The Nvidia Defect Forum

So my laptop kicked the bucket and I wasn't too impressed, after 2 years of usage my dv9702ea machine started spriting (stretching the sprites on the screen), restarted itself while using the GPU only to turn itself back on, and the screen eventually split horizontally displaying itself twice. The laptop is now completely unusable.

Like that but obviously this is not my laptop.

I have gone to PC world and done the first part of the step-by-step guide. They just got back to me today and have offered me depreciated value (half the original price I paid), after saying that nVidia and HP hadn't told them about any faults in the range or the GPU range, and therefore it had to be just my one individual laptop with the fault. They've also offered to repair it with "similar products". I told them I would get back to them after I have asked someone more knowledgable on the subject. Although my laptop isn't on HP's list of nVidia-flaw models, it contains the 8400m GPU...

I am hoping this has something to do with the overheating chip as I can't afford to buy a new one.

edit: Laptop was bought at PC World in Aberdeen UK.

Hello Paul and welcome to our forum.

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

The problems you describe are manifestations of the Nvidia defect so I would say that it is highly likely that your laptop is inherently defective.

Their offer of a refund should be in the region of £266 which takes into account the 27 months usage you have had.

Regarding their offer of a repair; If PC World continue to offer a repair then you should ask them for two things. A written guarantee on PC World's headed paper that states the board being used will be free from the defect and also the part number of the mainboard that they intend to use.

Only with those two pieces of information should you accept their offer of a repair.

I hope the above helps.

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.

It's been a while but I finally got my laptop back.

A bit of background information - I dual boot linux and windows, windows side password removed for the repair procedure, linux with password.

I received a phone call asking me whether or not they can get the login password to my machine as they had completed a repair and wanted to test it. I said I didn't have any passwords on the windows partition. He then told me, "We can't test the repair if we can't log in, so you can tell us the password or we can send it back." Being wary about divulging passwords to a strange person I reluctantly gave him the 3 passwords that I only use for logging in. I was assuming they were trying to use windows as they would not be able to do anything under linux due to not having root authority.

Personally if you are working with computers you should know how to dual boot or even recognise that your customer is doing it. All they would have to do to access the boot loader is press any key while its starting up, which it says to do. Then they could have chosen windows and there would have been no problem.

Picked the laptop up today, turned it on twice and no split screen, so I took it back to my house opened up Heroes of Newerth (3D Game I used to play.) Within 2 minutes it crashed and the screen split. My assumption is they reapplied the thermal paste to my GPU and assumed it would work fine.

Inside the box that the laptop was in when delivered to the store was a note saying it wasn't repaired because I had not paid enough for the parts or there was no parts available. This was a note that you get if they used a repair plan to pay for the laptop repair. Whereas they had explicitly said there would be no charge and be done right away. The tech guy on duty had no idea what was going on even though the note said they had been informed and would be able to help.

So nothing has been fixed 3months later. Any advice? I am now thinking small claims court.

Hello Paul,

I cannot believe that after three months you are no further forward.

Who was it that tried to fix your laptop? Was it PC World?

If so you should now contact them and tell them that they have seven days in which to make you an offer of a refund or replacement laptop and if they do not do so in that time then you will have no option but to sue them.

Have you already provided PC World with an engineers report?

Please let me know and I will advise further.

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.

I asked them whether they required an engineers report or not, the manager said it would not be necessary. I assume I will need one now.

I will go in store today after university and get head office number and talk to James Gray - he was handling my complaint.

If it is any use I have a letter here that says they could not complete the repair as
1) Did not pay enough money
or
2) No parts were available

That's me home after visiting PC world, they were useless, It was a different manager who had no idea what was going on.

He gave me numbers for the tech guys so I can attempt to find out whether or not a repair was actually carried out on my laptop and did not give me a head office number as in his words "There is no head office"

Hello Paul,



Deja vu!

I have said it before but PC World are, if nothing else, consistently inconsistent.

I cannot believe that you were told, by a manager, that there was "no head office" - where on earth do PC World they find their staff and have they now skipped training their staff in the basic rudiments?

Your next step is to obtain an engineers report and to use that against them. If, after receiving the report they still fail to comply then you should just sue them.

If your laptop is indeed inherently defective then you really cannot lose.

Persistence is the key to success so stick with it and don't let them fob you off.

Any questions please let me know.

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.