Copyright Notice: No part of this installation guide may be reproduced, transcribed, transmitted, or translated in any language, in any form or by any means, except duplication of documentation 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 identification or explanation and to the owners' benefit, without intent to infringe. 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) this device may not cause harmful interference, and (2) this device must accept any interference received, including interference that may cause undesired operation. ASRock Website: http://www.asrock.com Published March 2006 Copyright©2006 ASRock INC. All rights reserved. 1 ASRock K8NF4G-VSTA Motherboard English Layout Motherboard Layout 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 PS2_USB_PW1 Jumper 16 ATX 12V Power Connector (ATX12V1) 17 754-Pin CPU Socket 18 CPU Heatsink Retention Module 19 184-pin DDR DIMM Slots (DDR1- 2) 20 Secondary IDE Connector (IDE2, Black) 21 Primary IDE Connector (IDE1, Blue) 22 North Bridge Controller 23 PCI Express Slot (PCIE1) 24 South Bridge Controller 25 Clear CMOS Jumper (CLRCMOS2) 26 Secondary Serial ATAII Connector (SATAII_2, red) 27 Primary Serial ATAII Connector (SATAII_1, red) 28 Chassis Fan Connector (CHA_FAN1) 29 System Panel Header (PANEL1) 30 Chassis Speaker Header (SPEAKER 1) USB 2.0 Header (USB67, Blue) Infrared Module Header (IR1) USB 2.0 Header (USB45, Blue) Floppy Connector (FLOPPY1) Flash Memory Game Port Header (GAME1) PCI Express Slot (PCIE2) HDMR Slot (HDMR1) Front Panel Audio Header (HD_AUDIO1) 2 x PCI Slots (PCI1- 2) Internal Audio Connector: CD1 (Black) ATX Power Connector (ATXPWR1) Serial Port Connector (COM1) CPU Fan Connector (CPU_FAN1) English 2 ASRock K8NF4G-VSTA Motherboard HD 8CH I/O 1 2 3 4 5 6 Parallel Port RJ-45 Port Side Speaker (Gray) Rear Speaker (Black) Central / Bass (Orange) Line In (Light Blue) Front Speaker (Lime) 8 9 10 11 12 13 Microphone (Pink) USB 2.0 Ports (USB01) USB 2.0 Ports (USB23) VGA Port PS/2 Keyboard Port (Purple) PS/2 Mouse Port (Green) *7 * 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 (No. 7) (No. 4) 2 V -4 V V 6 V V 8 V V Central / Bass (No. 5) --V V Side Speaker (No. 3) ---V 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. 3 ASRock K8NF4G-VSTA Motherboard English * To enable Multi-Streaming function, you need to connect a front panel audio cable to the front 1. Introduction Thank you for purchasing ASRock K8NF4G-VSTA motherboard, a reliable motherboard produced under ASRock's consistently stringent quality control. It delivers excellent performance with robust design conforming to ASRock's commitment to quality and endurance. This Quick Installation Guide contains introduction of the motherboard and step-bystep 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 1.1 Package Contents 1 x ASRock K8NF4G-VSTA Motherboard (Micro ATX Form Factor: 9.6-in x 8.0-in, 24.4 cm x 20.3 cm) 1 x ASRock K8NF4G-VSTA Quick Installation Guide 1 x ASRock K8NF4G-VSTA Support CD 1 x Ultra ATA 66/100/133 IDE Ribbon Cable (80-conductor) 1 x 3.5-in Floppy Drive Ribbon Cable 1 x Serial ATA (SATA) Data Cable (Optional) 1 x Serial ATA (SATA) HDD Power Cable (Optional) 1 x HD 8CH I/O Shield 1 x COM Port Bracket 1 x HDMR Card (Optional) English 4 ASRock K8NF4G-VSTA Motherboard 1.2 Specifications - Micro ATX Form Factor: 9.6-in x 8.0-in, 24.4 cm x 20.3 cm - 754-Pin Socket Supporting advanced 64-bit AMD AthlonTM 64 and 32-bit/64-bit Sempron Processors - Supports AMD's Cool `n' QuietTM Technology (see CAUTION 1) - Chipset capable to FSB 1000 MHz (2.0 GT/s) - Supports Untied Overclocking Technology (see CAUTION 2) - Supports Hyper-Transport Technology - Northbridge: nVidia® GeForce 6100 - Southbridge: nVidia® nForce 410 MCP - 2 x DDR DIMM slots - Support DDR400/333/266 - Max. capacity: 2GB - CPU Frequency Stepless Control (see CAUTION 3) - ASRock U-COP (see CAUTION 4) - Boot Failure Guard (B.F.G.) - 2 x PCI slots - 1 x PCI Express x 16 slot - 1 x PCI Express x 1 slot - 1 x HDMR slot - Integrated NV44 graphics DX9.0 VGA - Pixel Shader 3.0 - Max. shared memory 128MB - Realtek ALC883 7.1 channel CODEC with High Definition Audio - Realtek PHY RTL8201CL - Speed: 10/100 Ethernet - Supports Wake-On-LAN HD 8CH I/O - 1 x PS/2 Mouse - 1 x PS/2 Keyboard Port - 1 x VGA Port - 1 x Parallel Port (ECP/EPP Support) - 4 x Ready-to-Use USB 2.0 Ports - 1 x RJ-45 Port - Audio Jack: Side Speaker/Rear Speaker/Central Bass/Line in/Front Speaker/Microphone (see CAUTION 5) Platform CPU Chipset Memory Hybrid Booster Expansion Slot Graphics Audio LAN Rear Panel I/O 5 ASRock K8NF4G-VSTA Motherboard English Connector BIOS Feature Support CD Hardware Monitor OS Certifications - 2 x Serial ATAII 3.0Gb/s connectors, support RAID 0, 1, JBOD (No support for "Hot Plug" function) (see CAUTION 6) - 2 x ATA133 