The Nvidia Defect Forum

Advent 5401, model no EAA-89, QCI PN: 1TW70000157, S/N TW7TFCCCB81507DD
The graphics card is an nVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS

It belongs to a friend who asked me to take a look, it shows a white screen on startup, pure white on the left half, slightly gray on the right half. One time after developing the fault it loaded up as normal, and once it flashed a normal starting up display before whiting out, but generally it's just white from the start. There were no software or hardware changes to trigger the fault. I was looking around for a replacement part and came across this site.

Question 1, is this model one of those likely to be suffering from the defect, and does it sound like the likely culprit? If so I'll go ahead with the engineers report/complaint process you helpfully outline. I was planning to try and replace the graphics chip or entire motherboard, but if it's this fault it sounds like I can get it done for free.

Question 2, I'd also like to ask what the general success rate and timeframe of pursuing this claim is? Is it more common than not with an nvidia failure that it will be subject to this claim, and do people tend to get strung along for months without a working laptop? I'd really need it repaired or replaced before the new term at university starts, which gives about a month. (The retailer was Currys.)

Question 3, can I crack open the laptop and visually check for the defect myself - a) would I be able to see it and b) would delving into the laptop myself provide grounds to refuse any claim I then make?


Thank you for any help you can give
Jon

Hello Jon and welcome to our forum.

Please find below answers to your questions.



Yes it is and the problems you are experiencing are manifestations of the defect. Couple that with the fact that the laptop contains the 8400 GPU, one of the most prolific of the defective GPU's, then I would say that it is highly likely that your laptop is inherently defective.



Well that really all depends. I recommend giving them seven days between the different stages of the reclaim process so you are probably talking about a couple of months, though there seems to be no consistency in the way that Currys deal with various customers so it could take a little less than that.



No, you will need an engineers report from a company who can correctly diagnose that your laptop has the defect. You cannot see the defect and this occurs either inside or underneath the Nvidia GPU. You would not invalidate your claim by doing this yourself but they probably would not accept your findings.

I hope the above helps. 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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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 don't wish to seem rude, but I'm a little wary here. This doesn't seem to be very well publicised for a problem of this size, and while there's a lot of information on this site, I can't help but notice that you also offer a service that you charge for to check for this defect, presumably whether it is found or not. Is there anything from Nvidia or Advent acknowledging the problem still affecting this particular chip or laptop model in 2010?

Every google search I look at seems to lead back here.

Hello Analhamster,



Which is exactly what everyone else has been saying. The press seem reluctant for some reason to publicise this in any way which seems quite odd considering it is a worldwide problem.

There is plenty of evidence on the net which proves this is an ongoing problem, in fact it was announced only the other week that the latest figures to be disclosed regarding the cost to Nvidia for this problem was estimated at just over $474 million.

Furthermore Nvidia made no new replacement chips to replace all the defective ones they produced.

Simply Google Nvidia GPU defect and you will see that it is still affecting laptops today.

The problems can take 14 months or more to materialise which is why we are now starting to see an exponential rise in the number of failures.

At the end of the day whilst you may be suspicious of the fact that we provide engineers reports I think that the evidence speaks for itself.

If you wish to take your laptop for a report elsewhere then that is fine, but they will probably only concur with me.

If you have any questions 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.

Jon

I fully understand you waryness (if there is such a word). I was very wary myself when I first found this web site around a year ago.

However, I soon discovered that Paul is 100% genuine and is willing to help anyone (whether or not they get a report from him).

In fact, I was so impressed with Paul that I've hung around on the forum to give advice on the County Court side of claiming against the retailers.

I cannot believe that the press have never picked up on this problem - all I can think is that they think it's too technical for the average person on the street to understand.

Unfortunately none of the manufacturers or retailers are going to publicise this problem for the simple reason that it will cost them a lot of money if they do - there are already class action law suits going through the American courts which are likely to get very expensive.

All I can suggest is that you read the 'Success Stories' part of the forum - you will see that, even on the rare occasions that these cases go to court, the retailers invariably lose.

At the end of the day there are plenty of computer engineers around the country that are referring their customers to this forum - particularly for laptops with 8400/8600 gpu's as your laptop has.

Before you or anyone else asks, I have absolutely nothing to do with Paul.

I live at the other end of the country (as my user name suggests) and have only ever even spoken to him on the phone on one or two occasions when I'd sent my laptop to him for a report (incidentally, he was never able to prove the defect in my laptop so I'm one of the few who have been unable to make a claim ).

I do however think of Paul as a friend that I've never met (and am never likely to) and am sure that a number of the other members on this site feel the same.

Hope this helps.

PS - great user name

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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.