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    AST RESEARCH, INC.         TECHNICAL BULLETIN # 1318                12-1-95

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    	 Manhattan P5090 System With 3COM EtherLink III Products

    PROBLEM

    3COM Etherlink III PCI/ISA/EISA cards on the Manhattan P5090 system may lose
    network binding after 2 hours or less of operation.

    CAUSE

    1. Under BIOS 1.10 (p/n 905547-039), the number of "packet receive buffers"
       may gradually build up and once they reach their limit, the network
       connection may be interrupted and broken.
    2. This problem may also be caused by improper termination.
    3. Prior to BIOS 1.12, the PCI to the EISA Bridge (PCEB) register 40H bit 2
       as also set improperly.

    SOLUTION

    BIOS 1.12 (p/n 905547-310) fixes this problem with 3COM's EtherLink III
    products.  File 05547310.EXE is available for download from AST's BBS
    (817) 230-6850.  AST's BBS supports modem speeds up to 28.8k bps.
    The above file will also be posted on:

    CompuServe
    Go ASTSUPPORT

    AST Worldwide Web Site
    http://www.ast.com

    For additional information on the Manhattan P/V BIOS, see Software
    Bulletin # 0178.

    SYSTEMS AFFECTED
    AST PART NUMBER AND DESCRIPTION

    501502-XXX   Manhattan P5090  All Models