Defective Nvidia chipsets in your current Vaio?

From the said article that i can't link.

Can't really back up its credibility, just posting it here.

 

I got my Sony vgnfz285u back from repair today.

It was repaired under warranty, with the following parts replaced:

1 mother board
1 thermal sheet
1 v-ram pad
1 thermal sheet
1 cable btn
1 f special appearance

regards.

 

i don't get it why sony won't admit the defective GPUs. Dell, Hp, and apple did their research they confirmed and admitted the GPUs to be defective, these GPUs include the nvdia 8400, 8600 among others. Sony used the same GPUs in their vaio. Why oh why isn't the vaio affected?

3 persons received blood from a lone donor. That lone donor was later diagnosed to having hepatitis. Blood beneficiary A was naturally suspected of now having hepatitis and rightfully so, after a week of study, it was confirmed that beneficiary A had indeed contacted hepatitis. It is unfortunate (but expected) that beneficiary B also had contacted hepatitis. Could you guess if beneficiary C also has hepatitis? C'mon!

If anyone here is from sony, could you please give a logical explanation?

Sorry if this analogy is offensive to anyone, I don't mean it to be.

 

Because it's a VAIO. Just kidding...

 

I think after the battery issue (remember the huge recal) Sony doesn't want to be seen doing a mjor recal when they can get away with it...

How many people haven' got a cue about this problem? Many...

 

So one question to you knowledgable folks;

is it worth taking the laptop to someone (outside sony of course and their crazy £700 charge) and trying to fix it. Right now whenever i turn it on i get a full screen of yellow/blue lines and nothing more and i am not able to get within windows. It seems its completely fried up.

Or should i start researching for a new one?

P.S I understand the question is very generic and hard to answer without having a good look inside the laptop.

 

Ähm - I think it really depends on how much you "like" your laptop...

Basically you need a new GPU, a new GPU needs a new motherboard because the GPU is soldered onto the motherboard - so, unless you really want to keep that laptop it may be a better idea to buy a new one...

(Or unless you can get the motherboard replaced at a very low cost...)

 

When it's time for my FZ to fry and sony will not cover the expense of repair. If the cost of the repair is more than $600 (please convert to pounds) I will not bother have it repaired. I will feel bad but it's probably better to just buy a new laptop for a few $$ more...and oh, not another vaio. It'll be less headache that way. The old hard disk can be easily loaded into an external drive bay to get old data from it... or be loaded into your new (non vaio ) laptop.

 

Well, this one Vaio Problem shouldn't put you off another Vaio. We don't know how for example Lenovo responded.

If you liked your Vaio otherwise - get another one (if you like the current range)

 

If this shouldn't put him off from buying another Vaio, what should?

 

Bad customer support (generally) - unsatisfactory hardware quality and performance

 

My advise is to consider buying extended warranties together with your new laptop. Good luck.

 

There's no way that i am even considering a vaio, especially during this credit crunch. Looks where cool 2+ years ago when money was flowing, right now i ll just look for performance and company customer support.

and i guess i will indeed look for the longest warranty possible.

 

By coincidence, I was with a friend of a friend tonight who said his laptop "died" this week (just a few days after mine). I asked him what it was and he said "a Sony Vaio". I described the symptoms to him and he said "yeah, how did you know?". Unfortunately he doesn't know the model, or what GPU is in it, as he's not really very computer-savvy. I do know it was relatively new when he bought it "about a year ago", which means it's quite likely to contain an 8400M/8600M.

Something tells me this story is just going to get bigger and bigger.

 

I agree. It's only a couple of months since the warranty went out for most of us. Give it another month or two and the number of annoyed people is going to double.

And I'm not going to buy another VAIO if I have to EXPECT that it's going to break down within two years.

 

It is not the Vaio that is breaking down. It is the Nvidia chip. I know that is splitting hairs but what's to say that the next machine you buy from Spacely Sprockets, Inc. with an ATI chip in it won't have a design problem. It's a crap shoot. Now if you are saying you won't buy another Vaio because of the way Sony is HANDLING this issue I would understand your sentiment. The point is the breakdown per se, is not a Sony issue.

Gary

 

Of course. The problem is that Sony is the only company left leaving their costumers with the bill. SONY obviously bought a bad product (from nVidia) and refuse to take responsibility for it. And this makes me wonder about their other products too. Are they going to leave me with the bill if they buy a bad product next time too?

On another note, European countries usually have longer warranties by law, so they will get free repairs and we won't be seeing them very often on this thread. American users are the ones we have to count on when it comes to complaining.

 

Only company? Wait a minute.
There have been responses from Dell, HP and Apple.

So what about Lenovo? The last I checked theystill had laptops with the 8000 series GPUon sale... (about 1-2 months ago) So did Dell.

Sony isn't the only company that isn't extending warranties as far as I know.

Also: Dell & HP bowed down to customer pressure - Sony may do the same if enough people complain.

