DFI ALF51 Industrial Motherboards User Manual

: July 30, 2024
: DFI

Table of Contents

DFI ALF51 Industrial Motherboards
Specifications
Warranty
Introduction
Hardware Installation
BIOS Setup
Supported Software
FAQ
References
Read User Manual Online (PDF format)
Download This Manual (PDF format)

DFI ALF51 Industrial Motherboards

Specifications

Model: ALF51
Product Type: Embedded SBC 1.8
Model Number: A491110919
Copyright: Yes
Trademark: Yes
Compliance: FCC and DOC Class B

Warranty

Warranty does not cover damages or failures that arise from misuse of the product, inability to use the product, unauthorized replacement or alteration of components, and product specifications.
The warranty is void if the product has been subjected to physical abuse, improper installation, modification, accidents, or unauthorized repair of the product.
Unless otherwise instructed in this user’s manual, the user may not, under any circumstances, attempt to perform service, adjustments, or repairs on the product, whether in or out of warranty. It must be returned to the purchase point, factory, or authorized service agency for all such work.
We will not be liable for any indirect, special, incidental or consequencial damages to the product that has been modified or altered.

Static Electricity Precautions
It is quite easy to inadvertently damage your PC, system board, components, or devices even before installing them in your system unit. Static electrical discharge can damage computer components without causing any signs of physical damage. You must take extra care in han-dling them to ensure against electrostatic build-up.

To prevent electrostatic build-up, leave the system board in its anti-static bag until you are ready to install it.
Wear an antistatic wrist strap.
Do all preparation work on a static-free surface.
Hold the device only by its edges. Be careful not to touch any of the components, contacts, or connections.
Avoid touching the pins or contacts on all modules and connectors. Hold modules or connectors by their ends.

Important:
Electrostatic discharge (ESD) can damage your processor, disk drive, and other com-ponents. Perform the upgrade instruction procedures described at an ESD workstation only. If such a station is not available, you can provide some ESD protection by wearing an antistatic wrist strap and attaching it to a metal part of the system chassis. If a wrist strap is unavailable, establish and maintain contact with the system chassis throughout any procedures requiring ESD protection.

Safety Measures
To avoid damage to the system:

Use the correct AC input voltage range.

To reduce the risk of electric shock:
Unplug the power cord before removing the system chassis cover for installation or servicing. After installation or servicing, cover the system chassis before plugging the power cord.

About the Package
The package contains the following items. If any of these items are missing or damaged, please contact your dealer or sales representative for assistance.

One ALF51 board
One USB port cable (Length: 200mm)
One COM port cable (Height: 300mm)
One Heat spreader (Height: 11mm)

Optional Items

Heat sink for E series CPU 0 to 60°C / wide temp (Height: 27mm)
Heat sink for N series CPU 0 to 60°C (Height: 23mm)
Power adapter (60W, 12V, DC jack) + 2 pole terminal to DC Jack cable

The board and accessories in the package may not come similar to the information listed above. This may differ by the sales region or models in which it was sold. For more information about the standard package in your region, please contact your dealer or sales representative.

Before Using the System Board
Before using the system board, prepare basic system components.
If you are installing the system board in a new system, you will need at least the following internal components.

Storage devices such as hard disk drives, etc.

You will also need external system peripherals you intend to use which will normally include at least a keyboard, a mouse, and a video display monitor.

Introduction

Specifications

SYSTEM| Processor| Intel Atom® Processor E3900 Family, BGA 1296

Intel Atom® x5-E3940 Processor, Quad Core, 2M Cache, 1.6GHz (1.8GHz), 9.5W Intel Atom® x5-E3930 Processor, Dual Core, 2M Cache, 1.3GHz (1.8GHz), 6.5W Intel® Pentium® Processor N4200, Quad Core, 2M Cache, 1.1GHz (2.5GHz), 6W Intel® Celeron® Processor N3350, Dual Core, 2M Cache, 1.1GHz (2.4GHz), 6W

