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.

[JofArnold @ Jul 3rd 2008 4:06AM]

Frickin great - if it's the 8x00 series I'm going to be so mad. I've put up with months of their crappy Linux drivers (which they still haven't fixed for nearly a year!) and now it looks like the hardware's at fault too. Way to lose your crown NVIDIA! Go ATI!

[onlyone0001 @ Jul 3rd 2008 6:49AM]

I have a 7800M GTX in a XPS M170, and it does get too hot. I got the laptop cleaned, but it's running very hot again=105 C and it slows itself down at that temperature. I was thinking of buying a 8800M GTS HP laptop, but i'm not so sure now. I hope their stock falls even more,so maybe they will learn testing their product. They have low yield rate,but apparently they don't care about that, and just sell the defective ones too.

[JofArnold @ Jul 3rd 2008 7:03AM]

@Chris - a mac wouldn't have saved you; they use NVIDIA GPUs. Basically, it looks like we're all stuffed

[azu @ Jul 3rd 2008 8:09AM]

its the 8 series mobile chips.

86 and 84 :\

[jonathan @ Jul 3rd 2008 8:13AM]

I have no problems with my MBP with an ATI x1600 card in it from aboout 2 years ago, but my newer MBP with a 8600M GT in it from this year has been a mess, plus way to much heat output, its crazy...thing get so much hotter compared to my older unit, yes i know its different CPU etc, but the vid card is one of the main heat producing problems in laptops..

[jonathan @ Jul 3rd 2008 8:17AM]

Apple uses ATi cards in its iMac line along with the option in the mac pro, the macbook pro is the only laptop using the 8 series cards right now....

[Swagger @ Jul 3rd 2008 8:18AM]

"if you're serious about playing in the big leagues, you better come clean, guys."

Are you serious?...that is one of the most daft statements that could be written......Playing in the Big Leagues?....They are a GPU company...I'm sorry strike that...They are THE GPU COMPANY...what league?!?!?!?...THEY ARE THE LEAGUE!

[ShadowKain @ Jul 3rd 2008 8:58AM]

Nvidia ... WHYYYY. This is exaclty what you don't need with ATI hot on your heels with the 4800 series cards... Im confident they will bounce back, but I hope this doesn't change their reputation just because some foreign company gave them some nasty chips...

[Mark Kent @ Jul 3rd 2008 9:05AM]

...I need to log in to my profile...

[corporation @ Jul 3rd 2008 9:32AM]

this makes me want to buy a MB over a MBP even more...

[jonathan @ Jul 3rd 2008 9:34AM]

This is alot bigger than I think anyone is noticing...lots of OEM's are NOT going to be happy, lots of unhappy customers. This is definitly not good for nVidia no matter how you look at it.

NVDA Real-time: 12.60 -5.43(30.12%) OUCH!

[Robert @ Jul 3rd 2008 9:55AM]

Well now I know who to blame for the burn mark on my leg that i got while playing tf2. I thought it was normal behavior for it to run so hot, I mean comon, its a mobile chip. I guess I was wrong. Nvidia better release a list of affected chips soon.

[henryritchie @ Jul 3rd 2008 9:58AM]

I have a HP DV6510 with a 8400gs... O SHI-

[tekdroid @ Jul 3rd 2008 10:07AM]

Intel Extreme Graphics and silent fans and cool laptops ftw.

[inteller @ Jul 3rd 2008 10:44AM]

Here's hoping for a massive HP notebook recall/repurchase. Maybe this explains why new HP tx1000 nvidia drivers were taking so long/non existent.

[Lips @ Jul 3rd 2008 10:51AM]

I have a nvidia GeForce GO 7600 256 dedicated card in my HP 17 inch laptop that went out last week. are they replacing these? does this mean that the entire motherboard must be replaced?

[luke @ Jul 3rd 2008 11:22AM]

well... my bet also goes on the 8400m-g(s). my asus f9s 's got some trouble with it. though there's certainly a decent chance that it's not the gfx. still sounds promising. :P

[JEff @ Jul 3rd 2008 11:24AM]

Yeah I'm on my 2nd motherboard replacement for my dell m1330 with the 8400. Sucks

[JRod @ Jul 3rd 2008 11:43AM]

Suddenly the switch on my Sony SZ series laptop that switches between my 8400M GS and the x3100 just got a whole lot more useful.

