Intel Corp. said Monday it discovered a flaw in its Pentium processor, though it isn’t one that computer users are likely to encounter in the normal operation of their machines.
Computers with Pentium processors and Pentium processors with enhanced MMX technology freeze up when a certain set of instructions are sent to the chip, Intel said.
Those instructions have to be sent to the chip intentionally, the world’s biggest chipmaker said. That means users are unlikely to encounter the flaw accidentally, Intel said.
Turning the computer off and on solves the problem.
Rooting out the cause of such flaws is crucial for Intel, because its processors have suffered more severe flaws in the past.
“We are aggressively pursuing the issue,” said Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy. “We have to take every one of these seriously.”
The flaw doesn’t affect Intel’s newer Pentium II microprocessor or its Pentium Pro, Intel said. The company learned of the flaw in a posting on the Internet.
Intel suspects that someone wrote the instruction set specifically to see if he or she could cause the Pentium to malfunction, Mulloy said.
