Intel Identifies Chipset Design Error, Implementing Solution

[mezcal]

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Jan. 31, 2011 - As part of ongoing quality assurance, Intel Corporation has discovered a design issue in a recently released support chip, the Intel® 6 Series, code-named Cougar Point, and has implemented a silicon fix. In some cases, the Serial-ATA (SATA) ports within the chipsets may degrade over time, potentially impacting the performance or functionality of SATA-linked devices such as hard disk drives and DVD-drives. The chipset is utilized in PCs with Intel's latest Second Generation Intel Core processors, code-named Sandy Bridge. Intel has stopped shipment of the affected support chip from its factories. Intel has corrected the design issue, and has begun manufacturing a new version of the support chip which will resolve the issue. The Sandy Bridge microprocessor is unaffected and no other products are affected by this issue.

More at link.

http://newsroom.intel.com/community/...nting-solution

[Chickenfeed]

So what they are saying basically is that you'll have to hope your boards builder will accept a rma at their cost. Even though they claim its isolated to a small portion of boards this is still a huge inconvenience.

The problem with that by the sounds of it is current boards in circulation are effected so any replacement as of today will be of no benefit until intels partners receive the revised chipset logic and update their boards. Boo.

[mezcal]

Stock was halted for the announcement.
Gapped down a bit on reopen.

[zalbard]

Looks like early adopters are screwed.
And they've been making chipsets for a few months... Wonder how many hundred thousands of boards this is...
First Will.i.am, now this...

[Larvitar]

An image for this:


Intel, Intel...

[Elloquin]

Well that might explain the black screen with the blinking cursor/no blinking cursor that shows up at certain multipliers for no apparent reason right before the drives initialize

[Pillo-kun]

I thought that every piece of hardware degrades over time... my abit quad gt cant oc as good as before and is acting flaky overall. although i guess that this is a bit worse than a mobo tortured for 4 years of hard oc....

[C-N]

Subscribed

Will be interesting to see how mobo manufacturers handle this one.... if it ever shows up in any real numbers. Good job GB got that flash new RMA department

[amdsempron_xs]

That's bull, just got my Asus P8P67
AMD Thuban is the way to go

[alucasa]

This sounds worse than the TLB bug. Actually, it is worse.

[Scorpio[pt]]

There goes my sandy bridge upgrade

guess i have to go to an X6

[jeremyshaw]

This sounds worse than the TLB bug. Actually, it is worse.

Since the TLB bug can be corrected in software?

Anyhow, at the worst case, I guess you can use the silly marvell and jmicron SATA chips manuf. have a love affair for

[mezcal]

Wonder how many hundred thousands of boards this is...

Yeah, what do you do with all the existing stock?
I can't imagine folks lining up to buy them, especially not at early-adopter prices.

Dollar-wise it is almost certainly cheaper to junk them them than pay for 2 rounds of shipping and a manual rework.

Plus the manufacturers have likely already halted their lines and can't restart them until they get the new silicon.

Just have to wait and see how bad and widespread this is I guess.
Not good anyway you look at it

[duploxxx]

Stock was halted for the announcement.
Gapped down a bit on reopen.

that is very strange, they must have a huge amount of these chips and actually a worse functional impact then what marketing just explained....

[antiacid]

Looks like early adopters are screwed.

As usual!

[godsfist]

It's only chipsets shipped after January 9th, I got my UD4 on the 10th January here in Australia so I'm safe as houses

[mezcal]

Bounced.
Or forming a nasty bear flag.

[nn_step]

Atleast that would explain the issues that I've been noticing over the last month.

[godsfist]

Bounced.
Or forming a nasty bear flag.

Or it could be the rare and deadly Black Swan formation

[zalbard]

I don't even want to know what's behind it, then!
P.S. It looks like a zombie goose.

[mezcal]

@gods

[C-N]

It's only chipsets shipped after January 9th, I got my UD4 on the 10th January here in Australia so I'm safe as houses

Maybe they mean nobody should have had a board untill after the 9th.... I cant believe they made good chips for a bit... changed design & made some sh1t ones & then went back to the good stuff on the 9th!!!

[kpablo]

Probably the current in stock mobos will not be affected with this problem...

[zalbard]

Probably the current in stock mobos will not be affected with this problem...

Nope.

The company expects to begin delivering the updated version of the chipset to customers in late February and expects full volume recovery in April.

[Sparky]

Since the TLB bug can be corrected in software?

Anyhow, at the worst case, I guess you can use the silly marvell and jmicron SATA chips manuf. have a love affair for

Well the "fix" hurt performance like none other. But the TLB bug didn't affect anything other than some virtualization instances, so the majority of people could leave the fix "off" and were fine.

This seems rather unavoidable for the users though unlike the AMD TLB errata. But while it is a dumb goof on intel's part, at the same time nobody is perfect. Everyone will make a blunder every so often.