Sony comes clean on faulty 8XXX series Nvidia Chips!

Actually, in some cases, yes, they can.
Warranties often have a clause stating they will replace a part with an item of equal or similar value, unless limited by availability.

One place I worked for, if you bought a brand new drive and it was dead on arrival we would replace it with another drive and send the dead one back to the manufacturer. All drives returning however were given a quick once over to verify if they worked. When we sent you that replacement drive, it was often one that had been returned and found working. In other words, a refurb or used drive (this was stated in the terms and conditions). They did not guarantee you a new replacement and it could take up to 2 months with that company, normal turn around was 3-4 weeks. If you think that's bad, they also could take up to 6 months to replace your drive if it was something more expensive or rare, that happened rarely, but it did happen.

 

Hi I called Sony regarding about my situation on Monday night (8/9/10) regarding my Sony Nvidia Chip issues. and the Sony Contract Technician called me this morning (8/11/10) saying he will come by and fix the laptop on Friday.

But he called me again on the same day saying the parts had arrived and he will come back around noon to fix the laptop.

Now the laptop has been fixed, I will test to see it is problem free.

Overall, I'm really happy with just two days total turn around time.


BY the way, they replaced the motherboard with the Nvidia chip. (since their sealed together).

 

Impressive turnarouond, indeed. What company did the contract technician represent? I'm curious to see if the one I get is from the same firm, or if a different contractor explains why I've not received any follow-up, yet.

 

I"m sure why but after testing it out.

The screen still turns black sometimes.

I'm wondering to see if I have to update the driver (The driver that came out on 6/17/2009)

or I have to call the technician again.

 

I don't think you intial symptoms were those of the typical Nvidia chip failure.

When the screen goes black, what do you have to do to get it back? Does moving the screen forward or back bring it back?

I doubt this has anything to do with the driver.

Gary

 

No, the screen will shows distorted pictures and later on no more image will be showing on the screen.

I called the Sony department again and they will send out another set of motherboard and Nvidia Chip with the tech

 

To the people that had their GPU/Mobo replaced.
Did your screen look like this before getting replaced?
Because thats exactly how my screen looks like.

 

This is the typical result of a failed GPU. Contact Sony.

 

I contacted Sony eSupport on Monday and the Tech person called me on Wednesday, but the tech person said Fedex sent my mobo/gpu to the wrong person, so she would have to open a new claim for Sony to send another one?

 

This is my fourth GPU failure on this particular Sony Vaio laptop in the last 2 - 1/2 years. I do have to say that this time they are sending a representative to my house to replace the board rather than have me send the laptop in which is a massive step up in thier customer service. The last time that I sent in for a new system board due to Nvidia GPU failure issues, it took Sony 13 weeks to get the laptop backing to me citing issues with newer manufactured boards not passing inspection. Needless to say this GPU lasted 8 weeks.....

Let's see if my next one can last more than 8 weeks....

 

Isn't it about time to give up and get a new laptop? I sold my wife's SZ when it was fine because the buyer didn't care about using any more than the integrated graphics for school.

 

You told the buyer about the problem and charged a suitably discounted price, perhaps $0.02? But I don't understand how the laptop would work at all. When the dedicated graphics GPU fails, the screen tends to go black. There is no integrated graphics platform that provided backup display.

Exactly which Vaio model and graphics card has given you the recurring problem?

 

Today a third-party service company technician came to my house and replaced the motherboard and ailing NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GT graphics card. He salvaged the RAM and CPU cards from the old motherboard. When reassembled, everything seemed to work OK.

The technician repairs various makes and models, following a specific routine for the NVIDIA chip failures. He did not pretend to be an old hand at Vaio notebook bugs or the history of the NVIDIA issue. Most of his "jobs" are for fan failures. He did say, though, that so far as he knew, the graphics card on the replacement boards were exactly the same as the originals. I asked whether that mean that the card would be an NVIDIA GF 8400M GT, exactly as made in 2007, and without any changes in the soldering which lead to the spate of failures. He said he was not sure, but assumed that the replacement boards were generic for the FZ series in question, and he was not aware of any modifications. Could this mean that the replacement card has exactly the same risk of failure as the flawed original?

My VGN-FX190 is now almost precisely 3 years-old. Its 2.4 ghz core 2 duo chip, BD burner, and 4GB RAM still compare favorably with many notebooks now on sale. The BD burner is still seldom found on bargain models. I would like to think that, with the replacement MOBO, it might function another 2 years or so. But, if the NVIDIA GF 8400M GT is from the same stock of lemons, then I fear an ongoing gamble. Were the "new" card 95% certain to last another three years, that might be fine, but if there is a double-digit risk that it fail in 6 months, that's not fine. System backup ain't much help if the motherboard fouls again, and (if the Sony help for the first round of failures expires) it costs $700+ to get a third MOBO with the same faulty GPU.

