nVidia facing class action lawsuit!

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apoppin

Lifer
Mar 9, 2000
34,890
1
0
alienbabeltech.com
Originally posted by: stelleg151
I was under the impression that as soon as Vista came out they had WHQL drivers ready, and the only thing thats is not supported ATM is DX10 games in SLI, of which there are none.

Feel free to correct me.
OK

http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTI3NCwxLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==
Late on Wednesday afternoon, Pacific Time, NVIDIA released ForceWare v100.59, both in 32-bit and 64-bit flavors. This is a BETA driver that provides DX10 level support for 8800 single GPU configuration owners running Vista and single GPU DX9 support for GeForce 6/7/8 series GPUs in Vista. For you SLI owners out there, the Beta support is not near as broad. Only 8800 SLI under DX9 is supported in Vista currently. Those of you that have spent a lot of money on SLI GeForce 7 series configurations are currently left out in the cold.

This article is having to somewhat be rewritten because as of a few hours ago, there was NO SLI SUPPORT for 8800s in Vista at all. That was obviously a huge deal that has somewhat been fixed with ForceWare v100.59. As for DX10 SLI Beta support, NVIDIA is still undecided or unwilling to share their target date.

G80 SLI support for DX10 is TBD.

For you GeForce 7 series SLI owners, you fate is still dangling as well in terms of Vista support.

G7x/NV4x SLI support for OpenGL and DirectX 9 is TBD.


We have to still look at this and wonder just why we don?t have WHQL certified drivers as we are seeing 8800 users in our forums with real driver issues inside Vista. We also have to wonder about the impact of those NVIDIA users that want to move into the Vista 64-bit realm of computing as it seems non-signed drivers are a no-go.

....

Windows Vista was not sprung on an unsuspecting NVIDIA last weekend. NVIDIA has known for a great while that WHQL Vista driver support is expected of them. They also know damn well that their enthusiast customer base will not find their current feeble attempts acceptable and that their self-stated ?world-class support? is worth very little right now in terms of Windows Vista. We saw a Beta DX9 SLI driver released today for Vista that equates to putting a Band-Aid on a compound fracture. NVIDIA does not want to have their feet held to the fire for the slap in the face given to its 8800 SLI owners so they are trying their best to deflect that negative attention. There are surely many 7800 and 7900 SLI owners out there that feel slighted by NVIDIA as well. NVIDIA has enjoyed a strong reputation in the past year, much of that tied directly to SLI. NVIDIA not being ready for DX10, Vista, and SLI is a low blow to enthusiasts and gamers that spend the big bucks, and they will remember that for a while.

Talking to NVIDIA about this today, they explain they are very well aware that the enthusiast community is not happy with the state of the Vista drivers and they told HardOCP that they are working hard to fix the issues.

fixed quotes ... all theirs
 

Aberforth

Golden Member
Oct 12, 2006
1,707
1
0
I don't understand why Nvidia did not bother release beta drivers early, at least they could have got some feedbacks. Maybe they wanted to create a dramatic effect something like Vista and DX10 showoff stunts with G80 - which no doubt happened.
 

jim1976

Platinum Member
Aug 7, 2003
2,704
6
81
I have no problem whatsoever right now about the WHQL claim.. It's too early anyway and they have the advantage of playing alone in the field right now with G80..

But the fact that this driver does not support G70 SLI is unacceptable in my eyes..

A definite :thumbsdown: for nVIDIA
 

Captante

Lifer
Oct 20, 2003
30,354
10,880
136
As I said on the Nvidia forum ... beta drivers should have been available months ago & at least one stable 32 & 64 bit version for the 8800's should be available on Nvidia's site now.. the fact that they arn't may not be a reason to sue Nvidia, but its a pretty serious blunder on their part... frankly they should be pretty embarrassed by the quality of the DX9 drivers for the 8800's they are foisting on us as well right now too & they owe the enthusiest community at least a detailed explanation, if not an outright apology for their performance.

Think we'll be getting even the explanation? I wouldn't hold your breath!
 

Acanthus

Lifer
Aug 28, 2001
19,915
2
76
ostif.org
I feel so bad for the early adopters.

/sue

*Hugs his geforce 6800gt*

*looks forward to his 8900 on vista SP1, because hes not a tard*
 

Acanthus

Lifer
Aug 28, 2001
19,915
2
76
ostif.org
Originally posted by: Captante
As I said on the Nvidia forum ... beta drivers should have been available months ago & at least one stable 32 & 64 bit version for the 8800's should be available on Nvidia's site now.. the fact that they arn't may not be a reason to sue Nvidia, but its a pretty serious blunder on their part... frankly they should be pretty embarrassed by the quality of the DX9 drivers for the 8800's they are foisting on us as well right now too & they owe the enthusiest community at least a detailed explanation, if not an outright apology for their performance.

