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

Well, crap. I just finished my SB build a week ago. Got the ASUS P8P67 standard from TigerDirect. I have a relatively simple set up, just 1 1TB HD and a DVD drive on the SATA II 3.0gb/s ports. Im also going to wait to hear more update on this situation. When the time comes to RMA, should I contact TigerDirect or ASUS?

I, too, have the OEM version of Windows 7 home edition. Hopefully, Microsoft won't hassle me when I try to get a new CD key.

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Finisher said:
I, too, have the OEM version of Windows 7 home edition. Hopefully, Microsoft won't hassle me when I try to get a new CD key.
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I also have an OEM version of Windows 7 HP bought from a local store. I already used it on my old rig and had no issues reinstalling and activating Windows 7 with the same key on my new SB build.
 
Finisher said:
Well, crap. I just finished my SB build a week ago. Got the ASUS P8P67 standard from TigerDirect. I have a relatively simple set up, just 1 1TB HD and a DVD drive on the SATA II 3.0gb/s ports. Im also going to wait to hear more update on this situation. When the time comes to RMA, should I contact TigerDirect or ASUS?

I, too, have the OEM version of Windows 7 home edition. Hopefully, Microsoft won't hassle me when I try to get a new CD key.

Subscribed.
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You never really get hassled, you just need to waste 5 minutes of your life calling the toll free number when / if you need to reactivate.
 
WTF My order just got here! lol hope amazon will give me a 100% refund
 
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Ya I got my build on the 17th, so Ive got 2 weeks to make up my mind. Waiting till next week to hear what Asus plans to do to remedy the situation, otherwise I'll return my parts and wait till April.
 
grilledcheese said:
WTF My order just got here! lol hope amazon will give me a 100% refund
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Within 30 days, you can return the hardware stuff, even open, for full refund. My computer died right before Xmas so I made X58 machine. Then, I heard the Sand Bridge was coming out in Jan, I waited while using X58, order the Sand Bridge parts, put it together, and then, return the X58 stuff for full refund (reason for return was "No longer want...". Amazon has one of the best return policy. If their prices are close to others and they parts are in stock, I would buy from them in a heart beat.
 
Don't know if this has been brought up before or not...

Those of you with mb's already in hand don't rush to rma them just yet. I think the one month time frame suggested is wildly optimistic. Just use the SATA 6.0 Gb's connectors on your mb and all will be fine. When the replacements finally are available then rma your mb...this way you will not be out for as long a period of time. ;)
 
notarat said:
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)
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i wouldn't mind this since the mobo i'm getting has a x4 pci-e slot ;)
 
Suggestions for Rev 2 Board modifications & supplied accessories

Extention cable for the RTC jumper to be able to reset the bios without opening the case
A pack of sedatives and a large jar of coffee
 
Are we being naive taking Intels description of the problem verbatim? I suspect there are other issues as well, I mean these motherboards have been giving people all sorts of issues.
 
interesting. i had not heard that.it supports triple crossfire so i'm not sure. its the asrock extreme 4
 
rickss69 said:
Don't know if this has been brought up before or not...

Those of you with mb's already in hand don't rush to rma them just yet. I think the one month time frame suggested is wildly optimistic. Just use the SATA 6.0 Gb's connectors on your mb and all will be fine. When the replacements finally are available then rma your mb...this way you will not be out for as long a period of time. ;)
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I just dont wanna get a refurb in return from Asus. And I know they will send me a refurb.
 
Interesting news, albeit somewhat strange. I say so because it goes against normal business practices respecting production defects with tech. Most companies will wait to see if it becomes a problem before they make it one, a recall is usually the last resort.

This build has been the easiest most problem free I can recall in the last ten or so years I have been building my own rather than buying pre-built, and worse case scenario is that I will be able to trade out my board for a new one in the next few months, or simply retain the board I have and rely on the 5 year warranty.
 
Somebody really dropped the ball on this one but i'm suprised with how this defect made it through Intel's validation process. I've heard they are better than NASA testing and retesting silicon for errors like this. 700 million to replace the chips is not chump change.
 
Anandtech has details about the defect.
Intel is reusing a lot of design features from older chipset, and the particular gate in question is actually redundant and not used. However they left it in place to avoid doing redesigns (took short cuts). However they over-volted the gate, perhaps because as a left-over from some previous design specs. The software which checks for these things, may have ignored the gate because it is not functional. At the end of the day this seems to be a result of some corner cutting during the design and validation process; and some software vendors will also be taking the heat from within Intel.
 
AQ_OC said:
I just realized....I have an Asus u3s6...which I bought to get usb 3.0 on an older mobo. However, this thing has 2 6GB SATA ports on it! This thing is only $35 or so.
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AQ OC I have exactly the same PC as you. Whenever I plug my U3S6 card into the bottom PCI-E slot on my P8P67 Pro it causes my PC to no post. Please try your U3S^ and let me know if it has the same issue.
 
So, the ports itself are bad, correct? As in they won't work after it fails but will the HDD and optical drive still be operable in other boards?
 
Switched my SATA3 ports back on and plugged my drives into them. Getting the nice double post screen again as a result. 1253 bios.
 
Tumdace said:
I just dont wanna get a refurb in return from Asus. And I know they will send me a refurb.
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Intel hasn't even begun production on the fixed hardware, so it's highly unlikely that your fixed board would be a refurb.
 
