Alert for Intel® 6 Series Express Chipsets and Intel® Xeon® C200 Chipsets users
@ 2011/02/01Official Intel statement :
We are seeing official statements pop up from eg Asrock here : ASrock statement regarding Intel 6 chipset quality issues
ASUS put his up : Responding to the Intel-identified Sandy Bridge chipset design error
Gigabyte replies here : GIGABYTE Acknowledges Intel’s Alert for Regarding 6 Series Chipset
Several Belgian shops (Alternate, Jaha.be,... ) have removed the Sandy Bridge motherboards from their listing. This all until further information is known.
Current workaround is to hook up the drives (hard drives/optical and SSD's) to the port 0 and 1, which are connected to the S-ATA 6gbps. Or to a 3rd party controller (most motherboards have a Marvell and sort-like controller onboard. This to keep your systems running till a replacement is available.
Quote:
"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 (and the Intel® C200 Series Chipset), 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. 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. 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. If you believe you may be affected by this issue, please contact your place of purchase, or your Intel Field Sales Representative." |
ASUS put his up : Responding to the Intel-identified Sandy Bridge chipset design error
Gigabyte replies here : GIGABYTE Acknowledges Intel’s Alert for Regarding 6 Series Chipset
Several Belgian shops (Alternate, Jaha.be,... ) have removed the Sandy Bridge motherboards from their listing. This all until further information is known.
Current workaround is to hook up the drives (hard drives/optical and SSD's) to the port 0 and 1, which are connected to the S-ATA 6gbps. Or to a 3rd party controller (most motherboards have a Marvell and sort-like controller onboard. This to keep your systems running till a replacement is available.
5-15% failure rate is reason enough for a recall. And that's what they're doing.