The Nvidia Defect Forum

Ah thank christ i decided to do more research into the nvidia defect problem.

My laptop is a dell xps m1530 and purchased it back in Febuary 2008 with an extended 2 year warranty and well it has basicly crashed and died there 2 weeks ago and i was horrified to find out that this is a global problem, i rang dell and they refused to replace or fix it saying the problem is due to the motherboard and not the graphics card even though every one online said otherwise, they said if the laptop still booted and screen turned on with white stripes, then yes it was the graphics card and i would be elidable for a free repair, but i did think the man on the phone was rather quick to point it out!

They said they would fix it for €520 but agreed to give me a discount of €40 saying that the cost of the motherboard is €489 so technically im getting a good deal, but i knew it was a load of crap!

I was looking at the post by mfield and like him im in the republic of ireland and his success has spurred me on to fight this, the only difference is that i paid using a bank draft/cheque and was wondering if that might effect the claim?
I am going to check with my bank, who should technically have a record of the bank draft and from there im gona follow the exact same steps as mfield, will keep posting of my progress if any!

thanks in advance

Hello Martyd and welcome to our forum.

Sorry to hear that your laptop has failed.

Take absolutely no notice of Dell when they say that you will have to pay for the repair. If it can be proved that your laptop is inherently defective then you will not pay a penny.

It is not a problem that you paid by bank draft, all that is important is that you can prove purchase.

I would contact Dell again and would ask them for the address of where you can send legal correspondence.

I would then send them a copy of the following letter before action:- download/letter_before_action.doc

You should download that, edit it with your details and send it to the address they gave you via recorded delivery.

Please ensure that you keep a copy of the letter and postal receipt.

This is the first step to getting a resolution. The letter gives them seven days to comply before you move on to the next step. If they comply then great if not then you will need to get an engineers report which will prove that your laptop is inherently defective.

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.

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

Good luck and best wishes

Paul
The Admin Team

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Calculate the minimum refund that you would be entitled to.
FAQ's
Why you should not accept a repair
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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.

Success, well not the success I was hoping for but not complaining.

Ive been busy at work so havent really got anything done until the past 2 weeks and it all culminated today when i rang DELL, and within 15 minutes they are giving me a free service to replace motherboard and graphics card tomorrow!

Well essentially i was debating going straight to sending the letter before action, but i rang them today to give them one final chance and i was put through to a dell technical manager who spun me in the usual direction of, "sorry your out of warranty" and what not,
but he very quickly changed his mind when i mentioned all the articles on the internet and the fact that i lodged a call to the National Consumer Agency in Ireland (which I did and they were very helpful, and essentially promised support if dell were not responding).

After that he immediately offered a free repair, however he would not offer any form of gaurantee for the repair and he actually got very angry with me when i tried to explain to him, very calmly i might add, that i thought the repair was a waste of time as the same problem would happen again, in which case i would be on the phone again and it would cost dell more money!
but this only annoyed him and he just said, "yes, sir, and if it fails again, call us and we'll simply replace it again" Which i thought was'nt a vey clever thing to say he basicly admitted this wouldnt work but still refused any gaurantee on the repair saying they dont give any gaurantee statements on repairs carried out by a dell technician, but overall I thought he was a poor technical manager.

If i was to give any advice here it would be to lodge a call to the cusumer agency in whatever country your in even just to be able to say that youve lodged a call, as they essentially agreed with my case, offered me template letters and said they would support me throughout the claim. It seemed to frighten dell as they got straight to the point when i mentioned it.

but i want to thank this forum anyway, cause if it wasnt for youse, id be buying a new laptop right about now, so cheers paul.

Just done a lot of reading on the forum there, I was stupid to accept that repair, do you think I should ring them back and get a gaurantee or at least the part number, or would this be seen as being unreasonable to dell offering a free repair?

Regretting my decision now.

