Intel Recalls New Chipset-Based Motherboards 165
VD writes "Intel Corp., world's largest chip maker, has made a serious mistake, which led the chip giant to recall its recently launched 925 and 915 chipset based motherboards. Intel reported the problem to be with the ICH6 and requested that motherboard makers recall their motherboards from the channel. The chip maker has agreed to pay compensation to motherboard makers for the losses." There's also a Reuters story as well.
Ouch! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Ouch! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Ouch! (Score:2)
How many people remember the Pentium floating point division bug?
Re:Ouch! (Score:2, Interesting)
Instead, not only do we get this Intel oops [theinquirer.net] (which actually is
Hey... (Score:1)
Foolish AMD quote (Score:5, Insightful)
In general, a mistake by one competitor does not give me more trust in another. Less trust in the former, yes.
Re:Foolish AMD quote (Score:2)
I agree. The market hurts when these things happen.
Re:Foolish AMD quote (Score:5, Insightful)
Id have a lot less trust if they tried to deny it for ages, until theyre eventually forced to admit the mistake and then not want to compensate people for their losses.
Of course, with the problem being that the motherboards prevent booting, I suspect its not something they could hide for long - so they really didnt have much choice.
Re:Foolish AMD quote (Score:2)
--
11 Gmail invitations availiable [retailretreat.com]
Re:Foolish AMD quote (Score:2)
Re:Foolish AMD quote (Score:3, Insightful)
Yeah, that rocks. Maybe they learned something from the 585.98234587264872642348725462532 fiasco...
required actions don't demonstrate trustworthiness (Score:5, Insightful)
What this demonstrates is soundness of strategy given that they find themselves in this pickle (of their own making) to start with. They've avoided the even bigger mistake of staying silent, and the redress they're offering to mobo manufacturers is likely to minimize the damage to their relationships with these parties.
Re:Foolish AMD quote (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Foolish AMD quote (Score:1)
Maybe so, but remember, everything is relative: just because AMD doesn't get any more trust, doesn't mean that this doesn't make me trust them more than Intel. But I have trusted AMD for quite some time, since they have not made the mistake of creating a huge pipeline. When people can make good overall decisions, the smaller parts can be worked out easily enough.
Costs (Score:4, Insightful)
Customers will think twice before being early adopters for Intel, and that is when prices go up.
Re:Costs (Score:3)
I would suspect that many here do, some would say to excess... I have 4 computers and spare parts enough for another 4 lying around in closets and boxes...
Re:Costs (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:Costs (Score:4, Insightful)
Old systems (Score:2)
-Z
Re:Old systems (Score:2)
(Even an XT!!)
Re:Costs (Score:2)
Re:Costs (Score:2)
In the grand Intel tradition, this new series of hardware is both slower & more expensive than the previous generation, not to mention that you can't actually find any PCI Express video cards yet. I don't really see too many of these things floating around in the hands of actual customers yet.
Re:Costs (Score:2)
Re:Costs (Score:2)
It's common practice among the brave! (and stupid)
Let's face it, the early adopters are going to back away from this and wait. Sales to early adopters are the most important, imho, due mostly to word of mouth. Anyone who *was* thinking of buying one has just changed their mind.
I remember when a buddy of mine bought the first 3d card I ever saw in action
Drat (Score:2)
I guess my jetnoise athlon can hold on for a few more weeks.
*sigh*
Re:Drat (Score:2, Insightful)
Its clear that... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Its clear that... (Score:1)
Geek: "A Major one.."
the actual quote (Score:1, Informative)
But since I have karma worse than that of satan... no one will ever get a chance to read this. *sigh* Such is life.
Maybe someone is browsing at 0, or -1?
Re:the actual quote (Score:2)
Intel rushed.... (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Intel rushed....but got it right (Score:1)
Re:Intel rushed....but got it right (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Intel rushed....but got it right (Score:2)
Re:Intel rushed.... (Score:2)
It happens. Intel and AMD's struggle for the desktop market is
Re:Intel rushed.... (Score:2)
Re:Intel rushed.... (Score:2)
Can't they just release a patch? (Score:1, Offtopic)
We should be more surprised (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:We should be more surprised (Score:1)
>part is the marketing boost AMD get from this.
I disagree.
From my viewpoint as a consumer, Intel has gained respect in my eyes for recalling their chips and righting a wrong swiftly. Not screwing the board makers or the end-users with ongoing denials until it's too late. I think Intel gained a bit of good karma for this, not AMD.
Re:We should be more surprised (Score:2)
When was the last AMD recall you can remember? Now AMD is a lot smaller than Intel and they don't make nearly the number of chipsets, but it does indicate that AMD take more care before they release a pro
So what's the problem? (Score:2, Funny)
Oh, lord... The comedic value to be had in that line alone...
Were the ones who reported that loss to be "minimal" either Windows or Linux users? In any event, the inability to boot would certainly negate my ability to download that evil free stuff off the internet, so perhaps Intel just mistakenly released their DR
Intentions? (Score:1, Insightful)
Do we really accept that these motherboards had a bug? Or was Intel trying to paper launch the motherboards using hardware that was still being worked upon?