---|---|---
Memory| 2GB/4GB LPDDR4 Memory Down Single Channel LPDDR4 2400MHz
BIOS| Insyde SPI 128Mbit (supports UEFI boot only)
GRAPHICS| Controller| Intel® HD Graphics
Feature| OpenGL 4.2, Direct X 11.1, OpenCL 1.2, OGL ES 3.0 HW Decode: H.264, MPEG2, VC1, VP8, H.265, MPEG4 HW Encode: H.264, MPEG2, MPEG4
Display| 1 x Mini DP++

Mini DP++: resolution up to 4096×2160 @ 60Hz

EXPANSION| Interface| 1 x Full-size Mini PCIe (PCIe/USB 2.0, optional USB 3.1 Gen1/USB 2.0)
ETHERNET| Controller| 2 x Intel® I210AT PCIe (10/100/1000Mbps) or

2 x Intel® I210IT PCIe (10/100/1000Mbps)

Storage: 5 to 90% RH

MTBF| 868,962 hrs @ 25°C; 638,889 hrs @ 45°C; 465,382 hrs @ 60°C
MECHANICAL| Dimensions| 1.8″ SBC Form Factor

84mm (3.31″) x 55mm (2.17″)

Height| PCB: 1.6mm

Top Side: 15mm, Bottom Side: 8mm

CERTIFICATIONS| | CE, FCC, RoHS

Features

Watchdog Timer
The Watchdog Timer function allows your application to regularly “clear” the system at the set time interval. If the system hangs or fails to function, it will reset at the set time interval so that your system will continue to operate.

LPDDR4
LPDDR4 SDRAM provides backward compatibility to LPDDR3 memory modules but can operate at the same or a lower power level.

Graphics
The integrated Intel® HD graphics engine delivers an excellent blend of graphics performance and features to meet business needs. It provides excellent video and 3D graphics with outstanding graphics responsiveness. These enhancements deliver the performance and compatibility needed for today’s and tomorrow’s business applications. Supports 1 x Mini DP++ interface for display output.

Gigabit LAN
Two Intel® I210AT PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controllers or two optional Intel® I210IT
PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controllers support up to 1Gbps data transmission.

Power Failure Recovery
When power returns after an AC power failure, you may choose to either power on the system manually or let the system power on automatically.

USB
The system board supports the USB 3.1 Gen1. It is capable of running at a maximum transmission speed of up to 5 Gbit/s (625 MB/s) and is faster than USB 2.0 (480 Mbit/s, or 60
MB/s) and USB 1.1 (12Mb/s). USB 3.1 Gen1 reduces the time required for data transmission, reduces power consumption, and is backward compatible with USB 2.0. It is a marked improvement in device transfer speeds between your computer and a wide range of simultaneously accessible external Plug and Play peripherals.

Wake-On-LAN
This feature allows the network to remotely wake up a Soft Power Down (Soft- Off) PC. It is supported via the onboard LAN port or via a PCI LAN card that uses the PCI PME (Power Management
Event) signal. However, if your system is in the Suspend mode, you can power- on the system only through an IRQ or DMA interrupt.

ACPI STR
The system board is designed to meet the ACPI (Advanced Configuration and Power Interface) specification. ACPI has energy-saving features that enable PCs to implement power management and plug-and-play with operating systems that support power management features.
With ACPI, the system can further utilize the Ethernet adapter’s wake-on-LAN (WOL) capability that enables remote wake-up if the Ethernet adapter supports such a feature.

Hardware Installation

Board Layout

Important:
Electrostatic discharge (ESD) can damage your board, processor, disk drives, add-in boards, and other components. Perform installation procedures at an ESD workstation only. If such a station is not available, you can provide some ESD protection by wearing an antistatic wrist strap and attaching it to a metal part of the system chassis. If a wrist strap is unavailable, establish and maintain contact with the system chassis throughout any procedures requiring ESD protection.

System Memory

Important:
When the Standby Power LED lights are red, it indicates that there is power on the sys-tem board. Power off the PC then unplug the power cord before installing any devices. Failure to do so will cause severe damage to the motherboard and components.

