AST RESEARCH, INC.         TECHNICAL BULLETIN #0872               09-27-93




              AST POWER EXEC 3/25SL AND BECKMAN'S SDA SOFTWARE
                                      
                                      
PROBLEM:       The keyboard does not acknowledge keystrokes after loading
               Beckman's Synchron Diagnostic Assistance (SDA) program.
               
SYSTEMS        
AFFECTED:      All AST Power Exec 3/25SL Notebooks.

CAUSE:         The keyboard controller overhead required to process certain
               commands did not allow a matrix scan for the keys pressed.

SOLUTION:      Upgrade to BIOS release 2.20 or higher and verify the
               following boards in the notebook are at the proper revision
               levels:

               PART NUMBER    MINIMUM ALLOWABLE REVISION LEVEL
               
               202476-002            Revision x20
               202476-003            Revision x19
               202477-002            Revision x33
               202477-003            Revision x27