Mistakes like these do not happen due to QA or engineering. They happen due to the upper levels of the company pressing a product and tossing a coin in the air that it may work properly long
Re:Intentions? (Score:5, Insightful)
The first line you wrote pretty much negates all the drivel that follows it. You obviously have absolutely no idea how a manufacturing process works.
Intel needs to restructure their company.
Yes because they have been such a consistently pathetic failure over the last 10- 15 years.
all innovation in the CPU industry is put on hold until the market demands updates in speeds
The market constantly demands increases in speed as enterprise applications become more sophisticated and complex.
before we find an accounting error trying to sustain a broken company
One of the dumbest comments I have ever seen on
Re:Intentions? (Score:2)
The first line you wrote pretty much negates all the drivel that follows it. You obviously have absolutely no idea how a manufacturing process works."
ISO 9001. Read it. Learn it.
"all innovation in the CPU industry is put on hold until the market demands updates in speeds
The market constantly demands increases in speed as enterprise applicatio
Re:Intentions? (Score:1)
RTFA, it was a fab excursion, in other words some problem during manufaturing which was not caught by their tests and or QA.
Re:Intentions? (Score:2)
I don't know that at all.
I mean they had the floating point error in the pentium III, the 1.13 ghz coppermine fiasco, and now this bad chipset as the most current example. While AMD may have delays, I don't ever remember them shipping a bad chip. If we look at Intels track record, thier QA is mediocre.
Re:Intentions? (Score:1)
[AMD] I don't ever remember them shipping a bad chip
I don't recall any recent CPU recall, but just last week they had to microcode fix a bug (REP MOVS* screwing up if DF=1 and an instruction from a limited somewhat unlikely set was being executed in parallell) in Opteron.
Re:Intentions? (Score:2)
See: Prescott bugs [intel.com]
Itanium bugs [intel.com]
Opteron bugs [amd.com]
Just do a search of errata and the cpu you're interested in.
Most people won't encounter these bugs because the CPU makers would have tested the CPUs on a superset of what most people do. And nowadays most people don't write new code and of the code that people write, most of it is actually written by compilers, so genuinely novel m
Re:Intentions? (Score:2)
I have a client with one of these chips, and I went round and round with AMD trying to get it replaced, to no resul
Tom's Hardware link (Score:5, Informative)
Bleeding Edge (Score:3, Insightful)
Don't buy grey market then (Score:2)
Actually, considering the trend to not provide any kind of warrently, i.e. all returns to orig. manufacturer, you have to wonder if reputable vendors have any incentive to carry the most current versions either.
Re:Don't buy grey market then (Score:2)
Déja vù? (Score:1)
Re:Déja vù? (Score:2, Informative)
There is practically no reason for the average (or above average) user to use PPC architecture
Re:Déja vù? (Score:2)
AMD is a processor (hardware) is just one piece of the puzzle.
Most people need complete solutions, and software is the other big part!!
No, Linux isn't an answer yet. Its good when I want to play i.e. from 5PM till 9AM on weekdays and on weekends.
Between 9AM and 5PM when my job is at stake, I'd like that damn thing to work!! And Apple's PPC+OSX combo is bett
hardware vs software.. (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:hardware vs software.. (Score:2)
NOT a big deal (Score:5, Informative)
Re:NOT a big deal (Score:1)
Your message needs to be modded up for people to see!
Re:NOT a big deal (Score:2)
Seeing that there are 6 links in that article, and five of them happen to point to the same page, it would lead one to assume that the person posting the article on /. is the same one reporting on the problem.
That would at least explain why they both seem to be written by a 14-year old.
Re:NOT a big deal (Score:2)
http://www.allstarshop.com/shop/simprod.asp?pid = 69 80&ad=pwatch
There is of course, PCI Express video cards out there...
However, I think reviews indicated the new PCI Express video cards were not quite taking full advantage of the new bus.
It's quite understandable.
In any event, I'm not one to ride to the forefront of technological changes. I'll wait for the bugs and performance issues to get ironed out and then look at upgrading next
Re:NOT a big deal (Score:3, Interesting)
It was probably meant to be parsed "((new chipset)-based) motherboards", not "new (chipset-based) motherboards". English needs explicit scoping
Re:NOT a big deal (Score:1)
Re:NOT a big deal (Score:2)
WHAT? OMFG! I'm 2 WHOLE DAYS BEHIND on my news? Just shoot me now, I don't want to live another day...
A quick search finds several manufacturers' press releases that say they have introduced PCI Express video cards already. Do you realize that "on the market" doesn't mean "on Best Buy shelves"
Re:NOT a big deal (Score:1)
Eureka! (Score:1)
ICH6? (Score:1)
Re:ICH6? (Score:5, Informative)
Chipset-based motherboards?! (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Chipset-based motherboards?! (Score:1)
Now we know... (Score:2, Funny)
Should Intel be making mistakes like this? (Score:1)
All they have is the best name recognition- which makes no sense because they habitually relase cpu's/chipsets with major flaws, their P4's(which they said would reach 10ghz) has tapped o
D'OH! They forgot to..... (Score:2)
Some thoughts... (Score:2)
Re:Some thoughts... (Score:2)
Interestingly, this isn't listed on AMD's errata page, which appears to be two years out of date.