Block Diagram

Mechanical Drawing

Rear Panel I/O Ports

The rear panel I/O consists of the following ports:

1 2-pin terminal block (DC 12V)
2 GbE (RJ-45)
1 Mini DP++ port
2 USB 3.1 Gen1 ports

2-Pin Terminal Block (DC 12V)

This 2-pin terminal block is considered a low-power solution. Connect a power adaptor and 2-pole terminal to the DC jack cable to this terminal block. Using a voltage more than the recom-mended range may fail to boot the system or cause damage to the system board.

Graphics Interface
The display port consists of the following:

1 Mini DP++ port

Mini DP++ Port
The Mini DP++ port is a digital display interface used to connect a display device such as a computer monitor. It is used to transmit audio and video simultaneously. The interface, which is developed by VESA, delivers higher performance features than any other digital interface.

Driver Installation
Install the graphics driver. Refer to Chapter 4 for more information.

RJ45 LAN Ports

Features

2 Intel® I210AT PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controllers or 2 optional Intel® I210IT PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controllers

The LAN ports enable the system board to connect to a local area network using a network hub.

BIOS Setting
Configure the onboard LAN in the “ACPI Configuration” submenu of the Advanced menu in the BIOS. Refer to Chapter 3 for more information.

Driver Installation
Install the LAN drivers. Refer to Chapter 4 for more information.

USB Ports

The USB device allows data exchange between your computer and a wide range of simultaneously accessible external plug-and-play peripherals.
The system board is equipped with 2 onboard USB 3.1 Gen1 ports (USB 0-1). The 6-pin connection allows you to connect 1 additional USB 2.0 port (USB 0). The additional USB ports may be mounted on a card-edge bracket. Install the card- edge bracket to an available slot at the rear of the system chassis and then insert the USB port cables to a connector.

BIOS Settings
Configure the onboard USB in the “Boot” menu in the BIOS. Refer to Chapter 3 for more infor-mation.

I/O Connectors Digital I/O Connector

The Digital I/O connector supports 8-bit digital input/output signals to provide the ability to monitor and control the states of the connected external devices.

Digital I/O Connector

Pin	Function	Pin	Function
1	GND	2	5V
3	DIO0	4	DIO1
5	DIO2	6	DIO3
7	DIO4	8	DIO5
9	DIO6	10	DIO7

Expansion Slot

Mini PCI Express Slot
The full-size Mini PCIe socket supports PCIe x1 (optional USB 3.1 Gen1) and USB 2.0 signals and is used to install a Mini PCIe card.

COM (Serial) Port

COM 1 can be selected among RS232, RS422, and RS485 via the BIOS setting.
The serial port is an asynchronous communication port with 16C550A-compatible UARTs that can be used with modems, serial printers, remote display terminals, and other serial devices.

BIOS Setting
Configure the serial port in the “SIO FINTEK81803” submenu of the Advanced menu in the BIOS. Refer to Chapter 3 for more information.

COM 1

Pin	RS232	RS422 Full Duplex	RS485
1	DCD-	TX-	DATA-
2	RD	TX+	DATA+
3	TD	RX+	N.C.
4	DTR-	RX-	N.C.
5	GND	GND	GND
6	DSR-	N.C.	N.C.
7	RTS-	N.C.	N.C.
8	CTS-	N.C.	N.C.
9	RI-	N.C.	N.C.
10	GND	GND	GND

SMBus Connector

The System Management Bus (SMBus) connector is used to connect SMBus devices. It is a multiple-device bus that allows multiple chips to connect to the same bus and enables each one to act as a master by initiating data transfer.

Front Panel Connector

PWR-LED – Power/Standby LED
When the system’s power is on, this LED will light. When the system is in the S1 (POS – Power On Suspend) state, it will blink every second. When the system is in the S3 (STR – Suspend To RAM) state, it will blink every 4 seconds.

RESET-SW – Reset Button
This switch allows you to reboot without having to power off the system.

PWR-BTN – Power Button
This switch is used to power on or off the system.

