nVidia Class Action Fairness Hearing is Tomorrow - Almost time to make a claim!

I missed the deadline to submit my request. Any word if the judge is going to extend the submitting time frame so I can get my POS computer replaced??? Thanks!

 

There is no word of any kind from Judge Ware at this time. It's been several weeks. There is only silence.

 

I doubt he'll extend the claims period unless he thinks that some people refused to file a claim on the basis that the laptop was a POS.

That would likely be a second fight if he forces Nvidia to provide what they promised.

But hey, who knows?

 

Here is a reason why I think Judge Ware should re-open the claim filing period.

1. When the settlement administrator accidentally left out some tx owners, it had to identify who those individuals were and sent out subsequent postcards and emails urging these folks to re-check the website for their eligibility

2. Putting aside the "similar in kind and value" argument for the moment, NVIDIA has stated that they intentionally did not include any specific replacement models to allow them to have a "meet and confer" and come up with a suitable replacement computer. Since after this "meet and confer", they announced Compaq CQ50 as THE replacement choice, they HAD NO RIGHT TO CHANGE that information. Once it was published, they had had to expect that HP Class members were making decisions to send in their HP notebooks or not based on that information at the time.

Using the logic from #1, when CQ50 was changed to CQ56, the settlement administrator at minimum needed to send out another round of postcards and emails to all HP class urging them to reconsider their decision based on the new information. I say all since they could not possibly identify all unique visitors to their website.

I have posted the actual submission screen where it EXPLICITLY stated that I would receive a CQ50 notebook here.

 

Wow. This is the quietest I can remember seeing this thread for a long time... 23 hours from the last post until this one. Although, not much more remains to be said until we hear what the Judge decides.

 

I'm interested in hearing more Fed Ex laptop delivery reports. Wonder how many get shipped at a time and how long it takes just to process one replacement? I wish i knew what day to expect Fed Ex so i don't miss it and have to wait the next day. I think there's 3 reports so far of receiving the laptops. I was hoping to get around $350 out of it but since Best Buy is selling for less that might hurt our chances of getting much out of them. Ebay already has that model priced really high. $350 or more new in the box. It's been 10 weeks since i mailed the junk to them.

 

I can't wait for the Judge to rule... I don't know what else to say until we hear his decision. It's almost been a month ist that good or bad? I don't know what to think...

 

Agreed. It's a puzzlement.

It's not just that we don't know how Judge Ware will rule. It's almost equally important that we do not know when he will rule. The CQ56 is a vanishing asset. Not worth all that much to begin with, it's value is declining with the passage of time. So consider the possible outcomes alternative to just sending in your laptop now and accepting the consequences:

1. Judge Ware does not rule until mid to late June and rules against us. This would cost us two lost months.

2. Judge Ware rules (whenever), but does not rule in the digital manner we all anticipate. We think we either will get the CQ56 or (we all hope) a significantly better laptop. Those are the digital outcomes. But the Judge does not live in a digital world. Who knows what intermediate course he might choose.

3. Judge Ware rules (whenever), but his ruling bottom line results in many more months of delay. For example, he gives nVidia six months to procure the better laptops and another three months to ship them. Or he rules in a manner so odious to nVidia that they decline to accept his ruling and, instead, appeal. This could cause the litigation to extend another year or more.

I'm not making predictions here. I'm NOT. Am only pointing out that many different outcomes are possible, not just the limited set of outcomes we all anticipate, and hope, will eventuate.

And anything that consumes time detracts from what little residual CQ56 value that remains for us. Make no mistake: I am hoping for the best. But I am (at least) thinking of the possibility of just sending in my laptop and obtaining a CQ56 I can sell now!

The US courts are bad. It's largely a failed system. But California courts are the worst.

 

I've been thinking for nearly a month whether I should just send it in just in the tx1000 just in case, but I still want to wait, but worried judge wont rule until july.

 

I wonder too, maybe I should just send in my tx1127, and take the Asus in exchange.
I already bought a pretty loaded 14 inch replacement HP DM4-1160us in January, couldn't wait around. Hope it doesn't crash later.
All the Windows 7, and Windows Live stuff presents a new learning curve. Contacts and mail were better in the Vista applications.

