AST RESEARCH, INC.           TECHNICAL BULLETIN # 1313           8-15-95



                      MANHATTAN AND SMC ETHERPOWER PCI NIC

PROBLEM:    When the SMC EtherPower PCI ethernet NIC is installed in PCI 
            slot number two the server may hang without displaying any 
            error messages.  This symptom may not be apparent immediately 
            after installation as it will only occur when the server is 
            under heavy load.

CAUSE:      PCI slot number two shares an interrupt with the first 
            integrated SCSI channel.  At this time there appears to be a 
            conflict between these two devices when they share an interrupt 
            and get "busy."

SOLUTION:   Install the SMC EtherPower board in a slot other than number 
            two.  AST is currently looking into this situation and will 
            issue a revised bulletin once a more permanent solution is 
            developed.

SYSTEMS 
AFFECTED:   All AST Manhattan P and V series fileservers