ADLINK NuPRO-A40H Industrial Single Board Computer Hardware Deployment and BIOS Calibration Guide

4. Power connection

In addition to the standard PCIe power provided by the backplane, the CN24 (4-pin 12V power interface) in the upper left corner of the board must be connected to+12V DC, otherwise the system cannot start. If the power supply only has a 4-pin Molex, an ADLINK adapter cable (P/N 30-00006-0000) can be selected. In addition, the ATX power control pins (PSON #, 5VSB) and power button pins (PWRBTN #) in CN23 need to be correctly connected to the backplane to achieve ATX soft power on/off.

Deep analysis of BIOS settings

The BIOS is based on the AMI Aptio UEFI core, and the entry method is to press the<Delete>key when booting up. The following are several key configurations that must be paid attention to on the construction site:

1. Advanced Settings

ACPI settings: configurable sleep state (S1/S3) and recovery behavior after AC power failure (Last State/Power On/Power Off).

CPU configuration: Supports enabling/disabling hyper threading (if supported by the CPU), limiting the maximum CPUID value (compatible with old OS), disabling execution bit (XD), and Intel virtualization technology (VT-x). For industrial real-time systems, it is usually recommended to turn off VT and C-State to reduce latency.

SATA mode: IDE, AHCI, or RAID can be selected. Most embedded environments recommend AHCI to support NCQ and hot plugging, but if you need to install old Windows XP, you need to switch to IDE and enable Legacy mode.

USB configuration: It is necessary to enable Legacy USB Support, otherwise the DOS or system boot phase will not recognize the USB keyboard/mouse. It is recommended to set the Mass Storage simulation type to Auto, and the system will automatically recognize the USB drive as a hard disk or floppy drive.

Super IO configuration: Each serial port can be independently enabled/disabled here, and the I/O base address and IRQ can be manually specified. The mode switching of COM1 (RS-232/422/485) requires adjusting both the "CDMA Mode" option in the BIOS and the onboard jumper CN16/CN31 (see Section 5).

Serial console redirection: Supports outputting BIOS startup information through a COM port for remote debugging without a monitor. The recommended terminal type is VT-UTF8, with a baud rate of 115200 and optional hardware flow control.

2. Chipset settings

PCH-IO configuration: including high-precision timer (HPET) switch, SLP_S4 assertion width, and Restore on AC Power Loss - this is a key option for industrial site power outage recovery, and it is recommended to set it to "Power On" to ensure automatic power on.

USB EHCI controller: Two EHCI controllers are enabled by default. If USB 2.0 high-speed mode is not required, it can be turned off to save resources.

Azalia Audio: If the DB-Audio2 daughter card is not installed, it is recommended to set Azalia to "Disabled" to free up PCIe bandwidth.

System Agent (SA) configuration: mainly controls the integrated graphics card. Primary Display options include IGFX (integrated display), PEG (PCIe discrete display), or PCI. For industrial computers without dedicated graphics, set IGFX and allocate DVMT pre allocated memory (recommended 256MB or more), while enabling Gfx Low Power Mode to reduce power consumption.

3. Startup and Security

Boot menu: You can adjust the order of device startup, enable Quiet Boot to hide POST information (display brand logo), or enable Fast Boot to speed up startup. If you need to boot from a traditional MBR disk, you must set Launch CSM to Enabled and configure OpROM policy (select Legacy or UEFI for PXE/Storage/Video respectively).

Security: Supports setting administrator and user passwords. Note that if you forget your password, you need to clear NVRAM (via Clear CMOS jumper).

Jumper configuration and serial port mode switching

Multiple 2.54mm spacing jumpers on board for hardware level function selection:

Default Status Description of Jumper Number Function

CN14 watchdog disabled 1-2 (Normal) Short circuit 2-3 can disable WDT for easy debugging

CN28 Clear CMOS 1-2 (Normal) After power failure, short circuit 2-3 for about 5 seconds to clear BIOS configuration

CN29 Clear RTC clears real-time clock data with CN28

CN16/CN31 COM1 mode selection: CN16 On, CN31 Off (RS-232) RS-232: CN16 On, CN31 Off; RS‑422：CN16 On，CN31 On； RS‑485：CN16 Off，CN31 On

When adjusting the COM1 mode, it is necessary to simultaneously modify the "Super IO Configuration → Serial Port 1 Configuration → CDMA Mode" option in the BIOS. Only when both options are consistent can communication be normal.

System resource allocation and interrupt routing

Understanding the default resource mapping is crucial for complex systems that require multiple PCI/ISA expansion cards.

System memory mapping: 640KB~768KB is the video buffer area, 768KB~896KB is the PCI expansion ROM area (including onboard VGA BIOS and LAN PXE ROM), and 1MB or more is the system BIOS and APIC configuration space.

DMA channels: Channels 0/1/3 are reserved for parallel ports (LPT), channel 2 is a floppy drive (idle if not in use), channel 4 is cascaded, and channels 5-7 are open.

I/O addresses: Typical allocations include COM1=3F8h (IRQ4), COM2=2F8h (IRQ3), LPT=378h (IRQ7). Note that the SIO (ITE8783) configuration index is located at 2Eh/2Fh, and the GPIO base address is around 500h.