T61 Video Failure...options?

I guess we're going to have to agree to disagree on this one. I definitely have empathy for you and others who bought notebooks with the defective nVidia cards. I think this is the way buying notebooks works these days. People want less expensive notebooks these days. People are always looking for the latest coupons and deals, here and elsewhere. It means many more people can afford them who otherwise could not have in the olden days because they were much more expensive, but this comes at the cost of poorer quality and support. I still think ThinkPads are a cut above what other notebooks offer you, but are no longer the gold standard they once were. It's not really a right or a wrong, but more of a scale.

Lenovo sold you a notebook with a one year warranty, nothing more or less. Trust me on this one, I'm fairly certain Lenovo would really like to not have to deal with this nVidia headache either. It would be difficult for me to comment on what happened between you and support as I wasn't there. I guess in hindsight, you should have been more insistent. Hopefully, this lesson will help the next time this happens. I don't know what going around in circles with me does to help fix your problem.

The 570m is based on the 8600GT card, which is also defective. If in two years when your warranty is set to expire and you're still planning on keeping your notebook, I'd recommend extending your warranty.

 

ZaZ, it seems as though you assume 100% of these nVidia graphics will fail... I think if the failure rate was that high there would have to be a recall.
Also, I probably won't keep it past the warranty period, by then it will be 3 years old, and something much better should be along, hopefully they won't be using ATI, I never have liked ATI, especially because of their software/drivers.

 

I never said anything close to that, but the nVidia cards do have a much higher failure rate than other cards. In my own personal experience I have a 8600GT desktop card which has now failed four time. I finally went back to my old 6100 card cause I got tired of swapping it out and sending it in for service.

 

I guess besides the laptop I never had an 8600. I went from 7800gt to 8800gt to GTX280, and all have been rock solid.

 

The ironic part is I have very rarely played any games on it. I doubt it's heated up much. I got it for the Blu-ray decdoing, which it was good at.

 

My t61p had also just recently died, and this is the 2nd time.
I recommend NOT wasting money on repairs as it will just prolong the inevitable demise yet again.

Talk to your credit card company regarding the defective gpus and get a refund. That's the best option now, Lenovo has switched to ATI/AMD as their "fix," while other OEMs are just issuing new BIOS that keep the fans at 100%.

Get a notebook cooling pad to keep it cool if you want to prolong your laptop's life. Look towards reapplying some AC5 aswell. Just keep the thermal cycle counts as low as possible without stressing your gpu.

Hopefully, Nvidia will step up and take responsibility, but that would also mean they'll have to fix all the g84,g86 cores suffering the same thermal bumping issues, which would definitely bankrupt them. It's definitely an iffy situation for them.

 

You said this was the 2nd time you had a failure. Just curious, what did you do the first time, have Lenovo repair it on warranty? Sounds like your machine is dead now, what are you going to do, call the credit card company?

 

First time, I was still under warranty and so let them repair it. They basically had to change out the whole planar.

Machine is indeed dead now. I've just settled it through the extended warranty service provided by my credit card company and will be getting a refund credited back to my account soon; very lucky that it died now...and not a couple months later, when the extended warranty from credit card purchase will also be expired by then.

 

I believe I have become the latest victim to this problem. My T61 (6459-CTO) started acting up this past weekend and I've tried everything I can think of including restoring to factory setting to remedy problem before I wanted to accept it's hardware.

And of course, my warranty has expired.

It looks like many of you have had bad experience calling Lenovo, so before I follow suit and have my blood pressure raised during the call, I'd like to know where you guy found that nVidia has admitted their mistake on the 140m. Also, any additional guidance in this process is appreciated.

- a disgruntled T61 owner w/o extended warranty

 

IBM stickers on your machine means nothing, IBM have sold all the Think branded products to Lenovo during T43 era, and all liability in the past and future is also past onto Lenovo. As part of the sale, Lenovo have the right to use the IBM logo for 3 years after the sale.

 

just google nvidia GPU failure.

 

lead_org:

with your suggestion I was able to google and read a few articles on the G84 and G86 GPUs, but I don't know if I have enough to make a case to VISA extended warranty claim that Lenovo did indeed sell me the T61 with a defected GPU in the 140m. is there a way to directly link the G84/G86 gpus to the 140m?

