Sony comes clean on faulty 8XXX series Nvidia Chips!

"make it even better"... How so?

Gary

 

They replace it with one without the solder flaws, but at least one claims they do something to make it run cooler. It's been a while since I dealt with it and I don't have any details other than it was a company in Europe doing it.

 

Hi guyz again, today i woke up full of joy to cook something and reminded about my 8400m GT broked video card gpu
i tell u next what i done:
-disansambled my sony v fz11m and get out the motherboard.


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-removed all plastic/ covers/procesor pieces from it


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-turned on my oven (gas one) and set it to 385 F ~@200 C degree and i let it like that 5 min to get to the right temperature.
- after that i put the motherboard in the OVEN for exactly 10 MINUTES, NOT LESS NOT LONGER. (check next photos)
BTW, I PUT IT ON 4 PIRAMIDS MADE BY ALUMINIUM FOIL!



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-after 10 minutes taaa daaaaa...the baked MBoard


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and after reansambling the MBoard again look what i got:


after 1h the graphics are ok..i'm gona try some gaming to check it and go buy a netbook cooler xd
USE THIS INFO'S AT YOUR OWN RISK
Thx and sry for my english, not so good, i know!
and

 

That technique, and a similar heat gun technique are know to work. But the problem is going to come back at some point. The issue still exists that the substrate and bonding material expand and contract at different rates and will again create cracks in the solder connections again later.

Gary

 

Also, once you have done this, professionals will not touch the board.

It's hard on all components.

 

Hi Guys,
I have a second hand FZ21s that was working fine..ish til yesterday. After some extensive reading, I can pretty much guarantee that I have a defective gpu. Why, cos the screen is blank and went wiggly green lines just before it died. Now I understand that Sony will fix this issue, but as i didn't buy this brand new(still cost £400), I don't have a receipt or anything bar the laptop.

So what i'm really asking is apart from sticking the mboard into my oven do i have a leg to stand on with Sony?

Any help/advice is greatly appreciated!!!!
thanks in advance.
raj

 

It all depends on the build date of the machine. The warranty was extended from the original warranty date, which without the ORIGINAL purchase receipt would resort yo date of registration (if it was registered) or the build date.

Gary

 

OK, my VGN-AR590E shouted 1 long, 2 short beeps and the screen refused to light up. This laptop was seldom used but still died after three years.

 

Reminds me of the xbox red ring of death scenario..

 

There is no need to bake whole motherboard since problem lies just in underfill epoxy, so I suggest firstly just to heat up G84 chip up to 100 Celcius degrees. Result will be the same and you avoid to overheat other components on PCB.

 

Hi
I have a FZ260 and I had this problem too.
But today I solved the problem.
First I removed cover then I removed the heatsink.
Second I put a Aluminium Paper on the Graphic chip then I heat the chip whith a HeatGun (Heater) for 6 minutes.

and NOW I solved the problem!!

You can try this trick. It must work!!

 

You only did a temporary fix. It will happen again once the chip gets hot.
Lead balls under the chip need to be melted completely to fix the problem permanently.
This process calls reflow.

Sent from my SGP311 using Tapatalk 4

 

There is no permanent fix other than replacing the GPU. The problem was that the expansion coefficient of the materials involved were different. The expansion and contraction at different rates of these materials as the GPU heats up and cools down result in small cracks that become bigger cracks and eventual failure. Even a reflow will only result in a temporary fix.

Gary

 

Sorry, but it's not GPU issue. It is all about the joints between lead balls and device and motherboard. I have been fixing these laptops and other similar issues for years now and no one did happen again by just reflowing them in correct procedure. There would be some cases you have to reball the chip, but there is no need to replace them even though it's recommended by chips makers.

Sent from my SGP311 using Tapatalk 4

 

Yes, it is most assuredly a GPU issue. Did you even bother to read the first message in this very long thread. Nvidia had a manufacturing issue with the original GPU chips on this VAIO model and many other laptops from other manufacturers. This defect is well documented. The defect is exactly as described in my post that you replied to. And while the fix you are suggesting will indeed work the problem can reoccur later. The only permanent solution was the one that Nvidia enabled thru SONY and other manufacturers and that was to replace the motherboard with a new one containing a CPU that didn't have the substrate issue.

Go back to the top of this thread and read the posts. You'll see that Nvida admitted to the issue on this specific family of GPU chips.

Here is more indepth info:

Why Nvidia's chips are defective- The Inquirer

Here is info about HP's response to the same issue:
defective nvidia chip - HP Support Forum - 194569

And this from Tom's Hardware:
Nvidia's GPU Material Defect Cost $475.9 Million

So you see, it was indeed a GPU issue.

Gary

 

Guys, maybe you can give me an advice!
HAve VAIO VGN-AR720E since 2008. GPU is NVIDIA 8400M GT. Is this affected card? A week ago got an issue - during the boot screen and windows startup screen display is covered with dots and lines - blue, grey, green, whatever. Sounds like this issue. But when windows starts, screen is ok. But PC is running on standart VGA 8 bits. So performance has significantly dropped. Cannot install NVIDIA drivers, PC won't boot then i get blue screen.
Is this the same issue that's being discussed there? Since i had not problems for 5,5 years, guess i'm not covered by extended warranty, right?
What are my options. Is NVIDIA 8400M GT discrete card or it's soldered to motherboard? The only solution for fix is to replace motherboard? What could be the costs (motherboard+replacement work) of this? Would be thankful for any answer. Have heard that others suggest it is easier to buy new laptop. Is that true?

Thanks in advance!

 

Yes, that is precisely the symptoms of the issue with the GPU chip.

And yes you are beyond the extended warranty period. The chip cannot be readily replaced as it is soldered to the motherboard. The folks who claim to be able to repair the chip by reflowing are delusional. It is a temporary fix. If will work for a while but the problem will return. If you read the literature on the issue you'll see it is the result of a bad choice of materials that expand and contract at different rates causing cracks to appear eventually.

Honestly your best bet is to get a replacement laptop.

Gary

 

Thank you, Gary!
I thought that worst case scenario is the most real one. I think 5,5 years without problems with faulty GPU chip is not bad at the end