...In June, 1994 the media came out with a story that one of Intel’s Pentium microprocessors had a floating point unit flaw (FPU). This flaw had to do with a math calculation that gave out wrong number after you put in an equation. The story about this flaw came to light after Professor by the name of Thomas Nicely, who was a mathematics professor at Lynchburg collage. Nicely was trying to compute the sum of a reciprocal of a large group of prime numbers on his Pentium based computer. When he checked the results they were different by a large amount from the theoretical values. By running the same test program on a different computer with a 486CPU, he came up with the right numbers this lead him to be able to track down the error to the Pentium itself. After finding the problem Nicely send out an email to Intel describing the problem that he had come across in his test. The email stated that there was a flaw in the Pentium floating point unit (FPU). With no response back from Intel Nicely posted a general notice on the internet asking people to confirm his findings. When the media got wind of this story Nicely did some magazine and T.V interviews about what his test resolute showed him. The flaw in the Pentium flaw was not an isolated incident the flaw was quickly verified by other people around the world in the scientific community, which became referred to as the Pentium FDIV bug. When the story first broke Intel’s initial response was to deny that there was a kind of a problem...
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...The Pentium flaw was discovered in June 1994. The Pentium floating point flaw occurred in some models of the original Pentium microprocessor chip. Pentium processors with a clock speed of 120 MHz or higher are not affected by the flaw. The Intel Processor Frequency ID Utility checks for the floating point flaw on the affected microprocessors. Professor Thomas Nicely discovered the Pentium floating point unit flaw and emailed various contacts describing the flaw. Professor Nicely requested testing for the flaw on the 486-DX4s, and the Pentium clones. The flaw in in the Pentium floating point unit was verified and became known as the FDIV bug. The issue was a mathematical problem in the Floating Point (FPU), the math coprocessor. The Pentium chip had glitches when calculation large divisions. Testing on the 486 pin pointed the error to the Pentium Chip. Intel confirmed the error but said they had no other reports of it. Intel the considered the flaw as a minor problem and did not let the industry know about the flaw. However word of the flaw got out through the internet and articles and Intel started getting negative publicly. Intel handled did not handle the problem with the flaw correctly. By considering the flaw minor to avoid fixing the problem and negative publicly, Intel showed poor judgment and integrity as a company. Intel only attempted to fix the flaw after receiving negative publicly. To satisfy customers concerned about the flaw Intel fix the problem...
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...The Pentium FDIV Bug La Keith Lee EN1320 COMP 1 The Pentium FDIV Bug * On certain input data, the FPDIC (Floating Point Divide Instructions) on the Pentium processor produce inaccurate results. * The error can occur in any of the three operating precisions, namely single, double, or extended, for the divide instruction. However it has been noted that far fewer failures are found in a single precision than double or extended precisions. * The incidence of the problem is independent of the processor rounding modes. * The occurrence of the problem is highly dependent on the input data. Only certain data will trigger the problem. There is a probability that 1 out of 9 billion randomly fed divide or remainder instructions will produce inaccurate results. * The degree of inaccuracy depends on the input data and upon the instructions involved. * The problem does not occur on the specific use of the divide instruction to compute the reciprocal of the input operand in single precision. The bug affects any instruction that references the lookup table or calls FDIV. Related instructions that are affected by the bug are FDIVP, FDIVR, FDIVRP, FIDIV, FIDIVR, FPREM, and FPREMI. The instructions FPTAN and FPATAN are also susceptible. The instructions FYL2x, FYL2XP, FSIN, FCOS, and FSINCOS, were a suspect but are now considered safe. Intel has adopted a no-question-asked replacement policy for its customers with the Pentium FDIV bug. It has done a statistical research...
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...The Pentium flaw also nicknamed the Pentium FDIV bug, was an identified error in the Intel P5 Pentium floating unit. The presence of the bug can be checked manually by performing the following application that uses native floating numbers, including Windows Calculator or Microsoft Excel in Windows 95/98 (Pentium FDIV bug). The Pentium flaw was discovered byProfessor Thomas R.Nicely at Lynchburg Collwge,Virginia USA (Emery, Vince). Dr.Thomas R Nicely is a mathematic professor, noticed a small difference in two sets of numbers, he always double-checks his work by computing everything twice, two different ways (Emery, Vince). Dr.Nicely spent months successively eliminating possible causes such as PCI bus errors and compiler artifacts (Emery, Vince). Intel wanted to keep to keep the Pentium flaw a secret, after Intel testers discovered a division error in the Pentium chip (Emery, Vince). Intel managers decided that the error wouldn’t affect many people, therefore no one outside of the company was not informed (Emery, Vince). The pandemonium over Intel’s Pentium chip cost the company millions of dollars and could have been prevented and became an uproar on the internet (Emery, Vince). This was Intel’s first mistake and the company was given a reputation that made Intel not a trustworthy company and not disclosing that information made them seem to be hiding a sinister secret (Emery, Vince). After several tests on 486 and Pentium-Based computers, Dr.Nicely determined that the error...
