Intel Extends Warranty by Two Years for 13th and 14th Generation Processors Amid Crashing Concerns

[AleksandarK]

In a statement for Tom's Hardware, Intel has announced a two-year warranty extension for its 13th and 14th Generation Core processors. This decision comes in response to widespread reports of crashes and instability affecting a broad range of models, from high-end flagship chips to mid-range offerings. The extension effectively increases the standard warranty period from three to five years for most boxed processors, with even the limited-edition models seeing an increase from one to three years. This move aims to reassure customers and mitigate concerns about potential long-term damage to affected chips. Intel has identified excessive voltage as the root cause of the problem, which has led to unexpected system crashes and blue screens of death (BSODs), particularly during gaming and other demanding tasks.

The company plans to release a microcode update by mid-August to prevent further degradation in unaffected processors. However, this update will not resolve issues in chips that have already experienced problems, and users with malfunctioning processors will need to seek replacements. The tech giant has faced criticism for its delayed response to the issue, which has plagued users for months. In its statement, Intel also addressed concerns about Via Oxidation, clarifying that while this separate issue was discovered in 2022, it is not the cause of the current instability problems. The company claims to have implemented fixes and enhanced screening procedures for Via Oxidation by early 2023, with affected chips reportedly removed from the supply chain by early 2024.




As investigations for a potential class action lawsuit begin, Intel's warranty extension appears to be a proactive step to maintain customer trust. The company has advised users with OEM systems to contact their manufacturers directly, suggesting similar warranty extensions from system builders may be forthcoming. Below, you can see Intel's statements for Tom's Hardware, on the matter of two-year warranty extension.

Intel is committed to making sure all customers who have or are currently experiencing instability symptoms on their 13th and/or 14th Gen desktop processors are supported in the exchange process. We stand behind our products, and in the coming days we will be sharing more details on two-year extended warranty support for our boxed Intel Core 13th and 14th Gen desktop processors.

In the meantime, if you are currently or previously experienced instability symptoms on your Intel Core 13th/14th Gen desktop system:

• For users who purchased systems from OEM/System Integrators - please reach out to your system manufacturer's support team for further assistance.
• For users who purchased a boxed CPU - please reach out to Intel Customer Support for further assistance.

Intel is also investigating options to easily identify affected processors on end user systems and will provide additional guidance as soon as possible. At the same time, we apologize for the delay in communications as this has been a challenging issue to unravel and definitively root cause.

Next, Intel also issued a statement for Tom's Hardware regarding the Via Oxidation issue.

The Via Oxidation issue currently reported in the press is a minor one that was addressed with manufacturing improvements and screens in early 2023.

The issue was identified in late 2022, and with the manufacturing improvements and additional screens implemented Intel was able to confirm full removal of impacted processors in our supply chain by early 2024. However, on-shelf inventory may have persisted into early 2024 as a result.

Minor manufacturing issues are an inescapable fact with all silicon products. Intel continuously works with customers to troubleshoot and remediate product failure reports and provides public communications on product issues when the customer risk exceeds Intel quality control thresholds.

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[Chaitanya]

Too little and too late, also it took them just long enough that vultures have already started to circle over the carcasses.

 

[R0H1T]

Still haven't addressed the "performance" issues, there's still zero clarity on what's the bigger issue ~ oxidation &/or higher clocks/voltages & whether the microcode "fix" will permanently stop any degradation on brand new (unused) chips! The only takeaway right now is that Intel wants to avoid the massive class action & possibly share holder lawsuits

 

[Steevo]

Again I ask, how many average users know how to see if it’s a CPU issue? 5-10%?

Intel could release a software tool to run and check for degradation but they won’t, instead they rely on unknowing users to blame everything else.

 

[Outback Bronze]

Happy camper here

Nothing wrong with my CPU's and now just got 5 years warranty on them.

 

[pressing on]

Intel could release a software tool to run and check for degradation but they won’t, instead they rely on unknowing users to blame everything else.

