ASUS Policy on Cougar Point based MBs? (Intel Recall)

aviat72

Limp Gawd
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http://business-video.tmcnet.com/news/2011/01/31/5278452.htm

"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."

Will really appreciate an update on this issue. I have had a nightmarish time just getting my PC to install Windows using the Intel SATA ports so I doubt it is just a performance degradation issue...
 
I will get an answer, to be honest, first I have heard of it being a potential silicon issue. Throughout the entire verification process with Intel to date, we have always been told that some of the problems users have experienced with RAID or incompatibilities would be handled through the upcoming 10.2 RST driver update along with new firmware code for the P67.
 
Subscribed. I'll look forward to what you find out Gary. By the way, I'm very sorry for your loss... I hate to ask, but was it your father who fell off the ladder that passed?
 
Subscribed. I'll look forward to what you find out Gary. By the way, I'm very sorry for your loss... I hate to ask, but was it your father who fell off the ladder that passed?

I am sorry to hear about your loss too.

Our builds can wait.

Though you are welcome to come here for the distraction, I am sure no one will mind if you do not respond.
 
I will get an answer, to be honest, first I have heard of it being a potential silicon issue. Throughout the entire verification process with Intel to date, we have always been told that some of the problems users have experienced with RAID or incompatibilities would be handled through the upcoming 10.2 RST driver update along with new firmware code for the P67.

Please let us know if ASUS will replace our boards through RMA when the new chipset is released.
It will save me down time since I can run my drives off the Marvell ports.
 
Yeah this would be good to know since I have a Sabertooth board coming in tomorrow. Will use it until the new boards come out.
 
How does Asus usually deal with an RMA? Do we have to send our boards in and wait for a return? I hope that Asus will ship us a working board and once we receive it we send back the defective one. This is a total pain in the ass. I just spent a lot of time and effort on two new SB PCs with aftermarket coolers. Pulling the boards, return shipping, waiting for replacement, reinstalling drivers... Not good Intel. Not good. At least they didn't deny the issue but still it's a giant inconvenience.

Edit: Sorry for your loss Gary, I have a feeling you edited your post to remove personal details which is totally understandable.
 
%*#&§!

Thread subscribed. I also have a Sabertooth P67 coming. Would be nice if Asus would advice what to do now. :)

My condolences, Gary
 
subscribed as well, have a P67 Sabertooth coming in this Wednesday from Newegg, wonder if I should just use it for the next couple of months and then RMA with Asus, or not deal with it and return immediately to Newegg? Also, this issue if I'm reading it correctly...it's entirely possible not to ever experience any degradation or issues, or is the flaw systematic and pretty much guaranteed eventually for everyone?
 
NO!!!!! I just got my water block installed 2 days ago!!!!! lol

I'm really starting to hate water cooling.
 
I was going to order my Sandy Build today until I saw this so at this moment its on Hold. I will NOT gamble my money at this point.
 
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I will not order any Mobo until I hear that this Rumor is true or false. I was going to order my Sandy Build today until I saw this so at this moment its on Hold. I will NOT gamble my money at this point.

This is not a rumor. Intel made the announcement to the street including financial projections due to the bug ($300M loss due to production delays, $700M for stuff already sold). A publicly traded corporation only does this when there is a material impact to operations as it is required to do under SEC reporting standards.

Gary/ ASUS, if the fix comes around the same time as the Z68 chip set, I am willing to hold-off on my trade-ins (have a P8H67-M EVO and P8P67 Pro) until the Z68 is out. Might be a way to help slow the RMA rush and get ASUS to generate some revenue out of the incident. Even if the Z68 was due out a month later.
 
If the only affected ports are the SATA3 I wonder if Intel will make Add-On PCI Express card available as a fix rather than replacing the entire motherboard...

This would not be a good solution for me since I have 4 devices on the SATA3 ports (3 of them in RAID0)
 
^
I've already got my SSD and 1TB Black running on the 6Gbps SATA ports since Day 1. No harm in doing so even if my drives didn't saturate the port. Thank goodness for Asus boards, you at least have 2 Marvell SATA ports. Time to move my 1.5TB Green drive and eSATA connector over to the Marvell.
 
Update - 11:43 AM: Intel just held a conference call to talk about the Sandy Bridge chipset problems, and we now have a few more details to share with you.

The problem that's caused Intel to initiate a billion-dollar chipset recall affects the SATA ports on all 6-series chipsets, including the H67 and P67 chipsets most prominently used in consumer products. All of these chipsets are collectively referred to as "Cougar Point" inside of Intel. Because there are no third-party chipsets compatible with Sandy Bridge processors, all Sandy Bridge-based systems are potentially affected, including desktops, laptops, and BYOPC motherboards.

The issue is a circuit design problem resulting in a gradual degradation over time of SATA connectivity on the affected ports, manifesting itself as high bit-error rates on those ports and eventually as total device disconnects.

That's a serious issue, but it's limited in scope. Intel says storage devices connected to those ports should not be damaged, and data on the devices should be intact and readable on another system.

The ports potentially affected, interestingly enough, are the four 3Gbps SATA ports on the chipset. The two 6Gbps SATA ports aren't at risk.

Because this is a chip design-level problem, it will require the replacement of the Cougar Point chips embedded in the motherboards of affected systems. Intel expects to be producing an updated, fixed version of Cougar Point silicon in February. Implementing the fix will involve the replacement of a photomask for one of the layers of metal on the chip. The layer in question is apparently a "later" layer in the production process, so we expect there's some potential for partially completed chips currently in production to have the revised layer applied to them. Intel says the change should be "very straightforward" and it has "very high confidence" that the fix will be effective.