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...Pentium Flaw The Intel Pentium FDIV Bug was huge news in 1994. It was a circuit-design manufacturing error that was corrected in the next production of the chip, but the media coverage created a lot of heartache for Intel. Discovery of the bug is credited to a mathematics professor named Thomas Nicely at Lynchburg College in Virginia, who wrote an e-mail to friends and colleagues about his discovery. Before the 1991 introduction of the consumer-centric “Intel Inside” marketing strategy to create emotional buy-in and stimulate brand loyalty, any issues Intel encountered were experienced only with computer manufacturers; any issues were essentially reported and corrected with no knowledge to the buying public. Intel quality control was aware of the design-flaw in June 1994. Management decided it wouldn’t affect enough people to matter, and chose not to release the information outside the company. That was also the month Professor Nicely discovered it by noticing a variance in his equations. After doing his own testing on multiple machines and incurring the same error, he contacted Intel tech support that October, with no resolution. He shared his findings in an e-mail with people he knew, one of whom forwarded it to Andrew Schulman, author of Unauthorized Windows 95. That was the unintended contact who forwarded the e-mail to his own contacts. By November 1994, the e-mail had been reviewed, and flawed results duplicated by Phar Lap Software in Cambridge, MA, Microsoft...
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...Pentium Flaw There once was a microprocessor built by Intel that had certain issues. It became infamously known as the “Bug” in the Intel Pentium floating point unit also called Pentium FDIV bug or more commonly known as The Pentium Flaw. The error was very rarely seen by consumers, (1 in 9 billion floating point divide with random parameters would produce inaccurate results) Ref. Wikipedia.org according to bytes magazine. Intel was badly criticized for its initial response and inevitably recalled all the defective chips. In October of 1994, Dr. Thomas nicely, the professor of Mathematics at Lynchburg College, discovered the Bug. He reached out to Intel but got no response back. Word spread quickly however, and on October 30, a message was posted on internet word which eventually reached the industry’s press. Intel came out publicly saying that it was not serious and would not affect most users. According to Nicely, the person he contacted at Intel admitted later that he was aware of the defect since May of 1994. To satisfy customers, Intel offered to replace the chip to consumers who could prove that they were affected on December 20,1994. Only a small percentage of Pentium owners responded to the recall. This however cost Intel a reported $475 million against earnings. It’s even been said that later in the future, Intel turned them into key rings. If this were to happen today, I think Intel or whatever other company, would handle it a lot better in terms of public relations...
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...“Pentium microprocessor flaw” There was a Pentium microprocessor flaw identified as the FDIV bug. The bug is a flaw in the point unit. The bug causes the processor to return incorrect results (errors) for many calculations in math and science. Intel claims that it was a problem on a few missing entries in the lookup table used by the company. The flaw was hardly faced by users. It was discovered by Professor Thomas Nicely, a professor of mathematics at Lynchburg College. He noticed the bug when a code was written and observed some irregularities in calculations once he added the Pentium system to his computers. He discovered this issue in June of 1994 but was unable to eliminate other factors until October of 1994. He reported the problem to Intel and they admitted that they were aware of the bug since May of 1994. Intel acknowledges the flaw, but demanded it was not serious and would not affect other users. They offered to replace the processors to all customer affected by the flaw. This flaw made a lot unhappy users (people). It turned out that only a fraction of the Pentium processor owners bothered to get their chips replaced. My opinion Intel Corporation handle this issue in a professional manner and gave the people reasonable options to get their chips replaced. Fortunately the chip did not affect most people and had little or no effect to the common user. If there was a major problem, more people would have had problems and more chips would have been replaced...
