ADLINK IMB-M43H Industrial Motherboard Configuration and 6th/7th Generation Core Deployment Guide

ADLINK IMB-M43H Industrial Motherboard Configuration and 6th/7th Generation Core Deployment Guide

In the field of industrial automation, machine vision and edge computing, the ATX industrial motherboard needs to take into account high-performance computing, multi PCI expansion, rich serial ports and long-term reliable operation. The IMB-M43H launched by ADLINK is based on Intel ®  H110 chipset, supporting 6th and 7th generation Core ™  I7/i5/i3/Pentium/Celebron LGA1151 processor, equipped with DDR4 memory PCIe 3.0、 5 PCI slots, dual gigabit network cards, and 6 COM ports (with COM5/6 supporting RS232/422/485 jumper selection), and providing 16 in 16 out GPIO, provide a highly competitive upgrade platform for systems where traditional PCI cards coexist with the new generation of high-speed I/O. This article will provide engineers with a complete deployment and tuning guide from the perspectives of hardware layout, jumper configuration, interface definition, BIOS key settings, and system resource allocation.

Product positioning and core advantages

IMB-M43H adopts the standard ATX board type (305mm × 244mm) and is designed for applications such as industrial computing, testing and measurement, and security monitoring. Core highlights:

CPU compatibility: Supports 6th generation Skylake and 7th generation Kaby Lake desktop processors, offering a wide range of choices from Celeron G3900 (2.8GHz/2 cores) to Core i7-7700 (3.6GHz/4 cores with 8 threads), with TDP coverage ranging from 35W to 65W, meeting the flexible balance between performance and power consumption.

Memory: Two 288 pin DDR4 DIMM slots, supporting dual channel 2133MHz, up to 32GB, providing ample space for big data caching and virtualization.

Expansion slots: 1 x PCIe x16 Gen3 (graphics card), 1 x PCIe x4 Gen2, 5 x PCI 2.2, compatible with a large number of traditional data acquisition cards and motion control cards.

Storage: 4 x SATA 6Gb/s, supports RAID 0/1/5/10 (Intel RST), can form high-speed storage arrays.

I/O intensive: rear dual USB 3.0, dual USB 2.0, 2 COM (supporting RS232/422/485), VGA+HDMI dual display, dual Gigabit LAN (Intel I219-LM+I211-AT); The board provides an additional 2 USB 2.0 pins, 4 RS-232 pins, LPT parallel port, 16 in 16 out GPIO, SMBus/I2C interface, TPM and LPC debugging ports.

Power and Mode: Supports AT/ATX mode switching, AC power-off recovery settings, multiple wake-up sources (LAN, USB, keyboard and mouse, RTC alarm).

This motherboard is particularly suitable for industrial control stations that require multiple serial devices to be driven simultaneously, multiple PCI cards to be connected, and high-performance CPU processing.

Hardware Layout and Interface Overview

2.1 Position of onboard connectors (see Figure 3 in the manual)

Power supply: 24 pin EATXPWR1+8-pin ATX12V1 (must be connected simultaneously).

Fans: CPU_SAN1, CHA_SAN1, SYS_SAN1 (all 4-pin PWM, supporting speed monitoring).

Storage: 4 SATA ports (SATA1~4), all supporting 6Gb/s.

Pin arrangement: USB5-6, COM1~COM4 (9-pin), LPT1, FP-AUDIO, F_PANEL (front panel switch/LED), JCASE1 (chassis intrusion), JLPC1 (LPC debugging), SPI1 (SPI flash programming).

Jumper: JCMOS1 (clear CMOS), JPSON1 (AT/ATX selection), JSETCOM5/JSETCOM6 (COM5/6 mode selection), JPW1 (GPIO power selection), JPW2 (SMBus power selection), JPW3 (I2C power selection).

GPIO: JDI01 (40 pin 2.0mm, 16 in 16 out, TTL level 3.3V, pin 40 for power supply, selected by JPW1).

2.2 Rear I/O panel (Figure 2)

1 × PS/2 keyboard mouse composite mouth

1×VGA + 1×HDMI

2×USB 3.0 + 2×USB 2.0

Dual RJ-45 (LAN1/LAN2, with dual color LED indicating speed and activity)

3 x Audio (Line In, Line Out, Mic In)

2 x COM ports (COM5 and COM6, stacked, with COM5 at the top)

Note: Although COM5/6 is located in the rear I/O, its RS232/422/485 mode is jointly controlled by onboard jumpers (JSETCOM5/JSETCOM6) and BIOS, which is different from other COMs (1-4) that only support RS232.

Detailed settings for jumpers and switches

3.1 AT/ATX mode selection (JPSON1)

1-2 Short circuit: AT mode - power on immediately, suitable for unmanned or automatic startup scenarios.

