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Technology Stocks : Compaq -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tony Viola who wrote (89623)	2/9/2001 10:14:36 PM
From: Captain Jack	Respond to of 97611

Feb 09, 2001 (Tech Web - CMP via COMTEX) -- Executives at Dell Computer Corp. confirmed Friday that they are replacing an unspecified amount of motherboards in the Optiplex GX200, due to a design glitch. The glitch will not affect the company's financial results, due Feb. 15, a spokesman said, and Wall Street analysts were also unconcerned. Since the faulty board was designed primarily by Dell (stock: DELL), it is unlikely that the problem has been reproduced across the industry. Between May and Oct. 12, customers reported some "smearing" in the video image produced by the Optiplex GX200, said John New, manager of product planning and sustaining for the Optiplex line at Dell. The glitch does not result in data loss, but in a potential loss of video quality. "There's nothing that we could have done differently to have discovered it," New said. "Unfortunately, these things do crop up from time to time." The GX200 uses a Pentium III microprocessor, Rambus memory, and the TNT2 graphics chip from Nvidia Corp. (stock: NVDA). However, New said the issue was not due to any one chip, but issues specific to the layout of the motherboard itself. Although Dell traditionally buys a large percentage of its chips and motherboards directly from Intel Corp. (stock: INTC), a spokesman said the motherboard was designed by Dell. In at least some of Dell PCs, industry sources said, the board design work is a customized, collaborative effort between Intel, Santa Clara, Calif., and Dell. Because the boards were modified for Dell's use, they said, it is unlikely that the video glitch will crop up in other manufacturers' PCs. Similar bugs have cropped up at other suppliers. New declined to comment on the number of Dell GX100's that were affected, although the company's records identified the location of each of the faulty PCs, he said. Dell is dispatching service representatives to replace the boards on-site, New said; the task will take about 20 to 30 minutes per machine. "This isn't a shotgun approach; it's laser surgery," New said.