    =

    AST RESEARCH, INC.         TECHNICAL BULLETIN # 1461                 3-8-96

    =

    	     Bravo MS Pentium Systems Appear to Take Too Long to Boot

    PROBLEM

    The Bravo MS Pentium system seems to take longer than expected to find the
    floppy drive during late POST, resulting in a slow boot.  There is a 35 to 40
    second delay between the time POST reports the hard drives and the floppy
    drive reports as installed.

    CAUSE

    The BIOS has all the IDE channels enabled and set to "AUTO" by default.
    If there is only one IDE device installed in the system, POST will scan and
    poll up to three "empty" ports looking for devices during boot.
    This "normal" operation is designed to help eliminate some of the confusion
    caused when IDE devices, which are added by the user, are not "recognized"
    by the system.  This polling delay can make the system appear it is having
    trouble locating the floppy drive.

    SOLUTION

    Invoke CMOS Setup on the system in question, and ensure that all unused
    IDE channels are disabled.  This can be accomplished by highlighting each of
    the Primary and Secondary IDE entries that indicate the device is "Not
    Installed".

    NOTE

    If the entry indicates the device is "Not Installed", it does not necessarily
    mean that it is disabled!

    Once highlighted, press  and set the "IDE Device Configuration"
    option to "Disabled".

    Repeat the above step for all uninstalled devices then "Exit and Save" Setup.

    NOTE

    After disabling the IDE channels, it will be necessary to set each of them
    back to the appropriate setting, if new devices are installed, or they will
    not function properly.

    SYSTEMS AFFECTED
    AST Part Number and Description

    501920-XXX        Bravo MS P/75
    501921-XXX        Bravo MS P/100
    501922-XXX        Bravo MS-T P/100
    501894-XXX        Bravo MS P/133
    501895-XXX        Bravo MS-T P/133
    501980-XXX        Bravo MS P/166
    501981-XXX        Bravo MS-T P/166

    Pentium is a registered trademark of Intel Corporation.