Star Tech Journal

January 1995
STAR* TECH Journal
CD
FLAWED PENTIUM CHIP
CREATES ROUGH YEAR FOR INTEL CORP.
A chronology of Intel Corp. 's problems with the Pentium CPU chip.
MAY - JUNE '94: Intel officials have given contra-
dictory dates. But Intel says it discovered the
Pentium bug on its own while running random
calculation tests.
13: Thomas Nicely, a professor of math at
Lynchburg College in Lynchburg, Va., finds errors
in results while calculating intensive math prob-
lems.
JUNE
Ocr 19: Nicely concludes his problem is with the
chip. Oct 24: Nicely cails Intel to inform it of his
findings. Intel officials say his is the only real-world
complaint.
14: IBM deals a major blow to Intel Corp.,
saying it would stop shipping personal computers
equipped with Pentium chips because the risk of
mathematical error is far worse than Intel has
maintained. Intel says a typical user would find
an error in the Pentium's calculations once every
27,000 years. IBM says it is more like once every
24 days.
DEc
DEC 20: After a month of stonewalling, Intel Corp.
does an abrupt about-face and offers to replace
defective Pentium processors for any user free of
charge with "no questions asked."
Ocr 30: Nicely informs friends
via e-mail about the problem.
One of them posts the informa-
tion on the CompuServe on-line
service. The news spreads to the
Internet from there, drawing
hundreds of responses.
Nov 22: CNN runs a story on
the Pentium bug. Worldwide
newspaper coverage follows in
the coming days. Scientists com-
plain that Intel kept the bug se-
cret and isn't being truthful
about the severity of the bug.
Nov 23: Intel says callers can get
information about the bug or
file complaints through an 800
number, (800)628-8686. The
company says it will offer re-
placement chips for those who show they need
them.
LATEST IN CHIP WEAR
Jewelry made of Intel Corp.'s defective Pentium chip
is displayed on a keyboard.