[dayamos]

Not to rain on anybody's parade but I really think every notebook pc owner who has an Nvidia 8400M/8600M GPU should read this:
Engadget Article

The Inquirer link

I hope things get clarified by Nvidia ASAP as some of us have our notebook waranties expiring real soon



Mods, please delete post if this has been mentioned already, thanks!

[Bades]

Hmm, as Charlie mentioned in the Inquirer Article, HP with G84 chips should have problems.

I have a HP DV9576 with an 8600M GS in it and I have had no problems with it whatsoever so far. It is relatively new ( 6 months) but I don't seem to have any heat related issues.

I think its particular models. All these issues can be sorted by downclocking the cards but if in doubt, send it back to the maunfacturer for them to check if your GPU has been effected.

[dayamos]

Looks like the cat's out of the bag. From Dell's official service blog:

Quote

NVIDIA GPU Update for Dell Laptop Owners Fri. Jul. 25, 2008
Earlier this month, sites like Ars Technica and ZDNet blogged about NVIDIA’s statement regarding a potential issue with some of NVIDIA's Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) used in notebooks. According to NVIDIA, these affected GPUs are experiencing higher than expected failure rates causing video problems. Though this issue is not unique to Dell, some of these affected GPUs are used in certain Dell laptops. That's why I wanted to take a few minutes here to explain the issue and to let customers know what to do next.

The issue is a weak die/packaging material set, which may fail with GPU temperature fluctuations. If your GPU fails, you may see intermittent symptoms during early stages of failure that include:

- Multiple images
- Random characters on the screen
- Lines on the screen
- No video

Dell recommends that you flash your system BIOS (see links in the table below). Each of these BIOS updates listed in the table below modifies the fan profile to help regulate GPU temperature fluctuations. Note: if you are already experiencing video-related issues like the bullet points above, updating the BIOS will not correct them. Dell will provide support for customers who have experienced GPU failure according to the terms of the system warranty.

Dell's official statement re. faulty NVIDIA GPUs

There's also a notice from HP's customer service website, kinda vague though.
From HP's service website

And according to Engadget, other affected chips appear to be in the GeForce Go 7000 and 6000 lines, as well as the Quadro NVS 135M and the Quadro FX 360M, but that's just looking at model numbers...
Engadget article

C'mon NVIDIA, time to fess up.