ASROCK FM2A88X Pro User Manual Download

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User Manual

Summary of Contents for FM2A88X Pro

Page 2: ...r 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 documentation...

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Page 4: ...2 3 Installation of Memory Modules DIMM 17 2 4 Expansion Slots PCI and PCI Express Slots 19 2 5 Jumpers Setup 20 2 6 Onboard Headers and Connectors 21 2 7 CrossFireXTM and Quad CrossFireXTM Operation Guide 26 2 8 AMD Dual Graphics Operation Guide 29 3 Software and Utilities Operation 31 4 UEFI SETUP UTILITY 39 4 1 Introduction 39 4 1 1 UEFI Menu Bar 39 4 1 2 Navigation Keys 40 4 2 Main Screen 40 4...

Page 5: ...ion 46 4 4 3 South Bridge Configuration 47 4 4 4 Storage Configuration 48 4 4 5 Super IO Configuration 49 4 4 6 ACPI Configuration 50 4 4 7 USB Configuration 52 4 5 Tool 53 4 6 Hardware Health Event Monitoring Screen 56 4 7 Boot Screen 57 4 8 Security Screen 59 4 9 Exit Screen 60 ...

Page 6: ...of this manual will be subject to change without notice In case any modifications of this manual occur the updated ver sion 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 If you require technical support related to this motherboard please visit our website for specific i...

Page 7: ...e AMP Expan sion Slot 1 x PCI Express 3 0 x16 Slot PCIE2 x16 mode PCIE 3 0 is only supported with FM2 CPU With FM2 CPU it only supports PCIE 2 0 1 x PCI Express 2 0 x16 Slot PCIE5 x4 mode 3 x PCI Express 2 0 x1 Slots 2 x PCI Slots Supports AMD Quad CrossFireXTM CrossFireXTM and Dual Graphics Graphics Integrated AMD Radeon HD 8000 7000 series graphics in A series APU DirectX 11 1 Pixel Shader 5 6 w...

Page 8: ...Headset Amplifier Supports up to 600 ohm headsets LAN PCIE x1 Gigabit LAN 10 100 1000 Mb s Realtek RTL8111G Supports Wake On LAN Supports LAN Cable Detection Supports Energy Efficient Ethernet 802 3az Supports PXE Rear Panel I O 1 x PS 2 Mouse Port 1 x PS 2 Keyboard Port 1 x D Sub Port 1 x DVI D Port 4 x USB 2 0 Ports 2 x USB 3 0 Ports AMD A88X Bolton D4 1 x RJ 45 LAN Port with LED ACT LINK LED an...

Page 9: ... Play ACPI 1 1 Compliant wake up events Supports jumperfree SMBIOS 2 3 1 support DRAM CPU Voltage multi adjustment Support CD Drivers Utilities AntiVirus Software Trial Version CyberLink MediaEspresso 6 5 Trial Google Chrome Browser and Toolbar Start8 30 days trial Hardware Monitor CPU temperature sensing Chassis temperature sensing CPU Fan Tachometer Chassis Fan Tachometer CPU Chassis Quiet Fan C...

Page 10: ...g CAUTION 1 Whether 2133 1866 1600MHz memory speed is supported depends on the CPU you adopt If you want to adopt DDR3 2133 1866 1600 memory module on this motherboard please refer to the memory support list on our website for the compat ible memory modules ASRock website http www asrock com 2 Due to the operating system limitation the actual memory size may be less than 4GB for the reservation fo...

Page 11: ...IOS update tool allows you to update system BIOS without entering operating systems first like MS DOS or Windows With this utility you can press the F6 key during the POST or the F2 key to enter into the BIOS setup menu to access ASRock Instant Flash Just launch this tool and save the new BIOS file to your USB flash drive floppy disk or hard drive then you can update your BIOS only in a few clicks...

