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Dell Extends Warranties for Laptops With Failing Nvidia Chips While Nvidia Stays Mum
Posted by Matt Buchanan at 12:30 AM on August 20, 2008
A major cause of frustration in the Nvidia notebook GPU fiasco--where "significant quantities" of notebook graphics cards are packaged with "weak" materials leading them to overheat and fail at a "higher-than-normal rate"--is that Nvidia is declining to identify exactly which chips are bad, as the WSJ notes today. So you've gotta find out from your notebook maker if you're possibly stuck with a time bomb. Dell is extending its limited warranties by a year to deal with the issue in the following notebooks:
Even if, as Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang says, that different notebook configurations and designs affect how the flameout will rear its head, it doesn't really excuse not disclosing the exact chips affected--widely believed to be of the G84 and G86 variety--and this effective silence is largely why rumours that most of their mobile GeForce 8 series is bad are able to gain traction, despite Nvidia's protests. Some actual information would go a long way in quelling them.
In the meantime, a BIOS fix that will simply delay or reduce the chance of the onset of the problem by kicking on the cooling fans earlier is an incomplete solution. We hope Dell is "going to take care of [their] customers" as promised. Ideally, since they (presumably) have the information about which specific configurations are at the greatest risk, they would notify those customers and offer to replace the card entirely, otherwise those customers are basically waiting for their cards to die. [WSJ, Dell]
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
Justin Yoong
Posted August 20, 2008 4:19 PM
I am extremely upset about this. I purchased a XPS M1210 just over a year ago and it has the exact same issue. As the M1210 is not as popular, it hasn't been included in the list above. I can't afford to spend $660 on the laptop, so it breaks my heart to have to throw it away. It's only 1 year old and does not even have a scratch on it.
If I had known that the computer was not strong enough to handle Vista, I would have taken XP. I had no idea it would come down to a Manufacturing fault in 12 months time. :(
Andrew E
Posted September 9, 2008 9:50 AM
Dell have issued a Bios Update. I recently updated a D630 to the current Bios A13, it worked a treat.
Justin, you may find a Bios update, then update the NVidia driver might improve your M1210.
Brian
Posted October 15, 2008 3:29 AM
Justin,
I have an xps 1210 that is also experiencing the same problem. I am almost certain that it is the same gpu failure. I've contacted dell and posted on the direct2dell blog and have urged them to include the 1210 in the extended warranty. So far I haven't gotten anywhere, but I'm trying to get more 1210 users to report it. Mine is just over a year old and won't even boot up now.
Donald M Pezoa
Posted November 8, 2008 9:10 PM
Same Problem here, I'm stuck with a bad GPU nvidia chip m1210 xps dell laptop. My frustation is to see how dishonest dell and nvidia are toward loyal customers. I've been with dell for over 10 years, but this is it. THEY KNEW THIS MODEL WAS AFFECT WITH THE SAME ISSUE AND THEY DIDN'T NOTHING TO ADVICE, NOTIFY OR HELP THEIR CUSTOMERS. May be they thought we can save a some money. Well DELL you have one customer less in your database. I WON'T EVER BUY DELL AGAIN AND I WILL ADVICE TO ALL MY CUSTOMER TO DO THE SAME.
quu
Posted 12:52 AM 20/8/08
my wife's XPS M1710 has a GeForce Go 7950 with 512M of ram, and it just bit the dust (the video card). Dell is going to replace the card, but I wonder if it uses the same chips that the others have with issues? It is a 7000 series, so I did not think it would have.
quu
Dreadfish
Posted 12:43 AM 20/8/08
I think my MBP has one of the cards in question (and the warranty JUST expired)
Dreadfish
Kaiser-Machead's WALL-E fetish
Posted 12:39 AM 20/8/08
What about other laptops with NVidia cards?
Kaiser-Machead's WALL-E fetish
Joseph_Shaw_520
Posted 1:18 AM 20/8/08
My question is why is the Vostro 1500 not on there (different from the 1510). It has the 8400 in it, and gets screamin hot. No bios update and is not on the list anywhere. They just gonna forget about it or what?