[Iridium @ Jul 3rd 2008 11:51AM]

ATI has always made better laptop chips. Everything else has died in my M6805 with a Mobility 9600 other than the graphics chip.

I even tried to kill it. The thing ran stable at a 200mhz core and 75mhz memory overclock. I got a few artifacts at a 250mhz overclock but it still ran fine.

I just bought an ASUS G1S to replace my 5 year old laptop. I hope it doesn't have problems. Mine has the newer 9500gs in it rather than the 8600gt. I hope that is the reson why ASUS switched and the 9000 series aren't buggered.

[matt @ Jul 3rd 2008 12:39PM]

Go intel!! The best supported linux graphics. Never had any problems.

[thatashguy @ Jul 4th 2008 12:22AM]

lol Intel! I really hope you aren't serious they have horrible drivers for gaming. The image quality is also very bad, once you go ATI you see how things are supposed to be rendered.

[Eric @ Jul 3rd 2008 12:56PM]

I have an 8600M GT in my MacBook Pro... there have been some display "oddities," but I blamed it on MyCokeRewards.com.

[Bigpete1 @ Jul 3rd 2008 3:17PM]

HP DV2000t CTO (custom to order).... Just received it back from HP... the chipset... geforce go 7200... overheated and suddenly would not function. Turned the lappy on and three loud beeps, one long and two short... error code meaning graphics... blackened screen... no vga... no s-video.... 2 months out of warranty! Called HP.... india = awful, all they are trained to do is sell you parts and services.... flat $300 to fix the problem. BTW the entire MOBO needs replacement... gpu onboard in a terrible location, for cooling that is... mind you its fanless on the gpu side. After 2 days and 4 hours i was contacted by a case manager and .... extended my warranty by 1 year for a total of 24 months.. shipped me a box fed-ex and took the lappy for 4 weeks... promised 10 day turnaround. I received 5 or 6 annoying calls regarding delays... Finally got it back.... WTF the same MOBO was installed so i am expecting another failure... ebay? well see... i suggest anyone with this series to sell it or use the open recall.... oh yea the recall.... there was a class action lawsuit not to long ago which was pulled from HP's website, there lists a number of series and models affected... the list is short and seems to only include stor bought lappys. Mine and many others is a custom ordered direct from HP... with a unique model/part number so expect a hard time from the case manager if and when you get one.

-bigpete1

[joastietech @ Jul 3rd 2008 4:14PM]

It was about time this news came out. Have been working with a crippled MacBook Pro for almost a year now, and it sucks. Apple keeps quiet though their discussion boards burst out of the Apple site of all the complains on Graphics, Leopard and the MBP.

I would be very happy to get a replacement graphics card. In fact, I think Apple is obliged to; it is a $ 2500 laptop, come on!

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[Derin @ Jul 3rd 2008 6:32PM]

I work for a big ol' retailer in the UK and HP lapies are coming back every day. Told by our engineers the GPUs over-heat and end up seperating from the HSF.
They all have the same fault, no display and give a beep error code when powered on that points to the GPU. All HP do is replace the mobo with another inherently faulty one. Sucks!

[John Reeve @ Jul 3rd 2008 10:20PM]

Damn anyone knows if this applies to the new gpu's rebatched 9500GS mostly used on Asus laptops , I'm going to buy an asus M51SN damn

[thatashguy @ Jul 4th 2008 12:06AM]

Go go AMD/ATI!!!!

[sgt_quackers @ Jul 4th 2008 12:58AM]

Ive got a 8600 GT and its been working just fine for me. I hope its not affected but they better replace it if it is.

[MP @ Jul 4th 2008 3:17AM]

The display on my Dell Latitude went bad a few months ago, Dell replaced the LCD but it was still bad, turns out it was the Quadro NVS 110M so Dell had to replace the motherboard under warranty too. Now I'm worried how long the replacement will last. :-(

[Ben @ Jul 4th 2008 10:15AM]

Re: 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.

