5 sue Nvidia over laptop issues

Idontcare

Elite Member
Oct 10, 1999
21,110
64
91
Systematic reliability failures in the field are every IC seller's worst nightmare.

Didn't NV set aside some $200m or thereabouts to deal with the anticipated fallout of their reliability issues about a year ago?

This class action suit could have some legs, but I'd be surprised if NV didn't make some contingency plans for the possibility. I'm thinking "Ford and the Pinto" type of decision trade-offs between doing a full recall versus waiting it out and seeing if class action ever came of it.
 

Creig

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
5,170
13
81
Nvidia GPU Failures Caused By Material Problem, Sources Claim

According to our sources, both desktop chips and notebook chips are affected, but the issue is most likely to pop up in notebook chips due to the increased material constraints amplified by the turning on-and-off procedures. We heard that G84, G86 and G92 GPUs could show failures, but we were not able to confirm G94s. Technically, Nvidia would have to replace all those GPUs and the total number is somewhere north of 70 million. But since the issue tends to show up only in notebooks, it is unlikely that there will be any desktop replacements and therefore we are looking at a number closer to 15 million (notebook) GPUs. Take into account that the repair of such a notebook will cost Nvidia at least $150-$250 and you have a damage that could easily be in the billions of dollars.

At this time we only know that Nvidia has made a switch from high-lead to eutectic, everything else is speculation as long as it is not confirmed by Nvidia. However, the detail of information relating to the material switch is surprising and lends a certain credibility to these sources.

The other question, of course, is how often and in which cases those GPUs actually fail. If Nvidia is right and there are in fact low failure rates, then the $200 million that were allocated to repair affected notebooks should be appropriate. If we assume that Nvidia pays about $200 per repair and that 100% of the potential damage is in the neighborhood of $3 billion, then Nvidia?s $200 million allocation suggest that substantially less than 10% of (notebook) GPUs are showing failures.

A big problem would be if failure rates are in fact higher than expected and Nvidia is trying to contain the problem by playing it down and avoid a massive recall that could inflict a lot of damage to the company?s finances: $3 billion is almost twice of what Nvidia currently has in the bank.

So, what does this mean to you? Obviously, only Nvidia knows how serious the problem really is and there is virtually no way of telling whether your Nvidia-based notebook with an affected GPU will show failures or not, as this will depend on the temperatures the GPU will reach. If it shows failures, however, you should contact your vendor and ask for a replacement, provided you are still covered by a warranty.

It all comes down to the failures rates of the potentially affected GPUs and which GPUs Nvidia is admitting suffer the problem.
 

taltamir

Lifer
Mar 21, 2004
13,576
6
76
Originally posted by: Idontcare
Systematic reliability failures in the field are every IC seller's worst nightmare.

Didn't NV set aside some $200m or thereabouts to deal with the anticipated fallout of their reliability issues about a year ago?

This class action suit could have some legs, but I'd be surprised if NV didn't make some contingency plans for the possibility. I'm thinking "Ford and the Pinto" type of decision trade-offs between doing a full recall versus waiting it out and seeing if class action ever came of it.

the pinto EXPLODED when hit from behind, killing the passengers...
How many people were killed by their laptop gpu failing?
 

Andrew1990

Banned
Mar 8, 2008
2,153
0
0
Originally posted by: taltamir
Originally posted by: Idontcare
Systematic reliability failures in the field are every IC seller's worst nightmare.

Didn't NV set aside some $200m or thereabouts to deal with the anticipated fallout of their reliability issues about a year ago?

This class action suit could have some legs, but I'd be surprised if NV didn't make some contingency plans for the possibility. I'm thinking "Ford and the Pinto" type of decision trade-offs between doing a full recall versus waiting it out and seeing if class action ever came of it.

EXPLODED when hit from behind?


Thats what she said. :)



Nvidia probably has better lawyers though....

 

shangshang

Senior member
May 17, 2008
830
0
0
somewhere in the space-time continuum, a bunch of greedy lawyers have gathered and came up with ideas to milk money to the max.
 

evolucion8

Platinum Member
Jun 17, 2005
2,867
3
81
http://www.cio.com/article/492...top_Owners_Sue_Nvidia_

May 11, 2009 ? Computerworld ? Owners of Apple, Dell and Hewlett-Packard laptops have combined their lawsuits against Nvidia in an attempt to force the graphics chip maker to replace allegedly flawed processors, according to court documents.

If granted class-action status, the case could involve millions of laptop computer owners, the plaintiffs said.

The five plaintiffs, including a Louisiana man who bought an Apple MacBook Pro a year ago, filed an amended complaint last week in a San Francisco federal court, accusing Nvidia of violating consumer-protection laws.

Nvidia admitted to the problem in July 2008, when it said some older chipsets that had shipped in "significant quantities" of notebooks were flawed. In a subsequent filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the company argued that its chip suppliers, the laptop makers and even consumers were to blame.

Nvidia later told the SEC that it would take a $196 million charge to pay for replacing the graphics processors.

Apple, Dell and HP have all told users that some of their laptops contain faulty Nvidia chipsets. Apple, in fact, essentially said that Nvidia had misled it. "Nvidia assured Apple that Mac computers with these graphics processors were not affected," Apple said in a support document posted last October. "However, after an Apple-led investigation, Apple has determined that some MacBook Pro computers ... may be affected."

Although Apple promised it would repair any defective MacBook Pro for two years after its purchase date, whether it was in warranty or not, HP and Dell first issued BIOS updates designed by Nvidia that boosted fan speed. The increased fan speed was intended to ward off chip failure. Later, however, both companies also extended warranties for the affected laptops, and in some cases offered free repairs.

The plaintiffs in the combined lawsuit said that anything other than a replacement of the flawed chips was insufficient. "This is a grossly inadequate 'remedy,' as it results in additional manifest defects, including, without limitation, further degraded battery life, system performance and increased noise in the Class Computers," the complaint read.

"Worse, this 'remedy' fails to solve the actual problem. Instead, this measure only ensures that the Class Computers will fail after the OEM's express warranty period expires, potentially leaving consumers with a defective computer and no immediate recourse," the lawsuit continued. "Finally, even after this purported 'update,' video and system performance is still degraded due to unacceptably high heat and part failures."

Todd Feinstein of Louisiana was the one plaintiff who had purchased an Apple laptop. After buying a MacBook Pro in April 2008, the computer ran hot, periodically shut down without warning and displayed only gray or black at times, Feinstein said.


He sent a letter to Nvidia in September 2008 demanding that the company fix his MacBook. "Nvidia has failed to respond," he said in the complaint.

Other plaintiffs who live in California, Illinois, New Jersey and New Mexico bought Dell or HP notebooks.

The lawsuit requests the case be granted class-action status, and if it prevails, that Nvidia replace the faulty chips and pay unspecified damages.

Last September, a New York law firm sued Nvidia, accusing the company of breaking U.S. securities laws by concealing the existence of a serious defect in its graphics chip line for several months before admitting the problem. That case has been put on hold awaiting a decision by an appellate court.

 

Rottie

Diamond Member
Feb 10, 2002
4,795
2
81
My laptop has nVidia graphic card it died last year so if it dies again I will wait for HP recall.
 

Blurry

Senior member
Mar 19, 2002
932
0
0
Originally posted by: taltamir

the pinto EXPLODED when hit from behind, killing the passengers...
How many people were killed by their laptop gpu failing?


The gamer side of me died when my laptop's geforce 8400 suddenly decided to give me the finger. Now 2 months later...I don't think I can ever get back to gaming ..sniff


Luckily my laptop had 2 video cards - currently running off of a slow but stable Intel Magic Graphics.