Servers are crashing and IBM is halting shipments of its x450 server after a glitch in Intel’s Itanium 2 processor line was discovered recently. According to an article on ZDNet, the bug appears in Itanium 2 processors running at 900MHz or 1GHz, and can be worked around by underclocking the chips to 800MHz. Intel is also offering to replace affected processors.
This isn’t the first time that Intel has had trouble with its processors. In 1997, the F00F bug effected Pentium processors, also causing PCs to crash, and making the company the butt of jokes. That didn’t stop the Pentium from becoming one of the most successful brand names in technology, however, and it remains to be seen how the Itanium 2’s sales will be affected.
From ZDNet:
The problem likely is uncommon, Insight 64 analyst Nathan Brookwood said. "These machines have been out there for a year, and it only now is showing up, so it’s got to be pretty rare. If it’s something that was more commonplace, we would have seen it a lot sooner, or they would have found it in their alpha or beta testing."
Still, the problem is a black eye for Intel, which has been positioning its Itanium line to take on high-end chips from Sun Microsystems and IBM for use in powerful servers with dozens of processors. Intel isn’t the only one to suffer processor hiccups. Early versions of Sun’s top-end UltraSparc III also had a problem that could cause crashes.
[…]
The problem has begun rippling through the computer industry. IBM said Monday that it has put shipments of its just-released x450 Itanium 2 server on hold until the glitch is fixed and is notifying customers that have the systems.
"Until we’re sure the issues are 100 percent resolved, we’re going to keep holding back shipments with the 450," IBM spokeswoman Lisa Lanspery said. "We have a policy of zero tolerance for undetected data corruption" at a customer site, she said.
You can read the full article at ZDNet.
The Mac Observer Spin:
Motorola might not be able to keep up with Intel in the MHz race, but at least the G4 can add properly. Feel free to insert any other cracks you wish.