Defective Nvidia chipsets in your current Vaio?

My first guess would be drivers - try getting the latest 'official' one from Sony's site and trying that (even though it'll probably be much older then your current one, it's worth a test).

If not, try reinstalling your codecs or player software.

Does it only happen with streaming content or downloaded files too?

I doubt very much that a knackered Nvidia GPU is the culprit on this occasion.

 

Thankfully, I did take photos of the GPU failing and have a pretty good outline of what happened. My father handled the final tech support call yesterday afternoon dealing with sending it back, and I don't doubt he drove the point home that Dell and others have extended warranties and Sony should too. They wouldn't budge on the 50% idea, and gave us the run around - hanging up/getting disconnected or transferred to the wrong place several times. I'm working on an email to Sony and Nvidia but I don't really expect that to go anywhere. I am planning on pursuing this with my state Attorney General's office and seeing what can be done on that end, but I'm not really certain I'm going to get anywhere.

Its a **** shame that Sony is treating me like this. I could totally understand if it was the DVD or Hard drive that failed after warranty but this is a documented and prevalent problem. Even the Sony tech's reported that many have failed and it is an ongoing problem. I have always had the utmost confidence in Sony and its customer service. It's very sad to say, but after two Sony TVs, a $1900 (+$400 repairs) laptop, two Sony digital cameras, a PS3 and two PSPs... I'm not so much a fan of this 50% solution.

 

If possible, please post your photos in the thread I created at ClubVAIO.
Maybe Sony will realize that this will come back and bite them in the *** if we can make enough noise.

Here's the link: http://club.vaio.sony.eu/clubvaio/se/sv/forum/viewthread?thread=56443

 

itssweeney, I'm sorry to hear about your problems. Like the others have said, you should try your best to "fight" for a "reasonable" resolution.

This is making me real worried with my SZ as I barely use the Nvidia graphics. I guess I'll switch from integrated graphics to Nvidia graphics permanently since I have such a long warranty & if anything happens, at least I don't have to worry about repair costs....

 

I will definitely do that. Currently I'm using a 10 year old + laptop for the time being until mine comes back and I have no way of getting the photos onto it for uploading, but as soon as I can I will. So frustrating and I hope that Sony doesn't leave us up a creek on this one...

 

Hi

Right last night I went back to previous "sony official drivers" and it made no difference to the video glitching. I uninstalled Quicktime Pro and reinstalled it, as I believe the codec used is located within Quicktime. Still getting the same problem.

The video glitching happens with both streamed and non streamed content. As mentioned previously, it also happens if I playback through Itunes purchased video I've previously downloaded from the Itunes Store. I have te latest Flash installed as well. This is really getting on my nerves now!

I can't think of any solutions to the problem. Do I need to get Sony to look at the machine? It's still within warranty.

Thanks

 

If you've exhausted all other options, then backup everything up first and then recover the laptop to factory state using the recovery discs/partition and see if that helps.

As much as it's a PITA, you'll find that Sony makes you do that before they're willing to look at it anyway...

 

May be you should try to download K-Lite Codec Pack first. It will enable almost all available codecs on the market.

Regards,
Luis Neng

 

Just curious, did anyone get any updates?
The last bit I saw was that the FZ of a user from this forum is "under investigation", that was in the Vaio forum.

Was there anything from NVidia?

At first I could call the reaction a "hype" now it seems to have died down completely which is worrying also.

 

Haven't heard anything from Nvidia but the Inq is still writing about it.

Part One: Why Nvidia's chips are defective
Part Two: Why Nvidia's duff chips are due to shoddy engineering
Part Three: What Nvidia should do now

 

Purehazard,
maybe you can help.
The inquirer (your links) talks about 55nm and 65nm chips.

Now according to some websites the 8400GS in the SZ is a 80nm chip.
(I always use the Chipset as I don't need the energy hungry NVidia. Played a few games for about 2-3 weeks and that's it)

So did someone get the facts wrong or is the problem a bit more complicated and confusing?

Or is it me??

 

Well, Tom's Hardware also has some more report on the extent of the problem. Honestly, you are not going to get some sort of breaking development soon since the problem is just an accelerated wear on your GPU and it still takes some time to really wear your GPU out -- this time is obviously shorter than what nVidia and notebook designer had chosen, but it still can be anywhere from 1 to 3 years.

 

BTW I was using my laptop today on the train, started a 3D game (TrackMania) and smelled burning chip after a couple of minutes. Not 100% sure the smell comes from my Z11VN because I was fiddling with my mobile battery a couple of minutes before because it crashed. Both my mobile and laptop are fine at the moment but I'm really concerned I just experienced an early warning!!! I probably played 3D games a grand total of 10 hours in total over the period of 2 weeks on this brand new laptop.
Hopefully that smell was not from the graphic chip but so far it's still working...