2-3 Short circuit (default): ATX mode - requires pressing the power button to turn on.

3.2 Clearing CMOS (JCMOS1)

1-2 (default): Normal state.

2-3 Short circuit: Clear CMOS. Power off is required for operation, short circuit 2-3 for about 5 seconds, then move back 1-2 and power on again.

3.3 COM5/COM6 mode jumper (JSETCOM5/JSETCOM6)

These two jumpers are both 2 × 9 (2.0mm spacing) pin headers, used to select RS232, RS422, or RS485 modes. The specific short-circuit combination is as follows:

RS232 (default): Short circuit 5-6, 7-9, 8-10, 13-15, 14-16.

RS422: Short circuit 3-4, 9-11, 10-12, 15-17, 16-18.

RS485: Short circuit 1-2, 9-11, 10-12, 15-17, 16-19 (note that pin 19 is newly added).

Key: When using RS485, it is also necessary to enable the "RS485 Auto Flow" function in the corresponding COM configuration of the BIOS (see sections 7.3.9/7.3.10) to enable automatic transmission and reception control and avoid software intervention in RTS.

3.4 GPIO Power Supply Selection (JPW1)

The 40th pin of JDI01 is GPIO power output, selected by JPW1:

NC (default): No power output.

+5V: Output 5V.

+12V: Output 12V. Choose according to the voltage requirements of the external relay or optocoupler, and ensure that the total current does not exceed the capacity of the motherboard.

3.5 SMBus/I2C power supply selection (JPW2, JPW3)

JPW2 controls the power supply of SMBus (CN2): NC (default),+5V,+3.3V.

JPW3 controls the power supply of I2C (CN4): NC (default),+5V,+3.3V.

These buses can be used to connect external sensors or management devices and need to be level matched with peripheral devices.

Key Interface Pin Description

4.1 COM ports (COM1~COM6)

COM1~COM4 are onboard pin arrays (10 pins, pin 10 is Key), only supporting RS232, and the signal includes DCD#、RXD、TXD、DTR#、GND、DSR#、RTS#、CTS#、RI#。

COM5/6 rear DB9, signal definition standard RS232, but can be changed to RS422/485 through jumper wires. In 422/485 mode, some pin functions have changed (such as TX/RX becoming differential pairs), refer to the pin definitions in the JSETCOM5/6 manual.

4.2 GPIO（JDI01）

40 pins, the first 32 pins are DIO1~DIO16 (input) and DIO17~DIO32 (output), 33~38 NC, 39 is GND, and 40 is POWER (powered by JPW1).

The voltage level is TTL 3.3V (high level ≥ 2.0V, low level ≤ 0.8V), which can directly drive common TTL devices. If higher voltage is required, external level conversion is needed.

4.3 Fan connector

CPU_SAN1, CHA_SAN1, and SYS_SAN1 are all 4-pin and support PWM speed regulation, providing a maximum of+12V/1A. A 3-pin fan can also be plugged into a 4-pin socket (without PWM function), but the speed monitoring signal can still be read.

4.4 Front panel interface (F_PANEL1)

Including power LED (+3.3V), hard drive activity LED (low active), power switch (PANSWIN #), reset switch (FP-REET #), all of which are standard definitions.

BIOS Key Settings Detailed Explanation (Based on UEFI)

IMB-M43H uses AMI UEFI BIOS, press Del or F2 to enter. The following focuses on the settings related to industrial applications.

5.1 Main menu and AT/ATX mode display

Main → AT/ATX Mode: Display the current jumper selected mode, read-only.

5.2 CPU Configuration (Advanced → CPU Configuration)

Hyper Threading: Multi threaded applications are enabled and real-time control is recommended to be disabled to improve response certainty.

Active Processor Cores: Some cores can be disabled as needed to reduce power consumption.

Intel SpeedStep and C-states: It is recommended to keep them enabled for energy efficiency, but if they are sensitive to interrupt latency, the depth of C-states can be limited.

Intel Trusted Execution Technology: To be used in conjunction with VT-x and TPM, disabled by default.

5.3 PCH-FW Configuration (Advanced → PCH-FW Configuration)

ME State: default enabled. If ME is turned off, some management functions will be disabled and usually do not need to be changed.

5.4 ACPI Settings (Advanced → ACPI Settings)

S3 Video Repost: When waking up from S3, reinitialize the graphics card. It is recommended to enable it to avoid no display after waking up.

PCIe # Wake from S5, Wake on Ring: Enable remote wake-up as needed.

5.5 Super IO Configuration (NCT6106D)

Configure serial parallel port and watchdog here:

Serial Port 1-6 Configuration: Each COM port can be enabled/disabled separately, and the I/O address and IRQ can be adjusted (Change Settings select Auto or specified).

