Critical flaw found in Sandy Bridge chipset

Luckily I've already upgraded my machine. It will only affect the desktop motherboards.

 

Yeah, just use Ports 1 and 2. Those are unaffected by the flaw.

You can use Ports 3 through 6 but they just won't last "forever" - probably die in 2-3 years, so if you are one of those who have more than 2 hard disk drives, it would be a good idea to get the motherboard replaced when the new chipset C stepping ships.

Most notebooks should not be affected by this problem, but you never know. Some manufacturers may, for some unknown reason, choose to use the affected ports, instead of SATA Port 1 or SATA Port 2. I'm going to avoid buying my replacement notebook until the new motherboards ship in April-May.

 

BTW, here is Intel's official response - http://forums.techarp.com/news/2629...ipset-design-error-implementing-solution.html

 

But I'm using 3 ports. Maybe more once I get the 2TB.

 

Me too, which is why if I want to upgrade to Sandy Bridge, I will wait until the C stepping chipsets ship. Sure, Intel's going to eventually replace the affected motherboards, but it's going to be a hassle to get the replacement. Better be a little patient and wait for the new stepping.

 

Gigabyte has announced also. Most of them have announced the recall.

 

Well, Intel resumed shipments of the affected chipsets with the caveat that the affected ports must not be used. This would be for notebooks since most notebooks only use 1 or 2 ports. That should please Intel shareholders.

I also believe notebooks that do not use the affected ports will not be replaced.

 

You should consider getting a SATA dock. That will allow you to support a lot of hard disk drives without actually powering them up. Just drop one in when you need one - it turns your hard disk drives into very large DVDs!

You can even buy docks that support IDE.

 

But they will allow you to have 1-to-1 exchange for all major motherboard manufacturer.

 

And the B3 chipset is already out now. So f yu buy now, you shouldn't have to face any exchange.