Western Digital updates about C2000 devices, will take no action

As you may know, devices with the Intel Atom C2000 processor are at risk of early failure due to a bug in the chip that can brick devices. Many manufacturers seem to downplay the issue but there are a lot of complaints at forums and shopping sites of people who bought devices with the C2000 and experienced early failures.

Cisco set aside $125 million to resolve the issue and Synology extended the warranty of affected products from 2 years to 3 years.

Dutch tech site Hardware.Info got in touch with Western Digital and got to hear that WD Sentinel DX4200, My Cloud DL4100 and My Cloud DL2100 products are affected. WD says its aware of the issue but unfortunately the company decided it will take no action.

C2000 based storage devices from WD that fail while they're still in-warranty will be replaced with current, equivalent models. The company offers no solution for devices that fail outside the two to three year warranty period, but recommends users to contact Customer Service.

1. What is potentially failing in WD NAS systems?
   1. Western Digital is aware of issues related to certain processors used in some WD network-attached storage (NAS) systems. We have been working with the vendor to understand the potential impact to our customers of WD Sentinel DX4200, My Cloud DL2100 and My Cloud DL4100 NAS systems.
   2. Specifically, the LPC clock in the processor stop functioning and the host system is unable to boot up.
2. Which WD products are affected?
   1. WD Sentinel DX4200
   2. My Cloud DL4100
   3. My Cloud DL2100
3. What is Western Digital doing about the issue?
   1. As always, should customers experience operational failure with their in-warranty WD products, we recommend customers contact WD Customer Service. Western Digital will replace systems under warranty with current, equivalent models. https://support.wdc.com/support/case.aspx
4. Will WD owners of the affected systems lose their data?
   1. In the event of a processor failure, WD system users would lose the ability to boot up. However, in this scenario, users’ data remains on the hard drive(s), which can be migrated to another system. We recommend owners of affected WD products contact Customer Service at https://support.wdc.com/support/case.aspx.
5. Is Western Digital replacing out-of-warranty affected systems?
   1. Should customers experience issues with out-of-warranty products, we recommend they contact our Customer Service department at https://support.wdc.com/support/case.aspx.
6. Is Western Digital extending the warranty on these products? Synology announced they would do so.
   1. The potentially affected WD products are covered with warranty periods of two to three years, depending on the model. We are not planning to extend the warranty beyond their original period.
   2. Should customers experience operational failure with their in-warranty WD products, we recommend customers contact WD Customer Service. Western Digital will replace systems under warranty with current, equivalent models.
7. How many WD products in the field are potentially affected by the failing processors?
   1. We do not disclose sales or in-field unit figures for specific products.
8. Why are the processors failing?
   1. The LPC clock in the processor stops functioning and the host system is unable to boot up.