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I would think it would be much easier to validate software via simple hashing than physical hardware, via x-ray. Sure, you can verify traces, etc, but with curr

I would think it would be much easier to validate software via simple hashing than physical hardware, via x-ray. Sure, you can verify traces, etc, but with current lithography at 14 nanometers, I have pretty much no doubt that there is no economical way to validate tens of thousands of meter-long boards.

klodolph 8y ago
You don't necessarily have direct access to the storage system for the software you want to validate.
myrandomcomment 8y ago
You could see every trace on the board at each layer. A chip like this story talks about would standout. Also at each point on the board you could probe (traces) end to end. It’s complex. Also the is the integery testing .. a machine that has 1000s of needles that pushes down on the top and bottom of the board at each contact point and test the resistance and conductivity end to end. Put something in the board in the path and the numbers come back wrong.
- myrandomcomment 8y ago
  Signal integrity is really important as it can lead to grey failures down the line. It is really important to find them before you stuff the boards with $$ of components that you can not save if the board is bad.
- LeifCarrotson 8y ago
  > A chip like this story talks about would standout. Sure, you could see it, but to know it was wrong you'd have to have a non-compromised board to compare against. Or knowledge of every design and supplier decision, which Supermicro/Apple do not have.
est 8y ago
In case anyone want to see how QA looks like in a factory, here's a video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljOoGyCso8s&t=22:28 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljOoGyCso8s&t=22:28 (the whole vid is worth watching)