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    AST RESEARCH, INC.         TECHNICAL BULLETIN # 0967A              3-27-95

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    	 INCOMPATIBLE PCI ADAPTER CARDS AND AST'S PCI BASED COMPUTER SYSTEMS

    PROBLEM

    Certain revisions of some PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) adapter
    cards do not operate reliably in PCI based computer systems that are
    manufactured by AST.

    The PCI card will fail POST intermittently with PCI ERROR:

    	83030028 or unreliable transfer of data can occur.

    CAUSE

    The PCI timing specification is violated.  Specifically, the hold time
    specification is not met.

    AST SYSTEMS AFFECTED

    All PCI based computer systems.

    PCI BOARDS AFFECTED

    This problem exists on specific revisions of some PCI adapter boards.
    To date, AST is aware of the following PCI adapter boards being impacted:

    	Racal Interlan, PCI T2
    	LINQ Systems, LINQnet-PCI Q-1200

    This Technical Bulletin can be revised to include other PCI adapter boards,
    if it is determined they exhibit this same symptom.

    IDENTIFICATION

    The PCI adapter boards that exhibit the symptom contain one of the following
    ASIC chips on the board:

    	AM79C970
    	AM79C974

    The part number for the chip is printed on the top of the ASIC chip.

    SOLUTION

    This problem has been resolved with an updated ASIC chip.  The updated chips
    contain an "A" at the end of the part number on the ASIC chip.  For example,
    the following ASIC chips do not exhibit the timing problem and are fully
    compatible with all of AST's PCI based computer systems:

    	AM79C970A
    	AM79C974A

    Please contact the manufacturer of the PCI adapter board if an updated adapter
    board is required.