Last Revised
AST RESEARCH, INC.         SOFTWARE BULLETIN # 0343          06/03/97



TITLE:  Ascentia J20 System Flash BIOS, v1.14
FILENAME(S) / PART NUMBER(S) / DESCRIPTION(S):
   05577038.EXE / 905577-038
   Ascentia J20 System Flash BIOS, v1.14 

SUMMARY

   File 05577038.EXE contains version 1.14 of the Ascentia J20 
   system flash BIOS. This update applies to the following system: 
   501789.
   
   The flash diskette has been enhanced to only work on Ascentia J20 
   systems.  If the diskette is used on the Ascentia J10, J30, J40, 
   J50 or J55, the user will receive an error message.

   
RESOLUTIONS

   Version 1.14 contains the following resolution:
   
   Fixed 640x480x16M mode issue using the new VGA BIOS A_106_14.   


ENHANCEMENTS

   N/A   


PREVIOUS RELEASE(S)

   Version 1.11 contained the following resolutions and 
   enhancements:
   
   The system may hang up or reboot in the Suspend to RAM (S2R) 
   process.  
   
   Fixed the error in video RAM size reported. The error caused 
   video RAM test failures in some diagnostic programs.
   
   Under Windows 3.1 and Windows 95, attempting to use the utility 
   applet or settings to enter 1024 X 768 X 256 yielded an "Unable 
   to initialize video BIOS" error after choosing illegal refresh 
   rates.
   
   I/O address of COM/LPT ports were incorrectly written into BIOS 
   data area.
   
   Many video modes that were actually not supported could still be 
   chosen by the user.  These unsupported options have been removed.
   
   The system hung when it entered Suspend to disk (S2D) mode if 
   Advanced Power Management (APM) was loaded.
   
   Set the power switch to OFF before System Management Interrupt 
   (SMI) is initialized in POST. If the power switch was set to 
   'Suspend', the system may hang and can not be powered OFF while 
   pressing the power switch in POST.
   
   Resolved keyboard click feature being ignored when the keyboard 
   interrupt handler was replaced by another keyboard driver, or the 
   embedded driver of some operating systems.
   
   Cleared the keystroke used to wake up the system from standby 
   mode.
   
   Changed the hard disk drive power down timeout of maximum battery 
   life from 15 seconds to one minute.  
   
   Allowed IRQ conflict on COM/LPT ports so that internal modems can 
   share the same IRQ with COM port or IR.


NOTES

   The flash diskette has been enhanced to only work on Ascentia J20 
   systems.  If the diskette is used on the Ascentia J10, J30, J40, 
   J50, or J55, the user will receive an error message.

   For information on installing this update, please view the 
   README.TXT file that accompanies the update.

   You can download this file from the following services:

   AST WWW Site:  http://www.ari-service.com
   AST On-Line! BBS*:  See IB0001.TXT
   CompuServe:  GO: ASTFORUM
   Prodigy:   JUMP: ASTSUPPORT

   * Refer to IB0001.TXT for a list of AST's international BBS 
     numbers.

   To decompress this file, create a temporary directory on your
   hard drive, copy the downloaded file to that directory, and run
   the file. 

TAN N/A

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