 

That's my main issue. Since the news have broken out and moreover other competitors are reacting in ways to help their customer base, slow reflexes as sony is exhibiting can only harm your reputation and following your sales. I mean the quotation i was given was ridiculous, even if the nvidia hadn't come to surface or my laptop GPU (7600Go) is not within the defective cards. I mean £700 pounds for a motherboard replacement for a 2year laptop that cost £1100 at time of purchase is utterly ridiculous.

But i am digressing...

 

You can try arguing your case with Sony - they did give a member of the US military a free repair...
(Look through this thread... a few pages ago)

You could phone them and claim to have spoken to a lawyer - try to put some pressure on Sony (stay friendly though!!) maybe they'll lower their charge or drop it - although I doubt it.

 

lol i read about the us military personnel, i am sure they get preferential treatment. Good for them i guess.

I did try putting the pressure on, i will more on monday. But as you say, it doesnt seem that they are buckling under my pressure...

 

Hm... threaten them with legal action - maybe red around a bit, say you've talked to a lawyer and are willing to take Sony to court.
(make it sound convincing)
Say your lawyer gives you a very good chance of winnign the case.
But rea around first - make sureyou seem to know what you are talking about.

 

Agreed.

One more thing to note is that those 2 companies sell the most number of notebooks (& sell a lot more than Sony does), so having "enough" complaints to "force" their to react the way they did in terms of extending warranties are not surprising.

Problem is: Do they care as much as Dell or HP?

Sony earn most of their revenues from PlayStation gaming console sales.

You think that is bad? 5 years ago, I sent my $200 USD then 2 year old broken CD Walkman to Sony for repair & guess what is the repair price they quoted me? Yeah, they were kind & merciful enough to just want $250 USD for the whole repair! LOL And the price was before taxes & return shipping fees. Needless to say, I bought a new one & dump the broken one.

 

From what I've read this wouldn't be true.

All games consoles are sold below their manufacturing price - or below a price where the company makes an actual profit, and the profit comes from selling the games for th consoles.

 

Yep, you're not wrong. I made an error in my previous statement. I was referring to the whole PlayStation Division.

 

Ah Ok.

Just wondering - what sort of "graphics unit" do the PlayStations run on?
NVidia? Ati? Own brand?

(PS: Check your Rep )

 

well i will indeed talk to them tomorrow, if they don't budge on the repair cost i guess its goodbye sony....

just £80 more.... http://www.comet.co.uk/shopcomet/product/473359/HP-DV7-1000/tab/specification

 

So maybe lenovo doesn't acknowledge the problem too, just like sony. I don't care about that. What I care about is what sony does because what I got (unfortunately) is a sony.

Is it my fault as a customer that sony got a defective GPU from nvdia? I don't think so. Again, if sony doesn't do anything to address this issue, this will be my last vaio. Sure we don't know how "other" company, like lenovo, asus, acer etc will react given the same issue.. but I now know how hp, dell and apple reacts. I also know that sony doesn't care at all about this issue.

So, my next laptop will either be an hp, a dell, or an apple. But certainly not a vaio...unless sony does the right thing. In notebooks, besides features, performance and looks, customer support also has a lot of weight.

 

Wishing you good luck. Hope Sony resolve your issue to your liking.

See an interesting pattern? Apple, Dell, and HP are US companies...

 

ankoump?

Have yous seen this on the HP specs (unless its an error on the webpage)
"Built-in wireless networking Not featured "

Hello? This is the 21st century...

 

thanks for the wishes, and detlev i am quite sure it has wireless ability for the internet; just not bluetooth. (i can live with that)

 

You're welcome.
Just make sure (HP website) it has Wi-Fi.

Please post the result of your talk with Sony.
Thanks a lot in advance.

 

I am so fuming at the moment, its ridiculous. Have been waiting for a call back by the technical department of sony since Thursday, that i ve never received. Called back, spoke to some poor-english fella and the best i could get was to be reassured that i ll get the call back. No supervisor would come on the phone no dropping of charges, and from what i got from him is that sony will not officially accept responsibility nor will they drop the charges. Mentioning lawyers, pressing charges or what so ever helped no bit. I will post when and if i get the call back from the technical department.

bloody outrageous.

detlev ding ding reputation calls u

lolwut?

well the technical department of sony in uk has just given me a call back and the official position of sony with regards to the matter; THEY ARE NOT AWARE OF ANY ISSUES WITH REGARDS TO DEFECTIVE NVIDIA ISSUES, and they will have to investigate further and call me back on it.

Not much to say after this, i think i am dropping this altogether. Its utterly ridiculous that a company such as sony is hiding behind their finger when nvidia has issued official statement with regards to the issue and also other major manufacturers have too (hp etc).

well they did call back within 3 minutes. john **** from vaio support officially told me that sony engineers have been in contact with nvidia engineers and there is absolutely no problem with regards to any chips. He told me that he is not aware of the issue and when i told him about the nvidia official statement and hp,dells statements he said he knew nothing of it. When i stated about this thread and the 40+ pages he stated he does know of this forum but has never seen any thread with regards to this issue and asked that i send them the link. I will do, but i am dropping this issue and COMPLETELY UTTERLY dropping Sony alltogether. They are seriously taking the **** and they are not worthy of any more money from my pocket.

