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AST RESEARCH, INC.          SOFTWARE BULLETIN # 0167A                  6-27-94

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                      PREMMIA MTE AND SE FLASH BIOS UPDATE


Production Release:     2.03            Available: May 1994

Part Number:            905508-013      5.25" diskette 1 of 1
                        905508-313      3.5" diskette 1 of 1

This is an updated version of the Premmia  SE and MTE Flash BIOS image.
This diskette allows the user to easily upgrade the system BIOS by writing a
new image of the system BIOS to the Premmia's Flash BIOS loader.

Release 2.03 of the Premmia MTE Flash BIOS Image supersedes all previous
releases and provides the following enhancements:

        ENHANCEMENTS:

        - BIOS update for new chipset ATI LX HJ.



Production Release:     2.02            Available: June 1994

Part Number:            905508-012      5.25" diskette 1 of 1
                        905508-312      3.5" diskette 1 of 1

Revision:               A


        PROBLEMS RESOLVED:

        - Windows desktop text distortion.  Display distorted with vertical
          lines.
        - Color palette selection under OS/2.  WIN OS/2 causing color palette
          distortion in OS/2 desktop.



Production Release      1.04                    Available August, 1993

Part Number:            905508-037              3.5", 1.44MB diskette


Release 1.04 of the Premmia Flash BIOS Image supersedes all previous releases
and provides the following enhancements and problem resolutions:

        PROBLEMS RESOLVED:

        - Resolved problems with intermittent parity errors under Windows 3.1.

        - Setting the "Hard Disk Adapter" or "Floppy Disk Adapter" field
          to add-in, without actually adding-in any adapter, would cause the
          system to report a conflict.



Production Release      1.03                    Available July, 1993

Part Number:            905508-036              3.5", 1.44MB diskette

Release 1.03 of the Premmia Flash BIOS Image supersedes all previous releases
and provides the following enhancements and problem resolutions:

        ENHANCEMENTS:

        - Added a check for hard disk and floppy disk controller conflicts when
          using add-in adapters.

        PROBLEMS RESOLVED:

        - Using the SPEED.EXE utility would not change the current processor
          speed.

        - Resolved a problem entering setup ONLY when an AST Token Ring module
          is installed.

        - Resolved a problem with drives that utilize read-staging (such as the
          Conner CP30544) which prevents the system from booting to the hard
          drive.  (PR#C23012)



Production Release       1.02                   Available June, 1993

Part Number:             905508-035              3.5", 1.44MB diskette

Release 1.02 of the Premmia Flash BIOS provides the following enhancements and
problem resolutions:

        PROBLEMS RESOLVED:

        - Resolved a problem when using a Pure Data EISA Token Ring adapter and
          switching between DOS sessions under Windows 3.1, the screen would go
          blank and the system would lock (PR#C23015).

        - Resolved a problem where running ASTSETUP.EXE would cause the system
          to reboot.

        - Resolved a problem where the parallel port direction would always be
          set to Standard (Output Only).



Production Release      1.01                    Available May, 1993

Part Number:            905508-004              5.25" diskette 1 of 1
                        905508-034              3.5" diskette 1 of 1

These files are available on the AST BBS under the name PREMMBIO.EXE which is a
self extracting file.  Please check the readme file contained therein.

        PROBLEMS RESOLVED:

        - If the second bank is not populated, the SIMM sizing routine was
          reporting 32MB of memory in the unpopulated bank.  This problem was
          causing LAN cards such as AST Ethernet to fail its self test.

        - Some mismatch SIMM configurations do not report any error beeps.

        - If no passwords exist, Setup is entered with (trusted) user rights,
          rather than administrator rights.

        - If the module has an error, the system will not prompt for F1 to
          continue.

        - The add-in ATI Graphics Ultra Pro card does not work.

        - The slow speed is causing the system to hang.

        - The slow speed was not working at 8MHZ.

        - System displays invalid HD parameters in 2nd HD param fields in SETUP,
          if the no 1st HD connected or the 1st drive type is set to NONE
          (OPR#23629).

        - If an adapter card (AST Ethernode) is used the Adapter ROM's message
          (pass/fail) could not be seen.

        - If the serial number or asset tag checksums are bad, a 16.12 error
          number is displayed, indicating that an EISA error has occurred,
          rather than a CMOS error.

        - The cache test was always displaying 09.09 error code if the cache
          test fails.

        - Setup accepts a 7-char user password when the minimum password length
          is set to 8 characters (OPR#23615).