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> An article in an article I read mentioned that the Toshiba
> 4900 (which uses the 75MHz Pentium) has the bug as well and
> Toshiba isn't planning on upgrading people when Intel fixes it
> (which won't be until 1Q95). The mobile Pentium can't be
> replaced by the user because it is supplied on a fine-pitched
> chip carrier. I guess buyer beware for anyone looking into any
The "mobile" Pentium chip (I can't remember the code name for the thing,
"P5M" or something) is a raw die in a tab-bonded carrier. As I posted earlier,
this is a very expensive packaging technology that only a few megalithic
corporations can afford. Compaq, for instance, doesn't have the capability
of using tab-bonding and isn't sure if its worth the capital investment.
If you've never seen a tab-bonded package before, its the thickness of a
regular integrated circuit die, suspended by an incredibly thin gold alloy
frame. The whole frame is soldered flat to the motherboard, then its covered
with a _thick_ layer of black epoxy. You can't remove the chip without a
Dremel grinder.
| Robert George | Army Research Laboratory |
| robertg@assb01.arl.mil | AMSRL-SS-IC |
| Voice: (408) 656-3316 | 2800 Powder Mill Road |
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A designer knows when he has achieved perfection not when there is
nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
-- Antoine de Saint-Exupery