	Pin	Pin Name
	1	NC

PWR- LED

| 3| SUS_LED
5| V_LED

RESET- SW

| 2| Reset Button
4| GND

PWR- BTN

| 6| Power Button
4| GND

Battery

The lithium-ion battery powers the real-time clock and CMOS memory. It is an auxiliary source of power when the main power is shut off.

Safety Measures

The a danger of explosion if the battery is incorrectly replaced.
Replace only with the same or equivalent type recommended by the manufacturer.
Dispose of used batteries according to local ordinances.

BIOS Setup

Overview
The BIOS is a program that takes care of the basic level of communication between the CPU and peripherals. It contains codes for various advanced features found in this system board. The BIOS allows you to configure the system and save the configuration in a battery-backed CMOS so that the data is retained even when the power is off. In general, the information stored in the CMOS RAM of the EEPROM will stay unchanged unless a configuration change has been made such as a hard drive replaced or a device added.

The CMOS battery may fail causing CMOS data loss. If this happens, you need to install a new CMOS battery and reconfigure the BIOS settings.

Note: The BIOS is constantly updated to improve the performance of the system board; therefore the BIOS screens in this chapter may not appear the same as the actual one. These screens are for reference purposes only.

Default Configuration
Most of the configuration settings are either predefined according to the Load Optimal Defaults settings which are stored in the BIOS or are automatically detected and configured without requiring any actions. There are a few settings that you may need to change depending on your system configuration.

Entering the BIOS Setup Utility

The BIOS Setup Utility can only be operated from the keyboard and all commands are keyboard commands. The commands are available on the right side of each setup screen.
The BIOS Setup Utility does not require an operating system to run. After you power up the system, the BIOS message appears on the screen and the memory count begins. After the memory test, the message “Press DEL to run setup” will appear on the screen. If the message disappears before you respond, restart the system or press the “Reset” button. You may also restart the system by pressing the and ~~keys simultaneously.~~

Legends

Keys	Function
Right and Left arrows	Move the highlight left or right to select a

menu.
Up and Down arrows| Moves the highlight up or down between submenus or fields.
< Esc>| Exit to the BIOS Setup Utility.
< F5>| Scrolls forward through the values or options of the highlighted field.
< F6>| Scrolls backward through the values or options of the highlighted field.
< F1>| Displays general help
< F9>| Optimized defaults
< F10>| Saves and resets the setup program.
< Enter>| Press to enter the highlighted submenu.

Scroll Bar
When a scroll bar appears to the right of the setup screen, it indicates that there are more available fields not shown on the screen. Use the up and down arrow keys to scroll through all the available fields.

Submenu
When appears on the left of a particular field, it indicates that a submenu that contains additional options is available for that field. To display the submenu, move the highlight to that field and press .

Insyde BIOS Setup Utility

Main
The Main menu is the first screen that you will see when you enter the BIOS Setup Utility.

System Time
The time format is , , . The time is based on the 24-hour military-time clock. For example, 1 p.m. is 13:00:00. Hour displays hours from 00 to 23. Minute displays minutes from 00 to 59. The second display seconds from 00 to 59.

System Date
The date format is , , . Month displays the month, from 01 to 12. The date displays the date, from 01 to 31. Year displays the year, from 2000 to 2099.

Advanced
The Advanced menu allows you to configure your system for basic operation. Some entries are defaults required by the system board, while others if enabled, will improve the performance of your system or let you set some features according to your preference.

Important:
Setting incorrect field values may cause the system to malfunction.

ACPI Configuration
This section configures the system’s ACPI parameters.

Wake On LAN
This field is used to enable or disable the LAN signal to wake up the system.

After G3

This field is to specify what state the system should be in when power is re-applied after a power failure (G3, the mechanical-off, state).
Always On The system working state.
Always Off Off, except for trickle current to devices such as the power button.

Note:
If the Quiet Boot of Boot menu is set to enabled, the BGRT Logo field will appear for configuration. Refer to the Boot menu in this chapter for more information.

