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...

[vicky4sony]

Hi Thalamus,
Thanks for taking interest in my case. My case id is 4086999. I was talking to Dominick yesterday evening and arguing what's going on and then she told that France repair centre is not responsible for this repair (Don't know because of me in Norway or else), support team did mistake to send my case to France unit so she will forward it to Ireland unit. So now I have to wait call from Ireland. I got an e-mail today from vaio support from Karina Andreae that they are sorry for confusion and my laptop will be picked up free of charge as it belongs to one of faulty model. I am afraid that if they start again saying that I have to pay transport because I am in Norway which is happening for last one week. Why is it not clear to technician and logistics people amongst sony itself?

I am also nervous with experience of many people with repair center who found either their problem pursing or something else broken (mishandling) after repair

http://club.vaio.sony.pl/clubvaio/pl/pl/forum/viewthread?thread=55888&offset=90#289053

Ohh, new update, I got a call from Dominick again just now and she asked again about problems of nVidia appearing in BIOS mode. I updated her again that screen does not black out in BIOS mode. It loads with strange lines sometime and sometime it does not even in BIOS mode. As I am running now in standard VGA graphics so no black out but hardware/media acceleration is not working and it shows vertical line automatically and it disappears and appears automatically. When I tried to install nVidia driver then sytem became very unstable, keeps restarting, loads with ugly graphics, if loads with proper graphics then blacks out after some time (even I have off the sleep mode and display off mode).

I am really fed up and don't know what hell all is this. If it is not nVidia problem then what?

I mentioned her about e-mail of Karina Andreae then she told that she does not know her but now sure that problem is nVidia. It seems there is no proper cooperation even working on a particular case number (Perhaps case is not properly updated internally itself). Anyway, she assured me that my case will be handled by France repair center only and they will collect laptop free of cost. I don't know what will come up next either before going to repair center or after going to repair center. I am really fed up and irritated with customer care provided by Sony but still optimistic. I will keep updated here anyway.

[chokedup]

Sony picked up my laptop for repair! i have been told it will only be free of cost if its nvidia fault...and if something else is wrong with motherboard i will be charged.
now i am worried that what if due to over heating of nvidia something happened to motherboard too! i hope not!
😞

[mackmn]

Today my Vaio FZ21M died or more correctly my Nvidia 8400GT died. Both the internal and external screen started to show the same very interesting and colourful distorted graphics. At the beginning of the week I got the first early warning signs when the computer suddenly froze, it started to show some very interesting and colourful graphics and a couple of minutes later it rebooted it self an all was fine again. But today it all came to an end. First the distorted graphics started to show and it got even worse than before. I tried to reboot it but after a couple of times the screen became black. And now the computer starts but I can´t see a thing.

I called Sony support and talked to a very helpful lady and my computer will now be picked up for service next Tuesday. I bought my computer in December 2007 so the warranty has expired for quite a while ago but there was no problem (as long as the fault is the Nvidia graphics card, I was told). Since I use my computer on a daily basis at work I`ll get the "Sony VIP" treatment and I was told that the service should take 3-5 days. Well, I just hope the get it fixed.

[Ayukawa]

Hi all,

I'd like to find out if any VGN-SZ users like me are facing the similar problem as well? As far as I can remember, the last time when the NVIDIA graphic card (8400M GS) on my unit booted up was showing the similar problem and after that , I can never have it powered up (intel graphic card will kick in regardless where the hardware switch is).

Unfortunately SZ is not on the extended warranty list; shall I wait or shall I get the unit repaired?

[chokedup]

just wanted to thank you guyz for help here!!! my vaio came back few days ago! YES all fixed.
unbelievably fast service from sony...

[Thalamus.]

Excellent news chokedup, thanks for letting us know..

[vicky4sony]

Hi all, My vaio has been also picked up. Let us hope for best.

Choked up, Just a query, Did they give nay details what they repaired and changed in laptop?

[bdh326]

My Sony FZ11Z developed the fault characterised in this post at the beginning of August (screen patterns identical). I battled with Sony Vaio support for several days and to no avail... they wanted £200 pickup followed by a probable £700 to replace the motherboard. So I contacted the MD of Sony within the UK and referred him to this post and highlighted that the error messages and screen patterns which Vaio support "have no previous record of" are well characterised within this post (on their website)!

My laptop was swiftly collected and had a new motherboard fitted free-of-charge. Unfortunately they cracked my LCD display and the keyboard no longer works but I'm working on that one now!

I now notice that Sony have recognised the NVidia fault; I guess sometimes it's necessary to goto the top in order to be heard!

[Malignity]

I have a VGN-NR21Z\S and I am experiencing similar problems to the ones posted in these forums, I have contacted Sony through their online chat support and I have been told I will be getting a call tommorow from somebody to assess the situation.

I will report back how things go, hopefully I can get it fixed for free otherwise I might just take it to a local laptop repair store.

[vicky4sony]

Hi All, Today my vaio came back. Everything seems working fine now. Thanks for all of your support. Special thanks to Thalamus that he told about Sony's statement. Sony took only a day to repair it. They even did not touch original installation that means they just changed/repaired faulty components. Great and fast service by sony and all free of cost. I hope it will not give any further trouble.