NVIDIA IS IN DEEP trouble over the defective parts problem, and from what we're being told, this is only the tip of the iceberg. NV still insists on stonewalling and spinning because the cost of owning up to the problem could very well sink the company.
If you haven't been following the story, the short version, up till now, is that all G84 and G86 chips are bad. Nvidia is blaming everyone under the sun, but denying they have any hand in the failures. While this may sound plausible, technical analyses by people intimately involved in the requisite semiconductor technologies tell The INQ that it is a bunch of bull: NV simply screwed up. Badly. If it was a problem with the suppliers, NV would not be paying out more than the chip cost, much less gagging OEMs: it would simply be passed along.
In any case, the official story is that there was a small batch of parts given only to HP that went bad. That was comprehensively proved wrong when Dell, Apple, Asus, Lenovo and everyone else under the sun also had problems. NV AR recalled the parts and recanted the story about it only being an EOL test run. Bad fibbers, no cookie. They still stuck to the story about it being only laptop parts, and that it was under control.
If you think it is under control now, the following is part of an email sent Monday by a very tech-savvy reader. "We just got our first casualty from the Nvidia mobile graphics [expletive deleted]. Laptop used by one of our senior engineers started acting up this past weekend. Won't boot except in SAFE mode. Called Dell, they tried a few things, gave up, stated it was the graphics module, and said that because they were SO swamped dealing with that issue, they were just going to send a completely new laptop!"
There are two messages here whi**ave echoes in earlier emails received over the past few weeks. First is that Dell is replacing full laptops over this, contrary to what they claim (read the comments here and here for more). The second is that the small 'under control' problem is far from that. If they had a handle on it, they would not be so far behind and drowning in backorders. Anyone want to bet Dell isn't going to get stuck with the bill here?
To make matters more laughable, the fix that NV is forcing on Dell, HP and everyone else does not fix the problem, it simply makes it less likely to occur during the warranty period. With HP now offering an extended warranty period, and Dell looking likely to do the same, this will only multiply the cost. Add in the fact that Nvidia is sending out defective parts as replacements (there are no good ones), and you have a recipe for a long and expensive tale.
That is where we stand now - NV is simply stonewalling everyone and the costs are adding up. How adult of them. The question of why still remains though, and with another little tidbit of information, it becomes quite clear. There was a digitimes article on July 25, here if you are a subscriber, that said: "Due to Nvidia not clearly explaining the details of the faults reported in its notebook GPUs, some channel vendors have demanded graphics card makers issue a recall for desktop-based discrete graphics cards using the same GPU core, according to sources at graphics card makers."
Reading that, it sounds a mite odd: why would Nvidia keep the partners in the dark like that? They have to be told what the real story is for business reasons, right? When you see stories like these, it is very likely that they are not what they seem, and that the story is simply a nice face-saving Asian '**o' applied with a backhand.
A little digging revealed what this, and more, is all about, and it's far uglier than just the 'notebook' version. It seems that four board partners are seeing G92 and G94 chips going bad in the field at high rates. If you know what failures look like statistically, they follow a Poisson distribution, aka a bell curve. The failures start out small, and ramp up quickly - very quickly. If you know what you are looking for, you can catch the signs early on. From the sound of the backchannel grumblings, the failures have been flagged already, and NV isn't playing nice with their partners.
Why wouldn't they? Well, the G92 chip is used in the 8800GT, 8800GTS, 8800GS, several mobile flavours of 8800, most of the 9800 suffixes, and a few 9600 variants just to confuse buyers. The G94 is basically only the 9600GT. Basically we are told all G92 and G94 variants are susceptible to the same problem - basically they are all defective. Any guesses as to how much this is going to cost?
From the look of it, all G8x variants other than the G80, and all G9x variants are defective, but we have only been able to get people to comment directly on the G84, G86, G92 and G94, and all variants thereof. Since Nvidia is not acknowledging the obvious G84 and G86 problems, don't look for much word on this new set either - if they can bury it, it will drop their costs.
