Users of Hewlett-Packard notebook PCs have been urged to
check their hardware following the discovery that rogue memory
chips could corrupt data and cause the machines to lock up. One
million machines could be affected.
HP identified a design flaw in some memory modules supplied by
third parties that were shipped with HP and Compaq Evo Presario,
Pavillion and Business notebooks, and in HP-branded notebook memory
accessories.
The supplier has issued a utility, available from the HP website,
that can check for problems. HP has promised to replace any memory
found to be at fault, if it is notified before 31 December.
Analyst company Forrester estimated that about one million machines
are affected. In a paper on the flaw, analyst Simon Yates said the
recall would put extra workload on IT departments.
Yates said suppliers other than HP were likely to be affected, but
in a statement on the flaw IBM said, "We have not detected any
problems with our qualified memory sources that are con-sistent
with the HP reported problem."
Dell said, "[Our] test and analysis has not revealed any problems."