Intel says flaw in Series 6 Sandy Bridge chipsets

[Diogenes2]

Just checked, my Optical is SCSI...

That's just the way Win7 sees the Marvell and Intel 6GBS controllers - as SCSI .. The drive annd ports are SATA..

 

[ahurtt]

Each chipset IC probably contains somewhere around 50-100 million transistors (MOSFETs). In this situation, the gate oxide of a single transistor was made slightly too thin which caused the transistor to turn on too early. It isn't anything external or within control of the motherboard manufacturers. If it has the affected chip and uses the affected SATA controller (i.e. connects it to a SATA port), it will be affected by the bug.

To put it very simply, a MOSFET works by applying a voltage to the gate. This voltage via field interactions causes a metaphorical bridge to rise between the source and drain terminals, allowing conduction between the two. If you increase the gate oxide thickness, it takes more voltage at the gate to turn on the transistor. Conversely, if you decrease the thickness, the transistor turns on more easily. This can cause it to turn on when you don't want it to.

The whole kicker about it is that the over-volted part in question was basically a vestigial remnant left over from a previous design that somebody no doubt thought leaving there would have no noticeable effect and maybe save a couple bucks or something. Only they neglected to shut off the voltage to the unneeded part which is now causing this problem. See what happens when you get lazy? So now the fix is they are going to go back and make a revised stepping which shuts off all voltage to that particular part. They still aren't going to actually just remove it...just turn it off.

 

[Anomaly1964]

That's just the way Win7 sees the Marvell and Intel 6GBS controllers - as SCSI .. The drive annd ports are SATA..

So if my Optical drive is working fine in the Marvell port, what does that mean, if anything?

 

[Hogan773]

Great info...

So the reason Intel is on the hook here and not the MB manufacturers is because Intel gives them the specs to build with...?

Intel actually makes ALL those chips.....ASUS or GB or ASRock just take the chips and solder them onto a motherboard.

 

[Anomaly1964]

Intel actually makes ALL those chips.....ASUS or GB or ASRock just take the chips and solder them onto a motherboard.

GOTCHA!:thumbsup:

 

[Hogan773]

What motherboard do you have? I have the Asus P8P67 Pro and it says right in the manual that the Marvell 6Gbps SATA III ports are only intended for use with data drives, not ATAPI devices. This is most likely a limitation of the Marvell chipset and not the Asus motherboard itself. So if you have the same Marvell controller you probably have the same limitation. I was going to do the same thing as you initially until I noticed what it said in the manual about those Marvell ports not being for ATAPI devices. So I plugged my boot hard drive and DVD drive into Intel ports 0-1 and I plugged my secondary SATA drive into one of the Marvell 6Gbps ports.

I have ASRock Extreme 4. I'll look at the manual when I get home, although I must say the manual is pretty sparse in some areas. I think your solution is good though...just use the Marvell for the backup drive which I don't use much.

 

[Hogan773]

And it begins...I would have expected better from Asus...silly me. Technically I guess they are right...it is a chip problem. It's just that the chip with the problem happens to be soldered onto a motherboard they made which they themselves permanently soldered on there...Yeah Intel made the chip. But that doesn't absolve Asus of any responsibility for helping you fix the problem. What if this was the tack that Toyota took when it came to replacing all those faulty gas pedals in so many of its cars in that giant recall they did? "Well it's a problem with the gas pedal. Not our car. We didn't make the gas pedal...some supplier in Japan did." Sounds like this is the approach Asus is trying to take...I don't like the sound of this. Bad omen.

see my earlier post - you guys are all too eager to read things into these statements from a CUSTOMER SERVICE AGENT. If Intel is paying for it, my guess is there is no reason the Mobo guys would stand up and be an impediment in that process. Why would they?

 

[ahurtt]

Great info...

So the reason Intel is on the hook here and not the MB manufacturers is because Intel gives them the specs to build with...?

No, not exactly. My understanding is that Intel actually designs and oversees manufacture of the chips. They then sell them to board makers like Asus, ASRock, etc...who design motherboard products around them. They then proceed to permanently solder the parts they bought from Intel (and other vendors but in this case ONLY Intel makes the cougar point SATA controller chip that is at fault here) onto the motherboard that you buy in the store. So for a motherboard maker to say the problem is not a problem with their motherboard but Intels chip problem would be akin to Toyota trying to force customers affected by the huge gas pedal recall they did to deal directly with Toyota's make/supplier of the faulty gas pedal. Just like those faulty gas pedals became Toyota's problem the minute they permanently affixed them into the cars they then sold to the public, the motherboard maker is responsible for its product the minute they solder that faulty Intel chip onto it and sell it to you. Is it their fault? No. But that's life. Smart companies realize that the customer is the life blood, not the enemy. Alienate your customers and you're out of business.

 

[ahurtt]

I have my OPTICAL in the Marvel port and it is working fine...is that BAD, will it mess something up?