The Asus is smaller, and could be used for travel such as to Vietnam where security of a laptop can be difficult. The Asus does not compare at all with the 'former' capability of the tx1000.
Jeff Westerman did tell me that the hard drive, HP/Compaq only, can be kept, all other parts must be sent. I don't know why I would keep the hard drive..?? I think I may just re-intialize it, it does not have any files such as tax returns, etc, anyway.

 

The primary benefit of keeping the hard drive is security of any information you may have on it. Remember that "deleting" a file just removes it from the directory, not the drive. If you don't do a security wipe (writing zero's across the drive) then anything on it can be recovered fairly easily.

Now I don't think there is some huge risk of that, but we have no idea what they are planning to do with all this hardware. Honestly, it seems to me that they are incurring a lot more expense having us send them in at all. They could simply add our serial numbers to a "claimed" list and let us do what we will with them saving shipping and disposal costs (computers contain toxic elements). Be that as it may, once it leaves your hands you have no way to know where it will end up so I for one feel better keeping it.

 

Why keep the hard drive? Security is only part of it, and not the primary benefit unless you have sensitive personal data stored on it. I say buy a USB enclosure for under $10 and use that bad boy for file backup.

Just think of it this way... your new enclosure and second hand hard drive will be worth almost as much money as a brand new CQ56 as soon as you break the seal on the box it comes in.

 

Isn't that the truth Mr. Fox the hard drives aren't cheap but the CQ56 is a very cheap piece or crap. I am still hoping for the best from Judge Ware.
Love the dog..but it should have a HP on the apple too...LOL

 

I think it must be good that Rosenthal has not submitted a declaration to the Court about the number of class members that have shipped in their computers for replacement. If this were a large amount I would think they would want to show the Court that this shows class members have accepted the settlement.

The fact that they have not, and they have submitted a declaration after the hearing about the number of complaints, shows that there have been relatively few class members sending in their computers. This could mean the general class disappointment with the settlement or could be the delay tactics that are being used are working now against NVIDIA because they have not sent out the return authorization letters fast enough to get a larger response.

Hope the Judge sees this lack of information on NVIDIA's part as an indicator that the class does not approve of the replacement models.

Note: I'm not speaking badly about anyone that sent in their computer before we get a Judgement. Some of you are in a worse situation than others and really need a working replacement quickly for school or work etc. But those that can, please wait till the Judgement or late June before we are forced to accept the deceptive Settlement and keep hoping for relief.

 

Latest case Mr. Frank is working on.

Center for Class Action Fairness, LLC: Cobell v. Salazar

I have to admit that he is probably worth the $925/hours if he has the ability to extend a day to 28.5 hours.

 

This does seem like a good idea, use of an enclosure to make the hard drive work as an external drive. Although my tx1127 will work after repairs, I have not used it in the past couple of months, can't trust it any more.
Do you have some experience with the enclosures, and a source for one?

 

OldSoldier,

I purchased these 2.5" USB to Sata Laptop HDD external enclosures recently and they are great. Support for up to 1TB, screwless clam-shell style enclosure makes swapping hdds out a breeze. Includes dual usb powered cable and leather case.

Reputable seller, ships fast, about $5 delivered! (I'm not affiliated in anyway).

Linky: USB 2.0 SATA 2.5 HARD DRIVE HDD EXTERNAL ENCLOSURE CASE - eBay (item 130492731546 end time Apr-30-11 14:00:58 PDT)

 

Wow, ok. On your recommendation, I ordered one. Thanks.

 

Sure thing. It works with both Windows 7 & even Mac OS X; the device is automatically detected and the drivers are installed automatically (PnP - built into OS).

I just purchased that same one recently but originally purchased another one of these about a year ago and it still works flawlessly.

It's a good idea to eject it first before unplugging it from your PC (if using Windows).

 

OK, yes, understood.

 

Thanks for letting us know about hard drive enclosure! I am going to order one. I have a 60gb hd from an older computer should I put that one in place on the one that I am taking out?

 

Thanks for the tip, I ordered one.

