The Nvidia Defect Forum

Hi all. I'm affected by this issue and thought I'd make myself a topic.

I'm just beginning to pursue action now. I've been in-person to PC World and spoken to someone about the problem, and she told me (after surprisingly little resistance) to go get an independent engineers report and either bring it in-store or mail it to their head office, and agreed to pay the cost if it finds the laptop to be inherently defective. So that's the stage I'm at now.

As topic title says, it's an HP Pavilion dv2750ea, bought from PC World in May 08 for £699. It started exhibiting graphical issues somewhere around September 21st, and died completely October 14th. Graphics card is the NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS. I don't have a care package from PC World.

I'm hoping to get a refund, but other options are good too; I just don't want to be going back and forth with repairs >_>
One thing I'm not too sure on is - how do I make sure that any replacement, repair, or newly purchased machine, is not affected by this issue? Should I just make sure to avoid nVidia altogether (will that be easy?) or are there safe options?


That's the important stuff; here's a bit more detail for interest and for anyone googling their symptoms.

The first obvious symptom was diagonal screen tearing while watching video, followed by the nvlddmkm "stopped responding and has recovered" error, and BSODs when playing games or watching video. I didn't realize the cause of the problems for some time - searching the nvlddmkm.sys error brings up like a million possible causes to do with RAM, drivers, etc etc, and didn't hint at this problem in the slightest.
I also had an issue where the battery would randomly stop charging sometimes (in fact this happened about a month before any graphical problems), which I've heard is related.
Temperature monitors in Kubuntu would get up to 70℃ when the CPU was idle and upwards of 80℃ at full CPU usage.

Anyway so after contacting HP support and installing the new BIOS, I finally found out about the defect somehow (can't remember what I searched) and then found this place.

And my GPU has since basically died. It's near-impossible to get any picture at all. HDMI out doesn't work either IIRC.

One of my friends had this same model of laptop before me - it died a heat death. I thought it was a fluke at the time. >_>
Another one of my friends is finding his laptop BSODing about once a day which we think is related to this too.
Can't believe how widespread the issue is!

Hello Hyperworm and welcome to our forum.

Sorry to hear about the problems you are experiencing with your laptop.

You are quite correct when you say about how widespread this problem is - in fact it is a worldwide problem.

Have you already arranged an engineers report?

I only ask as that is one of the services we provide.

Regarding the repair of your laptop, we do not think that this is a viable option.

We have seen numerous repairs fail for a 2nd 3rd and even 4th time - each time a new board was used.

If you are offered a repair you should request the part number of the motherboard being used along with the revision number of the Nvidia GPU.

If they refuse or are unable to provide you with this information then I would refuse a repair on the grounds that you cannot ascertain that that board will be free from the defect.

Please keep us updated as you go and let me know if you need any help or advice.

Best wishes

Paul
The Admin Team

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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.

I just received a phone call from PC World...
(one week after the report and accompanying letter etc. I sent were signed for, incidentally)

They say they're prepared to offer a free repair, but can't supply the part number of the motherboard or the revision number of the GPU until after the repair, and said if I were to find out that the laptop had been repaired with inherently defective parts at that point, I could immediately send it back and have it handled again.

They said that they've been dealing with these laptops since 2007 (which I knew) and that it's in their interest to repair them with proper parts (the repair costs them money but they're offering it for free, and wouldn't want to do it repeatedly).

I got a reference number and said I'd ring back (thought I should ask for advice here first).

It seems to me that (despite not meeting my conditions of supplying part details pre-repair) they're nevertheless acting under their obligations under the Sale of Goods Act. I don't think I have a case for refusing that offer, it would be being unreasonable. ._.

If I accepted a repair, and I was supplied with the motherboard/GPU details and they turned out to be part of a defective batch, I wonder if I could take that under the Sale of Goods Act as failing
and have a case for a refund?

I suppose I can't count on any legal advice I get here but, what do you think I should do now? My own thoughts are to request a letter that states they are offering the repair compliant with my condition that the part details are supplied after repair, and then to accept the offer. ._.

Hello Hyperworm,

I have advised other customers to accept a repair on condition that the retailer is prepared to give a written guarantee, on company headed paper, that states that the part being used is 100% free from the Nvidia defect.

I don't think that is a lot to ask for considering the circumstances.

If the retailer is prepared to give such a written guarantee then I would say you should accept the repair.

But if the retailer is unwilling to offer such a guarantee then I would say no to the repair.

I base that on the assumption that there is only one reason why a retailer would be unwilling to offer such a guarantee.

So it is up to you really Hyperworm. Would you be acting unreasonably if you refused on the basis that there was no written guarantee?

In my opinion I think not.

Good luck in whichever decision you make and please keep us updated.

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.