Epson Equity 286 PLUS Troubleshooting Guide

Product Support Bulletin

Subject: Equity Series SIMM Compatibility

EPSON

Date: 12/4/91
Page(s): 1 of 1

Due to the influx of third party SlMMs on the market, there are some that are not

compatible with Epson products. This bulletin is intended to be an aid in ensuring
that only compatible SlMMs are chosen for use in Epson’s Equity Series of
computers.

The SlMMs in question were SEIMENS, CUMULUS and KINGSTON. Installing these

SlMMs in Epson products may cause the following errors:

Parity Check 1
18FFFE 0000 202 Memory Address Error
164 System Options Not
1500 E000 201” DOS RAM Address Error

It was thought that the chips used in these SlMMs were of poor quality.

Epson Portland evaluated the SlMMs in question and found that this was not true.

The problem is caused by the SIMM circuit boards (ITE and TECAP circuit boards)

used to manufacture the SIMM modules. The dimensions of these boards are not
compatible with industry standard SIMM sockets. This may result in incomplete
contact between the SIMM assembly and it’s socket. This is caused by insufficient
size of the contact surfaces in these products. Also enlarged holes in the TECAP

product allow the component pin to pass entirely through the hole without making

contact.

Set

PSB No: S-0136
Originator: JAD

It is recommended that only SIMMS meeting industry standard contact surface

specifications be used in Epson Equity computer products.

Some recommended SlMMs that were tested and found Compatible are:

Toshiba

Matsushita
CDC Enterprises
Samsung

Aculogic

For more information contact Technical Support.

Product Support Bulletin

Subject: EQUITY 286 PLUS Diagnostics Upgrade

EPSON

Date: 8/7/91
Page(s): 1 of 1

The Diagnostics utility for the EQUITY 286 PLUS has been upgraded from version

3.15 to version 3.20. The reason for the upgrade was to provide a keyboard layout
to match the 101-key keyboard that is supplied with the EQUITY 286 PLUS.

This file is available for downloading from the Epson Bulletin Board System. The file
is located in the /80286L library under the filename 286DlAG.EXE. This is a self­extracting file - simply download it with protocol and type 286DIAG. This will
extract the file DIAG.EXE which should be 84,673 bytes in size with a creation date

of 05/10/91.

Please make this upgraded file available to your EQUlTY 286 PLUS customers on

an as-needed basis.

PSB No: S-0132
Originator: MWT