I get the EXACT same problem running my NVidea 8600M GT in my laptop. Furthermore, anything under the source engine crashes and lags all over the place (it runs smoothly then stutters for about a minute, sometimes crashing, when I play rendering the game impossible to use at times). Also, when playing WoW, the screen will freeze and then flash (I'm assuming the card is overheating), and the frame rate drops from about 60-70 to < 30. If it happens again it will slow all the way down to 4-5. It gets so hot that I can't keep the laptop on my lap anymore.

As I said, it is most definitely a heating issue. I have taken to keeping a stand-up fan beside the laptop, because otherwise it simply refuses to work.

[somnoon @ Jul 4th 2008 2:46PM]

NVIDIA's gonna get a bigger stock rock in 6 months when the sales stats of N's gpu's come out and wall street learns that everyone bought 4 series ATI instead.

[eddyrocs @ Jul 4th 2008 8:54PM]

does this incude the macbook pro nvidia chip?

[Anonymous guy 2008 @ Jul 4th 2008 10:13PM]

I'm guessing the issue is pointed towards the dell 1330 and dell 1530 with the nvidia 8400M GS cards.

[vampritt @ Jul 5th 2008 12:37AM]

wow.. no wonder my GForce chip in my notebook started to cook my food like microwaves /gg

[roy @ Jul 5th 2008 4:04PM]

HP Pavilion Notebook dv9299ea Video GPU is Nvidia 7600 go... Machine run flawless for just over the year and I have the same issue as everybody else here. The Screen goes out Black and recovers with the Video Error and notification that the Machine Has Recovered after serious Video Error and a DLL being reported as recovering. Screen corruption was bad before I did a re-install with Video Errors being reported (I thought I had a Virus or Video Drivers had become corrupted.) After re-install with the Pre-Install I get Video Hardware Error Error screen goes black and restarts eventually with same output.... A serious Error Occurred and Video Driver blaaa blaaa has recovered.... I have copied and printed the outputs. I am using a rental from PC World if they fail to replace the Unit or Repair Free I stop paying there Rental. How can Company's keep on selling/renting these defective machines when they are aware of the issues!

[Chris @ Jul 5th 2008 8:54PM]

I have a dv2000t which has been running hot for 6 months, though not bad enough to effect performance, until last month! now it has the dreaded "1 long beep, 2 short beeps" on startup and after checking the HP support page it turns out that my notebook for some reason isn't covered in the "after warranty" period. Anybody have details on that? seeing as my warranty ended 2 months ago that is pretty annoying as i have a paperweight now. shoulda boughta mac

[POW! @ Jul 6th 2008 6:19AM]

macbooks alsu use the geforce 8x00 series lol

[POW! @ Jul 6th 2008 6:20AM]

*also

[John Crowe @ Sep 27th 2008 10:20AM]

My dv2000t recently suffered the same problem. My machine (P/N: RM668AV) also isn't on the extended warranty list. HP demanded $400 for the repair. There's a thread of angry HP customers on the HP forums:

http://forums11.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/bizsupport/questionanswer.do?threadId=1191277&admit=109447626+1222475556416+28353475

Maybe if enough of us complain HP will take notice. Companies shouldn't be able to get away with selling defective products.

[bryan @ Jul 7th 2008 1:06PM]

Wasn't there news earlier that 25% of Vista crashes were traced to nVidia drivers.. COINCIDENCE???? I think no... I thin' noooooooo........

[bryan @ Jul 7th 2008 1:16PM]

of course that was in 2007 - supposively HSF was still on them then...

http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2008/03/28/nvidia_vista_drivers/

[Stef @ Jul 25th 2008 7:27AM]

oh great... my NV 8600M GT just failed on me in my MBP. Now Im gonna have to hand it over and get a new Logic Board put in there.

thanks NVidia. you did a great job...

[Jaxss @ Jul 27th 2008 7:47AM]

My nvidia 8600M GT in my Macbook pro just died yesterday. My warranty ended 8 day ago. Way the go nvidia. I wonder if apple is going to do anything about it?

[Jaxss @ Jul 27th 2008 8:00AM]

My nvidia 8600M GT in my Macbook pro just died yesterday. My warranty ended 8 day ago. Way the go nvidia. I wonder if apple is going to do anything about it?