SilverSliver said:
Switched my SATA3 ports back on and plugged my drives into them. Getting the nice double post screen again as a result. 1253 bios.
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Try the 1204 BIOS. I moved my hard drive and optical drive to the SATA 6G ports and am not experiencing that issue.
 
Pastuch said:
AQ OC I have exactly the same PC as you. Whenever I plug my U3S6 card into the bottom PCI-E slot on my P8P67 Pro it causes my PC to no post. Please try your U3S^ and let me know if it has the same issue.
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I will try and see. Right now, I have this card plugged into my second system which has the old mobo (Gigabyte p35Ds4) that was replaced by the P8P67 Pro.
 
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AQ_OC said:
I will try and see. Right now, I have this card plugged into my second system which has the old mobo (Gigabyte p35Ds4) that was replaced by the P8P67 Pro.
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My U3S6 works perfect in my Asus P5Q Pro but no posts my p8p67 pro. I have only tried it in the third PCI-E slot but not my second slot. I don't want to slow down my 6950 to 8x pci-e.
 
Archangel7 said:
Interesting news, albeit somewhat strange. I say so because it goes against normal business practices respecting production defects with tech. Most companies will wait to see if it becomes a problem before they make it one, a recall is usually the last resort.

This build has been the easiest most problem free I can recall in the last ten or so years I have been building my own rather than buying pre-built, and worse case scenario is that I will be able to trade out my board for a new one in the next few months, or simply retain the board I have and rely on the 5 year warranty.
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Who are you getting a 5 year warranty from? My asus motherboard only came with a 1 year warranty.
 
Neb said:
Intel hasn't even begun production on the fixed hardware, so it's highly unlikely that your fixed board would be a refurb.
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Well if Intel sends the fixed chips into Asus, then I imagine they would just take and replace the chip themselves, instead of giving me a brand new one.
 
I picked up a pci-express SATA card for $10.00 at a local store and moved my 2 dvd drives on that for now and moved my 4 hard drives to the good controllers on the mb. I can wait now. My build also has been great and mostly trouble free, plus I already sold my old cpu and motherboard so I am kind of stuck.
 
German retailer Mindfactory confirmed today in an official statement that they will replace affected motherboards for everybody beginning in Q2 2011 free of any charges. If customers wish to return their motherboard before the new revision is available, assumed it has failed already, they will refund the full purchase price.

http://forum.mindfactory.de/allgemeines/60983-sandy-bridge-lga1155-problematik.html

So yea, the rma process goes over the retailers and not with asus/intel directly, here in germany at least.
 
compbl said:
I think some solid advice has to be given in this situation.

I received just about all my purchase for an upgrade. Going from a very stable P5Q/Q9650 to a P8P67/I7-2600

Drive config is as follows

1) OCZ Agility 2 (Boot Drive/Win 7)
2) Velociraptors in Raid 0
2) WD Black 1TB in Raid 0

Should I go ahead with the build?

Return everything and wait for April, when inevitably everything will be sorted out and probably cheaper?
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I purchased this today...

http://goo.gl/YKywy

Will use this other than the on board Sata II ports, seemed like a steal, esp since my local microcenter wanted $184 for the card.

When the new boards are available then I will RMA and swap...
 
Tumdace said:
Well if Intel sends the fixed chips into Asus, then I imagine they would just take and replace the chip themselves, instead of giving me a brand new one.
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If they're replacing the chip on your motherboard, it's not a refurb, it's a repaired motherboard :p Still, the option to repair your motherboard instead of issuing you a new motherboard is normally stated in the warranty terms. Even though it's an extraordinary situation, Asus would still be well within their rights to simply repair your motherboard.

I'm curious to see how they're going to approach the RMA process, since SMD rework isn't exactly quick, easy, or cheap.
 
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Tumdace said:
Who are you getting a 5 year warranty from? My asus motherboard only came with a 1 year warranty.
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The Sabertooth series has a fiver year warranty but the rest of our current and recent board series has a 3-year warranty. Where did you get the one-year warranty information from on your board.
 
Neb said:
Given the excessive labor required for SMD rework, I doubt they will do that since it would probably be much more efficient in terms of costs for them to send you a replacement. Anyway, we're both guessing as to what they'll do and only time will tell who's right.
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Intel is picking up the tab so I don't see a need for ASUS to cut corners.
Sending out refurbs will reflect negatively on Intel also.
 
Update - We are still finalizing details with Intel but will have our official statement in the very near future.
 
aviat72 said:
Anandtech has details about the defect.
Intel is reusing a lot of design features from older chipset, and the particular gate in question is actually redundant and not used. However they left it in place to avoid doing redesigns (took short cuts). However they over-volted the gate, perhaps because as a left-over from some previous design specs. The software which checks for these things, may have ignored the gate because it is not functional. At the end of the day this seems to be a result of some corner cutting during the design and validation process; and some software vendors will also be taking the heat from within Intel.
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Intel wanted to reduce the "technology risk" on new designs and manufacturing items, so they reused parts of old designs and components of Ibex Peak. The strategy might still work, but this could have happened to a completely new chipset. Because the software didn't catch the issue, or whatever to check for theses issues, the real failure here is Intel's processes.
 
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Pastuch said:
My U3S6 works perfect in my Asus P5Q Pro but no posts my p8p67 pro. I have only tried it in the third PCI-E slot but not my second slot. I don't want to slow down my 6950 to 8x pci-e.
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This isn't sounding so good anymore. I have both of my other PCI-E slots free, so I will try both.
 
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