Nvidia G84m/G86m faulty chip happen to Vaio??

[6800gt]

I just wonder if anyone has the alleged graphic problem with your vaio series. I got AR51J with 8400m GT early this year. So far it works fine, but not sure it would die shortly :smileysad:. What's the sony's response?

origin story: All Nvidia G84 and G86s are bad
http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/07/09/nvidia-g84-g86-bad

Channel Vendors Demand Graphics Cards Suppliers to Recall Potentially Faulty Nvidia GeForce Graphics Cards.
Resellers Want to Return Potentially Faulty Nvidia GeForce Graphics Boards to Makers
http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/video/display/20080725123120_Channel_Vendors_Demand_Graphics_Cards_Supp...

[chey17]

There is no doubt that the faulty graphic chip happened to Vaio!    

Unfortunately, I have all the same blue screens, artefacts and crashes  -the same problem with the graphic card- on my Vaio VGN FZ11Z (nVidia 8400 GT) . I have even the same code number in blue screen reports as the ones in the pictures above (stop 0x00000124 -hardware problem). 

It started a few days ago. During intensive working (editing a picture in graphic program) my Vaio froze suddenly. Freezing lasted 20-30 minutes and resulted in a blue screen. This scheme occurs irregularly- sometimes Vaio works 4-5 hours without any problem, sometimes 5 minutes only -then the Windows Vista can not start at all for a few hours. Vaio must become cool to start system properly. Full recovery of my Vaio and all updates installed from Microsoft and Sony Vaio websites had not helped at all.    

Now I can do nothing on my Vaio as it freezes and restarts all the time no matter what I do...  When I am lucky and Windows Vista starts I still can do nothing because of all these artefacts and lines on my screen (they happen even on blue screens).   

Here are pictures of my Vaio display:











In the morning I am going to call Vaio Link...  

Did you get your laptop back from Sony Repair Centre? What did they do and how much did it cost? Did they replace your motherboard? I am experiencing the same problems with the same white vertical dotted lines on the screen http://club.vaio.sony.co.uk/mvnplugin/mvnforum/images/emotion/sad.gif

[stuart_haywood]

Name: Stuart Haywood

Country: England

Vaio model: VGN-FZ21S

Case#: 3964696

Rep name: -

First contact: 02 June 2009

Latest contact: 02 June 2009

Sony are supposed to be a premium brand should follow Apple Mac and repair machines out of warranty with this problem. My machine is 17 months old and I suspect that we will see more and more people join this thread with the same problem.

I found the following link this morning and it helped me find this forum and get a understanding of the Nvidia problem we are experiencing: http://forums.nvidia.com/lofiversion/index.php?t90875.html

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/vaioproblem?e

Please see below my latest reply from Sony, it is very dissapointing:
_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Dear Mr. Haywood,

Thank you for the below and indeed we will continue to review and monitor the feedback from our customers along with our various repair centre’s analysis.

Currently our position is as below,

Contrary to HP/Dell who had several confirmed cases on their side, our repair data does not show any abnormal graphics chip failure. Additionally, our cooling system is totally adequate to handle onboard graphics overheat easily.

If the cooling system has failed due to blockage or other failure, then other components in this area may increase in temperature as a result. This could cause them to fail accordingly.

Of course should the cooling system fail during our manufacturer’s guarantee period, we would look to review the unit for repair free of charge.

Yours sincerely,

Sony VAIO Customer Relations

Sony United Kingdom Limited

[horrok]

Hi Stuart. I've had a similar response. Its clearly nonsense because the Nvidia chip issue is triggered by thermal cycles, i.e transitions from hot to cold to hot etc. The Die cast material is defective and cannot withstand these fluctuations. It has nothing to do with cooling systems efficiency.

I'm sure Sony are well aware of this but I think they're hoping we'll get bored an go away.

I'm not sure if this will help but I've approached the BBC consumer affairs program 'Wathdog' with this story so we'll see if they get back to me.

[davedwar46]

I have a SONY FZ21S which failed with a graphics chip (nvidia 8600m) problem 4 months out of warranty. Sony will not repair it without further cost to me. I cannot see how SONY can keep denying that there is a problem with these chips.

£800 on a laptop which doesn't even last 18 months is a joke, and so is SONY.

I have a lot of other SONY equipment, but this will be the last SONY that I will buy.