Think we'll be getting even the explanation? I wouldn't hold your breath!

Not to defend them, but do you understand how software is developed?

Especially on an entirely new OS, and API, and hardware?

Its not like vista and DX10 were done months ago...

Hell barely weeks ago.
 

Aberforth

Golden Member
Oct 12, 2006
1,707
1
0
I'm a developer myself....i want to know how do game developers make Vista-compatible and DX10 games :p like Crysis for example.....do they use Quardro?
 

nrb

Member
Feb 22, 2006
75
0
0
Originally posted by: Cookie Monster
You do realise that if you go to the nVIDIA site, there is this place called the user forums.
Under the user forums there are many topics, including the forceware topic.

You should write a detailed summary of your bugs/system specs/driver and hopefully people will help you out over there. Contacting Chris Ray (in those forums) is also ideal because he has direct relations with the forceware team from nVIDIA.
Have you ever actually tried reporting a driver bug on those forums? Nvidia personnel DO NOT RESPOND to bug reports. Ever. They don't even bother to look for them. Honestly. Try it, if you don't believe me.
 

Cookie Monster

Diamond Member
May 7, 2005
5,161
32
86
Originally posted by: nrb
Originally posted by: Cookie Monster
You do realise that if you go to the nVIDIA site, there is this place called the user forums.
Under the user forums there are many topics, including the forceware topic.

You should write a detailed summary of your bugs/system specs/driver and hopefully people will help you out over there. Contacting Chris Ray (in those forums) is also ideal because he has direct relations with the forceware team from nVIDIA.
Have you ever actually tried reporting a driver bug on those forums? Nvidia personnel DO NOT RESPOND to bug reports. Ever. They don't even bother to look for them. Honestly. Try it, if you don't believe me.

Proof? Thats a pretty bold claim your making there.
 

jim1976

Platinum Member
Aug 7, 2003
2,704
6
81
Originally posted by: Acanthus
I feel so bad for the early adopters.

/sue

*Hugs his geforce 6800gt*

*looks forward to his 8900 on vista SP1, because hes not a tard*

I don't know about SLI owners and their issues, but I myself have enjoyed my 8800GTX very much these three months.. It had its issues with Splinter Cell and some other games(that I didn't play so I can't comment on them), but the performance and IQ I experienced were beyond my expectations.. Now WHEN a D3D10 title will be available and I won't be able to play it, then I'll bitch.. Till then I'm very happy with my purchase.. Best 600+ bucks I've spent for a long time ;)
OTOH it is an unacceptable phenomenon that G70 SLI users don't have support in Vista.. It is beyond comprehension in my eyes.. nVIDIA has to deal with this asap..
 

Acanthus

Lifer
Aug 28, 2001
19,915
2
76
ostif.org
Originally posted by: jim1976
Originally posted by: Acanthus
I feel so bad for the early adopters.

/sue

*Hugs his geforce 6800gt*

*looks forward to his 8900 on vista SP1, because hes not a tard*

I don't know about SLI owners and their issues, but I myself have enjoyed my 8800GTX very much these three months.. It had its issues with Splinter Cell and some other games(that I didn't play so I can't comment on them), but the performance and IQ I experienced were beyond my expectations.. Now WHEN a D3D10 title will be available and I won't be able to play it, then I'll bitch.. Till then I'm very happy with my purchase.. Best 600+ bucks I've spent for a long time ;)
OTOH it is an unacceptable phenomenon that G70 SLI users don't have support in Vista.. It is beyond comprehension in my eyes.. nVIDIA has to deal with this asap..

Im specifically talking about the people that insisted upon vista @ launch. (or in most cases before launch)
 

fierydemise

Platinum Member
Apr 16, 2005
2,056
2
81
Cookie one of the main complaints of the guy leading this lawsuit is that when they brought up issues with the drivers on the nVidia user forums they were deleted and banned.

My feeling on this lawsuit is nVidia screwed up but is it lawsuit worthy probably not.
 

Cookie Monster

Diamond Member
May 7, 2005
5,161
32
86
Originally posted by: fierydemise
Cookie one of the main complaints of the guy leading this lawsuit is that when they brought up issues with the drivers on the nVidia user forums they were deleted and banned.

My feeling on this lawsuit is nVidia screwed up but is it lawsuit worthy probably not.

Didnt Chris Ray show up here and apologize for the misunderstanding that took place?

Im thinking this is getting way too out of hand.

