Sandy Bridge design flaw

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WhiteTree

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There appear to be some problems with Sandy Bridge.

Intel reveals design flaw in Sandy Bridge chipset - cnet
Intel has discovered a design flaw with its new Sandy Bridge chip, the company said today.

The flaw has forced the chipmaker to stop shipments of the chip, though Intel also announced that it has a design fix in place...

The flaw,... could cause the Serial-ATA (SATA) ports within the chipset to degrade over time, according to Intel. This could potentially affect the performance or functionality of any hard drive, DVD drive, and other device connected to the SATA port. That chipset is used in Intel's new Second Generation Core processors, previously code-named Sandy Bridge...

The company said it expects to start shipping the corrected version of the chipset to customers in late February, ramping up to full-volume shipments in April. Intel will help its manufacturing partners return the affected chipsets and will support any fixes or replacements required by PC makers on motherboards or entire computer systems, the company said...
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Intel Discovers Bug in 6-Series Chipset: Our Analysis - Anandtech
...Intel just announced that it has identified a bug in the 6-series chipset, specifically in its SATA controller. Intel states that "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 fix requires new hardware, which means you will have to exchange your motherboard for a new one. Intel hasn't posted any instructions on how the recall will be handled other than to contact Intel via its support page or contact the manufacturer of your hardware directly...
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Looks like the 6 series chipset. Wonder if the Board manufacturers will exchange or refund all of the ones already sold.
 
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what i hate is that they say may "it may affect it"

i hope board makers will exchange. i ordered my parts, but i havent payed for them yet. so i guess i have to wait...
 
This a quote from anandtech article.

Interestingly enough the problem doesn’t affect ports 1 & 2 on the 6-series chipset. Remember that Intel has two 6Gbps ports and four 3Gbps ports on P67/H67, only the latter four are impacted by this problem.

If you’re a current Sandy Bridge user and want to be sure you don’t have any problems until you can get replacement hardware, stick to using the 6Gbps ports on your board (which should be the first two ports).
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People who are using the 6Gbps ports should not worry about this problem
 
People who are using the 6Gbps ports should not worry about this problem
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True, but users will still want it replaced. By the time they reach high availability, the z-series boards will be out. I guess I'll be waiting awhile longer myself.
 
so if you have ordered a p67 board, but not a snadybridge cpu, it will be ok with the new revised sandybridge chips ?
 
i literally just got delivery of my board below, i havent installed or burst the packaging can anyone confirm if my board is effected im guessing yes, and i assume if i havent opened it i should return it
 
jamesd1981 said:
i literally just got delivery of my board below, i havent installed or burst the packaging can anyone confirm if my board is effected im guessing yes, and i assume if i havent opened it i should return it
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There isn't anything below, however, if it is a socket 1155 board, then it is affected. You should be able to just return it and wait until early - mid March to get yourself another with the fixed chipset. I wouldn't get one as soon as they start shipping because obviously, stores are still going to sell the current stock, even though it does have a design flaw, so you may get the last of those, which would of course be bad
 
hey update for anyone in the same boat as me with a new sandybridge board they havent even opened yet

i called ebuyer today to see about returning my board as faulty for a refund !

to be told that they have not been told anything about this, and they have not been told to recall any boards with the flawed chipset

i was told i could return my board as not required but i would be liable for the £10 postage, as they do not consider it to be faulty

disgraceful from a company like ebuyer.com, i will be giving them alot less buisness from now on, even if an item costs £2-3 more somewhere else, i will happily pay out of spite
 
jamesd1981 said:
hey update for anyone in the same boat as me with a new sandybridge board they havent even opened yet

i called ebuyer today to see about returning my board as faulty for a refund !

to be told that they have not been told anything about this, and they have not been told to recall any boards with the flawed chipset

i was told i could return my board as not required but i would be liable for the £10 postage, as they do not consider it to be faulty

disgraceful from a company like ebuyer.com, i will be giving them alot less buisness from now on, even if an item costs £2-3 more somewhere else, i will happily pay out of spite
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Why don't you try calling other retailers and ask if they are offering refunds too before thinking that ebuyer are different and worse for not offering a refund. OcUK, Scan and Aria would be the only ones, other than eBuyer, I would really consider very good retailers
 
yeah aastii i just used ebuyer as the example cause thats where i got my board from, but any of the retailers who are refusing refund are equally in the wrong and its a total con, the chipsets are inherently faulty so they should all be fully refunded at intels cost
 
Aastii said:
There isn't anything below, however, if it is a socket 1155 board, then it is affected. You should be able to just return it and wait until early - mid March to get yourself another with the fixed chipset. I wouldn't get one as soon as they start shipping because obviously, stores are still going to sell the current stock, even though it does have a design flaw, so you may get the last of those, which would of course be bad
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Not so sure about that. NewEgg no longer has SB CPU's, 1155 socket MoBo's. Not even listing Huron River Notebooks anymore. It's like they don't exist.

