SOFTPAQ NUMBER:  SP4186
PART NUMBER:  255044-007
FILE NAME:  N/A
TITLE:  ROMPaq Upgrade for Armada 1500 (11 August 1997)
VERSION:  586P_081197 Rev A
LANGUAGE:  English

CATEGORY:  ROMPaqs

PRODUCTS AFFECTED:  Compaq Armada 1500 Series 

OPERATING SYSTEM:  N/A

SYSTEM CONFIGURATION:  N/A

EFFECTIVE DATE:  19 August 1997

ELECTRONIC DISTRIBUTION ALLOWED:  Yes

SOFTPAQ UTILITY VERSION:  2.x

SUPERSEDES:  SP2758

DESCRIPTION:  Creates the ROMpaq Firmware Upgrade Diskette for 
the Compaq Armada 1500 Series, which allows a user to upgrade to an 
08/11/97 System ROM.

Enhancements in this release:

-   Potential lithium ion battery charging issues: On rare occasions, 
    Armada 15xx units that shipped with LiIon batteries may experience
    battery failure.  The battery abruptly stops taking a charge and is no
    longer functional.  The 8-11-97 ROM corrects this problem by modifying
    the logic in the charging code.

-   Armada 15xx may take a up to 15 minutes to reconfigure when the CMOS 
    battery is replaced or when the system board is replaced for any 
    reason.  The 8-11-97 ROM corrects this issue.

-   Standby would not always work under Win95 with APM 1.2 enabled.

-   When hot docking, Windows 95 sometimes did not detect the Microsoft 
    trackball device.

-   If the internal fan was on when a suspend was initiated, the fan
    would remain on indefinitely.

-   The internal TouchPad was not always working properly under 
    Windows NT 4.0.


Additionally, the 8/11/97 ROM update carries forward the fixes from the
05/17/97 BIOS update including:

-   Hard Drive Spin Down Feature: Many portable hard drives, including the 
    Armada 1500 hard drives do not include a 'idle patrol seek' feature. 
    The 5/17/97 ROM offsets this by automatically spinning down the hard 
    drive after 60 minutes of inactivity, even when power management has
    been turned off.  This prevents the possibility of physical wear of 
    the hard drive surface, which can lead to a shorter hard drive life.

-   Alternate Supplier Support: With Compaq's continual effort to qualify
    alternate suppliers for Sales options and Service spares, it is 
    necessary that consumers who purchase certain Armada 1500 hard drive 
    options, or obtain replacement hard drives under warranty upgrade to 
    this new ROM. 

-   System Hang when the CRT is unplugged: In certain unusual 
    circumstances, the unit may hang when a monitor is unplugged during 
    operation and the video resolution is then changed.

-   While charging a battery, system will shut down if AC is disconnected 
    while the system is going into or coming out of hibernation.

-   While charging a Li-Ion battery and placing the unit in standby, 
    quickly removing AC power after depressing the standby button may 
    prevent the user from resuming from standby.  Re-inserting the battery 
    or plugging in AC power will re-boot the system, but all suspend data 
    will be lost.

-   Allows formatting and using of 3.5 floppy diskettes in Japanese format.


HOW TO USE:

1.  Obtain a formatted 1.44-MB diskette.

2.  Download the SoftPaq to a directory on your hard drive and change 
to that directory.  The file that is downloaded is an executable with 
a filename based on the SoftPaq Number above.

3.  From that drive and directory, execute the downloaded file 
and follow the on-screen instructions.  You will be prompted to 
insert the formatted diskette in a drive to create the diskette.

4.  After the diskette has been created, you may delete the  
SoftPaq file downloaded in step 2.

5.  Power down the computer.

6.  Place the newly created Compaq Armada 1500 ROMpaq diskette in 
Drive A: and power up the computer.  Follow the instructions on the 
screen to upgrade the System ROM.

IMPORTANT: DO NOT TURN OFF POWER TO THE SYSTEM WHILE PERFORMING 
THIS PROCEDURE!

Copyright 1997, Compaq Computer Corporation.  All rights reserved.

Product names mentioned herein may be trademarks and/or registered 
trademarks of their respective companies.