Sandy Bridge Bug

[barruumrex]

I've been seriously considering ordering the ASUS G73SW-A1 and I saw the anandtech article (http://www.anandtech.com/show/4142/intel-discovers-bug-in-6series-chipset-begins-recall) about a recall of the 6-Series Chipset. Considering this laptop uses the HM65 Chipset, what impact is this going to have?

[signterm]

Saw the report on tomshardware too. Are the new sandy bridge laptops affected?

[Maverick494]

Can't imagine that the 6 series chipsets of all kinds wouldn't be affected. Which means anyone that got an SB laptop already runs a chance of having to RMA it in a month or two. It also means that most likely anything in a pre-order status is going to stay that way for a bit.

The one caveat to that is if the laptops are ONLY using the SATA III ports then you are in luck as the 3 Gbps (SATA II) were the only ones affected. Though I can't imagine how it would be that they only use the SATA III ports because the DVD drives are SATA II.

[Maverick494]

I guess with this bug I might wait and see if AMD ever gets its crap in one sock and offers a true gaming machine platform that any of the major players pick up. With the new APU's coming out in force it would be interesting to see an AMD APU paired with a 6950 and the rest of a gaming laptop platform. Make it manually switchable to the APU for battery life and AMD is a step up on intel+nvidia.

[jinks]

So how will this impact people that have an order waiting on a machine? Is Xotic going to ensure that it's customers don't get a board with the flaw?

I already wired moneys to Xotic and have been waiting for Sager to send a machine to them. I assume this puts all orders on hold? I know I certainly don't want one with the flaw as I bet others wont as well.

I know this just fell like a bomb on everyone but I would like some assurance that Xotic is on top of things.

[Keeper]

So how will this impact people that have an order waiting on a machine? Is Xotic going to ensure that it's customers don't get a board with the flaw?

I already wired moneys to Xotic and have been waiting for Sager to send a machine to them. I assume this puts all orders on hold? I know I certainly don't want one with the flaw as I bet others wont as well.

I know this just fell like a bomb on everyone but I would like some assurance that Xotic is on top of things.

From what I understand all machines affected will be put on hold and will likely not ship until the issue has been resolved. But from what Mav said, Sager doesn't yet know if their notebooks are affected. I can tell you when I called Asus, they had no idea what I was talking about so I guess time will tell. But I do not think you have anything to worry about, Intel will honor their recall, and Xotic has some of the best customer service I have ever seen and do not doubt they will take care of you.

[Maverick494]

So how will this impact people that have an order waiting on a machine? Is Xotic going to ensure that it's customers don't get a board with the flaw?

I already wired moneys to Xotic and have been waiting for Sager to send a machine to them. I assume this puts all orders on hold? I know I certainly don't want one with the flaw as I bet others wont as well.

I know this just fell like a bomb on everyone but I would like some assurance that Xotic is on top of things.

the big problem is that Sager wasn't aware of this bug as far as I could tell. The email I got back from the sales manager at sager seemed to catch him flatfooted without a real answer.

There is a real possibility of this ending up pushing some orders back if they haven't been shipped and clevo (sager) finds out that they have to go back and retool all these laptops that were due to ship.

[Maverick494]

After researching some more, intel claims this is only applicable to the intel desktop chipsets. The speculation though is that the same cougar point sata controller is used in laptops, so its unknown if this will end up being an issue for the mobile sandy bridge market.

[Keeper]

After researching some more, intel claims this is only applicable to the intel desktop chipsets. The speculation though is that the same cougar point sata controller is used in laptops, so its unknown if this will end up being an issue for the mobile sandy bridge market.

Gotta love all this speculation.. I just spoke with Xotic, they are in the same boat as all of us and do not have any information at this point other than what we all have. So I guess it is a waiting game at the moment, and we will just have to see.

[jinks]

After researching some more, intel claims this is only applicable to the intel desktop chipsets. The speculation though is that the same cougar point sata controller is used in laptops, so its unknown if this will end up being an issue for the mobile sandy bridge market.

I found something similar from Slashdot's discussion (they linked: http://techreport.com/discussions.x/20326) :

"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 DIY motherboards."

So this suggests that it is possible that laptops are affected. Of course it's all speculation. I am just a little worried because I got burned by the whole Nvidia / HP issue awhile ago (the one with the class action lawsuit). I would hate someone to say ... "Oh, no problem" and find out later that my board is impacted. I got burned because HP claimed my board didn't have the problem yet it in fact did as well as several others who got burned by the same thing.