 

Significant I think:

A poster over on FNS posted this a few hours ago:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

George April 22, 2011 at 3:53 pm

I see on Judge Ware’s Calendar for Monday 5/2/2011 @ 10:30 a.m. a scheduled Conference titled” HP Derivative Litigation Case Management Conference.” I’m not sure if this is related to the hearing but thought I would pass it along. I sent the HP Litigation Administrator a letter (certified signature receipt) stating my objections to the CQ56 being selected as a replacement in comparison to what I turned in to them. I had already submitted my laptop to them when I found out the replacement computer was a CQ56. Needless to say. as many of you, I was pretty peturbed by the whole switch and bait manuever. I’m hoping Judge Ware sees through their lies and holds them to the original agreement..

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Quite obviously we need to be monitoring Judge Ware's calendar.

 

Nothing to do with this case

Dechert Tapped For Probe Of Ex-HP CEO's Exit Deal - Law360

 

Am disappointed . .

but thanks

I wonder if we even show up on his calendar. If it's limited to 2011, maybe we need his 2012 calendar. :cry:

 

sorry bro

 

but what we have now is a time frame. Judge Ware first saw this case on jan 20 and will re look at it on may 2nd. So we have a 4 or 5 month waiting period.
So from march 28 we're looking at maybe late July or Aug.

 

If you have triangulated correctly, and this is not a challenge to your thesis, then nothing Judge Ware does matters . . . . not unless we are able to obtain a formal extension of the current deadline of 18 July.

Right now, by withholding shipment, we risk only delay in receiving (whatever) replacement. But absent a formal extension well prior to 18 July, if we withhold shipment we risk loss of any replacement whatsoever. Speaking only for myself, I'm unwilling to run that risk. I cannot assume Judge Ware will, let's say in August or even September (judges take vacations, too, you know), impose a retroactive deadline extension. I just can't risk that.

So if you're right, it appears nVidia might potentially have us in a clock runs out, game over, situation.

 

For people like me who bought V6000z or similar products, there is really not a lot to lose to send in the defective laptop. A V6000Z review on NBR is here:

Compaq Presario v6000z Review

The downgrades are:
S-video,
Modem/Fax,
Expansion Card Slot

Upgrades:
2USB to 3USB ports
Maximum Ram 2GB to 8GB with slight improvement in memory bandwidth
Wirless from 802.11g to 802.11n
CPU from 1.7GHz/1.8GHz/2.0GHz to 2.3GHz
Harddrive from 80GB SATA1 5400rpm to 250GB SATA2 5400 rpm

So to me it makes perfect sense to get the CQ56 which is actually an upgrade.

I should also mention that the laptop looked a lot worse at Best Buy because of the environment (too much direct light). It doesn't seem that bad from other reviews and the original V6000Z had very similar "BrightView" display so they are equivalent in this area.

I know some may have dual-core chips on V6000Z series but for most applications the peformance difference may not be obvious especially that the dual-core chips on V6000z series are relatively slower (1.6, 1.7, 1.8GHz vs 2.3GHz V140).

 

A "case management conference" is where the judge meets with the lawyers to set a schedule for discovery, motions practice, and trial. The HP Derivative Litigation has nothing to do with our case. There is no analogy or relationship between the how long it takes for a complaint to result in a case management conference and how long it takes for a motion hearing to result in a decision.

There is also no requirement for the judge to decide cases in any particular order. He could decide cases argued after us before he decides ours, and vice versa.

The calendar is for scheduled events in the courtroom. The judge's decision is going to be done in private, and electronically docketed without any warning. Looking at the calendar tells you nothing about when the judge is going to decide this, other than that when the judge is on vacation, he's probably not going to decide it.

Note also that the judge is moving chambers from San Jose to San Francisco as part of his promotion to Chief Judge, so he's not hearing any new motions during that time. That could be good, in that he won't have any additional distractions and can clear his docket to decide pending motions while the move is happening, or it could be bad, in that he'll be too busy to do anything.

In short, we have no basis to guess when the judge is going to decide, and speculating based on other unrelated cases' entirely different situations is leading to wrong conclusions. Be more zen about it: it's just money. You could be a criminal defendant finding out whether you're doomed to spend 20 years in prison or whether the judge is going to throw out the evidence that could convict you. If it turns out that the judge rules against you, and that your lawyers ripped you off by working against your interests, you have other recourse down the line.