I mean think about it. Why would nVIDIA want to release unstable drivers or drivers that doesnt support SLI or delay their drivers? what do they gain by doing that? NOTHING at all.

Im sure they are doing the best they can. They have some of the worlds finest in their company working on this issue. The latest 100.59 drivers fixes more bugs and some games are playable in Vista. For the amount of time they had (few months as G80 has been in the market for that long), and dealing with a new GPU architecture while also dealing with a new OS, i do believe they are doing a very good job.

Although it can be argued that nVIDIA screwed up to some degree, im not so sure if this class action lawsuit and a lot of whining would get this driver situation *solved*.

 

Creig

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
5,170
13
81
Originally posted by: fierydemise
Cookie one of the main complaints of the guy leading this lawsuit is that when they brought up issues with the drivers on the nVidia user forums they were deleted and banned.

My feeling on this lawsuit is nVidia screwed up but is it lawsuit worthy probably not.

You want to know why anyone who said anything bad about Nvidia was banned and the threads deleted? Because it turns out one of the "Moderators" is none other than Rollo, the uber-Nv fanatic. Only he goes by the name "Brian_S" over there. Isn't that a laugh? The guy who was banned from four different website forums is now one of the people in charge of the Nvidia forums.

He used to have a sticky in the Forceware Drivers forum stating that anyone who posted negative things about Nvidia would have their thread deleted and could have their account banned. :disgust:
 

Cookie Monster

Diamond Member
May 7, 2005
5,161
32
86
Originally posted by: Creig
Originally posted by: fierydemise
Cookie one of the main complaints of the guy leading this lawsuit is that when they brought up issues with the drivers on the nVidia user forums they were deleted and banned.

My feeling on this lawsuit is nVidia screwed up but is it lawsuit worthy probably not.

You want to know why anyone who said anything bad about Nvidia was banned and the threads deleted? Because it turns out one of the "Moderators" is none other than Rollo, the uber-Nv fanatic. Only he goes by the name "Brian_S" over there. Isn't that a laugh? The guy who was banned from four different website forums is now one of the people in charge of the Nvidia forums.

He used to have a sticky in the Forceware Drivers forum stating that anyone who posted negative things about Nvidia would have their thread deleted and could have their account banned. :disgust:

I didnt realise that.

Im just going to sit back and see how this lawsuit is going to end up. ALthough some of my friends are moving onto Vista i think ill wait.
 

fierydemise

Platinum Member
Apr 16, 2005
2,056
2
81
Yeah I think the best bet on Vista is to wait a couple months, let people have time to figure out the ins and outs of vista and get the drivers up to speed.
 

apoppin

Lifer
Mar 9, 2000
34,890
1
0
alienbabeltech.com
Originally posted by: Cookie Monster
Originally posted by: fierydemise
Cookie one of the main complaints of the guy leading this lawsuit is that when they brought up issues with the drivers on the nVidia user forums they were deleted and banned.

My feeling on this lawsuit is nVidia screwed up but is it lawsuit worthy probably not.

Didnt Chris Ray show up here and apologize for the misunderstanding that took place?

Im thinking this is getting way too out of hand.

I mean think about it. Why would nVIDIA want to release unstable drivers or drivers that doesnt support SLI or delay their drivers? what do they gain by doing that? NOTHING at all.

Im sure they are doing the best they can. They have some of the worlds finest in their company working on this issue. The latest 100.59 drivers fixes more bugs and some games are playable in Vista. For the amount of time they had (few months as G80 has been in the market for that long), and dealing with a new GPU architecture while also dealing with a new OS, i do believe they are doing a very good job.

Although it can be argued that nVIDIA screwed up to some degree, im not so sure if this class action lawsuit and a lot of whining would get this driver situation *solved*.

is there anyone arguing that nvidia did this *deliberately*? :p
:Q

clearly it is a screw-up ... it doesn't help their reputation for world class drivers to be late

as i said before ... cut 'em some slack ... it isn't the first time and it won't be the last ...
... other companies have been guilty of *falling behind* ... especially with brand new HW plus a new OS

*cough*
 

DeathReborn

Platinum Member
Oct 11, 2005
2,786
789
136
Originally posted by: fierydemise
Yeah I think the best bet on Vista is to wait a couple months, let people have time to figure out the ins and outs of vista and get the drivers up to speed.

I'm what Acanthus would call a "tard" due to using Vista right now but when you do get it, make sure you disable the most annoying UAC (User Access Control) in msconfig.

On the upside they've really done a good job on the built in games ;).
 

40sTheme

Golden Member
Sep 24, 2006
1,607
0
0
Originally posted by: BFG10K
maybe u could get some money from it!
I don't want money, I just want G80's drivers to match/exceed the awesome quality of G71's XP drivers.