Page 12: ...ring currently ASRock XFast RAM ASRock XFast RAM is included in A Tuning It fully utilizes the memory space that cannot be used under Windows 32 bit operating systems ASRock XFast RAM shortens the loading time of previously visited websites making web surfing faster than ever And it also boosts the speed of Adobe Photoshop 5 times faster Another advantage of ASRock XFast RAM is that it reduces the...

Page 13: ...ASRock Tech Service by sending a support request from the UEFI setup utility if you are having trouble with your PC ASRock Dehumidifier Function Users may prevent motherboard damages due to dampness by enabling Dehumidifier Function When enabling Dehumidifier Function the computer will power on automatically to dehumidi fy the system after entering S4 S5 state ASRock Easy RAID Installer ASRock Eas...

Page 14: ... button process ASRock Restart to UEFI Windows 8 brings the ultimate boot up experience The light ning boot up speed makes it hard to access the UEFI setup AS Rock Restart to UEFI technology is designed for those requiring frequent UEFI access It is included in ASRock s exclusive all in one A Tuning tuning program that allows users to easily enter the UEFI automatically when turning on the PC next...

Page 15: ...pin module PCIE3 PCI1 PCI2 1 CLRCMOS1 HDLED RESET PLED PWRBTN 1 PANEL 1 SATA_1 IR1 1 CHA_FAN1 SPEAKER1 1 PLED1 1 HD_AUDIO1 1 1 HDMI_SPDIF1 COM1 1 1 USB6_7 1 USB8_9 Top LINE IN Center FRONT Bottom MIC IN XFast USB XFast RAM XFast LAN RoHS PS2 Mouse PS2 Keyboard VGA1 DVI1 USB 3 0 T USB0 B USB1 RJ 45 LAN USB 2 0 T USB2 B USB3 CHA_FAN2 SATA_2 PCIE4 SATA_3 SATA_4 SATA_5 SATA_6 USB3_2_3 SATA_7 SATA_8 PC...

Page 16: ... 9 SATA3 Connector SATA_8 10 SATA3 Connector SATA_7 11 Chassis Fan Connector CHA_FAN1 12 Chassis Speaker Header SPEAKER1 13 System Panel Header PANEL1 14 Clear CMOS Jumper CLRCMOS1 15 Power LED Header PLED1 16 SATA3 Connector SATA_4 17 SATA3 Connector SATA_6 18 SATA3 Connector SATA_5 19 SATA3 Connector SATA_3 20 USB 2 0 Header USB8_9 21 USB 2 0 Header USB6_7 22 Infrared Module Header IR1 23 COM Po...

Page 17: ...1 PS 2 Mouse Port Green 7 USB 2 0 Ports USB45 2 D Sub Port VGA1 8 USB 2 0 Ports USB23 3 LAN RJ 45 Port 9 USB 3 0 Ports USB01 4 Line In Light Blue 10 DVI D Port DVI1 5 Front Speaker Lime 11 PS 2 Keyboard Port Purple 6 Microphone Pink 1 2 3 5 4 6 7 8 9 10 11 ...

Page 18: ...fer to the table below for the LAN port LED indica tions Activity Link LED Speed LED Status Description Status Description Off No Link Off 10Mbps connection Blinking Data Activity Orange 100Mbps connection On Link Green 1Gbps connection ACT LINK LED SPEED LED LAN Port ...

Page 19: ...to the motherboard peripherals and or components 1 Unplug the power cord from the wall socket before touching any component 2 To avoid damaging the motherboard components due to static elec tricity NEVER place your motherboard directly on the carpet or the like Also remember to use a grounded wrist strap or touch a safety grounded object before you handle components 3 Hold components by the edges ...

Page 20: ... matches the socket corner with a small triangle Step 3 Carefully insert the CPU into the socket until it fits in place The CPU fits only in one correct orientation DO NOT force the CPU into the socket to avoid bending of the pins Step 4 When the CPU is in place press it firmly on the socket while you push down the socket lever to secure the CPU The lever clicks on the side tab to indicate that it...

