Copyright Notice:
Copyright Notice:
Copyright Notice:
Copyright Notice:
Copyright Notice:
No part of this installation guide may be reproduced, transcribed, transmitted, or trans-
lated in any language, in any form or by any means, except duplication of documen-
tation by the purchaser for backup purpose, without written consent of ASRock Inc.
Products and corporate names appearing in this guide may or may not be registered
trademarks or copyrights of their respective companies, and are used only for identifica-
tion or explanation and to the owners’ benefit, without intent to infringe.
Disclaimer:
Disclaimer:
Disclaimer:
Disclaimer:
Disclaimer:
Specifications and information contained in this guide are furnished for informational
use only and subject to change without notice, and should not be constructed as a
commitment by ASRock. ASRock assumes no responsibility for any errors or omissions
that may appear in this guide.
With respect to the contents of this guide, ASRock does not provide warranty of any kind,
either expressed or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties or
conditions of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. In no event shall
ASRock, 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 data, interruption of business and the like), even if ASRock has been
advised of the possibility of such damages arising from any defect or error in the guide
or product.
This device complies with Part 15 of the FCC Rules. Operation is subject to the
following two conditions:
(1)
(2)
this device may not cause harmful interference, and
this device must accept any interference received, including interference that
may cause undesired operation.
CALIFORNIA, USA ONLY
The Lithium battery adopted on this motherboard contains Perchlorate, a toxic
substance controlled in Perchlorate Best Management Practices (BMP) regulations
passed by the California Legislature. When you discard the Lithium battery in
California, USA, please follow the related regulations in advance.
“Perchlorate Material-special handling may apply, see
www.dtsc.ca.gov/hazardouswaste/perchlorate”
ASRock Website: http://www.asrock.com
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Published March 2007
Copyright©2007 ASRock INC. All rights reserved.
ASRock ALiveXFire-eSATA2 Motherboard
11111
Motherboard L
Motherboard L
ayout
ayout
Motherboard Layout
ayout
Motherboard L
Motherboard L
ayout
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
PS2_USB_PW1 Jumper
ATX 12V Connector (ATX12V1)
CPU Fan Connector (CPU_FAN1)
ATX Power Connector (ATXPWR1)
AM2 940-Pin CPU Socket
CPU Heatsink Retention Module
2 x 240-pin DDRII DIMM Slots
(Dual Channel A: DDRII_1, DDRII_2; Yellow)
2 x 240-pin DDRII DIMM Slots
(Dual Channel B: DDRII_3, DDRII_4; Orange)
IDE1 Connector (IDE1, Blue)
9
10 North Bridge Controller
11 Clear CMOS Jumper (CLRCMOS1)
12
13
14
15
16
17 USB 2.0 Header (USB2_3, Blue)
18 USB 2.0 Header (USB4_5, Blue)
PCI Express x16 Slot (PCIE3)
South Bridge Controller
Serial ATAII Connector (SATAII_ORANGE (PORT 2))
Serial ATAII Connector (SATAII_RED (PORT 1))
Serial ATAII Connector (SATAII_BLACK (PORT 3))
19 USB 2.0 Header (USB6_7, Blue)
20 USB 2.0 Header (USB8_9, Blue)
21
Serial ATAII Connector
(SATAII_BLUE (PORT 4))
System Panel Header (PANEL1)
Floppy Connector (FLOPPY1)
Front Panel Audio Header (HD_AUDIO1)
PCI Slots (PCI1- 3)
22 Chassis Fan Connector (CHA_FAN1)
23
24 Chassis Speaker Header (SPEAKER 1)
25
26 Game Port Header (GAME1)
27
28
29 HDMI_SPDIF Header (HDMI_SPDIF1)
30 BIOS LPC Chip
31 Infrared Module Connector (IR1)
32
33
34
35
36
37
PCIE Express Slot (PCIE2/PCIE SWITCH)
PCI Express x1 Slot (PCIE1)
SLI / XFIRE Power Connector
Internal Audio Connector: CD1 (Black)
eSATAII Connector (eSATAII_TOP)
eSATAII Connector (eSATAII_BOTTOM)
ASRock ALiveXFire-eSATA2 Motherboard
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22222
ock 8CH_eSAAAAATTTTTAII I/O
ASRASRASRASRASRock 8CH_eS
ock 8CH_eS
ock 8CH_eS
AII I/O
AII I/O
AII I/O
ock 8CH_eS
AII I/O
1
2
3
4
5
6
*7
Parallel Port
RJ-45 Port
Side Speaker (Gray)
Rear Speaker (Black)
Central / Bass (Orange)
Line In (Light Blue)
Front Speaker (Lime)
USB 2.0 Ports (USB01)
eSATAII Ports
8 Microphone (Pink)
9
10
11 COM Port
12
13
PS/2 Keyboard Port (Purple)
PS/2 Mouse Port (Green)
* If you use 2-channel speaker, please connect the speaker’s plug into “Front Speaker Jack”. See
the table below for connection details in accordance with the type of speaker you use.
