The Nvidia Defect Forum

Hello, to introuduce my problem - yesterday, for the second time, my wireless network card disappeared.
Previously, I had changed the drivers and this helped - but that only lasted 2 or 3 days.

After reading these forums, I figured I certainly have the NVidia defect.

So, I wrote to Play.com, and telephoned them today, as that is where I bought the machine - in 2007.
Here was their response:

Dear Mr...

Thank you for your email.

We are sorry to hear of the problem you have had with your order. Whilst we would be happy to resolve the matter on your behalf, under the Sale of Goods Act if an item is more than 6 months old it must be established by the customer that the fault was as a result of an inherent defect in the product. This is generally demonstrated by an engineers report, detailing the fault and its cause. I appreciate the circumstantial factors you have provided that refer to similar laptops, however this does not demonstrate an inherent fault in your particular product.

Once this has been provided, we will review the information and providing the fault has been clearly demonstrated to have been due to manufacturing as opposed to through incorrect usage for example, we would be in a position to rectify the situation.

Please provide such a report from a recognised engineer or repair establishment and we will be happy to investigate further and resolve the matter without any further delay.

Once again please accept my sincere apologies for any inconvenience you may have been caused in this matter, and thank you for your understanding and valued custom.

Kind Regards,

Customer Care Team
Play.com


All sounds FAIRLY positive, so I am actually quite hopeful.
So in the next few days, I plan to register for and book an engineers report from yourself, using the step by step guide you have provided.

Please let me know if there is anything else I should consider, as I don't want to miss anything.

I have also asked Play if they will reimburse me for the cost of the engineers report, as I assumed they should.
Is this correct?


Thanks for setting up this great forum to help the thousands who have experienced this problem.

Hello Robb and welcome to our forum.

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

When you say the wireless disappeared do you mean it was not visible in Device Manager?

Does the wireless button change colour when you switch it on and off?

If the wireless card is not displayed in the Device Manager and the colour of the wireless LED does not change then this is one of the first manifestations of the defect.

Play.com have to refund you the cost of the engineers report as this is known as a consequential loss.

I have experience of a number of customers who have dealt with Play.com and they seemed to handle things pretty reasonably.

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

If you have any questions or need any advice then 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.

Thanks for your quick reply.

Yes, what I mean is that the computer cannot detect a wireless networking card when I try to connect to wireless networks, and the card disappears within device manager.
Also, the wireless switch remains orange no matter what direction it is in.

It has temporarily fixed itself once again, but i imagine it will happen again - I will wait and see - and the next time it happens, I will send for an engineers report.

If it is still temporarily fixing itself, will the fault show up in the report?

Hello Robb,

Have you checked the temperatures of the GPU?

There are a couple of utilities in the download section of the forum that will help you check this.

The first, GPU-Z is the temperature monitoring program and the other, Rthdribl is the GPU stress tester. You should run that full screen in "planet" mode (Press F5)

The utilities can be downloaded here:- tools-to-test-to-see-if-your-nvidia-gpu-is-about-to-fail-t57.html

Please record the temp at idle and then under load and please let me know the results and I will advise further.

The fact that the wireless is intermittent is an indication that the GPU is failing, though hasn't quite failed yet.

In situations like this it isn't long before the laptop will completely fail.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

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.

GPU temperature at idle is between 91.0-96.0 degrees C.

After running the rthdribl "planet" demo for several minutes, GPU temperature reached 122.0 degrees C, but was also steadily increasing the longer I left it running.

Does this suggest the system is likely to soon fail?

Thanks again for all of yuor help and advice.

Hello Rob,



If I were you I would backup anything that was important and I would then switch the laptop off and would not use it.

Those temperature are not only unsafe but are also dangerous and will burn you or your furniture.

I think it is safe to say that at those temperatures it is highly likely that your laptop will fail soon.

I would follow my advice in the step by step guide (link in my signature) and would immediately contact Play.com to inform them of the situation.

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

_________________
=======================================================
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 have informed Play I am going to get an engineers report and send it to them.
Just checked idle temperature now, whilst backing up, and its up to 110 degrees C, and the touchpad has been too hot to use comfortably, have to use a USB mouse now.

I intend to register for an engineers report from your company over the weekend when I have more time,
and will follow your guides on how to do that.

Thanks again!

I have put in a request for an Engineers report or the lapcure website, I await an email with the packing label.

Thanks.

Hello Robb,



I have now sent you an email with further instructions.

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.

Thank you, I have sent a reply, but accessing my email is difficult right now, so just to be sure thought I should post here too.
Yuesday would be better if at all possible.

Thank you very much indeed.

Robin