 

It shouldn't be.
I've used the NVidia for games on my SZ for 2-3 weeks, its still fine, but since I've been using the Chipset as I had no use/need for the NVidia.

I doubt its your chip.

If it is, then that would mean that NVidia did a poorer design on their "new"GPUs than the "old ones"...

 

DetlevCM: Well what I know for a fact is that something stank of burned plastic and it lasted about 20 seconds then disappeared.

 

Are you sure it was one of your "devices".
I mean, the NVidia fails over 1 to maybe 3 years depending on usage as Skyshade pointed out.
But then again, burning plastic is not a naturally occuring "smell"...

 

Unrelated but I thought I'd toss it out there since there hasn't been much news lately on the Nvidia front:

Vaio T Zs (manufactured between May 2007 to July 2008) recalled due to "abnormal" heat. ( translated page via google)

This gives me hope that if the Nvidia problem does start to gain traction they will issue a recall.

 

http://www.engadget.com/2008/09/04/sony-recalling-vaio-tz-models-due-to-overheating-risk/

engadget's report

 

IMO, it isn't really a "recall" if you read the TZ information on the Sony website because what they offer is an inspection & if there really is a "problem," they'll repair it.

 

Then how do you define a "recall". This is exactly what Ford or Chrysler do during a recall. They bring vehicle in for inspection and if it is one with an offending part, the part is replaced. If the vehicle does not contain the offending part, it is sent on its way.

Gary

 

I have had a burning smell come from my laptop also. reminds me of the smell from a hair drier.

 

Hmm...
I think a hairdrier (burning dust) and an electronic device (plastic) should smell differently.
Now you may want to start a thread and if there are several people you'll have found a problem...

Maybe you should contact Sony?

 

Mine only smells like that when I use the Nvidia chip. when I use the other chip it runs so much cooler.

 

Ok, phone Sony and see what they have to say.
It sound like an NVidia issue, though there shouldn't be one...

Or you were unluky and got a faulty product.

(My SZ's battery died after 2 weeks)

 

So, has Sony addressed this issue with the G84/G86s yet? Unofficially or Officially?

 

My G84 has failed and my experience with Sony handling it has been absolutely horrendous. First, I spent 5 hours on the phone being jerked around before they'd even agree to take it back. They agreed a little over two weeks ago to pay 50% of the repair costs (mine was out of warranty by 4 or 5 weeks) of $699 and also admitted that they have had many of the same chipsets fail already.

Now, nearly three weeks since my laptop failed, Sony "requoted" me on the price to be $749.11 and claimed to have no record of the 50% deal they agreed to weeks before. Evidently they have to resubmit it to the "National Call Center" for approval, all while holding my FZ hostage. If it's not approved, I'm certainly not sinking another $800 into a year old laptop. 50% of $749 is even too much given the circumstances and I'm hoping that Nvidia somewhere will address this. In the case of that happening, I'm demanding that Sony include the defective hardware that they replaced in their shipment. I'll keep you all updated, but so far this has been a nightmare that will not end.

 

Sorry to hear about your troubles. Hope that everything will turn out well for you. Good luck.

 

Nvidia stockholder Class Action Lawsuit has been filed over the defective GPUs.

If you purchased Nvidia stock between November 8, 2007 and July 2, 2008 you might want to keep your eyes on this.

No news yet for the end users who purchased the actual *hardware* but the discovery phase should unearth solid evidence (or lack thereof) that we're missing. This might spark off a series of lawsuits.

 

Sony were supposed to contact me. That never happened, so today I made a phone call to their support.
Not much of interest. Took like 5 minutes. The guy I spoke to didn't seem to know anything about the nVidia-situation. I would have to pay for the repair, which I won't. Basically a dead end. In hind sight, maybe I should have asked to talk to his superior.

My only option now is to contact the seller of the Vaio and file a complaint. According to Swedish law, a product failing within three years of purchase due to manufacturing defects has to be repaired or replaced with no cost.
The problem is that 6-36 months after purchase, it's up to the consumer to prove that the problem is a manufacturing defect. Not sure how I'm supposed to do that. Press release from nVidia or something like that would probably help.
I'll have to look into this...

 

im not really sure about this but is the sony z series affected?

thanks.

 

The Z has a G98M chipset so I think you're probably in the clear.

 

arite thanks alot

 

So it turns out I have a Sony Vaio FZ180 that is now suffering from what appears to be a very dead nVidia 8400 graphics chip. Just earlier today while I was watching some House on my computer, the computer simply froze and forced me to shut it down and reboot. Unfortunately, at that point, I started getting some extremely ugly verticle green lines on the boot screen and then some very distracting ...:::...::: patterns on my desktop exactly like the ones mentioned by mikper83 in his posts. So, anyone know what's going on and what I should do? Last I heard, Sony was for the most part ignoring the nVidia chip problem claiming that none of their laptops were affected. My warranty for the laptop ran out something like 2-4 weeks ago, so I may be dead in the water, but I have my fingers crossed still...