I really have no idea. I didn't actually try mine in this configuration. I am working under the assumption that ATAPI is sort of synonymous with Optical CD/DVD drive and that therefore you aren't supposed to hook up any optical drives to the Marvell port unless you are certain that they aren't ATAPI devices, but I thought that most of them were. But it has been 5+ years since I last built my system...maybe things have changed. Anybody who can clarify here, your input is welcome.

 

[ahurtt]

That's just the way Win7 sees the Marvell and Intel 6GBS controllers - as SCSI .. The drive annd ports are SATA..

Well if you couldn't have such a thing as an ATAPI device with a SATA interface on it, why would they bother to print the disclaimer in the manual that you aren't supposed to plug ATAPI devices into the Marvell SATA ports?

 

[ahurtt]

see my earlier post - you guys are all too eager to read things into these statements from a CUSTOMER SERVICE AGENT. If Intel is paying for it, my guess is there is no reason the Mobo guys would stand up and be an impediment in that process. Why would they?

You're right, it's only been one day. Perhaps I am a bit hasty with my torch and pitchfork.

 

[Anomaly1964]

Well if you couldn't have such a thing as an ATAPI device with a SATA interface on it, why would they bother to print the disclaimer in the manual that you aren't supposed to plug ATAPI devices into the Marvell SATA ports?

That's what I wanna know...

...am I gonna damage the Port or the Optical drive by having it there?

 

[Yables]

my guess is there is no reason the Mobo guys would stand up and be an impediment in that process. Why would they?

The fact that the pre-embedded chipset on the mobo’s are made by intel is immaterial.
The mobo manufacturers have responsibly to ensure their whole product is of satisfactory quality, at least under (The Sale of Goods Act here in the UK)

As I have mentioned before gigabyte have already acknowledged Intel’s alert

 

[Diogenes2]

Well if you couldn't have such a thing as an ATAPI device with a SATA interface on it, why would they bother to print the disclaimer in the manual that you aren't supposed to plug ATAPI devices into the Marvell SATA ports?

How many people do you think actually read the manual ?

That's what I wanna know...

...am I gonna damage the Port or the Optical drive by having it there?

I really don't think so.
The worst that could happen is degraded performance..

I still have my DVD drive on a SATA 2 connector..
No reason not to, that I can tell. ( .... so far )

 

[Hooptymobile]

Possibly old news by now but thought I would post hyperlink for any ASRock users to view.

http://www.asrock.com/news/events/201102ex/index.html

 

[ahurtt]

So if my Optical drive is working fine in the Marvell port, what does that mean, if anything?

How thoroughly did you test it and benchmark it before declaring it working? Did you try using all its functions?

 

[Anomaly1964]

Thanks Diogenes and Ahurtt

 

[Hogan773]

Possibly old news by now but thought I would post hyperlink for any ASRock users to view.

http://www.asrock.com/news/events/201102ex/index.html

yeah I beat you by a couple hours

http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=31177069&postcount=316

just kidding though - this thread is moving swiftly so I don't blame you for not reading all the way back

 

[ahurtt]

How many people do you think actually read the manual ?

*sheepishly raises hand*
Actually I downloaded and read it in PDF form before I even bought the product.
Maybe it's just coincidence but my system build went remarkably smooth for the most part too...you decide.
(And no I didn't read it cover to cover...just the important bits)

 

[Seven]

Possibly old news by now but thought I would post hyperlink for any ASRock users to view.

http://www.asrock.com/news/events/201102ex/index.html

Looks like ASUS is the last one. Shame!

 

[Diogenes2]

*sheepishly raises hand*
Actually I downloaded and read it in PDF form before I even bought the product.
Maybe it's just coincidence but my system build went remarkably smooth for the most part too...you decide.
(And no I didn't read it cover to cover...just the important bits)

Don't apologize.. You did the right thing..
I downloaded it too, but I would have never noted the asterisk , and read about the SATA 3 ports not supporting ATAPI..

My install went well also.
My method involved disabling everything not needed; sound, Lan, SATA 3, USB3 - used one stick of RAM, then installed Win7..
You would be surprised how quickly it goes .
I even installed on a spindle HDD, then did an image back-up and restore to my SSD after I verified all was OK..

Oh, and I also did this on my bench top, before putting it in the case..

 

[Ross Ridge]

People need to just relax and wait a little bit. Corporate America doesn't move to the same speed of posters on Anandtech Forums.

Corporate Taiwan, but yah, it's too early to expect much definitive out of the motherboard manufactures. In week or so you'll know whether or not you need to start contacting the class-action lawyers.

 

[ahurtt]

Looks like ASUS is the last one. Shame!

Maybe they're just saving their announcement for last so they can see what the competition is going to do first...and then CRUSH THEM MERCILESSLY!

Maybe...? You think?? yes no??

 

[Diogenes2]

Looks like ASUS is the last one. Shame!

The last one to do what ?

 

[Seven]

The last one to do what ?

Officially announce the issue.