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...

[ds_uk_]

+1 more happy customer, my FZ21S died few days ago.. I contacted sony and well, first person said to me it will be new nvidia chip, not the 8600M GS, i was surprised by this, but still don't believe that, anyway i request a call from technical support to find out, i'm a bit scared to send my loppy to them as i don't wanna pay anything as well, but lot's of people here have some succesfull stories as well, if i go under Consumer right 1979 and press my retailer Comet, i still have to pay, and after contacting consumer direct they confirmed that this way, yes i will pay 60£ for investigation of my laptop, and after that if there is a problem with chipset i will pay some money not in full, this is in terms because i was using laptop 1.5 year, so i decided to go ahead and strait to sony, sony already did repair for me after 5 month of use my LCD matrix fault they succesfully replaced LCD, this will be second time, i hope things go well, but anyway just keeping in mind it will be same G86 chip and well i think it will be the same defective one, but anyway, i said to the man on the phone that my laptop has been opened already and guess what, he said it's doesn't matter, if it chipset fault we will repair it for free, if there is any physical fault there will be charge, but if i do not wish to pay for repairing a "physical fault" i still have to pay 165£ for DHL services, very nice, so this is like playing russian roulette, and yes no more nvidia for me, nvidia just lost a customer, not sony, i'm looking further to get one FW series with 2.8GHz proc and 1GB Ati HD4650, no more nvidia!!! All i'm wondering what physical fault to the graphic card can be done lol, if it was overheating, it's not physical fault, it's sony/nvidia fault, also guys who recieved money for their laptops did you buy them directly from sony??

[ds_uk_]

Also does anyone had problems with sony in UK?

[ds_uk_]

DHL will pick up my laptop soon, but sony didn't say should i inclose battery or not, i think last time i did send my loppy without a battery, but can't remember exacly, can anyone help me with the answer, thanks...

[jogger100]

do not send battery or mains charger.

[travick]

How long does it take to fix a laptop with Sony Vaio Service? Friend of mine told me that replacing a motherboard and Nvidia card should take about 5h. Anyway I am still waiting for DHL box so I can send it out. I’ve been thinking that maybe I should remove my 4gb of RAM + batteries as one of you said. I have to acknowledge that going back to Toshiba will be a way out for me. I had it once but it was stolen. This is so annoying that Sony product became so unreliable. Same with Nvidia card happened to be a complete joke. Do not bother phoning Sony Centers in UK. Guys in Sheffield are complete moppets and will tell you that they are doing sales only.

Tom

[SteveWirral]

Hi Guys I'm not a techy minded guy and I have two Sony vaio's one of which (my son's) has exhibited all the symptoms of the Nvidea fault. to compound the problem the machine was bought from CostCo and is a model PCG-391M which I am reliably informed is a VGN-FZ21M branded for CostCo. I have been onto Sony support and they made no mention of the design/manufacturing fault just wanted to charge a fortune to "look at it"!
I have now mailed support to tell them I am now aware of the "design fault". I await their reply!
Anyone else with the same machine/problem and has it been resolved??

By the way my VGN-NR21J/S has now started to run very hot, Is this the same problem??

[Thalamus.]

Hi Guys I'm not a techy minded guy and I have two Sony vaio's one of which (my son's) has exhibited all the symptoms of the Nvidea fault. to compound the problem the machine was bought from CostCo and is a model PCG-391M which I am reliably informed is a VGN-FZ21M branded for CostCo. I have been onto Sony support and they made no mention of the design/manufacturing fault just wanted to charge a fortune to "look at it"!
I have now mailed support to tell them I am now aware of the "design fault". I await their reply!

Hi SteveWirral,

welcome to Club VAIO..

Sony have released a statement confirming that some Vaio models can have distorted video, random characters or blank screen issues due to failure of the NVIDIA graphics chip.

The models concerned are as follows..

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

To view the announcement open Vaio support, either by clicking Support at the top of this page or use the following link:Vaio support

Under Log-in option 2: Select your VAIO model, next to Select Model Category - Select your model from the drop down list, in your case VGN FZ.

Then next to Select Model - select VGN-FE21M

Then click Log-IN

Once logged in copy & paste - Distorted video, random characters or blank screen issues due to failure of the NVIDIA graphics chip into the search box and click on the search magnifying glass.

Under the words Useful Links, click on Distorted video, random characters or blank screen issues due to failure of the NVIDIA graphics chip

You should now see announcement as attached below.

Hope this helps..

[SteveWirral]

Thank you Thalmus.

I take it that as the VGN FZ21M is one of the models with the faulty Nvidia chip that this problem will be sorted by Sony?

I am more than a little annoyed that in previous conversations with Vaio customer support no one at Sony bothered to tell me about this problem or even that the laptop was in fact a
VGN-FZ21M!
They suggested a new motherboard might be required at a cost that prompted me to buy a 2 new laptops (not Sony) for my son's at university. had they been forthcoming in the first instance I would have no doubt purchased at least one new laptop anyway, in all likelihood another Vaio as to date we have been a Sony Household!

Not the best way in the world to treat and retain customers is it?

Steve

[Thalamus.]

I take it that as the VGN FZ21M is one of the models with the faulty Nvidia chip that this problem will be sorted by Sony?

If the problem is indeed nVidia GPU related then yes it should be, try contacting VAIO support again and inform them that you've read the 'Distorted video, random characters or blank screen issues due to failure of the NVIDIA graphics chip statement'..

If you still encounter problems let us know..

As to your Vaio, PCG-391M is the generic code which is usually printed on the bottom of your vaio's chassis..

You should be able to locate the correct Vaio model code in the following locations...

Just below the VAIO's screen, printed on the original VAIO box or in Start, All Programs, VAIO Control Center, System Information..

[FahadYunas]

Hi,

I have recently purchased Vaio FZ38M which has the same 8400M GT which is faulty (although at the moment its working fine). Just wanted to know if there are any FZ38M users who have experienced GPU failure problem.

Another question: Is Sony totally replacing the 8400M GPU in the affected laptops or merely replacing the old motherboard with a new one having the same 8400 GPU?