Re:Some thoughts... (Score:2)
Yes, but a) this has caused no known problems and b) there will be a BIOS fix soon.
Interestingly, this isn't listed on AMD's errata page, which appears to be two years out of date.
I was able to find the Opteron/Athlon 64 Revision Guide [amd.com] from a post on one of AMD's online forums [amd.com]. It looks like the forums are pretty responsive, from what I saw.
Re:Some thoughts... (Score:2)
Wrong. This is not a design issue, this was a fab event. Anybody who works with semiconductor manufacturing can tell you that this sort of thing happens all to often.
AMD is not any better. It took them nearly a year to get their SOI process stable enough to launch the Athlon 64. This is just part of the business. It's just unfortunate for Intel that this happen
Re:Some thoughts... (Score:2)
There is a QC issue if Intel didn't catch it in time to prevent a multi-million dollar screwup.
Note that AMD didn't ship anything until it's process was wor
Intel's "mobile edge" is more marketing than tech (Score:2)
Re:Intel's "mobile edge" is more marketing than te (Score:2)
I went looking for power consumption info on Pentium M, but couldn't easily find any. I'm pretty sure it's even less than 25 W. However, I'd personally rather have an Athlon 64 notebook, since I hear you can get three hours of real-world use out of the E-machines 6805 and it should spank any of the Pentium Ms on performance. That is my current first choice, along with the 6809.
A Canadian company (the name escapes me at the moment) is supposedly making A64 notebooks with
Re:Intel's "mobile edge" is more marketing than te (Score:2)
Not paying the Microsoft Tax is also a plus : )
Re:Intel's "mobile edge" is more marketing than te (Score:2)
Take a look at all the current stuff coming out of the japanese market... ~8 hours and under 3 pounds.
American notebooks remind me of american cars: bloated, oversized, inefficient.
Re:Intel's "mobile edge" is more marketing than te (Score:2)
Re:Intel's "mobile edge" is more marketing than te (Score:2)
That powerbook is significantly heavier with way less battery life than its competition.... it's not like it offers more features which are accounting for the weight either. It's just plain clunky.
Re:Intel's "mobile edge" is more marketing than te (Score:2)
Re:Intel's "mobile edge" is more marketing than te (Score:2)
Outside of the antiquated graphics chip the zv5000z is a pretty nice notebook. I swappe
Once again, well done intel (Score:2, Informative)
I remember that they replaced my Pentium processor
when it had the F00F bug in it.
This was handled very well, even though I am in
Europe, a new processor was delivered via courier,
and I had to return the old one at the arrival of
the replacement, so I had no large downtime.
They did the right thing then, although at first
they claimed that only science users should get a
replacement, and private owners wouldnt notice
the bug. After a storm of complaints they did the
right thing, a
"new" "chipset based motherboards" (Score:2)
Foiled again! (Score:2, Informative)
According to spokesperson Christian Anderka, a piece of foil which should have been removed from the ICH6 was not removed completely which could result in leakage current in the Real Time Clock circuit and potentially stop a motherboard from booting.
Re:Imagine if the mistake was yours (Score:5, Informative)
It is not necesarilly an engineer who is responsible for the mistake. It is not a design flaw, it is a flaw in the manufacturing process. Guess this could possibly have been caused by broken equipment, possibly careless handling.
Re:Imagine if the mistake was yours (Score:1)
Flaws get tested or engineered out, or someone messed up...
(Yes, I've done both development and manufacturing.
Re:Imagine if the mistake was yours (Score:3, Insightful)
- The engineer who made the original mistake
- The document writer who may have caused it
- The manager who failed to do enough checking
- The QA people for missing it
and so it goes on.
Kudos to Intel for simply saying "We screwed up" and recalling products. They seem to have learned much from the old Pentium FPU errata handling.
Re:Imagine if the mistake was yours (Score:2, Funny)
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Links (Score:2)
Re:Links (Score:2)
Indeed... I always love that you have to mouse-over every link to see if it's to the main page of the company (eg. microsoft.com) or to the story/issue in question (eg. microsoft.com/support/138332.html).
But, stricter posting standards would only help a little bit, as every other site on the internet is going to do it their own way anyhow. This is just one reason why it's getting near the end of the rein of HTML. Something e
Re:What's actually wrong with ICH6? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Computer Dorks (Score:1)
Who's complaining?
You should be applauding Intel for saying so quickly
We are.
instead of trying to release some ineffective firmware patch
It's a bit hard to patch a physical manufacturing defect, so there really is absolutely no other option.
You shouldn't be whining about the temporary loss of a brand-new computer
Who's whining? It's news.
other than that you wanted to play around with it and install some more software
Well I'm glad you hold such strong valuable principles. Th