Lpc2000

I was not thinking of this reason when I asked the question.  However,
after grading, the devices are typically permanantly 'fused' to
reflect their capabilities.

In the case of LPC, it appears that the grading is reversible.  The
only reason for 'soft' grading I can think of is for purposes of
competive pricing.  If this were the case, could Philips block the
publication of discovered features relating to up/down grading device
capabilities?

--- In lpc2000@yahoogroups.com, "Paul Curtis" <plc@...> wrote:

> Hypothetically, one assumes that all chips are graded 
> and those that do not make the grade (i.e. have certain defects)
> will have those defective blocks disabled ...
> 
> Isn't it common to grade CPUs this way?