Gigabyte Gak8nf9 Manual

							Appendix - 61 -
EnglishMethod 2 : @BIOSTM Utility
If you do not have a DOS startup disk, we recommend that you use the
new @BIOS utility. @BIOS allows users to update their BIOS under
Windows.  Just select the desired @BIOS server to download the latest
version of BIOS.
1. Methods and steps:
I. Update BIOS through Internet:
a. Click Internet Update icon.
b. Click Update New BIOS icon.
c. Select @BIOS
TM sever.
d. Select the exact model name on your motherboard.
e. System will automatically download and update the BIOS.
 II. Update BIOS NOT through Internet:
a. Do not click Internet Update icon.
b. Click Update New BIOS.
c. Please select All Files in dialog box while opening the old file.
d. Please search for BIOS unzip file, downloading from internet or any other methods (such as:
K8NF9.F9).
e. Complete update process following the instruction.
Fig 1. Installing the @BIOS utility Fig 2. Installation complete and run @BIOS
Fig 3. The @BIOS utility Fig 4. Select the desired @BIOS server
Click Start/ All Programs/ Gigabyte/@BIOS
Click 3Click Update New BIOS
Select @BIOS item.         
						

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III. Save BIOS:
In the very beginning, there is Save Current BIOS icon shown in dialog box. It means to save the
current BIOS version.
IV. Check out supported motherboard and Flash ROM:
In the very beginning, there is About this program icon shown in dialog box. It can help you check out
which kind of motherboard and which brand of Flash ROM are supported.
2. Note:
I. In method I, if it shows two or more motherboards model names to be selected, please make sure
your motherboards model name again. Selecting wrong model name will cause the system
unbooted.
II. In method II, be sure that motherboards model name in BIOS unzip file are the same as your
motherboards. Otherwise, your system wont boot.
III. In method I, if the BIOS file you need cannot be found in @BIOS
TM server, please go onto Gigabytes
website for downloading and updating it according to method II.
IV. Please note that any interruption during updating will cause system unbooted.
V. Do not use @BIOS and C.O.M. (Corporate Online Management) at the same time. 
						

							Appendix - 63 -
English4-1-4 Serial ATA BIOS Setting Utility Introduction
RAID Levels
RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) is a method of combining two hard disk drives into one logical
unit. The advantage of an Array is to provide better performance or data fault tolerance. Fault tolerance is
achieved through data redundant operation, where if one drives fails, a mirrored copy of the data can be
found on another drive. This can prevent data loss if the operating system fails or hangs.  The individual disk
drives in an array are called members. The configuration information of each member is recorded in the
reserved sector that identifies the drive as a member. All disk members in a formed disk array are recognized
as a single physical drive to the operating system.
Hard disk drives can be combined together through a few different methods. The different methods are
referred to as different RAID levels. Different RAID levels represent different performance levels, security
levels and implementation costs. The RAID levels which the nVIDIA
® nForce4(-4X) chipset supports
are RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 0+RAID 1 and JBOD.
RAID 0 (Striping)
RAID 0 reads and writes sectors of data interleaved between multiple drives. If any disk member fails, it
affects the entire array. The disk array data capacity is equal to the number of drive members times the
capacity of the smallest member. The striping block size can be set from 4KB to 128KB. RAID 0 does
not support fault tolerance.
RAID 1 (Mirroring)
RAID 1 writes duplicate data onto a pair of drives and reads both sets of data in parallel. If one of the
mirrored drives suffers a mechanical failure or does not respond, the remaining drive will continue to function.
Due to redundancy, the drive capacity of the array is the capacity of the smallest drive.  Under a RAID 1
setup, an extra drive called the spare drive can be attached. Such a drive will be activated to replace a failed
drive that is part of a mirrored array. Due to the fault tolerance, if any RAID 1 drive fails, data access will not
be affected as long as there are other working drives in the array.
RAID 0+1 (Striping + Mirroring)
RAID 0+1 combines the performance of data striping (RAID 0) and the fault tolerance of disk mirroring (RAID
1). Data is striped across multiple drives and duplicated on another set of drives.
JBOD (Spanning)
A spanning disk array is equal to the sum of the all drives when the drives used are having different capacities.
Spanning stores data onto a drive until it is full, then proceeds to store files onto the next drive in the array.
When any disk member fails, the failure affects the entire array. JBOD is not really a RAID and does not
support fault tolerance. 
						

