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Sony admits to failing Nvidia chips 13 months late
SONY HAS FINALLY confessed that it used defective graphics chips in 14 models in its Vaio laptop range. The defective chips, manufactured by Nvidia, can cause distorted video, graphics display artifacts, random characters and blank screens.
The problem first arose over a year ago and Nvidia finally admitted it in an SEC 8K filing in July 2008. Major PC manufacturers including Apple, Dell and HP have long since implemented free recall and repair programmes, paid for at least in part by Nvidia.
Nvidia's problem was caused by cracking in the underfill material of the graphics chips and worsened by high levels of heat generated in laptops, and it was diagnosed by the Inquirer in September 2008.
Some manufacturers initially attempted to cover up the chip problem by supplying system patches that continually activated cooling fans to prevent further damage and stave off expensive warranty repairs.
But persistent pressure from the Inquirer and lots of angry users led to admissions from Nvidia and the manufacturers as well as high volumes of laptop repairs under warranty and even some product recalls.
Throughout this whole debacle, Sony remained tight-lipped, insisting that its products were unaffected.
Until now, that is.
A statement from Sony, dated August 4th 2009, reads as follows:
"In July 2008, Nvidia publicly acknowledged a failure associated with some of their graphics processors (GPU) due to a manufacturing defect in the graphics chip packaging. At that time Sony and Nvidia jointly investigated whether Vaio models equipped with this GPU were impacted by the issue. This investigation revealed that the issue had not occurred in such Vaio models.
"However, after closely monitoring the situation, Sony has now determined that a very small percentage of computers with the Nvidia graphics chips may be affected.
"These PCs may exhibit distorted video, random characters or a blank screen due to failure of the Nvidia graphics chips.
"As part of our commitment to quality, for any customer who requires repair of their Vaio due to the Nvidia graphics processor issue, Sony will cover the cost of repair (parts and labour) at no charge during the first four years following the date of purchase of the models in question (see list below).
"In case your model is shown in the list below, we invite you to contact Vaio support to arrange service for your Viao."
Is it coincidence that this announcement - which is buried deep in the Sony Vaio support website, and only accessible if you have your model number and serial number to hand - came exactly 13 months after Nvidia finally admitted its culpability?
We can only guess how many disgruntled Sony Vaio owners have scrapped an apparently dead 'out of warranty' laptop because of the faulty Nvidia graphics chips. µ
Here's the list of Sony Vaio models affected:
VGN-FZ11x, VGN-FZ18x, VGN-FZ21x, VGN-FZ31x, VGN-FZ38x,
VGN-AR11x, VGN-AR21x, VGN-AR31x,
VGN-C1Zx, VGN-C2Zx,
VGC-LM1xx, VGC-LM2xx,
VGC-LT1xx, VGC-LT2xx.
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Sony are absolute jokers i tell you. I have a Vaio VGN-NR31J with the defective Nvidia 8400m GT GPU. Also a close friend that works as in the UK headquarters for Sony. I wont mention his name so he wont get into trouble
My laptop failed 2 months agoy.My friend advised not to bother calling sony as he advised they will make a million excuses and constantly lie to me that my model was never affected (to my stuborness i called and got the expected response as friend suggested in 3 different calls). Truth be told Sony alongside other laptop firms have had compensation in full from NVIDIA for the defective GPU's but SONY "especially" is trying to keep the cash for itself. My friend said senior staff and managers have been advised under "secrecy" for the whole subject to fob-off customers whereas their model does not meet the 14 Models of Vaio's affected yet most if not all use the same GPU!
Ladies and gents like me either it yourself...i followed the website instructions (www.laptop101.com) or get yourselves a new machine.
...and...
NEVER BUY ANYTHING FROM SONY...THE CONMEN OF A COMPANY!
I surely am not touching them again
My VAIO started showing this defect few days after the end of their "so called" extended warranty.
After calling them and taking a case number to "fix" my VAIO, in my next call to inquire about something they told me "we are sorry but we cannot fix yours for free", they wanted to charge me (more than the device actually cost now) for the shipment and the repair for their own clueless defect .... !!
VAIO my ass.
There are plenty more models than this with the same problem. They will not fix mine under the warranty. They want to charge around $800. I will not be buying another vaio.