Page 21: ...t You also need to spray thermal grease between the CPU and the heatsink to improve heat dis sipation Make sure that the CPU and the heatsink are securely fastened and in good contact with each other Then connect the CPU fan to the CPU FAN connector CPU_FAN1 see Page 10 No 2 For proper in stallation please kindly refer to the instruction manuals of the CPU fan and the heatsink ...

Page 22: ...t damage to the motherboard and the DIMM if you force the DIMM into the slot at incorrect orientation 1 For dual channel configuration you always need to install identical the same brand speed size and chip type DDR3 DIMM pairs 2 It is unable to activate Dual Channel Memory Technology with only one memory module installed 3 It is not allowed to install a DDR or DDR2 memory module into a DDR3 slot ...

Page 23: ...English 18 1 2 3 ...

Page 24: ...ds PCIE5 PCIe 2 0 x16 slot is used for PCI Express x4 lane width cards PCIe Slot Configurations For a better thermal environment please connect a chassis fan to the moth erboard s chassis fan connector CHA_FAN1 or CHA_FAN2 when using multiple graphics cards Before installing an expansion card please make sure that the power supply is switched off or the power cord is unplugged Please read the docu...

Page 25: ... clear and reset the system parameters to default setup please turn off the computer and unplug the power cord from the power supply After waiting for 15 seconds use a jumper cap to short pin2 and pin3 on CLRCMOS1 for 5 seconds However please do not clear the CMOS right after you update the BIOS If you need to clear the CMOS when you just finish updating the BIOS you must boot up the system first ...

Page 26: ...ices The current SATA_4 see p 10 No 16 SATA3 interface allows up to SATA_5 see p 10 No 18 6 0 Gb s data transfer rate SATA_6 see p 10 No 17 SATA_7 see p 10 No 10 SATA_8 see p 10 No 9 DUMMY GND GND P 7 P 7 USB_PWR P 6 P 6 USB_PWR 1 DUMMY GND GND P 9 P 9 USB_PWR P 8 P 8 USB_PWR 1 Infrared Module Header This header supports an 5 pin IR1 optional wireless transmitting see p 10 No 22 and receiving infr...

Page 27: ... Mic_IN MIC to MIC2_L B Connect Audio_R RIN to OUT2_R and Audio_L LIN to OUT2_L C Connect Ground GND to Ground GND D MIC_RET and OUT_RET are for HD audio panel only You don t need to connect them for AC 97 audio panel E To activate the front mic For Windows 8 8 64 bit 7 7 64 bit VistaTM VistaTM 64 bit OS Go to the FrontMic Tab in the Realtek Control panel Adjust Recording Volume Connect the power ...

Page 28: ...The LED is off when the system is in S3 S4 sleep state or powered off S5 HDLED Hard Drive Activity LED Connect to the hard drive activity LED on the chassis front panel The LED is on when the hard drive is reading or writing data The front panel design may differ by chassis A front panel module mainly consists of power switch reset switch power LED hard drive activity LED speaker and etc When conn...

Page 29: ...wer supply please plug your power supply along with Pin 1 and Pin 13 20 Pin ATX Power Supply Installation Pin 1 3 Connected 3 Pin Fan Installation 12 1 24 13 24 13 CPU Fan Connector Please connect the CPU fan 4 pin CPU_FAN1 cable to the connector and see p 10 No 2 match the black wire to the ground pin GND 12V CPU_FAN_SPEED FAN_SPEED_CONTROL 1 2 3 4 ATX 12V Power Connector Please connect an ATX 12...

Page 30: ...orts a 9 pin COM1 serial port module see p 10 No 23 CCTS 1 RRTS 1 DDSR 1 DDTR 1 RRXD1 GND TTXD1 DDCD 1 1 RRI 1 SPDIF Out Connector Please connect the 2 pin HDMI_SPDIF1 SPDIF_OUT connector of see p 10 No 24 a HDMI VGA card to this header with a cable SPDIFOUT GND 1 ...

