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Sony is screwing me.

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xith

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Oregon

Last year, 08/05/07 I purchased a Sony Vaio for 1400$, with a 1 year warranty. It breaks, so nicely 7/24/08, after weeks of getting them to work with me to repair it, and proving I actually bought it from them they finally send a repair box so I can mail it in.

This computer is a Sony Vaio with a Nvidia 8400M GT Graphics card in it, mind you. I've been playing on it pretty much every day since I bought it, and I'm a smoker. They receive my computer and it takes them a week to get back to me and they say: It's going to cost you 699.99$ to repair it. (First time they emailed me they told me NO reason why my warranty didn't cover it.) So I hop on Sony.com and ask a Technician why my warranty didn't cover it. He tells me that I requested a repair after my warranty had already expired, I proved him wrong and he tells me to Contact the center that has my Laptop, so I do. I email them asking them the same question.

The Sony rep from California sends me some pictures and says "There is smoke residue on the PC, and ashes inside of it." The pictures show it. He tells me that the motherboard doesn't work AT ALL. And the smoke residue has corroded out parts of it. I then ask him "What's physically wrong with it other then it's dirty?" his reply "Not dirty, corroded and shorted out components. The damage caused to the internal parts are not covered under the manufacturer’s limited warranty."

ME: Everything in my computer worked fine as long as I had my graphics card shut off/disabled. Searching on Nividia's websites and what not for the same type of problem I was having with my graphics card is all over the internet. Be more specific, what corroded, what shorted out?... What components are shorted out? Prove to me, the residue is what broke my computer, please. I can link you a site where computers under worse conditions are running just fine. There's one that's been submersed in oil for over a year and is fine. Why did only my graphics card break because of this? Why did my PC run another version of Windows then Vista as long as the graphics card wasn't installed during the windows setup."

Him: he motherboard doesn’t work due to the damage incurred by the external source damage. (I didn't even understand this.)

ME: The motherboard worked fine before I sent it. That isnt even an answer. The GRAPHICS card is what was messed up on my computer. You disabled it, the computer ran fine.

Him: The graphics card is on the motherboard.

Me: So it couldn't be that it over heated and caused a short? My computer would get so hot often it would almost burn me. I had to have a fan blowing on it constantly.

Me: Quote from Lots of Nvidia Laptop Graphics Cards Are Overheating, Dying - Gizmodo Australia


"Apparently some previous-gen Nvidia graphics cards that shipped in "significant quantities" of notebooks are defective, built and packaged with "weak" materials that are leading to them to overheat and fail at a "higher-than-normal" rate. Enough are bad that Nvidia is taking a US$150-US$200 million hit on its earnings for the quarter. Do you have one of these cards?

Nvidia doesn't say which cards are affected, but it seems to be ones in the 8M series (which are now previous gen). The fix--a new driver that kicks in the cooling fans sooner, rather than later—is being distributed direct to notebook makers."

I had a 8400M in my Laptop.

****

After that he didn't reply to me.

I can also provide MANY other places that are complaining of the exact same problem with the graphics cards over heating and melting. There is NO WAY that residue and ashes are going to melt away metal and plastic parts over 11 months. But this is what they're telling me, and they want me to pay 699.99$ for repairs because the graphics card is faulty. I need some help on what to say to this person, people to get them to fix my PC under the warranty.

Can anyone help? Maybe a lawyer write me out a legal document I could send him. Don't they have to prove to me that this is why it broke and not faulty hardware, since I did have a faulty card inside of my laptop?

Thanks,
Michelle
 


xith

Junior Member
Quotes.

Electronista | MacBook Pro errors due to bad NVIDIA hardware?

"learned that all cards with the chips -- including the GeForce 8600M GT used in MacBook Pros -- may be prone to failure, likely due to ineffective material causing overheating. Pro owners have been regularly complaining of systems that continue to function, but display only a blank screen when powered on."

Dell Extends Warranties For Laptops With NVIDIA GPU Issues - Industry News - Overclockers Club

"Dell had previously released BIOS updates to attempt to quell the issue with overheating NVIDIA GPUs in its laptops, and is now offering warranty enhancements to those that have purchased affected models."

Report: All Nvidia G8400/8600 series parts to fail : Christopher Null : Yahoo! Tech

"Got an Nvidia GeForce 8400 or 8600 graphics card? If you trust the Inquirier (and on this issue, I don't see any reason not to), it's probably going to fail sooner or later. Per Charlie Demerjian's scathing report: "All the G84 and G86 parts are bad. Period. No exceptions. All of them, mobile and desktop...."

