Defective Nvidia chipsets in your current Vaio?

None appeared so far.
However this may be due to the fact that many people will use their SZs on the integrated grpahics...
I do - possibly 99% of the time integrated, and the remaining 1% NVidia.
(Just some games at the beginning for about 2 weeks max...)

Nothing on it from a Sony Centre in the UK...
I asked...

 

Any updates on this issue?
(Also to keep the thread "alive")

Google found nothing new...

And its been so quiet in here recently...

 

I found something on sony support forum; there was an "official statement" from some sony employe that sony "did not use" the faulty chips that can be found in other brands.

 

Could you post a link, possibly?

Gary

 

Yea, sure:

http://club.vaio.sony.co.uk/clubvaio/gb/en/forum/viewthread?thread=55888

 

Hmmm, I see no "official statement" from an employee to that effect there. I do see a user saying what you quoted, but even that does not say that Sony is not using the faulty chips. It says the fault has not appeared, which we know is not true. Folks here have show pictures of exactly the same sort of fault and failure as reported by both Dell and HP owners.

The reality is Sony is indeed using the very same chips that failed in other machines. Nvidia does not produce a special SONY chip or Dell chip or HP chip. They produce batches of chips that all of the manufacturers use.

Sony needs to fess up on this mess. They are using the chips, Dell and HP have come out with a statement. Sony is burying their heads in the sand. The problem with the "assurances" offered in the message are it says nothing about out of warranty machines. And as everyone knows this problem takes a bit of time to appear. Typically about a year or so, just long enough that most warranties have expired.

Gary

 

Hm. Sorry. It seems I miss read the thread.

I see no reason why Sony would kept this as a secret if the problem is there. Look how they recalled TZ serie so they seem pretty fair too me.

 

Doesn't matter, it happens to all of us.
And then aknowedging one's mistake is a noble thing to do.

And even if:
It brought some life into this threaqd with a relevant post, so you've done nothing wrong.
__________
What I wonder though - where did that person get the statement in the first place? It hs to have come from somewhere...
Now it is odd that Vaios don't seem to fail (except the 3-4FZs and one AR I think) while there was a mass failure of Dells and HPs...

Anyway. Lets see how it develops.

I hope there will be an update on it soon - or are people (NVidia, Sony etcetera) keeping quiet, hoping this'll just die because people forget?

 

If there is an issue with nvidia chipset, my notebook it effected too.

I will be the first to report here, in case something happening. Right now my 8400M heats up to 76 and starts with 40°C

 

The start up temp is OK.
The 76°C, is that idling? If yes - its a little bit high, but, could that be a dust buildup in the vents?

I don't think overheating was a sign of the issue.

Although, if you do some reading, heat is the cause of a possible GPU failure.

 

No. That is max high, while playing games.

Idle is around 55-60

I ws thinking, perhaps nvidia is refusing to help with this issue and thats why sony is not making anything official. Because basicly its not their fault and all costs with repairs would land on their shoulders - if nvidia does not want to refund or something else....maybe they are still "negotiating", but probably you are right, they are just focusing on the thing that people will forget or just replace notebooks

 

NVidia is said to have set aside 200 Million Dollars - some believe this may not be enough though.

So you have a valid point there.

Your temperatures are fine, nothing o worry about yet.
Only thing is - you may want to extend your warranty if you can, just in case.

 

I didn't intend to imply that b|lly did anything wrong. I just wanted to clarify the issue in case someone else saw this and thought that there had been an official announcement from Sony.

Gary

 

Is there a way to do this on an FZ180E? Probably doesn't even have a generic integrated graphics, right? I would save the 8400 GT from being overworked if I could but not sure if this is possible with the FZ.

Just to update everyone on my adventure with the 8400 GT on my FZ, I sent it out to our Sony Military Center (I'm military overseas) along with all the documentation of the NVIDIA defective chips, SEC statement, class-action suit, etc, and they repaired/replaced the motherboard, graphics card memory and even my non-working webcam for free (stopped working 1 month after purchase). However, this maybe the exception since I contacted our base PX/BX manager (store) where I bought it from and he helped convince the Sony Rep that handles their VAIOs.

Question related to this, though. The Sony repair manager told me I should do a "complete recovery" of the laptop/C drive because of the repairs but I did not and it works just like before. I didn't want to have to go through all the bloatware cleaning and reinstalling of all my apps and settings. Wouldn't I be ok since all the parts repaired/replaced are the same as I had it before the problems? No errors whatsoever so far... Any opinions on this? Thanks guys...

majleonj

PS
MY FZ was out of warranty, by the way (missed it by 3 months).

 

You are right, the FZ does not offer both video cards on the same motherboard like the SZ model.