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Nvidia-GPU-failure,6248.html

http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1028703/nvidia-g84-g86-bad

grrrrrrr

 

The NVS 140M is based off the G86 chip, so yes our video card is defective...

I'll probably sell mine in the summer time, it's under warranty until August and I rather not take any chances. Heck, I might even go for an onboard Intel GPU. They're more than good enough for those "not too demanding" tasks.

 

hi revvo,

do you know where i can find the information in writing regarding the G86 gpu and NVS 140m in case VISA wants me to prove it?

many thanks!!!

 

Thats pretty much what I am doing with my future laptop purchases(if possible). Its not like I want to play demanding games on it anyway.

 

Dell and a few other large companies have handled this different than Lenovo. They covered their machines with the problematic GPU. You might want to site that as well.

 

In writing? Probably on Nvidia's website somewhere I guess? I just use the program GPU-Z which gives you all the information regarding your video card including the chipset codename (G86).

Now, the internet is loaded with articles about these G84 & G86 defects, so it wouldn't be hard to print or link any of them if you need references to defend your point.

 

+1

For my actual needs, my next laptop will be paired up with a Integrated GPU, though if I get to need dedicated graphics I will definately buy a ATi branded product.

 

http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/31/figuring-out-which-nvidia-gpus-are-defective-its-a-lot/

http://www.insanely-great.com/news.php?id=9448

Nvidia is still very tight lipped about this whole saga, so most of the information regarding the GPU failure is from hardware forums or sites.

 

Most companies are tight lipped about how they handle such delicate cases before the release of their official response on such matters. But if everyone in the PC industry is taking the bullet regarding the nvidia saga, then it is just matter of time for other major laptop vendors to follow suit.

 

i recently posted here about my system board failure but as we speak, superiorreball repairing it. if i fall into this mess do i qualify especially on a repaired one? kinda sucks t61's are abundant in failure this year.

 

if its not working "perfectly" on an external monitor, then it cant be as simple as an LCD fault.
a messed up lcd has nothing to do with an external output.
hmm get a slightly used t61 in *mint* condition from ebay, i saw a really nice one for 425.

 

What did Visa refund? Did they refund the purchase cost or the repair cost?

 

..........

 

Mark, I take your comments with a grain of salt. Sometimes it takes something for a company to lose, before they will admit fault. You better beleive it if someone is not taken seriously, they should get the force of the BBB to step in. Your apprerance on this issue at this time, and I'm sure it might but hopefuly not affect me down the line in my straight shooting opinion at this stage is nothing more than damage control. You know that too.

 

http://securities.stanford.edu/1040/NVDA_01/200899_f01c_0804260.pdf

If Lenovo was/is not "aware" they are lying through their teeth. lol.
The case tells all you need to know.

 

My T61 GPU is idling at 86C. The whole computer does a hard power off even when doing a virus scan or gamingas the added CPU heat to the GPU causes it to hit 100C. I even tried putting Arctic Silver 5 on and it only lowered the temp a few C - I can't even run Counterstrike without the GPU hitting 100C. Also, everynow and then the GPU artifacts like crazy across the whole screen (I can't consistently repeat this though so I'm worried about Lenovo not taking me seriously).

My warranty ended in April - I will try contacting Lenovo first about this. If they blow me off, I'll be trying to get the CC to take care of it.

 

Bra, you shouldn't have to add Artic Silver and start holding your TP together with balling wire and scotch tape. Excercise your warranty. 86 C is way too high. Mine idles at 56 to 60 and I'm in a tropical environement.

 

I'm out of warranty since April (I had a one year). I have a feeling this is a symptom of the Nvidia GPU problems, which is why I'm hoping Lenovo will do the right thing and take care of it. Not holding my breath though, so I'll probably wind up going through the CC company based on other's experiences.

 

Even if they exercise warranty, the fact that you removed the heatsink will make the resolution difficult. I think it would be easier if just went through the credit card department, as this will be faster and less frustrating.

 

You are probably right. Plus, if they give me a refund I can get a thinkpad that isn't affected by this with the money - as a student my laptop is my lifeline, and I can't afford to have it overheating at an inconvenient time.

