Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!shadooby!ginosko!uunet!portal!cup.portal.com!Will
From: Will@cup.portal.com (Will E Estes)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Bug With Version IV of '386 Chip?
Message-ID: <22957@cup.portal.com>
Date: 11 Oct 89 02:32:05 GMT
Organization: The Portal System (TM)
Lines: 33


 
A vendor just solved a compatibility problem I was having between
its motherboard and several ESDI controllers by replacing the '386
CPU on the board with an *older* version of the chip; I was
wondering if someone here could give me information on the two
versions of the chip and tell me what the differences are.

The original chip in my system was labeled as follows:

386DX-25  IV
SX218
L9330799
Copyright (C) '85

The older '386 chip which was used as a replacement in my system
was labeled as follows:

386DX-25
L9021187
Copyright (C) '85 '86

The claim made by the vendor's technician was that the version IV
chip that had been used on the motherboard I purchased has a known
bug with the pipeline instruction.  Apparently the older version
of the chip does not?  In any case, can someone explain to me what
is the difference in capability/known bugs between the two chips I
describe above?  I'm very curious as to why an ESDI controller
would not work with a later version of the Intel chip (I would
have guessed that the '386 was a more mature product by now).

Thanks,
Will