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    AST RESEARCH, INC.           TECHNICAL BULLETIN # 1043                 1-5-95

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                    PREMMIA GX AND CONNER CP30544 540MB IDE HARD DRIVE

    PROBLEM:        The Conner CP30544 540MB IDE hard drive will not boot DOS when
                    the Premmia GX system BIOS is configured to run in the
                    multi-sector access mode.

    CAUSE:          During execution of multi-sector access commands, the drive
                    issues one interrupt per sector.  However, the ANSI (American
                    National Standards Institute) ATA Attachment Interface
                    Specification requires one interrupt per multi-sector block.
                    The Premmia GX system BIOS requires compliance with the ATA
                    specification.  With one interrupt per sector, a data underrun
                    occurs leading to the boot failure.

    SYSTEMS
    AFFECTED:           AST
                    PART NUMBER       DESCRIPTION                        REVISION

                    501547-XXX      PREMMIA GX P/90                        All
                    501522-XXX      PREMMIA GX                             All

    SOLUTION:       1. Model CP30544 is no longer manufactured.  The drives which
                       replace this model do not have this problem.  The
                       replacement drives are CFA540A and CFS540A.

                    2. Conner provides a work-around which requires that interrupt
                       staging be disabled.
                       Conner has a utility that will reconfigure the drive to
                       disable staging.  This utility is in the FEATURE.ZIP file
                       on Conner's bulletin board.  Download this file by dialing
                       (408) 456-4415.  Unzip the file and follow the README.DOC
                       file's instructions.