BGRT Logo
This field is used to enable or disable to support display logo with ACPI BGRT table.

CPU Configuration
This section is used to configure the CPU.

EIST
This field is used to enable or disable the Enhanced Intel SpeedStep® Technology, which helps optimize the balance between the system’s power consumption and performance. After it is enabled in the BIOS, you can enable the EIST feature using the operating system’s power management.

Turbo Mode
This field is used to enable or disable processor turbo mode (requires that EIST is enabled too), which allows the processor core to automatically run faster than the base frequency when the processor’s power, temperature, and specification are within the limits of TDP.

C-States
Enable or disable CPU Power Management. It allows the CPU to go to C States when it’s not 100% utilized.

Video Configuration
This section configures the video settings.

Primary Display
Select either IGD or PCIe Graphics device to be the primary display.

Integrated Graphics Device
Keep IGD enabled or disabled based on the setup options.

PCI Express Configuration
This section configures settings relevant to PCI Express root ports.

PCI Express Root Port 2/3/4
This field is used to enable or disable the PCI Express Root Port.

Hot Plug
This field is used to enable or disable the PCI Express Hot Plug.

PCIe Speed
Select the speed of the PCI Express Root Port: Auto, Gen1, or Gen2.

Console Redirection
This section configures settings relevant to console redirection.

Console Serial Redirect
This field is used to enable or disable the console serial redirection function.
When Console Serial Redirect is set to enabled, the screen will appear like below:

Terminal Type
- `Select terminal type : VT_100, VT_100+, VT_UTF8, or PC_ANSI.
Baud Rate
- Select baud rate : 115200, 57600, 38400, 19200 or 9600.
Data Bits
- Select data bits : 7 Bits or 8 Bits.
Parity
- Select parity bits : None, Even, or Odd.
Stop Bits
- Select stop bits: 1 Bit or 2 Bits.
Flow Control
- Select flow control type: None, RTS/CTS, or XON/XOFF.

COM1

portable
This field is used to enable or disable the COM port to redirect the console.

UseGlobalSetting
This field is to enable or disable to use global setting. When the global setting, the setting of the COM port will be the same as those in the Console Redirection section. When disabled the global setting, the setting of the COM port can be configured independently in this section.

When UseGlobalSetting is set to disabled, the screen will appear like below:

SIO FINTEK81803
This section configures the system’s super I/O chip parameters.

COM Port 1
Configure the settings to use the serial port.

Disable No configuration
Enable User configuration

Type
Choose RS232/RS422/RS485 (Peer-to-Peer) for COM type.

WDT
Enable or disable the watchdog function. A counter will appear if you select to enable WDT. Input any value between 1 to 255 seconds.

PC Health Status
This section displays the PC’s health status.

Security

TPM Availability
Show or hide the TPM availability and its configurations.

TPM Operation
Enable or disable the TPM function. It displays the following options:
No Operation No changes to the current state.

Enable Enable and activate TPM.
Disable Disable and activate TPM.

Clear TPM
Remove all TPM contexts associated with a specific owner.

Set Supervisor Password
Set the supervisor’s password and the length of the password must be greater than one character.

Boot

Setup Prompt Timeout
Setup the number of seconds that the firmware will wait before booting the original default boot selection.

Numlock
Select the power-on state for numlock.

Quiet Boot
Enable or disable booting in text mode.

Network Stack
This field is used to enable or disable the network stack.

PXE Boot capability
Disabled Support Network Stack
UEFI IPv4/IPv6

USB Boot
Enable or disable booting to USB boot devices.

Note:
ALF51 only supports UEFI boot, no Legacy boot.

Exit

Exit Saving Changes
Select Yes and press to exit the system setup and save your changes.

Load Optimal Defaults
Select YES and press to load optimal defaults.

Discard Changes
Select YES and press to exit the system setup without saving your changes.

Save Setting to file
Select this option to save BIOS configuration settings to a USB flash device.

Restore the Setting from the file
This field will appear only when a USB flash device is detected. Select this field to restore the setting from the USB flash device.