Anyhow, guess we wait and see. I was just hoping to hear what Xotic's stance was on the issue and how they intend on responding to it.

[GabrielP]

I'm so glad that I had to put a delay on my order of the SW, would have been a shame to get a faulty machine shipped to Europe, I dont even know what the RMA procedure would be here. :confused:
Still I am curious too see what the retailers including Xotic will do about it as I see it now the SW still ships from stock. Most sites claim fix wont be available till late February and most machines will ship trough March.
Will just have to play the waiting game...

[fatboyslim]

So supposedly this affects the HM65 chipset as well? This Sucks cause i have a Sager NP5160 on preorder that i needed for university and judging by the speculations it going to be delayed severely!

[kaige18]

I think I'm confused with all this speculation. I ordered a laptop a week ago with new Sandy Bridge 2630QM. When will I have it in my hands?

[Maverick494]

I think I'm confused with all this speculation. I ordered a laptop a week ago with new Sandy Bridge 2630QM. When will I have it in my hands?

who knows. At this point we aren't even sure this bug affects the laptop chipset. If it does we also don't know how long it will be pushed back while waiting on a fix from intel.

[Keeper]

I think I'm confused with all this speculation. I ordered a laptop a week ago with new Sandy Bridge 2630QM. When will I have it in my hands?

Has it already shipped yet? From what I am seeing of other retailers, they are not shipping anything with the SB chips until they hear what is going on from Intel. If the thing has not already shipped yet I would assume that Xotic will do what all the others are doing and just wait until they have some answers.

Though some thoughts from an Xotic employee here would be welcome, especially to let us know what or if there is any plan in the works as far as you guys are concerned.

To answer your question though I have no idea, but I would suspect you have some waiting to do.

[Maverick494]

I found something similar from Slashdot's discussion (they linked: http://techreport.com/discussions.x/20326) :

"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 DIY motherboards."

So this suggests that it is possible that laptops are affected. Of course it's all speculation. I am just a little worried because I got burned by the whole Nvidia / HP issue awhile ago (the one with the class action lawsuit). I would hate someone to say ... "Oh, no problem" and find out later that my board is impacted. I got burned because HP claimed my board didn't have the problem yet it in fact did as well as several others who got burned by the same thing.

Anyhow, guess we wait and see. I was just hoping to hear what Xotic's stance was on the issue and how they intend on responding to it.

Honestly I would expect Xotic to just mirror what their suppliers (Asus, Sager and MSI) are telling them. Really Xotic is merely a reseller and doesn't have any control over what their suppliers do with this potential bug so all they can do is tell us that there are delays on orders and they're sorry, but it's really out of their hands.

[Keeper]

I would suspect the same thing, but it is never really a certainty especially since Asus and Sager knew nothing of this until this morning. I am sure the plan will come into effect soon but until then I am just curious if Xotic is holding off on shipping any machines they have in the shop and were ready to go?

[Maverick494]

I would suspect the same thing, but it is never really a certainty especially since Asus and Sager knew nothing of this until this morning. I am sure the plan will come into effect soon but until then I am just curious if Xotic is holding off on shipping any machines they have in the shop and were ready to go?

I would think that they are probably going to send an email to people they have machines in stock and ready to ship and ask them if they want to wait or take a chance they get a machine without the bug. Give the consumer the choice of dealing with an RMA later or not. Maybe not though, they may not even want to take that chance if someone ends up having a problem and then comes here and complains about it like they never said yes I'll take that chance.

[Keeper]

You're probably right, though I would still welcome any response from Xotic. It is still probably a bit to soon for them to say anything though so I will not hold my breath :)

[DSuds]

As someone with one on order... :(
My understanding is that if effected laptops would see an increasing number of errors on the optical drive. I could live with that until swaps are available. I don't know if Intel is going to try and make it up to customers some how or not though.

If it was a choice I'd take the gamble and pay the shipping to have the mb swapped out later if I was in the lucky 5-15% assuming big I would cover Asus/Sager/Xotic's labor.

I mean what else are they going to do with the inventory in the mean time and I'm sure they'd rather have the money in hand, no?

