>> I had a major hardware bug in a Zilog  processor that was easily
>> replicated and demonstrated and which violated spec sheet claims in 
>> a
>> crucial and fatal manner but they basically refused to acknowledge 
>> the
>> bug existed.

> Is there any micro manufacturer that would reliably and within a 
> reasonable
> (at least defined) timeframe fix the chip -- and not just issue an 
> errata
> sheet?

I don't know. I can't imagine that there would be.
But, I imagine that there are some who would so some or all of:

- Investigate the bug to see if it was real.
- Discuss the implication with and for the customer.
- Arrange for the bug to be remedied in subsequent silicon.
- Arrange for supplies of OK ICs to be made available via a supplier.
- Given an impression of being interested and caring.
- Not give an impression that the customer was an incompetent lying 
fool.
- Not give an impression of being incompetent lying fools.

To give credit where due, a representative from Singapore did visit my 
customers manufacturer's factory in Taiwan while I was there and he 
did seem interested and solicitous and generally helpful. At that 
stage it did seem that the US representatives, who I was dealing with, 
were going to behave in a rational and reasonable manner and I/we did 
not take good advantage of the Singapore based man and the US people 
subsequently proved intractable.

As for an errata sheet - this IC is/was functionally dead in the water 
for real world designs. It has NO external reset pin and relies on the 
internal reset circuitry working correctly in all cases. As, for some 
values of all, it fails to start properly, and as the spec sheet fails 
to note that it may not always start properly, and as you'd be a 
little suspicious of a device that had an errata sheet that said 
"sometimes this IC just won't work", then ... ?



        Russell




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