Page 31: ...our system requires It is recommended to use a AMD certified PSU Please refer to the AMD s website for details 4 If you pair a 12 pipe CrossFireXTM Edition card with a 16 pipe card both cards will operate as 12 pipe cards while in CrossFireXTM mode 5 Different CrossFireXTM cards may require different methods to enable CrossFireXTM Please refer to AMD graphics card manuals for detailed installation...

Page 32: ...FM2A88X Pro 27 English Step 3 Connect a VGA cable or a DVI cable to the monitor connector or the DVI connector of the graphics card that is inserted to PCIE2 slot ...

Page 33: ... Step 4 Double click the AMD Catalyst Control Center icon in the Windows system tray Step 5 In the left pane click Performance and then AMD CrossFireXTM Then select Enable AMD CrossFireX and click Apply Select the GPU number according to your graphics card and click Apply AMD Catalyst Control Center The Catalyst Uninstaller is an optional download We recommend using this utility to uninstall any p...

Page 34: ...ble to the onboard VGA port Please be noted that the current VGA driver VBIOS can allow Dual Graphics output from on board display only For any future update please refer to our website for further information Step 4 Boot into OS Please remove the AMD driver if you have any VGA driver installed in your system Step 5 Install the onboard VGA driver from our support CD to your system for both the onb...

Page 35: ...ease check AMD website for up dates and details Step 9 Click Enable CrossFireTM and click Apply to save your change Step 10 Reboot your system Then you can freely enjoy the benefit of Dual Graphics feature AMD VISION Engine Control Center Step 7 You can also click AMD VISION Engine Control Center on your Windows taskbar to enter AMD VISION Engine Control Center Step 8 In AMD VISION Engine Control ...

Page 36: ...ur computer If the Main Menu does not appear automatically locate and double click on the file ASRSETUP EXE in the Support CD to display the menu Drivers Menu The drivers compatible to your system will be auto detected and listed on the support CD driver page Please click Install All or follow the order from top to bottom to install those required drivers Therefore the drivers you install can work...

Page 37: ...ing A Tuning When you install the all in one driver to your system from ASRock s support CD A Tuning will be auto installed as well After the installation you will find the icon A Tuning on your desktop Double click the A Tuning icon A Tuning main menu will pop up 3 2 2 Using A Tuning There are five sections in A Tuning main menu Operation Mode Tools OC Tweaker System Info and Tech Service Operati...

Page 38: ...t time Please note that Ultra Fast mode is only supported by Windows 8 and the VBIOS must support UEFI GOP if you are using an external graphics card OMG Schedule the starting and ending hours of Internet access granted to other users Place X marks on the time table to disable the Internet Good Night LED Switch off the Power HDD LAN LEDs when the system is on and automatically switch off the Power...

Page 39: ...t Dehumidifier Prevent motherboard damages due to dampness Enable this function and configure the period of time until the computer powers on and the duration of the dehumidifying process OC Tweaker Configurations for overclocking the system System Info View information about the system System Browser System Browser shows the overview of your current PC and the devices connected ...

Page 40: ...FM2A88X Pro 35 English Tech Service Contact Tech Service ...

Page 41: ...dded customizations for greater efficiency 3 3 1 Installing Start8 Install Start8 which is located in the folder at the following path of the Sup port CD ASRock Utility Start8 3 3 2 Configuring Start8 Style Select between the Windows 7 style and Windows 8 style Start Menu Then select the theme of the Start Menu and customize the style of the Start icon ...

Page 42: ...English Configure Configure provides configuration options including icon sizes which shortcuts you want Start Menu to display quick access to recently used apps the functionality of the power button and more Control ...

Page 43: ...press on the Windows key does Desktop Desktop allows you to disable the hot corners when you are working on the desktop It also lets you choose whether or not the system boots directly into desktop mode and bypass the Metro user interface About Displays information about Start8 ...

Page 44: ...reset button on the system chassis You may also restart by turning the system off and then back on Because the UEFI software is constantly being updated the following UEFI setup screens and descriptions are for reference purpose only and they may not exactly match what you see on your screen 4 1 1 UEFI Menu Bar The top of the screen has a menu bar with the following selections Main For setting sys...

