Defective Nvidia chipsets in your current Vaio?

[iisdev]

Nvidia investors were just informed that the company is taking a $150 to $200 million dollar charge related to "higher than normal" failure rates in notebooks for it's (unspecified) "previous generation" GPU and/or it's thermal system.

Update:

The Nvidia G84, G84M, G86, and G86M chipsets (GeForce 8 series, GeForce 9 series) have been identified as the ones that are defective. All of these chipsets (both mobile and desktop) use the same application-specific integrated circuit. It is possible that the G92, G92M, G94, and G94M chipsets are affected as well. The Inquirer has confirmed the issue also occurs in GPUs as recent as the new G96M chipsets.

See the list below for actual models that may apply to you. It appears to be specifically related to revision A2. The problem has not been reported with revision A3 and upwards.

This is a heat related issue with the bonding substrate used in the manufacturing process. The thermal tolerance for these materials was lower than what the specs required and can not handle the hot-cold-hot-cold states caused by power cycling the computer as well as voltage variations by the power management software. Notebook users are seeing failure sooner than their desktop counterparts specifically because of these reasons. ("usage patterns" mentioned in the 8k report)

Affected mobile models:
GeForce 8400M G (released May, 2007)
GeForce 8400M GS (released May, 2007)
GeForce 8400M GT (released May, 2007)
GeForce 8600M GS (released May, 2007)
GeForce 8600M GT (released May, 2007)
GeForce 8700M GT (released June, 2007)

The following models were identified by other manufacturers as well:
Quadro NVS 135M
Quadro NVS 135M
Quadro FX 360M
GeForce Go 7xxx (HP recent disclosure and 2007 class action settlement)

Affected desktop models:
GeForce 8300 GS (OEM) (released July, 2007)
GeForce 8400 GS (released June, 2007)
GeForce 8500 GT (released April, 2007)
GeForce 8600 GS (released April, 2007)
GeForce 8600 GT (released April, 2007)
GeForce 8600 GTS (released April, 2007)

Temperature Polls

Please take the temperature polls and answer a few questions about your notebook so we can try to determine the degree to which the Vaio models are affected.

GeForce 8400M GS (SZ series)

GeForce 8400M GT (FZ series)

GeForce 8600M GT (AR series)

Timeline & Related Links

October 22, 2007
Brothers v. Hewlett-Packard Company class action (Power Plug & Graphics Card) lawsuit filed

November ?? 2007
HP identifies 24 models with faulty Nvidia chips, extends warranty to 2 years & free repair

June 22, 2008
Dell issues a bios update to fix thermal issues

June 23, 2008
175.19 drivers made available

June 26, 2008
BenchmarkReviews notices a substantial hit in performance with the new drivers.

June 27, 2008
175.19 drivers are pulled from the Nvidia website.

July 2, 2008
Nvidia admits GPUs failing at abnormal rates. Expects to take up to a $200 million charge for costs of repairs/returns.

NVIDIA Provides Second Quarter Fiscal 2009 Business Update

July 4, 2008
Foreign chip contractors claim defective chipsets date back to 2007

July 6-7, 2008
The 175.19 drivers re-appear on Nvidia's site.

July 7, 2008
Nvidia plays the meltdown blame game

July 9, 2008
All Nvidia G84 and G86s are bad

July 15, 2008
Answer Id 2214: Heat related issues with some NVIDIA notebook chips.

July 16, 2008
NVIDIA denies rumors of faulty chips, mass GPU failures

July 25, 2008
Dell identifies 10 models with faulty Nvidia chips..

Channel vendors demand card makers recall faulty Nvidia products

Jul 28, 2008
HP: Nvidia graphics defect an issue since November 2007

July 31, 2008
Figuring out which NVIDIA GPUs are defective -- it's a lot

August 12, 2008
GeForce Power Pack released (PhysX for all 8-series & 9-series cards)

Nvidia G92s and G94 reportedly failing

August 13, 2008
NVIDIA Second Quarter of Fiscal 2009 report

NVIDIA in the red last quarter due to manufacturing issue

August 14, 2008
Die Package Problem Might Affect Desktop Parts

August 18, 2008
Dell offers Limited Warranty Enhancement to All Affected Customers Worldwide

August 26, 2008
Nvidia's mouth shut by OEMS?