Also, a picture of my laptop...I have more, but apparently my picture files are too big or something so I can't upload them all. I'll post more if people want to see more...

 

Ouch, that really sucks. Just post pics to imageshack.us and post the forum code here.

Have you called Sony yet? I would call them, if enough people get their attention, I think they will have to repair this problem under some sort of a free extended warranty like the other computer makers.

 

Aha, pictures, yea:

The welcome screen, being very ugly.


My desktop. Won't go beyond 600*480 resolution and lowest bit colors. Also those annoying :::...:::... pattern...


The shot I posted earlier. The boot screen with those green stripes.

As a note, I am using the Vaio now to write this post off Ubuntu. Oddly enough, the little pixel dots aren't quite so annoying on Ubuntu and also the screen resolution is 800*600. Don't know why Windows Vista won't also change.

 

seridica:

Please post your pics in my thread over at ClubVAIO

Here's the link

 

Hey Mikper83, unfortunately my Vaio is registered in the United States so I can't actually make an account on Club Vaio, although I have seen your posts and such. Hopefully Luisarn will check back here again and see another customer in dire need of assistance.

 

My FZ-250FE is approaching the 1 year mark so lets see what happens, fortunately I purchased a 3 year extended warranty.

Seridica, it is really annoying to deal with costumer support so be patient and keep any sharp or fragile object away from you while you are on the phone.

Good Luck.

 

Haha, I'll keep that in mind Shoryu. I spoke with someone on Sony's "live chat" thing and got absolutely nowhere. Next time I plan on openning with: "assume I'm not an idiot and tried reinstalling drivers and restoring the system already". I plan on calling support tomorrow and subtly pursuading them to acknoledge the nVidia card issue and fix my lappy for free =D (I doubt it will work, but why not try?)

 

seridica, I'm sorry to hear about your problems. Hope you'll be able to get it fixed for free. That is definitely the graphics chip failing. Good luck & keep us posted on your latest developments.

 

Well, it turns out paying $30 for a support call that I think will go nowhere is not really worth it. I'm looking for a good place to file some sort of complaint and hope that Sony will realize something's up eventually (I pray not too many more people will have to suffer from hopelessly dead graphics first though). And, because I'm in school, I'm probably going to settle for getting a replacement until (or if) the issue is resolved. Thanks for all the help guys, I'll keep trying to get in touch with someone at Sony who might help and I'll keep posting on developments (like if my lappy starts miraculously waking from the dead).

 

i have a vaio with the 8400M GT gpu, i purchased it on march 18th 2008,
i see that it mentions later in this post that the failures affect laptops after may this year? is this correct? does my laptop have the faulty gpu or is it ok?

 

I'd say its not so much the purchase date but rather the manufacturing date which is important here.
Get a free tool called GPU-Z (Google it) and find out exactly which chipset you have.
I think it was mentioned somewhere that amongst the affected is the A2 revision... (that's my SZ...)

 

feck i have the G86M revision : A2

runing driver forceware 101.28

so is my laptop fecked?

 

See here, first post:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=268277

And another post by iisdev here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=268277&page=16

Your seems to be affected.
The second post would be of greater interest to you.

 

thanks for the info... so whats the latest line from sony on this? i have opened a case with sony seeking clarification as to where i stand.. any official from sony?

my laptop is working fine but theres a big question mark over it... i have no confidence in it now... well i only really use it for docs and browsing, and the odd photo/video stuff.

the main cause for concern is that you are away on holidays, or work and you have your laptop with you and the bloody thing fails...

surely there should be a recall, and motherboards replaced FOC.... it doesnt take that long to replace a board.


my laptop is only 6mths old at this stage! i am very surprised that sony are staying quiet about this... as i type GPU is 54 deg C (129F)

i should have went for the toshiba laptop... wouldnt have this issue now!!

arrgh

 

As far as I know they are investigating and don't officially acknoledge the problem yet.
Try registering with Club Vaio there is a thread there.

Maybe you want to extend your warranty?

 

Sofar zero SZs have been reported with Nvidia failure here.

So don't worry about it. Enjoy your laptop.

If you really want to be safe just put in in Stamina. For your use you don't need the Speed mode anyway, so then you have 0.0% chance of being bothered by Nvidia failure.

Edit: Oops just noticed you have FZ. In that case I don't know how many FZs have failed. Zero?

 

Was it FZ or FW that failed? I think FW is the new one.
If I'm not mistaken 3 or 4 FZs failed...

 

what you mean? ie put it in vaio power saver mode?

i was looking at the warranty extension form the sony site, it doesent mention wheter or not the extra year warranty is on site or return to base?

does anyone know...