NVIDIA problems/impending recall?

Nvidia GeForce 8M Series graphics processing unit

Graphic Card Problem May Affect Millions of Computers

Nvidia admits problem but doesn't alert consumers

By Truman Lewis

August 8, 2008


Pajin of Madison, Wisconsin, is flaming mad at Dell because of problems with the LCD display on his laptop.

"The lines are so bad that I cannot read the text on the screen. I will have to throw this laptop away," Pajin complained. "This is crazy. I hate Dell. I'm never going to buy one again."

But Pajin's anger may be at least partly misdirected. The problem potentially affects millions of laptop computers — including Dell and many other brand names — equipped with an Nvidia GeForce 8M Series graphics processing unit.

Nvidia has conceded the widely-used chip has serious problems. Last month, Nvidia said it would take a $150 to $200 million charge against revenue “to cover anticipated customer warranty, repair, return, replacement and other consequential costs and expenses arising from a weak die/packaging material set" in certain versions the chips used in notebooks.

While the accounting charge has clearly created a headache for Nvidia, the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company's graphics boards are also causing headaches for consumers whose laptops are equipped with one of the units.

Although Nvidia has admitted that these graphics boards “are failing in the field at higher than normal rates,” and that “testing suggests a weak material set of die/package combination ... are contributing factors” for these failures, the company has not yet identified the actual number of graphics cards — or laptops — that are plagued by this problem.

Number unknown

How many laptops are equipped with these Nvidia boards? Good question.

Although Nvidia has been mum on this question thus far, other industry sources estimate that there may be as many as 18 million laptops equipped with the troublesome Nvidia boards — and judging by the size of the charge that Nvidia is taking, that estimate may not be far off the mark.

While Nvidia has admitted that these graphics boards are failing at higher than normal rates, the company has not acted to rectify the problem. Instead of recalling the GeForce 8M Series GPUs at Nvidia’s expense, Nvidia has thus far been content to sit and wait while the products keep failing.

While this may make business sense for Nvidia, it exposes millions of consumers to the possibility that their computer graphic display will fail without warning — possibly just as they're starting a critically important business presentation or rushing to complete a complex assignment.

Symptoms

What are the symptoms that you should look for and how can you tell if you own a laptop computer equipped with one of these Nvidia graphics boards?

As for symptoms, laptop users have indicated that the problem typically manifests itself by the video screen on the computer either being unable to display anything — or displaying a number of colored lines across the screen.

Because Nvidia is the self-described “world leader in visual computing technologies," the faulty video boards can be found in virtually every brand of laptop computer, including top-selling Dell and HP laptops.

Determining whether you own a laptop that is equipped with one of the affected boards is relatively easy. On most Windows laptops, all you need to do is:

(i) click on the “Start” button on your screen;
(ii) click on the “Settings” button;
(iii) click on the “Control Panel” button;
(iv) click on the “System” button;
(v) click on the “Hardware” button;
(vi) click on the “Device Manager” button; and then
(vii) click on the “Display adapters” button and read the identifying information concerning the specific video graphics card in your laptop.

What if you find that you have the Nvidia GeForce 8M Series card in your laptop? Unfortunately, there's no easy fix and no sure way to prevent problems from occurring. For most consumers, a watch-and-wait strategy is probably the most realistic option.

Consumers who find the card in their laptop can report it using the ConsumerAffairs.com complaint form.

ConsumerAffairs.com: Knowledge is Power! Consumer news, reviews, complaints, resources, safety recalls



GeForce 8M mobile GPUs

On May 10, 2007, NVIDIA announced the availability for their first notebook GPUs through select OEMs. So far the lineup consists of the 8400M, 8600M, 8700M and 8800M series chips. It has been announced by nVidia that some of their 8400M and 8600M graphics chip worldwide have a higher than expected rate of failure when used in particular notebook configurations.

Some major laptop manufacturers are making adjustments to fan setting and firmware updates to help delay the occurance of any potential GPU failure. NVIDIA GPU Update for Dell Laptop Owners - Direct2Dell nVidia has so far refused to issue a recall of all the products affected. It is unclear at the present time how widespread the problem is.

GeForce 8 Series - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Fri. Jul. 25, 2008

Earlier this month, sites like Ars Technica and ZDNet blogged about NVIDIA’s statement regarding a potential issue with some of NVIDIA's Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) used in notebooks. According to NVIDIA, these affected GPUs are experiencing higher than expected failure rates causing video problems. Though this issue is not unique to Dell, some of these affected GPUs are used in certain Dell laptops.

The issue is a weak die/packaging material set, which may fail with GPU temperature fluctuations. If your GPU fails, you may see intermittent symptoms during early stages of failure that include:

• Multiple images
• Random characters on the screen
• Lines on the screen
• No video

Dell recommends that you flash your system BIOS. Each of these BIOS updates modifies the fan profile to help regulate GPU temperature fluctuations. Note: if you are already experiencing video-related issues like the bullet points above, updating the BIOS will not correct them. Dell will provide support for customers who have experienced GPU failure according to the terms of the system warranty.

These BIOS updates will help reduce the likelihood of GPU issues. New systems are being shipped with the updated BIOS revisions. Here's the list of the latest BIOS versions.

Dell Product Name
BIOS Revision
Date
Update File Name

Inspiron 1420
A09
7/14/08
1420_A09.EXE

Latitude D630
A12
6/22/08
D630_A12.EXE

Latitude D630c
A06
7/11/08
D630CA06.EXE

Dell Precision M2300
A07
7/11/08
M2300A07.EXE

Vostro Notebook 1310
A10
7/10/08
V1310-A10.EXE

Vostro Notebook 1400
A09
7/10/08
1400_A09.EXE

Vostro Notebook 1510
A10
7/10/08
V1510A10.EXE

Vostro Notebook 1710
A07
7/10/08
V1710A07.EXE

XPS M1330
A12
7/9/08
M1330A12.EXE

XPS M1530
A09
7/25/08
1530_A09.EXE


Read more:

NVIDIA GPU Update for Dell Laptop Owners - Direct2Dell

While Nvidia has admitted that these graphics boards are failing at higher than normal rates, the company has not acted to rectify the problem. Instead of recalling the GeForce 8M Series GPUs at Nvidia’s expense, Nvidia has thus far been content to sit and wait while the products keep failing.

While this may make business sense for Nvidia, it exposes millions of consumers to the possibility that their computer graphic display will fail without warning — possibly just as they're starting a critically important business presentation or rushing to complete a complex assignment.

Purchased 2 HP Pavilion dv6000 series laptop computers in past 6 months. Both have Nvidia GeForce 8M Series graphics processing unit. One laptop is exhibiting the video problems described in article. Concerned about the 2nd unit. Wish to be included in any legal action against NVIDIA.

[willod]

The failures are not limited to that specific chip. It appears it is not related to the type of chip but rather the "packaging" and specifically an incompatibility between the GPU packaging and the notebook manufacturors' configurations.

HP and Dell have issued some recalls; however they do not cover all of the notebooks that are affected. More information on issues caused by this problem and the links to HP Warranty Extension Program can be found in these threads.

HP Pavillian dv9000 (and others) Overheating Damage/ Motherboard Failure

HP Pavilion 9000 series hinge break and burn problem

I have emailed HP. They have repeatedly denied my request for service stating that only AMD motherboard configurations have the issue. I have also emailed NVIDIA. I have not heard anything other than that my case has been escalated. I hope that eventually one of the companies steps up to the plate on this.