The Nvidia Defect Forum

Hi, I was wondering if anyone could offer me any help or advice?

I have a Sony Vaio VGN-FZ38M laptop which I purchased online from PC World in May 2008. The last 18 months or so it's been running very hot, the battery no longer holds a charge so I run it on mains only on top of a laptop cooler. It's ran absolutely fine (apart from the heat) until last week when it stalled and I received a blue screen with NMI:Parity check - Memory parity error. Upon a restart it ran fine for a few minutes before the screen duplicated itself, displayed lines everywhere and the screen went black.

Having read advice on other forums regarding the memory parity check error I've tried removing the RAM and running the laptop on one stick to see if either is defective. I thought I'd sorted it when running on one stick it restarted fine, however after a few minutes the screen went mental again and eventually black. Now when I turn it on it wont go beyond a black screen with ©Microsoft Corporation, a loading bar and loads of glitchy green lines (picture attached). This then invariable goes to a startup repair screen which when run doesn't help anything and then returns the previous screen after which the laptop shuts itself down.

I was intending to take it to a local laptop repair shop this week until I happened across this forum after a Google search. After reading several posts with similar problems I was wondering if my laptop could be suffering from this same Nvidia defect? If so is this something I should chase up with Sony or with PCWorld?

My problem could very well be something else entirely, however I need to get my laptop repaired one way or another as, despite being anal about backing stuff up, there's several current files and folders I don't have a copy of elsewhere.

Any help or advice would be much appreciated

Many Thanks
Mark Pyper

Hello Mark and welcome to our forum.

Sorry to hear that your laptop has failed.

Looking at the image you have provided I can state that the problems you are experiencing are indeed related to the the Nvidia GPU.

The good news is that Sony have admitted to the defect in your model of laptop and that can be verified here:- http://tinyurl.com/2wq7vl8

The details on that page are as follows:



This is excellent evidence as it thoroughly enhances your claim and PC World cannot claim that your laptop is not inherently defective.

So, your next step is to contact the retailer from whom you purchased the laptop and tell them that your laptop has failed due to an inherent defect in the Nvidia GPU.

They may tell you that your laptop is out of warranty and that there is nothing that they can do. You should tell them that the warranty status is irrelevant as you have six years from the date of purchase in which to bring an action against a retailer when the goods in question are inherently defective.

They may then tell you to contact Sony. You should tell them that you purchased from PC World and not from Sony so it is entirely PC Worlds responsibility to resolve the situation.

There is a step by step guide on this forum that will help you reach a positive resolution and that is here:- post13.html#p13

If you follow my advice in that guide then you will be successful.

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.

Hi Paul, thanks for the quick response!

I'm glad I came across this site as I was just about to try and have it repaired somewhere.

I've just read another post in the PC World section "PC World: Relatively Painless Success" which sounds like I may be able to get something sorted. I was wondering if you know if this sort of refund is typical or whether a replacement or repair is ever an option? If so how do they come about this level of compensation? I've seen people quoting some rough sort of calculation based on the 6 years and initial price paid but can't seem to find it anywhere on the forum? I paid £800 almost exactly 3 years ago so would feel a bit slighted to be offered only £230 meaning I'd have to fork out a substantial amount on top to purchase a new laptop. From your experience is this level of compensation typical?

This is also completely off topic, but if my laptop is dead in the water I was wondering if you have any idea how I might go about retrieving the data should I have to purchase a new laptop? The hard drive is a 200GB Serial ATA which I think is accessible from a slot on the bottom of the machine. Do you know if it would be possible to simply slot this into a Hard Drive caddy and mount it to retrieve data?

Thanks a lot for the information, I have PC World's customer service number and shall ring them later on and see if I can get something sorted.

Mark

Hello Mark,

The way that a refund is calculated is based on a life expectancy of six years.

So, in your case you paid £800 for the laptop and it lasted three years therefore the refund should be £400.

You will probably be offered a repair initially though you should only accept this under certain conditions.

These are that they will:-

1) Provide a written guarantee stating that the replacement part will be free from the Nvidia defect. The text of that guarantee can be found in the step by step guide.

2) That they will provide a 12 month warranty with the repair

3) That they will guarantee that the replacement mainboard will not have the BIOS update that switches the fans on continuously to the detriment of the battery.

If they can provide all of the above then you should accept an offer of a repair. If they refuse any of the above then you should refuse any offer of a repair.

If you choose to obtain an engineers report from ourselves then when you receive the laptop back it will be in working order, albeit temporarily.

You would then be able to backup any data from the drive.

Removing the hard drive from your laptop is tricky as the whole of the bottom chassis has to be removed in order to access it. It is not a difficult task, just not as easy as removing one of the panels on the underside of the laptop.

Good luck for when you contact PC World and if you need any help or 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.

I see, so the refund is just simply calculated as a fraction of the 6 years, thanks for the clarification.

If I were to get to the point where I had to obtain an engineers report from you how much would that cost? When you say upon return it will work temporarily is that because you replace the Nvidia chip or do you just reseat it or something to make it work temporarily? I only ask because my friend who has the exact same laptop as me but purchased from John Lewis also has this same fault. He's been quoted £100 to repair it and I'm wondering whether I should advise him against this and tell him to pursue it with John Lewis?

Thanks again Paul for the advice and I'll keep this thread updated with how I get on

Mark

Hello Mark,

The cost of the engineers report, which includes the collect and return carriage, will be £65.

This amount is refundable by the retailer as it is a consequential loss.

When we test the laptop we perform what is known as a "rework test". This involves heating the GPU with a rework tool which causes the solder points to melt and reflow thus causing the laptop to work again.

This test is just about the only test that can be performed that proves the presence of the defect conclusively.

The length of time that the laptop will work after the test varies from laptop to laptop and from GPU to GPU and there is no way to be able to determine exactly how long it will work.

The manufacturers and retailers are well aware of our reports and the tests we perform and accept our findings.

I would also advise your friend against paying £100 for a repair as the chances are it will fail again in the future. He would be much better off pursing John Lewis for a refund.

I hope the above helps.

Any questions 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.