Asus A78M-A driver and firmware
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User Guide - Page 2
.... Copies of these licenses are included in this product. Where the applicable license entitles you to the source code of such software and/or other additional data, you may obtain it for a period of three years after our last shipment of the product, either (1) for free by downloading it from http://support.asus.com/download or...
User Guide - Page 3
... iv About this guide iv Package contents vi A78M-A specifications summary vi
Product introduction
1.1 Before you proceed 1-1 1.2 Motherboard overview 1-2 1.3 Accelerated Processing Unit (APU 1-4 1.4 System memory 1-8 1.5 Expansion slots 1-10 1.6 Jumpers 1-12 1.7 Connectors 1-14 1.8 Software support 1-23
BIOS information
2.1 Managing and updating your BIOS 2-1 2.2 BIOS setup program...
User Guide - Page 5
... updates.
1. ASUS websites
The ASUS website provides updated information on ASUS hardware and software products. Refer to the ASUS contact information.
2. Optional documentation
Your product package may include optional documentation, such as warranty flyers, that may have been added by your dealer. These documents are not part of the standard package.
Conventions used in this guide
To ensure...
User Guide - Page 6
... items.
Motherboard Cables Accessories Application DVD Documentation
ASUS A78M-A motherboard 2 x Serial ATA 6.0 Gb/s cables 1 x I/O Shield Support DVD User Guide
If any of the above items is damaged or missing, contact your retailer.
A78M-A specifications summary
APU Chipset Memory
Graphics
Expansion slots
AMD® FM2+ socket for AMD® A-Series/Athlon series processors Supports CPU up...
User Guide - Page 8
...Flash ROM, UEFI AMI BIOS, PnP, DMI 2.0, WfM 2.0, SM BIOS 2.7, ACPI 2.0a, Multi-language BIOS, ASUS EZ Flash 2, ASUS CrashFreen BIOS 3, F12 Printscreen function, F3 Shortcut function and ASUS DRAM SPD (Serial Presence Detect) memory information Windows® 8.1 / 8.1 64-bit Windows® 8 / 8 64-bit Windows® 7 / 7 64-bit Windows® XP Drivers ASUS utilities ASUS Update Anti-virus software...
User Guide - Page 16
... compatibility, we recommend that you install memory modules of the same version or date code (D/C) from the same vendor. Check with the retailer to get the correct memory modules.
• Due to the memory address limitation on 32-bit Windows® OS, when you install 4GB or more memory on the motherboard, the actual usable memory for the OS can be...
User Guide - Page 18
... card
After installing the expansion card, configure it by adjusting the software settings.
1. Turn on the system and change the necessary BIOS settings, if any. See Chapter 2 for information on BIOS setup.
2. Assign an IRQ to the card.
3. Install the software drivers for the expansion card.
When using PCI cards on shared slots, ensure that the drivers support "Share IRQ" or that the cards...
User Guide - Page 23
...to support an 8-channel audio output.
8. USB 2.0 ports 1 and 2. These two 4-pin Universal Serial Bus (USB) ports are for USB 2.0/1.1 devices.
9. USB 3.0 ports 1 and 2. These two 9-pin Universal Serial Bus (USB) ports are for USB 3.0/2.0 devices.
• DO NOT connect a keyboard / mouse to any USB 3.0 port when installing Windows® operating system.
• Due to USB 3.0 controller limitation...
User Guide - Page 26
...
A78M-A SATA 6.0Gb/s connectors
• These connectors are set to AHCI mode by default. If you intend to create a Serial ATA RAID set using these connectors, set the type of the SATA connectors in the BIOS to [RAID]. See section 2.6.2 SATA Configuration for details.
• You must install Windows® XP Service Pack 3 or later version before using Serial ATA hard disk drives. The Serial ATA...
User Guide - Page 31
... can install to avail all motherboard features.
The contents of the Support DVD are subject to change at any time without notice. Visit the ASUS website at www.asus.com for updates.
