ADLINK NuPRO-850 Motherboard Installation and Configuration Guide



ADLINK NuPRO-850 Motherboard Installation and Configuration Guide

In the fields of industrial communication, telecommunications, and high-end embedded computing, the system motherboard (SHB) bears the responsibility of core data processing and bus expansion. ADLINK's NuPRO-850 full-size ePCI-X system motherboard, based on Intel ®  Pentium ®  4 processors and 875P/6300ESB chipset, supporting CPU frequencies up to 3.4GHz, 800MHz front-end bus, dual channel DDR400 ECC memory, and providing both 64 bit/66MHz PCI-X bus and 32-bit/33MHz PCI bus, making it an ideal platform for high-throughput and high reliability applications. This article systematically outlines the usage and maintenance points of the ePCI-X bus from product features, hardware installation, jumper configuration, BIOS settings, driver deployment, watchdog programming to ePCI-X bus details, providing a practical reference guide for on-site engineers.

Product Overview and Target Applications

NuPRO-850 is an ePCI-X system motherboard that complies with PICMG 1.2 Rev 1.0 specifications, with dimensions of 338.6mm × 122mm (full-size), designed specifically for telecommunications, networking, and industrial control applications that require high computing performance and powerful I/O expansion capabilities. Its core features include:

Processor: Single Intel Pentium 4 (478 pin FC-mPGA4), up to 3.4GHz, 533/800MHz FSB, supporting hyper threading technology, integrated 512KB or 1MB L2 cache.

Chipset: Intel 875P MCH (memory controller)+6300ESB ICH (I/O controller), providing AGP8X graphics interface, dual channel DDR memory, PCI-X/PCI dual bus.

Display: ATI Mobility M9 (AGP4X) or M10 (AGP8X) graphics chip, onboard 64MB video memory, supporting CRT and LVDS digital flat panel displays, and expandable second CRT output.

Storage: Two ATA-100 IDE channels, two Serial ATA (150MB/s) interfaces.

Network: Intel 82547GI Gigabit Ethernet controller, connected to MCH through CSA interface, supports 10/100/1000Mbps adaptive.

USB: Four USB 2.0 ports (two rear and two front pin headers).

Expansion bus: One 64 bit/66MHz PCI-X bus (Bus-A) and one 32-bit/33MHz PCI bus (Bus-B), which are led out through three standard PCI connectors and comply with PICMG 1.2 specifications.

Other: AC'97 audio interface, MiniPCI slot, hardware monitoring, watchdog timer (two-stage).

This board is suitable for Windows 2000/XP, Linux, and real-time operating systems, and is a core component of high-performance communication servers, image processing, and data acquisition systems.

Key points for hardware installation

1. CPU installation

The motherboard adopts Socket 478 socket. Installation steps:

Pull up the metal rod of the CPU socket.

Align pin 1 (golden triangle mark) of the CPU with the triangle mark on the socket and place it vertically.

Press the lever and lock it in place with a "click" sound.

Apply thermal grease on the top surface of the CPU, install a dedicated heat sink and fan, and connect the fan power supply to the FN2 (CPU fan) connector.

Attention: The heat sink must be in close contact with the top surface of the CPU, otherwise overheating will cause system instability or damage. Recommend using the high-efficiency radiator kit (contact ADLINK distributor).

2. Memory installation

The motherboard provides four 184 pin DDR DIMM slots (two sets of dual channels), supporting DDR266/333/400, with a maximum capacity of 4GB, and supporting ECC non buffered memory. To enable dual channel mode, memory modules of the same capacity and density must be installed in pairs (slot pairing is DIMM1+DIMM2 or DIMM3+DIMM4). Insert the memory module vertically during installation, and the two side buckles will automatically fasten.

Note: Registered DIMMs are not supported, only Unbuffered memory is supported; When different speeds of memory are mixed, the system will take the slowest one as the standard.

3. IDE and SATA device connection

The motherboard provides two IDE interfaces (CN7, CN4), primary and secondary, supporting ATA-100. Each interface can connect two devices, primary/secondary. In addition, there are two SATA interfaces (CN11 SATA-0, CN10 SATA-1) that support 150MB/s transmission. When connecting, pay attention to the direction of pin 1 of the ribbon cable to ensure alignment with the markings on the motherboard and hard drive.

4. Front and rear panel connection

The motherboard front board (I/O board) provides VGA (CN13), dual USB (CN16/17), Gigabit Ethernet (LAN1), and COM1 (CN3) interfaces. The board also includes:

Front panel pin (CN2): used to connect power switches, reset buttons, power/hard drive LEDs, speakers, etc.

Chassis intrusion detection (CN1): Connect the chassis switch sensor.

The second VGA output (CN12, 14 pin pin) and LVDS interface (CN14) support dual CRT or LCD display.

AC'97 audio connector (CN6).

MiniPCI slot (CN9).

The pin definitions of each connector are detailed in Chapter 2 of the manual. When wiring, it is important to confirm the direction to avoid damage.

Overview of BIOS Settings

The motherboard adopts Phoenix/Ward BIOS, press Del to enter when booting up. The main settings of BIOS include:

Standard CMOS: date, time, hard disk parameters, floppy drive, etc.

Advanced BIOS Features: Startup sequence, CPU characteristics (hyper threading, cache), virus warnings, etc.

