NVIDIA says "significant quantities" of laptop GPUs are defective, stock tumbles
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 $250M charge against earnings next quarter to cover the cost of repairing and replacing the affected chips, but didn't specifically announce what products were defective, just that they include GPUs and "media and communications processors." Laptop makers have apparently already been given an updated GPU driver which kicks in fans sooner to reduce "thermal stress" on the GPU, and NVIDIA says it's talking to its suppliers about being reimbursed for the faulty parts. That's great and all, but we'd really rather know which chips specifically are failing -- if you're serious about playing in the big leagues, you better come clean, guys.
Filed under: Laptops
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Hmm @ Jul 2nd 2008 10:54PM
Chips are fattening
Dave @ Jul 3rd 2008 12:01AM
Can't believe no one said this yet but...
Epic Fail
Boyo @ Jul 3rd 2008 1:24AM
I work for NVIDIA, and I can tell you this. It wasn't my Fnuking fault. If you ask me is was that Assbag Carl over in RD! The SOB show up drunk every damn day. SHIPOOPI!
zimm @ Jul 3rd 2008 5:39PM
Are ge force go 7800 gtx afected
LC @ Jul 2nd 2008 10:59PM
I'm willing to bet it also has to do with the low yields and sales of the GTX280s.
DefPo3t @ Jul 2nd 2008 11:14PM
media centric gpus overheating have alot to do with high end 600$ graphics card. Please post with sense next time. Oh and about the sales of the 280 gtx thier selling just fine which is about the same as the 8800 ultras sold which is decent but slow compared to the other models which nvida knew would happen when they put the huge price tag on it which happens to be lower than the ultras were
Matt A @ Jul 2nd 2008 11:29PM
@Defpo3t
You have a release of an early financial statement or something? Where the hell could you possible know the rate at which their 280's are selling when they've been out maybe a month.
I HIGHLY doubt this time around given a mid ranged price competitor that is pretty close to the 280 for half the price. A similar product didn't exist with the 8800 series's release or not even soon there after.
I'm marking this as a win for common sense over some random dude spouting BS on the internet again unless you have something to back all that up.
DefPo3t @ Jul 3rd 2008 12:09AM
well let's see. The 8800 ultras cost close to and some times over 700$ and they sold well with the enthusiths (gawd I suck at spelling) and due to the profit that they make on each card they do well concerning the 280 gtx market about other nvidia market detials i know about as muchnas they have told the public. I do know that history repeats itself the 6800 and the high end cards that followed sold decently ornas bout as well as they were expected to.
loosely_coupled @ Jul 3rd 2008 8:20PM
@DefPo3t
I don't really care about the actual content of your post, but for god sakes you need to learn how to write correctly! Your spelling is horrendous and punctuation is worse! The LEAST you could go is use Firefox's inline spell checker!
AC @ Jul 2nd 2008 11:01PM
ouch. not good for NVIDIA.
selfdestruct @ Jul 2nd 2008 11:03PM
$13.56? NVDA looks as low at $18.00, where did the 13.56 come from?
Sylvanus @ Jul 2nd 2008 11:16PM
I also don't understand the 13.56 number
Googenheim @ Jul 2nd 2008 11:17PM
It's after-hours trading:
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=nvda
Quicksilver4648 @ Jul 2nd 2008 11:04PM
Their stock fell 24%! Wow... My inner investor is whispering in my ear that tomorrow I should become a part owner of Nvida.
Jeremy K. @ Jul 3rd 2008 2:04AM
shhh! don't tell anyone
Aaron @ Jul 2nd 2008 11:05PM
I know for a fact this is true because my friend bought a laptop with an 8600M, and I know computers pretty well I build my own and I went through everything I could think of and the GPU was acting extremely weird. It stopped registering as an 8600M and I didn't know what to do. This has to be the problem.
Craig M. @ Jul 2nd 2008 11:30PM
I'm assuming it's also the 8600M GT. I've had some major/minor problems which I believe are caused by overheating.
Bob Delani @ Jul 3rd 2008 12:06AM
The 8400M GS in my m1330 has given me nothing but problems...