/soz for multi-posting

 

That is sad to hear.

Now its interesting to hear that they (Sony) know of this forum but haven't seen the NVidia thread...

I think someone mentioned it a little bit back - its a bit of a circle - that's wy Sony attempts to talk the issue away.

Overall I am very sorry to hear that they don't want to help you.

I can understand your anger too...
Especially as you aren't the very first one to complain about this issue.

 

I wonder, has anyone tried to file in small claims court against Sony for the cost of repairs? Maybe legal action is the only thing to really wake Sony up to the fact that there is a problem. Since Sony charges sales tax in most states, that would imply that they have business presence there, so I think you can file in your own county if that's the case?

 

i didn't read the terms and conditions when i bought my laptop but i'm pretty sure that it covers sony's *** when the laptop is out of warranty coverage. You would only have a case if your laptop was in the warranty period and it broke.

 

Well it seems my email has done some good. They arranged to pick the laptop up with no charges to inspect it (initially i was told i would be charged £141 just for the pick-up). So i guess i ll post any developments.

 

Good news & good luck again.

 

That is good nws (PS: Make sure you have a copy of that e-mai just in case they change their opinion)

I wish you good luck!

 

Wow. The biggest development in a long time. I'm crossing my fingers for you.

 

Lol, thanks guys. I wouldn't (and i don't) raise my hopes too much; if they quote me an insane amount (i consider that anything above £250) i will just have a dead laptop back in a few days, having escaped the costs for it's trip to Colchester.

I will post all details of any developments.

By the way, i signed that petition. For legal reasons i might have to take my name off. ( i am the crap crap crap comment guy )

 

Well that was expected....

so it is a faulty motherboard that sony wont fix with no less than £700. All my tries to speak to a supervisor went on deaf ears, apparently supervisors dont speak to customers that are out of warranty.

This is my worst experience ever. I guess i will be staying off the vaios for the next couple of decades, their customer support and repairs is an absolute disgrace. HP here i come....(with extended warranty)....

And btw why isnt this thread a sticky in this forum? shouldn't all vaio potential customers see this before the go with them?

 

I'm very sorry to hear about that ankoump.
Just thinking - you could take this up with the citizens advice bureau, I think thy give advice or free.
I had a good experience with their customer service, but my battery failed withing two weeks - so that was in warranty - only bad luck.

Let's hope someone manages to get a lawsuit going in the US - maybe Sony will then agree to the repair.
I wish you all the best with your next computer!
(I like Vaios - but you now have a valid reason to dislike Sony...so...)

I'd say I agree with the sticky - moderators, hat do you think?

 

Well i spoke to some other repair guys within london; they said that the price range for a motherboard repair/replacement is from £200-£400 max, with free pick-up. Also, if i don't agree with the repair cost they will quote me a salvage fee, in essence buying off me what is left working on the laptop. In which case they will sort of fund my buying a new laptop.

I guess i ll give it a go before i buy this hp-dv5t for £1000.

Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium with Service Pack 1 (32-bit)
Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo Processor T9400 (2.53 GHz)
15.4" diagonal WXGA High-Definition HP BrightView Infinity Widescreen Display (1280 x 800)
3GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm)
512MB NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT
320GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
Webcam Only
Intel(R) WiFi Link 5100AGN and Bluetooth(TM)
High speed 56K modem port
Blu-Ray ROM with SuperMulti DVD+/-R/RW Double Layer
6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
No software.

And i did love vaios, but after this i doubt i ll ever buy again. Just for their unfriendly and ridiculously overpriced repairs...

 

I dare say that laptop seems OK - check the reviews though, screen quality & build quality.

Again - I'm sorry to hear about your bad experience.

By the way: I would be careful with the salvage - you may get less than whatyou could get say sellig the parts on Ebay... but that belongs into another thread.

Interesting how they all seem to quote different prices...

 

plz new dirver Sony Vaio VGN-SZ740n
8400gs ?

 

What? Are you looking for a new driver? Unless Sony offers one you can go to NVidia, it isn't necesarily recommended though.

Else, have you got a problem with your graphics card?

This thread is about defects in graphics cards, not graphics cards.

 

Another one with nVidia graphics?

 

Read the post first. Ankoump had an FZ and he is thinking about this laptop as a replacement.

 

with a 3 year warranty

but i have caused enough off-topic"ness" in this thread, lets not take it further.

As for sony, any of the non-official engineers that i have contacted within london have quoted me at maximum half the price that sony did. So yh, while it was expected that they would be a bit more expensive, it seems that they are A LOT more expensive than others.