Page 45: ...es cursor left or right to select Screens Moves cursor up or down to select items To change option for the selected items Tab Switch to next function Enter To bring up the selected screen PGUP Go to the previous page PGDN Go to the next page HOME Go to the top of the screen END Go to the bottom of the screen F1 To display the General Help Screen F7 Discard changes and exit the UEFI SETUP UTILITY F...

Page 46: ...e default value is Auto Spread Spectrum This item should always be Auto for better system stability AMD Turbo Core Technology This item appears only when the processor you adopt supports this fea ture Use this to select enable or disable AMD Turbo Core Technology Configuration options Enabled and Disabled The default value is Enabled AMD Application power Management Application Power Management AP...

Page 47: ...t is recommended to keep the default value for system stability CPU Load line Calibration CPU Load line Calibration helps prevent APU voltage droop when the system is under heavy load NB Load line Calibration NB Load line Calibration helps prevent NB voltage droop when the system is under heavy load GFX Engine Clock Use this to adjust GFX Engine Clock The default value is Auto DRAM Timing Configur...

Page 48: ...e DDR power down mode Bank Interleaving Interleaving allows memory accesses to be spread out over banks on the same node or accross nodes decreasing access contention Channel Interleaving It allows you to enable Channel Memory Interleaving Configuration options Disabled Auto The default value is Auto Voltage Configuration DRAM Voltage Use this to select DRAM Voltage The default value is Auto ...

Page 49: ...figurations for the following items CPU Configu ration Nouth Bridge Configuration South Bridge Configuration Storage Configura tion Super IO Configuration ACPI Configuration and USB Configuration Setting wrong values in this section may cause the system to malfunction ...

Page 50: ...ase note that enabling this function may reduce CPU voltage and memory frequency and lead to system stability or com patibility issue with some memory modules or power supplies Please set this item to Disable if above issue occurs SVM When this option is set to Enabled a VMM Virtual Machine Architecture can utilize the additional hardware capabilities provided by AMD V The default value is Enabled...

Page 51: ...s Share Memory This allows you to set the share memory feature The default value is Auto Configuration options Auto 32MB 64MB 128MB 256MB 512MB 1GB and 2GB Onboard HDMI HD Audio This allows you to enable or disable the Onboard HDMI HD Audio fea ture DVI Function Use this to select DVI function when you install the DVI to HDMI adapter to DVI port Configuration options as Dual Link DVI and as HDMI I...

Page 52: ... Audio will be disabled when PCI Sound Card is plugged Front Panel Select Auto or Disabled for the onboard HD Audio Front Panel Onboard LAN This allows you to enable or disable the onboard LAN feature Good Night LED Enable this option to turn off Power LED when the system is power on The keyboard LED will also be turned off in S1 S3 and S4 state The default value is Auto ...

Page 53: ...CI BIOS ROM Use this item to enable or disable AMD AHCI BIOS ROM The default value of this option is Disabled SATA IDE Combined Mode This item is for SATA_5 SATA_6 SATA_7 and SATA_8 Use this item to enable or disable SATA IDE combined mode The default value is Enabled If you want to build RAID on SATA_5 SATA_6 SATA_7 and SATA_8 ports please disable this item Hard Disk S M A R T Use this item to en...

Page 54: ...al Port Address Use this item to set the address for the onboard serial port Configuration options 3F8h IRQ4 and 3E8h IRQ4 Infrared Port Use this item to enable or disable the onboard infrared port Infrared Port Address Use this item to set the address for the onboard infrared port Confi guration options 2F8h IRQ3 and 2E8h IRQ3 ...

Page 55: ... Power Loss This allows you to set the power state after an unexpected AC power loss If Power Off is selected the AC power remains off when the power re covers If Power On is selected the AC power resumes and the system starts to boot up when the power recovers PS 2 Keyboard Power On Use this item to enable or disable PS 2 keyboard to turn on the system from the power soft off mode PCI Devices Pow...