There is the Intel Processor Diagnostic Tool which will run a stress test and other tests on a CPU and give a PASS/FAIL result. This has been around for some time. Given the extended warranty for boxed processors this tool could be run at any time during that period, and a FAIL result would obviously make pursuing a warranty claim a lot easier.

 

[Prima.Vera]

There is the Intel Processor Diagnostic Tool which will run a stress test and other tests on a CPU and give a PASS/FAIL result. This has been around for some time. Given the extended warranty for boxed processors this tool could be run at any time during that period, and a FAIL result would obviously make pursuing a warranty claim a lot easier.

View attachment 357263

Thank you. This is useful.

I bought my 13700KF on October 2022, so it's nice to have this unde Warranty till October 2027. That's good.

 

[fevgatos]

Thank you. This is useful.

I bought my 13700KF on October 2022, so it's nice to have this unde Warranty till October 2027. That's good.

Yeap, 5 year warranty is pretty nuts. I hope they keep that for next gen as well although that's probably unlikely.

 

[Bwaze]

Is it really that helpful to have years of warranty left if you ask for an RMA now due to instability and Intel denies it?

It has happened to reviewers, it has happened to regular customers, and Intel being very vague about the cause of degradations doesn't really help.

 

[fevgatos]

Is it really that helpful to have years of warranty left if you ask for an RMA now due to instability and Intel denies it?

It has happened to reviewers, it has happened to regular customers, and Intel being very vague about the cause of degradations doesn't really help.

Can you post some actual evidence that Intel denies RMA of affected cpus? If they do that, it's important to know, I'll avoid em like the plague.

 

[R0H1T]

There is the Intel Processor Diagnostic Tool which will run a stress test and other tests on a CPU and give a PASS/FAIL result.

This will not help with 13/14 degradation issues, it's your regular stress test kinda like P95 & I'm not sure even Intel will accept RMA if this "test" fails.

Spoiler

https://www.reddit.com/r/hardware/comments/1ei1zvm

 

[ZoneDymo]

ermm what does this matter? im sorry I did not read the entire thing but like one of the guys from DF said the only way his PC or atleast editting software does nto crash is by downclocking the 13900k....which of course means he not nearly gets the performance out of it which it should give....so what does warranty help? Technically it works...just not nearly as intended.

its like a car that tops out at 40 miles an hour while it should do 100 easily and then the manufacture just extends warranty, how does that help? can you send the product in if it does not meet spec now?

 

[R0H1T]

how does that help?

It helps Intel, with some liability, realistically speaking though anyone who believe they're duped, due to less(er) performance, should opt for a full refund & ideally they should get it!

 

[JohH]

ermm what does this matter? im sorry I did not read the entire thing but like one of the guys from DF said the only way his PC or atleast editting software does nto crash is by downclocking the 13900k....which of course means he not nearly gets the performance out of it which it should give....so what does warranty help? Technically it works...just not nearly as intended.

its like a car that tops out at 40 miles an hour while it should do 100 easily and then the manufacture just extends warranty, how does that help? can you send the product in if it does not meet spec now?

If you have to downclock it for it to work, you can get a warranty replacement.

 

[Bwaze]

Can you post some actual evidence that Intel denies RMA of affected cpus? If they do that, it's important to know, I'll avoid em like the plague.

Evidence? No. Just people reporting they have been denied RMA, so anecdotal evidence, some might say hearsay.

Intel denies RMA requests for its faulty 13th Gen, 14th Gen CPUs with instability issues Read more: https://www.tweaktown.com/news/99306/intel-denies-rma-requests-for-its-faulty-13th-gen-14th-cpus-with-instability-issues/index.html

Intel has denied two of my 14900K RMAs (instability) and stated they will confiscate or destroy them if I proceed with the warranty process.

 

[john_]

That's a good move. It will also help to spread the warranty claims in a longer period, or Intel would had to replace a few million CPUs in a very short period, which would be probably problematic.

