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AST RESEARCH, INC.          TECHNICAL BULLETIN # 0979               9-21-94

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                 MISSING SMARTSLEEP PARTITION IN ASCENTIA 900N


PROBLEM:        The Ascentia 900N does not go into SmartSleep or Zero volt
                Suspend. The ZDISK Utility does not recognize a SmartSleep
                partition on the hard drive in the Ascentia notebook.

CAUSE:          Some systems with 340 MB and 510 MB hard drives were shipped
                without a SmartSleep partition created on the hard drive.

SYSTEMS
AFFECTED:           AST
                PART NUMBER        DESCRIPTION

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

                The following list of ranges of serial numbers for the Ascentia
                900N systems were shipped without the ZDISK partition:

                SERIAL NUMBER                      SYSTEM

                314EGK000005-314EGK000300       ASCENTIA 900N
                314EGL000001-314EGL000200       ASCENTIA 900N
                3245GK000301-3245GK000612       ASCENTIA 900N
                3245GL000531-3245GL000536       ASCENTIA 900N
                3245GR000001-3245GR001964       ASCENTIA 900N
                324EGK000307-324EGK000606       ASCENTIA 900N
                324EGL000201-324EGL001058       ASCENTIA 900N
                324EGQ000011-324EGQ000310       ASCENTIA 900N
                324EGR001002-324EGR002174       ASENCITA 900N
                3345DA000152-3345DA000165       ASCENTIA 900N
                3345GK000613-3345GK000618       ASCENTIA 900N
                3345GL001362-3345GL001364       ASCENTIA 900N
                3345GQ000313                    ASCENTIA 900N
                334DFR065964                    ASCENTIA 900N
                334EGK000619-334EGK001880       ASCENTIA 900N
                334EGL001062-334EGL001361       ASCENTIA 900N
                334EGQ000314-334EGQ000317       ASCENTIA 900N
                334EGR002176-334EGR002169       ASCENTIA 900N
                3445GL001366-3345GL001372       ASCENTIA 900N
                3445GR002321                    ASCENTIA 900N
                344EGK001881-344EGK002158       ASCENTIA 900N
                344EGQ000319-344EGQ000939       ASCENTIA 900N
                344EGR002203-344EGR002302       ASCENTIA 900N
                3545GK002373                    ASCENTIA 900N
                3545GL001374                    ASCENTIA 900N
                354EGK002375-354EGK003624       ASCENTIA 900N
                354EGL001752-354EGL002194       ASCENTIA 900N
                354EGQ000943-354EGQ001132       ASCENTIA 900N
                364EGK003629-364EGK003835       ASCENTIA 900N
                364EGQ001324-364EGQ001696       ASCENTIA 900N
                US1V001016-USIV003108           ASCENTIA 900N
                US3W001121-US3W003138           ASCENTIA 900N
                US6W001110-US6WOO5404           ASCENTIA 900N
                US7W001102-US7W002303           ASCENTIA 900N
                US29005677                      ASCENTIA 900N

SOLUTION:       Do one of the following:

                1. Replace the drive with a another drive that has the
                   SmartSleep partition defined.
                or
                2. Back up the data on the existing drive and repartition and
                   reformat the drive.  To do this follow the steps below:
                   - Delete all existing partitions using FDISK.
                   - Run ZDISK and create the Smartsleep partition.
                   - Run FDISK again to create a Primary DOS partition.
                   - Format the DOS partition.
                   - Reload all the software back onto the drive.