The Nvidia Defect Forum

morning all....

I think that i have the same problem on my Sony media player as all of you have / are experiencing on your laptops. Basically for no apparent reason the screen just went black at the weekend. The fault diagnosis was a fault with nVidia (mine is aGeForce8400m GT), i followed the various instructions. I tried updating the new driver, removing the old one then replacing (120mb!!). I must admit to not being very savvy re: PC's so when it failed i wasn't surprised, however after the 3rd time of trying i knew it had to be something else! It has now reverted back to a standard VGA adapter and anything i do to rectify keeps saying "The best driver software for your device is already installed. (standard VGA).

It was only when i did a bit of checking at work yesterday that i found that other people had experienced similar problem with Nvidia, but mainly on laptops.

The PC was bought via a a High St Sony Centre shop back in Feb 2008. Any thoughts on next steps greatly appreciated.

rgds

Forrest

Hello Forrest and welcome to our forum.

Well, I would treat your media player no differently than a laptop.

The 8400 GPU is doomed as a GPU and is one of the most prolific at failing.

There is a step by step guide to obtaining a refund or replacement laptop on this site. Ignore the fact that it says laptop throughout the document and just substitute "media player". That guide is here:- post13.html#p13

If you have any questions or if you need any help then please let me know.

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 Paul.....

bit of an update:

I've been talking to the Sony Centre shop who kept trying to push me towards their Premium Rate Service Centre. Eventually they got the message that repair / re-loading the driver was not going to work. I have explained that I will only accept a new media centre or a refund. They have asked for a little time to review and have promised to get back to me on Monday.

Hello Forrest



Keep up the pressure Forrest and phone them on Monday if they don't call you first.

Let them know you are deadly serious about taking legal action and that you know for a fact that you will not lose in court.

Don't let them fob you off and make sure you are persistent with them.

Good luck.

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.

Had an email from the shop yesterday. They have confirmed with Vaio that there have been some issues and as result are offering a free repair!! Unless that repair comes with the g'tee wording on this (excellent) site then I'm going to have to insist on the refund or replacement.

Rgds

Forrest

Hi. New to the forum and already resurrecting old thread

I have just picked up a mentioned AIO PC from a friend. In BIOS we're getting blue vertical lines as well as dollar signs before Windows Vista starts to load up. It just stays black, unless I try safe mode, which I can get into. So I assume this is same issue as OP's.

All the links posted here are very useful, along with the guide on what to do next. However I am interested if there is any official note from Sony or nVidia regarding these GPUs that we could have at hand when dealing with this case.

Thank you !!

Hello Bijomaru and welcome to our forum.

Sorry to hear of the problems you are experiencing with your PC.

The problem you describe certainly sound like the Nvidia defect.

Unfortunately though there is not a lot of corroborating information available from either Sony or Nvidia.

However, that is not important.

If your PC is inherently defective then whether or not Sony admit to this is irrelevant.

As fas as admittance from Nvidia is concerned, there is always the Nvidia 10K filing, a copy of which is available in the downloads section of this forum.

Then there is the interview that the CEO of Nvidia gave in which he admits that the failure rate is a "small percentage of hundreds of millions"

He doesn't elaborate on the exact figure, so one can only guess at what a "small percentage of hundreds of millions" could be.

You will need to obtain an engineers report so that your PC can be inspected and the defect verified.

Once you have this then you really cannot lose.

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

Please keep us updated on your progress.

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.

Awesome. I'll have a further look where you pointed.

In addition, I have found this. Not sure how helpful it is or if it's the same GPU as in my case, but might be worth something.

http://genesis.sony-europe.com/instrane ... =VGN-C2Z_B

afternoon all.....

Bit of an update following my initial post a couple of months back. At the time i had a good dialogue going with the Sony Centre and (rather foolishly now) agreed to let them have the PC back for repair. They did that, replaced the Nvidia and sent me the complimnetary cleaning cloth! All was well with the world - well it was until last night, when the PC started to get very hot again and I now have a blank screen as per April!

I contacted the Sony Centre today by email, explained the latest position and said that it was evident that the repair had failed - I stated that having given them every opportunity to rectify the problem it was now obvious that repair was not the answer. I then pointed them in the direction of various online commentary to confirm that this was a widely known problem etc. Finally i made them aware that even though I was out of warranty they as the Retailer should either refund or replace due to it being an Inherent fault

Their response just a short while ago was that they would need some time to investigate (my original contact has now left). However whilst they appreciated the onlione comments etc they do not believe that Sony agreeing to a repair was an indication of admittance to an inherent fault....stating that it was more likely a gesture of goodwill on their part and without prejudice. Finally they ended with their intepretation of the ruling in respect of inherent faults outside of warranty - their view is that if proven then the retailer has the right to action a repair on the product as well as giving consideration to a refund or exchange.

I'll let you know what the response is on Monday

Hello Forrest,

How scandalous is that!



Which just goes to prove that repairs offered by Sony are ineffective and unreliable and, no doubt, are performed using the self same inherently defective parts.

As I keep stating in this forum, there are no reliable parts available. Despite what these retailers would like you all to believe.

If Sony had used reliable parts why did your PC fail again so quickly?



Well that shows what a bunch of muppets those guys really are.

They only have a right to action a repair if they can reasonably demonstrate that the parts that will be used will be of a similar design and specification and should be free of any major defect.

This does not include the boards they are using as they cannot be classed as being free from major defect.

I wouldn't waste too much of your time on them. I would give them the opportunity to either refund your PC or to offer you an alternative model.

If they fail to do this then I would move on to the next stage.

If you have any questions or 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.