R P5A-VM
Super7 microATX Motherboard
USER’S MANUAL
USER'S NOTICE
No part of this manual, including the products and software described in it, may be repro-
duced, transmitted, transcribed, stored in a retrieval system, or translated into any language in
any form or by any means, except documentation kept by the purchaser for backup purposes,
without the express written permission of ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. (“ASUS”).
ASUS PROVIDES THIS MANUAL “AS IS” WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EI-
THER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED
WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PAR-
TICULAR PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT SHALL ASUS, ITS DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, EM-
PLOYEES 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 HAc BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAM-
AGES ARISING FROM ANY DEFECT OR ERROR IN THIS MANUAL OR PRODUCT.
Product warranty or service will not be extended if: (1) the product is repaired, modified or
altered, unless such repair, modification of alteration is authorized in writing by ASUS; or (2)
the serial number of the product is defaced or missing.
Products and corporate names appearing in this manual may or may not be registered trade-
marks or copyrights of their respective companies, and are used only for identification or
explanation and to the owners’ benefit, without intent to infringe.
• ALi and Aladdin are trademarks of Acer Laboratories Inc. (ALi)
• Adobe and Acrobat are registered trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated.
• AMD, K6, Super7, and combinations thereof are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
• Cyrix, M II, and combinations thereof are trademarks of National Semiconductor Corporation.
• ESS, Maestro, Solo-1 are registered trademarks of ESS Technology, Inc.
• IBM is a registered trademark of IBM Corporation.
• IDT and WinChip are trademarks of Integrated Device Technology, Inc.
• Intel, LANDesk, and Pentium are registered trademarks of Intel Corporation.
• Symbios is a registered trademark of Symbios Logic Corporation.
• Windows and MS-DOS are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.
The product name and revision number are both printed on the product itself. Manual revi-
sions are released for each product design represented by the digit before and after the period
of the manual revision number. Manual updates are represented by the third digit in the manual
revision number.
For previous or updated manuals, BIOS, drivers, or product release information, contact ASUS
at http://www.asus.com.tw or through any of the means indicated on the following page.
SPECIFICATIONS AND INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS MANUAL ARE FUR-
NISHED FOR INFORMATIONAL USE ONLY, AND ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE AT
ANY TIME WITHOUT NOTICE, AND SHOULD NOT BE CONSTRUED AS A COM-
MITMENT BY ASUS. ASUS ASSUMES NO RESPONSIBILITY OR LIABILITY FOR
ANY ERRORS OR INACCURACIES THAT MAY APPEAR IN THIS MANUAL, INCLUD-
ING THE PRODUCTS AND SOFTWARE DESCRIBED IN IT.
Copyright © 1999 ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. All Rights Reserved.
Product Name:
Manual Revision:
Release Date:
ASUS P5A-VM
1.03 E383
May 1999
2
ASUS P5A-VM User’s Manual
ASUS CONTACT INFORMATION
ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. (Asia-Pacific)
Marketing
Address:
Telephone:
Fax:
Email:
150 Li-Te Road, Peitou, Taipei, Taiwan 112
+886-2-2894-3447
+886-2-2894-3449
info@asus.com.tw
Technical Support
Tel (English): +886-2-2894-3447 ext. 706
Tel (Chinese): +886-2-2894-3447 ext. 111
Fax:
Email:
Newsgroup:
WWW:
FTP:
+886-2-2895-9254
tsd@asus.com.tw
news2.asus.com.tw
www.asus.com.tw
ftp.asus.com.tw/pub/ASUS
ASUS COMPUTER INTERNATIONAL (America)
Marketing
Address:
6737 Mowry Avenue, Mowry Business Center, Building 2
Newark, CA 94560, USA
+1-510-608-4555
info-usa@asus.com.tw
Fax:
Email:
Technical Support
Fax:
BBS:
Email:
WWW:
FTP:
+1-510-608-4555
+1-510-739-3774
tsd-usa@asus.com.tw
www.asus.com
ftp.asus.com.tw/pub/ASUS
ASUS COMPUTER GmbH (Europe)
Marketing
Address:
Telephone:
Fax:
Email:
Harkort Str. 25, 40880 Ratingen, BRD, Germany
49-2102-445011
49-2102-442066
sales@asuscom.de
Technical Support
Hotline:
BBS:
Email:
WWW:
FTP:
49-2102-499712
49-2102-448690
tsd@asuscom.de
www.asuscom.de
ftp.asuscom.de/pub/ASUSCOM
ASUS P5A-VM User’s Manual
3
CONTENTS
I. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................... 7
How this Manual is Organized ........................................................ 7
Item Checklist .................................................................................. 7
II. FEATURES .................................................................................... 8
ASUS P5A-VM Motherboard ......................................................... 8
Introduction to ASUS Smart Series Motherboards .............. 9
Parts of the ASUS P5A-VM Motherboard ...................................... 11
III. INSTALLATION .......................................................................... 12
ASUS P5A-VM Motherboard Layout ............................................. 12
Installation Steps .............................................................................. 14
1. Jumpers ........................................................................................ 14
