Chipmaker Intel this morning halted some shipments of a support chip for their much ballyhooed Sandy Bridge microprocessor and is ordering a partial recall.
The company has stopped shipping the Cougar Point support chip for the Intel 6 Series from their factories and is contacting customers about replacing the bad chip by late February.
The problem, which can be solved with a "silicon fix," can in some cases lead to the Serial ATA port degrading over time, potentially impacting the performance or functionality of SATA-linked devices like hard drives and DVD drives.
"The systems with the affected support chips have only been shipping since January 9 and the company believes that relatively few consumers are impacted by this issue," according to the press release. "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. For further information consumers should contact Intel at www.intel.com on the support page or contact their OEM manufacturer."
My boutique-built desktop, ordered on Friday from Origin, has been put on hold. I'm sure I'm not the only one in that boat.
Intel Identifies Chipset Design Error, Implementing Solution [Intel]