Striker @ Jul 3rd 2008 12:57AM
Just one hour after I heard about this, my Quadro NVS 140M (actually a GeForce 8400M) in my T61 started acting up on the simplest of animations and Flash.
Darth Abe @ Jul 3rd 2008 1:08AM
uh oh
I just ordered an M1330...
Owen @ Jul 3rd 2008 2:20AM
My M1330 has been fine. Plays TF2, WoW, everything great.
wiw @ Jul 3rd 2008 2:42AM
Yup, the same story goes for my 7 month old Dell m1330's Nvidia 8400GS. Rainbow-coloured spectrum of vertical bands, Vista BSOD's, and system crashes come more frequently than successful boot-ups.
Rupert @ Jul 3rd 2008 5:01AM
I am on my 4th motherboard in my M1330 as 8400M GS failed each time. I am told by the engineer that the T7700 chip creates too much heat next to the GPU and it gets stressed (its on the same heat pipe). I am sure it is just a matter of time until it fails again.
Deed @ Jul 3rd 2008 5:04PM
I can barely run fucking TF2 or Portal without them crashing at startup. TF2 I have to switch to Task Manager or something else quickly, otherwise it minimises and maximises so damn fast that I can't even switch out of it.
Portal just doesn't work unless I force it to run in the background by clicking on the taskbar while the game's loading. I'm presuming that's the card itself anyway. I haven't had any epic flails yet, and current drivers have the card running okay, but I'm sure I should be getting higher framerates than this.
initialxy @ Jul 3rd 2008 7:31AM
i have 8600M GT in my dell vostro 1500. it get so hot that i can't touch the left side of my laptop when i play games. but other than that, it works pretty fine.
Ashraf @ Jul 3rd 2008 8:32AM
My HP Pavilion dv9610us has a NVIDIA GeForce Go 7150M and it has the same overheating issue. If I leave the laptop alone playing videos, the left side (exhaust) would overheat.
jaalin @ Jul 3rd 2008 11:15AM
m1330 with 8400 here - i've only played portal a couple times on it and have had no problems.
sikantis @ Jul 2nd 2008 11:06PM
Great information!
KeegdnaB @ Jul 2nd 2008 11:07PM
exactly what chips are we talking about here
could explain why my dv6000 with the geforce 6150 (which is currently in repair for wireless tanking) runs so freaking hot
Tony @ Jul 2nd 2008 11:33PM
The article says previous generation chips.
That would be the 9 series, yours is the 6 series.
So this is unrelated to your situation.
jay.viz @ Jul 3rd 2008 12:15AM
@Tony
Which previous generation, exactly?
Oh yeah, from TFA: "It didn't say specifically which of its products were affected."
kal326 @ Jul 3rd 2008 12:18AM
I say wait for the laptop manufacturers to start issuing driver updates and check the details of the release. Bit of a PITA process of elimination. However most laptops get the original factory release of the graphics drivers with updates only being released by the manufacturer when there is a problem to be addressed or a SIGNIFICANT benefit to the customer. Unless Nvidia comes clean with the models, this could be only way of finding out.
Jeff @ Jul 3rd 2008 12:26AM
That would explain why the HP dv6000 I use is flaming hot to touch on the touchpad.
Tony @ Jul 3rd 2008 12:49AM
@ jay.viz
True, I guess I just assumed that previous would imply the one directly before the latest.
NewJohnny @ Jul 3rd 2008 12:56AM
HP laptops have been returned in droves due to that wireless issue. The problem was eventually pinned on nVidia communication hardware (the North Bridge chip is my guess).
Josh @ Jul 3rd 2008 1:27AM
@Tony
The difference between the DV6000 and DV9000 isn't the time of it's release, it's size. They were both released at about the same exact time. The DV6000 is a 15.4" model and the DV9000 is the 17" model.
I agree with KeegdnaB and Jeff regarding the HP DV series. I was told by an HP "case manager" that HP has a sort of "internal recall" regarding the DV2000 (14.1"), DV6000 (15.4"), and DV9000 (17") series laptops that are Nvidia based. I have had to send in 8 of these over the last several months already for repair/replacement (all with the Nvidia 6150 chipset). Most issues were due to overheating and/or the wifi becoming unrecognizable, even after a module replacement. They will even do the repairs out-of-warranty.