IDE connectors (support 4 x IDE devices) - 1 x Floppy connector - 1 x IR header - 1 x Game header - 1 x COM port header - CPU/Chassis FAN connector - 20 pin ATX power connector - 4 pin 12V power connector - CD in header - Front panel audio connector - 2 x USB 2.0 headers (support 4 USB 2.0 ports) (see CAUTION 7) - 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 Temperature Sensing - Motherboard Temperature Sensing - CPU Overheat Shutdown to Protect CPU Life - CPU Fan Tachometer - Chassis Fan Tachometer - CPU Quiet Fan - Voltage Monitoring: +12V, +5V, +3.3V, Vcore - Microsoft® Windows® 2000 / XP / XP 64-bit / VistaTM compliant (see CAUTION 8) - FCC, CE, WHQL English English 6 ASRock K8NF4G-VSTA Motherboard CAUTION! 1. For power-saving's sake, it is strongly recommended to enable AMD's Cool `n' QuietTM technology under Windows system. See APPENDIX on page 41 of "User Manual" in the Support CD to enable AMD's Cool `n' QuietTM technology. Since not all K8 754-pin CPU can support AMD's Cool `n' QuietTM technology, please check AMD's website for details. This motherboard supports Untied Overclocking Technology. Please read "Untied Overclocking Technology" on page 19 for details. 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. 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. 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. Before installing SATAII hard disk to SATAII connector, please read the "SATAII Hard Disk Setup Guide" on page 16 to adjust your SATAII hard disk drive to SATAII mode. Besides, you are allowed to downgrade the SATAII hard disk to SATA hard disk (from SATAII 3Gb/s down to SATA 1.5Gb/s), and connect it to the SATAII connector. You can also connect SATA hard disk to SATAII connector directly. Power Management for USB 2.0 works fine under Microsoft® Windows® VistaTM / XP 64-bit / XP SP1 or SP2 / 2000 SP4. Microsoft® Windows® VistaTM driver is not ready yet. We will update it to our website in the future. Please visit our website for Microsoft® Windows® VistaTM driver and related information. ASRock website http://www.asrock.com 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 7 ASRock K8NF4G-VSTA Motherboard English 1.3 Requirement Table Windows Minimum Hardware R equirement Table for W indows ® TM Vista Basic Logo For system integrators and users who purchase our motherboard and plan to submit Windows® VistaTM Basic logo, please follow the below table for minimum hardware requirement. Please adopt the CPU, memory, and VGA that we suggest. CPU Memory VGA Sempron 2500+ 512MB Single Channel* DX9.0 with WDDM Driver * If you use onboard VGA with total system memory size 512MB and plan to submit Windows® VistaTM Basic logo, please adjust the shared memory size of onboard VGA to 64MB or less than 64MB. If you use onboard VGA with total system memory size above 512MB and plan to submit Windows® VistaTM Basic logo, the shared memory size of onboard VGA can be adjusted up to 128MB. English 8 ASRock K8NF4G-VSTA Motherboard 2. Installation Pre-installation Precautions Take note of the following precautions before you install motherboard components or change any motherboard settings. 1. Unplug the power cord from the wall socket before touching any component. Failure to do so may cause severe damage to the motherboard, peripherals, and/or components. To avoid damaging the motherboard components due to static electricity, 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. Hold components by the edges and do not touch the ICs. Whenever you uninstall any component, place it on a grounded antstatic pad or in the bag that comes with the component. When placing screws into the screw holes to secure the motherboard to the chassis, please do not over-tighten the screws! Doing so may damage the motherboard. 2. 3. 4. 5. 2.1 Step 1. Step 2. Step 3. CPU Installation Unlock the socket by lifting the lever up to a 90° angle. Position the CPU directly above the socket such that the CPU corner with the golden triangle matches the socket corner with a small triangle. 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. Step 5. 9 ASRock K8NF4G-VSTA Motherboard English 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 is locked. Install CPU fan and heatsink. For proper installation, please kindly refer to the instruction manuals of your CPU fan and heatsink vendors. 2.2 Installation of Memory Modules (DIMM) K8NF4G-VSTA motherboard provides two 184-pin DDR (Double Data Rate) DIMM slots. Please make sure to disconnect power supply before adding or removing DIMMs or the system components. Step 1. Step 2. Unlock a DIMM slot by pressing the retaining clips outward. Align a DIMM on the slot such that the notch on the DIMM matches the break on the slot. The DIMM only fits in one correct orientation. It will cause p ...