[vaioSteve]

Sony is not seeing high repair data because they refuse to repair the machines unless one pays US$800 for the repair. I have two identical machines that have failed with the nVIDIA problem. Paying such a high repair cost for a fix that may last a year is totally unacceptable.

Sony just denies the problem and hopes we will move on.

Sony, this is criminal. You sold an expensive machine that was not capable of performing its claimed task.

[vaioSteve]

My AR41S (Bought in August 2007)with 8600M GT has just died this morning.

1 Long beep and 2 short beeps - (which indicates VGA Failure)

Case Number: 3634645

I'm out of warranty. They want to charge £200 for diagnostics and then they said it'll probably another £380 to replace the GPU. Doubt this includes VAT too.

I said I'm not gonna take them up and wait. I called again and they said the official word is that the $ONY VAIO do not suffer from the faulty G86 range, but they didn't know if it's a different type of chip or due to the type of cooling it uses. That doesn't really fill me with confidence. It seems that they are avoiding the issue. Apparently they haven't had many calls about the issue.

It is not a cooling issue, it is a cycling issue -- cooling, heating, cooling, heating.

This issue most certainly is in Vaio systems.

How did you get a case number? They wouldn't give me one unless I gave them a credit card number for out-of-warranty repair of $800.

Sony thinks that by putting two fingers in their ears and closing their eyes that they can avoid "seeing" a high level of failures.

[roblishm]

ok...add me to the list ....

Mine is not a notebook (officially) its a Desktop "All in One", the VGC-LM1M ... which uses, surprise, surpirse, a laptop video chip (nVidia GeForce 8400M GT GPU).

I ahve exactly the same screens as shown above ... won't boot into Vista unless I disable the Video Chip in Device Manager in Safe Mode.

I shall be contacting Sony tomorrow to see what they will do ... because, guess what, it's just 3 months out of its 12 month guarantee (15 month old).

No way can I afford £200 plus parts and labour.... not when I paid almost £1000 for this machine just over a yesr ago.

I'll keep you posted... and may also be contacting Watchdog (BBC TV consumer program) and see if they are interested.

[LePresidente]

VGN-FZ21Z - NVIDIA 8600M GS GPU
Guess what..... I now have the dreaded sony NVIDIA graphics card problem (blue, dotted screens & ...... i haven't bothered to contact sony yet as guess what...I'm 8 months out of my guarantee and after reading other posts it doesnt seem like people have had much luck getting the problem fixed for free or even for a reasonable amount of money.
I think I'm going to just take my vaio into a local repair shop that has been recommended by another vaio user with the same problem and was fixed for a reasonable amount. please see his link with details of the repair shop in London (http://forums.nvidia.com/lofiversion/index.php?t90875.html)
I've just been quoted £195 +VAT = so £225 for a repair with a heatsink and fan from the above repair shop in london.... not bad considering it appears sony are charging £150 collect fee and £300+ for new board.
Please keep us informed about watchdog

[Deatex]

I think I have the same problem with my 4 month out of warranty VGN-AR61M and I'm currently going through the pointles exercise with Sony of "try this" and "try that" to reach a verdict of a cooked Nvidia GPU, which to me is a premature failure of a component.

I suspect the outcome wil be a choice of -
A) an overinflated repair cost from Sony to repair a fault that will happen again
B) buy a new laptop (No way a Sony again)

I have a friend that works for the BBC, and he has suggested that I contact the BBC watchdog programme. If more than 20 people post a related problem to them from the same manufacturer, they will consider investigating it (I have seen hundreds of similar issues on this thread and on other sites, where I have posted this reply).

Some customers have started a petition which is fine, but it does not give as much public awareness to a poor product and customer support service as a nation TV programme running an article. Here in the UK, BBC's watchdog has huge leverage even with the manufacturing giants.

A drop in sales alone from people who see the report and no longer want to buy a sony laptop would probably wake Sony up to address to the problem.

I'll be registering my camplaint with wachdog by the end of this week, when I suspect Sony will stop listening. I think its worth a try as it looks as tho you guys have hit a brick wall with your complaint routes so far.

[swaize]

I think I have the same problem.

My laptop got noticeably hotter on my right leg. Is that where the GPU is?
Anyway, just get a blank screen as of the other day. Back light is on, but other than that it is black. No signal when connecting to another display.

I have a Sony VAIO NR21Z with an Nvidia 8400M GT

2 months out of warranty!!