Acer Aspire 7720 - Nvidia Defect

[NvidiaDefect]

Hello Squeeze666,

Sorry to say but the Nvidia defect is not only present in the 8000 series but it is also present in many, many others.

In a legal action brought by NUFI (National Union Fire Insurance) who are Nvidia's own insurance company, it is stated:-

The filing then goes into chapter and verse about Nvidia customers. "The chip claims arise out of allegedly defectively designed Nvidia chips G86, G86A2, G84, C51, G72, G72M, G73, G72A3, MCP67 and NV42." On August 6th last year, Nvidia contacted NUFI about a claim by Dell, demanding a defense and idemnity against claims against Dell.

So, as you can see, the problem is far more widespread.

Then you have the BGA defect which is caused by the removal of the lead from the lead based solder due to ROHS (Restriction Of Harmful Substances) regulations. This is causing failures in a number of the 9000 series GPU's along with some of the ATI GPU's that are bonded onto the mainboard.

You will find that the manufacturers are not shouting about this from the rooftops for obvious reasons.

If the OP is the original purchaser of the laptop then he can either pursue a free repair or a pro-rated refund.

The Sale Of Goods Act 1979 (as amended) and the Limitations Act 1980 gives all consumers six years from the date of purchase in which to file a claim against a retailer when the goods in question have failed due to an inherent defect.

If you Google Nvidia Defect Forum you will find more information.

I hope the above helps.

Best wishes

Paul
The Nvidia Defect Forum

[squee666]

yes but the 9600m gt uses the G9X Architecture.

and so most if not all of the 9xxxx no use any of the designs above.


Though it was a really bad defect, thanks for the reply

[vacaloca]

Yea but would you really want to be subjugated to a reflow everytime it failed.

FYI vacola this laptop uses an mxm card so it jsut gets removed and can be ovened, but Tbh its a low end card and will get the issue in the future so to prevent that from happening we are offering him different model gpus that dont have the issue to replace his.

He could probable squeze a few more years out of the laptop with a new gpu.

The Dell D630's NVIDIA chip I had was soldered to the mainboard, so I figured it couldn't hurt since it was already broken. But yes, it probably makes sense to buy the new part for the OP... just thought I'd give a suggestion with enough warnings in place.

In re: subsequent reflows, I think that can be also be mitigated by doing a better paste job to some extent -- for example, I put new 1mm thick thermal pads on the Dell D630 before putting it back together.

[.NetRolller 3D]

Some early-manufactured 9600M GTs are also affected by the Nvidia defect (known on this forum as Bumpgate). Anything manufactured after Week 38, 2008 should be fine. This includes all 9600M cards with chip rev. C1, as well as the entire GT 230M/240M/330M lineup. For 9600M GS/GT rev. A1, ask the seller about the date code on the chip - if it's 0838 or higher, then it's safe; otherwise beware.

Good:

Date code is 1016 (week 16 of 2010) - should be safe.

Bad:

Date code is 0822 (week 22 of 2008) - potentially Bumpgate-affected!