Also, you will be fine without doing the restore suggested by the Sony repair manager. All that would do is set things back to the out of the box state, requring you to reinstall any applications you had loaded and having to reapply all the OS patches that were applied since you bought the machine. No, this would be of no benefit whatsoever. I can't imnagine why he would have even suggested this???

Gary

 

Thanks Gary, that's what I was wondering about. He said something about the laptop having a new motherboard, and new components and that this wil confuse the OS, although I would think the same model components were put in. I figured Vista, or the boot up sequence would tell me if there was something wrong. I almost hit the recovery button, too! Good thing I tried starting it up all the way.

Too bad I don't have the option to use two video cards for the FZ. I guess I'll just have to wait and see how long this new GPU holds up...

majleonj

 

I had the same thoughts as you, if they put in the same motherboard none of the components are going to be different. To be SURE of that just open up device manager and see if there are any yellow exclamation marks on any of the devices.

Gary

 

Documentation is exacly what I need to file a complaint with the seller of my Vaio? Could you please send it to my e-mail ([email protected]) if you've still got it on your hdd?

 

On their way! Good luck.

Gary, I will check device manager again, I don't think I paid too much attention before since I was just confirming the GPU entry... thanks!

majleonj

 

Sony Vaio vgn fz-190 here
8400m GT
idle used to be around 34
on power management off, 44
while playing cod4 or tf2, 75 - 80

Recently, I have been running everything off VGA and failmode gnome
Called sony, (warranty expired) they told me they would call me back, never called back, will call back tomorrow and let you guys know whats happening. Comon people, complainnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

 

oh yea, that was due to my computer not being able to run anything else. Fuzzy pixely black, red, green, blue screen shows up after windows screen, like a demon possessed it and a fuzzy weird bsd.
So safe mode/fail mode

 

guys, a posted a while ago about my FE overheating and going dead while trying to boot up warcraft, is there any hope for me in sony repairing my laptop, not for 700 bucks?

 

Apple has more or less confirmed the issue with a KB entry. This makes Apple the third major manufacturer (following Dell and HP) that have confirmed the problem and offered to fix the problem. In the case of Apple the repairs will apparently come out of pocket but will (hopefully) be refunded:

Of interest to us is the date range confirming when these defective parts made their way into the manufacturing process:

Several of their models were affected, all of which were using the G84M chipset (specifically the GeForce 8600M GT)

Sorry the news has been so slow lately; I'm sure as failure rates increase so will the developments.

The first post was updated with the new info.

 

Yep here is the article from gizmodo:

http://gizmodo.com/5061605/apple-co...-macbook-pros-offers-free-repairs-and-refunds

Apple Confirms Failing Nvidia Graphics Cards in MacBook Pros, Offers Free Fixes and RefundsThis doesn't speak for volumes for Nvidia's credibility. As you might recall, a huge swath of Nvidia's notebook graphics cards—ones with the G84 or G86 chipset—fail at "higher-than-normal" rates. MacBook Pros have the GeForce 8600M GT, which uses the G84. Nvidia assured Apple that MacBook Pros were totally cool. Turns out, they were lying! After doing their own investigation, Apple "has determined that some MacBook Pro computers... may be affected."

The specific models affected are MacBook Pros with the GeForce 8600M GT manufactured between May 2007 and uh, last month. You know you've got a crappy video card if you see screwy or scrambled video, or worse, no video, even if the computer is turned on. Apple will fix any Nvidia graphics card problem for free within two years of the original purchase date. If you've had to pay to get the problem fixed before, Apple will give you a refund.

The fact that Nvidia apparently misled Apple is deeply disturbing, especially as they counter the Inquirer's continuing reports about defective chips. If you've had video problems with MBP, raise your hand please. [Apple via AppleInsider]

 

May that be the reason why Sony doesn't aknowledge the problem?
NVidia said there isn't one, and failure rates aren't excessive on Sony Vaios?
i.e. no proof (yet) nothing to aknowledge?

 

I've feel so frustrated (and even cheated) that sony hasn't done anything yet about this problem. With 3 major companies acknowledging the problem, i have to ask; all the graphics card used by dell, hp, apple, and sony came from the same source (nvdia), all companies say they got a defective chip, what makes sony's any different, isn't that so obvious?!?

Sure my FZ has been running great, but everytime I see a reported case of failure, I feel so nervous. I decided to hang on to this laptop hoping that sony will do something about it, like maybe extend the warranty or something. Now I regret my decision, I should have return the FZ while I can.

 

I feel the same way as you my friend. I would suggest that you get some kind of insurance for your vaio. There is nothing worse than having a £1000 paper weight.

 

I guess there is no option left for me but to do this. I have been holding up on getting an extended warranty hoping (still) that sony will go the way of hp (extends warranty) but i am beginning to think that it will not happen.

