AST RESEARCH, INC.          TECHNICAL BULLETIN # 0943                 6-24-94




                  ASCENTIA 900N AND INTEGRAL TYPE III PCMCIA


PROBLEM:        When using the Integral Pocket File 42 in an Ascentia 900N
                system, the following situations may occur:

                1) When booting with, or loading the Integral Pocket File
                   PCMCIA card into a cold Ascentia 900N system, an error
                   message (QA:6-16 ) may appear and the system may lock-up.
                2) When running the DOS CHKDSK or SCANDISK utility, the system
                   may lock-up.

                The above problems occur consistently on 50 Mhz systems and
                intermittently on 75 Mhz systems.

CAUSE:          Integral Pocket File 42 ATA PCMCIA is not fully compatible with
                the Ascentia 900N system.

SYSTEMS
AFFECTED:           AST                                              REVISION
                PART NUMBER            DESCRIPTION                     LEVEL

                501299-2XX      ASCENTIA 900N 4/50 CS10                 All
                501300-3XX      ASCENTIA 900N 4/50 CT9                  All
                501302-2XX      ASCENTIA 900N 4/75 CS10                 All
                501304-3XX      ASCENTIA 900N 4/75 CT10                 All


SOLUTION:       1) Load the ATA PCMCIA card into a warm system.