The Nvidia Defect Forum

Hiya

I found this forum today, and I'm *totally* in awe of the success that you've had, hopefully I can emulate it.

I know that my dv9689ea isn't part of HP's recall programme, but I'm utterly convinced that it's exhibiting the same fault.

I bought it from Reading's Currys Digital in November 2007, for the princely sum of £1235.

Obviously, it's always been running hot! Hot enough that the finish on the left side of the case has come away, and hot enough that the metal parts protruding from the left side of the case are too hot to touch. A couple of months ago I gave it a good blast from a pressurised air can, as per HP's instructions. That seemed to help with the fan's duty cycle and the overall temperature.

But on Sunday, I had several episodes of graphical glitches, with repeated blinking bit patterns covering the screen. Several reboots saw exactly the same behaviour, before the screen stopped displaying anything. The machine still seems to be booting just fine, there's disc activity, caps/num lock work just fine, the button on the mousepad works and the mousepad light comes on and off as you press the button. So, to me this indicates that the machine is still working, but no longer displaying anything.

When starting it, the screen has very fine multicoloured lines on it, which bleed away in patches to a white screen, in turn bleeding away in patches to a black screen. An external monitor hasn't given me any joy either.

So I started looking for GPU problems and found my way here via lots of pages indicating that dv9000s are doomed to die from excess heat.

Do you think it's worth pursuing a resolution for this machine, even though it's not part of the recall? I guess it is, as the argument revolves around the nvidia chipset.

And I've a question for you, if I may be so bold. I bought the machine in Reading, but live near Bath, an hour's train ride from Reading. For step 1 of the action to be taken, it looks like you mean for me to walk in to the very store that I bought the machine from, something which I'm not really able to do. Should I be trying a DSG shop in Bath, or phoning/mailing somebody as my first step?

Thanks in advance, and keep up the good work!

Andy

Hello Andy and welcome to our forum.

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

It does not matter that your laptop is not on HP's wholly inadequate "list of affected models". Whether or not HP admit to a problem with your laptop is wholly irrelevant.

What is important is whether or not your laptop is inherently defective and judging by what you have said I would say that it is very likely that it is indeed inherently defective.

If you cannot travel to the store where you purchased it then no problems, just contact the head office and start from there.

If you need any help or advice then please let me know.

Good luck and 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.

Thanks for the prompt answer!

And the letter to the head office will be in the post tomorrow..

I've received a reply from Currys:-

"Following your recent contact with us, we have tried to telephone you several times to discuss the content of your letter. Due to the nature of the issues raised in your letter, we would like to discuss these with you in more detail."

Then their contact details follow. Nothing too exciting to report, but at least my journey has started. I guess I'd best go off and research/rehearse what to say XD.

I dare say that they might have tried to phone, but if they look me up in the telephone directory they'll find that my phone line doesn't have a phone connected, it's a second line used purely for internet access.

Hello Yetius,

Same thing happened to me... They keep saying that they tried to phone me, however I never gave them my phone number.

I've just spoken to a very nice lady at Currys. My case manager was busy with another call, so she looked up what he was going to do on their call logging database. I'm to take the machine to a local branch, and get the staff there to phone the customer call centre and confirm that I've got a dead machine.

I guess I've got a trip in to town tomorrow then, I'll keep you posted.

[edit]I thought I'd better take a little vid of it starting up, just in case it dies in a more terminal way before I get it seen by Currys staff. It can be seen starting up at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAhsEoHgLn0

The first start today was exactly the same as the one I've uploaded to youtube, the second start (for the camera) saw the display working! Oh joy! But after 10 minutes it had warmed up enough for the fan to kick in, and the display froze just as it did on the 8th August. It's been duff again for the next 5 or 6 starts. Ho hum.

Hello Yetius,

Well, I can now state categorically that your laptop has the defect. I have seen that kind of manifestation so many times now.

Good luck for tomorrow, I do hope that it displays the same problems when they look at it.

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.

Well, I think I have to report a success.

While the store staff member I spoke to took a bit of convincing, he did after a few minutes phone the call centre and talk to my case manager confirming that the machine behaved in the way I described.

I had a brief chat with my case manager who seemed to be quite well informed and aware of the motherboard/GPU issues. He offered a repair and in the same breath pre-empted my response, guessing that I wouldn't trust a repaired machine. He then talked about writing it off, and offered me £590 via BACS transfer or £600 in shop vouchers towards the purchase of another machine of my choosing. His rational for the offer was that I'd had nearly 3 years use from a machine expected to last for 5 or 6 years, and I can't really argue with that. What I haven't dealt with yet is whether Currys are buying my machine from me for £600, or whether I get to keep it. If it were a car being written off then the car would belong to the insurance company, so that's something I need to ask my case manager.

So far, DSG get a big thumbs up from me as far as customer service is concerned. And that's something I thought I'd never say given the normal disdain for customers that I've experienced many times from staff in their high street stores.

So, I now have to decide whether to accept almost 600 quid via BACS or 600 quid in vouchers. I spent some time in the shop, and there's 2 machines that I was interested in, especially after reading the reliability survey results in the facts and evidence part of this very forum. There's a *gorgeous* Sony VAIO for £1200, and I quite liked the Toshiba L660-11M for £800. To be honest, based on the experience I've now had with Currys, I'd be quite happy to take their vouchers and spend in their stores again.

I don't believe I'm jumping the shark by thanking Paul for his efforts in creating nvidiadefect.com, it's certainly helped me reach a speedy conclusion by using the right words and making sure that Currys knew that I was aware of my rights.

Hello Yetius,

Well done on your impending success

Some customers have been allowed to keep their old laptop whilst others have had to hand it back in. It is a bit hit and miss as to how they decide who can and who cannot keep their old laptop so fingers crossed for you on that one.

The Sony Vaio that you mentioned is a lovely laptop, though a bit expensive if you ask me.



Thank you very much for that, much appreciated.

Good luck with whichever decision you make and all the very best for the future.

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'm a little uneasy about spending £1200 on Sony, they've still got a slightly blotted copybook as far as I'm concerned (I've got several Sony Aibo, for which customer support was a little inconsistent even before they were discontinued).

I've done a little homework about the Toshiba machine, I must have written the number down incorrectly or Currys had the wrong label up. The machine is actually the A660-11M, which I'm more than happy to pay £800 for when Currys have offered me £600 in vouchers

So, I'll be phoning my case manager when I get home and accepting those vouchers!

[edit:]I phoned Currys, and vouchers will be with me in 3 to 5 working days, hurrah! They also confirmed that I don't have to surrender the dead lappy, and even volunteered that it may be eligible for a trade in discount at the shop! So now I have 3 choices a) get the old machine repaired and keep it as a spare machine 'just in case', b) stick it on ebay (minus the very useful drives) as spares or repair, or c) the possibility of trading it in.