AST RESEARCH, INC.      TECHNICAL BULLETIN #1272        8-17-95



	   BRAVO NOTEBOOK AND ADVANTAGE! EXPLORER 
       WITH IOMEGA DITTO 250 PARALLEL PORT TAPE DRIVE


PROBLEM:

The Iomega Ditto 250 tape drive will not pass the compatibility test.  The 
compatibility test runs for about two hours and reaches 99% completion 
before giving the following error:

Bad block detected (unrecoverable read error). Reference 08-03-0A-02-0410.


CAUSE:

The Advantage! Explorer and Bravo Notebook are incompatible with the 
current Iomega Parallel Port device.


SYSTEMS AFFECTED:

AST Part Number Description

501262-XXX      AEX 486SX25 Mono
501263-XXX      AEX 486SX25 STN
501264-XXX      AEX 486SX25 TFT
501247-XXX      BNB 486SX25 Mono
501248-XXX      BNB 486SX25 STN
501249-XXX      BNB 486SX25 TFT
501373-XXX      BNB 486SX33 Mono
501374-XXX      BNB 486SX33 STN


SOLUTION:

The Iomega Ditto 250 Tape Drive is not compatible with the C&T chipset that
shipped with the Advantage! Explorer and the Bravo Notebook.