Or am I silly to imaging that any electronic device should last (like a good car) perhaps 7+ years? Oddly, that is precisely the age of a VAIO desktop I have, which continues to codger along reliably, with only an occasional "senior moment."

Anyone with comments?

 

I just got my Motherboard/GPU replaced this morning. Took the tech only 1 hr to replace it. He was very friendly.

I see a massive improvement. My CPU temp was running at 75-85C before the replacement, its now running at a cool 45C.

Overall very satisfied.

 

If you never use the dedicated GPU, I suspect it will never fail, therefore, the integrated one will work within it's normal life expectancy whatever that is.

My wife's SZ was already a deal since it was upgraded. T7250 to T9300, 2GB to 3GB of RAM and 80GB to 250GB HDD. All with the Vista and XP recovery DVDs. I had it running on Windows 7 32bit (one of the RC ones) running flawlessly when I sold it to him and gave him a copy of the drivers on disc as he was planning on getting Windows 7 through his school for cheap.

It was in an absolute beautiful condition.

 

Purehazard had the SZ model. It has a button to switch between Speed mode & Stamina Mode.
Speed mode uses Nvidia graphics & Stamina mode uses Intel Graphics.
Essentially the laptop has 2 graphics cards, which is different from the FZ model, which only has the Nvidia graphics card.

I read a bit from other forums regarding the Graphics card. It's wasn't the actual Graphics card that failed, but the bonding agents that connected the graphics card to the motherboard. The difference in cooling & heating expands the bonding agent, eventually disconnecting the graphics card from the motherboard. I believe they changed the bonding material. So you should be fine.

I'm not too sure tho, have to do more research on it. I'm just glad its working fine again!

 

Close but not exactly right. The failure was between the chip and the substrate, not between the substrate and the mother board. If the problem was between the substrate and the motherboard, it would have been a Sony problem. As it was, Nvidia was at fault. And yes, Nvidia changed the bonding material to one with the proper coeffiecient of expansion.

Gary

 

Don, you might want to check your facts before you make rather accusatory comments implying the OP somehow cheated the buyer. The SZ models do indeed have a "backup display". They have intel video integrated into the mobo chipset and they have an Nvidia daughter card as well.

Gary

 

Thanks for clearing everything up Scuderia Conchiglia

 

I have a SZ680 with both the Nvidia 8600M and Intel video adapters.

My Nvidia adapter has just failed. As soon as the unit is powered on I get a screen full of garbage and it fails to boot into Windows completely (Windows does start loading).

If I switch to the Intel adapter it works fine.

But why is my model not included in the affected models list here Sony Offering Support for Faulty Nvidia GPUs ?

My unit is a little under 3 years old and thus out of the original warranty, so I need it to in the affected computers to be able to get it fixed for free (I assume).

 

Not quite. My question (fact checking, right?) was based on what I knew about my notebook. With a bad graphics card, it became essentially inoperable. Even with the replacement board and card, I would be hesitant to sell the thing, even for $0.00, fearing it might fail again. A notebook whose system fails is worse than worthless, since not even a system backup or clone will revive the failed motherboard. Dual graphics systems are not very common, are they? There should be no such thing as a "dumb question." Notebooks or laptops, in particular, are poorly understood by most owners, since the "common wisdom" is that they defy tinkering. Having seen the technician grapple with the tight circuit boards, tiny interfaces, and arcane objects, a notebook is definitely not a device one gets to know like a lawn mower or even a boxy desktop. Going "under the hood" of a notebook requires, if nothing else, very svelt fingers, keen eyes, special instruments, and an appetite for potential ruin.

 

Whatever Don. Go back and re-read your post. It was rather accusatory that the OP had tried to swindle the buyer. And you weren't really questioning about a backup display. You stated rather emphatically that there was none.

You didn't say anything about this being YOUR configuration or anything that made it sound like a question.

RE: The question about dual graphics. It is becoming more common for "road warrior" type machines that are run for extended periods of time on battery. The integrated controllers take much less battery power, but at reduced graphics capability.

Gary

 

Because having dual video and a decent cooling system, Sony correctly figured most if not all machines would reach end of warranty before the card failed.

There is a company doing chip replacements, with fixed chips. However, Sony, is not. If you get a repair from Sony, they just swap in a board from inventory. Same board that came with your model.

 

Yes they are. All the board swaps are being done with the replacement chips with the correct bonding material. It is the same board that came with your model, but with a newer generation of the NVIDIA chip.

Gary

 

Tell that to the people with multiple failures.

