The Nvidia Defect Forum

Hey everyone,
Last night my laptop froze while watching a movie through Windows Media Center, the screen became corrupted with vertical lines and colours coming up everywhere and the same last note from the movie playing until I powered it down by pressing and holding the power button.
I've had the screen issue every so often with the laptop but mainly while playing games, each time I would simply close the game, turn the laptop off and leave it for 5mins, then it would turn on fine again. However this time it's dead, the laptop will turn on but either the screen won't or it will be corrupted, this is in the BIOS and Windows so I know it's not just a fault with Windows.
I've known about the defected GPU issue since t first appeared as at the time, I worked for PC World as a Technician. This was I think about 3 months after buying my laptop so I was literally bricking myself!
I know that the main GPUs affected have been the models based off the G84 and G86 chips, and my laptop uses the 9500GS which while not being officially declared by nvidia as faulty (As they don't want to admit anything!), it is basically derived from the G86 chip design. It doesn't appear I am alone with this either as there seems to be a lot of 8x00 and 9x00 series chips dying with the issue.
I've just phoned the store where I bought the laptop from (Same one that I used to work at) to check if they are still getting customers with these issues, they confirmed that they are still seeing it and to contact the head office to get it sorted. I remember just before I finished working for them I had a customer with a 15month old HP laptop with the fault that was not one of the ones listed by HP but they had contacted the head office and where asked to bring it into the store for a technician to check over, as soon as I saw the fault I just phoned up the manager at the escalated support line and confirmed the fault and explained to her what it was and she just told me to tell them she will be in touch and will be offering them vouchers for a replacement laptop. I'm sure it was for the equivalent spec or original price they paid but either way it gave me hope that if I ever had the issue it would get resolved. Sure enough 2 years later and 5months out of the Asus warranty here I am!
I'm just wanting to confirm before I send the letter if anyone else on here has had the issue with the 9500GS chip or if I am the only one. Also as I paid around £900 for what is effectively still an excellent spec laptop (See end of post), should I expect vouchers for around the same price I paid (£900) or for a laptop with an equivalent spec (Around £650) or will they try to offer me the minimum they can get away with. Also, what are my rights with this? Do they have to offer me something for the equivalent price/spec or can they just try to give me whatever amount they want?
Thanks for the help and thanks Paul for setting up this website so we can all help each other who have been affected by this problem!
Michael


----- Asus G1Sn Main Specs -----
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo T8300
RAM: 3GB DDR2
GPU: Nvidia Geforce 9500GS 512MB
Screen: 15.4" with 1680x1050 resolution (16:10)
HDD: 320GB SATA 5400RPM

Hello Michael and welcome to our forum.

Sorry to hear of the problems you have been experiencing with your laptop.

Your model of laptop is cropping up again and again as being defective and they are starting to fail in large numbers.



Unfortunately it is unlikely that you will get a full refund and more likely that the refund will be reduced according to usage. By my calculations if they do offer a refund it is likely to be in the region of £480.

If this is unsuitable then I would press for a better deal and do not settle unless you get what you want.

I have to say though that I feel that they will simply either offer a repair, (and we all know about repairs to these laptops) or they will offer you the prorated refund.

The key to success is persistence. Don't let them fob you off and stand your ground.

Any questions please let me know.

Good luck and best wishes

Paul
The Admin Team

_________________
=======================================================
Calculate the minimum refund that you would be entitled to.
FAQ's
Why you should not accept a repair
Links to evidence
What is the Nvidia Defect?
Step by step help to getting a refund
Do you need an engineers report?
=======================================================

If you like what you see on this forum and would like to help then please post links to this forum in other forums or blogs. The more people we can help the better.


Please note that I am not legally qualified and I only offer my own personal advice. You are advised to seek professional legal advice for formal clarification of advice I give.

Hi, I am in almost exactly the same situation, bought an Asus G1S in December 2007 which a couple of months ago started freezing at times and eventually I had strange green lines and corruption appear on the screen one day and the laptop restarted itself. After leaving the laptop a couple of days and clearing the dust the laptop booted up apparantly fine but the problem repeated itself after about 20 minutes and since then I haven't been able to login to windows (it just keeps scanning for problems or restarting) and the display is constantly corrupt like a permanant safe mode display even before it gets into windows. Ive been at a complete loss what the problem might have been and couldn't believe it when I found this forum.

I'm not certain if I still have the recipt from the store I bought it from (PC World, £945) but I assumed it wouldn't matter as I would be out of warrenty any way and I have had no idea where I could take it to to be repaired or even what the problem was. Now I have seen people here with similar problems I will try and contact the store I purchased it from and see what happens. I believe the GPU on my laptop is NVIDIA Geforce 8600M GT - 256 MB, has that confirmed to be faulty?

Thanks for any help or tips any one can provide.

Hello Ixion and welcome to our forum.

Sorry to hear that your laptop has failed.



The receipt is not that important as long as you can prove purchase. So a credit card statement or bank statement showing the transaction will suffice.

I have performed dozens and dozens of reports on your model of laptop and they all had the defect so I would say that with the problems you describe, coupled with the fact that you have an 8600 GPU, which is one of the more prolific of the defective GPU's, then I would say that it is highly likely that your laptop is inherently defective.

Your next step is to contact PC World.

They may tell you that you are out of warranty and that there is nothing they can do. You should tell them that the warranty status is irrelevant as you have six years from the date of purchase to take action against the retailer when the goods in question are inherently defective.

They may then tell you to contact Asus.

You should tell them that you purchased from PC World and not Asus so it is up to PC World to resolve the situation.