As you may know, Intel pours millions of dollars into validation testing for product like these, and its partners at major PC makers do the same. This problem apparently wasn't detected early on because of its nature, involving a slow degradation of SATA connectivity over time. Intel estimates that something like 5% of systems could develop problems over a three-year life span, assuming typical laptop usage patterns. Beyond that time window, the failure rate might rise further. For systems with heavier usage patterns, the failure rate during that initial three-year window could be as high as roughly 15%. That's obviously high enough to warrant the drastic action Intel is taking.

The first evidence of the problem cropped up during extended testing by PC makers, after the chipsets had passed the initial validation stages within Intel and within the OEMs. Intel says it learned of the problem last week; understanding and characterizing the problem then took a few days. That analysis concluded last night, and the company put shipments of its chipsets on hold this morning. From what we can gather, Intel partners were only very recently notified of the problem, too.

This is obviously still a developing story, and we are working to understand how motherboard makers will address the problem for consumers.
 
Update -
We (along with everyone else) were notified of this problem today after Intel decided to announce this recall and replacement late last night. In the meantime, we will continue to offer full support for our P67/H67 motherboards.
 
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Intel mentions in it's press release that
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.
My MB was manufactured in November 2010. Does this mean I'm safe?
 
Intel mentions in it's press release that

My MB was manufactured in November 2010. Does this mean I'm safe?

Doubtful. The Jan. 9th date they are quoting is the sandy bridge release date, right?. Nothing was supposed to ship before then. So, by saying "only been shipping since January 9th " That covers all Sandy Bridge boards.
 
Wow. I expected some minor problems with SB but nothing to this scale. I'm glad to see Intel is acknowleding the problem but what a PITA for everyone.
 
Frankly, for most of us with a modest number of SATA devices there's no reason to panic or be in a hurry to RMA. Fortunately the two intel 6gbs ports are fine, and so are the two 6gbs marvel ports, which work fine and have good performance. I moved things around a bit after reading the announcement. My Intel G2 SSD's are on the 6gbs ports now, and I moved my Intel G1 SSD to a marvel port along with my 2TB Samsung drive. My old Velociraptor and DVD drive are still on the 3gbs ports, but I could live without my sata DVD drive, since I've also got a USB DVD drive. I might move the Velociraptor to the JMicron controller, although really, if the port it's on degrades I can likely just move it to another of the four 3gbs ports. For me personally, I don't think the hassle of rma'ing is worth it. I upgrade every year or so anyway, so I think I'll just continue using my P8P67 pro unless something that I care about actually dies.

Moving high usage devices to the four 6gbs intel and marvel ports might be a good idea to minimize the chance of failure on the 3gbs ports.
 
If you are using the 6Gbps ports with 3Gbps devices, do you use the 3Gbps cables or the 6Gbps cables?
 
For 3gbs devices, just use the current cable. The 6gbs ports are backwards compatible for both Intel and Marvel.
 
Shame, I was going to pull the trigger on a couple Sabertooth P67's this weekend. Now I'll probably just wait for Z68 based boards, maybe even wait and see what AMD's Bulldozer has in store.

My QX9650 and X6800 have been great over the years but I am real antsy to replace them.
 
Frankly, for most of us with a modest number of SATA devices there's no reason to panic or be in a hurry to RMA. Fortunately the two intel 6gbs ports are fine, and so are the two 6gbs marvel ports, which work fine and have good performance. I moved things around a bit after reading the announcement. My Intel G2 SSD's are on the 6gbs ports now, and I moved my Intel G1 SSD to a marvel port along with my 2TB Samsung drive. My old Velociraptor and DVD drive are still on the 3gbs ports, but I could live without my sata DVD drive, since I've also got a USB DVD drive. I might move the Velociraptor to the JMicron controller, although really, if the port it's on degrades I can likely just move it to another of the four 3gbs ports. For me personally, I don't think the hassle of rma'ing is worth it. I upgrade every year or so anyway, so I think I'll just continue using my P8P67 pro unless something that I care about actually dies.

Moving high usage devices to the four 6gbs intel and marvel ports might be a good idea to minimize the chance of failure on the 3gbs ports.

You would be surprised how many people have more than 6TBs of data now. I have 7 hard drives. That being said I am going to wait for RMA instead of returning because I don't really have a choice.
 
why is it just asus boards that ive read that are having the problem??
unless someone can point me to other threads with other boards having the cougar issue
 
Hypothetical question here...What happens to the folks whom activated a new OS install on the bugged Motherboard that needs to be replaced? If you replace your board and try to re-install the OS using the same key, windows is not going to like it very much, and most likely say that the key is tied to a different system. You probably will need to call one of the monkeys @ ms tech support and get a new key. If your vwindows install is a system builders version of the OS (like many do because its less $$) can you still get a new key for a re-install on the new board? Might have to eat that $100 and pony up for a new key.
 
You know- someone on another board had a good thought- maybe Asus could consider it. I will glady take a SATA pci-express add on card to correct the problem. Maybe Intel can just ship add-on cards to correct the problem- if that is an option I would go for that.
 
Alternatively, if Asus could somehow team up with their large retailers. Let us exchange our boards with our own retailers. Asus could save on shipping and downtime for the customers. That'd give Asus a huge +1 in my books.
 
why is it just asus boards that ive read that are having the problem??
unless someone can point me to other threads with other boards having the cougar issue

Xtreme systems, MSI volunteer forum. They're there, just not in the same numbers. I think the vast majority of folks are not affected by this issue ... yet.

My guess is that ASUS is simply out-selling the competition to such an extent that it looks like an ASUS only problem. Yet, count the number of posts with problems with ASUS P67 boards, its a few dozen individuals not hundreds and many of those complaints deal with sleep mode. Additionally, many of the existing complaints have been addressed.
 
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