[Maverick494]

As someone with one on order... :(
My understanding is that if effected laptops would see an increasing number of errors on the optical drive. I could live with that until swaps are available. I don't know if Intel is going to try and make it up to customers some how or not though.

If it was a choice I'd take the gamble and pay the shipping to have the mb swapped out later if I was in the lucky 5-15% assuming big I would cover Sager/Xotic's labor.

My assumption is that it would be covered under warranty regardless and if that is the case and you bought a sager I believe Xotic pays shipping costs on that. Plus they cover labor for 3 years, so worst case is you are out the cost of a new mobo if it is beyond the 1 year parts warranty. So in theory Xotic can ship as normal and just have any units that display this problem treated under warranty later on. The big question is if Xotic is going to go with that or hold shipments pending a resolution from their manufacturers.

I am sure that the Xotic guys are trying to decide just exactly that right now.

[DSuds]

My assumption is that it would be covered under warranty regardless and if that is the case and you bought a sager I believe Xotic pays shipping costs on that.

But they aren't the sort who would send out something that wasn't 100%. That's why I'm trying to give them permission in my case! :)

[Maverick494]

But they aren't the sort who would send out something that wasn't 100%. That's why I'm trying to give them permission in my case! :)

sure that's true, but with only a 5-15% occurance in the desktop platform and no information on the occurance rate, if at all, in the laptop platform there is no way they can know which units are bad and which are good. So does that mean scrap them all and turn the already 4 week wait time for some into 8 or more, or ship now and just deal with any that fail under warranty? That is something only Xotic will know and decide and we will probably never know. Does angry people having to wait hurt business more than a potentially low occurance of a problem making some angry? That my friends is why when I get my MBA I am not looking forward to making that kind of decision because I know how I would decide.

[jinks]

My assumption is that it would be covered under warranty regardless and if that is the case and you bought a sager I believe Xotic pays shipping costs on that. Plus they cover labor for 3 years, so worst case is you are out the cost of a new mobo if it is beyond the 1 year parts warranty. So in theory Xotic can ship as normal and just have any units that display this problem treated under warranty later on. The big question is if Xotic is going to go with that or hold shipments pending a resolution from their manufacturers.

I am sure that the Xotic guys are trying to decide just exactly that right now.

Something like this I would expect Sager (or whoever builds your laptop) to cover beyond the normal warranty as they would be getting reimbursed by Intel (just guessing).

[Maverick494]

Something like this I would expect Sager (or whoever builds your laptop) to cover beyond the normal warranty as they would be getting reimbursed by Intel (just guessing).

potentially, the problem is that it is a gradual on set that could take years to develop. That means that they could have a unit that is 2-3 years old come back to them and they have no way to get parts for it and instead end up out a newer unit that is comparable in stats. that could hurt the bottomline of the company, so they may not do that.

[DSuds]

That my friends is why when I get my MBA I am not looking forward to making that kind of decision because I know how I would decide.
If you know you may have just saved yourself $100K!

It's a lot harder to make that call when you're firing people instead of making them wait for their laptops!

[acheronx1]

Well, newegg pulled all the new 2nd gen i5/i7s from their website... desktop version of course. Along with all the motherboards that supports them.

Sure will hurt some businesses.

[Gargan]

This is from the anandtech article:
The Source of Intel's Cougar Point SATA Bug (http://www.anandtech.com/show/4143/the-source-of-intels-cougar-point-sata-bug)

If you have a desktop system with six SATA ports driven off of P67/H67 chipset, there’s a chance (at least 5%) that during normal use some of the 3Gbps ports will stop working over the course of 3 years. The longer you use the ports, the higher that percentage will be. If you fall into this category, chances are your motherboard manufacturer will set up some sort of an exchange where you get a fixed board. The motherboard manufacturer could simply desolder your 6-series chipset and replace it with a newer stepping if it wanted to be frugal.

If you have a notebook system with only two SATA ports however, the scenario is a little less clear. Notebooks don’t have tons of storage bays and thus they don’t always use all of the ports a chipset offers. If a notebook design only uses ports 0 & 1 off the chipset (the unaffected ports), then the end user would never encounter an issue and the notebook may not even be recalled. In fact, if there are notebook designs currently in the pipeline that only use ports 0 & 1 they may not be delayed by today’s announcement. This is the only source of hope if you’re looking for an unaffected release schedule for your dual-core SNB notebook.