 

A good post and I have several items in reply:

First, I agree you will be not a lot less well off with the CQ56. The V140 is clocked at a higher rate, but it is cache-starved. Cache raises cost, and the V140 is strictly low end. Depending on the frame sizes of the programs you run most often you could come out OK.

But your post raises a much larger issue, which is of interest. I am going to pick on you and use you as an example. Hope you don't mind:

A person such as yourself, it could be argued, deserves little or nothing more than a CQ56. This because your old laptop is not a high end machine.

So can we reasonably anticipate nVidia is going to give (folks like) you an upgrade to dual core, for example, just so they can do a huge group buy??

I'm guessing, but my guess would be "no". If they establish a hierarchy of categories, with the CQ56 at the bottom, you'd still be at the bottom. Of course if they abandoned the CQ56 and put a cheap dual core at the bottom, you would make out great!

One has to wonder, if Mr. Frank is successful, what tack nVidia will take in order to comply with a Judge Ware ruling which decrees a more favorable outcome for us. I personally also wonder how long it will take them to arrive at their decision on this, if Judge Ware does not set for them a deadline.

Just thinking out loud, they might try to delay until fall, or whenever new models emerge, in order to have access to any inexpensive leftovers they could snag at off price.

 

+1 Rep to Ted for helping us keep things in perspective.

That's actually the way I have been looking at this all along. I think in some circumstances that perspective has been mistaken as a form of acceptance or satisfaction in the lousy replacements being OK with me. That has never been the case. I've been really torqued about it. But, when you have a big-picture perspective and a lot of other things are more important, it's hard to stay worked up about something that is comparatively insignificant to all of life's other issues.

This is a two-edged sword, because not going ballistic about something like a defective POS laptop is one of the things that allows companies like hp and NVIDIA to get away with producing garbage without any repercussions. It would be naive to think companies like hp don't know and play that to their advantage.

With all of the other things going wrong economically, socially, politically, spiritually, and environmentally in our great nation, I find it hard to sustain the motivation to expend huge amounts of time and energy on a battle over my wife's dead 3.5 year old Pavilion laptop. Letting it out on this forum is probably a great form of therapy for a lot of us.

There has been speculation that the small number of claimants in this class action has been due to disappointment with the lame replacement hp models being offered. There could be some truth to that. However, I think the majority either are (1) too un-savvy to realize they are being shafted... the eww, ahh, a new computer syndrome... (2) don't know about the settlement, (3) no longer have their defective system to exchange, or (4) resignation to the reality of another screwing by big business and the log-jammed legal system as being par for the course. It's probably a combination of all the above.

So, my glass is still half-full and the fat lady has not sung yet. Here's hoping for the best, but be prepared for the worst. A cheesy, underpowered, low-value CQ56 is better than nothing. Not fair, equitable, or compliant with the settlement provisions... but better than going away empty handed like we've done so many times with other situations. Take your vengeance by using your wallet and depriving hp and NVIDIA of your business. There is unlimited power in numbers and any money saved by shafting customers has the potential to pale in comparison to lost future revenue.

Happy Easter everyone. May the true reason for the holiday be a healthy distraction from the trivial things in life... stuff like this class action. When the stone is rolled away, sonlight and fresh air rush in to consume the space darkness occupied.

 

This is interesting: I would have assumed that my V3000 was a lesser model than the V6000, but quite apparently, this is not the case.

My V3000 has: 3 USB ports, 5-in-one card reader, dual core processor, firewire, lightscribe, bluetooth connectivity and the more attractive imprint finish case - in addition to S-video, modem and expansion port.

Just goes to show the wealth of variety in class computers, and the futility of trying to select even a handful of computers to serve as replacements which could possibly please everyone.

 

Thanks to all who have been involved with this thread. I found it when a buddy of mine mentioned that there was a class action suit involving my notebook. I've been lurking ever since and have gathered a lot of useful information from you all.

My notebook is a dv6436nr, and I am going to be in a little bit of a conundrum if Judge Ware rules against us or if he doesn't rule prior to the deadline. My computer still works. I have had to have it repaired a few times. My wireless stopped working and was repaired by HP when they extended the warranty. Then I've had a buddy of mine work on it a couple of times and repair some things that may or may not have been related to the current class action suit.

