Defective Sandy Bridge Chipset - Update 1

PCS

Administrator
Staff member
Following on from the first post regarding Sandy Bridge chipsets here: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?3749-Defective-Sandy-Bridge-Chipset we have been investigating the problem further with a view to finding a suitable solution for our customers.

As I mentioned in my previous post, please refrain from contacting us where possible, once we are in a position to offer a suitable resolution we will contact you. If you have received your computer, it will continue to function as normal for many months and long before a problem could occur we will have resolved the issue.

The issue only affects SATA 3GB/s ports 2 - 5 on H67/P67 chipset motherboards. Any hard drives or optical drives connected to SATA ports 0 or 1 will not be affected, and neither will any drives connected to the SATA 6GB/s ports.

Therefore, if your computer contains 1 hard drive and one optical drive, you will never experience a problem relating to this issue. Similarly, if your computer contains SATA 6GB/s hard drives, and no more than two optical drives, you will also not be affected by this issue.

If you have already received your computer:

The only customers affected by this issue are customers who have ordered multiple hard drives and/or multiple optical drives, and we will contact you with a solution in due course. At present there are two possible solutions:

1. We collect the computer from you and replace the motherboard at our facility, then return the computer to you. This process should take less than 1 week, perhaps even 3-4 days in some circumstances. No computers will be collected until we have stock of replacement motherboards, which at present is estimated to be at some point in March, perhaps even April, once Intel and ASUS have manufactured and delivered stock.

2. We send you a PCI/PCI-E SATA card that will have 4 SATA ports. Any hard drives or optical drives connected to ports 2 - 5 on your motherboard can then be connected to this instead of the ports on the motherboard.

If you have not yet received your computer:

The only customers affected by this issue are customers who have ordered multiple hard drives and/or multiple optical drives. Irrespective of this, we will be contacting you shortly by email or telephone to discuss if/how you may be affected, and what solutions are available. The current proposals are:

1. If you are unaffected, we will dispatch your order to you at your request. Your computer will still have full warranty cover but you will forfeit the right to have your motherboard replaced because of this issue. Any other problems will of course be covered under warranty.

2. We can put your order on hold for when the new motherboards are delivered to us, and assemble your computer then. Current estimations of delivery dates for the new stock are towards the end of March/start of April.

3. You can cancel your order and receive a full refund, or alternatively order a different computer, for example an i7-950 based system or an AMD based system.

4. We can install (free of charge) a 2 port SATA 3GB/s PCI/PCI-E card which you can use to connect your optical drives and/or hard drives to. Only customers who have ordered or wish to connect more than two drives (more if you have ordered SATA 6) will be affected. The only downside to this is the loss of a free PCI/PCI-E slot.

What next?

We may possibly have to stop selling Sandy bridge based systems until March/April, when the new motherboards are delivered. We have plenty of stock at our facility, but ASUS may request that we return all un-used stock to them. If you have not yet placed an order, you may not be able to order this particular system again until March/April. For any orders that have already been placed, we will endeavour to honour your order where possible.

Again, we apologise for any inconvenience caused. Whilst the issues are beyond our control, it is PC Specialist that will be rectifying the problems and we will do this as quickly as possible.
 
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IrishTech

Bronze Level Poster
I saw the post by intel and since my machine has 2 drives/still in pre production would it be better for me to contact them myself or wait for you to contact me. I am kinda glad it over the estiamted develery time now when this problem came to light.
 

daryl

Bronze Level Poster
Hi PCS - I have ordered a PC (currently in building) with just 1 hard drive and 1 optical drive, however, I may wish to add another hd in the future therefore will i have the option to cancel order or to return at a later date for a new motherboard?

Thanks,

Daryl
 

Gorman

Author Level
Canceling the order is an option before you receive the machine as always, best to call us on 0844 499 4000 to discuss the various options though.
 

Mike87

Member
My Sandy Bridge PC is currently in Quality Control. I would rather have a fully functional motherboard tbh and will probably cancel my order and maybe go for an i7-950. Will I still be contacted before my PC is dispatched? or should I ring you guys up?
 