Updating the BIOS
To update the BIOS, you will need the new BIOS file and a flash utility. Please contact technical support or your sales representative for the files. For updating Insyde BIOS in UEFI mode, you may refer to the how-to-video at https://www.dfi.com/Knowledge/Video/31.

Notice: BIOS SPI ROM

The Intel® Management Engine has already been integrated into this system board. Due to safety concerns, the BIOS (SPI ROM) chip cannot be removed from this system board and used on another system board of the same model.
The BIOS (SPI ROM) on this system board must be the original equipment from the factory and cannot be used to replace one that has been utilized on other system boards.
If you do not follow the methods above, the Intel® Management Engine will not be updated and will cease to be effective.

Note:

a. You can take advantage of Flash tools to update the default configuration of the BIOS (SPI ROM) to the latest version anytime.
b. When the BIOS IC needs to be replaced, you have to populate it properly onto the system board after the EEPROM programmer has been burned and follow the technical person’s instructions to confirm whether the MAC address should be burned or not.

Supported Software

Please download the drivers, utilities, and software applications required to enhance the performance of the system board at https://www.dfi.com/DownloadCenter.

Intel Chipset Software Installation Utility
The Intel Chipset Software Installation Utility is used for updating Windows® INF files so that the Intel chipset can be recognized and configured properly in the system.

To install the utility, download the “ALF51 Chipset Driver” zip file at our website.

The setup is ready to install the utility. Click “Next”.
Read the license agreement then click “Accept”.
Go through the readme document for more installa-tion tips then click “Install”.
The step displays the installation status in the process.
After completing the installation, click “Restart Now” to exit the setup.
Restarting the system will allow the new software installation to take effect.

Intel Graphics Driver
To install the driver, download the “ALF51 Graphics Driver” zip file at our website.

The setup is now ready to install the graphics driver. Click “Next”.
By default, the “Automatically run WinSAT and enable the Windows Aero desktop theme” is enabled. With this enabled, after installing the graphics driver and the system rebooted, the screen will turn blank for 1 to 2 minutes (while WinSAT is running) before the Windows 10 desktop appears. The “blank screen” period is the time Windows is testing the graphics performance.
We recommend that you skip this process by disabling this function and then clicking “Next”.
Read the license agreement then click “Yes”.
Go through the readme document for system requirements and installation tips then click “Next”.
Setup is now installing the driver. Click “Next” to continue.
Click “Yes, I want to restart this computer now” then click “Finish”.
Restarting the system will allow the new software installation to take effect.

Intel LAN Driver
To install the driver, download the “ALF51 LAN Driver” zip file on our website.

The setup is ready to install the driver. Click “Next”.
Click “I accept the terms in the license agreement” then click “Next”.
Select the program features you want installed then click “Next”.
Click “Install” to begin the installation.
The step displays the installing status in the process.
After completing the installation, click “Finish”.

Intel Trusted Execution Engine Driver
To install the driver, download the “ALF51 TXE Driver” zip file at our website.

Tick “I accept the terms in the License Agreement“ and then click “Next.”
The step shows the components that will be installed. Then, click Next.
The step displays the installation status in the progress.
Click “Finish“ when the installation is complete.

SIO Driver
To install the driver, download the “ALF51 SIO Driver” zip file at our website.

The setup is ready to install the driver. Click “Next”.
Read the license agreement carefully.
Tick “I accept the terms in the License Agreement” then click “Next”.
Go through the readme document for system requirements and installation tips then click “Next”.
SThe setupis ready to install the driver. Click “Next”.
Setup is now installing the driver.
Click “Yes, I want to restart this computer now” then click “Finish”.
Restarting the system will allow the new software installation to take effect.

FAQ

Q: Can I use any power supply with the ALF51?
- A: No, it is recommended to use a DC 12V power supply connected to the 2-Pin Terminal Block as specified in the hardware installation section.
Q: How do I update the BIOS of the ALF51?
- A: Refer to the BIOS Setup chapter for instructions on updating the BIOS. Make sure to follow the guidelines provided to avoid any issues.