Joseph_Shaw_520
Smoove-J
Posted 1:16 AM 20/8/08
I just had the mobo replaced by a mofo from Dell for presumably the same reason in my XPS 1330. Crazy vertical lines on boot that would drift across the screen, followed by an abrupt shut-down. XPS tech support had me update BIOS, chipset and graphics drivers before acknowledging a larger problem. Once they agreed to replace the motherboard, it took exactly 36 hours from the time I called 'till the tech arrived and replaced it on-site. Not bad! System rocks once again.
Smoove-J
weatherman
Posted 1:04 AM 20/8/08
WOw. I had this problem just last week and didn't even know it was part of a bigger problem. My D620's screen went all screwy and I called Dell immediately, had the unit picked up and it was back in my hands about 3 days later. So far it's working just fine. I'm pretty impressed with Dell's service, actually.
weatherman
Froggmann
Posted 1:53 AM 20/8/08
Greaaaat... Mine's on the list. At least I now know why it went into thermal shutdown 2 weeks ago. And people wonder why I hate Nvidia.
Froggmann
e-friend
Posted 1:46 AM 20/8/08
The fools over at Mac Rumors have convinced themselves that EVERY SINGLE MBP EVER is effected and everyone is going to die.
e-friend
Samutz
Posted 2:14 AM 20/8/08
How about Dell laptops with other nVidia series cards?
My company bought 3 Inspiron 9400s, identical to one another. Each one has a GeForce Go 7900 GS.
One of those three shipped with the video card already defective. It started off with minor polygon/3d-model distortion in 3d applications (games mostly). Then the distortion got worse as time went on. Then eventually we started seeing other aspects of the video rending start to go corrupt, such as stretched/distored 2d graphics, bits of the screen missing. So we had Dell ship us a replacement video card. It's been fine since then.
Then recently another laptop (mine) started showing the same symptoms as the first one. So we called Dell again and they sent us another replacement video card. Only this time the video corruption was still there and worse. So next, I tried swapping RAM with the last "no problems" laptop. Still didn't work. We even tried swapping the CPUs. Still didn't work. So we called Dell back and they send us a replacement motherboard. We installed it. Still no change.
So finally we swapped the video cards on my laptop and the "no problems" laptop. And it finally worked again.
So apparently the video card Dell sent us was defective out of the box. Which brings us to a total of 3 defective videos cards we've received from them (the first laptop, mine, then the replacement for mine).
We've called in again that we need another video card, and they basically told us that they don't believe us and will be sending a technician to us to check it out him or herself, which has left me very angry with them as this means I'm without my laptop for even longer (it's been about a month now since mine has become unusable).
Samutz
theweerdough
Posted 2:04 AM 20/8/08
The company I work for has 6 Precision M90s which aren't on the list but every one of them has had to have the video card replaced and two of them twice, and the latest failure they just shipped a new laptop because they have had the cards on back order for 3 months. And these laptops are only 1 year old
theweerdough
y3n0
Posted 2:01 AM 20/8/08
Already had my mobo replaced (with a refurb)--screen too on my xps m1330. installed the bios update..but kind of regretting it since it's just a temporary bandaid so that the problem could be averted by the time the warranty lapses.
I want an actual fix/videocard replacement via recall or something. Or class action. pick your poison
y3n0
smartboydan has a headache
Posted 1:59 AM 20/8/08
Damn, my 1720 isn't on there. I want a free extra year of warranty.
smartboydan has a headache
Decaye
Posted 1:55 AM 20/8/08
@e-friend: Every single MBP with an 8 series card is affected...
Decaye
Kaiser-Machead's WALL-E fetish
Posted 1:53 AM 20/8/08
@e-friend: Everyone except us lowly GMA-sportin' Macbook plebeians. Huzzah.
