So BOTH of my laptop's 8800M GTX's have gone.... dead.

[Mussels]

The laptop had 2 years warranty which expired July.

Could the graphic cards have a separate warranty by Nvidia perhaps?

nah, not in a laptop.


dying cards is one of the reasons i went off nvidia, actually - i think it was a wise move.

Nv cards that have died of old age on me:

8800GTX x2
8800GT x2 (although one was BIOS Vmodded)
8600GT
6150LE onboard (dedicated works fine in system)

same as yours - eventually, they just artifacted in 3D, then 2D, then stopped working at all.

 

[Black Panther]

Lol for a while I was hoping. Perhaps they had some type of warranty - I have a BFG 8800GT which I passed on to my brother - it's got a 10 year warranty.

I never had a nvidia card dying on me so far (the 5970 is my first ati ever, I always used nvidia for some reason). However this year as well my mom's 6600GO on her laptop called it quitters. Couldn't be fixed though since it was soldered on the mobo.

 

[Mussels]

Lol for a while I was hoping. Perhaps they had some type of warranty - I have a BFG 8800GT which I passed on to my brother - it's got a 10 year warranty.

I never had a nvidia card dying on me so far (the 5970 is my first ati ever, I always used nvidia for some reason). However this year as well my mom's 6600GO on her laptop called it quitters. Couldn't be fixed though since it was soldered on the mobo.

i think it may all be related to that fiasco they had with chipsets dying a while back, bad materials spanned a few GPU generations.


at least your whole laptop isnt toast, imagine if you only had one GPU, and it died...

 

[Black Panther]

i think it may all be related to that fiasco they had with chipsets dying a while back, bad materials spanned a few GPU generations.


at least your whole laptop isnt toast, imagine if you only had one GPU, and it died...

Sure that's right at least


Hey, I might even try baking the faulty card in the oven!

 

[qubit]

Sure that's right at least


Hey, I might even try baking the faulty card in the oven!

I'd think twice about that. You might wreck the graphics card such that it shorts out the rest of the laptop when you put it back in, which could destroy it.

I wouldn't do it.

 

[Black Panther]

Figured out I wouldn't lose anything by informing my seller about the situation, even though I'm out of warranty.....

Dear Mr Seiler,
I am a customer from Malta. In July 2008 I had bought a D901C with Q9450, 4GB RAM, 2 x 160GB Hitachi in Raid 0, and 2 x 8800M GTX.
All of a sudden, I got artifacts while playing a game - purple dots, green lines... Since then, the laptop refused to load Windows, giving a blue screen error nvlddmkm.sys
When I start in "safe mode" Windows loads, but still with lots of purple dots. It made artifacting even while booting BEFORE Windows loads. I tried re-installing the nvidia graphics driver but it didn't fix the problem.
I suspected I had trouble in one of the cards, specifically in the Slot 1 card since artifacting occurred in Safe Mode (SLI is disabled) and before Windows loaded. So I removed the Slot 1 card, and put the Slot 2 card in Slot 1.
Now my laptop works "fine" -- no artifacting. But I have only one 8800M GTX inside it now.
I know that 28 months have passed since I bought the laptop, so I'm not expecting you to go out of your way for me.....
But those 28 months have been of very careful use. I always used laptop with a Zalman NC2000 Cooler, I dismantled and cleaned the heat-sinks regularly, there's not one bit of dust inside the laptop and the temperatures of the graphics were always excellent (below 73 degrees) even while in game.
It's very disappointing to have a card for which I paid over 700 Euros go dead after such a short period.
It is known that there were defective Nvidia cards and action is being taken: http://www.nvidiasettlement.com/
What would you suggest? I thought perhaps I am not the only one, and perhaps you can inform your supplier about this.
I can send you the defective card if it would be of help.
Regards,

 

[Munki]

Figured out I wouldn't lose anything by informing my seller about the situation, even though I'm out of warranty.....

Ya might get lucky. Surprisingly, I've sent emails about a couple of products and they voluntarily replaced the part even though it was clearly out of warranty. Whats the worse that they could do? Charge you for support for reading your email?

 

[Black Panther]

Well, I am surprised...

The seller replied (wow they're quick considering it's late in the day - yay for Germans ) and asked me the invoice number.

Now as Murphy's law wants it, I found everything concerned with the laptop except the invoice... I know I placed it somewhere so safe that not even I can find it...

So I sent him the telegraphic transfer number I had from the bank when I made the payment hoping for the best.

Immediately I got this reply:

okay your Invoice No. is 0456/2008

pls ship us the laptop with complete fault discription to

Michael Seiler
IT-Dienstleistungen
Jacob-Winter-Platz 11
01239 Dresden

Germany

Pls write a returnig adress in the letter! We try to fix the VGA card.

thx
Michael

Now there are some issues here which I have to clear out with him:

1) Does he want me to reinstall both cards as they were originally with both cards in place? As it is now I've got vga2 in slot 1 and vga1 on a shelf. Or does he want that I ship him laptop as it is now?

2) The 'fixing'........ I really don't want to ship the laptop back for them to install a new vga and bill me some €500.... for €500 I can buy a single 280M, install it myself and it'd be better than my 2 8800M GTX's.... (Apart from the doubtful question being can they really 'fix' the vga?) Neither do I want to incur the expense of sending a 15lb box overseas only to have them sending it back saying that it can't be fixed



Edit:
I sent him this. I'm always a bit afraid of the 'language barrier' when two people have different native languages and try to use a common language to communicate but well... I tried my best:

Dear Sir,

thank you for your kind and very quick reply.