TABLE for Audio Output Connection
Audio Output Channels Front Speaker Rear Speaker
Central / Bass
Side Speaker
(No. 7)
(No. 4)
(No. 5)
(No. 3)
2
4
6
8
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--
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--
--
--
V
* To enable Multi-Streaming function, you need to connect a front panel audio cable to the front
panel audio header. After restarting your computer, you will find “Mixer” tool on your system.
Please select “Mixer ToolBox” , click “Enable playback multi-streaming”, and click
“ok”. Choose “2CH”, “4CH”, “6CH”, or “8CH” and then you are allowed to select “Realtek HDA
Primary output” to use Rear Speaker, Central/Bass, and Front Speaker, or select “Realtek HDA
Audio 2nd output” to use front panel audio.
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ASRock ALiveXFire-eSATA2 Motherboard
33333
Introduction
Introduction
Introduction
Introduction
Introduction
1.1.1.1.1.
Thank you for purchasing ASRock ALiveXFire-eSATA2 motherboard, a reliable
motherboard produced under ASRock’s consistently stringent quality control. It de-
livers excellent performance with robust design conforming to ASRock’s commit-
ment to quality and endurance.
This Quick Installation Guide contains introduction of the motherboard and step-by-
step installation guide. More detailed information of the motherboard can be found in
the user manual presented in the Support CD.
Because the motherboard specifications and the BIOS software might
be updated, the content of this manual will be subject to change without
notice. In case any modifications of this manual occur, the updated
version will be available on ASRock website without further notice. You
may find the latest VGA cards and CPU support lists on ASRock
website as well.
ASRock website http://www.asrock.com
Package Contents
Package Contents
Package Contents
Package Contents
Package Contents
1.11.11.11.11.1
1 x ASRock ALiveXFire-eSATA2 Motherboard
(ATX Form Factor: 12.0-in x 8.2-in, 30.5 cm x 20.8 cm)
1 x ASRock ALiveXFire-eSATA2 Quick Installation Guide
1 x ASRock ALiveXFire-eSATA2 Support CD
1 x Ultra ATA 66/100/133 IDE Ribbon Cable (80-conductor)
1 x 3.5-in Floppy Drive Ribbon Cable
4 x Serial ATA (SATA) Data Cables (Optional)
2 x Serial ATA (SATA) HDD Power Cables (Optional)
1 x HDMI_SPDIF Cable (Optional)
1 x ASRock 8CH_eSATAII I/O Shield
1 x USB Bracket
1 x PCIE Switch Card
This motherboard is bundled with one PCIE Switch card installed on PCIE2/
PCIE SWITCH slot, which allows you better flexibility to choose PCIE
functions between one PCIE x16 slot and two PCIE slots for ATITM
CrossFireTM without setting up jumpers.
ASRock ALiveXFire-eSATA2 Motherboard
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44444
1.21.21.21.21.2
Specifications
Specifications
Specifications
Specifications
Specifications
Platform
CPU
Chipset
Memory
Hybrid Booster
Expansion Slot
Audio
LAN
Rear Panel I/O
- ATX Form Factor: 12.0-in x 8.2-in, 30.5 cm x 20.8 cm
- Socket AM2 for AMD AthlonTM 64FX / 64X2 / 64 and Sempron
processors
- AMD LIVE!TM Ready
- Supports AMD’s Cool ‘n’ QuietTM Technology
- FSB 1000 MHz (2.0 GT/s)
- Supports Untied Overclocking Technology (see CAUTION 1)
- Supports Hyper-Transport Technology
- Northbridge: AMD 480X CrossFireTM
- Southbridge:ATITM SB600
- Dual Channel DDRII Memory Technology (see CAUTION 2)
- 4 x DDRII DIMM slots
- Support DDRII800/667/533
- Max. capacity: 8GB (see CAUTION 3)
- CPU Frequency Stepless Control (see CAUTION 4)
- ASRock U-COP (see CAUTION 5)
- Boot Failure Guard (B.F.G.)
