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...

[ioskorpo]

my sony vaio vgn-fz21e will not boot.
when i start it up, I hear one long beep and the two short beeps and that’s it.
the screen stays blank, the mouse doesn't work and same with the keyboard.
I sent them an e-mail and this is their answer, do you think that they try to screw me regarding payment?

Thank you for contacting us.
Should the nVidia issue be diagnosed in the repair centre it will be done within warranty please read the following for the procedure:
Please note that your VAIO is currently outside the warranty period therefore the repair is going to be chargeable. (if diagnosed as the issue above this will be a warranty repair)
The repair turn around time is 5 working days depending on the part availability and payments.
The repair center will contact you within the next 24h to discuss the payment. If you accept the repair cost then pre-payment will be taken before the VAIO is collected. Once the VAIO is diagnosed in the repair center the estimate with full cost will be sent out to you.
Please back up your personal data before shipping the Vaio to the repair center as Sony do not take any responsibility for their lose.
If you provide us with a mobile phone number, then you will receive an SMS once the unit arrives at the repair centre and on the day it ships from the repair centre.
Should you accept the above repair terms and conditions please reply with the following:
- The collection pickup address
- Windows login name and password
- BIOS password
- Two best contact numbers
- Email address, only if you are able to access it from another computer
Important!! Once the callback is setup you will receive a confirmation email with a case id.
Should you have any further queries, please feel free to reply to this email
or contact us at these numbers below:
VAIO in warranty: 0870 240 2408
VAIO out of warranty: 0905 031 0006
Our lines are open 8 am to 6 pm Monday to Friday

[Karlo206]

My Vaio (FZ31Z) has the same problem. Nevermind the substantial effort involved in moving all my applications to another machine and cleaning my Vaio (sorry I just can't provide customer sensitive data to a Vaio support technician), I've yet to hear back from Sony AFTER providing all details (including screenshots) FOR A WEEK. Fair enough, they stated it would take them 48 hours to deal with my initial query (to which they replied with a standard template), but a week to follow up on a known issue?

So is this standard Sony support?

48 hours initial response.
Response: (template) Please check the following and get back to us:
48 hours reply (ideally), in reality one week... and counting!

Does it strike anyone else as particularly odd that ANY person afflicted with a faulty Vaio wait 96 hours at best to have their complaint (a known issue) resolved?

To top it all off, I am not currently living in the UK, however my wife is there for a week. With more than enough time before her trip, I explained the situation (and thus the urgency) in my email, yet NO attempt made to assist.

I'll update this with progress, though no doubt my support will be entirely void as I deviated off the Vista 32bit path by installing Windows 7!

[baw-bag]

Looks like I'm the latest victim of this graphics card problem.

I have an AR41S with 8600M GT, bought in Feb 2008 from the Sony website. Switching it on one morning, I was greeted with three beeps (one long then two short eg. video problem), a blank screen and nothing else, and so it remains.

I'm fairly certain the problem is related to this faulty Nvidia chip, as I have taken good care of the laptop, sits on a laptop cooler all the time, and I very rarely play games, watch movies or any other graphics-intensive stuff on it. Even if I did, I would expect the graphics card to last more than just 2 years, given it spent over £1000 on the machine.

I'm gutted by the fact that my model isnt on the 'magic recall list' as mines is AR4 and Sony only state AR1, AR2 and AR3 mdoels are affected. I've contacted Vaio support about this and still waiting for the response. Are any other AR4, AR5... owners in a similar situation, or any suggestions how to resolve this problem?

Cheers

[Thalamus.]

My Vaio (FZ31Z) has the same problem. Nevermind the substantial effort involved in moving all my applications to another machine and cleaning my Vaio (sorry I just can't provide customer sensitive data to a Vaio support technician), I've yet to hear back from Sony AFTER providing all details (including screenshots) FOR A WEEK. Fair enough, they stated it would take them 48 hours to deal with my initial query (to which they replied with a standard template), but a week to follow up on a known issue?

So is this standard Sony support?

48 hours initial response.
Response: (template) Please check the following and get back to us:
48 hours reply (ideally), in reality one week... and counting!

