The Nvidia Defect Forum

Hey All,

Just wanted to share my tales with the olde Sony machine.....

Righty, purchased this in August 2007 - worked brilliantly did not have really any probs with it, except for a pesky "Your dislay Driver has crashed - display driver has recovered" (Which in fairness I should have taken a bit more seriously.). I gave the machine to my teenage son to use in Jan this year.

About three weeks after giving it to him, I tried to open up the machine and the display was messed up. First thought - Virus/Monitor Presure Damage = Ground son. However he was convinced it happend during a game of World of Warcraft, the display went funny then never recovered. Tried a clean install etc, however the problem was appearing from the bios screen so thought it was hardware and turned to the internet for an answer.

Googled and found several hits on the nVidia defect and found the error matched in every way. However - and this is the warning bit - did not find this site and did not follow the advice and contacted Sony directly.

Now, Sony customer service is.....not the greatest on the planet however after several phone calls, I received one from a customer service manager who said they would collect the laptop and if it was the nVidia problem, they would repair free of charge.

So far, so good.

Two weeks after the laptop was picked up I recevied a call from Sony

Yes the problem was the graphics chip
Yes it was defective
Yes will cost £700 to repair?!?!?

I stated that I was told it was a free repair, as per my conversation - He said yes the chip was defective, but still £700.
I pointed out the various boards and information on the net
He said fine, I will return the computer - £120 for courier please.

I said....ummmm no - was not told of this charge when I sent it off and would never have released it for repair if I had to pay just to return it (Never mentioned)

This was in Feb.

August this year the computer was returned free of charge.

At this point, I thought sod it let me crack open the case and have a look (AGAIN CAUTION - IF you are looking to get repairs etc or money back maybe do not try this - don't give them an excuse not to pay!!)

What I found was a bit....strange.

Gaffer tape holding wires together, with the "sticky" stuff melting the wire onto the board. (Gaffer wrapped around the wires)

Anyways, cleaned it up as best I could, then closed the case. and turned on. Again screen messed up. I left the computer for about an hour turned on (In fairness forgot about it)

Came back into the room, realised it was on, lifted the laptop - screen clears!!?!

Put it back down, screen messes up (Screen was showing 4 colors as if was in Safe Mode)

Picked it up, held at angle - slight rattle in GPU Cooling thingy screen clears

I tried to then use the mouse, right clicked on the desktop and tried to force it into 32bit colour - screen clears and holds at 1280 X 800 32bit colour. This works untill the machine reboots or powers off and it is a case each time I boot now to hold computer at X angle to clear then screen then force into 1280 x 800 32bit. Now the interesting bit is that in Device Manager, the nVidia GPU is showing as non fuctional still, so I am assuming I am getting the onboard VGA (??). This is obviously not a complete fix, and it still BSOD on occasion (twice a week) and I know this will not last for much longer, however I am curious to see if this helps anyone else??

Ta

Chris

Hello Chris and welcome to our forum.

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



How scandalous is that! How dare Sony try and charge you to repair the inherently defective laptop that they sold you.

It is criminal that they can try and do this when they know and have accepted that your laptop is inherently defective.

I wouldn't accept this Chris and would now start battle with them.

I would send them a letter before action telling them that you intend taking action unless they offer an acceptable resolution.

You can find 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 reach a positive resolution.

The key to success is persistence. You have the law on your side and Sony have breached your rights by trying to charge you for this.

You shouldn't let them get away with it.

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

_________________
=======================================================
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.

Yep especially as they admitted the fault was the chip! However because the laptop was not and the "excellent....." list of defective laptops (which is still not comprehensive) then they would charge.

Also - in one of the conversations, I actually walked a customer service manager in Ireland to this site and she read a lot of the problems people are having and did try and take this higher, it was just after that the laptop was returned (not repaired) free of charge. According to sony, "We have never had any reports of problems with this model." - Yeah right......

Hello Venomex



What a load of baloney!

I have tested loads of this model of laptop and they all had the defect. Sony must be well aware of problems in this model so it is unbelievable that they should state that they have had no reports of problems.

In my opinion it is just another fob-off.

Don't let that dissuade you though, remember, the key to success is persistence.

Whether or not Sony admit to the problem in your model is completely irrelevant. If it can be proved that your laptop has the defect then it doesn't matter a jot what Sony think.

I would retrieve your laptop from Sony and then take it to the next step.

Believe me, if your laptop is indeed inherently defective then you really cannot lose.

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

_________________
=======================================================
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.