So, If your notebook only has access for one HDD and one ODD, then, assuming that the HDD is on port 0 and the ODD is on port 1, the notebook would never have an issue as the 3Gbps ports aren't even distributed to connections. I'm hoping that's the case with my order for the NP8150-S1 and that it's not going to be delayed any more then it already is.

[powerpack]

Mav is going for an MBA? Congrats! I am fighting Sprint if you want to PM me. I do get your points.

I really think with my fast read all will be OK because Intel identified early. Stepped up early. Not like the 8xxx Nvidia disaster of the past. They let to many affected units into the supply chain. Not so much because they wanted to but just late. At that time options are not the same.

I think Intel did good on this. As such I think all will be good in the end.

[acheronx1]

They did catch it pretty quick didn't they.

No babies were harmed in the making of these cpus? :P

[Keeper]

As long as they do not send me a free bumper in the mail telling me it will fix it, I'll be happy ;)

[barruumrex]

Just read the same article that Gargan linked. They do a very good job of explaining the problem and I'm personally much more comfortable with moving forward with an order. Intel seems to be handling this very well. Now I just need to make a final decision on which one to get. :D

[Keeper]

Just read the same article that Gargan linked. They do a very good job of explaining the problem and I'm personally much more comfortable with moving forward with an order. Intel seems to be handling this very well. Now I just need to make a final decision on which one to get. :D

What are your options? I do not recall seeing that in any posts.

[acheronx1]

Toyota could take some pointers from Intel about recalls and informing the public better....

[barruumrex]

What are your options? I do not recall seeing that in any posts.

I was leaning very heavily toward the ASUS offering but there was a lot of talk about Sager in this thread so I figured it wouldn't hurt to look into those a bit more. Especially considering that even if no changes are required, there will still be a delay while people wait for info to filter out of intel.

[Keeper]

I was leaning very heavily toward the ASUS offering but there was a lot of talk about Sager in this thread so I figured it wouldn't hurt to look into those a bit more. Especially considering that even if no changes are required, there will still be a delay while people wait for info to filter out of intel.

Cool, you looking at the G73SW? Not that I am apposed to the Sagers, but I am still happy with my SW choice over the Sager. To be totally honest, I just thing the Asus is damn sexy and could not swap it in for the brushed metal box. But that's just me :)

[kaige18]

This is from the anandtech article:
The Source of Intel's Cougar Point SATA Bug (http://www.anandtech.com/show/4143/the-source-of-intels-cougar-point-sata-bug)



So, If your notebook only has access for one HDD and one ODD, then, assuming that the HDD is on port 0 and the ODD is on port 1, the notebook would never have an issue as the 3Gbps ports aren't even distributed to connections
Sorry im a PC noob and this is confusing to me. I ordered the Sager 8150 does it fall into the category of using only ports 0 and 1 and therefore should be on time and wont e recalled?

[Keeper]

Sorry im a PC noob and this is confusing to me. I ordered the Sager 8150 does it fall into the category of using only ports 0 and 1 and therefore should be on time and wont e recalled?

I think we are all jumping to conclusions here, and I am not sure if anyone here can really say whether or not this is true for what new model at this time. I would just hold tight for a few days and see what happens, watch the forums and give a few calls out to Xotic and wait for answers. I know how painful it is to think of waiting even longer, I am just not sure anyone has that information just yet.

[Maverick494]

If you know you may have just saved yourself $100K!

It's a lot harder to make that call when you're firing people instead of making them wait for their laptops!

I don't think this is something you fire people over. A gradual decline that could take years to manifest itself in only a maximum of 15% of the items you sold. Yea not something I would make heads roll over, especially since it wasn't caught in initial QA just because of the rarity of the bug.

Intel is doing this the right way, they stopped production to get a fix in place and are recalling what is out there in order to make people feel like they have a good product that won't even give the chance of failure due to this bug.

I was more specifically referring to the decision Xotic potentially faces, I would ship the units knowing that they would be covered under warranty rather than hold more orders up for longer.

[sm0kie]

I just ordered a Sandy Bridge laptop too... so if I only have one HD and it's on the 6GB/s SATA spot I won't be affected by this right?

[DSuds]

I just ordered a Sandy Bridge laptop too... so if I only have one HD and it's on the 6GB/s SATA spot I won't be affected by this right?
It would effect your OD. Primary and secondary HD should be fine.