SgtSteel

Bronze Level Poster
Personally, I'm going down the option two route. This is my first time venturing into the unknown in my mind and getting a custom built computer so i'd rather have all systems go on my motherboard rather than a chance that it could die down the line when my warranty expires. PC Specialist have responded in amazing fashion to worried buyers such as myself!

Now the people who have decided to hold fire now have to play a loooooooooooooooong waiting game....
 

Ansab001

Bronze Level Poster
option 4 sounds good to me but i dont know if my build can do that.(still in pre production since the 20th of Jan)However my question would be if another fault is discovered by these SB chips which can potentailly need to replace your motherboard which has not been discovered yet. Will PCS still replace the mother board? Or are we using this alternative solution at our own risk?
 

Dudey

Active member
I totally agree with Ansa here. Option 4 sounds good.

In my build I've got a 640gb caviar black and 24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM which is optical drive right?

I wasn't planning on adding any more hard drives, so will I be affected?
 

Mike87

Member
I totally agree with Ansa here. Option 4 sounds good.

In my build I've got a 640gb caviar black and 24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM which is optical drive right?

I wasn't planning on adding any more hard drives, so will I be affected?

Yea that is the optical drive and no you wont be effected. They can both be connected to the SATA 6gb/s ports which are fine :).
 

PCS

Administrator
Staff member
All customers with orders not yet dispatched should now have received an email. Please note the options offered to you are slightly different, for example the SATA card number of ports (2, not 4).
 

MayheM_MakeR

Bronze Level Poster
All customers with orders not yet dispatched should now have received an email. Please note the options offered to you are slightly different, for example the SATA card number of ports (2, not 4).

thanks for the heads up, indeed i have recieved the email

"Because the total number of SATA 3GB/s hard drives and CD/DVD/Blu-ray drives you have ordered is 1, your order is not directly affected by this issue and therefore your computer will operate perfectly normal. However the issue will still remain on your motherboard and if you were to add additional hard drives or CD/DVD/Blu-ray drives in the future, your motherboard may not recognise these drives or they may operate slower than expected."

i intend to just keep my hdd and optical drive that is supplied with this order, and have no itentions at all of adding anymore HDD's or optical drives in the future, therefore its safe to assume that i wont experience any problems what so ever as long as i keep my original hdd and dvd drive?

many thanks

my spec i ordered for reference:

Case
COOLERMASTER HAF 922 MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Overclocked CPU
Overclocked Intel® Core™i5-2500k Quad Core (3.30GHz @ max 4.60GHz)
Motherboard
ASUS® P8P67 PRO: USB 3.0, SATA 6.0GB/s, CrossFireX™ / SLI SUPPORT
Memory (RAM)
4GB KINGSTON HYPER-X SPECIAL EDITION GREY - DDR3 1600MHz (2 x 2GB KIT)
Graphics Card
1GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX560Ti - 2 DVI,HDMI,VGA - DirectX® 11, 3D Vision Ready
2nd Graphics Card
1GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX560Ti - 2 DVI,HDMI,VGA - DirectX® 11, 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W TX SERIES (TX750) 80+ ULTRA QUIET PSU (£89)
Processor Cooling
COOLIT ECO A.L.C (ADVANCED LIQUID COOLER) (£59)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC COOLING MX-3 HIGH THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
ONBOARD 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 11 to 13 working days
Quantity
1

as long as everything works fine and it is, i am going to go ahead with the order, since i have no itentions of adding more HDD's or Optical drives ;)

but if someone could just confirm , i would appreciate it :D
 
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IrishTech

Bronze Level Poster
Thanks for the speedy email and options my question is this (mind you my motherboard knowledge is very low) how can I not be affected ?