For COM5/6, it is necessary to enable RS485 Auto Flow in the BIOS at the same time (if the jumper is set to RS485), otherwise RTS needs to be manually controlled.

Parallel Port Configuration: Set LPT mode (SPP/EPP, etc.).

WatchDog Count Mode: can be set to Second or Minute; WatchDog TimeOut Value: 0 means disabled, 1~255 is the timeout value, triggering a system reset after timeout.

Chassis Opened Warning: When enabled, if the chassis is opened, it will prompt when entering BIOS, and clearing it requires entering Setup.

Deep S5 Support: Enabling it can reduce standby power consumption, but some wake-up functions may be limited.

Keyboard&Mouse Support: Does it support keyboard and mouse wake-up in S5 state.

5.6 Hardware Monitoring (NCT6106D HW Monitor)

Display CPU/system temperature, fan speed, core voltage,+12V,+5V, etc. The Smart Fan submenu can be used to configure the speed control mode of the CPU/system fan separately:

Manual Mode: Fixed PWM output value (0~255).

Thermal Cruise Mode: Set target temperature, tolerance range, step time, start/stop value to achieve automatic temperature control and speed regulation.

5.7 S5 RTC Wake Setting (Advanced → S5 RTC Wake Setting)

Wake System From S5: Once enabled, an alarm can be set to automatically turn on the device, making it suitable for unmanned scheduled tasks.

5.8 Serial Port Console redirection

Support BIOS console redirection through COM port, with the ability to set baud rate (up to 115200), data bits, stop bits, flow control, etc., for headless server debugging.

5.9 CSM Configuration (Advanced → CSM Configuration)

CSM Support: If you need to use traditional MBR hard drives or older PCI expansion cards, they should be enabled; If it is in a full UEFI environment, it can be disabled to speed up startup.

Boot Option Filter: Optional UEFI and Legacy, Legacy only, UEFI only.

Option ROM execution strategy: UEFI or Legacy can be selected for network, storage, video, and other PCI devices respectively.

5.10 USB Configuration (Advanced → USB Configuration)

Legacy USB Support: It is recommended to enable the USB keyboard/mouse for use during DOS or BIOS phases.

XHCI Hand Off: If the operating system does not support XHCI, it needs to be enabled (usually left as default).

USB Mass Storage Driver Support: When enabled, it can recognize USB drives in the BIOS.

5.11 Chipset Menu

5.11.1 System Agent Configuration

Graphics Configuration：

Primary Display: Optional Auto/IGFX/PEG/PCI, deciding to prioritize the use of integrated graphics cards, PCIe graphics cards, or PCI graphics cards during startup.

Internal Graphics：Auto/Enable/Disable， If installing a dedicated graphics card, it can be set to Disable to free up memory, but if multi screen output is required, keep it enabled.

DVMT Pre Located: It is recommended to allocate at least 64MB of video memory for integrated graphics.

DVMT Total Gfx Mem: Maximum available video memory, optional 256M/128M/MAX.

PEG Port Configuration: Set the link speed (Auto/Gen1/Gen2/Gen3) and detect non compatible devices for PCIe x16 slots.

5.11.2 PCH-IO Configuration

PCI Express Configuration：

LAN1/LAN2 Controller: can independently enable or disable dual network cards, and can enable the PCIe Option ROM.

Wake on Lan: If network wake-up is required, set it to Enabled.

Restore AC Power Loss: Behavior after power failure recovery - [Power On] automatically turns on, [Power Off] remains turned off, [Last State] restores the state before power failure. Power On is commonly used in industrial sites.

GPIO Group Control: Each GPIO pin can be individually set to input or output high/low (through GPIO 1 Control~GPIO 32 Control) to facilitate the initialization of IO status during system startup.

SATA Configuration：

SATA Controller(s)：Enabled。

SATA Mode: Optional AHCI (recommended) or Intel RST Premium (supports RAID).

SATA Controller Speed: Default (auto negotiate Gen3), can also force Gen1/Gen2 to be compatible with older hard drives.

Each port can be individually enabled/disabled and display information about connected devices.

USB Configuration：

XHCI Disable Compliance Mode: Generally remains False.

USB Port Disable Override: Specific physical ports (HS/SS) can be disabled for secure isolation.

HD Audio Configuration: Control the audio controller to enable/disable.

Serial IO Configuration: This board supports I2C0 and GPIO controllers, and can enable/disable and set I2C voltage (1.8V/3.3V) and clock speed (for onboard I2C bus).

5.12 Security Menu

Administrator/user password can be set and Secure Boot can be enabled (CSM needs to be turned off).

5.13 Boot Menu

Boot mode select：LEGACY/UEFI， Affects the type of startup device.

Fixed Boot Order Priorities: Priority order can be set by device type (hard drive, optical drive, USB, network).

Supports EFI Shell startup.