 

I have not seen any reports here of mutiple failures. Nvidia recalled the chips and paid to replace Sony's inventory.

Gary

 

I'm not going to dig to find it, but one person on this board has suffered 3 failures so far.

Nvidia said they would pay, but left it up to manufacturers to actually perform the repairs and recalls. In case you haven't noticed, most companies handled this whole affair rather poorly because they could. Nvidia handled it horrible from the start, and by leaving it in companies hands, each side can blame the other and have.

Just because Nvidia put the money on the table doesn't mean companies actually took and used it for that. Hp offered a 6 month extended warranty, if you missed it by a few days, awww too bad. Sony still will not even admit to the SZ having issues and we are seeing more and more of them failing.

 

I thought I was pretty clear when I said that the SZ I sold would be fine running integrated graphics and the buyer was happy with that.

I would suspect that there is no way of getting a 100% good replacement since it would most likely mean a full upgrade of the mobo that may or may not even fit the original chassis. The whole series of chips were just plain bad and they weren't going to crank out more "good" ones when the factories need to continue making the newer series of chips.

 

Actually the issue had nothing to do with the mother board, it was the bonding material on the GPU itself. This is the material that bonds the chip to the daughterboard. The daughterboard is then soldered to the motherboard. So no changes of the motherboard were needed. Nvidia did start producing the exact same chips with the correct bonding material and made them available to the OEMs. It is actually a pretty simple job to unsolder the old GPU and solder a new one in place IF you have the right equipment. Not something you or I could do, but all of the OEMs have such equipment at their disposal.

Gary

 

I understand that. I followed Charlie's original discovery from its inception back at The Inq.

My point is that they did not make any "fixed" ones as by the time it was an issue, TSMC was humming along with new project like the G9X series and whatnot. So, unless they build completely new daughterboards the will take the G9X series or a completely new mobo that fits, you're not getting a "fixed" solution.

 

My understanding is the chips were still in production and they did indeed make fixed ones, even going so far as to replace any stock that OEM's had on hand and provide inventory for board repairs. I'll try to find the article that detailed this. It occurred long before Sony finally admitted there was an issue. I think it was partially responsible for Sony's about face. Sort of hard to insist there was no problem, when the suppier was recalling the chips.

Gary

 

So are the SZ series (with 8600M) affected? Why is that model not in the affected list?

 

i have sony vaio vgn-z36gd laptop, this laptop having nvidia geforce 9300 gs graphic accelerator drivers problem in windows 7 32bit please solution....

 

That's probably a driver problem instead of hardware problem. Check this thread first for the latest and greatest drivers made by fellow NBRers.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/342947-my-discoveries-vaio-z-s-hybrid-graphics.html

 

Sony said it's not affected, but most likely it's just that there are not enough complaints -- I certainly had seen several complaints. SZ does have a switchable graphics and it's more difficult for users to spot the problem if they use Intel graphics a lot.

 

I have a sz650 with nvidia failure too. Sony refuses to warranty it. I suppose only solution is a class action lawsuit. Laptop is no good without dedicated video.

 

Sorry, but I have seen few instances where the Nvidia card was significantly better than the Intel. It's a mobile 8400, it's not like you are comparing an 8800GTS to an Intel card. The 8400 was never anything spectacular and Intel drivers have come a long way.

And yes a class action is the only way.

 

I bought the sz650 as a portable gaming machine while I was on the road for work. Didn't take up a lot of room. The intel video is not playable for any games really. Blizzard games one of them. The nvidia worked great till it died.
Don't even see how u can compare dedicated graphics to intel but w/e maybe trolling?

 

Trolling with 800+ posts? Okay.

Are you honestly going to try and tell me that the 8400GS is a good gaming card? The day the SZ was released, reviewers kind of chuckled at including it for "gaming". Read up on 8400 reviews, it's more of a video card than a gaming card. It was something companies could throw in as a (very) cheap step up from embedded.

Run the Windows User Experience test and look at the scores. Better yet, I can post them.
I ran these on 10-26-2009 in Win7)
Stamina mode: (relatively new Intel drivers)
32bit graphics 3.5 / gaming 3.1

Speed mode:
32bit graphics 2.8 / gaming 3.4 (older driver, 185 or 186 maybe)
32bit graphics 2.8 / gaming 5.8 (190.4)

While Intel has improved, and so has Nvidia, it doesn't change that the fact that the card just plain stinks for gaming. It was a pathetic gaming card when released, just as it is today. More often than not, the 8400 does nothing for speed except suck down your battery and make a bunch of fan noise. Especially with older drivers. Another driver, released between these fell in between, and the original Sony supplied Nvidia driver was even worse than these numbers. I could only go so far back with Intel, but it varied only a little.

