NVIDIA shows signs ... [2008 - 2017]

[Jawed]

You have Apple's own testimony on the matter that they were told by Nvidia that 8600M GT was in the clear, and that it took their own three month investigation to decide "not so much".

Do you think Apple was the only one who was told that?

I strongly expect not.

As to your second point, you're saying Nvidia made provision for G84 and then lied to the OEMs about it?

Yep. And why not?

I'm not saying NVidia did this, merely that with the unknown nature of the contracts, the unknown failure rates and the unknown solutions offered by NVidia, we can merely guess as to whether there'll be any more charges, or lawsuits etc. and now we're just waiting to see what happens this financial quarter.

Jawed

 

[Geo]

Yep. And why not?

I'm not saying NVidia did this, merely that with the unknown nature of the contracts, the unknown failure rates and the unknown solutions offered by NVidia, we can merely guess as to whether there'll be any more charges, or lawsuits etc. and now we're just waiting to see what happens this financial quarter.

Jawed

Well, this is at least testable. . .the charge will go up or not in the next quarter. I'd keep a close eye on other 8600-only OEMs like Lenovo as well to see if they go there as well. Not a happy thot for me with my T61p (which at least has an extended warranty).

 

[XMAN26]

Nvidia Mobil GPU issues

Having just worked on one of these affected models, HP lappy with a 8600m GT, the fix is 2 fold.

1. A new BIOS has been released by most venders as most of us here is and has been well aware of.
2. The BIOS fix is actually 2 fixes in one. It lowers the thermal threshold for the fans max spin rating so it will kick in high sooner and it also increases the min speed at which the fan spins when in operation.

Had these 2 things been in place from the get go across the board for all venders, the likely hood of this ever even happening I would put at slim to none as thermal concerns would have been met to begin with.

 

[Speccy]

Had these 2 things been in place from the get go across the board for all venders, the likely hood of this ever even happening I would put at slim to none as thermal concerns would have been met to begin with.

Except that would have been abnormal behaviour from the notebook vendors. These things are qualified to the tolerances that are told by the compent IHV's. The only things that are running out of spec here are NVIDIA's GPU's.

 

[Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.]

HP: 38 IGP Desktops also affected:

HP just sent out a bulletin, reprinted below with customer names removed, that linked to the following page. For those keeping track, the bulletin concerns 38 models of HP Pavilion Slimline desktops, and at least some use the 6150LE chipset.

 

[Jawed]

Er, OK, well, ahem, it seems that $192M was prolly not enough then.

Jawed

 

[Geo]

HP: 38 IGP Desktops also affected:

Jesus. This is starting to look like Sony's battery nightmare.

 

[I.S.T.]

Uh, if the IGPs from years ago are effected, wouldn't it be possible for many of nVidia's chips since then to be effected by this?

 

[Geo]

Uh, if the IGPs from years ago are effected, wouldn't it be possible for many of nVidia's chips since then to be effected by this?

From a vendor's pov, that's one of the problems with this kind of situation --your parts start getting put under the microscope by your customers retroactively to see if they have a basis to demand compensation for them as well. It gets to be "piling on" that wouldn't have happened otherwise, most likely.

 

[Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.]

From a vendor's pov, that's one of the problems with this kind of situation --your parts start getting put under the microscope by your customers retroactively to see if they have a basis to demand compensation for them as well. It gets to be "piling on" that wouldn't have happened otherwise, most likely.

Well that's only right if it's the case that Nvidia's been selling faulty parts, either knowingly or not to customers in the past. It's a big hit on everyone's reputation, and I wonder how many repairs/replacements people like HP or their customers paid for on failed hardware before Nvidia chips were pinpointed as the problem?

It's a screw-up of epic proportions, and everyone's going to be looking to blame the company at fault - and that's Nvidia.

 

[Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.]

Apple: G92 Desktops defective.

For those not fully up on Apple lingo, M86 is a tower machine, not a laptop, not even a slimline anything, and is in no way related to a portable box. K3 is the iMac which is sort of related to a laptop. The G92 is a desktop part, the G92 MXM is, but these are two different parts, and the MXM version may be a desktop part in a small form factor, that is unclear.
In any case, what you are seeing is Apple saying that desktop G92s, aka 8800GT/9800GTX/GT1xx, have a "known Nvidia bump crack issue".