5.14 Save and Exit

Provide functions such as saving/discarding changes, restoring default values, and boot overwrite (such as booting from a USB drive).

System resource and interrupt allocation

6.1 Memory Mapping

The traditional ISA area (15MB~16MB) is reserved, the high BIOS area is located at the top of 4GB, and the APIC configuration space is in FEC00000~FECFFFFF, etc.

6.2 I/O Address

COM1~COM6 occupy standard address (3F8/2F8/3E8/2E8/2E0/3E0) and IRQ (4/3/5/6/10/11) respectively, which can be adjusted by the user in BIOS.

LPT1 defaults to 378h/IRQ7.

SATA controller occupies F080h, SMBus address E000h, etc.

6.3 IRQ Allocation (APIC Mode)

Interruptions 16-19 are shared by PCIe root ports, HD Audio, SATA, etc., as detailed in Table 8 of the manual. When installing a PCI card, if there is a resource conflict, you can try changing the PCI slot because the interrupt routing for different slots is different.

6.4 PCI Configuration Space and Routing

Built in devices such as graphics cards, USB xHCI, SATA controllers, dual network cards, etc. all have fixed bus/device numbers. The PCIe to PCI bridge (ITE8892) connects the PCI slot, and interrupts in the PCI slot can be adjusted through BIOS (if available).

6.5 SMBus Address

The SPDs of DIMM A/B respond to A0h and A4h respectively, and can be used for memory information reading.

Driver installation and operating system support

Official support for Windows 7 (only 6th generation) CPU）、Windows 8.1 64-bit、Windows 10 64-bit、OpenSUSE Leap 42.1、Fedora 25、Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 64-bit。 Drivers can be downloaded from the official website product page, including chipset, graphics card (integrated HD Graphics), network card (I219-LM/I211-AT), audio (ALC892), SATA (Intel RST), GPIO, etc.

Installation points:

For Windows 7, as the H110 chipset does not natively support USB 3.0, it is necessary to inject USB 3.0 drivers into the installation image or use a PS/2 keyboard and mouse.

If using Intel RST RAID mode, the F6 driver needs to be loaded during installation (a USB flash drive can be used).

GPIO and serial communication may require the installation of the Super IO driver (NCT6106D) to use advanced features.

Common troubleshooting

Fault 1: No display when powered on, fan turning

Check if the 8-pin CPU power supply is connected; Try using a single memory and changing slots; Clear CMOS.

Confirm CPU compatibility (6th/7th generation LGA1151, not supported for 8th generation and later).

Fault 2: Communication abnormality of COM5/6 RS485

Confirm that jumper JSTCOM5/6 has been correctly set to RS485 (short circuiting 1-2, etc.).

Set the "RS485 Auto Flow" corresponding to the serial port in BIOS to Enabled.

Check the bus terminal resistance: The motherboard is not integrated internally, and a 120 Ω resistor needs to be added at the beginning and end of the external bus.

Check if the A/B lines are reversed and if they are connected to the common ground.

Fault 3: GPIO has no output or input failure

Check if JPW1 is set to the correct power supply voltage (if the output is high, an external pull-up or power supply is required).

Confirm in BIOS that the GPIO pin orientation configuration is correct (input or output high/low).

Measure the pin voltage to ensure that the level complies with TTL specifications.

Fault 4: PCI old card cannot be recognized

Enter BIOS, ensure CSM Support is enabled, and set the OpROM policy for 'Other PCI devices' to Legacy.

Attempt to replace PCI slots as some slots may share interrupts causing conflicts.

Check if the PCI card is compatible with 5V or 3.3V (the H110 PCI bridge supports both, but the card itself needs to be compatible).

Fault 5: Network wake-up (WOL) is invalid

Set 'Wake on Lan' to 'Enabled' in BIOS and ensure sufficient power supply of+5VSB (at least 1A).

Enable "wake-up" and "magic package wake-up" in the network card driver properties of the operating system.

If using S5 (soft shutdown), PCIe wake-up needs to be allowed in the API settings.

Fault 6: System time loss

Replace the motherboard button battery (CR2032), clear the CMOS and reset.

Maintenance and upgrade suggestions

Heat dissipation: The maximum TDP of the CPU is 65W. It is recommended to use an active heat sink that complies with LGA1151 and ensure that the chassis air duct is unobstructed. Smart Fan automatic speed control can be enabled in BIOS.

Firmware update: Use AMI UEFI's built-in Instant Flash (if available) or update through UEFI Shell, be sure to backup the current BIOS before updating.

Spare parts strategy: The H110 chipset is a mainstream platform with stable supply, but if it is a long-term project, the lifecycle needs to be considered (it is recommended to purchase before 2025).

Expansion card power supply: The PCI slot provides+5V and+12V, but the total current is limited. If multiple high-power cards are connected, the power supply power needs to be confirmed.