Skip To Main Content
Support Knowledge Base

How to Protect Yourself from Unintentionally Handling Fraudulent Processors

Content Type: Warranty & RMA   |   Article ID: 000059193   |   Last Reviewed: 12/03/2025
Description Resolution

Environment

Operating System

OS Independent family

Description

Actions to take when purchasing a processor or exchanging it on behalf of your customer, which will prevent you from unintentionally handling fraudulent processors

Resolution

Actions to take when purchasing a processor

  1. Use our Partner Directory to find an Intel Partner who sells boxed processors.

    Purchasing from an alternative source risks unwittingly purchasing remarked processors or engineering samples.

    If you are a business, consider joining the Intel® Partner Alliance, which is a free program designed to assist companies of all sizes with product support, information, and marketing tools that will allow you to leverage your relationship with Intel to build your business. The All That the Intel® Partner Alliance Offers You page outlines the Membership benefits and requirements at each tier.

Actions to take to identify if the processor is genuine if it is already installed in a system

  1. Download Intel® Processor Diagnostic Tool.
  2. Check the Genuine Intel box. It should report Pass.

Actions to take if the processor has been removed from the system for warranty exchange

  1. Identify the FPO and partial ATPO of the processor.
  2. Scan the processor’s 2D Matrix using one of the options listed in the Decoding 2D Matrix to reveal the full ATPO number.
  3. Cross-reference the last 5 digits of the full ATPO with the partial ATPO number on the processor. If it is genuine, the numbers should match.
  4. Check that the following letters/wording do not appear on the processor heatspreader:
    • Q
    • ES
    • Confidential
    If the above appear on the processor it is an engineering sample and the warranty is void.
  5. Check that there is no physical damage of the processor as this will void the warranty.
  6. Enter the FPO and ATPO of the processor into the warranty checker tool.
  7. Double-click the Check products box to find out if the processor is supported under warranty:
    Check products
Note Engineering sample processors are pre-production units and are not eligible for warranty. Refer to this article for more information: Definition of Engineering Sample (ES) Processors and How to Identify an Intel ES.

