    AST RESEARCH, INC.        TECHNICAL BULLETIN # 1554         8-19-96

    TITLE: Ascentia P and PC Card Point Enablers

    SUMMARY

       PC Card point enablers may not function with the PC card slots on
       the Ascentia P.

       This issue only affects the following systems: 501996 and 501997.

    ISSUE

       When a point enabler is installed on the Ascentia P system,
       the driver may report that there is no working PC card slot on the
       system, or that the slot or card is not functioning properly.
       This only affects Ascentia P systems running DOS/Windows 3.1x.

    BACKGROUND

       The Ascentia P mobile system was designed as a Plug-and-Play (PnP)
       system for use with Windows 95 or with DOS/Win3.1x and card and
       socket services.  Card and socket services provides for limited
       PnP functionality in the DOS/Win3.xx environment.  The benefits of
       cards and socket services include hot swapping, I/O conflict
       management, and multiple card management.  Point enablers are
       PC Card-specific.  Most do not allow hot swapping and can be
       intolerant of multiple PC Cards.

       The PCMCIA controller on the Ascentia P is on a PCI bus located at
       address FCFCh.  Point enablers for PC cards are usually very
       specific to the card and look for PCMCIA at the traditional ISA bus
       address 3E0h.  Since PCMCIA is not located at address 3E0h, a point
       enabler may not be able to find the controller, generating an error.
       For a point enabler to function, the driver must have the ability
       to specify address FCFCh and only look for one PCMCIA controller.

    ACTION

       Use card and socket services on Ascentia P systems that are
       running DOS/Win3.1x, if a point enabler does not work.  If you
       still wish to use point enablers for a PC card, please contact
       the manufacturer of the card.

    NOTES

       N/A

    TAN 000653JZ

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