Intel Discloses Another Chip Flaw

Intel Corp. has a new flaw in some of its computer motherboards to deal with less than a year after the discovery of a bug in the Pentium microprocessor that cost the company more than $475 million.

The Santa Clara, Calif., company confirmed late last week there is a flaw in a chip made by a supplier. While it apparently isn’t Intel’s fault, the flaw nonetheless affects its customers, said Howard High, spokesman for Intel.

The bug in a PCI controller chip produces errors in data because it inadvertently shifts data from one part of the hard disk to another when more than one device is in use.

The flaw can be corrected with a solution known as a software patch, High said. He said IBM is working on a patch for its software. The bug shows up in multitasking operating systems, or those geared to handle more than one task at a time.