Nvidia G84m/G86m faulty chip happen to Vaio??

[6800gt]

I just wonder if anyone has the alleged graphic problem with your vaio series. I got AR51J with 8400m GT early this year. So far it works fine, but not sure it would die shortly :smileysad:. What's the sony's response?

origin story: All Nvidia G84 and G86s are bad
http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/07/09/nvidia-g84-g86-bad

Channel Vendors Demand Graphics Cards Suppliers to Recall Potentially Faulty Nvidia GeForce Graphics Cards.
Resellers Want to Return Potentially Faulty Nvidia GeForce Graphics Boards to Makers
http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/video/display/20080725123120_Channel_Vendors_Demand_Graphics_Cards_Supp...

[Thalamus.]

Hi mcapelari,

welcome to Club VAIO..

Could you send me Private message with your Vaio's serial number and Vaio repair case numbers please.

To send me a Private message click on the following link: PM Thalamus

[tombridg]

I too have had this problem with my FZ21M, I bought it in January 2008, it went wrong in about May 2009 and as I had no extended warranty went to find out about getting it repaired, after being told it could not be fixed by anyone but Sony at a cost of £500 I had pretty much given up hope and was thinking of buying a new laptop. But today I found a man on ebay who said he could fix the problem for £115, so I started investigating how much other people charged, when I stumbled across the news that Sony had extended the warranty for this fault. However, reading through this thread my confidence in Sony actually repairing it successfully has been knocked, I am seriously considering paying the £115 to get it repaired. Or do I risk it and put Sony to the test?

[Thalamus.]

I too have had this problem with my FZ21M, I bought it in January 2008, it went wrong in about May 2009 and as I had no extended warranty went to find out about getting it repaired, after being told it could not be fixed by anyone but Sony at a cost of £500 I had pretty much given up hope and was thinking of buying a new laptop. But today I found a man on ebay who said he could fix the problem for £115, so I started investigating how much other people charged, when I stumbled across the news that Sony had extended the warranty for this fault. However, reading through this thread my confidence in Sony actually repairing it successfully has been knocked, I am seriously considering paying the £115 to get it repaired. Or do I risk it and put Sony to the test?

Hi TBridges,

welcome to Club VAIO..

If it were me, I would put Sony to the test as it could save you £115..

[tombridg]

Hi TBridges,

welcome to Club VAIO..       

If it were me, I would put Sony to the test as it could save you £115..

Thanks Thalamus,

What is the best way of going about getting it sorted through Sony? Do I just ring the support number and quote the statement made by Sony?

[Thalamus.]

Thanks Thalamus,

What is the best way of going about getting it sorted through Sony? Do I just ring the support number and quote the statement made by Sony?

Yes that probably the best option..

[Mig]

Hello everyone,

I would like to share some good news for anyone concerned about the faulty nvidia chip affected vaios.

I have been worried about my vaio since I read this topic over a year ago.

About a month ago my vaio developed streaks of random characters and strange colours on the screen. It was It is an FZ21z and just over 2 years old.

After contacting the out of warrenty support number, uninstalling and reinstalling drivers etc and nearly loosing patience support informed me they would pick up my vaio for inspection and repair. They said if the fault was not related to the graphics card i would be liable for a charge of roughly UK£60.

I was confident the problem was the graphics card but I was sceptical, after all how can I can prove that that was my problem. I feared that they would charge me for the repair anyway and blame something else, as I have had bad experiences in the past with another technology company.

How wrong could I be? My vaio was away for only 5 days and came back good as new. They even cleaned the laptop and gave me a little cleaning cloth!

All this cost was around £20 in calls to support, who were very helpful. The computers performance on graphics is slightly better too.

Sorry to ramble on, but if you have read all the posts on here (positive and negative), and are sure you have the graphics card problem, then I would definately put your trust in sony support to rectify it honestly and promptly.

I will definately purchas Vaio for my work in the future, thank you sony and sony support.

[Thalamus.]

Thanks for the positive feedback Mig, I'll pass your comment on so that Sony support personnel are aware..

[tombridg]

Well I have set the ball rolling! Rang the support line at about 1pm today. Just a note for anyone ringing the support line, if your VAIO is out of the normal one year warranty then don't bother trying to ring the in warranty line for the repair, even though they are extending the warranty for this fault. After inputting the serial number and having it read back to you, you will be informed its past the one year warranty and you will be hung up on! Then forcing you to ring the premium rate out of warranty number, rather disappointingly. Once I had gone through the same process on the premium rate number and being inexplicably hung up on(?) the first time, I got through on the second attempt on the premium rate number. My details were taken and I was told that I would get a call direct from the repair centre to organise collection within two hours. 5 hours later I got the call I had been waiting for and the very friendly and helpful voice at the end of the phone went through the terms of if it wasn't the nVidia issue I would be charged £55 for them looking at it.

So next step will be the collection, though I must admit I am getting rather excited about the prospect of having my VAIO back working.

[Thalamus.]

Thanks for the info TBridges please keep us updated..

[hansenclever]

Hey Urbaxter,

  I'm also in Brazil and I have the same problem! How did you manage to get your notebook repaired by Sony? See my topic:  https://www.sony.co.uk/discussions/thread/109424