 

[Bwaze]

Also, if Intel doesn't provide a tool that really hammers the CPU and provides clear PASS / FAIL status and relies on customers to self diagnose that the CPU degradation is the culprit to instabilities of their system, a lot of people might just shrug their occasional freezes, BSODs etc. on general PC problems. And therefore avoid an inrush of RMA requests.

 

[john_]

Again I ask, how many average users know how to see if it’s a CPU issue? 5-10%?

Probably 1%-2%. Also I don't expect employees in big corporations to start bothering their superiors about CPU replacing before their systems start crushing. And even then they might not go full technical and just ask for a new system. Because the tech department might think that it is better to ask for new systems instead of replacing CPUs in the current ones and having to face the same problem 1-2 years later. It's corporation money anyway, not money from their pockets. Not to mention that tech stuff could declare the whole system as bad and instead of throwing it away take those systems to their homes, replace the CPUs and sell them in the second hand market. Many corporations don't really spend much time searching in warehouses to see if old systems are indeed there or if the system that was thrown away was indeed a 13th, 14th gen PC and not some old forgotten LGA 775 that a technician had in a closet for over a decade.

 

[_roman_]

Without a replacement or upgrade with a better processor until year 2041 I would not consider buying or recommending anyone to buy any Intel hardware.

That is my usage period so far for any microprocessor.

I'm still "stupid" enough to have bought recently an Intel NIC after my previous issues with INTEL CPUs, INTEL GPUs, INTEL NIC, Intel Chipset and outdated firmware and Issues. This time I paid more, so the NIC can be replaced anytime by myself. I was forced to sell the Printed circuit board because of a semi faulty INTEL Chip on that board a year ago.

 

[fevgatos]

Evidence? No. Just people reporting they have been denied RMA, so anecdotal evidence, some might say hearsay.

Intel denies RMA requests for its faulty 13th Gen, 14th Gen CPUs with instability issues Read more: https://www.tweaktown.com/news/99306/intel-denies-rma-requests-for-its-faulty-13th-gen-14th-cpus-with-instability-issues/index.html

Intel has denied two of my 14900K RMAs (instability) and stated they will confiscate or destroy them if I proceed with the warranty process.

You can fact those tales about any company. Put company name on Google followed by RMA denied, you'll find hundreds. Doesn't mean a thing, cause even if it's true we don't know the details.

 

[R0H1T]

What do you mean even if it's true? What's the effin point of "5 years" of warranty then

 

[fevgatos]

What do you mean even if it's true? What the effin point of "5 years" of warranty then

I mean that there are hundreds of reasons to deny an RMA. Cpu being physically damaged, delided, cpu working fine and not having any issue etc. A company denying RMA doesn't automatically mean they are "denying rmas" as a policy.

 

[Hecate91]

There are plenty of reports on Intel denying RMA, no one can stop you from being in denial.
Anyway though it's not like RMA'ing a 13th or 14th gen cpu would be a fix anyway, and we don't know if the microcode will be a fix that prevents degradation.
At this point Intel needs to offer full refunds to people who bought boxed processors. Another issue is OEM systems, Intel hasn't accepted the blame at all and points users to the SI or OEM. I wonder how many companies are going to bring up lawsuits as replacing cpus or offering full refunds is going to cost a lot of money.

 

[R0H1T]

A company making up about half a dozen reasons before admitting their CPU's being faulty is at least suspicious, if I were a betting man they're also a big "target" for lots of lawsuits!

This is them reducing liability in something like a class action lawsuit, too bad there isn't something like the EU's 5(?) percent of global revenues penalty/fines in other parts of the world. Although I don't believe EU's ever levied it?

 

[64K]

This is good news for those that build their own PC but what about the vast majority that buy pre-builts? I think they come with a 1 year manufacturer warranty. So after a year when the PC starts borking where do they go? If they even know about the extended warranty on the CPU there's still the PC shipping back and forth to a repair center and a possible repair charge. If they take it to a local repair shop there's still labor cost. If Intel doesn't address those customer expenses then really they haven't done much for the majority of customers.