SpIntel Control
Philip A. DesAutels (philipd@w3.org)
Tue, 11 Nov 1997 14:51:40 -0500
INTEL CONFIRMS LATEST PENTIUM FLAW
An Intel spokesman has confirmed that a flaw in the company's Pentium and
Pentium/MMX processors has been discovered. The "F0 bug," as the glitch has
been dubbed, involves a sequence of illegal opcodes -- instructions not
normally intended for use with the Intel chips. "These opcodes are supposed
to create an exception, where the processor raises a flag telling the
program that something's wrong," says one software expert. "This particular
sequence, instead, causes a loop and locks up the processor." Users are
unlikely to run into the problematic sequence by accident, he adds, saying
it is more likely that the flaw was found by an Intel competitor looking for
undocumented instructions on the chip. (EE Times 10 Nov 97)
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Philip A. DesAutels W3C <http://www.w3.org/>
Technology and Society NE43-350
philipd@w3.org 545 Technology Square
617.258.5714 Cambridge, MA 02139