There is a step by step guide on this forum that will help you reach a positive resolution and that is here:- post13.html#p13

If you follow my advice in that guide then you will be successful.

The key to success is persistence. If your laptop is indeed inherently defective and if you are persistent then you really cannot lose.

If you have any questions or if you need any advice then please let me know.

Please keep us updated on your progress.

Good luck and best wishes

Paul
The Admin Team

_________________
=======================================================
Calculate the minimum refund that you would be entitled to.
FAQ's
Why you should not accept a repair
Links to evidence
What is the Nvidia Defect?
Step by step help to getting a refund
Do you need an engineers report?
=======================================================

If you like what you see on this forum and would like to help then please post links to this forum in other forums or blogs. The more people we can help the better.


Please note that I am not legally qualified and I only offer my own personal advice. You are advised to seek professional legal advice for formal clarification of advice I give.

Thanks for the quick response Paul

I'll have a look for the reciept (I doubt I would throw it away) or a bank statement. One quick question, I can't log into my laptop any more because of this problem so I can't access the hard drives and everything stored on there, ultimately would I be handing the laptop back to PC World in exchange for a refund or would I keep the defective laptop, I would like to eventually retrieve my data off the broken laptop before handing it back over.

Hey Ixion,
Don't worry to much about the receipt as you can go into any PC World/Currys store and ask them to print you a copy of the receipt. They will ask for your Post Code and house number and then should be able to find it that way. All the computers/laptops/TVs (Really anything worth £200+) they always asked the customer for those details when you paid for it.
As for retrieving the data, you could get a SATA 2.5" USB External Enclosure that you would be able to put the laptop hard drive into and then copy all the files you want onto another computer by connecting it through USB. I've attached a link of what your looking for and even a link to get one from PC World (Just so you can see what they call it and the price).
However Paul do you know if you hand back the faulty laptop or do they just tell you to dispose of it? I never dealt with anything after getting the head office to issue some vouchers to replace the laptop.
I still haven't sent my letter off due to the appalling weather we've had up here, I'm hoping to get out at the weekend to post it as I'm back at work now that most of the snow has gone. But now it's forecast for Thursday/Friday again! Another question for Paul, is the 7 days to respond a legal requirement in that they have to respond in that time or that's just the timeframe we are stating we want a response? Just obviously at this time of year with Royal Mail scared of the snow (I had no post last week!) and everything getting delayed I doubt they would manage to get a response back within the 7 days.
Thanks again and I'll update when I get my letter posted and each step after that.
M_Taylor40

Enclosures:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/2-5-Sata-eSata-External-Enclosure/dp/B000S89NQG
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/dynamode-2-5-sata-pata-hard-drive-enclosure-04931633-pdt.html

One thing that's worked in the past when retailers have asked for the laptop back is to request a certificate to confirm that the data on the hard disk has been securely destroyed and to give the alternative option that you will retain the hard disk.

They normally go for the alternative option

_________________
Please note: I am not legally qualified and therefore any postings I make are just my own personal opinion based on my experience of working for a number of years at a busy County Court.

Well I've finally heard back from PC World, I got home yesterday to a message asking me to phone their Excalations helpline with a ext number and name so I can hopefully get my problem resolved.
The strange thing is that I didn't provide a phone number on the letter so they have obviously looked up my address to get my home number! I've spent a bit of time last night checking out how much equivalent spec laptops cost so I'm going to try to push then to around the £550 mark, that's if they are willing to settle this over the phone and don't try to mess me about!
I'll update again after I've phoned them but that won't be until about 2pm this afternoon when I get a chance (At work right now).
Have they looked up anyone elses home number before as I was really expecting a written response and this has thrown me a bit, but then could this be tactics, people will write more harsh letters than they will normally say to someone on the phone.
I'll just have to see what they offer me!
M_Taylor40

Well I managed to phone them back around 4pm, got through to the escalations team who told me that if I take the laptop into my local store they will confirm the fault and check the overall condition of the laptop (To ensure I've not broken it, which is fair really) and then phone them at which point he will start dealing with my claim.
I've talked to one of the technicians and he says that they normally offer to cover the £230 repair cost and fix the laptop, which obviously I don't want as when I started researching it, I found out that almost every G1Sn was failing after the 2year mark. The other options are generally a refund of the current price of the laptop, so hopefully I'll get around the £500 mark or be able to push them upto it. I've been looking at other laptops but for an equivalent spec from PC World it will be around the £550-600 mark, but I can get a great one from Dell for £530 (Dell XPS 15).
I'm taking my laptop into the store tomorrow after work as it is 5mins from my work and get them to confirm the fault and phone up the escalations team, so hopefully by this time tomorrow or Friday I should know what they are willing to offer me.
Personally as I know that it isn't their fault I'll be happy with an equivalent spec machine from PC World again, but if they aren't willing to cough up enough then I'll take my money and go somewhere else (More than likely Dell lol).
I'll update again when I get the call from the escalations team.
M_Taylor40

Hello M_Taylor,

Well, you are moving forward so that can only be good news.

Your calculation on the refund is not far off what I calculate should be the minimum that they offer, which is £465 - £480.

Fingers crossed that they make you a decent offer.

Good luck and best wishes

Paul
The Admin Team

_________________
=======================================================
Calculate the minimum refund that you would be entitled to.
FAQ's
Why you should not accept a repair
Links to evidence
What is the Nvidia Defect?
Step by step help to getting a refund
Do you need an engineers report?
=======================================================

If you like what you see on this forum and would like to help then please post links to this forum in other forums or blogs. The more people we can help the better.


Please note that I am not legally qualified and I only offer my own personal advice. You are advised to seek professional legal advice for formal clarification of advice I give.