Intel identifies major flaw in Sandy Bridge chipset and begins recall

SnoopZ · 31-01-2011, 19:40

There is a major flaw in the latest 6 series 'Cougar Point' chipset which affects the Serial ATA Ports so i recall of the affected motherboards is needed.

Quote:

Intel has announced that it has identified a flaw in the design of Serial ATA ports on its newest 6 Series "Cougar Point" chipset, according to a press release. In some cases, this flaw causes ports to degrade over time, causing users to suffer from poor performance on any Serial ATA devices such as hard drives, DVD drives or BluRay drives. Only the newest second generation Core i5 and i7 series chips use the the 6 series chipsets.

Read on.... http://www.neowin.net/news/intel-ide...-begins-recall

I was just considering an upgrade to this chipset too! Looks like i will wait a while.

Web-Junkie · 31-01-2011, 19:54

I've just noticed this on Toms Hardware, what's scary is I was just going to persuade someone to go for a Sandy Bridge platform, but thankfully I've not seen them yet!!

It also goes to show Intels QA process is somewhat flawed if it was an OEM that discovered the problem!

SnoopZ · 31-01-2011, 20:07

In theory all the suppliers should be pulling these products from sale on their sites now.

EDIT

http://www.scan.co.uk/shops/intel/news

Scan have a message up on their front page about this.

Quote:

** Caution ** - Intel Sandy Bridge Processors
We have been advised by Intel that there may be a potential issue regarding Sandy Bridge and the P67 Chipset.

Quote:

BACKGROUND

Intel Sandy Bridge ** Caution**
Intel launched their Sandy Bridge platform on Sunday 9th January 2011, this launch of the new 2nd Generation of Intel Core Series Processors coincided with their release of the new P67 and H67 Chipset Motherboard Families.
EVENT

31/01/2011 - POTENTIAL PROBLEM
The potential problem as outlined by IntelÂ® is as follows:-
In some cases, motherboards featuring the 6 Series Chipset (P67 & H67) that have Sata devices connected to ports 2-5 could potentially degrade over time.
Motherboards with devices connected to Ports 0 & 1 remain unaffected.
ACTION

31/01/2011
We have been advised by Intel that there may be a potential issue regarding Sandy Bridge and the P67 Chipset.
There is considered to be no immediate threat, and Intel urges customers not to panic or be alarmed, as this is, at this stage, considered to be a precautionary measure.
Scan are in discussion with Intel as to the finer details of the issue, and at present there is no need for customers to return products, and this will continue to be the case until such time as Intel advise on any necessary course of action.
In light of these events, Scan have decided to temporarily suspend all shipment of Sandy Bridge architecture until further notice.
All customers will be contacted over the next few days with regard to the current situation, once we have received a definitive Returns Procedure from Intel, should this be the case.
At present, there is no immediate threat / danger / risk of damage to CPUs, Motherboards or Systems, and we urge that customers continue to use their systems normally for the time being.
Any required replacements will be handled efficiently, and any further updates will be announced via the homepage on the Scan Website.
At this time, we would request that customers do not contact us with regards to this issue, as we are of course fully aware, and will publish all information as we have it via our website.
If there are any OTHER issues with regards to reporting problems with 3XS Systems, then of course still do so in the usual way, however please avoid contacting us regarding this particular issue as it just swallows up resources on fielding calls, where the information has already been made available via our website, and we will continue to inform of any updates ongoing etc.
Any replacement parts will have their warranty period commence from the date that the replacement is shipped, therefore giving full warranty on the NEW part.
Scan's view on the situation...

"Intel have discovered a bug that potentially could be a problem somewhere down the line. Although Intel have identified a possibility of some CPU degradation, this has not been expanded on as of yet. We see this as a short-term issue, and over the next few days we expect that a swapout procedure will be highlighted, until such times, please continue using your systems as normal."

31-01-2011, 20:09

i am building for my old man soon to. Gonna cost intel a fortune

SnoopZ · 31-01-2011, 21:28

I see Dell haven't pulled the affected items from their website and no mention of any problems on Dabs or Ebuyer yet.

---------- Post added at 20:28 ---------- Previous post was at 19:29 ----------

More in depth info here.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4142/i...-begins-recall

qasdfdsaq · 01-02-2011, 00:14

They estimate 5% of boards may fail over a 3 year period. That's really no worse than your average warranty return/failure rate. The majority of people and computers get by with 2 SATA ports and the remaining 4 will "degrade" and if they stop working can be substituted by a Â£10 expansion card.

I really don't see the need for mass panic and recalls.

That said, this is in principle a similar issue to NVidia's infamous bad bumps, there couldn't possibly be an any more different way of handling the situation

Web-Junkie · 01-02-2011, 19:28

Pentium FDIV FPU bug anyone?

Lister of Smeg · 07-02-2011, 23:03

I hear Intel is not issuing RMA's until come March when they've had time to revise & fix the issues!

Web-Junkie · 08-02-2011, 00:38

Then it will be OEM's etc that get first shipments, Joe Public will have to whistle a bit to get their replacements. It should also be a swapout replacement, not a 'send it to us and wait a week' job!!