Exactly. People are taking this way too far. There is no point to do this. You want to try writing 20 million lines of code to get a video card to work properly with 3 APIs? (DX9, DX10, OpenGL 2.0) Also, on an entirely new operating system? Everyone should just settle down and be patient.
 

Cookie Monster

Diamond Member
May 7, 2005
5,161
32
86
Originally posted by: 40sTheme
Originally posted by: BFG10K
maybe u could get some money from it!
I don't want money, I just want G80's drivers to match/exceed the awesome quality of G71's XP drivers.

Exactly. People are taking this way too far. There is no point to do this. You want to try writing 20 million lines of code to get a video card to work properly with 3 APIs? (DX9, DX10, OpenGL 2.0) Also, on an entirely new operating system? Everyone should just settle down and be patient.

Add in DX9 SLi, DX10 SLI and a bunch of other things as well. But all in all these issues will soon be fixed. The real question is "how long will it take?"
 

40sTheme

Golden Member
Sep 24, 2006
1,607
0
0
Originally posted by: Cookie Monster
Originally posted by: 40sTheme
Originally posted by: BFG10K
maybe u could get some money from it!
I don't want money, I just want G80's drivers to match/exceed the awesome quality of G71's XP drivers.

Exactly. People are taking this way too far. There is no point to do this. You want to try writing 20 million lines of code to get a video card to work properly with 3 APIs? (DX9, DX10, OpenGL 2.0) Also, on an entirely new operating system? Everyone should just settle down and be patient.

Add in DX9 SLi, DX10 SLI and a bunch of other things as well. But all in all these issues will soon be fixed. The real question is "how long will it take?"

Noone knows, but people taking drastic steps like this will not help the situation.
 

Acanthus

Lifer
Aug 28, 2001
19,915
2
76
ostif.org
Originally posted by: DeathReborn
Originally posted by: fierydemise
Yeah I think the best bet on Vista is to wait a couple months, let people have time to figure out the ins and outs of vista and get the drivers up to speed.

I'm what Acanthus would call a "tard" due to using Vista right now but when you do get it, make sure you disable the most annoying UAC (User Access Control) in msconfig.

On the upside they've really done a good job on the built in games ;).

Wait until the security gets the test of time.

Its only a matter of a few weeks before worms start flying around. Unless MS has somehow started writing code that isnt like swiss cheese.

I ALWAYS wait for at least SP1.
 

Stoneburner

Diamond Member
May 29, 2003
3,491
0
76
I love how people think you can waive everything through the EULA. Does hardware even have a EULA? YOu aren't licensing hardware technically.


About the case itself, if the users can demonstrate that it is not working then NVIDIA has falsely advertised and proving knowledge on their part would not be difficult. It's not as though the case has no merit. People who are upset seem to be people who WANTED vista + a 8800 GTX. Let's say nvidia figured people who adopt their DX10 card like bleedign edge stuff and probably want VISTA too, maybe they figured they could tie in the g80 with VISTA. That's fairly blatant. As for functionality being relative... if the functionality were marginally impaired i doubt people would be whining so much ... though i could be wrong.
 

Aikouka

Lifer
Nov 27, 2001
30,383
912
126
Originally posted by: nrb
4) The absolute refusal to even apologise for the broken hardware video playback in GeForce 6x00 products, let alone compensate anyone; and the staggering length of time it took them even to publically admit to the problem (while still making a big song and dance about how good the video playback on their new chips was).

The best part was how PureVideo was broken in the 6800 Ultra, nVidia's top-end G60 card :laugh:. I think it works in my 6800GT, I don't remember, but it's not like I'm paying $30 for it.

Hmm I don't mind this, maybe I'll get something out of it ;). I'll call it the EAF or Early Adopter's Fee.
 

Cookie Monster

Diamond Member
May 7, 2005
5,161
32
86
Originally posted by: Aikouka
Originally posted by: nrb
4) The absolute refusal to even apologise for the broken hardware video playback in GeForce 6x00 products, let alone compensate anyone; and the staggering length of time it took them even to publically admit to the problem (while still making a big song and dance about how good the video playback on their new chips was).

The best part was how PureVideo was broken in the 6800 Ultra, nVidia's top-end G60 card :laugh:. I think it works in my 6800GT, I don't remember, but it's not like I'm paying $30 for it.

Hmm I don't mind this, maybe I'll get something out of it ;). I'll call it the EAF or Early Adopter's Fee.

All nv40 had broken pure video functionality. i.e 6800ultra, 6800GT, 6800nu and other NV40 based cards.