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    AST RESEARCH, INC.         TECHNICAL BULLETIN # 1387               12-22-95

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       Ascentia 950N + Keys May Not Work When Using A 3COM 3C562 Adapter

    PROBLEM

    When a 3Com 3C562-TP PCMCIA Ethernet adapter/28.8 modem card is used in an
    Ascentia 950N system, the +, +, and + combinations
    may be disabled when the driver loads for the card.  The system may only beep
    when these key combinations are tried.  This condition is present with
    Ascentia 950N BIOS release 2.58.

    CAUSE

    The Power Management code in the system BIOS is designed to look at I/O
    port 21 before granting +, + and + services, in order to
    avoid interrupting serial communications in devices such as modems.
    If either the serial port 1 or serial port 2 interrupt are enabled, Power
    Management will generate a beep, but will not service the hot keys.

    To go into system Setup, for example, the user must press +
    BEFORE the system starts reading the hard drive to boot.

    SYSTEMS AFFECTED:
    AST PART NUMBER AND DESCRIPTION

    501707-2XX      Ascentia 950N/75 CSS10 510/8
    501707-3XX      Ascentia 950N/75N CSS10 700/8
    501707-4XX      Ascentia 950N/75N CSS10 1G/8
    501708-3XX      Ascentia 950N/75N CT10 700/8
    501708-4XX      Ascentia 950N/975N CT10 1G/8

    SOLUTION

    None. There is nothing wrong with the system. The Ascentia 950N system is
    operating as designed.