This bug is interesting in the breadth of the media coverage and the actual scope of the error, considering the Pentium FDIV Bug never affected the vast majority of people. The bug was caused by an incorrect lookup table, which caused rare errors in floating point division. Pentium FPU is an Intel microprocessor, and the problem occurs during FDIV instructions (FDIV are floating point instructions). The problem was uncovered in 1994. Despite the limited scope of the problem, the bug received disproportionate coverage. It was reported on television, in newspapers, and literally just about everywhere. Pentium chips became the target of derision from engineers, a core audience for Intel. Jokes about the reliability of Pentium chips became commonplace. Therefore, although the direct financial harm was relatively minor, the impact on the brand was enormous. "The Truth Behind the Pentium Bug" is a great article about the problem and aftermath: http://www.byte.com/art/9503/sec13/art1.htm.