Does anybody knows how long (from the date of purchase) can I still buy an extended warranty (or something similar). The FZ is about 3 months old, am I too late? Also, what store offers the best deal (on extended warrantY)? I've heard of provantage. Anyone?

 

I beleive you've got one year.
At least in Germany...

 

In the US, as long as you have something like a month left in your original warranty, then you can still extend it. Only caveat is that you can no longer get accidental coverage, which must be bought within 30 days of purchase.

Your best bet is to do a search for the product code name and see which store carries it the cheapest. The B2B site has the product codes. For example, PCGA-2SYLPE is the code for the 3 Year Express Ship DOP for VAIO Notebook (it is an additional 2 years on top of your original warranty).

 

Just wondering:
Could someone bug Sony in a friendly way about this?

Basically send well informed e-mails until they aknowledge the problem??

Or somebody writes a genreic e-mail, and everybody sends that asking for information

 

thanks for the reply guys! I read in provantage's (or was it sony's?) site that indeed I can still purchase an extended warranty within a month (or 2) before the original warranty expires. I guess that's what I will do.

But I still hope sony does the right thing and extend the warranty. I don't feel right having the necessity of buying an extended warranty for this purpose, it's not like its my fault that I bought a laptop with a defective cpu.

And again for anyone that will argue that the graphics chip in the vaios are not defective, then answer this: with 3 major companies conducting their research and confirming the chip to be defective, with the source of those chips being the same (in nvidia), why wouldn't the graphics chip in the vaios be "not" defective?

 

Don't worry guys, I'm constantly barraging their "engineer" with phone calls and asking them whats wrong with my laptop

 

well with this new turn of events it could mean pressure to release or commit to repairs.

Posted on Gizmodo:

http://gizmodo.com/5063105/defective-nvidia-graphics-cards-confirmed-in-desktops


Defective Nvidia Graphics Cards Confirmed in DesktopsReally Nvidia, what the hell? After steadfastly arguing that its defective graphics cards were limited to notebooks only—they've even sent me a lovely email or two reiterating that claim—HP has just confirmed that 38 different desktop models are plagued with faulty Nvidia graphics cards.

This is on the heels of Apple concluding that MacBook Pros manufactured between May 2007 and last month also pack the fail-prone cards, despite Nvidia's assurance earlier that it was unaffected. I'm not one for conspiracy theories, but this is second major contradiction to an earlier Nvidia claim. Nvidia says that there's "no conclusive evidence that the failure mechanism is the same as the notebook issue," but uh, it doesn't look so great, guys.

Nvidia really needs to come clean with the score now—exactly which cards are affected, whose computers they're in, everything. Their near total silence on this while individual computer makers cleanup is absolutely ridiculous. [PC Pro via Slashdot]

 

It's not that Nvidia doesn't want to come clean on which GPUs are affected. The way I see it is that all of them potentially/most likely are affected & if they own up to that, I can see the end of the company because of the huge amounts of lawsuits that will come their way.... Do you think they can handle that challenge?

 

sony vgn fz190 btw

 

It's possible that there is some truth in this; one of their spokesmen was quoted as saying:

(this was before Apple's recent disclosure. there's a link to the article in the first post.)

If this is true it does not reflect well on the OEMs. Class action lawsuits (directed at them) are the only way we're really going to know the full depth of this issue from Nvidia.

This is being so poorly handled. Not much to do but wait for more units to fail.

 

Or try to force their hand...

If someone could put the time and effort in to write a generic letter, and everybody aimed that at the manufacturer...

How many people will they ignore?

Maybe even link to NBR...

Put them in a weak position. Put them in a place where its best to reveal all.

 

I don't really know if it's a good business move. I acknowledge that it's not the OEM's fault that this things happened. To some extent, it is not even nvidia's fault either but rather, what this is is a "bad engineering design/desicion". As it is, it is entirely wrong that the consumer suffers because of this. In the end nvidia should take full responsibility of that "bad engineering design/desicion".

A product recall is unfair to nvidia at this point, the magnitude of that move could be huge (going out of business). But I strongly believe that extending the warranty to at least 30 months is the best way to go. It will be fair for the consumer as they will have peace of mind that they get their money's worth (somehow). It will be fair to the OEM and nvidia as no product recall will happen and that since the nature of the defect is "a tendency to have shorter than average life" then not all notebooks might need servicing within the span of the extended warranty, thus their losses are kept to a minimum. If they want they can even be strict about the extended warranty and say that only defects related to the GPU will be covered.

What say you...sony, nvidia?