Does it strike anyone else as particularly odd that ANY person afflicted with a faulty Vaio wait 96 hours at best to have their complaint (a known issue) resolved?

To top it all off, I am not currently living in the UK, however my wife is there for a week. With more than enough time before her trip, I explained the situation (and thus the urgency) in my email, yet NO attempt made to assist.

I'll update this with progress, though no doubt my support will be entirely void as I deviated off the Vista 32bit path by installing Windows 7!

Hi Karlo206,

did you supply vaio support with the contact number or address as requested in the email dated March the 3rd.?

Alternatively if you could send me a daytime contact number, via Private Message please, I'll gladly pass it on for you..

To send me a private Message click on the following link: Private Message to Thalamus

[baw-bag]

**UPDATE**

As expected, the response from Vaio Support was essentially 'your model is not on the magic list of those affected, therefore we will charge you a fortune to have it fixed'.

For a graphics card to pack in after only two years of light use is totally unacceptable. As an IT professional by trade, I have always be relatively happy with the level of quality and service from both Sony and Nvidia.... until now. Never again will I buy a Vaio or any product bearing an Nvidia chip, and I will definitely be recommending alternative brands to friends and clients from now on.

Ok rant over! I dont really want to be stuck with an expensive Vaio-shaped doorstop, and would rather not sell it for spares. I've found a couple of services on Ebay which claim to repair it, but im not sure how reliable they are. Also, I would ideally look for a service which completely replaces the faulty solder rather than simply reheat/reflow it as chances are it will simply pack in again.

Can anyone suggest a good laptop repair shop in London, or anywhere that do a collection service?

Cheers in advance!

[Karlo206]

Hi Thalamus,

For your public record,
This is the email received (real names removed) 19th Feb (FRI)

--------------
Dear 'Karlo206'

Thank you for your email with regards to your issue with Graphic display.

Kindly be note that the repair will take about 5 working days.
Could you please provide us with the answers of this questions:
1-Start the VAIO. When the VAIO logo is displayed, use the F2 key to enter the BIOS and verify if there are any display problems in the BIOS?
2-Verify that the Power LED of the VAIO is lit up.
3-Connect the VAIO's VGA-port to an external screen and repeat the test from step 1.
4-Do you have abnormal BIOS display or blank display with power LED lit up?

Should you have any further questions or queries, please feel free to reply to this email or contact us on these numbers below:
VAIO in warranty: < 0870 240 2408 >
VAIO out of warranty: < 0905 031 0006 >
Our lines are open 8 am to 6 pm Monday to Friday
Regards,
'Sony Support guy'
Sony VAIO-Link Team
--------------------

I responded on the 23rd (TUE) with relevant information (including bios screenshots), yet again stressing the dates my wife will be in the UK.


------------------- 23rd Feb
I answer the questions and post:

Dear 'Sony Support guy'

I also read that you give preference for business users. I use my Vaio primarily for work and as such I am significantly affected by having to send my laptop away for a week (essentially I have to rebuild another machine during this period). My core concern however is that if the problem is not fixed within a relatively short timespan (while my wife is in the UK 26th February to 4th March), it will greatly affect the period of time I am adversely affected as it will also then need to be sent back (instead of London). Would it be possible to put the repair on priority so that it could be returned before the 4th March?

Lastly I've attached two images of the problems I'm experiencing. I included these images as the issues I have are intermittent. Yesterday I had relatively few issues, today within the space of 30 minutes, the lines started to appear. Typially this seems to be when the machine is more heavily utilized as opposed to merely running idle. Most likely when your technicians initially switch the machine on (from cold) the lines will not appear and I can't afford to send the laptop away for a week only for it to be returned as 'not faulty'.

Yours Faithfully,
'Karlo206'
----------------------


No response (then again I know it takes up to 48 hours, so I just sit back)

I chased up on this request again (2nd March) and followed up on this forum.

03 March :
"Kindly be informed that you didn't provide us with the address that the notebook shall be picked up and delivered to"

Well, I've not been asked to provide any such information up until now, which (if you had read my initial and follow up email) is now too late.

