[comp.sys.ibm.pc] 80386 Bug - Does anybody else have it?

rhj@wdl1.UUCP (Bob Jones) (02/26/88)

I recently purchased a Proteus 386 box. According to Infoworld, it
ran fast and was cheap. By and large I am happy with it, but the
80386 CHIP DOESN'T WORK :(... It fails the 32 bit integer multiply
test. Proteus claims that Intel hasn't shipped them any good 
chips and that they can't upgrade me until Intel ships to them.

Is anybody out there in a similar predicament? Does anybody know
when Intel will clean up after their mess? I want to run Windows 386,
but can't until I get a good chip :(...!

Bob Jones

davidsen@steinmetz.steinmetz.UUCP (William E. Davidsen Jr) (03/01/88)

In article <4160002@wdl1.UUCP> rhj@wdl1.UUCP (Bob Jones) writes:
| I recently purchased a Proteus 386 box. According to Infoworld, it
| ran fast and was cheap. By and large I am happy with it, but the
| 80386 CHIP DOESN'T WORK :(... It fails the 32 bit integer multiply
| test. Proteus claims that Intel hasn't shipped them any good 
| chips and that they can't upgrade me until Intel ships to them.

Other manufactures have been getting the good chips, even the clones.
The statement that Intel hasn't shipped them any good chips may be true,
but it implies (a) that they are big enough to buy from Intel rather
than a distributor, and (b) that they have ordered chips in the last 3-6
months. I would be sure (a) and (b) are true before blaming Intel.

I haven't seen anything but "double sigma" chips in clones in at least
three months. I CAN buy "16 bit only" 386's cheap (or could, I haven't
checked lately).
-- 
	bill davidsen		(wedu@ge-crd.arpa)
  {uunet | philabs | seismo}!steinmetz!crdos1!davidsen
"Stupidity, like virtue, is its own reward" -me

farren@gethen.UUCP (Michael J. Farren) (03/01/88)

In article <4160002@wdl1.UUCP> rhj@wdl1.UUCP (Bob Jones) writes:
[about a bad '386 in a Proteus box]
>Is anybody out there in a similar predicament? Does anybody know
>when Intel will clean up after their mess? I want to run Windows 386,
>but can't until I get a good chip :(...!

*INTEL* clean up after their mess?  Hey, guy, it's this Proteus outfit
that's got the mess - they've tried to pass off a '386 that they KNEW
didn't work properly to you.  Intel's been handling the buggy '386
business as well as can be expected, I think.  It's too bad that some
clone manufacturers have decided to go for expediency and a quick
buck, instead of being truly concerned about their customer - after
all, only one out of ten people will ever even have a CHANCE of
seeing that bug, so why not save a few bucks and stuff these here
bad chips in?  As far as I'm concerned, this kind of stuff is enough
to write off a clone manufacturer from the first.

-- 
Michael J. Farren             | "INVESTIGATE your point of view, don't just 
{ucbvax, uunet, hoptoad}!     | dogmatize it!  Reflect on it and re-evaluate
        unisoft!gethen!farren | it.  You may want to change your mind someday."
gethen!farren@lll-winken.llnl.gov ----- Tom Reingold, from alt.flame