[chuckycheeze]

From what I understand, these are the ports used on the sager 8150.

Internal HD - 0
ODD - 2
eSATA -3

My guess is that other models with 2 HDDs will use ports 0 and 1, which are the only 2 unaffected ports. Both the ODD and eSata are affected, which I imagine holds true for other models as well.

[jinks]

From what I understand, these are the ports used on the sager 8150.

Internal HD - 0
ODD - 2
eSATA -3

My guess is that other models with 2 HDDs will use ports 0 and 1, which are the only 2 unaffected ports. Both the ODD and eSata are affected, which I imagine holds true for other models as well.


Any chance you know if that is the same configuration for the Sager 8170's. I think it is from other posts I have read but I am trying to confirm. I have seen a post by Xotic PC staff that the internal SATA3 ports won't run SATA3 drives at SATA3 speeds. This had me a bit perplexed. Why have a SATA3 port if it cannot do the new speeds?

[jinks]

For the Sager people I found this thread: http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo/551924-thread-clevo-sager-notebook-recall-news-questions-6.html

I am just pasting what was in that thread so please don't take it as word from Xotic or Sager.

--------------

Official word from Sager:

1. Sager and Clevo have consulted together and have decided that both Sager and Clevo will halt all pending shipments of Intel 6 series chipset systems. Models include Sager NP5160, NP5170, NP8130, NP8150, NP8170. (Clevo: W150HNQ, W170HN, P150HM, P151HM1, P170HM).

2. The current schedule is that starting in the middle of Feb 2011, Intel will start supplying qualification samples of the new revision of Intel 6 series chipset to Clevo. Clevo RD and QC will make it their first priority to test and qualify this new chip revision and prepare for mass production.

3. Currently the mass production version of the revised 6 series is scheduled to begin delivery from Intel to Clevo in limited quantities at the end of Feb 2011. We estimate that we will resume limited quantity shipment of Sager models NP8130, NP8150, and NP8170 in the middle of March 2011 and limited quantity of NP5160, NP5170 models at the end of March to the beginning of April 2011. Stabilization of shipment for all models should occur by the end of April 2011.

Q&A:

Q: What if I have already received my system or a system is on the way?

A: The chip flaw at issue should not happen immediately. Please continue to use your system as is. Once the stabilization of shipment occurs, Sager will start a recall program for all affected models that have already been shipped.

We will offer 3 day air both ways shipping to replace the affected systems with a brand new motherboard as well as resetting your warranty period to restart from the date the recall service is completed.

We estimate to start the recalling process between May-June’11.

Q: Should I cancel my pre-order?

A: As the 2nd generation Core processors have shown potential in performance gain in many areas, supply was already on a very tight inventory control. This recall will further restrict supply through the first half of 2011. Our suggestion is that if you do not have any urgent need of a new system, you should keep your pre-order as your credit card will not be charged until we have a unit ready for your order and your consent to go forward. We believe that it would be best to keep your pre-order open as you will not have to restart at the end of the pre-order list.

[Keeper]

Just picked this up from the Intel site:http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/sb/CS-032263.htm

Chipsets Alert for Intel® 6 Series Express Chipsets and Intel® Xeon® C200 Chipsets users http://www.intel.com/sites/templates/pix/circuit388.gif
SANTA CLARA, Calif., Jan. 31, 2011 – As part of ongoing quality assurance, Intel Corporation has discovered a design issue in a recently released support chip, the Intel® 6 Series (and the Intel® C200 Series Chipset), and has implemented a silicon fix. In some cases, the Serial-ATA (SATA) ports within the chipsets may degrade over time, potentially impacting the performance or functionality of SATA-linked devices such as hard disk drives and DVD-drives. The chipset is utilized in PCs with Intel’s latest Second Generation Intel Core processors. Intel has stopped shipment of the affected support chip from its factories. Intel has corrected the design issue, and has begun manufacturing a new version of the support chip which will resolve the issue. The Sandy Bridge microprocessor is unaffected and no other products are affected by this issue.


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. 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.
If you believe you may be affected by this issue, please contact your place of purchase, or your Intel Field Sales Representative.

[powerpack]

I can't wait for someone to post their Eurocom notebook is not affected? Because Eurocom told them.

If you go to NewEgg right now you would think SB CPU's, MoBo'a and notebooks did not exist

[Keeper]

I can't wait for someone to post their Eurocom notebook is not affected? Because Eurocom told them.

