Sandy Bridge design flaw - Intel halted on NASDAQ - updated 2/8/11.

[wanderer27]

Some kind of issue just came to light:

http://blogs.barrons.com/techtraderdaily/2011/01/31/intel-shares-halted-for-news/?mod=yahoobarrons



EDIT - Update:

Shipments to resume:

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardware/2011/02/08/fixed-sandy-bridge-chip-sets-to-be-in-the-c/1

.

 

[XLNC]

Are they referring to the P67 and H67 chipsets? Glad I waited on MB purchase so I could avoid these kinds of issues with a new platform. It says they are manufacturing new chipsets with the fix. What about all the motherboards that have already been sold? This sounds bad.

 

[SlitheryDee]

Looks like a chipset flaw. Question is, is someone going to replace my P8P67 free of charge or do I have to buy a new MB?

 

[brandonb]

Wow, I had 3 sandy bridge computers in my shopping cart last night, glad I didn't hit buy...

 

[Seven]

Are they referring to the P67 and H67 chipsets? Glad I waited on MB purchase so I could avoid these kinds of issues with a new platform. It says they are manufacturing new chipsets with the fix. What about all the motherboards that have already been sold? This sounds bad.

I think they are referring the actual cpus? Aren't they?

 

[Schadenfroh]

Wow, glad I did not buy one, was close...

Think I will wait till Ivy Bridge or whenever Intel offers native USB 3.0 support.

 

[spacejamz]

I think they are referring the actual cpus? Aren't they?

from the article:

The Sandy Bridge microprocessor is unaffected and no other products are affected by this issue.

 

[stargazr]

"Intel found a design problem in a support chip, the Intel 6 Series, which is code-named Cougar Point"

"This potentially faulty chipset was used in Intel’s latest Core processors, or Sandy Bridge"


http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/intel-hit-with-chipset-design-flaw-in-sandy-bridge-rollout/44257

 

[wanderer27]

More info:

The company expects to begin delivering the updated version of the chipset to customers in late February and expects full volume recovery in April. Intel stands behind its products and is committed to product quality. For computer makers and other Intel customers that have bought potentially affected chipsets or systems, Intel will work with its OEM partners to accept the return of the affected chipsets, and plans to support modifications or replacements needed on motherboards or systems. The systems with the affected support chips have only been shipping since January 9th and the company believes that relatively few consumers are impacted by this issue. The only systems sold to an end customer potentially impacted are Second Generation Core i5 and Core i7 quad core based systems. Intel believes that consumers can continue to use their systems with confidence, while working with their computer manufacturer for a permanent solution. For further information consumers should contact Intel at www.intel.com on the support page or contact their OEM manufacturer.

http://newsroom.intel.com/community...mplementing-solution?cid=rss-258152-c1-264102


.

 

[spacejamz]

Wanderer beat me to it...

 

[Vette73]

So in other words unless YOU can prove your system/board is bad then you are stuck with it.


"Intel believes that consumers can continue to use their systems with confidence, while working with their computer manufacturer for a permanent solution."

Good luck early intel adopters. :awe:

 

[nanaki333]

it's like the TLB bug all over again! except not nearly as bad....

 

[wanderer27]

Apparently this is some kind of degradation of the SATA controller, so I get the impression that your IO for your HD's / DVD's will either corrupt or fail.

Not a good situation.

I guess if you have this platform you may want to get in contact with you MB maker to see what their plans are for addressing this.


.

 

[Martimus]

it's like the TLB bug all over again! except not nearly as bad....

Actually, this sounds much worse. I am happy that I didn't buy one last week like I almost did when I computer wasn't working.

This has the posibility to damage SATA components according to the article.

 

[gregoryvg]

More info:



http://newsroom.intel.com/community...mplementing-solution?cid=rss-258152-c1-264102


.

And I just bought the 2500K/P67 at Microcenter over the weekend. Oh well it's all still unopened so I guess I can always take it back next weekend and get the AMD 2 Quad that I was gonna buy to begin with, for a lot less to boot. No way I'm gonna keep something that I know is bad. Sheesh tho.

 

[wanderer27]

And I just bought the 2500K/P67 at Microcenter over the weekend. Oh well it's all still unopened so I guess I can always take it back next weekend and get the AMD 2 Quad that I was gonna buy to begin with, for a lot less to boot. No way I'm gonna keep something that I know is bad. Sheesh tho.

Yeah, if you haven't put everything together that's probably the best bet.

When you take into account tearing down/rebuilding, RMAing, and all the downtime, this could really get ugly.

The CPU itself really looks to be a stellar performer, but if your SATA devices are at risk of corruption or damage, then it's definitely a good idea to hold off on this for now.


.

 

[grdax]

Does this mean MB manufacturers will ship us new MBs? What do you guys think will happen?

 

[bryanW1995]

sounds like they rushed out SB. h67 and p67 chipset sales should suffer from this, while z67 and am3+ (if amd gets it out in a timely manner) should benefit.

@grdax: they're taking a $700 million hit for it, so I'd say that they'll be offering to repair/replace affected motherboards. It will probably be based upon build date, not whether or not you've had any perceived issues with the product.

edit: shares only down 1.7% after they resumed trading.

 

[Vette73]

Does this mean MB manufacturers will ship us new MBs? What do you guys think will happen?

Its up to the board makers, Intel is only helping OEMs.
So guess you will find out real fast who the good ones are and not.

 

[nanaki333]

sounds like they rushed out SB. h67 and p67 chipset sales should suffer from this, while z67 and am3+ (if amd gets it out in a timely manner) should benefit.

i was thinking the same thing. if AMD motherboard manufacturer's are smart, today would be the PERFECT day to announce the AM3+ boards and ship them early next week.

 

[SlitheryDee]

Does this mean MB manufacturers will ship us new MBs? What do you guys think will happen?

We'll probably have to go through a pretty standard RMA process where they'll exchange old boards for equivalent boards with the fix. Honestly, I think I'm just going to buy a new board when the new ones hit the market to minimize the time my PC is down. I'll still exchange the board I have now, but I'll use the replacement to build a second rig, maybe a low-power i3 file-server or something.

In the meantime, I'll just cross my fingers and hope nothing happens.

 

[grdax]

Its up to the board makers, Intel is only helping OEMs.
So guess you will find out real fast who the good ones are and not.

Yup. I have a Gigabyte MB with 2500K. They should step up. They are pretty vague on if it will screw up the SATA devices though. They mention degradation and functionality and that might just be the chipset wont work well with the devices after certain period of time. I have a nice SSD drive I don't want to screw up if this does mess up the devices.

 

[drizek]

Suddenly those Marvell ports on your motherboards don't look too bad...

 

[dudeofdur]

humm it says the only chips affected are the i5/i7 mobile sb and the i5/i7 vpro? is that referring to all the sb?

 

[stargazr]

humm it says the only chips affected are the i5/i7 mobile sb and the i5/i7 vpro? is that referring to all the sb?

Where do you see "mobile" in Intel's statement?