Page 56: ...Use this item to enable or disable USB Mouse to power on the system ACPI HPET table Use this item to enable or disable ACPI HPET Table The default value is Enabled Please set this option to Enabled if you plan to use this moth erboard to submit Windows certification CSM Please disable CSM when you enable Fast Boot option The default value is Enabled ...

Page 57: ...e is Enabled Please refer to below descriptions for the details of these four options Enabled Enables support for legacy USB Auto Enables legacy support if USB devices are connected Disabled USB devices are not allowed to use under legacy OS and UEFI setup when Disabled is selected If you have USB compatibility is sue it is recommended to select Disabled to enter OS UEFI Setup Only USB devices are...

Page 58: ...ng UEFI Tech Service Easy RAID Installer Easy RAID Installer helps you to copy the RAID driver from the support CD to your USB storage device After copying the drivers please change the SATA mode to RAID then you can start installing the operating sys tem in RAID mode Easy Driver Installer For users that don t have an optical disk drive to install the drivers from our support CD Easy Driver Instal...

Page 59: ...eted Internet Flash Internet Flash searches for available UEFI firmware updates from our servers In other words the system can auto detect the latest UEFI from our servers and flash them without entering Windows OS Network Configuration Internet Setting Use this item to set up the internet connection mode Configuration options DHCP Auto IP and PPPOE UEFI Download Server Use this item to select UEF...

Page 60: ...difier Duration This allows users to configure the duration of the dehumidifying process before it returns to S4 S5 state Dehumidifier CPU Fan Setting Use this setting to configure CPU fan speed while Dehumidifier is en abled Would you like to save current setting user defaults In this option you are allowed to load and save three user defaults according to your own requirements ...

Page 61: ...sis Fan 2 Setting This allows you to set the chassis fan 2 speed Confi guration options Full On and Manual Mode The default is value Full On Over Temperature Protection Use this item to enable or disable Over Temperature Protection The default value is Enabled 4 6 Hardware Health Event Monitoring Screen In this section it allows you to monitor the status of the hardware on your system including th...

Page 62: ... an USB flash drive Ultra Fast There are a few restrictions 1 Only supports Windows 8 UEFI operating system 2 You will not be able to enter BIOS Setup Clear CMOS or run utility in Widows to enter BIOS Setup 3 If you are using an external graphics card the VBIOS must support UEFI GOP in order to boot Boot From Onboard LAN Use this item to enable or disable the Boot From Onboard LAN feature Setup Pr...

Page 63: ...le Please do not disable unless you re running a WHCK test If you are using Windows 8 64 bit and all of your devices support UEFI you may also disable CSM for faster boot speed Launch PXE OpROM Policy Select UEFI only to run those that support UEFI option ROM only Select Legacy only to run those that support legacy option ROM only Do not launch Launch Storage OpROM Policy Select UEFI only to run t...

Page 64: ...ro 59 English 4 8 Security Screen In this section you may set or change the supervisor user password for the system For the user password you may also clear it Secure Boot Enable to support Windows 8 Secure Boot ...

Page 65: ...rd Changes and Exit When you select this option it will pop out the following message Discard changes and exit setup Select OK to exit the UEFI SETUP Utility without saving any changes Discard Changes When you select this option it will pop out the following message Discard changes Select OK to discard all changes Load UEFI Defaults Load UEFI default values for all the setup questions F9 key can b...

Page 66: ...information For technical questions please submit a support request form at http www asrock com support tsd asp ASRock Incorporation 2F No 37 Sec 2 Jhongyang S Rd Beitou District Taipei City 112 Taiwan R O C ASRock EUROPE B V Bijsterhuizen 3151 6604 LV Wijchen The Netherlands Phone 31 24 345 44 33 Fax 31 24 345 44 38 ASRock America Inc 13848 Magnolia Ave Chino CA91710 U S A Phone 1 909 590 8308 Fa...

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