							GA-K8NF-9 Motherboard - 64 -
English
Please follow the steps below to construct a complete RAID array:
1) Have ready your hard drives for RAID construction.
Note: To achieve best performance, it is recommended that the hard drives used are of similar make
and storage capacity.
2) Please attach the hard drive connectors to their appropriate location on the motherboard ie. IDE, SCSI,
or SATA.
3) Enter the motherboard BIOS and locate RAID setup (Please refer to the section on Integrated Peripherals).
4) Enter RAID setup in the BIOS and select the RAID type (For instance, enter F10 to select NVIDIA RAID;
Ctrl + S to select Silicon Image).
5) Complete driver installation.
6) Complete RAID utility installation.
More information on steps 4 and 5 is provided. (For more detailed setup information, please visit our website
at http:\\www.gigabyte.com.tw to read or download the information you need.)
Configuring the NVIDIA RAID BIOS
The NVRAID BIOS setup lets you choose the RAID array type and which hard drives you want to make part
of the array.
Entering the RAID BIOS Setup
1. After rebooting your computer, wait until you see the RAID software prompting you to press F10. The
RAID prompt appears as part of the system POST and boot process prior to loading the OS. You have a few
seconds to press F10 before the window disappears.
Press F10.
The NVIDIA RAID Utility - Define a New Array window appears (as Figure below).
NVIDIA RAID IDE ROM BIOS 4.76
Copyright (C) 2004 NVIDIA Corp.
Detecting array ...
Press F10 to enter RAID setup utility ...
NVIDIA RAID Utility   Nov 5 2004
- Define  a New Array -
RAID Mode:  MirroringStriping Block:  Optimal
Free Disks
Loc Disk Model Name
2.1.MST3120026AS
2.0.MST3120026ASArray Disks
Loc Disk Model Name[
J JJ J
J] Add
[
I II I
I] Del
[ESC] Quit      [F6] Back      [F7] Finish      [TAB] Navigate      [
KL KLKL KL
KL] Select      [ENTER] Popup 
						

							Appendix - 65 -
EnglishUsing the Define a New Array Window
If necessary, press the tab key to move from field to field until the appropriate field is highlighted.
Selecting the RAID Mode
By default, this is set to Mirroring. To change to a different RAID mode, press the down arrow key until the
mode that you want appears in the RAID Mode box - either Mirroring, Striping, Spanning, or Stripe Mirroring.
Selecting the Striping Block Size
Striping block size is given in kilobytes, and affects how data is arranged on the disk. It is recommended to
leave this value at the default Optimal, which is 64KB, but the values can be between 4 KB and 128 KB.
Assigning the Disks
The disks that you enabled from the RAID Config BIOS setup page appear in the Free Disks block. These
are the drives that are available for use as RAID array disks. To designate a free disk to be used as a RAID
array disk,
1. Tab to the Free Disks section. The first disk in the list is selected.
2. Move it from the Free Disks block to the Array Disks block by pressing the rightarrow key (J). The first disk
    in the list is moved, and the next disk in the list is selected and ready to be moved.
3. Continue pressing the right-arrow key (J) until all the disks that you want to use as RAID array disks
    appear in the Array Disks block.
NVIDIA RAID Utility   Nov 5 2004
- Define  a New Array -
RAID Mode:  MirroringStriping Block:  Optimal
Free Disks
Loc Disk Model Name
Array Disks
Loc Disk Model Name
[
J JJ J
J] Add
[
I II I
I] Del
[ESC] Quit      [F6] Back      [F7] Finish      [TAB] Navigate      [
KL KLKL KL
KL] Select      [ENTER] Popup2.1.MST3120026AS
2.0.MST3120026AS 
						

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English
Completing the RAID BIOS Setup
After assigning your RAID array disks, press F7. The Clear disk data prompt appears.
NVIDIA RAID Utility   Nov 5 2004
- Define  a New Array -
RAID Mode:  MirroringStriping Block:  Optimal
Free Disks
Loc Disk Model Name
Array Disks
Loc Disk Model Name
[
J JJ J
J] Add
[
I II I
I] Del
[ESC] Quit      [F6] Back      [F7] Finish      [TAB] Navigate      [
KL KLKL KL
KL] Select      [ENTER] Popup2.1.MST3120026AS
2.0.MST3120026AS
Clear disk data ?
[Y] YES     [N] NO
NVIDIA RAID Utility   Nov 5 2004
- Array List -
[Ctrl-X] Exit      [
KL KLKL KL
KL] Select      [B] Set Boot      [N] New Array      [ENTER] Detail
Boot Id Status VendorArray Model Name
Ye s 2 Healthy NVIDIAMIRROR   111.79G
Press Y if you want to wipe out all the data from the RAID array, otherwise press N. You must choose Ye s if
the drives were previously used as RAID drives. The Array List window appears, where you can review the
RAID arrays that you have set up.
You can select a disk array as boot device if you want to boot operating system from an array. Use the arrow
keys to select the array, then press B to specify the array as bootable. 
						