I have some questions before shipping back please if you don't mind:

1) To get the laptop working I have removed vga1 (+cooler & fan), put it on a shelf, and put vga2 in the slot where vga1 had been. This way the laptop works fine, no blue screens, no artifacting of green/purple lines/dots, even if I play a game on it.

Would you prefer that I ship:

a) Only the defective vga; OR

b) The entire laptop as it is setup now, with only 1 vga and the other vga being outside the laptop; OR

c) The entire laptop and I re-install vga1 in slot 1 and vga2 in slot 2 as the laptop had originally been?



2) About the costs...

My 24 month warranty has expired, so please I would like to know labour costs in the case of repairs or replacements
If my defective 8800M GTX is beyond repair it might not be worth paying the price for a brand new 8800M GTX considering that if I put a single MXM 2.1 TYPE III 280M GTX it will give a better performance than my two 8800M GTX together

Thank you again for your excellent service and quick customer support! Very much appreciated!
Regards,

 

[qubit]

BP, I've read your last post carefully and I think you've done absolutely the right thing. You've stated your case clearly and asked the right questions of the seller.

It looks like you might be getting good customer service from this seller, but I definitely wouldn't ship anything without it being stated in writing whether it's a free repair or how much the cost will be.

If not free, make sure that it's a quote and not an estimate, which would mysteriously balloon to twice the amount stated...

And now, at the risk of stating the obvious, if you do send it to them, make absolutely sure to use a tracked service with enough insurance cover in case something goes wrong.

 

[DaMulta]

I vote you upgrade to 280s


http://www.mxm-upgrade.com/Table.html

 

[Black Panther]

Thread title changed..

I vote you upgrade to 280s


http://www.mxm-upgrade.com/Table.html

Yes, time is up to get a 280M for me.

Alas, yesterday the good 8800M blew up (nearly literally - my monitor flashes and strobes like discoteque madness).

The problem now is where I can get one, at a reasonable price

 

[Mussels]

no warranty on the laptop? i'd be worried about your replacement card going kaput as well, if its got power or heat problems.

 

[Black Panther]

no warranty on the laptop? i'd be worried about your replacement card going kaput as well, if its got power or heat problems.

Bought it July 2008 with 2 year warranty.

I'm more thinking the cards had to die... I used to monitor the temperatures, they never got above 75 degrees. But both cards failed while gaming - the first one while playing New Vegas, and the second one started by giving a BSOD while my daughter was playing the Sims 3.

 

[Mussels]

thanks Nvidia! >.>


what options have you got? personally i'd be looking for similar performance to one of those cards, but with better power efficiency. less power and heat means less likely for the same problem to occure on the new card.

 

[Black Panther]

My options are these cards:

8800M GTX
9800M
260M
280M

Thought I might as well get a good card which is better than what I had...

If I remember correctly the MXM slot is MXM 2.1 type III but I have to recheck later this afternoon when I can see the card.

 

[Shou Miko]

depends on ur needs but i will say a GTX260 if u can't get DX11 card in ur lappy ^^;

but still depends on price if it's not too much price difference on a GTX 280M to others than go with that if that's the best u can put in it.

 

[Mussels]

whats the specs on the 280M? i know your 8800GTXM was more closely related to the desktop 8800GS, so i'd like to know what the 280M actually compares to

 

[Red_Machine]

What happened with shipping the laptop back to the seller, BP?

 

[Black Panther]

Umm, I emailed him asking whether to ship just the defective card or the whole laptop... and he didn't answer. Probably it was because it was christmas time then, and they were busy? Hmm

 

[mlee49]

BP, it sucks to hear your amazing laptop died. Those gpu's ran extremely hot and generally don't last longer than 2 years.

Hopefully next time if you go with another gaming beast you'll have better luck and better coverage(3 years +).

 

[Red_Machine]

Umm, I emailed him asking whether to ship just the defective card or the whole laptop... and he didn't answer. Probably it was because it was christmas time then, and they were busy? Hmm

That sucks, because he really seemed willing to help.

You have my sympathies, that was one awesome piece of kit you had there.

 

[newtekie1]

whats the specs on the 280M? i know your 8800GTXM was more closely related to the desktop 8800GS, so i'd like to know what the 280M actually compares to

Underclocked 9800GTX. It still uses G92...

http://www.nvidia.com/object/product_geforce_gtx_280m_us.html

 

[Mussels]

G92 is power efficient at least, so i think its a decent choice.

 

[Black Panther]

I'll take a photo of my 8800M so that you can see the type of slots. (I'll upload it tomorrow from work since obviously I can't use the laptop anymore).

My guess is MXM 2.1 type III.

I have to buy a card otherwise the lappie's just a 12lb paperweight..

If anyone knows of a 280M for sale please shoot me a pm. (I already checked ebay but the cards there either don't have the same slot or are labelled as 'not working').

 

[mlee49]

BP, sucks you have to buy a new gpu. I remembered mxm-upgrade.com, they sell a 280m but it's 450 Euro

http://www.mxm-upgrade.com/index.html

Might try to look used possibly, could try notebookreview.com's Marketplace for a spare shipped to ya. Never know, might find one at half the cost.