The Nvidia Defect Forum

Hi,

We bought a Samsung R700 for my wife in Autumn 2008 from John Lewis in Sheffield, can't remember the exact date although we do still have the original receipt for £600 in a drawer somewhere. After a few months we noticed that it would get blisteringly hot underneath very quickly and the fan would stay permanently on, though we've both had a few laptops that were like that so we didn't think too much of it.

After about a year, the backlight started to go so we took it back to John Lewis and had it repaired under the 2 year warranty. We had a further repair within the warranty period, when the power cable got a bit loose and so we were unable to charge it.

Then some time around New Year 2011 the display started to falter, the screen would just flicker when you switched it on, and ultimately we got the situation that we have now where the screen doesn't come on at all.

I've been reading through the advice on this site, which I must say is most helpful, but before I start the process of making a claim to John Lewis I was wondering about a couple of things:

• How can I tell for sure if it's got the dodgy GPU? The specific model number we have is the AS06UK, which according to the technical details here has an NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT, which as far as I can gather does suffer from this overheating problem. However, although that page is for the AS06UK, when you click on "more technical details" the model number changes to AS07UK, so I'm unsure.
• Will this process be likely to involve (m)any actual trips back to John Lewis in Sheffield? We now live about 60 miles away from Sheffield, but it's still our nearest branch of John Lewis (too posh for Humberside ).
• Very roughly how long is it likely to be before we get the result we're after, i.e. a replacement laptop or a cheque?
  

Thanks

Hello Trashbat and welcome to our forum.

Sorry to hear that your laptop has failed.

Please find below the answers to your questions:-



Of all the defective Nvidia GPU's the 8400 and 8600 are the more prolific. Couple that with the fact that the problems you are experiencing are manifestations of the defect then I would say that it is highly likely that your laptop is indeed inherently defective.

I have prepared numerous reports on the R700 laptop including the AS02UK, AS03UK, AS06UK etc and they all had the defect.

The problem with this defect is that it is not specific to a particular brand or model and so anything with an Nvidia 8600 GPU could potentially be inherently defective.



I would give John Lewis a call in the first instance and explain that you live some distance away now and request that this be resolved without you having to make the 60 mile trip to their shop.

If they refuse and insist that you go to the store then you should make a note of your costs involved in doing so and add that amount to your claim as this is what is known as a consequential loss.



I would say between a month to two months and your claim will be resolved. Some customers have experienced a speedy resolution whilst others have had a bit of a drawn out process but they got there in the end.

Fingers crossed it will be a speedy resolution for you.

Any questions please let me know.

Please keep us updated on your progress.

Good luck and best wishes

Paul
The Admin Team




Will this process be likely to involve (m)any actual trips back to John Lewis in Sheffield? We now live about 60 miles away from Sheffield, but it's still our nearest branch of John Lewis (too posh for Humberside ).
Very roughly how

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Calculate the minimum refund that you would be entitled to.
FAQ's
Why you should not accept a repair
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