From Fox tech news, “Intel has found a defect in one of its chips, hurting its credibility during a major product launch and at a time when demand for microprocessors in PCs is being threatened.”

The company said on Monday it stopped shipments of the chip used in personal computers with its most advanced Sandy Bridge line of processors and has already started production of a new version.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/01/31/intel-sandy-bridge-flaw-launch-chipset/#ixzz1Ci7T53vs

Intel has halted shipments of its new Sandy Bridge processors launched at the beginning of January after finding faults found in way the chipsets are made meaning the new PC you've been looking forward to getting in the next couple of weeks is likely to be delayed until April.

This is likely to cost $1 billion. Intel’s stock has taken a pounding on this news, also.

So, make sure you do your homework about that PC you’re planning to buy, and watch out for any “deals” in the offing.

Dr Guy adds from CNET,

"It bears repeating that this is a chipset issue, not a Sandy Bridge processor problem. The chipset--or companion chip to the Sandy Bridge processor--is codenamed "Cougar Point." That's where the flaw resides. Chipsets, generally speaking, are conduits that allow the main processor to communicate with hardware in a PC.

And the flaw, in this case, is related to how the Cougar Point chipset communicates with SATA devices, such as a SATA hard disk drive or SATA optical drive.

Bottom line: if you are a consumer who's run out and grabbed a high-end laptop or desktop gaming rig in the last few weeks with an Intel quad-core processor billed as Intel's Second Generation Intel Core Processor, then you potentially have a problem."