Epson Equity 386/33 PLUS Product Support Bulletin(s) - Page 11

EPSON AMERICA, INC. Product Support Bulletin EPSON Subject: Equity 386/33 PLUS Incompatibilities Date: 6/5/92 Page(s): 1 of 2 PSB No: S-0140 Originator: JAM, MT, MD The purpose of this bulletin is to provide information on known incompatibilities of the Equity 386/33 PLUS at the time of product introduction. 1. IBM 5251/11 Emulation Adapter is not compatible. Variance #la: Loss of video output upon powering on the system at cold-boot. The Hard disk is accessed during the boot process but no video display can be seen. The Testing Lab experienced this variance previously using the 5251 card for 8-bit slots ( DET92X0693 Rev B ). The 5251 card for 16bit slots ( EC#A131192B ) completely passed. Variance #lb: Random video characters are displayed after entering DIR followed by CLS. The anomaly manifests itself only if the commands have been executed in that order. 2. AST 5251/11 Emulation Adapter is not compatible. Variance #2: Upon rebooting the system, foreground and background colors are nearly the same. This makes distinguishing characters difficult. Other operations function normally. 3. DTC 6180 ESDI Hard Disk Controller is not compatible. Variance #3: Low-Level formatting of ESDI does not complete successfully and returns a fatal error message. STATUS: Resolutions to these Variances are being researched by EPI. WORK AROUNDS: 1. Variance #la: Pressing the RESET button caused the 5251 adapter to work properly. ALL EMULATION TESTING THEN PASSED! Variance #lb: No workaround was found by the Testing Lab. 2. Variance #2: Two workarounds for this are: (1) Disable the on-board video port and use a VGA adapter in a bus slot or (2) configuring SETUP to COLOR rather than VGA resolves the screen problem. 3. Variance #3: Low-level formatting the drive on another system and reinstalling it in the Equity 386/33 Plus is an alternative. The system functioned normally thereafter.