Title says everything but I`m adding this too, NEVER MICROSOFT AGAIN too.
I have Vaio VGN-AR61ZU, now apparently experiencing Nvidia failure (blank screen, 3 beeps - 1 long, 2 short - at start up) - is this likely to be covered by the Sony replacement policy, although not in the list you quote, regards
I've been having the same problems described above with my Vaio VGN SZ452N, GF 7400M. I didn't realise at the time what was wrong, but I did note that the computer was producing a lot of heat. I cleaned out the CPU heatsink and fan, and I did see some minor improvement, but they were short lived. I decided to open the computer to have a look inside (not a minor task for somebody who has never seen the inside of a laptop before). What I found was a that the heatsink sitting on top of my GPU was loaded with thermal paste, a thick solid layer of it- result being of course that the GPU didn't have proper contact with the heatsink. Now, I can't tell for sure if that is the cause of it all, as I have yet to assemble my laptop back together (a task I'm not looking forward too=(, but I do believe it to be a significant contributing factor. For those of you who are like me and don't know how to open a laptop, check out this page:
http://openvaioseriez.blogspot.com/
Another thing that I haven't tried is to increase the speed of the fan, which you can apparently do by setting the laptop to performance mode in the vaio power management app. Other options would be to decrease the core voltage of the system/cpu using third party software (Centrino hardware control app and rmclock has been mentioned on forums elsewhere).
I recently contacted Sony about my Vaio VGN-NR31J/S as the graphics card has just gone wrong after having the laptop only 18 months.
My Screen goes black and the graphics become distorted and it overheats itself and yet they told me that its my fault and i will have to pay for it.
I have the same graphics card they are talking about here in my laptop so how is it my fault. Its their fault that they gave me a faulty one so i won;t be paying for it an told them i will take it further and make sure they pay for it.
Is there any uapdtes on the Sony List of effected models. I have a VGN-NRXX with failing graphics which is not listed
My Sony Vaio Nvidia GPU failed approximately two months ago, roughly at the same time as the battery which was "cooked" by the intense heat. Sony refused to repair it at first as it is a few months out of warranty. After much insistence on my part, they finally admitted to the problem and a week ago promised to send DHL to collect it within 48 hours. One week later, several emails and promises to collect and repair and I am still waiting!! Now they dont even bother replying to my emails. Wondering if anybody knows the office address of the person in charge of Sony UK. I wish to pursue the matter further. I will never buy Sony products again!!! I am furious.
I think goods in the EU now have a 2 year warranty. Link http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/bargains-and-rip-offs/tips-and-guides/article.html?in_article_id=487339&in_page_id=53954&in_advicepage_id=131
the only place I would like to see charlie's name is on a grave.
I don't understand this article. Shouldn't it start with "Sony panics about broken Macbooks?" Shouldn't it continue with "SONY IS IN a bit of a panic after its own habitually fawning press have started to turn on the company over its customer shafting ways. Comments on Sony support forums indicate that the latest Vaios suffer from distorted video, graphics display artifacts, random characters and blank screens."
Or does only Apple rate the Nick Farrell treatment?
@Uncle
Guess you didn't know that Vaio also has a 17" lappy with an ATI HD3850 card stuck in. Thanks to Charlie D and his research last year and my personal hate on for NVidia in the first place, I found the only laptop available from my local computer store that had an ATI card in it, yep, it was a Sony Vaio.
Wifey runs that laptop day in day out, WoW, LOTRO, Guild Wars... not a problem
I miss Charlie too.
Why exactly is he not at the INQ anymore ?
I also agree that the Inquier should at least give credit where credit is due and not RIP articles from past employees with out at least mentionning it....that is not cool and least a bad taste .
Time to check out Char's new site.
This IS Charlie D's writing. They have just ripped it off from here:
http://www.semiaccurate.com/2009/08/10/sony-admits-14-defective-nvidia-notebooks/
Go visit SemiAccurate and you'll find all of his articles there.
@ The Inq:
Shame on you, not even admitting copying from him. He worked for you and you don't even have the decency to credit him and his new site.
I don't care what anyone says , I miss Charlie D's writing.
As far as I can make out, nothing is on the horizon other than the next generation chips.