If you go to NewEgg right now you would think SB CPU's, MoBo'a and notebooks did not exist

Yeah I saw that yesterday as well, I wonder what Asus is going to do about this, as of this morning they still had no plans to change anything. I am not sure if that is a good thing or not, I guess it a good thing they have a solid warranty lol.

[Ronx2x]

Well at least I have more time to bank some cash before the big purchase.. I was really excited about the new 8170, guess I will be waiting a couple more months. Hope my 6 year old Inspiron 9300 can make it a little bit longer..:D

[powerpack]

Keeper your HDD's should be unaffected so that is good. I guess you might have to be careful transferring to or from CD/DVD. Just confirm the files are not corrupt. They will figure out if an issue and take care of.

Keeper if I had a G73SW for a week and they wanted it returned. My motto would be "your going to have to pry my G73 from my dead fingers".

[Keeper]

Keeper your HDD's should be unaffected so that is good. I guess you might have to be careful transferring to or from CD/DVD. Just confirm the files are not corrupt. They will figure out if an issue and take care of.

Keeper if I had a G73SW for a week and they wanted it returned. My motto would be "your going to have to pry my G73 from my dead fingers".

I really do share that feeling, it is just being fought with the idea of it failing in a few years. Though I will likely buy a new notebook in 2 years, it would still suck to have something like that happen. The big thing for me is Maverick has me all paranoid about upgrading my machine, sending it in to Asus and them replacing with stock parts.... So I will just weather the storm, play with my toy, and when the dust has settled splurge for the upgraded ram and CPU after Asus works out what they need to.

I finally had the building fear put in me though power, I watched that G73 gutting video and decided I will gladly shred any desktop to pieces but am not man enough to do that to my G73 lol.....

[DSuds]

Keeper your HDD's should be unaffected so that is good. I guess you might have to be careful transferring to or from CD/DVD. Just confirm the files are not corrupt.

I don't think it's quite that scary - the controller still monitors errors and the like and the automatic retries will start to grind down performance long before you get to where you can't fill the buffer fast enough to write a DVD I think.

Intel has estimated losses at about $80 for every chip they sent out and there isn't really anything on the high end to eat the market they lose waiting a month. Some of that will be money they make in Q2 instead but that leaves plenty to take care of people.

And given Intel said that “consumers can continue to use their systems with confidence” as the chip maker works with partners to deliver a permanent solution. I am all the more bummed mine won't be coming. :-(

[JBossch]

Arrrggh! I finally have the dough to pull the trigger on the NP8130 and now this!

Is the best plan to place an order now and get in line? Has anybody from Xotic had anything to say on this?

[Keeper]

Arrrggh! I finally have the dough to pull the trigger on the NP8130 and now this!

Is the best plan to place an order now and get in line? Has anybody from Xotic had anything to say on this?

There is nothing to say on it right now, the link I posted earlier shows that Sager has stopped shipments, and since Xotic gets their machines from Sager; well you see where I am going with this. I spoke to Xotic today and said they were going to continue shipping machines they had, and as far as I am aware that means Asus and possibly MSI since I have not heard anything about them. Other than that all you can do is either order an Asus, or put your name in and get in line.

In case you missed the link: http://sagernotebook.com/index.php?page=News_Update

[Dirty LJ]

I spoke to Xotic today and said they were going to continue shipping machines they had, and as far as I am aware that means Asus and possibly MSI since I have not heard anything about them.

Thanks for following up!!! I got home too late to give them a call to see if my computer will be delayed. I come to the end of the 6-12 production waiting period this week.

[powerpack]

You should be fine with Asus as at this point they are not halting production. Deal with the issues later.

[el_john]

Asus Press (http://event.asus.com/2011/SandyBridge/notice/)

[oic0]

2 months is too long to wait, uggg :(

[Keeper]

Asus Press (http://event.asus.com/2011/SandyBridge/notice/)

Well I guess we all knew they would do something, was just a matter of how quickly.. I am wondering if Xotic will still be shipping out their current stock though, just so they can get their machines and deal with it later? Any Xotic employees want to comment?

[kaige18]

2 months is too long to wait, uggg :(
Wayyy to long. I'm so sad something like this happened I was so excited for a new laptop!

