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AST RESEARCH, INC.       TECHNICAL BULLETIN # 1074                  2-28-95

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			ADVANTAGE! 570+ AND THE BROTHER HL630 PRINTER


PROBLEM
When a Brother HL630 laser printer is used with the Advantage! 570+ system, 
the real time clock on the system may sometimes stop or set to an incorrect 
value when the PC is powered down.  This will only happen when the printer is 
physically attached to the computer.

CAUSE
The Brother HL630 printer does not use an On/Off switch.  The printer is never 
actually completely shut Off but merely "sleeps".  When the printer does not 
sense any parallel port activity (i.e. between print jobs, computer off, etc.), 
the printer powers down but maintains several control lines in an active state.  
This condition induces an abnormal discharge on the CMOS battery, causing the 
real time clock to stop counting, and reducing the battery life on the system.  
The system clock may be slow the number of minutes the PC is turned Off.  
A discharged battery can result in loss of CMOS Setup information.

SYSTEMS AFFECTED
AST PART NUMBER AND DESCRIPTION

501491-XXX     ADVANTAGE! 570+ 2-66D
501549-XXX     ADVANTAGE! 570+ 2-50D

SOLUTION
Brother International acknowledges that there have been some problems with 
various manufacturers/models PCs when using the HL630 printer.  The solutions 
are as follows:

1) Unhook the printer when the computer is turned Off.

2) Contact Brother International at (800)-276-7746 and request the special 
parallel printer cable.  As of this writing, there is no charge from Brother 
for the special cable.  

*Note: It may also be necessary to replace the computer's CMOS battery after 
the modified cable has been installed.