and check on the
mainboard components to see whether it is working properly or not. If you don’t
know how to handle it, send the PC system to your dealer for technical support.
There is the hardware monitoring program in the CD which comes with this
mainboard. You can use it to monitor the system healthy status. When you find
there is the W83783S installed on U1, you can run the hardware monitoring
program and then it will monitor the system healthy status all the time.
¥ACPI
Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) function is strongly
recommended by PC’98 because it will let you have many additional features and
that will make your PC system becomes very friendly and convenient. Followings
are the ACPI features designed on the board:
1. On Now: power on the system by panel-switch, Keyboard, PS/2™ Mouse,
Modem ring-in, RTC alarm or LAN signal.
2. Power off (soft-off) by OS or Panel-switch.
3. CPU cooling fan auto-off during Suspend state.
4. Resuming of PC system. (such as Modem ring-in, RTC alarm, .... etc.)
5. Supports Full-On/Doze/Standby/Suspend operating modes.
¥DIMENSION
1. Width & Length : 305 mm x 210 mm.
2. Height : 2 1/2 inches with CPU Retention Mechanism.
3. PCB Thickness : 4 layers, 0.05 inches normal.
4. Weight : 18 ounces.
¥ENVIRONMENT LIMITATION
1. Operating Temperature : 10to 40. (50to 104)
2. Required Airflow : 50 linear feet per minute across CPU.
3. Storage Temperature : - 40to 70. (- 40to 158)
4. Humidity : 0 to 90% non-condensing.
5. Altitude : 0 to 10,000 feet.

VIA 693/693A Twin Processor Mainboard INSTALLATION
2-1
2. INSTALLATION
2.1 UNPACKING
The mainboard contains the following components. Please inspect the following
contents and confirm that everything is there in the package. If anything is missing or
damaged, call your supplier for instructions before proceeding.
lThis mainboard.
lOne USER‘S MANUAL.
lOne Cable set for IDE and Floppy devices.
lOne Pentium™ II Processor Retention Mechanism (RM).
lOne CD diskette for device driver and utility programs.
This mainboard contains electrostatic sensitive components and it can be easily
damaged by static electricity. So please leave it sealed in the original packing until
when installing.
A grounded anti-static mat is recommended when unpacking and installation. Please
also attached an anti static wristband to your wrist and have it grounded to the same
point as the anti-static mat.
After the opening of the mainboard carton, please observe the mainboard carefully to
make sure there is no shipping and handling damage before you can start to install the
PC system.
Having finished all the procedures above, you are now ready to install the mainboard to
the chassis. Please make sure that the chassis is the ATX type so that the mounting hole
will match with this mainboard.

VIA 693/693A Twin Processor Mainboard INSTALLATION
2-2
2.2 AMAZING WAYS TO POWER ON THE PC SYSTEM
When the mainboard has been installed successfully, there are several ways to
power on the system. Please read the following description for all the details.
POWER BUTTON
The power button can be programmed by COMS setup program and it has different
features. Please refer to page 3-15 for detail function description.
Note: This power button can not be used to power-on the PC system if the
”Password“ is selected in the "Power On Function" to power on your
system. (please refer to Section 4.8 for the “INTEGRATED
PERIPHERALS“ in the CMOS setup.) However, you can always use the
power button to turn off the power.
¨KEYBOARD (PASSWORD OR HOT KEY)
This mainboard allows you to use your personal password or a combination of hot
key to power on your PC system. When the jumper setting on JP1 is “Enabled”, the
keyboard OnNow function will be activated. Under this circumstance, this
mainboard will keeps scanning the keyboard status waiting for the correct password
or hot key input even when the system power is off (the stand-by 5V is still working
and the power LED on the keyboard is still active). If you have selected the
Password to power on the PC system in the BIOS setup program, the only way to
power on the PC system will be the correct password. ( you can not use the power
button on the front panel to power on the PC system.) When you have selected the
keyboard hot key to power on the PC system, you will be able to use keyboard hot
key to power on the PC system. ( you can use the power button to power on the PC
system as well.) ( Please refer to Section 4.8.- "Power On function")
When the “Password” and “Hot KEY” is selected, you will have to reboot the PC
system to activate the setting, when you see the POST (Power On Self Test) is
completed, the setting is changed and stored in the CMOS memory. Having finished
the procedure, you may turn the power off and then you can use the keyboard to
power-on the PC system afterward.
In case that you forget the “Password” or “Hot Key”, disconnect the AC power for
30-60 seconds then re-connect the AC power to the PC system, and then you can use
the PW switch to power on the PC system again. Or you may use JP9 setting to clear
the Keyboard password.