Jumper Settings .................................................................... 14
Compatible Cyrix CPU Identification .................................. 18
2. System Memory (DIMM) ............................................................ 20
DIMM Memory Installation Procedures: ............................. 21
3. Central Processing Unit (CPU) ................................................... 22
4. Expansion Cards ......................................................................... 23
Expansion Card Installation Procedure: ............................... 23
Assigning IRQs for Expansion Cards................................... 23
Assigning DMA Channels for ISA Cards ............................. 24
ISA Cards and Hardware Monitor ........................................ 24
5. External Connectors .................................................................... 25
Power Connection Procedures ................................................... 35
Support Software ............................................................................. 36
Flash Memory Writer Utility ...................................................... 36
IV. BIOS SOFTWARE ....................................................................... 36
Main Menu ........................................................................... 36
Managing and Updating Your Motherboard’s BIOS.................. 38
6. BIOS Setup ................................................................................. 39
Load Defaults ....................................................................... 40
4
ASUS P5A-VM User’s Manual
CONTENTS
Standard CMOS Setup ............................................................... 40
Details of Standard CMOS Setup ......................................... 40
BIOS Features Setup .................................................................. 43
Details of BIOS Features Setup ............................................ 43
Chipset Features Setup ............................................................... 45
Details of Chipset Features Setup ......................................... 46
Power Management Setup .......................................................... 49
Details of Power Management Setup ................................... 49
PNP and PCI Setup .................................................................... 52
Details of PNP and PCI Setup .............................................. 52
Load BIOS Defaults ................................................................... 54
Load Setup Defaults ................................................................... 54
Supervisor Password and User Password .................................. 55
IDE HDD Auto Detection .......................................................... 56
Save & Exit Setup ...................................................................... 57
Exit Without Saving ................................................................... 57
V. SUPPORT SOFTWARE ................................................................ 58
ASUS Smart Motherboard Support CD........................................... 58
A. Video Driver .............................................................................. 61
B. Other Video Drivers .................................................................. 65
C. ATI Player .................................................................................. 75
D. Audio Driver .............................................................................. 79
E. Audio Software ......................................................................... 83
F. Software Wavetable .................................................................. 92
G. DMI Utility ............................................................................... 93
ASUS P5A-VM User’s Manual
5
FCC & DOC COMPLIANCE
Federal Communications Commission Statement
This device complies with FCC Rules Part 15. Operation is subject to the following
two conditions:
• This device may not cause harmful interference, and
• This device must accept any interference received, including interference that
may cause undesired operation.
This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B
digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to
provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residential installa-
tion. This equipment generates, uses and can radiate radio frequency energy and, if
not installed and used in accordance with manufacturer’s instructions, may cause
harmful interference to radio communications. However, there is no guarantee that
interference will not occur in a particular installation. If this equipment does cause
harmful interference to radio or television reception, which can be determined by
turning the equipment off and on, the user is encouraged to try to correct the interfer-
ence by one or more of the following measures:
• Re-orient or relocate the receiving antenna.
•
• Connect the equipment to an outlet on a circuit different from that to which the
Increase the separation between the equipment and receiver.
receiver is connected.
• Consult the dealer or an experienced radio/TV technician for help.
WARNING! Any changes or modifications to this product not expressly ap-
proved by the manufacturer could void any assurances of safety or performance
and could result in violation of Part 15 of the FCC Rules.
