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To: DRBES who wrote (19979)	11/21/2000 7:22:08 AM
From: dhellman	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 275872

WSJ full text:Early Shipments of Intel Pentium 4 Chips Included Wrong Piece of Software Code By MOLLY WILLIAMS Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL ed:Silly, but sweet! Is it possible to feel sorry for Intel? ... naahhh interactive.wsj.com SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Intel Corp. said early shipments of its Pentium 4 chips to personal-computer makers included the wrong piece of software code. Company Profile: Intel * * * Intel's Swift Pentium 4 Chip Is Set to Launch, in Bid to Outpace AMD (Nov. 17) While none of the Pentium 4 chips with the incorrect piece of code reached consumers, the mistake is an embarrassment for the chip maker, which has already recalled some products and delayed others because of technical glitches. Technical glitches in microprocessors and the surrounding chips and software are relatively common, and this one isn't a big deal, analysts said. Intel was able to fix the mistake before it reached users, so the impact is nominal. "This is not a big deal, but they've had all these little execution issues," said analyst Hans Mosesmann of Prudential Securities. Intel earlier this year had to recall almost one million motherboards, or main circuit boards, because of a problem with one of the components that worked with the processor. And technical difficulties also forced Intel to recall its 1.13 gigahertz Pentium III chip, cancel its planned Timna processor and delay the Pentium 4's original launch date from late October. In 4 p.m. Nasdaq Stock Market trading Monday, Intel shares fell 31 cents to $41.19. The stock is off 46% from its high of $75.81 reached in late August. Intel's latest problem involved software code that acts as a system traffic cop, the so-called BIOS. The problem was discovered last week, Intel said, when it realized it had shipped the wrong version of Pentium 4 BIOS software, which essentially monitors input and output in the components of a PC. The updated version, correcting glitches in the Pentium 4 chip, was forwarded to Intel's customers so they could replace the BIOS before sending systems to their end-users. Intel said it worked with PC makers to try to make sure systems were updated before being shipped to users, and it doesn't think any systems made it to consumers with the older software. Computer makers including Compaq Computer Corp., Dell Computer Corp., IBM Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co. and Gateway Inc. all announced Pentium 4 systems. The Pentium 4, which was officially launched Monday, is Intel's fastest chip yet. The processor will make games look more realistic, enable faster video playback and editing and speed up things such as downloading music and video encoding. Write to Molly Williams at molly.williams@wsj.com d