Defective AMD Products Accidentally Reach Consumers

[Urlyin]

At an AMD organized event to promote its ATI Radeon HD 2000-series graphics products in Taiwan, the GPU maker reiterated that the recently discovered issue which has lead to defective Radeon 2600 and 2400 graphics cards shipping to channels was under control, and that a recall request was not needed.

AMD emphasized that the problem is not industry wide and that the company had issued a software fix to solve the problem already. AMD pointed out that none of its partners had requested that it recall or replace the actual graphics chips used in the affected cards.

AMD's statements that the issue can be solved by updating the BIOS of the affected cards were confirmed by sources at the card makers. However, some expressed irritation that the issue had surfaced at all as they had already introduced the cards to the market and were now facing disruption in their supply channels due to the bug.

On a separate note, sources at Asustek Computer and Gigabyte Technology attending the event indicated that their shipping proportions of Nvidia and AMD-based cards may be 7:3 during late 2007, versus the present ratio of 8:2.

 

[HAL7000]

So Nvidia shouldnt release new cards so we can feel better ?

No I am not saying that,,,,but about a month and a half later,,,,goodbye 7800GTX...and hello 7900GTX...I didn't even get my $598.00 dollars worth before it was considered obsolete.
I still like nividia, but am using ATI for now. I feels good to try new shoes once in a while.

those are updates my wife points out to me and threatens divorce.....but in reality, she keeps me wiser.....

 

[HellasVagabond]

I think people have already read this....

The 7800 series was many months in the market i know cause i got the 7800GT when it got out and then i got the 7900GT. IF you bought the 7800GTX after many months it aint Nvidias fault.

 

[HAL7000]

I think people have already read this....

The 7800 series was many months in the market i know cause i got the 7800GT when it got out and then i got the 7900GT. IF you bought the 7800GTX after many months it aint Nvidias fault.

I bought it the first week it was released....believe me, my wife reminds me of the stupid quick reaction on my part every time I am quick to replace what I have,,,

so now I wait at least 2 months before I buy....that is why i do not have my 2900xt yet....But to stay on the post....a bios update is nothing....mobo's manufacturers do it all the time

 

[zekrahminator]

I hate the ATI/NVIDIA debate. Both sides are stonewalled in their opinion, and it always ends up badly. You might as well not even talk...

 

[Tatty_Two]

It's too simple really, each have their strengths, each have their weaknesses, each have their supporters, I like both, sometimes NVidia gets the edge when a new generation of tech unfolds, sometimes ATi, the best card I have ever owned is an 850XT PE, the fastest is a 640MB 8800GTS, without one there would not be the other so to speak so lets all be pleased that there is competition which helps us afford these beasts.

 

[HAL7000]

It's too simple really, each have their strengths, each have their weaknesses, each have their supporters, I like both, sometimes NVidia gets the edge when a new generation of tech unfolds, sometimes ATi, the best card I have ever owned is an 850XT PE, the fastest is a 640MB 8800GTS, without one there would not be the other so to speak so lets all be pleased that there is competition which helps us afford these beasts.

Agreed..................I couldn't have said it any better

 

[devguy]

Well, this is turning into a soap ... Dailytech reports that reports claiming that defective Radeons surfaced at top-tier manufacturers prove false.

A recent article from DigiTimes had many graphics partners pointing a finger at AMD for several thousand potentially faulty Radeon HD 2600 and HD 2400 products. Specifically, DigiTimes claimed “One first-tier maker has recalled over 20,000-30,000 units already, noted the sources.”

Although the article stated that Asustek Computers, Micro-Star International (MSI) and Gigabyte Technology all experienced a problem with improperly flashed cards, all three manufacturers have since denied the existence of any such defect.

Several product managers and engineers were left scratching their heads when confronted about receiving batches of faulty Radeon HD parts. ASUS representatives, speaking on the condition of anonymity, claim that no journalists inquired to the company about faulty Radeon-series graphic adaptors, and that the company has not found a single defective in its inventory.

When approached as to the nature of the defect, a Taiwanese graphics adaptor engineer stated, “ATI did deliver some chips without UVD to Acer for one of its projects and that’s it. All chips delivered to other OEM and ODM has the UVD enabled.” Universal Video Decoder, or UVD, is a hardware acceleration unit found on the Radeon HD 2600 and 2400 graphics processors.

That same engineer suspects Acer is where the notion of a defect or recall may have occurred.

Acer, the world’s fourth largest branded PC vendor occasionally orders one-off products from its suppliers. Since the parts were ordered without UVD support it one would be hard pressed to consider them defective. Acer’s OEM partners include ECS and Asustek.
MSI and Gigabyte have no knowledge of receiving either products without hardware UVD support or defective ROMs. Both companies went on to say that internal testing of the HD 2K-series has not shown problems related to UVD support.

A Gigabyte official spoke to DailyTech on the record with regard to the defect report. “We can confirm that all shipping AMD Radeon HD 2400s and ATI Radeon HD 2600s have working UVD functionality,” he stated. “We are shipping a number of HD 2400 A13s and their UVD functionality is enabled in the August Catalyst driver drop. All of the remaining HD 2400s, and all of the HD 2600s, have UVD support in the current driver.”

One AMD engineer, also speaking on terms of anonymity, claim that there are no cards in the channel with a UVD problem and they are unaware of faulty products leaving the factory. Any report claiming that defective HD 2600 and 2400 [cards] are recalled in the channel is completely untrue.

Source: Guru3D

 

[HellasVagabond]

AMD admits it and then denies it ? Doesnt look good.