Intel Sandy Bridge chip flaws
An easy to follow explanation from Kim Komando:
"The highly anticipated release of Intel's Sandy Bridge chipsets has had a bumpy start. In the first month of release, Intel announced a design flaw.
The flaw is in the Serial-ATA controller. This is has to do with the chipset that manages the drives you connect to the motherboard. There are usually a couple chipsets on a motherboard: the Northbridge and the Southbridge.
Typically the Northbridge will control things like RAM and integrated graphics. The Southbridge manages input and storage connections. So it's the Southbridge that has the issue. That's because it manages the SATA controller.
This is important to keep in mind. The Sandy Bridge processors are entirely unaffected.
The faulty controller supports two SATA types. There are four ports for 3-gigabits-per-second connections. Then there are two ports for 6Gbps connections.
Because of the design of the chipset, only the 3Gbps ports are affected. Over time, these will become unusable.
So what is the issue, exactly? Without going to far into techie specifics, there's a design flaw on the chip itself. One of the transistors has too high of a voltage running through it. With long-term use, the transistor will leak the current. This will eventually break the 3Gbps ports.
Now this might sound a bit more serious than it actually is. In truth, the fix isn't very difficult. In fact, if you use a laptop you may never see an issue. That's because many of the Sandy Bridge laptops will only use the two 6Gbps ports. One port is for the optical drive, and the other port is for the hard drive.
The 6Gbps ports don't suffer the same issue. They don't draw current through the flawed transistor. These won't experience any degradation.
Because of this, laptop manufacturers haven't announced any replacement plans yet. So you'll have to contact your laptop's maker specifically to see what it can do. But again, it may end up being a non-issue.
Those with desktops are likely to use more than two of the SATA ports. For example, you may want multiple hard drives and optical drives. That would mean using the broken ports.
Remember that the issues arise over long-term use. So don't worry too much about using the ports for now. But you'll want to contact the manufacturer. If it's a pre-built machine, call the computer manufacture. If you've built your own PC, contact the motherboard manufacturer.
Keep in mind that this isn't a recall. Intel isn't swapping out motherboards. The fix is simply cutting off voltage to the faulty transistor. Intel has said its inclusion isn't necessary for the chipset's functionality. That means the 3Gbps ports will still be functional after they bypass the transistor.
Later releases of the chipset will include a reworked design. When those become available, motherboard makers can bypass the bad chipset and replace it with a better one."