Advanced Chipset Features: Memory timing, AGP settings, integrated graphics card memory allocation, LVDS panel resolution selection.

Integrated peripherals: IDE/SATA mode, serial parallel port, USB controller, audio, network card, etc.

Power Management Setup：ACPI、 Wake up event, power button behavior.

PnP/PCI configurations: PCI interrupt allocation, IRQ resources.

Hardware Monitor: Monitor CPU temperature, fan speed, and voltage.

Important notice: If the setting is incorrect and cannot be started, you can use JP1 jumper (Clear CMOS) to clear the setting and restore the default value.

Driver installation process (Windows XP/2000)

Main directories in the driver CD:

Chipset driver:  NuPRO  NuPRO-850  chipset  Setup. exe

Graphics card driver:  NuPRO  NuPRO-850  VGA  SETUP.EXE

Network card driver:  NuPRO  NuPRO-850  LAN  pro2kxpme.exe

Watchdog Tools:  NuPRO  NuPRO-850  HRWDT.EXE

Suggested installation sequence:

First, install the Windows operating system and install the latest service pack.

Run the chipset driver (Intel 875P/6300ESB INF file).

Install VGA driver (ATI Mobility driver).

Install LAN driver (Intel 82547GI driver).

Install additional drivers as needed.

Restart the system after installing all drivers.

Watchdog Timer (WDT) Programming

The watchdog of NuPRO-850 is integrated into the 6300ESB South Bridge and is a two-stage timer that supports WDT mode and free running mode. Its main features are:

The first timeout (35 bit countdown counter reset to zero) generates an internal interrupt (IRQ or SMI).

If the interrupt fails to reload, the second segment will timeout and output the WDT_TOUT # signal (low level), forcing the system to reset.

The timing resolution can be set to 1 μ s~1s or 1ms~10 minutes (through a prescaler).

It can be enabled/disabled through software and supports locking configuration to prevent accidental changes.

Programming steps description (based on PCI configuration registers):

Determine the base address register (BAR) of WDT, usually offset 10H for PCI device 29 function 4.

Set preload value 1 (first segment) and preload value 2 (second segment) registers (BAR+00H and BAR+04H), which need to be unlocked before writing (write 80H and 86H to BAR+0CH).

Configure WDT control registers (offset 60H-61H), set output enable, prescaler, and interrupt types.

Set the working mode (WDT or free run) in the WDT latch register (offset 68H), enable WDT and lock (optional).

Regularly reload the counter (write 1 to the RELOAD bit of BAR+0CH), which needs to be unlocked before operation.

ADLINK provides the testing tool HRWDT.EXE under DOS (located on CD  HIPDRV  WDT  HRWDT), run hrwdt/? View Help. You can also download the WDT demo program for Windows from the Intel website.

GPIO control: The WDT_TOUT # signal is multiplexed with GPO32, and the corresponding bit needs to be set to 0 by offsetting the GPIO base address (480H) by 30H to select the WDT_TOUT # function. The WDT LED is controlled by GPO25 and can be set to remain on or blink (approximately 0.5Hz).

EPCI-X bus characteristics

NuPRO-850 complies with PICMG 1.2 specification and provides two independent buses through three PCI connectors:

Bus-A: 64 bit/66MHz PCI-X bus, suitable for high bandwidth peripherals such as SCSI, Fibre Channel, and high-speed network cards.

Bus-B: 32-bit/33MHz PCI bus, compatible with traditional PCI devices.

Key signal description:

VIO key control: The motherboard monitors the VIO voltage (3.3V or 5V) provided by the backplane and automatically adapts to the I/O level.

M66EN/PCIXCAP: Used to configure bus mode (PCI or PCI-X).

PRSNT #: Backplane presence detection, connected to GP25/GP26 of Super I/O.

PME #: Supports PCI power management event wake-up.

+3.3Vox: The motherboard itself generates 3.3Vox from+5V or+5V, without relying on the backplane to provide it.

When designing the backplane, it is necessary to ensure consistency with the pin definitions of NuPRO-850 (detailed table provided in the manual), and pay attention to the wiring of power control (PSON #, PWRBT #, etc.). If the backplane does not have+5Vaux, an external switch is required to control the power supply.

Common troubleshooting

Possible causes and countermeasures of the phenomenon

Check if the CPU and memory are installed correctly when there is no display when powered on; Clear CMOS (JP1); Confirm graphics card output (if using a dedicated graphics card, it needs to be plugged into an AGP slot)

The system cannot start (fan running but no POST). Check if the ATX 12V 4-pin power supply (PN1) is properly connected; Is the CPU heatsink tightly compressed; Is the memory compatible

IDE hard drive cannot recognize and check the direction of the cable and the master-slave jumper; Check if IDE device is enabled in BIOS

Check the network cable if the gigabit network card is not working; Confirm that the LAN controller is enabled in BIOS; Install the correct driver (82547GI)

The watchdog is unable to enable the check of WDT_TOUT # reuse settings; Confirm that the PCI configuration register unlock sequence is correct; Does the operating system occupy resources

PCI-X devices cannot reach 66MHz. Check if the M66EN signal on the backplane is correct; Confirm that all peripherals support 66MHz and the bus length meets the specifications

The second CRT with invalid dual display needs to be connected through a CN12 pin and relevant options should be enabled in the BIOS; LVDS requires setting panel resolution