 

Don't want to beat a dead horse here, but while this most likely is squarely nVidia's fault that these video cards are failing left and right, as consumers we really need to push the OEM and not nVidia.

nVidia probably wants to come clean, but the problem is how much can their engineering team really investigate and find the root cause? Very slim. First, there are millions of these chips out there. You really rely on failure/reliability statistics to tell you something is happening. Unfortunately, statistics is not going to tell you why it's happening.

Worse, they don't own any part of the failed laptop, including the video card that they had sold to the OEM. When a laptop failed, they don't get any right what-so-ever to do a post-mortem on the chip to see what went wrong unless the OEM let them -- and the OEM won't let them do it (not with some strong persuasion anyway) because OEM is afraid that nVidia will conclude that it's OEM's fault and OEM will be forced to eat the repair cost. I personally has encounter situation where my company had to buy the scrap metal back from the customer (at a price that's more than what they paid us when the scrap metal was a shining new part, but I can't exactly fault them for doing it ) so we can do a post-mortem, so it would not be surprising here that the OEMs were holding their cards closely.

In the end, nVidia will have to just re-examine their design & manufacturing process extensively to guess what could have gone wrong. This typically takes a whole lot of time but produce few root causes that you can say confidently. In the end, since they can confidently say what went wrong, they blame everyone under sun but also leave the door open for any new evidence that prove them wrong.

Anyway, I think we really need to push the OEMs to get them into action.

 

I dont see how its unfair for one business or the other. They are in business to provide a product and they did. they are in business to provide a certain level of quality. they didnt. how is it unfair for the consumer to get what they are paying for? if they go out of business that isnt my fault, they got greedy and lowered quality to gab a few extra nickles. I think it is funny how people have turned a blind eye now a days to Quality and customer service. things that wouldnt have been acceptable a few years ago are now acceptable. you go to the store get crappy service no big deal you buy a piece of software turns out to be buggy oh well its technology. when it enough enough. they get our business and money now we are giving excuses for how they treat us to? Sorry to vent im sick and having a really bad day with my laptop.

 

That is tru.
There was even an articlein the Times some time back - or was it die Zeit?

No other product is that imperfect when released as software. Bugs - ah well, couldn't preict that, get this and that update...

Harware isn't quite there yet...

 

for the consumer it is totally unfair, i agree. I myself is a victim here. I am angry because I feel cheated. Don't get me wrong with my previous post, yes I am blaming sony, I am blaming nvidia. That's a given. What I am trying to say in my previous post is what can be done NOW to somehow ease the pain, specifically, that is, to extend the warranty. It can be done, it's realistic, it's the fastest solution available.

Sure, there should be lawsuit, but how realistic is that, what is the time frame for that? At least when the warranty is extended we consumers have peace of mind that out vaios will last beyond 2 years, (somehow) getting our money's worth.

Again, I think extending the warranty is the best, fastest solution available.

 

I do agree with you on some points.

One main thing to note is that part of this problem comes with more and more companies going the path of outsourcing....

More and more outsourcing may also mean that a company may not be able to keep track of the product's quality control like it used to.... I may or may not be wrong... but I personally think that maybe Nvidia (I'm not defending them or anything) themselves are victims through outsourcing.... Who knows? Maybe they in fact got their engineering right but one of these companies that are contracted to manufacture the die or whatever wanted to nick more profits out of the deal & use "similar" substitute materials in manufacturing the graphics chips, which led to the faulty graphic chips....

 

Sweeeeet, now this is happening to me. ***... I'm pissed off.

 

oh no...! another one? My nervousness level just went up another notch I hate to ask... "when will my time come?"

Sony, extend the warranty NOW so people (like me) can sleep a little better at night....because you know what, and I know it won't bother you, but I swear if this my FZ died after the warranty expired I WILL NEVER buy another sony product again... yes, I am now angry!

sorry people... just venting.

 

What Vaio model is that?

 

SZ680... man I have had nothing but love and affetion for this computer since I got it.

While playing World of Warcraft, 3 or 4 times it has gotten really hot and shut itself off (which seems weird because that game is not graphics intensive at all), but other then that it's been perfect. And then all of a sudden today it kept getting lines all over the screen and then the graphics driver reset itself. It was doing this about every 15-20 seconds and I frantically tried a new graphics driver and nope, same thing! Finally I just switched over to the "stamina" setting and it's working much better, if not slower obviously...

Did they really extend the warranty? If so, Sony is getting a phone call on Monday...

The video card just flat out crapped out on me. I've seen it before in other computers I've had... the problem is, this one is a laptop...

 

Sad to hear...

By the way:
Yours is the very first SZ to develop this problem.

 

I've been running my SZ791 exclusively on Nvidia graphics for about 2 months now. Man, I think I should change back to Intel integrated graphics before I do any "real" damage to my SZ791...

By the way, keep us posted. I hope you're able to get it fixed under warranty. Good luck.