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Intel's Atom C2000 chips are bricking products
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Piru View Drop Down
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    Posted: 07 Feb 2017 at 9:52pm
Intel Atom C2000 chips have a flaw that will lead to total bricking of the system.

The issue has been covered by for example The Register: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/02/06/cisco_intel_decline_to_link_product_warning_to_faulty_chip/

The problem is confirmed by this Intel Errata document:
https://www-ssl.intel.com/content/dam/www/public/us/en/documents/specification-updates/atom-c2000-family-spec-update.pdf

As far as I can tell ASRock has 3 models that are potentially affected:

http://www.asrockrack.com/general/productdetail.asp?Model=C2550D4I#Specifications                                             
http://www.asrockrack.com/general/productdetail.asp?Model=C2750D4I#Specifications                                             
http://www.asrockrack.com/general/productdetail.asp?Model=1U12LW-C2750#Specifications

Some questions to ASRock:

- Are ASRock boards affected by this issue?
- If ASRock boards are affected, what will ASRock do to remedy this situation? Will the affected boards be RMAd?


Edited by Piru - 07 Feb 2017 at 10:01pm
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wantastic View Drop Down
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Points: 6 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote wantastic Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Feb 2017 at 6:10am
I'd second this - I've interestingly already had one of the C2750D4I's fail just a few months ago just over 2 years into it's life span, which I had thankfully replaced under warranty, however if these products are possibly affected by this issue, I would imagine that the replacement I received may also still have this same problem.

If ASRock products are indeed affected, what happens if one of these chips fail after the warranty period?  Would these still be covered if the issue is classed as a design flaw by Intel?  Would there be any opportunity to replace the potentially faulty chips prior to them breaking?


Edited by wantastic - 09 Feb 2017 at 6:12am
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Xaltar View Drop Down
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I would take this up with Tech Support directly. Please do post back your findings here though for anyone else interested.
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ASrocks respons here: "ASRock Rack ??Not seeing major issues from customers yet. Working with a vendor on this issue. Current course of action is to replace boards under three-year warranty."

I am using an ASRock C2550D4I and have send a support request through the ASRock Rack pages. I will give an update here on their response.

As far as I am aware, the B0 stepping for Intel Atoms C2550 is affected by the fault and no other steppings exist (Please correct me if I'm wrong). That would mean that a replacement board of the same type would have the same issue present, so a direct replacement is not a structural solution here, unfortunately.
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Originally posted by LucidWaker LucidWaker wrote:

As far as I am aware, the B0 stepping for Intel Atoms C2550 is affected by the fault and no other steppings exist (Please correct me if I'm wrong). That would mean that a replacement board of the same type would have the same issue present, so a direct replacement is not a structural solution here, unfortunately.


Have you seen note, in plain simple wording, of just how heavy a workload over what period of time Intel is talking of when they refer to this "degradation' and subsequent failure?

Cisco's switches I can see a relationship to workload and a time to detonation.Tongue
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Originally posted by wardog wardog wrote:

Have you seen note, in plain simple wording, of just how heavy a workload over what period of time Intel is talking of when they refer to this "degradation' and subsequent failure?

In the updated product specification, the bug we're dealing with is stated as follows:  
AVR54: System May Experience Inability to Boot or May Cease Operation 
Problem: The SoC LPC_CLKOUT0 and/or LPC_CLKOUT1 signals (Low Pin Count bus clock outputs) may stop functioning. 
Implication: If the LPC clock(s) stop functioning the system will no longer be able to boot. 
Workaround: A platform level change has been identified and may be implemented as a workaround for this erratum. 

I have no real knowledge on the workings of CPU's on this level so I don't know if this is some basic functionality where other functionalities revolve around (this seems plausible as it apparently plays a role in booting the system) or that this is related to load driven operations. 

As far as I understand it, it's supposed to be related to degradation of the actual semiconductor structure in the chip. Degradation rates of semiconductor materials will increase with heavier loads, but server boards are usually powered on for longer periods, so it will keep degrading over time regardless of load. So, I think load will play a part in how fast fatal degradation sets in, but it will happen over time regardless. 

I read in one of the related articles that a fix could possibly be to reduce voltages in the related chip structures to decrease degradation rates but I don't know if ASRock themselves are able to achieve this on existing motherboards.
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Points: 6447 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote wardog Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 Feb 2017 at 1:42am
Originally posted by LucidWaker LucidWaker wrote:

In the updated product specification, the bug we're dealing with is stated as follows:  
AVR54: System May Experience Inability to Boot or May Cease Operation 
Problem: The SoC LPC_CLKOUT0 and/or LPC_CLKOUT1 signals (Low Pin Count bus clock outputs) may stop functioning. 
Implication: If the LPC clock(s) stop functioning the system will no longer be able to boot. 
Workaround: A platform level change has been identified and may be implemented as a workaround for this erratum.


Thanks LucidWalker.

Platform level, meaning other than the CPU itself. As you imply in the below. Wonderful,.. Intel.

What is this now? The third major Erratum is as many generation's coming out of Intel?

Originally posted by LucidWaker LucidWaker wrote:


I read in one of the related articles that a fix could possibly be to reduce voltages in the related chip structures to decrease degradation rates but I don't know if ASRock themselves are able to achieve this on existing motherboards.
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Points: 6447 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote wardog Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 Feb 2017 at 6:39pm
http://fudzilla.com/news/processors/42942-intel-c3000-atom-chips-out
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Heard nothing yet from ASRock customer service. 

In the meantime weighing my options to replace my C2550D4I with another mITX board with CPU, might as well grab the opportunity to upgrade the CPU to fully support a minimal of two FullHD stream through Plex...

Any idea what ASRock is planning to do with the Atom C3000 series?
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I really hope ASRock will not try to sweep that issue under the carpet. I bought a C2750D4I in October 2015 an have a 3 year warranty. I expect a clear statement from ASRock that also later failures caused by this issue are covered.
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