Just an update, i rang the national consumer agency again explaining the situation and they informed me that a gaurantee or warranty on a repair is provided on the manufacturers discression so essentially Dell dont have to but they said if it doesnt fix the problem then I have a much better chance of persuing this case further and getting a replacement system or refund.

So any advice, should I call dell back and cancel or take the repair, phtotgrapgh and get all the part numbers and keep them for when the time comes again!

Hello Martyd,



Well that statement fills you with confidence doesn't it?

Part of what the National Consumer Agency says is correct insofar as Dell do not have to give a written guarantee. But, it has been proved before that where a retailer has refused to give a written guarantee and the case has proceeded to the Small Claims Court the judge has, to date, found in favour of the claimant on the basis that the retailer has failed to provide sufficient evidence that the repair will be of a satisfactory quality.

I personally would say that no guarantee = no repair.

If Dell are not prepared to offer a guarantee that the parts will be free from the defect then they should either offer a replacement laptop or a refund (partial or otherwise).

If they refuse to do that then you should sue them.

Alternatively, you could accept the repair, then if it does fail again then you can pursue them again but with an even stronger case for a refund.

Furthermore, when you get the laptop back it is quite easy to access the GPU and from that we will be able to see the batch number of the Nvidia GPU and I will know straight away whether this is a latest revision GPU or not.

What do you think?

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.

After a good deal of thought, I've decided to go with the repair, only because there hasn't been a successful case brought against before court here in Ireland against DELL, with the exception of mfields xps 1530 case, but on reading his posts he did get his friend in legal to help, Ive no friends in legal!

So essentially I want as strong a case as I can to go before the courts WHEN this happens again, but ill be posting the part numbers when it gets fixed and i know I'm risking a lot in terms of something else failing in the laptop but overall, the laptop had still been performing great up to the point of failure. But Ill email DELL and say that even though your fixing it, we both know it wont fix the problem and Ill be back when it happens again!

So Im playing it safe and giving DELL one more chance (Why says you), but when it goes belly up, sure Ill be another name onto your petition of failed repairs.

I Look forward to chatting to youse all again in say a couple of months!

But again Paul and to all of the admin team thank you for support, Its a shame theres not more people like youse out there.

Hello Marty,

Well, good luck and I hope that your problems are resolved once and for all
Like you say, if and when it happens again then you will have an even stronger case to take Dell to court.



Thank you for your kind words, much appreciated.

Looking forward to your next update.

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,

Sorry to hijack your thread, but it sounds as though we are in the same boat.

I too have a Dell XPS M1530. I purchased it towards the end of August 2008 - it finally died towards the end of February 2011.

I had NO issues with my laptop prior to it dying (aside from it getting very hot). On the night that it died, I was using it, before the screen flashed with purple and it crashed. I rebooted it to find that nothing was displayed, but Windows 7 was still booting in the background (I could hear the Chime..)

I initially removed the HDD and put my laptop on eBay for parts, but was contacted by another user referring me to this forum! (Thanks ).

Anyway, after reading through a few threads I contacted Dell explaining the situation, they ran through a few tests with me over the phone (to check that the screen worked and that the Motherboard was OK - and they were)

Dell sent a courier to collect my Laptop last week. Today, they have called me to say that the fault was nothing to do with the NVIDIA chip, but that it was the "Motherboard and LCD Screen". Therefore, it is not covered by the NVIDIA warranty, and I will have to pay almost £400 in order to repair it. Obviously, I said no Thanks and they are due to return the laptop in its current condition (i.e. not working...).

I think that the NVIDIA chip IS to blame, whether or not it IS the damaged component, or merely the CAUSE of other components failing (surely the heat being given off from from the NVIDIA chip could cause problems with the MoBo?)

I was hoping that somebody could shed some light on what to do next?

Thanks for reading, please post a reply on this thread.

Simon.

Simon,

Paul (Lapcure) is probably the best person to answer your query but he's away for a few days.

In my personal opinion this sounds like a typical retailer's fob-off. However I don't have Paul's technical expertise.

_________________
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.