What I don't know is if I should send the laptop in or not prior to the deadline. I'm not a very saavy computer guy, so just going off of the specs, I don't understand how much of a downgrade the CQ56 is going to be for me. My dv6436 does everything that I need for it to do right now. It does get really hot. So hot when I'm using it that I have to put a pillow on my lap so I don't burn my legs. With that said, it seems fairly obvious to me that it is going to fail eventually and probably pretty soon. I don't have another computer though, so I'll be without one from the time I send this in until I get the replacement back.

 

Macey225 - Hi! Welcome to NBR forum. We are glad you joined us and had something to add to the thread.

If your dv6436 is similar to my wife's dv6449, a CQ56 will be a downgrade in CPU power, a loss of numerous features and lower build quality.

 

Macey,

The CQ56 would be a downgrade in terms of features.

As for performance, it is heavily dependent on what you do. If you run virus scans/windows updates while doing other things or play high-end games on the PC then the CQ56 would not work well simply because of having only 1 core. If you mostly run one application at a time, it could actually run faster for many applications that are not optimized for dual-core---particularly applications that require better memory performace may actually run better on CQ56.

However, if you are satisfied with your laptop and want to keep your existing features, you may consider getting a good laptop cooler.(search for "laptop cooler" on Amazon or Google)

 

I found some more information on the web that made me change my opinion on CQ56. Some reviews on youtube are generally positive. Performance-wise,
I found this:

Hewlett-Packard Presario CQ56 Notebook PC : Geekbench Result Browser

and

Hewlett-Packard Presario V6000 (EX994AV#ABA) : Geekbench Result Browser

Note TL-60 is a relatively high-end processor for the V6000Z series.
The lower-end V6000Zs may have TL-50, TK-53, TK-55, TK-57, all of which have the same amount of 512K L2 cache as CQ56-115DX. Based on the benchmark above, the new architecture appears to have much better memory performance and faster single-thread performance due to faster clock speed.

Therefore from a performance standpoint it really depends on how you use the hardware.

Of course, the dual-core version of the CQ56 would offer much better performance such as this:

Hewlett-Packard HP G42 Notebook PC : Geekbench Result Browser

Though, the more fancier features would surely be missing in CQ56/G62 models that are designed for every day computing instead of desktop replacement or high-end gaming.

As someone already stated before, the decision to send in now or wait is a very personal one and everyone needs to make his/her own based on their situation.

 

duplicate post

 

Do try to avoid use of the pillow. I could not conceive of a more difficult situation for your laptop . . thermally I mean.

Instead, buy one of the cooling pads. Not horribly expensive, they have one or two built-in fans and are USB powered. A cooling pad will protect your legs while actually cooling the laptop a bit. I own three of them because they are so helpful in general.

But for laptops with the bad nVidia GPUs they are essential.

 

Very helpful post.

If they had gone with a replacement laptop equally as low end as the CQ56 is in general, but one having instead a dual core processor, I'd be ready to throw in the towel now and send them my (dual core) laptop.

But sending them my dual core and receiving in return only a single core laptop is not something I can sign up for just yet. I'm not ready to take the hit.

Of course there are thousands of laptop owners of really expensive, high end, laptops for whom the CQ56 does not come close to being an adequate or appropriate replacement. Their dilemma cannot be addressed merely by alone offering a dual core replacement machine.

But for myself, I'm literally ready to ship right now if I can get a low end dual core laptop. I'd be happy the entire saga was over.

One has to wonder, had they offered a low end dual core from the outset, whether they might have avoided all the fuss. I think they would have avoided a lot of it.

 

The bottom line is that NVIDIA used the lowest common denominator method in determining the replacement computer specs;

I think Milberg went along with it because it was already paid and was ready to quickly move on to other cases.

Its interesting to read about Milberg LLP, which used to be "Milberg, Weiss, Bershad, Hynes & Lerach". Some of these partners went to federal prison for such things like kickbacks, bribery and making false statements. Just Google the quote and see for yourself.

In addition, if you have some extra time, read a book called "Circle of Greed". According to the book authors, it is about "the epic story of the rise and fall of Bill Lerach". The book is rather voluminous (450+ pages) but it reveals some fascinating class action chicanery.