To run the Support DVD Place the Support DVD into the optical drive. If Autorun is enabled in your computer, the DVD automatically displays the Specials screen. Click Drivers, Utilities, Make Disk, Manual...
User Guide - Page 33
...updating your BIOS
Save a copy of the original motherboard BIOS file to a USB flash disk in case you need to restore the BIOS in the future. Copy the original motherboard BIOS using the ASUS Update utility.
2.1.1 EZ Update
EZ Update is a utility that allows you to automatically update your motherboard's softwares, drivers and the BIOS version easily. With this utlity, you can also manually update...
User Guide - Page 34
... utility, download the latest BIOS file from the ASUS website at www.asus.com.
To update the BIOS using EZ Flash 2:
1. Insert the USB flash disk that contains the latest BIOS file to the USB port.
2. Enter the Advanced Mode of the BIOS setup program. Go to the Tool menu to select ASUS EZ Flash Utility and press to enable it.
3. Press to switch to the Drive field...
User Guide - Page 35
... a corrupted BIOS file using the motherboard support DVD or a USB flash drive that contains the updated BIOS file.
• Before using this utility, rename the BIOS file in the removable device into A78MA.CAP.
• The BIOS file in the support DVD may not be the latest version. Download the latest BIOS file from the ASUS website at www.asus.com.
Recovering the BIOS To recover the BIOS: 1. Turn...
User Guide - Page 49
...create a RAID configuration from the SATA hard disk drives.
[AHCI] Set to [AHCI] when you want the SATA hard disk drives to use the AHCI (Advanced Host Controller Interface). The AHCI allows the onboard storage driver to enable advanced Serial ATA features that increases storage performance on random workloads by allowing the drive to internally optimize the order of commands.
ASUS A78M-A
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User Guide - Page 50
...is set to [RAID]. If SATA ports 5, 6 are configured as [RAID], the ports can only be used under Windows® OS with the requested drivers installed. Set to [IDE] instead of [RAID] to access devices on SATA ports 5, 6 before entering OS. Configuration options: [RAID] [IDE]
OnChip SATA MAX Speed [SATA 6.0Gb/s] For better HDD compatibility, set the SATA Speed to [SATA 3.0Gb/s] to support SATA 3.0Gb...
User Guide - Page 58
... you set Fast Boot to [Enabled].
SATA Support [All Devices]
[All Devices] All devices connected to SATA ports will be available during POST.
[Hard Drive Only] Only hard drives connected to SATA ports will be detected during POST.
[Boot Drive Only] Only boot drives connected to SATA ports will be detected during POST.
USB Support [Partial Initialization]
[Disabled] All USB devices will...
User Guide - Page 60
... fully support the Windows® Security Update and
Security Boot.
The following four items appear when you set Launch CSM to [Enabled].
Boot Device Control [UEFI and Legacy OpROM] Allows you to select the type of devices that you want to boot up. Configuration options: [UEFI and Legacy OpROM] [Legacy OpROM only] [UEFI only]
Boot from Network Devices [Legacy...
User Guide - Page 61
... delete the PK from your system. Once the PK is deleted, all the system's Secure Boot keys will not be active. Configuration options: [Yes] [No]
Load PK from File Allows you to load the downloaded PK from a USB storage device.
The PK file must be formatted as a UEFI variable structure with time-based authenticated variable.
ASUS A78M-A
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User Guide - Page 62
... loaders, and UEFI drivers that you can load on the single computer.
Delete the db Allows you to delete the db file from your system. Configuration options: [Yes] [No]
Load db from File Allows you to load the downloaded db from a USB storage device.
Append db from file Allows you to load the additional db from a storage device so that more images...
User Guide - Page 63
... device during system startup, press when ASUS Logo appears.
• To access Windows OS in Safe Mode, press after POST.
2.8.11 Boot Override
These items displays the available devices. The number of device items that appears on the screen depends on the number of devices installed in the system. Click an item to start booting from the selected device.
ASUS A78M...