Related Products

This article applies to 136 products.
Intel® Celeron® Processor 3000 Series Intel® Pentium® Silver Processor Series Intel® Xeon® Processors 5th Gen Intel® Xeon® Scalable Processors 9th Generation Intel® Core™ i5 Processors 11th Generation Intel® Core™ i7 Processors Intel® Celeron® Processor J Series 8th Generation Intel® Core™ m Processors Intel® Celeron® Processor J1900 (2M Cache, up to 2.42 GHz) Intel® Processor Legacy Intel® Processor (486/386/186/188/DX4/DX2) 9th Generation Intel® Core™ i3 Processors Intel® Pentium® Processor D Series 13th Generation Intel® Core™ i3 Processors Intel® Pentium® Processor 2000 Series Intel® PPM Provisioning Package Driver 9th Generation Intel® Core™ i7 Processors Intel® Pentium® Processor N Series 4th Generation Intel® Core™ i3 Processors 11th Generation Intel® Core™ i3 Processors Intel® Processor for Desktop 11th Generation Intel® Core™ i5 Processors 12th Generation Intel® Core™ i5 Processors 12th Generation Intel® Core™ i9 Processors Intel® Processor Diagnostic Tool 7th Generation Intel® Core™ m Processors 5th Generation Intel® Core™ i5 Processors Intel® Celeron® Processor 2000 Series Intel® Extreme Tuning Utility (Intel® XTU) Intel® Application Optimization Intel® Pentium® Processor N4200 (2M Cache, up to 2.50 GHz) Processor Utilities and Programs 8th Generation Intel® Core™ i9 Processors 10th Generation Intel® Core™ i7 Processors Intel® Processor U-series Intel® Xeon® E Processor 5th Generation Intel® Core™ M Processors Intel® Pentium® Processor J Series Intel® Core™ Ultra Processors (Series 2) Intel® Core™ i9 processors (14th gen) Intel® Celeron® Processor J3355 (2M Cache, up to 2.50 GHz) 10th Generation Intel® Core™ i5 Processors Intel® Core™ Ultra Processors (Series 1) Intel® Pentium® Processor 8th Generation Intel® Core™ i5 Processors 7th Generation Intel® Core™ i3 Processors Intel® Pentium® Processor 1000 Series Intel Atom® Processor C Series 6th Generation Intel® Core™ i3 Processors Intel® Celeron® Processor 4000 Series Intel Atom® Processor S Series 4th Gen Intel® Xeon® Scalable Processors 5th Generation Intel® Core™ i3 Processors Intel® Core™ i7 processors (14th gen) 5th Generation Intel® Core™ i7 Processors 6th Generation Intel® Core™ i5 Processors 12th Generation Intel® Core™ i3 Processors Intel® Core™ i5 processors (14th gen) Intel Atom® Processor Z Series Intel Atom® Processor E Series Intel® Pentium® Processor 4000 Series Intel Atom® Processor N Series Intel Atom® Processor X Series Intel® Core™ Processors 13th Generation Intel® Core™ i7 Processors 7th Generation Intel® Core™ i7 Processors Intel® Pentium® Processor 3000 Series Intel® Pentium® Processor G Series Intel® Celeron® Processor N Series Intel® Pentium® Gold Processor Series Intel® Xeon® Scalable Processors Intel® Celeron® Processor 1000 Series Intel® Xeon® 6 processors Intel® Core™ X-series Processors Intel® Core™ processors (Series 1) 12th Generation Intel® Core™ i7 Processors Intel® Celeron® Processor Intel® Processor N-series 3rd Gen Intel® Xeon® Scalable Processors 9th Generation Intel® Core™ i9 Processors 8th Generation Intel® Core™ i7 Processors 10th Generation Intel® Core™ i9 Processors Intel® Celeron® Processor J3455 (2M Cache, up to 2.30 GHz) Intel® Innovation Platform Framework (Intel® IPF) 7th Generation Intel® Core™ i5 Processors 6th Generation Intel® Core™ i7 Processors 4th Generation Intel® Core™ i7 Processors Intel® Celeron® Processor 5000 Series Intel® Core™ i3 processors (14th gen) Intel® Core™ processors (Series 2) 8th Generation Intel® Core™ i3 Processors Intel® Xeon® W Processor 6th Generation Intel® Core™ m Processors Intel® Celeron® Processor G Series 13th Generation Intel® Core™ i5 Processors Other Processors 13th Generation Intel® Core™ i9 Processors 11th Generation Intel® Core™ i9 Processors 2nd Gen Intel® Xeon® Scalable Processors Intel Atom® Processor 4th Generation Intel® Core™ i5 Processors Intel® Processor Identification Utility 10th Generation Intel® Core™ i3 Processors Intel® Core™ Ultra Processors Intel® Core™ Processor N-series

Discontinued Products

Intel® Xeon® Processor E7 v4 Family Intel® Xeon® Processor E5 v3 Family Intel® Xeon® Processor E3 v4 Family Intel® Xeon® Processor E7 Family Intel® Xeon® Processor E7 v2 Family Intel® Reverse Logistics Toolkit Intel® Quark™ SoC Intel® Xeon® Processor E5 Family Legacy Intel® Pentium® Processor FDIV Replacement Program Legacy Intel® Core™ Processors Intel® OverDrive® Processors Intel® Cryo Cooling Technology Intel Atom® Processor D Series Intel® Xeon Phi™ x100 Product Family Intel® Xeon® Processor E5 v4 Family Intel® Xeon® Processor E3 v6 Family Intel® Xeon® Processor E3 v5 Family Intel® Xeon® Processor E3 Family Legacy Intel® Xeon® Processors Intel® Xeon® Processor E5 v2 Family Intel® Xeon Phi™ Processors Intel® Xeon® Processor E7 v3 Family Legacy Intel Atom® Processors Intel® Xeon® Processor E3 v2 Family Intel® Performance Maximizer Intel® Xeon® Processor E3 v3 Family Intel® Xeon Phi™ x200 Product Family Legacy Intel® Celeron® Processor Intel® Easy Streaming Wizard Intel® Itanium® Processor

Need more help?

Contact support
Contact support