Sandy Bridge design flaw - Intel halted on NASDAQ - updated 2/8/11.

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SickBeast

Lifer
Jul 21, 2000
14,377
19
81
Did your supplier (or Intel?) call you and tell you to stop selling boards ?

I would think it would be FAR cheaper for Intel & and its partners, to just recall all the boards, instead of sending them out and then have the end-users deal with the shipping headaches.

It sounds like intel is saying that people can only RMA their boards if they are experiencing the problem.
 

Locut0s

Lifer
Nov 28, 2001
22,205
44
91
I feel bad for you at NCIX. You guys are a great retailer. I'm sure you're going to have to deal with a lot of pissed off people soon.

Yeah I'm going to a store meeting tonight and I'm sure we will talk about what our strategy is going to be. The people I feel sorry for is our 2 store techs :( just think of the hundreds of systems they are going to have to deal with. For sales guys like me it will probably just mean reduced sales till April or so.
 

SickBeast

Lifer
Jul 21, 2000
14,377
19
81
Yeah I'm going to a store meeting tonight and I'm sure we will talk about what our strategy is going to be. The people I feel sorry for is our 2 store techs :( just think of the hundreds of systems they are going to have to deal with. For sales guys like me it will probably just mean reduced sales till April or so.

From what I've gathered, Intel is only approving an RMA if people are actually experiencing the problem with the SATA ports. That's why I think you're going to be stuck with a bunch of pissed off people who want their motherboard replaced, but you won't be able to do it for them unless they are directly affected.

Good luck!
 

Locut0s

Lifer
Nov 28, 2001
22,205
44
91
Did your supplier (or Intel?) call you and tell you to stop selling boards ?

I would think it would be FAR cheaper for Intel & and its partners, to just recall all the boards, instead of sending them out and then have the end-users deal with the shipping headaches.

I think we are stopping for now. I'm going to a store meeting right now where we will talk about it.
 

GuitarDaddy

Lifer
Nov 9, 2004
11,465
1
0
Wonder how much sales will be effected at stores like mine (ncix). Will have to see what I'm going to do with customers I've already sold SB systems to.


It will effect them greatly just like Newegg. I have no doubt Newegg has pulled all the boards and CPU's as a big FU to Intel. Intel just took a giant steaming dump on their business with no warning.

Even though Intel through the boardmakers will compensate newegg for all the returns and replacements, Newegg is losing BIG on this! Right in the middle of a huge new product launch sales cycle, their sales will drop to nothing, and they have warehouses full of worthless product that will have to be shipped back to board makers and CPU's that they won't be able to sell until April. In effect Intel in one technical bumble has wiped out the majority of Neweggs sales and the expected profit from those sales for 2 months.

Not to mention the hit to customer service reputation and the stress it will put on their returns department
 
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eternalone

Golden Member
Sep 10, 2008
1,500
2
81
It will effect them greatly just like Newegg. I have no doubt Newegg has pulled all the boards and CPU's as a big FU to Intel. Intel just took a giant steaming dump on their business with no warning.

Even though Intel through the boardmakers will compensate newegg for all the returns and replacements, Newegg is losing BIG on this! Right in the middle of a huge new product launch sales cycle, their sales will drop to nothing, and they have warehouses full of worthless product that will have to be shipped back to board makers and CPU's that they won't be able to sell until April. In effect Intel in one technical bumble has wiped out the majority of Neweggs sales and the expected profit from those sales for 2 months.

very good points totally forgot about this aspect of the whole business. The thing is how could intel let this happen seems like a big oversight for such a big company.
 

Zorkorist

Diamond Member
Apr 17, 2007
6,861
3
76
Intel is the one that loses the most. So it's silly, to blame Intel.

Everyone in the business was geared up for Sandy Bridge, and now it is for naught. But it's Intel that will take the global hit, when all they really have to do is offer folks a PCIe SATA card.

-John
 

Locut0s

Lifer
Nov 28, 2001
22,205
44
91
From what I've gathered, Intel is only approving an RMA if people are actually experiencing the problem with the SATA ports. That's why I think you're going to be stuck with a bunch of pissed off people who want their motherboard replaced, but you won't be able to do it for them unless they are directly affected.

Good luck!

Yeah that might suck a bit. Though again more for the techs than me as they are the ones that handle all the RMAs. Wonder how many customers will be ok with "just use the SATA III ports".
 

Nintendesert

Diamond Member
Mar 28, 2010
7,761
5
0
what the heck @ newegg pulling all the SB chips and mobos..

jesus christ when are they gonna put them back up? APRIL???? just put a huge disclaimer stating the problems with the mobos or whatever; dont deactivate them and crap!!!



Come on, they can't knowingly sell recalled and faulty hardware like that. Newegg is doing about the only thing they can with a shitty situation.
 

Zorkorist

Diamond Member
Apr 17, 2007
6,861
3
76
Did your supplier (or Intel?) call you and tell you to stop selling boards ?