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...Pentium Flaw The Pentium Flaw, also known as the Pentium FDIV bug, was a bug located in the FPU, and certain floating point division operations performed would produce incorrect results, which includes decimals, addition and subtraction. These are mostly used in math and some science work. Intel was heavily criticized for the flaw, and the handling of this flaw, which caused them to recall every one of the processors. Dr. Thomas Nicely discovered the bug in 1994. After emailing Intel and receiving no response, Dr. Nicely went ahead and posted a message on the internet. Word of the bug quickly spread to industry press. Intel responded by saying it was a minor issue, this was not accepted by computer users. Intel later changed its position and offered to replace every chip, which resulted in a $500 million dollar loss for the company. This also actually propelled the company from being a tech supplier to now becoming a house hold name. Next, they in turn used the negative publicity to change business practices and become an overall better company. The Pentium Flaw made Intel into the most successful processor making company that it is today. Intel achieved a position of dominance in the market as a supplier. While the Pentium Flaw hurt the company short term, it actually helped the company in the long run. Gaining popularity and ensuring consistency within its products. Without the Pentium Flaw no one knows if Intel would be as successful as they are today, or if any of...
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...Ariel Torrente NT1110 Unit 5 Analysis Pentium Flaw Ariel Torrente NT1110 Unit 5 Analysis 7/27/2013 Pentium Flaw The Pentium flaw also nicknamed the Pentium FDIV bug, was an identified error in the Intel P5 Pentium floating unit. The presence of the bug can be checked manually by performing the following application that uses native floating numbers, including Windows Calculator or Microsoft Excel in Windows 95/98 (Pentium FDIV bug). The Pentium flaw was discovered byProfessor Thomas R.Nicely at Lynchburg Collwge,Virginia USA (Emery, Vince). Dr.Thomas R Nicely is a mathematic professor, noticed a small difference in two sets of numbers, he always double-checks his work by computing everything twice, two different ways (Emery, Vince). Dr.Nicely spent months successively eliminating possible causes such as PCI bus errors and compiler artifacts (Emery, Vince). Intel wanted to keep to keep the Pentium flaw a secret, after Intel testers discovered a division error in the Pentium chip (Emery, Vince). Intel managers decided that the error wouldn’t affect many people, therefore no one outside of the company was not informed (Emery, Vince). The pandemonium over Intel’s Pentium chip cost the company millions of dollars and could have been prevented and became an uproar on the internet (Emery, Vince). This was Intel’s first mistake and the company was given a reputation that made Intel not a trustworthy company and not disclosing that information made them seem to be hiding a...
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...Unit 5 Analysis1: Pentium Flaw In June 1994, Intel discovered the floating-point unit flaw in the Pentium microprocessor. Professor Thomas Nicely, a professor of mathematics at the Lynchburg College, had written code to enumerate primes, twin primes, prime triplets, and prime quadruplets. Professor Thomas Nicely noticed some inconsistencies in the calculations on June 13th , 1994 shortly after adding a Pentium system to his group of computers, but was unable to eliminate other possible factors (such as programming errors, motherboard chipsets, etc.) until October 19, 1994. On October 24th, 1994 he reported the flaw he encountered to Intel. According to Professor Thomas Nicely, the person that he contacted at Intel later admitted to Intel being aware of the flaw since May 1994. The flaw was discovered by Intel during testing of the FPU for its new P6 core, which was first used in the Pentium Pro. Professor Thomas Nicely sent an email describing the flaw that he had discovered in the Pentium floating point unit (FPU) to various contacts, requesting reports of testing for the flaw on the 486-DX4s, Pentium and the Pentium clones. The flaw in the Pentium FPU (floating-point unit) was quickly verified by other people around the Internet, and became known as the Pentium FDIV bug (FDIV is the x86 assembly language instruction for floating point division). An example of the flaw was found where the division result returned by the Pentium microprocessor was off by about 61 parts per million...
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...Pentium Flaw Intel’s famed technical prowess was not without mishaps. Its greatest mistake was the so-called “Pentium flaw,” in which an obscure segment among the Pentium CPU’s 3.1 million transistors performed division incorrectly. Company engineers discovered the problem after the product’s release in 1993 but decided to keep quiet and fix the problem in updates to the chip. However, mathematician Thomas Nicely of Lynchburg College in West Virginia also discovered the flaw. Professor Thomas Nicely, a professor of mathematics at Lynchburg College, had written code to enumerate primes, twin primes, prime triplets, and prime quadruplets. Nicely noticed some inconsistencies in the calculations on June 13, 1994, shortly after adding a Pentium system to his group of computers, but was unable to eliminate other factors such as programming errors, motherboard chipsets. On October 24, 1994, he reported the issue to Intel. According to Nicely, his contact person at Intel later admitted that Intel had been aware of the problem since May 1994, when the flaw was discovered during testing of the FPU for its new P6 core, first used in the Pentium Pro. This flaw in the Pentium FPU was quickly verified by other people around the Internet, and became known as the Pentium FDIV bug. One example was found where the division result returned by the Pentium was off by about 61 parts per million. The story first appeared in the press on November 7, 1994, in an article in Electronic Engineering Times...
