Vaio VGN-SZ780 nVidia 8400M GPU Failure!

I have a Sony Vaio VGN-SZ780 that passed its 1 year warranty a few months ago.

My laptop was experiencing overheating and would either reboot suddenly after the blue screen of death or would just shut down in the middle when using the nvidia 8400 GPU.

From Sony's explanation, I read that the shutdown of the system is a normal behavior under high temperature and I assumed it was not a problem and just an inconvenience.

Just 30 minutes ago, my laptop screen turn white completely and froze so I shut down the system immediately and since then, my SZ780 DOES NOT BOOT when using the Nvidia GPU!

Sony's recent replacement annoucement of defective Nvidia GPUs EXCLUDE the SZ models so for me, I have no additional warranty that can cover this.

I put in a service request on Sony's support site but the initial cost is estimated at $289.

Are there any other Vaio SZ owners with faulty GPUs??? Please add your problems here!

If Sony refuses to replace this faulty GPU at no cost, I will be very disappointed with Sony, and will never purchase nor recommend another Sony laptop again. This is my 3rd Sony laptop and I've been happy so far but this will be a crucial moment for me and the close to $30,000 I've spent on Sony electronics during the past 5 years.

 

I have just heard about one customer experiencing SZ6 with nVidia 8400M GS going defective last week.

 

Apparently, I am not the only one who had their GPU fail on their SZ laptop. SZ laptop owners with the 8400M GS graphics beware!!!

 

That is ridiculous. Sony should really step up and take care of ANY of their customers that have the defective Nvidia GPU in their laptop.

One thing I'm curious about. Can you boot up your SZ if you switch to the integrated Intel graphics? I'm curious because I've avoided using the Nvidia GPU in my SZ ever since I heard about this problem. If I knew, however, that the laptop still works with the Intel GPU after the Nvidia fails, then I would use the Nvidia on and off as necessary.

I really hope Sony does the right thing and changes their policy.

 

Bump!
Does anyone know if you can still use STAMINA mode if the Nvidia GPU in SPEED mode fails?

Thanks.

 

I don't know...but I think it would be possible since the Intel GPU is in use. Try it and let us know.

 

I've only been using my SZ7 in STAMINA mode since the Nvidia GPU problem was announced, so I wouldn't be able to try. Hoping for someone with a failed Nvidia in their SZ to try it out.

 

The OP said " my SZ780 DOES NOT BOOT when using the Nvidia GPU!" which to me sounds like it still does boot when using the Intel gpu.

Feeling lucky I sold my SZ7 when I did as I always used it in speed mode.

I thought speed and stamina modes only selected the gpu to use and the power management profiles for that mode. You could apply your own custom PM profile which is what I did using the nvidia gpu in a stamina mode. For those using the intel gpu you could reverse that and still have speed.

 

I've pretty much done the same - used only the Intel card - at the rate I am going, my NVidia 8400 will easily last a few years.

On the "Boot on ntel issue".

As far as I am aware the SZ uses a physical "old fashioned" switch that simply turns the hardware on/off (not quite so easy - switch it over when on, and you get a window and the "original card" continues to work).
In this respect the SZ should continue to work fine if either of the two cards fail.

The Intel card does't know there is a NVidia card and the NVidia card doesn't know there is an Intel card.

Its only a Sony utility that will open that little pop up telling you that you need to restart for a graphics switch.

This may be different however on the newer laptops - like the Z - I believe the Intel card on those runs when in Speed mode too - alongside te NVidia.
On the SZ one card is completely turned off as far as I am aware - thus the "cold swapping" SZ as opposed to "hot swapping" on the Z.

 

Thanks for the info. The point of my query is that I'd really like to start using my SZ in SPEED mode when I'm plugged in for more serious work without fear that my laptop will become unusable if the Nvidia GPU fails. If things work as you describe, then I shouldn't have too much to fear since I'll still be able to use my SZ in STAMINA mode even after the Nvidia GPU decides to die on me

Thanks again for the information. And if anyone with a failed Nvidia GPU on their SZ can confirm, I'd greatly appreciate it.

 

dont know if i should call this a similar problem but what i have is my vaio just freezes and when i force shut down it to reboot after the bios loading screen its can just turn black screen with the backlight on and nothing happens.
ive noticed this happens when i run games/watch movies.

though for me this happens both in stamina and speed mode.

 

If it happens in Stamina an Speed mode it should not be a graphics problem but more screen related.

 

my sz483n just went through a very similar prob about 3 days ago. had it on speed mode ever since i bought it (about 3 years ago) and worked very well. until just the other day when the display on the screen became all scrambled up. however, once i placed it in stamina mode, things worked fine. took it to the sony shop and they informed me the nvidia chip was screwed up and i had to install a new motherboard. cost me about 300 bucks.

i upgraded the ram to 4gb though

 

You may want to to try to get your money back from Sony..write a few letters, asked for "higher up" personel.