							Appendix - 67 -
EnglishPress Enter to view and verify details. The Array Detail screen appears.
The Array Detail screen shows various information about the array that you selected, such as Striping Block
used, RAID Mode, Striping Width, Disk Model Name, and disk capacity.
Array 2 : NVIDIA MIRROR 111.79G
- Array Detail  -
RAID Mode:   Mirroring
Striping Width : 1Striping Block: 64K
Adapt Channel M/S Index Disk Model Name Capacity
2 1 Master 0ST3120026AS 111.79GB
2 0 Master 1ST3120026AS 111.79GB
[R] Rebuild      [D] Delete      [C] Clear Disk      [ENTER] Return
If you want to mark this disk as empty and wipe out all its contents, press C.
At the prompt, press Y to wipe out all the data, otherwise press N.
Press Enter again to go back to the previous screen and then press Ctrl + X to exit the RAID setup.
Now that the RAID setup has been configured from the RAID BIOS, the next step is to configure and load
drivers under Windows. 
						

							GA-K8NF-9 Motherboard - 68 -
English
Installing the RAID drivers
To install operating system onto a serial ATA hard disk successfully, you need to install the SATA
controller driver during OS installation. Without the driver, the hard disk may not be recognized during
the Windows setup process. First of all, copy the driver for the SATA controller from the motherboard
driver CD-ROM to a floppy disk. See the instructions below about how to copy the driver in MS-DOS
mode
(Note 1). Prepare a startup disk that has CD-ROM support and a blank formatted floppy disk.
Step 1: Insert the prepared startup disk and motherboard driver CD-ROM in your system. Boot from the
startup disk. Once at the A:\> prompt, change to the CD-ROM drive (example: D:\>).  At the D:\>
prompt, type the following two commands. Press ENTER after each command (Fig.1):
cd bootdrv
menu
Step 2: When the controller menu (Fig.2) appears, remove the startup disk and insert the blank formatted
disk. Select the controller driver by pressing the corresponding letter from the menu. Your system will
then automatically zip and transfer this driver file to the floppy disk.  Press 0 to exit when finished.
Fig.1Fig. 2
Step 3: After completing the steps, boot from the Windows installation disk to install the RAID drivers.
Press F6 as soon as you see the Press F6 if you need to install a third party SCSI or RAID driver
message, then supply serial ATA controller driver by this floppy disk. Follow the on-screen instructions
to complete the installation.
(Each time you add a new hard drive to a RAID array, the RAID driver will have to be installed under
Windows once for that hard drive. After that, the driver will not have to be installed.)
(Note 1) For users without a startup disk.
Use an alternative system and insert the GIGABYTE motherboard drive CD-ROM. From the
CD-ROM drive (example: D:\) double click the MENU.exe file in the BootDrv folder. A
command prompt window will open similar to that in Fig. 2.
(Note2) In the menu list, Intel IAA_RAID is Intel ICH5R chipset.
(Note 2)     
						

							Appendix - 69 -
English
STEP 2:
Following installation of the audio driver, youll find
a Sound Effect 
 icon on the lower right hand
taskbar.  Click the icon to select the function.
4-1-5 2- / 4- / 6- / 8- Channel Audio Function Introduction
Line Out
Stereo Speakers Connection and Settings:
We recommend that you use the speaker with amplifier to acquire the best sound effect if the stereo output
is applied.
STEP 1:
Connect the stereo speakers or earphone to Line
Out. The installation of audio software is very simple. Please follow the steps to install the function.
(Following pictures are in Windows XP.)
Introduction of audio connectors:
You may connect CD-ROM/DVD-ROM, walkman or
others audio input to Line In.
The front channels or earphone can be connected to
Line Out (Front Speaker Out).
Connect microphone to Mic In.
Connect the rear channels to Rear Speaker Out.
Connect the Center/Subwoofer channels to Center/
Subwoofer Speaker Out.
Connect the side channels to Side Speaker Out.This motherboard provides 6 audio connectors. You are able to
use 2-/4-/6-/8-channnels audio feature by audio software selection.
Rear Speaker Out Center/Subwoofer
Speaker Out
Side Speaker
Out Line In
Line Out
(Front Speaker Out)
Mic In             
						

							GA-K8NF-9 Motherboard - 70 -
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STEP 2:
Following installation of the audio driver, youll find
a Sound Effect 
 icon on the lower right hand
taskbar.  Click the icon to select the function.
STEP 3:
Click Speaker Configuration then click on the left
selection bar and select 4CH Speaker to complete
4 channel audio configuration.
4 Channel Audio Setup
STEP 1:
Connect the front channels to Front Speaker Out,
the rear channels to Rear Speaker Out.
STEP 3:
Click Speaker Configuration then click on the left
selection bar and select 2CH Speaker to complete
2 channel audio configuration.
Front Speaker Out
Rear Speaker Out