 

Would having a warranty really help that much? If they decide to replace the motherboard, wouldn't you just get a replacement that has the faulty GPU anyway? I'm starting to wonder about this on my machine as well, as I've noticed the GPU is starting to hit the 70 deg C mark regularly lately (and this is in around 40 deg F ambient temperature).

 

That's right. Probably a board they put in would even be ..uh.. pre-owned (or pre-abused) and might break the day after you get it back. And they can continue that game until you run out of warranty or patience.

 

This is just ridiculous - I'm sitting here with nothing but outlook and Google Chrome open and my GPU is at 80C, the fan is at max, the entire machine is hot to the touch (it's WAY to hot for lap useage), and incredibly hot air is spewing out of the vents. My CPU is idling at 65C!

 

Are you sure nothing weird is running in the background? (I see it says 'Load:0%', but still....)

Otherwise, if you're worried... well.. at least nobody will call you paranoid

 

Looks like the chickens have come home to roost on Lenovo and Nvidia.

 

I'm at 56 C with fan alway on but kicking down then kicking up. 2 IE 8, 1 task manager, 1 GPU temp monitor, 1 excel sheet and Outlook open. Like I said, I'm in a new environment (different climate) and have never heard the fan before. But it gives me a headache to listen to it all day.

 

Ah, but I'm hitting 95C CPU and 100C GPU under load!

Again, this is with confirmed excellent contact on the heatsink, no dust blocking it, arctic silver 5, and no overclocking. What is even stranger is that I used to get excellent temps - this sudden rise happened out of nowhere and with no hardware changes.

 

As a risk or catasrophe managmement measure you should seriously go into Power Management and set everything to 2. Turn down CPU GPU etc. and kick fan up a little. You keep running it like that and for sure things will melt down and you dont know if Lenovo will support you.

 

download and install GPU-Z so you can get a sensor log.

 

Personally, i wouldn't want a warranty replacement anyway, since all the GPU of that series were affected, which is why i sold off all my Thinkpad that had the Nvidia GPU, even if it fails within my warranty period.

 

so what does the credit card company reimburse?

 

Anyone else get crap like this in patterns on the screen? It's always red or cyan.

 

usually the artifacts are more pronounced, but if this pattern occurs on both the internal LCD and external screen, then it means that your GPU is on the way out.

 

I'm totally screwed - I just sorted through my statements and found out I paid via Visa Platinum DEBIT card. I paid with the "credit" option, but apparently I used my debit card instead of credit card.

Sucks, I have no idea what to do now.

 

Your efforts should not be focused toward Visa. That's if you have no recourse and exausted all effort with Lenovo. BTW IMO Lenovo is responsible as they have recourse with Nvidia for the defect. My guess is Lenovo is trying to act as if thier units are not affected for product image purposes. That may work on the mass consumer but tech savvy wouldn't fall for it. The chickens have come home to roost. lol

 

I've been getting stuff like this for at least a year, but it's much better now that I only run the computer in the ultra battery saver mode and don't use any video-intensive apps. I regularly have problems with Photoshop CS3 telling me my GPU is messed up and it can't enable the accelerated graphics features. It's still under extended warranty, and I will send it in as soon as I sort out a replacement laptop in the mean time. Too bad my T400s didn't work out

 

After doing a bit of searching through the BBB complaints against Lenovo, there are only a handful that are related to the GPU failure (although it was not a complete list of complaints). I feel like there's much more GPU failures that go unreported and unresolved though. In most cases, the solution to the customer complaint was not clear, but some had replacements done even with an expired warranty. From what I've seen on the BBB website, it is definitely possible to get a good resolution to your problems through this method.

As Mr.KL says, we should give them something to lose in order to get sufficient resolution of these issues. Well prepared complaints about the GPU, and a large number of them, should make Lenovo realize there is a problem here. If anyone has had a problem with their T61, please bring it to the BBB if Lenovo does not resolve the issue as this will only help the rest of us in the future when our GPUs fail as well. I feel like my GPU is in its final days as the temperature has skyrocketed lately even with freezing ambient temperatures, and will definitely look to do this if my problems are not resolved either.

 

will visa refund the purchase cost or the repair cost?

 

Don't assume anything. Call up Visa and find out for sure.