Sony aknowledged the NVidia issue for some notebooks, just not the SZ yet

 

i purchased the laptop in hong kong a few years back. has sony asia pacific acknowledged this problem with the GPUs?

 

hmmm my vaio nr is not covered although it has a very similar design to the fz and the same gpu. why have they not covered all of the ones with an 8400m because it is what is faulty, not the actual computer

 

well they want to save money

 

Doesn't the Vaio sz483n notebook contain a Nvidia 7400 GPU instead of a Nvidia 8400 GPU?

 

not sure...
I don't know when they changed over on that one...

 

mine just failed.. not sure what to do now because World of Warcraft sucks on the intergraded graphics card. I bought this laptop just becuase it had the 8400m GS and now mine has failed as well (after 2 years from purchase)

does anyone know if this can be fixed?

 

How did it fail?
Used motherboards can be found on Ebay but you can try what I list below and see if that fixes it.


Couple things to note here.

Resetting the bios is sometimes necessary to bring the card back to life. Twice I have had my machine stop working due to heat. The first time I had to unplug the bios battery, the second time I just had to unplug and remove the battery for things to return to normal.

Near as I can tell, the stamina speed switch is NOT a hardware switch as mentioned before. It is a software based switch connected to a bios trigger. If the Nvidia card fails, you might get lucky after a few tries to switch it to Intel without Windows working, sometimes you won't. A bios reset (by doing what I mentioned above) again may be required.


If you do have to go in and unplug the battery, or just want to be more safe, I highly recommend (especially considering the age and heat output) that you go inside, remove the heat sinks and put in a liquid thermal paste instead of the old, dry and toasted thermal pads. My system runs cooler since I did this.

 

haha its funny you posted this on my birthday

ok a few months back i cleaned up the thermal greese and cleaned up all the dust and used some new thermal greese that came with one of my PC's heatsinks... so i don't think its anything like that... i think its just that typical 8400m GS that was recalled but sony refused to do the recall....

on another note what do you mean by reseting the bios? i don't see that option anywhere when i hit the F2 button to go into bios, i only see a Restore to default value feature, which i did and it still did not work.. heres a picture of what a failed 8400m GS looks like. I took a picture of it with my camera:

 

Eeek that looks bad, but it could just be the cable. It looks too patterned(?) for a chip failure.
Check the connection for it under the keyboard. You may need to see if there is another connector in the lid. Also see if it changes as the screen is closed as this indicated broken wires in the hinge.

Resetting the bios can be done one of two ways...
The first as you saw, reset to default. However this only resets the presets.
The other method is to remove the palmrest, and under the touchpad buttons is a watch battery wrapped in shrink wrap connected by to small wires. Unplug that. This undoes everything to factory fresh.

 

i has the same problem with my vaio vgn-nr21z with 4800m gt.

 

Try contacting Sony.

 

i contacted with sony but are out garanty and the repair are a very very expensive. any solution?
can i buy a graphic card chip in ebay and change it??

 

No.

I'm wondering, when did you call Sony... they did eventually extend the warranty for some models.

Try calling again, if they won't repair it, just register on twitter and give them some bad press... (or similar)

 

i called sony but is out of garanty.
is not a solution for me sony bad press.

 

Read here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/407410-sony-comes-clean-faulty-nvidia-chips.html

If they won't fix it under an extended warranty all you can do is buy a new mainboard yourself, have Sony change the mainboard or buy a new computer.

 

i think is the same price to buy a mainboard that to buy a new computer.

 

From Sony certainly, but not from Ebay if you watch and wait for a deal.

 

Which will just be the same faulty GPU...

 

Has there been a massive failure rate on these? I have yet to see more than a few claims which could have just been random deaths for some other reason. I haven't seen anything other than hearsay to state that the SZ even has the bad chip in them (what I read was that not ALL of the 8400's are bad).

Even then, put in another board and only use Intel, if you aren't using the 8400 it won't be able to burn up. If you are still concerned, fix it, sell it and get something else. Sony isn't going to help.

 

All of the 8400 GPU's are bad until the substrate was changed - the laptop model doesn't matter.

Its just that the cooling design and usage affected it life - good cooling with few large temp cycles resulted in a longer life, larger temp cycles and worse cooling (worse cooling means greater difference between max and minimum temp) means shorter life.

 

I have only heard speculation on that.

Nvidia claimed not all were built that way, granted we can't entirely trust them on this, but it's all we have to go on. Nvidia agreed to pay to fix all of them, so it woudl have been in Sony's best interest to fix all of them.

 

My cousin just had the exact samething happen to him. When I switch it to Stamina mode the computer boots up fine. But in Speed mode it's just like the lined one above.

