Sony extends Vaio laptop warranty for Nvidia glitch

Sony said that a small percentage of Vaio laptops with Nvidia graphics chips may experience problems and the company offered to provide an extended warranty to cover the cost of repair. This follows nike air max 88  similar statements by Apple, Hewlett-Packard, and Dell.

Sony Vaio VGN-AR series laptop

(Credit: Sony)

Nvidia first disclosed the problem with its graphics chips in July 2008 nike air max tn 360 , saying at the time that graphics processors manufactured with a certain material set were failing in the field at a higher than normal rate.

In a Sony eSupport USA notice dated nike air max tn plus 360  August 3, the company said: "Sony, in cooperation with Nvidia, has been looking into any possible effect to Vaio notebooks with Nvidia graphic processors. Until recently we had not air max plus  identified any Vaio models that were affected by this issue."

The statement continues. "However, after closely monitoring the situation, Sony has now determined that a very small perce nike air max tn 10 ntage of Vaio computers with the Nvidia graphics chips may experience this issue. These PCs may exhibit distorted video, duplicate images or a blank screen due to a failure of the Nvidia  nike air max tn 10th anniversary edition graphics chip."

The belated notice from Sony comes a year after Dell--in August 2008--made a similar revelation. Apple disclosed the problem in October of la nike tn requin st year. HP began addressing the problem in support forums in November 2007.

Sony lists models affected by the issue on the eSupport Web site, which include the Vaio VGN-ARxxx, VGN-FZ nike tn 360 xxx, and VGC-LTxxx series. Though Sony doesn't specify the graphics processor, Nvidia chips cited in the past include the GeForce 9600M and 8600M.

"For any customer who requires repair o nike tn 2009 f their Vaio computer due to the Nvidia graphics processor issue, Sony will cover the cost of repair (parts and labor) at no charge and, in addition to the standard limited 12 month warranty, S nike air max tn women ony will provide a three year warranty extension for the Nvidia graphics chip," the company said.

Nvidia said earlier this month that its financial results were negativ nike air max tn 8 ely affected by an additional net charge of approximately $119.1 million to cover costs related to this problem.

The Sony problem was covered Monday on technology Web site SemiAccu nike air max tn orange rate, citing a Sony Europe discussion forum.

Brooke Crothers has been an editor at large at CNET News, an analyst at IDC Japan, and an editor at The Asian Wall Street Journal Wee 

 kly, among other endeavors, including co-manager of an after-school math-and-reading center. He writes for the CNET Blog Network and is not a current employee of CNET. Disclosure. Topics: Laptops, Graphics, Nvidia Tags: Nvidia, Apple, GPU, graphics, GeForce 9600M, 8600M, packaging material, Dell, HP Share: Digg Del.icio.us Reddit Facebook Twitter