Filed under: Laptops

So now that HP’s joined Dell in releasing information on which laptops have those defective NVIDIA GPUs, we can sort of piece together which chips are faulty — and just as had been rumored, it looks like basically every Geforce 8600M and 8400M chip is affected. That’s not good news for NVIDIA, which has been saying that only “previous-generation” chips were problematic — unless the chipmaker is planning on updating the hugely popular 8×00 series sometime, say, now, that’s not exactly true, now is it? Other affected chips appear to be in the GeForce Go 7000 and 6000 lines, as well as the Quadro NVS 135M and the Quadro FX 360M, but that’s just looking at model numbers, and we can’t be exactly sure. We’d say that if you’ve got a machine with any one of these GPUs, it might be wise to call in and see what your laptop maker is going to do — and it would be smart for NVIDIA to come right out and say exactly how big and how bad this problem really is.

Read - Dell list of machines and patch
Read - HP list of machines, extended warranty info

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

NVIDIA’s stock took a pretty big hit last week when it announced that “significant quantities” of “previous-generation” GPUs and mobile and communications processors were defective and that it would take a $250M charge against earnings to repair and replace the affected chips, but the company didn’t say which chips specifically were faulty, nor how many. That might be because the problem is much worse than it even sounds — according to a report in The Inquirer, every single G84 and G86 GPU in the 8400M and 8600M series of cards is affected. Apparently both chips share an ASIC, and the core design suffers from the same heat-related issues. That certainly implicates a “significant quantity” of chips, all right, but this is just a rumor for now — one that’s probably best handled by NVIDIA stepping up and letting its customers know exactly how big the problem is.

[Thanks, Rich]

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Filed under: Laptops

var digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/hardware/NVIDIA_significant_quantities_of_laptop_GPUs_defective’; If you’re the type to watch the late stock tickers, you might have noticed that NVIDIA’s stock just took a pretty big hit, down 24 percent to $13.56 — that’s because the company just informed investors that “significant quantities” of previous-generation graphics chips have been failing at “higher than normal rates,” and that it’s lowering its Q2 estimates due to pricing pressure. NVIDIA will be taking a $150M to $250M charge against earnings next quarter to cover the cost of repairing and replacing the affected chips, but didn’t specifically announce what products were defective, just that they include GPUs and “media and communications processors.” Laptop makers have apparently already been given an updated GPU driver which kicks in fans sooner to reduce “thermal stress” on the GPU, and NVIDIA says it’s talking to its suppliers about being reimbursed for the faulty parts. That’s great and all, but we’d really rather know which chips specifically are failing — if you’re serious about playing in the big leagues, you better come clean, guys.

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Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

We’ll be straight with you — we aren’t surprised one iota by this one. For those keeping tabs, Samsung’s slate of Blu-ray players have been plagued with issues essentially from day one, and while it has released a flurry of firmware updates over the years in an attempt to mend a variety of incompatibility issues, even its recent BD-UP5000 hybrid player is being axed early on after giving owners all sorts of fits. Apparently, one particular buyer isn’t taking things lying down, and has decided to file suit against the mega-corp alleging that it has sold “defective Blu-ray players” to consumers. According to the suit, Sammy was “fully aware of the defective nature of the player [BD-P1200, in particular] at the time of manufacture and sale,” and it also claims that the firm has “failed to provide a remedy consistent with the products’ intended and represented uses.” More specifically, the verbiage picks on the units’ inability to play back select BD titles, and while some fixes have indeed been doled out, we still get the feeling many consumers have been left dissatisfied. Needless to say, this outcome should be interesting.

[Thank, Nfinity and Prey521]

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