 

I know that Dell was replacing any failed units with the old 8400 & 8600 GPUs based on serial nimbers. If you press hard enough, they still will. I had one in my Vostro but I had one that was made right after the change by NVIDIA.

I have heard of people baking their boards (flows the solder?) but don't recommend it.

 

NVidia never fixed the problem. its a problem with the solder used and the fact that due to the bad design of these cards they run hot all of the time. My 8400m gt runs at 66 degrees idle which is annoying because i cant use my notebook on my lap as it is too hot undereneath. Luckily im still in warranty so im hoping it will fail and i can demand a different model with a different gp u as a replacement.

Has anyone in warrantty had any luck with getting a different system as a replacemnt through sony. I know a lot of people have with dells.

 

Do you all realize sony ADDED 3 years to their warranty just for the nvidia issues?

so if your original was 1 year, you have 4 years total to file an nvidia warranty claim.

Resolution
As a part of our commitment to quality, for any customer who requires repair of their VAIO computer due to the NVIDIA graphics processor issue, Sony will cover the cost of repair (parts and labor) at no charge and, in addition to the standard limited 12 month warranty, Sony will provide a three year warranty extension for the NVIDIA graphics chip.

* If you are currently experiencing this issue, please contact us at 1-888-868-7402 to set up a repair service at our Sony repair facility.

 

But only for specific models - and not the SZ.

 

or NR series

 

That is incorrect. If you read the fine print it specifies that it's for ALL nvidia chips. Those laptops are examples of the ones that have the chip in it. I guarantee you can win an argument for this.

Furthermore, 8400m were listed under dell. There is no way you wont win this. Sony doesn't even have to eat the $!!! it's Nvidia!!

You guys are nuts if you let this slip by. File a claim in small claims court. Do you have any idea how easy it is to win against sony in small claims court? Do you have any idea how easy it is to file a small claims case? It's joke!

Get off these forums and get at it.

Be sure to give me rep's when you get your laptops fixed thanks to my post. I accept checks as well

 

Sorry Shaba230,
Sony has made it very clear that they will only honor the 3 year warranty on select models.

Should Sony deal with it? Yes, but they don't want to admit there is a problem and they certainly don't want to have to deal with the repairs. Lots of companies have brushed this under the carpet on purpose hoping things will just quietly slide by. They simply don't want to deal with repairing all of them. Doesn't matter who is paying for it.

Yes, you could win in court and is likely what it will require to get them to fix the problem.

Here is the statement from Sony regarding the problem.
Sony eSupport - VGN-FZ190N - News & Alerts

 

Yeah, I see where you're coming from too but small claims court is too easy to pass up if you ask me. It seems like sony just didn't include the SZ to save face.

 

They didn't include the SZ because they can get away with it.

The cooling system is that good that they tend to last for 2 years or more on the NVidia.

 

Sony Vaio VGN-SZ780 is 13.3-inch and has two types of backlight: CCFL and LED. You have to make sure when buy.

 

Shame on Sony for not repairing their faulty GPUs. I think you're leaving us out in the dust because we can run on stamina mode.

This makes one thing clear for me - NO MORE SONY LAPTOPS FOR THE NEXT 20 YEARS.

 

I have try to threaten them that i would go as far as the consumerer rights commission still with no luck. They clearly stated that SZ is not covered.

Because this is how Sony treats their loyal customer that would buy a premium laptop from them.

 

Unfortunately, that is very typical of how Sony does business.

IMHO, the general rule in buying Sony products is to hope & pray hard that the new product you buy from them does not fail after the warranty period has expired because in most cases, you'll not only get a lot of frustration & hassle, the out of warranty repair costs is so crazily high that you're simply better off buying a new product to replace the broken one.

 

Ah... My SZ780's NVIDIA side of the system as finally failed. Just this past month, the Windows 7 reliability history showed a 100% reliable system to 50%, and now I can't boot with the Speed switch on.

I had a good 3+ year run with this laptop. The Intel GPU still works so no more FPS games on this laptop, now. And this laptop will now be my strictly for travel laptop that I can toss around...

This failure just had to happen a month after after my 3-year extended warranty ended. I think I got my money's worth with the warranty as I had to have the trackpad replaced twice! (once a short circuit problem, and the other a button problem), get a new set of RAM as I was shipped with defective ones--didn't realize this until by chance I ran the memtest86 program, and have the display replaced when I accidentally dropped my laptop.

It is time for me to buy a new laptop. I love Sony laptop designs but their bloatware and lousy customer service (especially on supplying updated drivers--typical of all Japanese tech companies...great hardware, terrible software, they treat hardware problems as if people would go out and buy a brand new system like downloading software updates) makes me wonder why I keep going back to buying Sony products.

(Should I jump on the Apple bandwagon? )