Defective Nvidia chipsets in your current Vaio?

Hello,
I am currently using a VAIO FZ-18M model, with an NVidia 8400M GT
and last night vertical lines suddenly showed up on screen, the screen turned off and when i turned it on, the computer started with low graphics and vertical lines.

Do you think sony will be able to change it for me? I bought it in june 2007, in austria. Thing is, my laptop has already heated enough to turn off thrice. Once i took it to the repair shop and the second i discovered that i could just unplug and plug a little battery in the MB and itd come back on ( with the clock out of time though ).

I recently installed windows 7 and felt a propensity for my pc to overheat faster. Fact is, when the graphics went insane, i was only on firefox, and microsoft word. Any opinions?

 

Have it sent to Sony - you need a new mainboard.

 

Not yet, it died last night and sunday nothing works in austria, but do you reckon its the NVDIA chips fault? cause if im going to pay 1500 euros on making my laptop work again itd be easier to just buy a new one....

 

If you have artefacts - then its the graphics card - if it doesn't even start up its something else.

And speaking about costs - the grahics card is covered by an extended warranty - Sony may not honour it if an unauthorized repair center accessed it.

 

The laptop is working, the graphics look similar to what this guy posted here...
http://club.vaio.sony.eu/clubvaio/at/de/forum/viewthread?thread=55888&offset=140

anyways, when i sent it, do i have to send it with my hard drive disk too?

 

Yepp the HDD needs to be inside - you don't want Sony claiming you opened it and voided the warranty.

And that pic is a failed graphics card.

Sony will also want the standard OS I fear... (although Service Packs are OK as far as I am aware)

 

well, the laptop was opened before by the store that i purchased it in to fix it. Seriously i have to downgrade to windows vista? I dont even know how to do that with those graphics... and as far as windows 7, it was working perfectly for the past month...

 

Well call Sony and ask them.

But they are bad for supporting anything but the default OS...

 

Hello all, do anyone know where the NVIDIA chip, bottom side or top side (under keyboard)
thanks you alotss

 

First, Sony extended the warranty on your model for the very problem you have, so you need to get in touch with Sony support ASAP.

Second Win7 actually has my FZ190 running a few degrees cooler than Vista, because it is more aggressive about throttling back the CPU when it can. It does so WITHOUT affecting performance.

Gary

 

Hello Everyone

My FZ180E died few months ago and i just found out i'm eligible for free repair.
I'm currently in UK now and as you all may know sony is terrible and is well famous for their poor customer support.
I am not able to find any number to contact UK sony support unless i insert my VAIO model which cant be found as its US model.
It means i cant get any number unless i enter my UK vaio Serial number.

Would you kindly please write any number you have which i can contact them or whats the right way to claim if my laptop is US model and i'm living in UK now? and if i have to contact US centre,kindly provide me with a right number which i can contact to.
Am i even eligible for international warranty for my NVIDIA chipset failure?

Thank you all

 

http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/6uq7s/

just had my laptop repaired, took one week... GPUZ details above.

(Oh yeah forgot to mention, I have a FZ31Z with a 8600M GS GPU, and it took exactly 5 working days to get it fixed)

 

UK


VAIO in warranty: 0870 240 2408
VAIO out of warranty: 090 503 100 06

[email protected]

 

UK

VGN-FZ11s

Good to have found this thread as my 2 1/2 years old Sony started acting up last week. I was just about to take the laptop appart as I thought it might be the display cable.

My display looks like it is being shook + flicker with horizontal ghosting. If I move the cursour it alters the display and sometimes it freezes completely. Often it occurs from start (bios), but some times fine until after 5 min or so. It is impossible to make out what is on the screen unless you know what should be there.

I will contact Sony on Monday and we will see......................

 

Just wanted to post my experience with Sony on this matter. I contacted Sony about this same problem (green vertical lines, "artifacts" and windows not loading or only in safe mode). My computer is a Vgn-Ar630e and it has the 8400gt in it. Well Sony only admitted that the Vgn-Ar1xx, Ar2xx, and Ar3xx series had the problems so they did not want to honor my complaint. After talking to a supervisor, he told me that I should send it and that it would be covered because it has the same graphics card and experiencing the same problems. They send me a package and I send off my laptop. Two days later, they call me and quote me for 699 dollars. I asked them why I dop I have to pay of a supervisor explained I wouldn't have to. The Sony rep says that the supervisor misspoke and that since my model wasn't covered, they will not fix it under the recall. I told him how unfair that was. And then she mentions that my computer has damage to a usb port and that is the cause of my problems (the slightly bent usb port is causing me to have to purchase a new motherboard :-O). I refused and they shipped my laptop back. Now I am on the lookout for a vgn-ar630e with a broken screen or something similar so I can pull the motherboard out. ASny other suggestions. This goes to show you how Sony is full of a bunch of liars. I will never buy their product again.