In the end, what it comes down to is that the problem is far bigger than they are admitting, and crosses generational lines, process lines, and OEM lines. Nvidia is quick to point the finger at everyone but themselves, but after a while, the facts strain those cover stories well past breaking point. There is a common engineering failure here - this problem is far too widespread for it to be anything else. The stonewalling, denials and partner gagging is simply a last-ditch attempt at wallet covering.
With OEMs extending warranties, Nvidia is going to have to cover a lot of laptops for a long time. Desktop boards are going bad as well now, contrary to the statements of Nvidia PR and AR, and the hole keeps getting deeper and deeper. I wonder if they can ever come clean and survive. µ
4个月作者: keke4ever 时间: 2008-8-12 21:07
谣言总是一桩接一桩
坏事总是一件接一件作者: arashi 时间: 2008-8-12 21:09
不是吧……{mellow:]作者: xhj 时间: 2008-8-12 21:17
出来混的。终究要挨刀的作者: boris_lee 时间: 2008-8-12 21:18
By Charlie Demerjian:作者: Athlon64fly 时间: 2008-8-12 21:25
提示: 作者被禁止或删除 内容自动屏蔽作者: fevaoctwh 时间: 2008-8-12 21:32
提示: 作者被禁止或删除 内容自动屏蔽作者: fevaoctwh 时间: 2008-8-12 21:34
提示: 作者被禁止或删除 内容自动屏蔽作者: boris_lee 时间: 2008-8-12 21:39
Called Dell, they tried a few things, gave up, stated it was the graphics module, and said that because they were SO swamped dealing with that issue, they were just going to send a completely new laptop!"
不调节应该好点,温差没那么大作者: undeadkiller 时间: 2008-8-13 00:49
我1句都没看懂,谁能给讲个大概意思{mellow:]作者: yehaku04 时间: 2008-8-13 00:58
4850也发现大量花花{lol:]作者: Travis 时间: 2008-8-13 01:00
INQ这一把玩得不错:
1、之前“所有G84、G86都有问题”的文章被媒体广泛引用,用户已经谈G84、G86色变,已经尝到了媒体骑在厂商头顶上当神仙的感觉。这次又把矛头指向NV桌面主流级以及移动最高端的核心G92、G94,愣是从零出发推测出一篇新闻,大有不搞死NV全家不罢休之势。
2、INQ可没保证过这些GPU要多长时间,在什么状况下出问题,也没保证过多少的故障率是有问题,所以这样的新闻即便是谣言也无坟可挖。作者: StrikerFX 时间: 2008-8-13 01:16
all G8x variants other than the G80, and all G9x variants are defective
It appears that Nvidia ’s notebook chips aren’t the only ones that could be defective, if an Inquirer report is to be believed. Zoom
According to sources, the entire line of G84 and G86 chips all suffer from the same defect, regardless of desktop or notebook application. The chip generation utilizes the same Application Specific Integrated Circuit
(ASIC), which supposedly has an issue with an “unnamed substrate or bumping material, and it is heat related.”
As expected, Nvidia is staying mum on the topic, but analysts are spilling various details. One story is that HP was the recipient for the majority of the defective chips – only limited to a specific batch. Further explanation reveals that it was isolated to an end-of-life batch that used a different bonding/substrate process.
The story
with HP didn’t fly with the Inq, as it believes that no changes in process were made throughout the chip’s cycle, leading to suspicions that the defect is widespread. Furthermore, Dell responded quickly to failure reports by quickly issuing a BIOS update that pumped up the cooling for the vulnerable chip parts, which clearly shows that the problem ventured beyond just HP. Now HP has also a new BIOS to run the fan at all times at the expense of battery life.
While evidence may point to only notebook chips being afflicted, one theory is that notebook chips go though more stress than their desktop counterparts. Notebooks are power cycled more often, and by extension the GPUs go through more heat cycles – quickly exposing the defect. GPUs in notebooks may also be harder to cool, with less space for elaborate heatsinks and fans.
Unfortunately for owners of Nvidia G84 and G86 hardware, this could just be the tip of a very troubled iceberg.