[augie]

Intel finds Sandy Bridge chipset design flaw, shipments stopped and recalls beginning
By Tim Stevens posted Jan 31st 2011 10:53AM
Intel finds Sandy Bridge chipset design flaw, shipments stopped and recalls beginning
A problem requiring a "silicon fix" is bad news in the chipset business, and sadly that's what Intel is announcing. Its new Intel 6 Series chipset, Cougar Point, has been found to have a flaw, something to do with the SATA controller. Intel is indicating that the ports can "degrade over time," leading to poor i/o performance down the road. All shipments have been stopped and a fix has been implemented for new deliveries, but it sounds like recalls will be starting soon for those with this ticking time bomb silicon within. It isn't a critical problem right now, though, so if you own a Sandy Bridge Core i5 or Core i7 system keep computing with confidence while looking for a recall notice, but it is bad news for Intel's bottom line: the company is advising a $300 million hit to revenue.

Endgadget.com

Anandtech.com

I can't get a signal from my video card, maybe the chipset is dead. Last Time I buy something on zero-day.

[yeshuas]

Is this the second generation i5 and i7 chips Algis or the first ones?

Nevermind just read an email from the Intel Channel, it is the first ones, the Intel® 6 Series Express Chipset and the C200 chipset. LOL

Guess I will get some calls soon, since I built quite a few of these, but they mention contacting my clients concerning an up-sell

[shreader]

I'm going to finish building the new Main rig this week.
This is not good news as I have a new ASUS P8P67 Pro board w/ a P67 Intel chipset naturally.

I read the AnandTech story & it sounds like only the Intel SATA 3gb/s connections are affected, I hope thats all, still sucks

I also checked the ASUS support forum for my board, here is a quote from a member:

"this only affects the 3gb/s ports onboard the Intel 67 chip. The 6gb/s sata ports onboard the chip are not affected and will not suffer the degredation in function. Further, any ports from third-party suppliers such as JMicron and Marvell are fine."

[yeshuas]

I used a lot of ASUS boards, so time will tell

[shreader]

>snip<
Anandtech.com

I can't get a signal from my video card, maybe the chipset is dead. Last Time I buy something on zero-day.

What board are you using Algis?

Here is more from Anandtech

The Source of Intel's Cougar Point SATA Bug
by Anand Lal Shimpi on 1/31/2011 6:05:00 PM
The Problem
Cougar Point (Intel’s 6-series chipsets: H67/P67) has two sets of SATA ports: four that support 3Gbps operation, and two that support 6Gbps operation. Each set of ports requires its own PLL source.
The problem in the chipset was traced back to a transistor in the 3Gbps PLL clocking tree. The aforementioned transistor has a very thin gate oxide, which allows you to turn it on with a very low voltage. Unfortunately in this case Intel biased the transistor with too high of a voltage, resulting in higher than expected leakage current. Depending on the physical characteristics of the transistor the leakage current here can increase over time which can ultimately result in this failure on the 3Gbps ports. The fact that the 3Gbps and 6Gbps circuits have their own independent clocking trees is what ensures that this problem is limited to only ports 2 - 5 off the controller.

>snip<

One fix for this type of a problem would be to scale down the voltage applied across the problematic transistor. In this case there’s a much simpler option. The source of the problem is actually not even a key part of the 6-series chipset design, it’s remnant of an earlier design that’s no longer needed. In our Sandy Bridge review I pointed out the fair amount of design reuse that was done in creating the 6-series chipset. The solution Intel has devised is to simply remove voltage to the transistor. The chip is functionally no different, but by permanently disabling the transistor the problem will never arise.

To make matters worse, the problem was inserted at the B-stepping of the 6-series chipsets. Earlier steppings (such as what we previewed last summer) didn’t have the problem. Unfortunately for Intel, only B-stepping chipsets shipped to customers. Since the fix involves cutting off voltage to a transistor it will be fixed with a new spin of metal and you’ll get a new associated stepping (presumably C-stepping?).

[augie]

MSI P67-C43.

EDIT: I just checked my supplier, they've already pulled all the 1155 boards, it's as if they never existed. Time to get an RMA, hopefully shipping will be pre-paid.

Edit2: Since I can't get a video signal anyways, I'm going to see what the RMA route will bring, maybe I'll get lucky and get put at the start of the line.

1. Customers who have already purchased their motherboard will be credited with 2500 NCIX Rewards points.
2. We are currently working with all of our partners to find a solution for customers who have purchased Sandy Bridge components. Please check back to this forum thread for the most up-to date information. Again, we suggest that to reduce the risk of data corruption or data loss, please move all drives to either the Intel SATA3 6.0Gb/s ports or any other 3rd party chipset SATA3 6.0Gb/s ports (check your motherboard manual). It is also recommended that if you must use any of the SATA2 3.0Gb/s ports, you should use them with your least important drives or ones that access read-only media (ie DVD burner).

Thanks JD.

[shreader]

NP Algis, hopefully it'll work-out good for you.

I contacted MicroCenter (800#) & they said bring the MB back ASAP for a refund, because they have to return them.
I called my local MC store too & Destiny (she sounded like a babe) said I could return the MB & CPU for a refund, the sooner the better (for them?). What about the 8GB of memory & case I already bought too?

This situation really stinks.

I emailed the MC customer support (CS) to pleaded my case for hanging onto it until replacements are available (or a upgrade). Have to wait until I hear back, this will show (me) how good their CS is @ MC I suppose.
MC does have a 30 day return policy which will play into it too. They don't like to take open CPU's back either, but will in this case.

Hopefully this will be sorted out soon & in the customers favor

[augie]

Ya, a big f$&^($ mess for sure. I'm not sure why MC wants the CPU back though as it has nothing to do with the mobo recall.

[shreader]

At first MC resisted taking the CPU back but I asked to speak to her supervisor & after a pause she said I could return that too.

I wanted to keep my options open & maybe go AMD instead of Intel.

After a couple of email w/ the support guy, I was pushing keeping the MB until a replacement was available, he said:

Our sources say they will not be available till April or May, that’s all we know. I would prefer you get a full refund or exchange it so you are not hanging

[augie]

April or May!?? Gah, I got $600 worth of newly bought hardware doing nothing and I already sold my Q6600. I just might follow your route JD.