Submission + - Nvidia drops the 6150 ball. Again.
TheRedShirt writes: Nvidia seems to be dodging its legal settlement responsibility by issuing replacement laptops that don't meet the settlement requirements by issuing replacements that don't live up to the settlement terms of "like or similar kind and like or similar value."
For those unfamiliar with the tale of the 6150 woes, users of mobile computers that contained the Nvidia mGPU 6150 Go GPU were suffering from an inordinate failure rate... That is to say in a nutshell, that they would all invariably fail eventually. Nvidia discovered that the chip was defective after it was shipped and not only did they fail to recall the existing chips that had shipped to their partners, they continued to ship a known defective chip. These chips are/were in use by HP, Dell and even Apple. Full list here:
http://www.nvidiasettlement.com/affectedmodels.html
Mid year 2008, Nvidia has gone on record saying that:
"Certain notebook configurations with GPUs and MCPs manufactured with a certain die/packaging material set are failing in the field at higher than normal rates..."
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13554_3-10020782-33.html#ixzz1CdsWoYY8
It has been discovered that Hewlett Packard also knew of this defect as early as November 2007, who also continued to ship, sell and not recall computers that contained defective GPUs :
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-10000910-64.html?tag=mncol;txt
A "fix" that was submitted to HP was in the form of a BIOS update that runs the cooler fan constantly in a poor attempt to keep the overheating GPU cool. There have also been allegations that this was an attempt to push the failure outside the warranty period in order to dodge costly repairs and replacements. Not to mention the fact that research indicates that this BIOS update had a higher than usual "Brick Rate."
Needless to say, Nvidia got taken to court under a class action lawsuit for consumer protection in the state of California and chose to settle out of court.
Fast forward to December 20th, 2010. Nvidia settled and the package passed the fairness hearing and was approved by the Honorable Judge James Ware. The settlement provides for Dell and Apple users to receive reimbursements for repairs and free repairs and for HP users to receive reimbursements for repairs and replacements for the defective computers. At the settlement website, the replacement remedy is worded as:
"...for a replacement HP notebook computer with one similar in kind and value if you bought a subject HP notebook computer..."
In the approved settlement documents, this is worded as:
"...Therefore, a replacement computer of like or similar kind and equal or similar value will be provided to the consumer at Nvidia's expense. The parties will meet and confer in good faith and agree on a suitable replacement of like or similar kind or equal or similar value..."
However, Nvidia has utterly failed this, because the chosen model for replacement is the Compaq Presario CQ50 family of laptops for all replacements. Preliminary research indicates that all of the sub-set models in the CQ50 family fall far short of being equal and/or similar. Especially when customers who have an affected model with a 17 inch screen and dual HDD's when all CQ50's have 15.4 inch screens and single HDD's. The CQ50 series is an older bargain model that has been discontinued for quite some time and it is quite possible that they are refurbished units.
So, Nvidia has thrown it's users under the bus. Again.
In the parlance of the Internet: Epic Fail.
As of the date of writing this, those who filed early on January 13th, when the claims period opened, have not had their claims approved yet.
Further reading:
Settlement information:
http://www.nvidiasettlement.com/
Compaq Presario CQ50 family list and information:
http://search.hp.com/query.html?nh=10&qp=url%3Ahttp&qs=&h_audiencerestrict=&qt=compaq+presario+cq50&la=en&hps=Home+%26+Home+Office&hpr=http%3A//www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/home.do&h_audience=hho&lk=1&st=1&rf=0&hph=&hpo=hphqhhomktg&hpn=Return+to+Home+%26+Home+Office&submitsearch.y=0&submitsearch.x=0&hpvc=HHOall&hpa=http%3A//www.homeandoffice.hp.com/hho/us/en/contact_hp.html&uf=1
For those unfamiliar with the tale of the 6150 woes, users of mobile computers that contained the Nvidia mGPU 6150 Go GPU were suffering from an inordinate failure rate... That is to say in a nutshell, that they would all invariably fail eventually. Nvidia discovered that the chip was defective after it was shipped and not only did they fail to recall the existing chips that had shipped to their partners, they continued to ship a known defective chip. These chips are/were in use by HP, Dell and even Apple. Full list here:
http://www.nvidiasettlement.com/affectedmodels.html
Mid year 2008, Nvidia has gone on record saying that:
"Certain notebook configurations with GPUs and MCPs manufactured with a certain die/packaging material set are failing in the field at higher than normal rates..."
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13554_3-10020782-33.html#ixzz1CdsWoYY8
It has been discovered that Hewlett Packard also knew of this defect as early as November 2007, who also continued to ship, sell and not recall computers that contained defective GPUs :
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-10000910-64.html?tag=mncol;txt
A "fix" that was submitted to HP was in the form of a BIOS update that runs the cooler fan constantly in a poor attempt to keep the overheating GPU cool. There have also been allegations that this was an attempt to push the failure outside the warranty period in order to dodge costly repairs and replacements. Not to mention the fact that research indicates that this BIOS update had a higher than usual "Brick Rate."
Needless to say, Nvidia got taken to court under a class action lawsuit for consumer protection in the state of California and chose to settle out of court.
Fast forward to December 20th, 2010. Nvidia settled and the package passed the fairness hearing and was approved by the Honorable Judge James Ware. The settlement provides for Dell and Apple users to receive reimbursements for repairs and free repairs and for HP users to receive reimbursements for repairs and replacements for the defective computers. At the settlement website, the replacement remedy is worded as:
"...for a replacement HP notebook computer with one similar in kind and value if you bought a subject HP notebook computer..."
In the approved settlement documents, this is worded as:
"...Therefore, a replacement computer of like or similar kind and equal or similar value will be provided to the consumer at Nvidia's expense. The parties will meet and confer in good faith and agree on a suitable replacement of like or similar kind or equal or similar value..."
However, Nvidia has utterly failed this, because the chosen model for replacement is the Compaq Presario CQ50 family of laptops for all replacements. Preliminary research indicates that all of the sub-set models in the CQ50 family fall far short of being equal and/or similar. Especially when customers who have an affected model with a 17 inch screen and dual HDD's when all CQ50's have 15.4 inch screens and single HDD's. The CQ50 series is an older bargain model that has been discontinued for quite some time and it is quite possible that they are refurbished units.
So, Nvidia has thrown it's users under the bus. Again.
In the parlance of the Internet: Epic Fail.
As of the date of writing this, those who filed early on January 13th, when the claims period opened, have not had their claims approved yet.
Further reading:
Settlement information:
http://www.nvidiasettlement.com/
Compaq Presario CQ50 family list and information:
http://search.hp.com/query.html?nh=10&qp=url%3Ahttp&qs=&h_audiencerestrict=&qt=compaq+presario+cq50&la=en&hps=Home+%26+Home+Office&hpr=http%3A//www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/home.do&h_audience=hho&lk=1&st=1&rf=0&hph=&hpo=hphqhhomktg&hpn=Return+to+Home+%26+Home+Office&submitsearch.y=0&submitsearch.x=0&hpvc=HHOall&hpa=http%3A//www.homeandoffice.hp.com/hho/us/en/contact_hp.html&uf=1