ATI might have their DX11 part out for the retail launch of Windows 7 (October 22nd).
Nvidia have designed their DX11 part, but release date is uncertain. It's likely to be longer than ATI.
Otherwise it seems to be current cards with better coolers.
Anyone care to point out flaws in this statement? My next purchase will be a DX11 <=40nm graphics card. The current generation is too power hungry and hot.
Fast enough, dual slot, expelling heat outside the case, quiet and not ridiculously power hungry, please. Some of us spend 99% of the time in applications and 1% in games, but still want decent multimonitor and good games performance.
Sorry to step in like this......
But why is it so quiet in the graphics section these past months ?
(could be only weeks)
The graphics section used yo be so full of life and..... articles....
What the hell are ATI and nVidia doing now anyway ??? on vacation ???
That's Awesome! So presumably the Inquirer is hassling HP (DV9500 Models etc etc) and Dell to admit these 'extra' problems and offer a similar 4 year warranty on defective products. Though I still think this is unacceptable in an ideal world, as anyone who uses their laptop for work etc will have to go without it for UPTO 10 days at a time while their product is repaired, and most likely more than once. In an ideal world they would be replacing the laptops with a similar spec unit with the best non-faulty graphics chips...
I my experience with those (I'm guessing) P4 based 3.2 GHz laptop/heaters is that the heatsink gets blocked with lint, happens especially fast if it is a model that required twin fans. Pull it apart and remove the lint from the heatsink and all is well again - don't forget to clean off the old thermal paste and put some fresh stuff on as well. A quicker attempt would be to blast it with some canned compressed air and see if that works before disassembly.
HP DV9565, 10 months out of warranty, dead NVIDIA. HP say 'SOL'. Even though the DV9565 has the exact same GPU as other Pavilions offered the warranty extension, not this one. The Laptop boots, all the way up, turns *on* the WiFi connected LED. Just no graphics... Yet, I'd posit that both HP and NVIDIA know the TRUTH. The truth also includes me not buying a new HP anything, ever again. I wonder if HP will step up to the plate with a '4 year' extension for all with the dud NVIDIAs within. I won't hold my breath.
This is exactly why I have boycotted Sony since the rootkit fiasco. Their fine for that was to replace all the cd's without DRM(rootkit). Look what happens to you if you download a songs you might not like, 1.9 million and 650,000 fine. These multi-billion dollar companies shit all over their customers and the consumers keep lapping it up.
Well if the incident cropped up about a year ago, and nVidia "finally" admitted the problem in a SEC filing dated July 2008, where's the conspiracy??
Isn't July 2008 also "about a year ago"?
Sounds like inquirer blew this case open in Sept 2008 based on very old admission by nVidia. Big Whoop-De-Do.
Apple, Dell and HP have long since implemented free recall and repair programmes, paid for at least in part by Nvidia.
***********************
Not my HP. It's just soooo cool when my screen goes black after prolonged uptime. Got to switch off the laptop and wait. This started ~14 months after purchase, so HP said tough, no help for you.
I guess my next set of boxes will come from Dell.
That Charlie now works for something that is only semi-accurate...
http://www.semiaccurate.com/2009/08/10/sony-admits-14-defective-nvidia-notebooks/
Looks familiar, eh?
-Charlie
I'm referring to the bit where you state manufacturers turned on the fans constantly or throttled the CPU constantly to keep the heat down.
I recently 'fixed' a laptop for a friend. It's one of the big gimpy Toshiba Satellite ones that are specially made for PC World. You know the score - big specs (3.2ghz processor, 17" screen) but only 512mb memory, made to entire the hordes of stupids who shop there.
After reinstalling XP with all the service packs it kept shutting down. I tried everything but the problem persisted. Eventually I throttled the processor to 1.8ghz using SpeedSwitchXP and it was rock solid.
A bit of investigation showed that was exactly what the official Toshiba power app did, which funnily enough was the only app I didn't install back on there.
How can you advertise one spec, when the base build is half that speed? It didn't even throttle up under load - 1.8ghz was all the user ever got. If it was my laptop it'd have gone straight back. In fact my MSI Wind at 1.6ghz was faster at everything, including at Folding.
If ever there was a reason for a class action, it would be this sort of behaviour.