Because the total number of SATA 3GB/s hard drives and CD/DVD/Blu-ray drives you have ordered is 2 your order is not directly affected by this issue

specs below

Case
COOLERMASTER HAF 922 MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5-2500 Quad Core (3.30GHz, 6MB Cache) + HD Graphics
Motherboard
ASUS® P8P67: USB 3.0, SATA 6.0GB/s, CrossFireX™ SUPPORT
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (2 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card
2GB AMD RADEON™ HD6970 - 2 DVI,HDMI,2 mDP - DirectX® 11, Eyefinity 4 Capable
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
2nd DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
4x BLU-RAY ROM DRIVE, 16x DVD ROM (£38)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W TX SERIES (TX750) 80+ ULTRA QUIET PSU (£89)
Processor Cooling
SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE CPU COOLER (£19)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
ONBOARD 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Monitor
24" Wide TFT Silver/Black 1920 x1080 2MS D-Sub, DVI, 23.6" Panel (£129)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS & UK OFFSHORE ISLANDS / N IRELAND (£19)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 9 to 13 working days
Quantity
1

From what I understand I'll need 3 slots one for HDD 2 for the disk drives.

Shouldn't I be affected as I'll need to use one of the 3gb slots which may die (if I am wrong then I'll not have any problems with the 3gb slots as I'll not be adding anything else to it).

Which is why I think I am going to go option 4 as I don't beleive I'll miss the PCI slot becuase I'll never get a sound card or tv turner but if I am wrong feel free to correct me.
 
Last edited:

Gorman

Author Level

I think the wording is a bit misleading, your board has two SATA 3 or 6Gbs ports, only ports 2,3,4 and 5 on the mainboard are affected by the issue so that leaves way for 3 devices unaffected.

Im not trying to affect your decision on which option to take, just trying to clarify.
 

Dudey

Active member
Even though it will not affect me. I'm still debating on what to do. The fact that I know that there is a faulty component will probably just bug me.
 

Ansab001

Bronze Level Poster
end of the day you need to ask yourself. Can you wait another 2 months for your pc or can you live for the next 3 years of its life with a possible fault. I'll be phoning in PCS later. Honestly guys at PCS i'm so sorry to hear this for you guys. My dad owns his own buisness and we got ina defect product the amout of effort and hassle things like this causes a compnay is very major. I personally dont think you need to apologise at all. Its intel who should be paying people a new motherboard per sandybridge IMO.
 

Dudey

Active member
Are you gonna cancel and wait for the new chipset?

Also I don't think we will receive our new computers until May at least.
 

Ansab001

Bronze Level Poster
No lucky with the motherboard i ordered its got alot of pci slots. So im going for option 4. Its only (maybe!) effect the 3g/bs ports over time + only has a 15% chance of happening. So its not realy a concern for me. Also The PCIE will keep the performance lvl top (maybe even better). So am more than happy with getting it as soon as possible. I recommend yourself to change your mother baord to the sabretooth if you want to go for option 4. I can say thsi after phoning pcs. It realy depends on you. If you want exactly what your looking for Dudey and no worries, and the fact of a possible defect will always be on your mind. I recommend for you only to rather cancel and reorder OR wait it out.
 

Seeker2

Member
Regarding the hold option - good point on timing, much depends on how quickly Intel can fulfil both replacement orders and the new business their generation 2 i7 range is already building up. As I took over three months deciding my spec. I'm happy for the moment to go for the hold option. But would that does assume a March/early April delivery.

I guess the other factor is the additional pressure this unfortunate situtation is going to put on you PC Specialist guys, building new systems while coping with the likely back-log that is going to build up while waiting for new boards to arrive, plus handling those systems that are returned for board replacement. Will there be a priority order based on order placement date?

I understand that Intel have budgeted about $1 billion $ for their part of this exercise, I hope this includes some compensation to affected customers and supplier manufacturers.
 

MayheM_MakeR

Bronze Level Poster
I went ahead with my order, if PCS are claiming that my computer wont be affected if i use 1 of the SATA ports as i am never going to upgrade my HDD or optical drive in the rig i have chosen then i dont see what the problem is and will continue with my order.

though a discount for these "faulty" boards would be nice :D
 
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