SANTA CLARA, Calif., Jan. 31, 2011 - As part of ongoing quality assurance, Intel Corporation has discovered a design issue in a recently released support chip, the Intel® 6 Series, code-named Cougar Point, and has implemented a silicon fix. 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 chipset is utilized in PCs with Intel's latest Second Generation Intel Core processors, code-named Sandy Bridge. Intel has stopped shipment of the affected support chip from its factories. Intel has corrected the design issue, and has begun manufacturing a new version of the support chip which will resolve the issue. The Sandy Bridge microprocessor is unaffected and no other products are affected by this issue.
The company expects to begin delivering the updated version of the chipset to customers in late February and expects full volume recovery in April.
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Intel Identifies Chipset Design Error, Implementing Solution
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Originally Posted by
devilsburger
Posted by Nathan Kirsch of legitreviews.com
I just got off a conference call with Intel and it looks like they got a mess on their hands right now. Intel had a design oversight with one of the metal layers of their 6 series chipset, so they need a re-spin of the silicon to fix the issue. This issue is on all 'Cougar Town' 6 series chipsets and Intel said that slightly less than 8 million of these chipsets have already been made. All of those chipsets have Serial-ATA (SATA) ports within the chipsets that may degrade over time, potentially impacting the performance or functionality of SATA-linked devices such as hard disk drives and DVD-drives. Intel said that the issue is only one four of the chipsets six SATA ports. The SATA III 6Gbps ports are not impacted by this issue. Intel went on to say that not one consumer board has been returned with this issue, but it's an issue that arises with time. Internal Intel use conditions right now project 5-6% failure rates for notebooks over a 3 year life for a machine. It appears that the more voltage and higher temperatures the PC is run at will only increase the chances of failure. What happens when it fails? It looks like you'll get bit errors on the SATA link and have drives no longer showing up on the platform. It sounds like no data will be lost though and that the drive can be placed on another system for data recovery if your chipset should fail. Intel expects to have new silicon to be rolling off the fab lines in February and then have the issue resolved in April 2011. We have contact ASUS, MSI, Gigabyte and ECS, but none of the companies responded. MSI replied that we were the first to bring the issue to their attention. We looked at Newegg and they are still selling Intel 6 series boards.
Originally Posted by
devilsburger
Intel Corp cut its first-quarter revenue forecast by $300 million on Monday because of costs associated with correcting a design flaw it discovered in one of its chips. Intel said it had stopped shipments of the chip, which is used in PCs with the company's latest generation Sandy Bridge processors, and had implemented a fix. It estimated the total cost to repair and replace the chip at about $700 million. The issue on the new chipset means that 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 chipset is utilized in PCs with Intel's latest Second Generation Intel Core processors, code-named Sandy Bridge. Intel has stopped shipment of the affected support chip from its factories. Updated chipsets are expected in late February, with full volume recovery in April.
Originally Posted by
devilsburger
We just got word back from Gigabyte USA and it looks like they are the first to confirm with Legit Reviews that they have stopped shipping all of their Intel 6-series motherboards. If you already have a board hold tight as Gigabyte is figuring out what to do right now. Gigabyte is planning on doing some sort of RMA for users that have one of these new boards. If we had to guess those of you that have one of these boards should sit tight a month or two until Intel gets production ramped up on the fixed 6-series chipset. Gigabyte USA said they should have some more news on the subject later today at 3pm PST.
For the 6-series boards, we have stopped shipping boards out from our warehouse. All our sales has informed all our channels/resellers/distributors to stop selling the 6-series boards. The management is discussing with our HQ to find out more detailed solutions and will keep you updated later today.
Intel recalls all chipsets for Sandy Bridge
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