[powerpack]

Old technology is still being sold at higher prices on a cost/performance ratio. So I guess I agree? Buy something now. Clearly not a brand specific issue. I think Asus loves you guys!

I think you guys should do. I am not being a smart ass.

[jalertic]

I just wish there was a way of telling Sager/Xotic that I don't care about the bug and I want my 5160 ASAP.
An issue that has a 10% chance of manifesting itself in two years only on an optical drive I will barely be using? Sure, I'll take my chances..
I was really hoping to get the computer before I went out of town for a week in mid march.
*sigh*

[acheronx1]

Yeah, the should give the customers the warning about it, and allow them to choose if they still want it shipped on time.

[jalertic]

Yeah, the should give the customers the warning about it, and allow them to choose if they still want it shipped on time.

I'd more than happy to sign a form agreeing that if I do have the issue occur that it will not be covered under warranty due to me not waiting

[powerpack]

I just wish there was a way of telling Sager/Xotic that I don't care about the bug and I want my 5160 ASAP.
An issue that has a 10% chance of manifesting itself in two years only on an optical drive I will barely be using? Sure, I'll take my chances..
I was really hoping to get the computer before I went out of town for a week in mid march.
*sigh*

Yeah, the should give the customers the warning about it, and allow them to choose if they still want it shipped on time.

I'd more than happy to sign a form agreeing that if I do have the issue occur that it will not be covered under warranty due to me not waitingI agree with all your sentiment's!

Edit: I also agree with you balls to the wall? I just read what sentiment means and not really what I meant.

[acheronx1]

PP, you postcount++'er!

[Keeper]

Hax, that is all there is to it, should change from post counter to pp counter.... :)

[powerpack]

I am not feeling the love guys?

[SmogHog]

I am not feeling the love guys?

report all of powerpacks posts as spam:laugh:

[kaige18]

we will resume limited quantity shipment of Sager models

I ordered my on th 26th of Jan and I really hope I'm included in the "limited quantity" otherwise I might cry :(

[DSuds]

An issue that has a 10% chance of manifesting itself in two years only on an optical drive I will barely be using? Sure, I'll take my chances..
I think that Intel must have cut them a sweet deal to get them off the streets. Otherwise they are sitting there with a lot of inventory they can't move (CPUs, GPUs, etc) with no upside. Intel must have paid enough to make scrapping the MB and sitting on the other parts cheaper than replacing them down the road.

The timing on this is exactly wrong for me. I'll probably have to cancel my order and just get a crappy laptop somewhere to hold me through the year. But most people will either wait or don't know the difference anyway... I imagine it will hit Sager more than most since they probably have the most informed consumers.

(PP - I'll just assume you agree and save you a post.)

[powerpack]

I think that Intel must have cut them a sweet deal to get them off the streets. Otherwise they are sitting there with a lot of inventory they can't move (CPUs, GPUs, etc) with no upside. Intel must have paid enough to make scrapping the MB and sitting on the other parts cheaper than replacing them down the road.

The timing on this is exactly wrong for me. I'll probably have to cancel my order and just get a crappy laptop somewhere to hold me through the year. But most people will either wait or don't know the difference anyway... I imagine it will hit Sager more than most since they probably have the most informed consumers.

(PP - I'll just assume you agree and save you a post.)agreed sir.;)

[sm0kie]

we will resume limited quantity shipment of Sager models

I ordered my on th 26th of Jan and I really hope I'm included in the "limited quantity" otherwise I might cry :(

Sad, I ordered mine on the 27th. Hope I get mine too.

[disi]

for all the information here in the board. I just ordered one yesterday and they just state in the email that they are waiting for delivery:

Sager is currently awaiting a shipment of this model to arrive in stock. This newly-released model is available in limited quantity. Availability on all items, especially newly-released models, changes on a daily basis and cannot be guaranteed. Your order will be completed as quickly as possible once additional machines become available, but we cannot guarantee the number of available models at this time.They might should inform the customers that it could take up to April to get the laptop? Will I definitely get one and already wire the money, even though they state that I do not have to?

Thanks,

disi

//edit: here is a nice article that explains the problem:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4143/the-source-of-intels-cougar-point-sata-bug
If you have a desktop system with six SATA ports driven off of P67/H67 chipset, there’s a chance (at least 5%) that during normal use some of the 3Gbps ports will stop working over the course of 3 years.
So most, if not all, laptop users won't be affected... as long as you have less than three drives.