My wife was heading back that evening, so brought it back with her.

Thanks for you help Thalamus. I don't wish to sound ungratefull, but it greatly annoys me that this it is becoming a trend that I get better support through a public forum than a dedicated support department, perhaps because that is where the Marketing department is affected? I've a great deal of experience in implementing both marketing/sales as well as support software, so I understand decisions and financial pressures on involved.

Either your support department is either under staffed/funded or your support software is so antiquated that it could not even flag (what should be) a higher priority case as 'important' after it's been sitting in a queue for over 48 hours. I would assume my initial email was hardly read and met with a standard template and ignored. That could not have taken more than 30 seconds right? For the life of me however I can't fathom (other than a technical glitch) why my response on the 23rd was ignored for 168 hours until I followed up on this forum? Am I rated as a 'difficult' customer, perhaps your support guy just didn't like me?

Now Thalamus, I appreciate this qualifies as a rant and that you've done nothing but assist me, so don't take this personally. Two years ago I purchased a laptop with 4GB ram that came out with an OS that only supported 3GB ram. As I'd done 'some' research into Vaio laptops, I knew many of them supported (or had beta drivers) for Vista 64 (supports 4GB). After failing to install the graphics card drivers for Vista 64, I visited Sony's website and realised they simply did not have drivers for Vista 64 on my model. So I had a choice, either sit tight with my functional (but ultimately poor) driver and have access to 4GB Ram, or re-install Vista 32 bit with full functionality, but running 3GB. To decide which option was best, I contacted Vaio and asked them if they 'could' tell me if they could find out if/when the Vista 64 bit beta drivers would be released. My question was met with a blanket 'Sorry Sir, we do not support Vista 64' and that they would NOT support anyone unless their OS was Vista 32 bit. So I re-install Vista 32 bit, however from scratch. Problem now though is that I installed it myself, NOT from the recovery disk, so they would not support me either. Problem, my graphics card driver (the original did not work). I sent them screenshots of the driver I downloaded from Vaio and they merely replied something to the extent that I might have damanaged my graphics card by trying to install Vista 64. Okay, so now I realised I was probably dealing with someone with the technical knoewldge of my parent (one of which is still intimidated by a mouse). So as a LAST resort prior to packing in my Vaio and paying serious money to courier my laptop to Sony, I tried ONE LAST TIME... Lo and behold folk, since my original query, Sony had updated and posted the CORRECT graphics driver for my model! Of course the support person did not pick up on this (despite asking me which driver I had downloaded).

So the point I'm making (other than just having a rant) is that I've had three dealings with Sony Vaio support and without fail they have been utterly terrible. This is not an isolated event, this is a trend and one which was echoed by many other folk who have dealt with Vaio support. I appreciate it may be a better business promoting Sony Vaio's by spending millions on advertising at Champions League matches and that word of mouth may have a minimal effect, but I've found with most companies such as approach ultimately only be beneficial in the short run. By all means I appreciate you probably have no say in how management allocates funds or runs the support department, but hey, if it will help forward this to your manager.

That's only cost me about 2 hours of work, but so be it

-----
Long and short, I've contacted my local Sony support centre as per the contact number supplied in the last email I received. They've put me through to a 3rd party company that deals with Sony repairs. It's now a new process to determine who fits the bill for hardware replacement and labour. Round 2.
-----

[Thalamus.]

Thanks for you help Thalamus. I don't wish to sound ungratefull, but it greatly annoys me that this it is becoming a trend that I get better support through a public forum than a dedicated support department, perhaps because that is where the Marketing department is affected? I've a great deal of experience in implementing both marketing/sales as well as support software, so I understand decisions and financial pressures on involved.

Either your support department is either under staffed/funded or your support software is so antiquated that it could not even flag (what should be) a higher priority case as 'important' after it's been sitting in a queue for over 48 hours. I would assume my initial email was hardly read and met with a standard template and ignored. That could not have taken more than 30 seconds right? For the life of me however I can't fathom (other than a technical glitch) why my response on the 23rd was ignored for 168 hours until I followed up on this forum? Am I rated as a 'difficult' customer, perhaps your support guy just didn't like me?

