# Solved: Dell and HP balk at replacing bad Nvidia chip



## daniel_b2380 (Jan 31, 2003)

An old urban myth claims that the microprocessors used in PCs and other consumer electronics are designed to fail within days or weeks of their warranty expiration.

For tens of thousands of people who bought Dell and HP notebooks whose motherboards fried - often a few weeks after their warranty expired - there's nothing mythical about it.

The cause of the machines' fried motherboards is an overheating Nvidia graphics chip. The failure rate is so huge that Nvidia had to take a $196 million charge against earnings in the second quarter of its 2008 fiscal year in anticipation of the reimbursements that would result from the faulty GPU (more info).

What's particularly scandalous, though, is how HP and Dell first handled the deluge of complaints from customers with notebooks that failed after their warranties expired. The companies either charged the customers (victims?) for repairs or refused service because the systems were past the warranty period.

Even worse, HP and Dell continued to sell notebooks with the same Nvidia chip long after the companies were aware of the problem. (Ultimately, Nvidia released a new version of the GPU that didn't cause overheating.).....

http://windowssecrets.com/2009/04/09/01-Dell-and-HP-balk-at-replacing-bad-Nvidia-chip/?n=story1


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## daniel_b2380 (Jan 31, 2003)

> You can't rely on the information you find on some vendor Web sites to determine whether your overheating notebook qualifies for a free repair or replacement.
> 
> In a case recently publicized by Windows Secrets, you would need to contact the company's tech-support staff directly to find out whether your system is covered by a special extended warranty.
> 
> ...


http://windowssecrets.com/2009/04/16/03-Call-to-learn-whether-your-Dell-or-HP-is-covered/?n=known0


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