The Nvidia Defect Forum

Hi everyone, here is a bit about what has happened so far regarding my laptop:

Around 2 days ago i switched on my laptop (the Toshiba Qosmio G40-12C) only to have it come up with a 'PCI Express Error'. So i packed it up, got the receipt and went back to John Lewis technical support - where the only thing i was told was 'we cannot help you, phone up a laptop repair company and get them to repair it' as it is just over 2 months out of the warranty.

Annoyed with the unsatisfactory help i received i decided to do my own research into the error that i was getting (as i cannot afford to pay the quoted £200 - £800 for repair). The first thing that i came accross, was this thread on your website: http://www.nvidiadefect.com/qosmio-pci-express-error-t383.html which immediately boosted my hopes - as my laptop and its errors and almost identical to the one shown in the thread linked.

So, after gaining the information about the Nvidia Defect, and the news that may laptop may have it, i went back to John Lewis again, 2 days after the time i visited them before about the problem. The technical support staff said exactly the same thing, even when i told them about the defect, they said it is out of warranty so they can't help - however as i did my research is replied with the fact that under the Sales of Goods at a product that is not fit for its purpose, defect or unsatisfactory may be acted upon upto 6 years after purchase, to which he seemed speechless and got his manager to talk to me.

The manager seemed much more understanding and told me that, of course, they cannot take my word for it without proof so they have sent it off to their labs to be tested for the defect - i gave them a few sources about the defect such as articles on online blogs and a link to the threads of this website, so that they know what to look for. This is all done under JLP Warranty and i will be told before they doing anything to the laptop - or atleast thats what has been agreed.

What i would like to know is, if provide you with the information of my laptop would you be able to let me know if you think it is defect or not? so that i know if John Lewis are being truthful when i get the results of their tests.

The laptop is a Toshiba Qosmio G40-12C, It contains a Nvidia Geforce 8600m GT and lasted just over 2 years, after being purchased on november 3rd 2008, for £1299. The serial number is: 18032166h. The laptop never really shutdown because of overheating, but it would get very hot after a few hours of use, which i assumed is normal but am now thinking could be to do with the defect. I also had a situation before where i was getting blue screens (a few months ago) to wich John Lewis said it was a software error and a reformat fixed the problems, could this be related also?

I would be very greatful if you can answer my questions and offer any help as i spent alot of hard-earned cash on the laptop and it would be such as shame to have it taken away due to a diffected part.

Hello Glaudarien and welcome to our forum.

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

The PCI Express error message that you are seeing is related to the off-board Nvidia graphics card and I havs seen this many, many times before. Coupled with the fact that your laptop contains an 8600 GPU, which is one of the more prolific of the defective GPU's, then I would say that it is highly likely that your laptop is inherently defective.

You mentioned that you were experiencing blue screen errors. Do you know of the error messages that were displayed at the time? If so please could you let me know.

John Lewis may try to charge for a repair to your laptop or may even say that it has failed through wear and tear.

It is difficult to pre-empt what they will say, but I doubt that they will admit to an inherent defect, though I could be wrong.

There is not a lot you can do at this stage until John Lewis respond back. When they do please let me know what they say and I will advise further.

If you have any questions please let me know.

Good luck and best wishes

Paul
The Admin Team

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Thanks alot for the reply Paul, it is very satisfying to here that you believe their is a high chance that my laptop has a defective GPU. I am unsure what the errors said, sorry, as it was a few months ago.

Hopefully John Lewis will discover the defect and admit to it, however I'm sure that isn't very likely, I shall let you know when i get a reply back from them.

Thanks again for the swift reply.