Now Thalamus, I appreciate this qualifies as a rant and that you've done nothing but assist me, so don't take this personally.

Karlo206..

for your information I do NOT work for Sony or Vaio support..

I am, as well as many other helpful members including the other Club VAIO Experts, simply a vaio user, like yourself, who happens to give several hours of my time for free in assisting fellow users..

I was only trying to assist you in resolving your problem, not to worry though, I hope all goes well with your vaio's repair..

[Karlo206]

Karlo206..

for your information I do NOT work for Sony or Vaio support..

I am, as well as many other helpful members including the other Club VAIO Experts, simply a vaio user, like yourself, who happens to give several hours of my time for free in assisting fellow users..

I was only trying to assist you in resolving your problem, not to worry though, I hope all goes well with your vaio's repair..

Hi Thalamus.

What I want to make clear (which is why I posted my original email) was that I clearly stressed the timeframe during which my laptop 'could' be repaired and that Sony was not awaiting a response from me when they replied on the 3rd. The contact number and address requested in the email dated March 3rd had not previously been requested. I was still waiting for confirmation from the support department that my laptop qualified for free repair after having sent them the answers to their questions (and screenshots) at 9am on the 23rd.

Appologies for the misunderstanding. When you stated "did you supply vaio support with the contact number or address as requested in the email dated March the 3rd.?" in a previous post, I incorrectly assumed you could only have access to my support records because you are an employee. I certainly appreciate your involvement, so appologies for the confusion.

[akalunga]

Hi there Chanandler and everyone else! I have exactly the same problem as Chanandler - my screen looks identically. I have Sorry Vaio VGN FZ21s. I bought it in Ireland with guarantee only for a year. That was a year and half ago. I figure they just produce it in order to survive the guarantee period and shortly after than faulty chip takes control and doom.

I'm just so upset! I paid like 1500 euro for this machine and expected to last much more. Sony must know for sure about it and they just ignore it completely. What am I supposed to do now? I can't afford service or a new one and it's not my fault it doesn't work.

I managed after 5 days to get it working. Set power options to saver - worked yesterday, so-so, today it's the same story again. Blue lines and stuff.

The service should exchange it for free with these circumstances. How long Sony can get away with this?
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

I had this problem too, luckily within the extended 2 yr garanteeee!! overheating and those screens where nothing goes anymore, lovely patterns for wall paper, I have the same model, bought it here in germany, and it had to go to repairs twice, and now it works ok, but I only just realized ( as I dont watch a lot of B Ray disks) that my combo drive wont play blue ray anymore. The overheating is amodel problem they said to me here and they changed just about everything!!! graphic chip , mainboard, and fan thingy me bob , I do love this laptop, and the brightness of the double lamp screen thingy is brill, if it wasnt for these irksome bloody problems!! anyone know how to get the blueray thing going again? the dvd works.

[Thalamus.]

Hi there Chanandler and everyone else! I have exactly the same problem as Chanandler - my screen looks identically. I have Sorry Vaio VGN FZ21s. I bought it in Ireland with guarantee only for a year. That was a year and half ago. I figure they just produce it in order to survive the guarantee period and shortly after than faulty chip takes control and doom.

I'm just so upset! I paid like 1500 euro for this machine and expected to last much more. Sony must know for sure about it and they just ignore it completely. What am I supposed to do now? I can't afford service or a new one and it's not my fault it doesn't work.

Hi akalunga,

welcome to Club VAIO..

If the problem is indeed nVidia GPU related, then as your's is one of the models listed below then Sony have stated...

Sony will cover the cost of repair (parts and labour) at no charge during the first four years following the date of purchase of the models in question (see list below).
In case your model is shown in the list below, we invite you to contact VAIO Support to arrange service for your VAIO.


Applicable Models
• 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

I suggest you contact Sony support to find contact details for Sony Vaio support..

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 FZ21S

Then click Log-In

Once logged select Get In Touch