- ASRock AM2 Boost: ASRock Patented Technology to boost
memory performance up to 12.5% (see CAUTION 6)
- Supports ATITM CrossFireTM graphics cards
(see CAUTION 7)
- 1 x PCI Express x16 slot with PCIE Switch card or 2 x PCI
Express Graphics slots for ATITM CrossFireTM
(see CAUTION 8)
- 1 x PCI Express x1 slot
- 3 x PCI slots
- 7.1 CH Windows® VistaTM Premium Level HD Audio
(ALC888 Audio Codec)
- PCIE x1 Gigabit LAN 10/100/1000 Mb/s
- Realtek RTL8111B
- Supports Wake-On-LAN
ASRock 8CH_eSATAII I/O
- 1 x PS/2 Mouse Port
- 1 x PS/2 Keyboard Port
- 1 x Serial Port: COM1
- 1 x Parallel Port (ECP/EPP Support)
- 2 x Ready-to-Use USB 2.0 Ports
- 2 x eSATAII Ports
ASRock ALiveXFire-eSATA2 Motherboard
55555
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Connector
BIOS Feature
Support CD
Hardware
Monitor
OS
Certifications
66666
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- 1 x RJ-45 Port
- HD Audio Jack: Side Speaker/Rear Speaker/Central/Bass/
Line in/Front Speaker/Microphone (see CAUTION 9)
- 4 x SATAII 3.0Gb/s connectors, support RAID (RAID 0,
RAID 1 and RAID 10), NCQ, AHCI and “Hot Plug” functions
(see CAUTION 10)
- 2 x eSATAII 3.0Gb/s connectors (shared with 2 SATAII ports),
support RAID (RAID 0 and RAID 1), NCQ, AHCI and “Hot Plug”
functions (see CAUTION 11)
- 1 x ATA133 IDE connector (supports 2 x IDE devices)
- 1 x Floppy connector
- 1 x IR header
- 1 x Game header
- 1 x HDMI_SPDIF header
- CPU/Chassis FAN connector
- 20 pin ATX power connector
- 4 pin 12V power connector
- SLI/XFire power connector
- CD in header
- Front panel audio connector
- 4 x USB 2.0 headers (support 8 USB 2.0 ports)
(see CAUTION 12)
- 4Mb AMI BIOS
- AMI Legal BIOS
- Supports “Plug and Play”
- ACPI 1.1 Compliance Wake Up Events
- Supports jumperfree
- SMBIOS 2.3.1 Support
- Drivers, Utilities, AntiVirus Software (Trial Version)
- CPU Internal Temperature Sensing
- CPU Ambient Temperature Sensing
- Chassis Temperature Sensing
- CPU Fan Tachometer
- Chassis Fan Tachometer
- CPU Quiet Fan
- Voltage Monitoring: +12V, +5V, +3.3V, Vcore
- Microsoft® Windows® 2000 / XP / XP Media Center / XP 64-bit
/ VistaTM / VistaTM 64-bit compliant (see CAUTION 13)
- FCC, CE, Microsoft® WHQL Certificated
ASRock ALiveXFire-eSATA2 Motherboard
WARNING
Please realize that there is a certain risk involved with overclocking, including adjusting
the setting in the BIOS, applying Untied Overclocking Technology, or using the third-
party overclocking tools. Overclocking may affect your system stability, or even
cause damage to the components and devices of your system. It should be done at
your own risk and expense. We are not responsible for possible damage caused by
overclocking.
CAUTION!
1. This motherboard supports Untied Overclocking Technology. Please read “Un-
tied Overclocking Technology” on page 36 for details.
2. This motherboard supports Dual Channel Memory Technology. Before you
implement Dual Channel Memory Technology, make sure to read the
installation guide of memory modules on page 11 for proper installation.