 

Hello all, Its been 27 months since I purchased my Vaio, and Sony told me I AM still eligible for a FREE repair (motherboard replacement) . I was happy, yes, happy, until I read a few articles on the Web. From what I seem to have researched, Sony basically replaces your motherboard with a newer version that contains the so called "fixed GPU". I came to know that the replacement motherboard is only for the sake of elongating the GPU's life beyond the Warranty period. Technically, this (the GPU's design) is an Engineering flaw and nothing much can be done except to see your Laptop die at its own pace INFRONT of your VERY OWN eyes. I felt cheated. I paid 900£ for my beautiful Vaio and now it won't even last for another year or two!

NO.This is NOT Sony's fault at ALL. Its purely Nvidia's. They used some incompatible substrates in the GPU's manufacturing. Now the design of the GPU itself has been proved to be an inferior one and nothing much can be done. If they re-design the GPU, they would have to re-design the motherboard of our Vaio Notebooks too, which isn't practical. So from what I heard, what they're doing now is just replacing the material (dye) responsible for the GPU failure with a better, good quality one from HITACHI. Sounds great, but it doesn't matter much when it comes to the GPU's life. This change only prolongs the time taken by the GPU to die. It doesn't cure anything.

If you've already got a replacement from Sony, well, please do tell me if you're facing the same over-heating issue (GPU glitch) again.

 

imaginonic,

Yes it does cure the problem. There was never an issue with the GPU overheating. The issue was that the substrate and other parts of the chip expanded at different rates when heated and shrunk at different rates when cooled. This caused minute cracks in the boundary layer. With the new chips this expansion issue has been resolved.

Gary

 

Wow. Thanks for the prompt reply. I feel a lot better now. However, Just for your information, an article here gave me the shock of my life, which is why I asked those q's in my previous post (like if the replaced Hitachi underfill doesn't do much, etc).

Now,

NVIDIA is committed to providing our customers with quality products that push the edge of technology and also continuously improve product quality and reliability. To help improve the product quality and ensure smooth and uninterrupted product supply during the current end stage of life cycle, NVIDIA strongly recommends that customers transition to this latest revision of the NB8E-SET GPUs as soon as possible. These latest revision units utilize Hitachi underfill packaging material that improves product quality and enhances operating life by improved thermal cycling reliability.

This means it only extends the time taken by the GPU to die?? Or have I misunderstood it??

Thanks Gary

 

Hey - I have the same problem as above with the blue/pink/green lines through my screen and pretty much a failed graphics card. I've contacted sony before about replacement or repair and they said they were unable to do anything at all. I have a FZ-180E and it has been like this for months now just barely staying alive. Any help at all would be greatly appreciated...

 

Sticky at the top of the forum http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/407410-sony-comes-clean-faulty-nvidia-chips.html

 

I can't belive it.

I had my Vaio FZ31Z motherboard replaced in November 2009.

The laptop worked absolutely fine, until 2 days ago.

I started the laptop from sleep mode, suddenly distorted lines came on screen then screen turned white n then black..

I restarted the laptop, it logged in etc fine and then after 2 minutes the same thing again.. weird lines n then black screen.

I thought its the same nvidia problem again, however now my laptop doesn't even Post (It doesn't boot).

The fan, hard disk , wireless switch work fine. However I can't even turn Caps lock on.

I have searched online and it seems there are a few other people who have developed the exact problem who have replaced motherboards.

It seems like Sony really messed it up and installed refurbished old motherboards which are inherently defective.

 

Had more main board replaced a couple months back and now my FZ190 is back burning our lap. The power transformer, too? Just waiting for the video to burn up again. Any suggestions?

 

The NVIDIA issue was never one about it running too hot. If you are having an issue with heat, it is most likely that either the fan is failing or the cooling system is blocked by dust and/or debri. The latter is quite common.

Not sure what you meant by: "The power transformer, too?" Are you saying the trans former is also hot?

Get a copy of the program SpeedFan and it will allow you to see the temps of the two cores and the GPU itself. See which of them (or all) are running hot. Report the temps you observe back here (as well as the ambient room temp). Also is this a situation all of the time or only when watching movies or playing games.

Gary

 

Just wanted to let everyone know that I am *still* using my laptop that underwent BGA reseating as per post #709....3 years on! It has been my trusty video card for all these years. Someday I might even retire my laptop and purchase something mainstream again. In fact, this post is using said hardware.

I'm sure by now this thread is long dead, but I want to let everyone know that even when industry short-changes an individual, science and knowhow can save the day. Never give up...always persevere.

LW