Last Revised
AST RESEARCH, INC.       INFORMATIONAL BULLETIN # 0042       06/10/97 
 
 
 
TITLE:  2.5GB Hard Drive 10 Minute Spindown
 
 
SUMMARY 
 
   This bulletin informs our customer base that a 10 minute minimum 
   spindown timer will be implemented on all future Western Digital 
   3.5" CAVIAR hard disk drives. 
   
   Western Digital part numbers affected are CAVIAR AC11200-00LA 
   (1.2GB), AC22500-00LA (2.5GB) and AC34000-00LA (4GB).
   
   This issue affects the following systems: 503058, 503080, 503082, 
   503083, 503084, 503086, 503094, 503120, 503152, 503153, 503196, 
   and 503213.    
 
 
NOTES 
 
   According to Western Digital, the spin down timer change will be 
   implemented to protect drives from frequent start/stop cycles 
   which cause unnecessary wear and tear. The drives still accept 
   timer values set at less than 10 minutes (sector count < 120); 
   however, drives will not spin down until 10 minutes have expired. 
   
   
   These drives will not spin down for periods less than 10 minutes, 
   regardless of BIOS setup settings. Spin down limitations can be 
   bypassed in Windows 95 (OSR2) by setting the Power Management 
   time-out period to less than 10 minutes. 
   
   Western Digital part numbers affected are CAVIAR AC11200-00LA 
   (1.2GB), AC22500-00LA (2.5GB) and AC34000-00LA (4GB).
   
   The 23xxxx Part Number referenced in this IB are as follows:
   
   230093-250  =  spins down after 1 minute of no activity
   230093-252  =  spins down after 10 minutes of no activity
   
   Part Number 501661-012 is a 2.5GB Fast IDE 3.5 Hard Drive Option 
   Kit.
   
   For additional information, see Addendum (AST p/n 003832-001A) 
   included with the system.
   
   
   AST recommends that the customer set the spin down setting for 
   hard drives to ten minutes or more in System Setup.    
 
 
TAN N/A 
 
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