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...The Intel Pentium microprocessor had a design flaw in the mathematical division groupings. An internet blog site states, “Under certain data dependent conditions, low order bits of the result of floating-point division operations would be incorrect, an error that can compound in floating-point operations to much larger errors in subsequent calculations” (http://intelcorporation4uinfo.blogspot.com/2008/12/pentium-flaw.html). Due to not receiving a response from Intel on his findings, Professor Thomas Nicely from Lynchburg College, posted his findings on the internet on October 30, 1994. Nicely quoted that “he was computing the sum of the reciprocals of a large collection of prime numbers on his Pentium-based computer and found the error. Checking his computation, he found the result differed significantly from theoretical values. He got correct results by running the same program on a computer with a 486 CPU, and finally he tracked the error to the Pentium itself” (Janeba.Mark.The Pentium Problem.1995). News of calculations error spread like a wildfire. Intel publicly announced that "an error is only likely to occur [about] once in nine billion random floating point divide situations”. This did not sit very well with companies and individuals alike. The Food and Drug Administration stated its concerns for the drug-testing data that had been produced using the Pentium processor. They did not tell the companies to redo all their testing, but firmly represented hesitation in...
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...is not an exception to the zeal of making computers more efficient as the world evolves with time. However in 1994, Intel was hit by a major setback related to a flaw in its P5 Pentium Floating Point Unit (FPU) rolled out that year. This defect was first discovered by Professor Thomas R. Nicely, a professor of Mathematics at Lynchburg College in Virginia. According to the chronology, Professor Nicely in his quest to perfecting codes to enumerate primes, twin primes, and prime quadruplets unraveled the incoherence in his calculation. This abnormally occurred only after he had added a collection of computers manufactured by Intel to his group of computers. At first, he was unable to eliminate this flaw due to other factors such as: motherboard, programming errors and chiplets. After series of attempts to bring the attention of Intel to this error proved abortive, Professor Nicely then went public with it, and his claim was concurred by other internet users using Intel computers. Out of concern for the ripple effects of admitting to this error as it is, Intel flagrantly rebuffed the assertions. The reality slowly started to dawn on them after various media outlets picked up the story. This was first broadcast on November 7, 1994, in an article in Electronic Engineering Times, "Intel fixes a Pentium FPU glitch" by Alexander Wolfe; then CNN, LA Times and so many others. A standard test was widely published to determine whether a user’s...
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...The Pentium flaw was that the math coprocessor would have errors when dividing certain floating numbers. “The most famous example and the worst well-known case is 4195835/3145727, discovered by Tim Coe of Vitesse Semiconductors.” (Mark Janeba 1995). This error was originally found by Intel designer shortly after the release of the processor, but it was thought to be such a minor error that there was no need to worry about it. Later the problem was found by a college math professor, named Thomas Nicely at Lynchburg College, who was computing high level equations when he notices that some of the answer that the computer was giving him did not match what his own work said the answer should be. By trying a few tests he was able to determine that the problem was with the Pentium processor in the computer. He then notified Intel about this problem and got no response back. When he got no response from Intel he posted his findings online and asked others to verify his findings, which led to the flaw being exposed on national TV and magazine. Intel’s first reaction was to ignore the problem stating that it would not be a problem for most users, then they offered replacement processors for those who could prove that they needed it for work. Finally after much negative publicity they did a full factory recall. Intel handled this problem by first refusing to acknowledge its existence, and when they could not ignore it any longer they did the bare minimum to try and fix it. At first...
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...The Pentium bug was a bug in the Intel P5 Pentium floating point unit. Because of the bug, the processor would send the wrong results for many calculations used in math and science. Intel blamed the problem on a few missing entries in the lookup table used by the company. The error was discovered by Professor Thomas R. Nicely at Lynchburg College on October 24, 1994. The error was rarely encountered by users; however both the flaw and Intel's initial handling of the matter were heavily criticized. On December 20, 1994, Intel offered to replace all flawed Pentium processors on request, in response to mounting public pressure. Even though only a small fraction of Pentium owners bothered to get their chips replaced, the financial impact on the company was significant. How Intel handled this was important to keep their business going but at the same time they couldn’t shoot themselves in the foot. Offering to replace the chips that were affected was a big move but I feel like the majority of Intels costumers were grateful for the service. If they didn’t take responsibility for what they did and replace those messed up chips then they wouldn’t have the customer loyalty they have today. I think what they did was the right move and tough them a good lesson on paying attention to detail. If the same flaw happened today some of the effect could be drastic. We depend on computer now days way more than they did back in the 90’s. There response to a problem like this in today’s world really...
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