Dell Issues BIOS Fix For Mobile GPU Meltdowns - Industry News - Overclockers Club

"Dell is the first computer manufacturer to attempt to fix a long standing issue involving flaky Nvidia 8M-series GPUs in laptops, where the substrate material of the GPU fails under the high heat produced during use. Dell's solution is a BIOS-based alteration to the computer's fan profile, keeping the internal parts cooler than normal to help prevent the overheating that's causing premature component failure. Dell has also released a list of all affected notebook models, and advises owners who are already experiencing symptoms - including artifacting and outright video failure - to follow Dell's standard service procedures. This issue has already caused Nvidia to rework its earnings estimate for this year, earmarking $150-200 million dollars to cover repair costs and replacements. Let's hope Nvidia got this figured out while designing the 9-series mobile GPUs.

Updated for clarity - the GPUs in question are the 8400 and 8600 mobile chips, and this issue is not Dell-specific. HP and Asus have had similar issues, and Apple also uses these GPUs."


Electronista | NVIDIA's desktop chips also risk failure?


"The report if corroborated would likely compound the trouble for NVIDIA, which has regularly attempted to downplay the impact of the notebook problems. The problem was purportedly confined at first only to HP but has since been confirmed by several other PC makers, including Dell, Lenovo and others using either a GeForce 8400M or 8600M chipset. Apple has yet to formally acknowledge a problem but has encountered consistent video problems with mid-2007 and later MacBook Pros using GeForce 8600M GT graphics.

These faults are also understood to have created additional expenses for notebook manufacturers, many of whom are described as replacing entire systems rather than just the flawed parts and are receiving equally defective replacement components that may also need to be replaced under warranty. Software fixes originally promoted by NVIDIA and passed on to Dell and others simply push the likelihood of failure out of the default warranty period rather than solve the problem, according to the claims."
 
Last edited:

xith

Junior Member
Ah-hah!

This is the most recent posting about this problem.

NVIDIA denies rumors of faulty chips, mass GPU failures

"This would seem to be an open-and-shut case, but one publication has vocally and aggressively disagreed with NVIDIA's explanation. The headline of a recent Inquirer story claims "All NVIDIA G84s and G86s are bad," and the article itself reaffirms that statement, saying: "The short story is that all the G84 and G86 parts are bad. Period. "
 

xith

Junior Member
Wow.

There is 2 or more 20 page long forum threads on notebookreview.com about these cards dying on people. Yea my PC may of been incredibly used for a year but thats not what broke my Laptop.

What do I do? I can prove everything, I just don't know how.
 

BL

Senior Member
File a complaint with your local Office of Attorney General - consumer affairs dept .

The will forward your complaint to the consumer contact person for the Co./Warranty Co. .

Be aggressively assertive if you have contract with the consumer contact representative .

Why didn't the techs. run you through an over the phone DX ?
 

AcidReign91

Junior Member
Same problem with my vgnfz190

Hey,

I have a sony vgnfz190 with a nvidia 8400mgt. I was watching video the other day when my screen went blank. I restarted the computer and my computer had lines across the screen and it was in 640x480 pixels. I can't increase the resolution. I checked under device managers, and it says that there is a problem with my graphics card. I think i have been affected by the faulty graphics card problem because my computer is just over a year old and out of warranty.

I would really appreciate any help with how to approach this problem, because all sony says is that they do not use the drivers that caused the problem, but what they don't take into account is the fact that many peoples sony laptops overheat, which can cause this problem whether the use drivers that force the card to have lower clockspeeds or not.

Any help would be greatly appreciated
 

TheGeekess

Keeper of the Kraken
Hey,

I have a sony vgnfz190 with a nvidia 8400mgt. I was watching video the other day when my screen went blank. I restarted the computer and my computer had lines across the screen and it was in 640x480 pixels. I can't increase the resolution. I checked under device managers, and it says that there is a problem with my graphics card. I think i have been affected by the faulty graphics card problem because my computer is just over a year old and out of warranty.

I would really appreciate any help with how to approach this problem, because all sony says is that they do not use the drivers that caused the problem, but what they don't take into account is the fact that many peoples sony laptops overheat, which can cause this problem whether the use drivers that force the card to have lower clockspeeds or not.

Any help would be greatly appreciated
Don't necro-post. If you have a legal question, please start your own thread.
 

BL

Senior Member
Hey,

I have a sony vgnfz190 with a nvidia 8400mgt. I was watching video the other day when my screen went blank. I restarted the computer and my computer had lines across the screen and it was in 640x480 pixels. I can't increase the resolution. I checked under device managers, and it says that there is a problem with my graphics card. I think i have been affected by the faulty graphics card problem because my computer is just over a year old and out of warranty.

I would really appreciate any help with how to approach this problem, because all sony says is that they do not use the drivers that caused the problem, but what they don't take into account is the fact that many peoples sony laptops overheat, which can cause this problem whether the use drivers that force the card to have lower clockspeeds or not.

Any help would be greatly appreciated
You should be starting your own thread , but I will give you one peace of advice .

Google PC help forum or PC tech help forum .

There's enough to steer you in the right direction , because at this point , you're not sure if it's software or hardware .
 

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