And what's extra nice:

NVIDIA will transition from using high-lead solder (95%Pb/5%Sn) to eutectic solder (63%Sn/37%Pb) flip-chip bump material for the G92 product family. During the transition period NVIDIA will be supplying both high-lead and eutectic bump until inventory is depleted. No other materials are being changed.

So Nvidia know they have a load of faulty chips in inventory, but they are going to sell them to customers anyway, and just hope they don't break until the warranty is over.

 

[Razor1]

did that mean anything from last time too when it came to the desktop cards?

There are no known problems with G92s. They do use the same material set, but as I stated before, and will state again, they are not defective. They are NOT subject to the same thermal designs and usage patterns that our other parts have been subjected to (in notebook systems). Essentially, they do not operate anywhere near the critical temperature that causes the other parts to have abnormal failure rates

Follow up by Mike Hara to the Inq btw, and where the hell does Apple talk about the g92, Charlie, Charlie, gotta learn how to read at times.

 

[Geo]

Well, a small ray of sunshine at least:

http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2008/10/13/daily14.html?ana=from_rss

Nvidia Corp. said Monday it was notified by the U.S. Department of Justice that an investigation into potential antitrust violations has been closed.

Santa Clara-based Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) said no specific allegations were made against the company during the investigation.

In late 2006 Nvidia reported that it had received a subpoena from the San Francisco Office of the Antitrust Division of the DOJ in connection with a probe into possible antitrust violations related to graphics processing units and cards.

 

[Geo]

and where the hell does Apple talk about the g92, Charlie, Charlie, gotta learn how to read at times.

Hmm?

Request to qualify Nvidia G92 GPU bump material change for K3 CTO for known Nvidia bump crack issue in order to support MPS and enhance package robustness.

 

[Razor1]

problem is the M86 model number is old, it was used for G4 Power Mac's for desktops and for notebooks it was the G3 Ibook, unless he is talking about internal code names......

and still thats the same type of warning they gave out to other companies too where the chips weren't affected, just a precautionary messure.

Apple has no 9800 GTX's nor gt1xx's. The only one they have is the 8800 gt, so he is talking about the Mac Pro's.

 

[Jawed]

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/230097/has-nvidia-problem-hit-hp-desktops.html

"HP is aware that certain Nvidia chips used in the HP Pavilion Slimline Desktop PCs may experience issues," the company claims in a statement sent to PC Pro.

"Some of these computers may not boot or may not display video. Computers experiencing either or both of these symptoms, attributable to the computer's motherboard, are eligible for HP's Limited Warranty Service Enhancement."

Jawed

 

[dizietsma]

This made me laugh

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2008/10/14/5-star-stocks-poised-to-pop-nvidia.aspx

"Over on CAPS, 605 of the 637 All-Star members who have rated NVIDIA -- some 95% -- believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward. These All-Star bulls include dcstrade and papasilas, both of whom are ranked in the top 10% of our community"

"Recent plunge due to financial panic makes this more attractive. This is where my risk-taking side seems to be winning over my conservative side"

I get the feeling they do not really know what is going on with nvidia. OK AMD is not doing so well but they will exist for a time yet and in the meantime are making hay with their new gpu's whilst nvidia seems to be making key rings with its.

 

[Sxotty]

All I really know is that Dell thinks that running the fan at 100% on my laptop is an acceptable solution to this problem. I, however, tend to think in more black & white terms when it comes to a major investment of mine. If something is broken, it should be replaced/repaired under the terms of my warranty. Band-aid solutions are not acceptable.

Your laptop is defective because it will break. You should never buy a laptop again as they will all break. That is black and white and foolish.

 

[INKster]

I believe that this new deal with Apple, where they'll supply chipsets/IGP's to the entire notebook line -Macbook, Macbook Air, Macbook Pro-, plus a midrange discrete mobile GPU on this last one, is a very agressive one, and might just create a halo effect for MCP79 on Windows desktop motherboards and notebooks too.
We can't just discount the importance of it all in Nvidia's bottom-line later on.

 

[Rufus]

I believe that this new deal with Apple, where they'll supply chipsets/IGP's to the entire notebook line -Macbook, Macbook Air, Macbook Pro-, plus a midrange discrete mobile GPU on this last one, is a very agressive one, and might just create a halo effect for MCP79 on Windows desktop motherboards and notebooks too.
We can't just discount the importance of it all in Nvidia's bottom-line later on.

But I thought Nvidia was getting out of the chipset business - Charlie and "analysts" said so so it must be true. Now Apple's entire line is using Nvidia chipsets. One of these two does not make sense.