AST RESEARCH, INC.        TECHNICAL BULLETIN # 1128          03/11/97 
 
 
 
TITLE:  No Floppy Drive Icon on Ascentia 900N
 
 
ISSUE 
 
   When running Windows NT workstation 3.5 on battery power in an 
   Ascentia 900N system, there is no floppy drive icon in the File 
   Manager, and the floppy drive is not recognized. 
   
   This issue applies to the following systems: 501299, 501300, 
   501302, and 501304.    

 
BACKGROUND 
 
   Microsoft NT does not support power management; therefore, the 
   floppy disk is not recognized when Windows NT 3.5 is booted with 
   the system running on battery power.    

 
ACTION 
 
   The solution to this problem is twofold: 
    
   1. Use Ascentia 900N BIOS revision 2.02 (or later) 
      available from AST's BBS. 
   
   2. Run the SET4NT.COM utility from DOS. This program is
      available from AST's BBS. Files 528316.EXE (Ascentia
      900N BIOS 2.02) and SET4NT.COM (utility) can be found 
      on AST's On-Line! services including the following:  
      
      AST WWW Site:  http://www.ast.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.
   
   
   Ascentia BIOS revision 2.02 will test bit 7 of CMOS location 6Ah 
   during POST, and will enable Power Management of the FDC if this 
   bit is cleared. This is the normal mode of operation that most 
   users will want to use unless they are running Windows NT.  This 
   bit is normally cleared when CMOS is initialized and it is not 
   used for any other purpose. 
    
   If the BIOS finds that this bit is set during POST, it will 
   disable Power Management of the FDC. This bit can be controlled 
   with the use of the SET4NT.COM utility program. 
    
   This program can be invoked without any command line parameters 
   and it will only display how to use the program and the current 
   state of the bit as shown below: 
    
           SET4NT <Return> 
           Usage:  SET4NT [1|0] 
                   1 to set bit 7 of CMOS location 6Ah. 
                   0 to reset bit 7 of CMOS location 6Ah. 
           Bit 7 of CMOS location 6Ah is now 1 
    
   If the program is invoked with a command line parameter of either 
   "1" or "0", the operation will be carried out as specified and 
   nothing will be displayed. The state of the bit can then be 
   checked by invoking the program without any parameters and it 
   will display the state of the bit as shown above. 
    
   Setting or clearing this bit will only have an effect when the 
   2.02 version of the BIOS is being used.  After the utility has 
   been used to set the bit, the utility will not need to be used 
   again unless the CMOS Setup information is lost or corrupted.    

 
NOTES 
 
   N/A    

 
TAN N/A 
 
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