3. Due to the operating system limitation, the actual memory size may be
less than 4GB for the reservation for system usage under Windows® XP
and Windows® VistaTM. For Windows® XP 64-bit and Windows® VistaTM 64-
bit with 64-bit CPU, there is no such limitation.
4. Although this motherboard offers stepless control, it is not recommended to
perform over-clocking. Frequencies other than the recommended CPU bus
frequencies may cause the instability of the system or damage the CPU.
5. While CPU overheat is detected, the system will automatically shutdown.
Before you resume the system, please check if the CPU fan on the motherboard
functions properly and unplug the power cord, then plug it back again. To
improve heat dissipation, remember to spray thermal grease between the
CPU and the heatsink when you install the PC system.
6. This motherboard supports ASRock AM2 Boost overclocking technology. If
you enable this function in the BIOS setup, the memory performance will
improve up to 12.5%, but the effect still depends on the AM2 CPU you adopt.
Enabling this function will overclock the chipset/CPU reference clock. However,
we can not guarantee the system stability for all CPU/DRAM configurations.
If your system is unstable after AM2 Boost function is enabled, it may not be
applicative to your system. You may choose to disable this function for
keeping the stability of your system.
7. Please remove PCIE Switch card from PCIE2/PCIE SWITCH slot before you
use ATITM CrossFireTM function. In CrossFireTM mode, the two ATITM graphics
cards you install should be from the same GPU family.
8. This motherboard is bundled with one PCIE Switch card installed on PCIE2/
PCIE SWITCH slot, which allows you better flexibility to choose PCIE func-
tions between one PCIE x16 slot and two PCIE slots for ATITM CrossFireTM
without setting up jumpers. To avail of the PCI Express x16 graphics card
installed on PCIE3 slot work at PCIE x16 bandwidth, please make sure that
PCIE Switch card is installed on PCIE2/PCIE SWITCH slot. Please refer to
page 15 for details of installing a single graphics card.
ASRock ALiveXFire-eSATA2 Motherboard
77777
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9. For microphone input, this motherboard supports both stereo and mono modes.
For audio output, this motherboard supports 2-channel, 4-channel, 6-channel,
and 8-channel modes. Please check the table on page 3 for proper connection.
10. Before installing SATAII hard disk to SATAII connector, please read the “SATAII
Hard Disk Setup Guide” on page 30 to adjust your SATAII hard disk drive to
SATAII mode. You can also connect SATA hard disk to SATAII connector
directly.
11. This motherboard supports eSATAII interface, the external SATAII
specification. Please read “eSATAII Interface Introduction” on page 27 for
details about eSATAII and eSATAII installation procedures.
12. Power Management for USB 2.0 works fine under Microsoft® Windows®
VistaTM 64-bit / VistaTM / XP 64-bit / XP SP1 or SP2 / 2000 SP4.
13. Microsoft® Windows® VistaTM / VistaTM 64-bit driver is not ready yet. We will
update it to our website in the future. Please visit our website for Microsoft®
Windows® VistaTM / VistaTM 64-bit driver and related information.
ASRock website http://www.asrock.com
indows
indows
able for W
able for W
equirement T
equirement T
Minimum Hardware R
Minimum Hardware R
1.31.31.31.31.3 Minimum Hardware R
indows®®®®®
able for Windows
equirement Table for W
Minimum Hardware Requirement T
indows
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Minimum Hardware R
VistaVistaVistaVistaVistaTMTMTMTMTM Premium 2007 and Basic Logo
Premium 2007 and Basic Logo
Premium 2007 and Basic Logo
Premium 2007 and Basic Logo
Premium 2007 and Basic Logo
For system integrators and users who purchase this motherboard and
plan to submit Windows® VistaTM Premium 2007 and Basic logo, please follow
below table for minimum hardware requirements.
CPU
Memory
VGA
Sempron 2800+
1GB system memory
DX9.0 with WDDM Driver
with 128bit VGA memory (Premium)
with 64bit VGA memory (Basic)
* After June 1, 2007, all Windows® VistaTM systems are required to meet above
minimum hardware requirements in order to qualify for Windows® VistaTM Premium
2007 logo.
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88888
ASRock ALiveXFire-eSATA2 Motherboard