Kaiser-Machead's WALL-E fetish
mwainer
Posted 2:27 AM 20/8/08
Do we know the dates of the affected cards? I just got a new XPS M1530 last week ... is mine at risk as well?
mwainer
PR_Flak
Posted 1:30 AM 20/8/08
I'll confirm it for the XPS m1710 with the 512MB 7950 -- mine has died TWICE since I bought the computer a year ago.
The first time, they replaced the 7950 card (and the motherboard (for the second time), the LCD monitor and, oddly enough, the external wrist guard) via in-home service. Worked great for about a month after that.
It just died again with a "hardware parity error" and the lappie went to a "repair depot." They wanted another month to repair it, but after my head exploded through the phone they are sending me a new 1730 which they "SAY" doesn't have the same issue. We'll see.
PR_Flak
Xavoc
Posted 3:12 AM 20/8/08
@Samutz: Yeah, see... That's just having a bad card. Not "all of this series have a serious problem due to faulty materials/design"...
Basically, you're hosed because their stock of the replacement cards is apparently going down.
Xavoc
danishh
Posted 4:20 AM 20/8/08
awesome. My m1330 warranty expired last week, and i was a bit worried. I have already had to send it in once for a full mobo and graphics replacement (i was one of the number of people actually effected by the failing chips) and am worried it may happen again. Now i dont have to count on the mastercard warranty.
danishh
shawnw
Posted 4:19 AM 20/8/08
my m1330's nvidia 8800m gs died today. called dell this morning, someone will be out "in a day or two" to replace the video adapter.
shawnw
y3n0
Posted 3:59 AM 20/8/08
@mwainer: Yes, your laptop is most likely affected. The flaw is in the design (or manufacturing components for their chipset, according to nVidia). Make sure to update the BIOS so that it has the temporary workaround of having the fans turn on most of the time to avoid overheating.
But then again, with only the BIOS upgrade as the fix, it may be inevitable and it's just a ticking time bomb. Nvidia and its OEMs for the affected chipsets need to do a massive recall for sure.
y3n0
theespacepope
Posted 4:53 AM 20/8/08
I JUST bought an xps m1530. like two weeks ago. :(
theespacepope
RAEdwards
Posted 5:12 AM 20/8/08
Well HP isn't covering ALL their Nvida 8xxx notebooks. I have a Pavilion dv9500t that won't be covered by extended warranty and it died 4 days after the original warranty lapsed. Apparently, they are only covering the AMD systems and not Intels.
RAEdwards
Bokusatsu_Tenshi
Posted 5:51 AM 20/8/08
@Smoove-J:
@y3n0:
Same here. Have a M1330, already got my mobo replaced.
Only I live in Brazil, and it took 3 months for the replacement parts to get here.
Right after waiting another 3 months for the laptop to get here.
You can guess how happy I was with that...
Bokusatsu_Tenshi
nxmehta
Posted 5:36 AM 20/8/08
I've had FIVE D630 video cards die on me and my current on is on its way out. I could have told Dell that these things were failing due to overheating over a year ago.
I'm glad that they are extending my warranty, but what I really want back is all the time I had to spend justifying to the tech over the phone that my video card died and I need a new one (no, it's not windows; no, it's not my lcd; etc.)
nxmehta
Mike918
Posted 8:02 AM 20/8/08
See? this is why you don't put a freaking monster of a graphic card inside a laptop.
Mike918
vonbergen
Posted 8:48 AM 20/8/08
what is happening with sony and their vaio products??
vonbergen
SunandiniLubrano
Posted 8:33 AM 20/8/08
Went around and around with Dell on the phone, updated Bios, ran diagnostics. After weeks Dell sent over a tech to "change the board" and now all is well again. As noted above the main symptom was a strange image of vertical lines slowly moving past the screen followed by abrupt shut down.It also would just crash periodically.
SunandiniLubrano
PR_Flak
Posted 7:30 AM 21/8/08
@SunandiniLubrano:
You seem to be on my "Step 1" - replace motherboard.
"Step 2" was another complete system failure with another MoBo replacement, this time with a grfx card to boot.
"Step 3" was the trip to the repair depot and eventual death of the system.
PR_Flak