BTW, Mr. Lerach pleaded guilty to conspiracy to obstruct justice and to making false statements, a charge related to kickbacks given to named plaintiffs in cases he or his firm handled. On Feb. 11, 2006 Mr. Lerach was sentenced to two years in federal prison (article link here)

With such stained history, you would think the next generation of Milberg attorneys would be more honest about their work?

 

Here's my desktop: Acer Aspire M1100 : Geekbench Result Browser

how do I read the scores? The higher the better or the lower the better?

I'm a multi-tasker so the CQ56 won't work for me. my acer is struggling to keep up these days so i either need more RAM or replace Vista with Win7 or both. ram is cheaper though.

 

This benchmark is throughput-based, so the higher the better.

Explanation:
http://www.primatelabs.ca/geekbench/doc/benchmarks.html

If your PC is struggling to run newer applications, it could be that newer apps are more memory hungry, more cpu-intensive--but still not coded well for dual-cores, or simply require faster harddisks... Depending on the root cause, there are different fixes.

 

I have repeatedly offered up the G series as the sort of three tiered approach that probably would have pi$$ed off a lot fewer of us notebook owners. The tablet folks are, of course, in a different class altogether. The G series is probably just a step up from the CQ56, but features a dual core processor, card reader and is available in 14", 15" and 17" models.

Had this been the initial settlement offering, my v3000 would be in a landfill by now, and I'd be reasonably satisfied with the replacement.

 

Throw $13,000,000.00 at anyone and see how honest they would be. I think it is a good thing most of us will never be in such a situation. I think few could pass such a test if they thought no one would know. That is just way too many zeros.

 

They were trying to balance what they thought they could get away with and what would draw the least amount of class members participation.

If they offered a better replacement they may have had too many class members request a replacement. Same as if they allowed us to keep our old hardware and sent a low value replacement. The cost of shipping back the defective hardware is way less than the extra replacements they would have to supply if more members participated.

 

Certainly they´ve tried to draw the least amount of class members.

Iḿ waiting here patiently looking for a fair outcome. Looks that there is no word from the courts.

Fingers crossed. Looks to me that a few people managed to get left out of settlement. I hope the judge factors this into the equation. From a bigger picture this Milberg Law Firm is like the McDonalds of attorneys that handle this type of cases.
Their evasive tactics and lies make them look to be something they are clearly. Big manipulating bullies. They have their own call centers handling these cases, playing it off like they have halo´s floating above their heads. HP and Milberg and Co. have managed to exclude people from the class settlement by dragging this on and providing this lame replacement.

Iĺl say it again. Even though my dv9410 is as old as it is. This CQ56 doesn´t come close.
- Missing features
- Smaller screen
- Overall quality
Someone can throw all the that´s an old model argument´s around. Put them side by side. You know which one will get picked.
Fingers crossed the judge get back to us soon.. This has gone on for soo long.

... and yes the creeps are still out there lurking in the shadows, we´re reminded. Taking advantage of hard working people. They should be punished as well I hope the judge factors this into the equation.

 

This it it, in a nut shell. Aside from the ty gpu, the dv9230 I had was much better that this Comcrap and I really would like my 17" screen back.

 

HP - Laptop / AMD Athlon™ II Processor / 14" Display / 3GB Memory / 320GB Hard Drive - Pewter - G4-1015DX

$350 dual-core pavilion with card reader and webcam. This is a perfect example of Milberg/Nvidia asking HP what needs to be taken off of the shelves (the CQ56) and ignoring perfectly fine alternatives. Note that the linked laptop is 14", but there are 15.6" and 17" pavilions that are probably similarly priced.

 

This settlement is big crap. Do not expect any thing big from these ********.

I have filed my replacement claim in Jan, first/second week of claim period. I received the approval in only second week of March. I mailed my computer after 4 days.

Today I called the support for status. The hot support says my computer reached their processing center after a week Fedex actually delivered. I am confused. And they tell me that a minimum of 10 weeks is required and I may get whatever **** in last week of May or First week of June.

5 months total time? is it worth it? Absolutely not for me. Mine was dead, How can any one send a working computer in this situation. They just want to avoid as many claims as they can. Even if Judge rules for us, These ******** are going to appeal.

Thank god, I did not ask my wife to wait. I purchased a replacement laptop in Feb it self for her.