Canadian Department of Communications Statement
This digital apparatus does not exceed the Class B limits for radio noise emissions
from digital apparatus set out in the Radio Interference Regulations of the Canadian
Department of Communications.
This Class B digital apparatus complies with Canadian ICES-003.
Cet appareil numérique de la classe B est conforme à la norme NMB-003 du Canada.
6
ASUS P5A-VM User’s Manual
t
s
i
l
I
N
O
T
C
U
D
O
R
T
N
I
.
I
k
c
e
h
C
/
s
n
o
i
t
c
e
S
I. INTRODUCTION
How this Manual is Organized
I.
II.
III.
IV. BIOS Software
V.
Manual information and checklist
Information and specifications concerning this product
Instructions on setting up the motherboard
Instructions on setting up the BIOS software
Information on the included support software
Introduction
Features
Installation
Support Software
Item Checklist
Please check that your package is complete. If you discover damaged or missing
items, contact your retailer.
(1) ASUS Motherboard
(1) IDE ribbon cable for master and slave drives
(1) COM2 connector with bracket
(1) Floppy ribbon cable for (1) 5.25inch and (2) 3.5inch floppy disks
(1) Bag of spare jumpers
(1) CD disc with support drivers and utilities
(1) User’s Manual
Infrared external connector module (optional)
ASUS P5A-VM User’s Manual
7
F
e
a
I
I
.
F
E
A
T
U
R
E
S
t
u
r
e
s
II. FEATURES
ASUS P5A-VM Motherboard
• ALi AGPset: ALi® (Acer Laboratories Inc.) Aladdin V AGPset with support for a
100MHz Front Side Bus (FSB), Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP), and all current
Socket 7 processors.
• Multi-Processor/Multi-Speed Support: AMD K6™-III/400 & faster, AMD K6™-
2/266 & faster, AMD K6™/166 & faster, AMD K5™/90–133, IBM®/Cyrix® 6x86MX™/
M II™ (PR166 & faster), IDT WinChip 2™ /240 & faster, IBM®/Cyrix® 6x86-PR166+
(Rev 2.7 or later), Intel Pentium® 90–233MHz (P55C-MMX™, P54C/P54CS).
• AGP 3D VGA: Features optional ATI 3D Rage Pro AGP 2X (8MB SDRAM) or Rage
IIC AGP (4MB SDRAM) for 3D hardware acceleration.
• Enhanced ACPI and Anti-Boot Virus BIOS: Features a programmable BIOS, offering
enhanced ACPI for Windows 98 compatibility, built-in hardware-based virus protection through
Trend ChipAwayVirus, and autodetection of most devices for virtually automatic setup.
• PC100 Memory Support: Equipped with three DIMM sockets to support Intel PC100-
compliant SDRAMs (8, 16, 32, 64, 128, or 256MB) up to 768MB. These new SDRAMs
are necessary to meet the enhanced 95MHz/100MHz bus speed requirement.
• PCI Audio: Features optional ESS 32-bit PCI audio onboard.
• Ultra DMA/33 BM IDE: Comes with an onboard PCI Bus Master IDE controller
with two connectors that support four IDE devices in two channels, supports Ultra
DMA/33, PIO Modes 3 and 4 and Bus Master IDE DMA Mode 2, and supports En-
hanced IDE devices, such as Tape Backup, CD-ROM, and LS-120 drives.
• Wake-On-LAN Connector: Supports Wake-On–LAN activity with special network
cards, such as the ASUS PCI-L101 10/100 Fast Ethernet PCI card.
• PC Health Monitoring: Provides (optional) a convenient utility to monitor your
system’s vital components/activities, such as fan rotations, voltages, and temperatures.
• Super Multi-I/O: Provides two high-speed UART compatible serial ports and one
parallel port with EPP and ECP capabilities. UART2 can also be directed from COM2
(with Fast IR) to the Infrared Module for wireless connections.
• Desktop Management Interface (DMI): Supports DMI through BIOS, which al-
lows hardware to communicate within a standard protocol creating a higher level of
compatibility. (Requires DMI-enabled components.) (See section V)
• Level 2 Cache SRAM/Tag RAM: Features 512KB (up to 1MB when SRAM is avail-
able) pipelined-burst SRAM/L2 memory cache and integrated Tag RAM to make using the
100MHz bus speed possible.
8
ASUS P5A-VM User’s Manual