Defect In Chipsets Forces Recall-Part Two

Earlier, Intel had identified a major bug in a 6 Series chipset support chip, code named ‎Cougar Point (”Sandy Bridge”) processing platform. Intel has to bear the consequences ‎‎(halting shipments and replacing hardware could cost up to $700 million), strained ‎customer relationships and their own relationship with OEMs and Service Providers. ‎

It is well known that Intel was banking on their new Sandy Bridge Platform to revive its ‎past glory. But an unexpected glitch that cropped up altered the storyline.‎

The design issue noticed caused Serial ATA (SATA) transfers to degrade over time; one ‎transistor carried a higher leakage in current than is permissible. The defect could make the ‎SATA ports to fail entirely.‎

Only the P67 and H67 motherboards having the 6 Series chipset have been affected by ‎the glitch. The Cougar Point problem specifically affects the motherboard’s SATA ‎controller, reducing performance of hard drives, optical drives, and other SATA-driven ‎devices. The problem occurs only in slower 3-Gbps ports. ‎

The error is hard-to-notice immediately, so ordinary users probably won’t notice anything ‎yet. Desktop PCs are the most hit by the flaw. Because of the integrated hardware set up, a simple ‎swap-out would not work. New hardware is essential. Because replacement chipsets have ‎to be produced again, this effort would involve considerable time.‎