I would think it would be FAR cheaper for Intel & and its partners, to just recall all the boards, instead of sending them out and then have the end-users deal with the shipping headaches.
Intel has officially told system builders to stop selling Sandy Bridge.

It's a complete reboot. When all they had to do was give out PCI/e SATA cards.

-John
 

MrTransistorm

Senior member
May 25, 2003
311
0
0
Do you remember the Intel floating point CPU fiasco? I'd say that was worse.
Especially since Intel didn't man-up to that fault right away. IIRC, in the end you had to prove that the FPU bug affected you directly in order to get a replacement.

Intel's handling of the SB mess is already much better than it was with the Pentium.

When all they had to do was give out PCI/e SATA cards.

Would you accept a band-aid for a known-faulty chipset? What if you don't have room for another PCIe card?
 
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Locut0s

Lifer
Nov 28, 2001
22,205
44
91
very good points totally forgot about this aspect of the whole business. The thing is how could intel let this happen seems like a big oversight for such a big company.

From reading the latest Anandtech post it sounds like it may have been an engineering oversight. That's one engineer who is out of a job me thinks. As for why they didn't catch it that's because it only occurs in a small percentage of chipsets and only over time.
 

Zorkorist

Diamond Member
Apr 17, 2007
6,861
3
76
Come on, they can't knowingly sell recalled and faulty hardware like that. Newegg is doing about the only thing they can with a shitty situation.
Toss in a free sata card and call it good.

I don't think Intel management thought this thing through.

-John
 

Locut0s

Lifer
Nov 28, 2001
22,205
44
91
It will effect them greatly just like Newegg. I have no doubt Newegg has pulled all the boards and CPU's as a big FU to Intel. Intel just took a giant steaming dump on their business with no warning.

Even though Intel through the boardmakers will compensate newegg for all the returns and replacements, Newegg is losing BIG on this! Right in the middle of a huge new product launch sales cycle, their sales will drop to nothing, and they have warehouses full of worthless product that will have to be shipped back to board makers and CPU's that they won't be able to sell until April. In effect Intel in one technical bumble has wiped out the majority of Neweggs sales and the expected profit from those sales for 2 months.

Not to mention the hit to customer service reputation and the stress it will put on their returns department

Yeah this is what I've been thinking. And I thought business has been slow recently, actually not that bad. It's about to come to a haul. :(
 

Dadofamunky

Platinum Member
Jan 4, 2005
2,184
0
0
Day 1 of the Cougar Point Meltdown:

Come home today, cold booted. Everything ran well...but for how long? Suddenly the scent of burning silicon wafted through the air, hanging like a man on the gallows. Or did it? As I write this, I could not say if that odor was real or imagined. As I started through my side panel window, the molded black plastic of my UD4 stared back at me. Did it know my fear?

Ah, I can see the lawyer's antennae twitching, twitching oh so sensitively.... :D
 
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Zorkorist

Diamond Member
Apr 17, 2007
6,861
3
76
Especially since Intel didn't man-up to that fault right away. IIRC, in the end you had to prove that the FPU bug affected you directly in order to get a replacement.

Intel's handling of the SB mess is already much better than it was with the Pentium.



Would you accept a band-aid for a known-faulty chipset? What if you don't have room for another PCIe card?
Everyone has room for another card. I'm not using any card slots... would you like one of mine?

-John
 

SickBeast

Lifer
Jul 21, 2000
14,377
19
81
Yeah that might suck a bit. Though again more for the techs than me as they are the ones that handle all the RMAs. Wonder how many customers will be ok with "just use the SATA III ports".

Wouldn't it actually be cheaper and perhaps better if Intel just gave everyone a PCI-E SATA card?
 

smangular

Senior member
Nov 11, 2010
347
0
0
]From what I've gathered[/B], Intel is only approving an RMA if people are actually experiencing the problem with the SATA ports. That's why I think you're going to be stuck with a bunch of pissed off people who want their motherboard replaced, but you won't be able to do it for them unless they are directly affected.

That is absolutely false. Intel will not restrict RMAs to demonstrated defective products.
 

Engineer

Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
39,230
701
126
If it were a SATA III (6Gbps) PCIe card (more than 2 ports), I would be fine keeping what I've got and using it.
 

Dadofamunky

Platinum Member
Jan 4, 2005
2,184
0
0
Wow. That's really weird, every SB CPU AND board being pulled from the market. Makes me feel like we're all out on an island by ourselves. So. WHO DO WE VOTE OFF FIRST?
 

Zorkorist

Diamond Member
Apr 17, 2007
6,861
3
76
Someone above said we have collectable components... and he's probably not far off from the truth, if Intel really does reboot.

-John
 

Zorkorist

Diamond Member
Apr 17, 2007
6,861
3
76
Sandy Bridge just started selling on January 9...

20 days later, and it's dead.

-John
 

Zorkorist

Diamond Member
Apr 17, 2007
6,861
3
76
That's good for you, but please stop assuming that your solution is acceptable for everyone. You also don't have to post the same thing three times on the same page. ;)
My solution is acceptable for most people, as most people have a free card slot (or twenty).

-John