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AST RESEARCH, INC.         TECHNICAL BULLETIN # 1387               12-22-95

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   Ascentia 950N <Fn>+<F> Keys May Not Work When Using A 3COM 3C562 Adapter


PROBLEM

When a 3Com 3C562-TP PCMCIA Ethernet adapter/28.8 modem card is used in an 
Ascentia 950N system, the <FN>+<F1>, <FN>+<F2>, and <FN>+<F3> combinations 
may be disabled when the driver loads for the card.  The system may only beep 
when these key combinations are tried.  This condition is present with 
Ascentia 950N BIOS release 2.58. 


CAUSE

The Power Management code in the system BIOS is designed to look at I/O 
port 21 before granting <FN>+<F1>, +<F2> and +<F3> services, in order to 
avoid interrupting serial communications in devices such as modems.  
If either the serial port 1 or serial port 2 interrupt are enabled, Power 
Management will generate a beep, but will not service the hot keys. 

To go into system Setup, for example, the user must press <FN>+<F2> 
BEFORE the system starts reading the hard drive to boot. 


SYSTEMS AFFECTED:
AST PART NUMBER AND DESCRIPTION

501707-2XX      Ascentia 950N/75 CSS10 510/8
501707-3XX      Ascentia 950N/75N CSS10 700/8
501707-4XX      Ascentia 950N/75N CSS10 1G/8
501708-3XX      Ascentia 950N/75N CT10 700/8
501708-4XX      Ascentia 950N/975N CT10 1G/8


SOLUTION

None. There is nothing wrong with the system. The Ascentia 950N system is 
operating as designed.