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HP reports failed NVIDIA GPUs in desktops

Robert Hallock October 21, 2008 11:59 AM ET in Tech

In an unsurprising continuation of NVIDIA’s bad GPU drama Hewlett-Packard is reporting that select slimline desktops are suffering an aberrant amount of failed GPUs. Often more mobile than desktop, these slimlines are believed to employ the ill-fated G84M and G86M chips for which NVIDIA has set aside nearly $200 million to cover the cost of failures.

To combat the increased failure rate, HP has extended the warranty until December 31, 2009 or a year beyond the original warranty’s date of expiration. The new warranty period entitles users to a new motherboard which will come with a chip that isn’t a terrible wreck.

Somehow we think that $200 million just won’t be enough to cover NVIDIA’s epic failure in this case.

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6 Comments:

  1. Artemis
    My Karma ran over your Dogma
    24 Oct '08, 7:23 pm
    Quoting Thrax

    In an unsurprising continuation of NVIDIA's bad GPU drama Hewlett-Packard is reporting that select slimline desktops are suffering an aberrant amount of failed GPUs. Often more mobile than desktop, these slimlines are believed to employ the ill-fated G84M and G86M chips for which NVIDIA has set aside nearly $200 million to cover the cost of failures.

    To combat the increased failure rate, H... Continue reading

    Crud, does this problem also go with HP laptops? It says "slimline desktops" but the site that the person below posted mentioned that the affected cards are in HP laptops as well.

    I have a Pavilion with a GeForce 84M card. Oh man, I really don't want to have my laptop affected! *knocks on wood*

  2. Robert Hallock
    Cad
    24 Oct '08, 8:28 pm

    All GeForce 8400M and GeForce 8600M chips are bad. Their failure is a matter of when, not if.

    //edit: doh.

  3. Leonardo
    F@H Reign of Terror is back!
    24 Oct '08, 9:06 pm

    While we're on the defective GPU topics: Is there any other investigative reporting of the extent that The Inquirer has provided? Also, The Inq maintains that the defective GPUs include G92. Is there definitive information out on all this yet?

  4. Artemis
    My Karma ran over your Dogma
    24 Oct '08, 9:12 pm

    Damn, and there isn't even an official recall yet?
    So now it's basically like "sit tight and hope your laptop doesn't fry?"

    I never should have gotten the high-end graphics card with my laptop...

  5. Robert Hallock
    Cad
    24 Oct '08, 9:36 pm

    In cases such as this where multiple vendors (HP, Apple, Dell are the big ones thus far) are effected, it is up to the vendor to decide how to deal with it. Dell released some new BIOS to combat the thermal fluctuations that jumpstart failures. Apple is offering free replacements, and HP is doing the warranty thing.

    You'll just have to contact HP and see what they say.

    @Leonardo:

    As of yet, the G92 brouhaha remains unsubstantiated, but we all know Inq's penchant for being correct when everyone else says that they're not. To date, they're still the biggest source of information in this ongoing crap.

  6. Leonardo
    F@H Reign of Terror is back!
    25 Oct '08, 1:09 am
    Dell released some new BIOS to combat the thermal fluctuations that jumpstart failures.

    Yeah, the BIOS "solution" just runs the CPU cooling fan at higher RPMs. Oh the joy of a noisy laptop!

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