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...

[luisarn]

OK where do I start...... I have a FZ21Z that has started running extremely hot over the last few months, especially when playing games.

When I say hot I have loaded up PC Wizard 08 to check the temps and currently the processors are running at 98 and 97 degrees and the gpu is running at 101 degrees c!

I am not doing anything on the laptop other than replying to this post and all that is running in the background is some AV software and the normal windows processes.

Last month I raised a call with the Vaio support and had a call from someone who told me that he didn't think there was a problem and that I must be using the laptop on a soft surface and am blocking the vents. He then said that if I wanted to send it in to be repaired I could but it is highly likely they would find nothing wrong with it and I would be required to pay £150 for wasting their time.

Well I only use the laptop on a table and the vents are not covered. But sadly I didn't want another bill so have not sent it in, as they could say whatever they liked regardless of whether there is a genuine problem or not.

So am I just supposed to keep using it and wait for it to melt down or are Sony going to help me out and fix this problem? The damn thing gets so hot that I can't even touch the front left edge of it!!!!

These extreme temperature is due to the dust accumulated in the vents.
The only way to fix it is open you notebook and clean the fan, vents and the heatsink.
My FZ11Z used to have these kind of temperatures so I decided to clean it up by myself and now the temperatures stays around 60ºC on the CPU and 70ºC on the GFX.

[horrok]

Or more likely this is the first symptom of the Nvidia GPU problem. Mine went the same way along with hundreds of other peoples. Next your going to get black screen crashes and then fuzzy lines and dots on the screen. If you're under warranty send it in to sony as soon as these appear. If you're out of warranty your screwed like the rest of us. (Until Sony get enough pressure and admit to the REAL problem!).

[_Luca_]

Hi everybody.
http://club.vaio.sony.it/clubvaio/it/it/forum/getattachment?attach=2067 is what is happening to my VGN-FZ21M laptop. I bought this around xmas 2007. Suddenly since last week it starts to behave like this, freezing and then continuing rebooting. I thought it was related to a trojan (microAV2009), so i perform a clean install today, but (as you can see from the picture) the problem is still there.
I never concerned too much about the extreme temperature, but now...
I think i have the same problem of everybody here. Can someone tell me what are we supposed to do to fix it?

[jasonwalt]

I have had the same GPU failure on my FZ21Z as everybody else on this thread. Started off as an intermittent problem and has finally resulted in a series of lines and blocks on the display when I boot up the laptop.

I spoke with Sony support and looks like they want over £700 to repair the fault. They still deny there is a problem with the graphics card.

I bought the laptop from a Sony shop and they are not remotely interested. I plan to get an independent engineer to provide me with a report and then go to the small claims court. A 17 month old laptop should not be scrap after such a short time. What really annoys me is my wife’s Sony CR11Z has suffered touchpad failures after 13 months and my Sony TZ31WN has been back to Sony for the battery recall. Three laptops, three failures, just highlights how poor Sony’s reliability is.

I have also submitted a report to watchdog. It only takes 2 minutes and if enough of us complain it may help to put pressure on Sony. Use the link below. http://www.bbc.co.uk/watchdog/gotastory/

I will Never buy Sony again!

[robin.horder]

I am trying to repair a VGN-AR41L for a friend. This has a NVIDIA 8400 adapter which has failed after 2 years. I am trying to get a response from Europe Support. I sincerely hope they will offer her a reasonable deal on the repair costs.
------ Fingers crossed as my AR61S has 8600M GT adapter and was probably built with the 'faulty' chips (pre Aug 2008)

[LePresidente]

FACEBOOK PROTEST GROUP called "Sony Vaio Laptop Nvidia graphics card issues" - please join to register discontent. Please inform others of this group on facebook

[razakel]

sadly, it seems, that i'm joining all you guys with the same problem..
my fz31m with 8400M GT has stripes on the screen (while booting and upon loading windows) and is curently running on standart VGA graphics adapter with 14 mb of total video memory and vista doesnt seem to find any other video hardware. After reading all the posts here i doubt that its worth contacting sony and asking to repair it, cause I bought my vaio in may 2008 and its 3 months out of waranty sony's 'like no other' slogan suddenly makes sense.. would be gratefull if somebody could give some feedback about the petition or bbc's watchdog progress.. have to say sorry to my old HP Pavilion, and get it out of the drawer (it's been running smoothly for past 5 years not to mention all the spills on the keyboard, drops on the floor, etc.)

[mrjingles-suzuki]

Hello

I own a £2000 Sony Vaio VGN-AR21S, bought November 2006 in the UK via Sony Style.

After 18 months the graphics card started dispalaying green lines in the screen.
The graphics card is a NVIDIA GeForce GO 6700 GT.

I bought at the same time as the laptop an overseas service pack because i intended using the laptop in the UK and Japan.
Extra insurance because you never know when things can go wrong.
The problem with the graphics card started when the laptop was in Japan.
The "Overseas service pack" was a waste of money because the Japanese overseas service centre will not repair a european vaio laptop.
I have not been back to the UK since this problem started.

What are my chances on getting Sony to repair this machine?

[helenbr]

Hi I have a VGC LM1M just over one year old now and it is now completely useless due to having an Nvidea 8400gt chip and it is definitely the chip! who should I contact about this? I have always bought Sony I am a real Sony fan but I have to say this really hurts. I would love to know what Sony says about it, I contacted PCWorld who said it was out of warranty, come on its only 14 months old for goodness sake I am happy to pay a bit more for Sony quality but not for it to last 14 months we don't expect this of a Sony. Consumer law in Europe was amended over five years ago to protect consumers from this kind of thing but it would appear we are still being treated as idiots.

[BikerDamo]

Here's a link to the one show sale of goods act letter, fill it in and send it off, you might get some results...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theoneshow/consumer/2009/07/03/sale_of_goods_act_letter_downl.html

Damo