So Nilay, there's a definite answer for one of the affected chipsets I think.
Tony @ Jul 3rd 2008 1:39AM
@ Josh
I'm pretty sure it was clear I was referring to graphics cards.
Dustin @ Jul 3rd 2008 5:54AM
I'm on my third HP dv6000 laptop. Had to send the other 2 back, they stopped working dead, the techs noted that each time they needed to replace the motherboard for a burnt out chip.
This particular model has both the nvidia 6150go and the nforce4 MCP (both of which are potentially affected by this notice) I wish they'd just get on about it and tell us which of their products are ticking time bombs.
Predator.Z6 @ Jul 3rd 2008 8:27AM
Sounds like my dv6000's affected too...same problems with overheating, battery, and that AC adapter. The only thing that got me really mad is that a month after I got the laptop back in April, I started having the overheating problem again. (HP has an extended support program specific to these models. 2 yrs after the original warranty.) I called in and the Indian woman on the phone kept saying, "I don't see any extended warranty on your laptop, sir. Did you purchase one?" Sigh...you can probably see where that's going >_> Never really tried after that. Maybe I should try calling again.
KeegdnaB @ Jul 3rd 2008 11:23AM
@ Predator.Z6
Try having the indian man tell you you warranty is expired when you've had it less than a year.
I had to spend hours on the phone the other day to avoid paying 430 bucks to fix mine.
JimV @ Jul 3rd 2008 7:03PM
No crap, my Geforce 6100 Go seems to IDLE at 70 degrees C.
m4xn00b @ Jul 11th 2008 4:53AM
My DV6000 had the exact same problem. HP never admitted anything was wrong so I was stuck with a dead notebook for 6 months. They finally admit it and are offering repairs. Now the video card may be defective. It gets extremely hot when I play games, not even really demanding games like half life 2. So I may be affected.
I have no idea. Just one damned problem after another.
Turtle @ Jul 2nd 2008 11:10PM
Thanks for an information-free post. What chips? What laptops are affected? ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!
Totally unrelated: how is it that Tampa Bay is kicking azz in the American League? Is this one of the signs the Bible speaks of as signaling the impending apocalypse?
DefPo3t @ Jul 2nd 2008 11:16PM
sports on engadget. ! I think that qualifies as one of the seven deadly sins
Nilay Patel @ Jul 2nd 2008 11:29PM
Read the last sentence of the post, homeboy -- NVIDIA's not saying which chips are affected. We're just as frustrated as you.
Dan @ Jul 3rd 2008 12:35AM
Thanks for linking to this Nilay, please keep us informed if a list pops up of computers or cards effected. I got 2 G1S's under a service plan, both GPU's have issues overheating and causing stuttering, and I'm worried they will break after the warranties expire, which would be my luck. As soon as someone admits it is on the list, I'm taking it in for replacement.
I like and use Nvidia products, so doing the right thing with the defective GPU's would score big points with me and keep me as a customer.
David @ Jul 3rd 2008 7:41AM
The GPUs are failing because of overheating, so If your laptop burns to the touch when you play games, then you are affected, just make sure you get your fans spinning nice n fast.
My 7600 failed, after 15 months, burnt out. I had to wait a month to get it back because so many failed around that time, that there were big supply issues.
So I guess the 7600 is affected.
Fairly simple
Turtle @ Jul 3rd 2008 11:19AM
Thing is, yeah, Nvidia didn't want to say jack, but isn't it then Engadget's task to beat more information out of them for our benefit? If anybody would have a Ronco(tm) Pocket Taser handy, you'd think it'd be Engadget.
And it's not really "sports," it's more like reporting a bizarre anomaly, like, "hey, there's a giant green meteor with otters on it headed this way, and hey, Tampa Bay doesn't suck this year!"
rudefyet @ Jul 2nd 2008 11:13PM
OH SNAP!
Hopefully the 8400M GS in my M1330 isn't affected
ethana2 @ Jul 2nd 2008 11:39PM
Yeah really, I just ordered the Ubuntu Inspiron 1420N with the 8400m gs, it would suck to have to send it back in..