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AST RESEARCH, INC.         SOFTWARE BULLETIN # 0285          04/08/97

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TITLE:  Bravo MS/MS-T 5000 BIOS, Version 1.04
FILENAME(S) / PART NUMBER(S) / DESCRIPTION(S):
   05579038.EXE / 905579-038
   Bravo MS/MS-T 5000 BIOS, Version 1.04 

SUMMARY

   File 05579038.EXE contains version 1.04, disk 1 of 1, of the 
   Bravo MS/MS-T 5000 BIOS. This update applies to the following 
   systems: 501951, 501952, 501954, 501955, 501956, 501972, 503028, 
   503029, 503027, 503067, and 503043.

   
RESOLUTIONS

   Version 1.04 contains the following resolutions:
   
   The integrated video adapter took an IRQ and did not release the 
   resource.
   
   The BIOS enabled items such as the secondary IDE controller 
   through SETUP, causing conflicts with add-in PCI cards, if they 
   previously used the same resource as the built-in controller.
   
   After CMOS was corrupted and corrected in SETUP, the system could 
   not detect the CD-ROM after exiting from SETUP.
        
   The initial release of Windows 95 (4.00.950a) assumed the IDE 
   controller used both IRQ 14 and IRQ 15.
    
   When running Y2000.EXE from the National Software Testing Labs 
   (NSTL), the Bravo MS and Bravo MS-T systems did not roll over the 
   date from 1999 to 2000.
       
   The Adaptec card with built-in PCI bridge did not work.
        
   Some video cards that had special alignment requirements for the 
   ROM failed with POST error code 63.
        
   The performance of the Western Digital Phoenix drive was low.
   
   Installing adapters caused configuration errors.   


ENHANCEMENTS

   Version 1.04 contains the following enhancement:
   
   Changed max clock in video BIOS to permit 100Hz refresh rate.   


PREVIOUS RELEASE(S)

   Version 1.03 contained the following resolutions and 
   enhancements:
   
   Version 1.03 resolved the following issues:
   
   The BIOS was reporting that COM4 address was in use, when in fact 
   it was not in use.
   
   The BIOS would force the audio base port to jump back to port 
   220, preventing the successful use of other addresses.
   
   The monitor power management only worked if the video I/O port 
   address was configured to FC00; the  new BIOS allows the use of 
   any address.
   
   Alta Research NIC card would emit two long and three short beeps 
   when installed in the system.
   
   Version 1.03 contained the following enhancements:
   
   Added the ability to support ECC memory (Error Correcting 
   Memory).
   
   Add a message that is displayed on boot up to indicate when 
   either parity or ECC memory integrity support is active.
   
   For DMI support under Windows NT, the asset tag and serial 
   numbers are now directly accessible from the vital statistics 
   table, without a BIOS call.
   
   --------------------------------------------------------
   
   Version 1.02 contained the following resolutions and 
   enhancements:
   
   The system limits the password to a maximum of seven characters.  
   
   
   Halted processor if non-parity SIMMs were installed in a system 
   that required parity.
   
   Added support for the Vibra 16C Plug-and-Play audio chip.
   
   Added support for the ATI VGA A4 stepping.
   
   PCI bridge cards generated a conflict between the bridge card and 
   the IDE adapter.
   
   Corrected the CMOS initialization if CMOS became completely 
   corrupted.  
   
   The floppy disk controller would not properly disable.
   
   Fixed POST error message 12.31 if both floppy A and B were set to 
   none and the floppy adapter was set to add-in.
   
   Fixed the problem where disabling the audio did not disable the 
   system board audio.
   
   Fixed serial and parallel port scanning.  Some programs such as 
   the DOS utility "Interlink" had difficulty identifying the ports.
   
   Added support for the 512KB cache option.
   
   The Suspend logic was improved by adding a delay before suspend. 
   This permits the user to get his/her hands off the mouse before 
   suspending.  With this  change, the system does not wake up 
   immediately.
   
   Increased the time that the POST sequence would wait for the hard 
   drive to spin up.  The time is now within the ATA specifications.
   
   Improved IDE detection logic to prevent the user from having to 
   wait 30 seconds before getting into Setup if a hard drive is set 
   to auto but is not actually present on the system.


NOTES

   N/A

   For information on installing this update, please view the 
   README.TXT file that accompanies the update.

   You can download this file from the following services:

   AST WWW Site:  http://www.ast.com
   AST On-Line! BBS*:  See IB0001.TXT
   CompuServe:  GO: ASTFORUM
   Prodigy:   JUMP: ASTSUPPORT

   * Refer to IB0001.TXT for a list of AST's international BBS 
     numbers.

   To decompress this file, create a temporary directory on your
   hard drive, copy the downloaded file to that directory, and run
   the file. 

TAN 000235AH, 000319MF, 005500MH, 000514RS, 002121MG, 004136PS, 002053PH

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