[DSuds]

They might should inform the customers that it could take up to April to get the laptop?
Be nice if they informed anyone of anything. Don't believe there has been an official word from Xotic on the issue at all.
So most, if not all, laptop users won't be affected... as long as you have less than three drives.The optical drive and eSATA ports on just about every laptop are potentially going to have issues.

[disi]

I just found some post on the Intel blog. I probably have to wait a little anyway:
When will the new distro releases be available? We hope it is soon. Linus says: * ‘more like “April 2011”. Before that, you’ll have to find things like daily builds or do your own’*.
http://blogs.intel.com/technology/2011/01/sandybridge_on_linux_-_it_will.php

Since this will be the next kernel release (probably 2.6.38) in ~April 2011. For my favoured distribution (Gentoo) there is not even a an ebuild for Gentoo patched sources of 2.6.38 yet... except for the pure git sources. http://gentoo-portage.com/sys-kernel/git-source

These guys are even more far behind: http://zen-kernel.org/releases :confused:

[kayvanmsh]

You know it's the time for amd to release its Bulldozer CPU. I've never used amd in my whole life. Maybe now i make a switch. A notebook with Bulldozer and 6970m. How's that?

[acheronx1]

report all of powerpacks posts as spam:laugh:


Done and.............. done. ;)

[kaige18]

Found this article today which brought some hope.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2379628,00.asp

"Intel has resumed shipments of the chipsets that were affected by the Sandy Bridge "Cougar Point" flaw, but only for systems that won't be affected by the glitch."

I'm praying that the Sager 8150 isn't affected by the bug and will be shipped sooner :eeek2:. But I'm not about to get my hopes up.:p

[hmonglisboi]

I found this on newegg and even though he is talking about a desktop motherboard, this is also known to affect the laptop versions as well.

http://www.eggxpert.com/forums/thread/682006.aspx

[powerpack]

I found this on newegg and even though he is talking about a desktop motherboard, this is also known to affect the laptop versions as well.

http://www.eggxpert.com/forums/thread/682006.aspx (http://www.eggxpert.com/forums/thread/682006.aspx[/QUOTE]Without) Without reading your link. I do agree it does affect notebooks. But it does not affect the SATA 3.0 ports. So if you had one HDD and an optical drive you would not have to even use the affected 2.0 ports. Also the current failure rate is only 5% after 3 years on the 2.0's? If this was horseshoes or hand grenades not that bad?:D

[SmogHog]

Found this article today which brought some hope.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2379628,00.asp

"Intel has resumed shipments of the chipsets that were affected by the Sandy Bridge "Cougar Point" flaw, but only for systems that won't be affected by the glitch."

I'm praying that the Sager 8150 isn't affected by the bug and will be shipped sooner :eeek2:. But I'm not about to get my hopes up.:p

Am I reading this correctly?Notebooks presently in stock will be cannabulized?

As I'm understanding this article saying that in notebooks that have 2 internal SATA connections for a primary drive and a secondary drive,the SATA connection for the secondary drive will be physicall removed before the notebook with an errarum affected Cougar Point chipset is cleared to be shipped.

The eSATA port will be removed also?

Hell,who would want this now more limited notebook?

This means an Asus G73SW with only one internal SATA boot drive and no seconday SATA connection .

Same for Sagers and MSIs.

This leaves a secondary drive in the optical bay and an external USB ODD as a possible 2 drive configuration?.

[oic0]

Am I reading this correctly?Notebooks presently in stock will be cannabulized?

As I'm understanding this article saying that in notebooks that have 2 internal SATA connections for a primary drive and a secondary drive,the SATA connection for the secondary drive will be physicall removed before the notebook with an errarum affected Cougar Point chipset is cleared to be shipped.

The eSATA port will be removed also?

Hell,who would want this now more limited notebook?

This means an Asus G73SW with only one internal SATA boot drive and no seconday SATA connection .

Same for Sagers and MSIs.

This leaves a secondary drive in the optical bay and an external USB ODD as a possible 2 drive configuration?.

I think they are only shipping them in configurations where there would be no difference. If the laptop uses 3 or more ports I don't think they are shipping them.
Either way, not a bad thing on models where it is allowed. Stops manufacturers from lamely putting the drives on the old school controllers out of laziness or why ever they were doing it.