If people have unopened MoBo's and can return no penalty do so. If not I say open and use. Enjoy it until the replacements come. You have two ports not affected. I/O errors on a CD/DVD not unmanageable just don't do anything mission critical that is not backed up.

Intel does appear to be trying to get in front of this to their credit. They are not going to try and get the bad MoBo's back in the supply chain. Also give them some time to get the return set up. This just happened. If I had the MoBo I would use it until replacement arrived. Open or not open but that is just me. Anyone who bought will be taken care of.
 
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jamesd1981 said:
yeah aastii i just used ebuyer as the example cause thats where i got my board from, but any of the retailers who are refusing refund are equally in the wrong and its a total con, the chipsets are inherently faulty so they should all be fully refunded at intels cost
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It isn't the retailer's fault or the manufacturer's fault though, and if they replace them, they will be losing out massively, even if Intel pay for the replacement, in time, shipping and labour, it will still cost a hell of a lot.

Basically, nobody wants to lose out, so chances are, nobody will take blame, unless there is an actual performance or stability fault, then they will just say it is covered by warranty, so you will get it replaced anyway.

Basically, right now, it isn't broke, and as they say, if it aint broke, don't fix it


powerpack said:
Not so sure about that. NewEgg no longer has SB CPU's, 1155 socket MoBo's. Not even listing Huron River Notebooks anymore. It's like they don't exist.
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They are indeed getting taken back and not being sold, that was my bad, should have read the article properly first, and used my head, no retailer would sell a product with a potential fault
 
OK guys this story is happening before our eyes.

I am a notebook guy and I know some things are particular to them and not desktops.

Clevo/Sager has halted shipment and production of Huron River (6x chipsets)notebooks.

Middle of Feb 2011, Intel will start supplying qualification samples of the new revision of Intel 6 series chipset. RD and QC will test and qualify this new chip revision and prepare for mass production.

Currently the mass production version of the revised 6 series is scheduled to begin delivery from Intel in limited quantities at the end of Feb 2011. Stabilization of shipment for all models should occur by the end of April 2011.

The chip flaw at issue should not happen immediately. Please continue to use your system as is. Once the stabilization of shipment occurs, Sager will start a recall program for all affected models that have already been shipped. Replace the affected systems with a brand new motherboard. We estimate to start the recalling process between May-June’11.

Some have commented will these bad MoBo's end up in the dump or fixed? I think pretty clear in the dump. The Sager release makes it clear a MoBo swap. After thinking about it of course. The chipset is not a PGA connection it is BGA or some similar connection. This is not done by humans. There is no way the automated production process is designed to #1 remove the chipset and #2 allow the insertion of the chipset by itself. Humans can neither produce the quality level or production quantity requirements needed. Even if it was in theory possible to retool the automation the cost would be unacceptable. The first wave of MoBo are a loss. But consider it is still early in the roll out process so the least pain.

I have read that Intel does not even think this will have significant impact on annual sales. Yes it will crush 1st Q numbers but by the end of the year it should level to be same as projected.

If I had a desktop I would use the MoBo then when stabilized have them send me a replacement swap out out send the bad one back. If I was building a desktop now and NewEgg still sold I would even buy a bad one vs waiting till end of April. The reason is this issue does not present immediately. Intel is having them pulled for their economic advantage not mine. Consider that guys with unopened MoBo's?

Someone asked in this or it's sister thread, has anything like this ever happened before? Battery recall affecting 3m+. Well consider this was caught very early so this will not become as bad as many. Anyone remember Nvidia 8xxx GPU's? I know mobiles I think all? Two incompatible materials separated causing overheating and then failure. Intel looks like they are doing a very good very serious effort to make this anything like some things in the past.

I give Intel a big thumbs up. But at the same time I am going to be very quiet around AMD guys who talk them up.
 
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