Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2000/07/17/caminogate_recall_fiasco_rolls/

Caminogate recall fiasco rolls on

Slings, arrows of outrageous misfortune

By Mike Magee

Posted in On-Prem, 17th July 2000 09:47 GMT

Distributors and motherboard manufacturers struggling to cope with the recall of SDRAM boards with Rambus-compliant 820 parts have hit out at frustrations in obtaining replacements.

Under fire, in particular, is Tech Data and Asus. One vendor hit by problems with the memory translator hub (MTH) told The Register today that he has complained on the Asus site.

He said: "I am a vendor and like the rest of you I get the same old BS I purchase ASUS Motherboards from Tech Data (A fortune 500 company). They told me to call asus so I did and got no answer.

"Maybe email would do the trick [but} no reply to that. I have not received one letter, memo or anything from any of the major suppliers on what to do with boards we have sold or have in stock. This is a pretty sad practice if you ask me. And Asus is to blame just as the rest of them. I know it's not their fault, but if they want the support of the people that have supported them over the years they had better do something, or I'll be pushin ABit, and FIC from now on."

However, it now appears that Asus has managed to untangle its knickers on replacements, according to another correspondent, who told us that the firm is "finally" shipping Rambus RIMMs to owners of 820 boards."

He said: "The good news is that they (unlike Intel) are shipping PC-800 RDRAM. Intel seems to be shipping only PC700 RDRAM. The rub is that Asus USA suffers under an accounting edict to not cross-ship even with credit card security, so if your boards are mission-critical, you are odds out, at least until they receive and ship your ASUS DIMM riser and 128 megs of SDRAM in exchange."

An Intel representative said that while his firm could give no numbers on the replacements so far shipped, there was recourse for people experiencing problems with third parties.

He said: "If there are individuals who have issues with the process, we'll follow it up." Intel had made no specific statement as to which type of RIMMs it would ship for its own 820 motherboards, but there was a place on its Web site for people with third party problems.

That place is here, where is also an email address to post complaints if mobo vendors are unresponsive. ®