MSI, Gigabyte, Zotac: We are ready to exchange faulty Intel 6 series chipset based motherboards

Followed by ASUS and ASRock, other leading motherboard manufacturers, MSI, Gigabyte, Zotac, also confirmed the issue with Intel’s 6-series chipset design error and will accept faulty motherboards for further replacement or refund. Additionally, all major companies asked resellers to hold sales of the Intel 6 series based products to customers until the issue can be resolved.

According to official MSI statement, the following list of motherboards are effected by issue of SATA 3GB/s connected device performance degrade: MSI P67A-GD65, P67A-GD55, P67A-GD53, P67A-C45, P67A-C43, P67S-C43, H67MA-ED55, H67MA-E45, H67MS-E43, H67MS-E33. In case you have already bought one of these products, MSI suggests to connect devices to the specific SATA ports delivered by Marvell chipset as a temporary solution.

If that does not suits the customer, MSI is ready to replace the faulty Cougar Point chipset based motherboard to a different one, based on 6-series chipset with B3 stepping and fixed SATA2 ports as soon as they become available.

Gigabyte has published a short FAQ on this issue revealing models having potential problems due to Intel’s chipset issue. More details on the issue itself can be found here. The company offers its customers the opportunity to exchange any Intel P67/H67/P65/PH67 (revision B2) based motherboard to new ones based on same chipset but with revision B3. Everyone willing to do so will have to contact the store where the motherboard was originally purchased in the end of April 2011 and leave series number and personal contact details.

According to Intel’s production plan, the 6 series B3 stepping chipset will be available by April, so as soon as new Gigabyte products become available the customer will be contacted for product replacement. Meanwhile, the company recommend current owners of Intel 6 series based motherboards to use a special tool, GIGABYTE 6 Series SATA Check to identify faulty SATA 3GB/s ports.

ZOTAC® International, a leading innovator and the world’s largest channel manufacturer of graphics cards, motherboards and mini-PCs, today announces it will exchange all defective H67-ITX WiFi motherboards through authorized distribution channels. Users that have purchased an H67-ITX WiFi do not need to worry as they can exchange their board through their authorized reseller.

General details:

• ZOTAC® will exchange all defective H67-ITX WiFi motherboards
• Users with boards may contact their reseller for exchange details
• Boards will function perfectly until a replacement is available
• Blue SATA 6.0 Gb/s ports are unaffected by the Intel® chipset bug
• Replacement boards expected early Q2’2011
• New boards will carry new SKU