Sony comes clean on faulty 8XXX series Nvidia Chips!

[Radon222]

Thanks.. By the "new" chips, do you mean the chip in my Model laptop, or the replacement chip? Because Sony insisted on swapping out the video as soon as I told them this error. I gave them all occurrences from the event log.

I have a 3.5-year old FZ11S that still has the original (hasn't been replaced under Sony's extended warranty) G86M (8400M GT) GPU.

I've seen the driver recovering from a crash (got exactly the same error as you) a few times when running graphic-intensive applications. However, I've found that the problem only occurs when the GPU is overheating for some reason (e.g. when the room temperature is high).

I've actually been able to replicate this problem by running a certain application and increasing the temperature in the room. Although this error message may indicate a hardware problem, it's not necessarily related to one.

[ScuderiaConchiglia]

I have a 3.5-year old FZ11S that still has the original (hasn't been replaced under Sony's extended warranty) G86M (8400M GT) GPU.

I've seen the driver recovering from a crash (got exactly the same error as you) a few times when running graphic-intensive applications. However, I've found that the problem only occurs when the GPU is overheating for some reason (e.g. when the room temperature is high).

I've actually been able to replicate this problem by running a certain application and increasing the temperature in the room. Although this error message may indicate a hardware problem, it's not necessarily related to one.

If you are seeing this crash because of GPU overheating you are "living on borrowed time". The issue with the Nvidia chips is one of heating and cooling cycles causing the chip to substrate solder joints to crack. The issue is not real the high temps it is the cycling between hot and cold. The bonding material had a different coefficient of expansion than the substrate and expanded and the two parts shrank at a different rates causing the cracks.

My advice to you is to contact Sony and tell them of the GPU driver crashes. This is one of the symptoms that will trigger them to offer a replacement motherboard swap. They are doing them on site now so you don't even have to send the machine back. I'd do it now while you can schedule the downtime rather than waiting until it happens at some inconvenient moment.

Gary

[Radon222]

I've actually been thinking of contacting Sony for quite some time now. The only problem is that it has been really difficult for me to come up with an "acceptable" downtime schedule (I'm away from home and the FZ is the only available computer. It stays on for a minimum of 15 hours every day and sometimes for the whole week running calculations in the background on my linux installation).

I'm so busy I haven't found time to install Win 7 yet....still running Vista Ultimate 32 bit.. I'm not sure if Sony offers on site mainboard replacement in Europe though...that would make things less complicated for me.

The interesting thing about Jets' post is that he got the "nvidia driver has crashed" error message with a *new* GPU. Unless Sony is installing defective GPUs, this could suggest that the driver crash doesn't necessarily indicate a hardware problem.

[wgc]

I just sent my sony vaio vgn fz285u in for the 3rd time to fix the nvidia issue. I have about had it, and I told c.s.r. that I wanted a new unit. Let's see what happens

[EuroAmerican1970]

I've actually had this Nvidia problem for almost a year on my SZ680. One day it just stopped working, and ever since then I can only use my laptop in stamina mode. :-(

I've heard (and even read in this thread) that quite a few SZ owners have been affected by this - so it's so frustrating that this model wasn't included in the recall - and Sony treats me like a one-off case whenever I contact them. But then again, I guess this issue is old news now, LOL. Oh well.

[wgc]

Sony gave me a refurbished vpcf12thx to replace the vgnfz285u. Hopefully no more issues.

[SHASHANK_BEST]

HI,

I Own A Sony Vaio FZ-440E with Nvidia 8400M GT GPU .
Since yesterday , i've been expiriencing Distorted video and scrambled screed and windows reported that Nvidia 8400m GT has stopped working .
I Think that finally my GPU has failed , and I've read the announcement according to which sony is providing free of charge replacement for the affected machines .
Fortunately , my vaio is in the list of applicable models .

But there are some problems :

1. I'm currently outside USA ( In India ) and I purchased it from the US .
2. I do not have any proof of purchase , since my brother purchased it for me .

So i went to a local service center in India and they told that they can't do anything without proof of purchase .
They gave me an option of paying 25000 Rs. for replacing the entire motherboard :P

So , the replacement that Sony provides in the US , do they demand to see the proof of purchase ?

Please Help me stating any possible solution for my scenario ....

Reply

[Skyshade]

They didn't ask for proof of purchase for my repair, even though I have it and I had registered my product.

The extended warranty should be tied to the service tag on that computer and irregardless of how you obtain the computer, as it is an extension of the original manufacturer warranty.

Maybe you want to check with your brother and see if he has saved some information or registered? Every service center is somewhat different so it's hard to say what they would do in India.

[Red Dragon3]

I finally got my FZN-280E back from warranty.
It is on its 3rd motherboard and 2nd hard drive, hope fully it the issue is solved.
I ran FurMark benchmark. Temps was a stable 69C and posting 4FPS. I ran the bench mark for an hour. So far it holds up and no overheating.

[ScuderiaConchiglia]

I finally got my FZN-280E back from warranty.
It is on its 3rd motherboard and 2nd hard drive, hope fully it the issue is solved.
I ran FurMark benchmark. Temps was a stable 69C and posting 4FPS. I ran the bench mark for an hour. So far it holds up and no overheating.

Overheating was never the issue with the NVIDIA chip, the issue was heating and cooling cycles and a substrate separation from those cycles.

Gary