September 9, 2008
First Class Action Lawsuit filed against Nvidia over defective GPUs

September 10, 2008
NVIDIA sued over notebook GPU failures

October 09, 2008
Apple: some notebooks with NVIDIA graphics processor affected.

October 14, 2008
HP confirms 38 desktop models have faultly GPUs

December 9, 2008
First hard evidence that new G96 chipsets not immune to manufacturing problem

December 26, 2008
Nvidia's Solution To Defective GPUs : Buy Our New Chips

August 3, 2009
Sony: Distorted Video, Duplicate Images or Blank Screen Issues [with Nvidia notebooks]

August 4, 2009
Important Notice for VAIO® Computers with NVIDIA Graphic Chip

VAIOパーソナルコンピューターに搭載のNVIDIA社製一部グラフィックス
プロセッシング ユニットに関する無償保証期間延長のお知らせ

August 6, 2009
Nvidia takes [additional] charge for faulty graphics chips

[sdh]

Is there any release from Sony on this. Will we get a free replacement of mother board or only if there is a failure, replacement will be free.

[iisdev]

Originally Posted by sdh

Is there any release from Sony on this. Will we get a free replacement of mother board or only if there is a failure, replacement will be free.

All good questions. I don't know. In the interim they're reported to be considering tweaking their drivers to increase fan output earlier (as stress starts to build) rather then later. They're stock plunged when this came out; I'm sure you'll be seeing a lot of websites chime in tomorrow.

[Vash the Stampede]

from the link of the website it does put the 8 at the end of it. i hope it isn't true because iam ordering a sony with a 8000 series intergrated with it...

[sdh]

Originally Posted by Vash the Stampede

from the link of the website it does put the 8 at the end of it. i hope it isn't true because iam ordering a sony with a 8000 series intergrated with it...

that 8K is the link looks like some type of SEC id.

[BuyMyToasters]

SZ750 here. I checked out the thread the Dell 1550/30 XPS chaps are running. I haven't experience any issues on my pretty much brand new laptop. I've played some Dawn of War, 5 hour tracts of Guild Wars, and some C&C Generals so far without issues. Really the only issue was finding updated drivers for my laptop since nVidia didn't bother to put any out. (X-Treme G drivers currently).

This does worry me a bit as cramming a t8100 and a 8400 GS into the same 13.3" case sounds dangerous. I suppose I'll have to download a temperature monitor to keep tabs on it. On the plus side, I'll be using the "stamina mode" more often since it runs the x3100 Intel graphics instead of the nvidia chip.

[ScuderiaConchiglia]

Originally Posted by sdh

that 8K is the link looks like some type of SEC id.

It is. That is a standard SEC form number. There is NOTHING in the article to indicate which chip family is affected.

Gary

[iisdev]

Originally Posted by ScuderiaConchiglia

There is NOTHING in the article to indicate which chip family is affected.

Gary

Other than the quote "previous generation". Current generation chipset would be the 9xxx series no? That quote is most likely directed at the 8xxx series although it could also include some of the 7xxx series as well.

Hmm. Their public relations guy stated that they won't disclose which chipsets were affected. Probably because they fear a class action lawsuit. I'm certainly going to be monitoring the temperature a lot more closely when using the Speed mode in my SZ.

[b|lly]

I have seen some issues on Asus notebooks and other brands, but nothing with sony.

I guess sony likes to take the real quality, not like asus, who likes to takes the cheapest parts available. I am sure manufacturers knows for each line of product, which are better quality and which arent.

[iisdev]

Nvidia pulled a driver that was available just before the SEC filing - does anyone remember what it was? (It was higher than 175.16 - possibly 175.80?) One of the hardware sites (still trying to find the link) noticed a major hit in performance. I wonder if this is related. Would they deliberately throttle performance for the cards in question (in addition to increasing the fan output?). If so that would be a fairly easy way to identify the chipsets.

Edit:
It was the 175.19 drivers. Finally found the article. It was released June 23rd. BetaNews also seems to think there might be a connection. The 175.19 drivers may be throttling the core and memory clock speeds - can anyone confirm this with one of the suspected 8xxx series chipsets?

Also - some OEMs have released updated drivers as early as Wednesday. The updated drivers are targeting the 8400M & 8600M chipsets. No response yet from Sony.

It's worrying that they are not releasing details on the specific chipsets affected; it may indicate that they've only just become aware of the issue or that the problem is more wide spread than they'd like to report.