As for not playable for games, I play Supreme Commander, Red Alert 2 and 3 and Second Life on mine in Stamina Mode. I admit the Nvidia is slightly better on Second Life, but only marginally because it has some lighting abilities the Intel lacks, but in terms of refresh rate, the difference is negligible.

 

My SZ58 has just been hit with this problem and some searching has led me here. I'm just after advice on how indeed I 'switch to the Intel adapter' as I tried deleting/disabling the NVIDIA card, but didn't improve things at all?

Edit: Found how to do it

 

I guess I should thank you for making my point... Gaming intel score at 3.1 and nvidia score at 5.8 - maybe you don't do much real gaming so that hearts plays fine for you on either card... But I notice night and day differences in games that I ran on this laptop. It was thebest ultra portable card I could find at the time. It performed great for many a madden game on the road and any real dx games. With 800 posts hopefully you have a little more insight then intel is as good as dedicated... Even though the dedicated card has nearly 2x the performance numbers. I was running win7 ultimate 64bit so was not using the 32 bit drivers. Feel performance difference was maybe even a little better in that setup.

 

Somehow, I knew you were going to do that.
Look at the OLD driver score, which are actually BETTER than what the card did when it was released. Also look at the "graphics" score, where Intel won both times.

I suspect the reason the Nvidia does better on gaming is because it offers some enhancements the Intel does not, which is why some games run on the Nvidia and not the Intel. There is also the fact that, again, the 8400 (not an 8600), is a junk graphics card, it always has been.

Lets look at a different test, maybe this will get my point across. We will ignore the Intel, since I have no results and my point is to show that the 8400 is a joke.

3dMark06 test scores:
Nvidia 8400 GS - 701
Nvidia 7900 GS - 2109


If you think that is bad... lets look at some desktop cards.
Nvidia 6800 Ultra - 1158 (Note that this is an 6800, not an 8600)
Nvida 8800 GTS - 4385



Oh, and I have the 64bit numbers for the Windows Experience.
In gaming, it's even worse than 32bit, though I admit, 64bit feels better on the SZ than 32bit.
Stamina mode:
32bit graphics 3.5 / gaming 3.1
64bit graphics 3.5 / gaming 3.1

Speed mode
32bit graphics 2.8 / gaming 5.8 (190.4)
32bit graphics 2.8 / gaming 3.4 (2 year old driver)
64bit graphics 2.9 / gaming 5.3 (190.4)
64bit graphics 3.5 / gaming 4.1 (2 year old driver)

Stats taken from here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/son...tall-should-help-other-szs-7.html#post5449872

 

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.

 

Does your laptop work correctly when you switch to stamina mode?

 

There is no stamina mode on FZ models.

Gary

 

there is no stamina mode.

There is an AV mode. however the laptop doesn't work in it.

After trying multiple times in a couple of days, the laptop starts on rare occasiosn but weird lines appear on the display and then screen goes to blank

 

I'm going to call sony to get my lappy fix. This is the second lappy of the same model that needs the mobo replaced because of the 8400M GT. The first one worked fine and sold off.. now to get this fix and sell it too.. lol

 

I found this thread today searching Google.

I have a sz780 and my nVidia failed a week ago while playing Starcraft2. It would show cracked images when I boot on speed mode.

I'm in Korea currently and the Sony service demands $400 for a motherboard change...

Really surprised that there's a lot of sz users out there with the same problem...

 

Considering the number of SZ's sold, the number is relatively low actually. I have only heard of a handful, systems with only the 8400, the failure rate is MUCH higher. Where we are seeing a low percentage, some systems are seeing 80% failure.

Check Ebay, you can probably get a motherboard for a bit over half that, though it takes a bit of work to change it.

 

Hi all,
Am using Vaio VGN-FZ25M, was having the same problem 4months ago, and was running vista Home premium, sent the computer to repair center they replaced the card with a new one, then it works fine till yesterday, i upgraded to win 7 ultimate, then i installed the vista driver for Nvidia, shortly after and while starting to watch a movie got this message again ((( display DRIVER NVIDI compatible windows vista kernel mode driver, version 167.60 stopped responding and has successfully recovered ))) and it came many time and the screen turns to black then it come back to normal again.

Went online to check for solution, found a Thread
Display driver stopped responding and has successfully recovered - MajorGeeks Support Forums

and it’s like they saying remove the driver for the Nvidia and go step back to older driver, anyway i did that but with my new fresh win 7 its showing that my display adapter is a standard VGA graphics adapter.
Ok, i did that and went to try watching movies or viewing pics and the problem disappeared.

Is that a final solution? or it’s a software driver problem or i just stay like that, yet for sure i think the resolution was much better while the nvidia was installed..

Pliz Any help or suggestion