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@jkim78 wrote:

Hi,

 

I have an Inspiron 1720.

Obviously, this machine contains an affected chip.

However, it is not on the list of affected machines as per Dell list.

This is because the machine was pre-installed with the "BIOS fix" in February.

 

Since it is "fixed", even though the machine has a time bomb in it, Dell are refusing to do anything about it, and they do not acknowledge the issue in their emails.  So I have a very expensive timebomb of a computer, that might die any minute... and Dell hopes it is after my *non extended* warranty expires.

 

Are there any owners and user groups campaigning, or organising a suit, to get something done about this?  I would like to join such a group.

 

Regards, 

 

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 How do you know you have a defective chip?

Dell says "no" as they released the computers affected by the chip fiasco.  Nvidia says only certain configurations are affected and it would make sense as Dell and HP showed several models affected, but not all.

Now you hear that "all" chips are bad and immediately assume they are.  Other than a story in the inquirer which was repeated by many other sources, what information have you heard that would indicate that "all" the chips are faulty?  But if I believe Dell and Nvidia, bet someone calls me a fanboy!

I may be wrong and all chips may be faulty, but given the information we have available, it would seem that some of chips in certain configurations are bad and both NVIDIA and Dell are attempting to help solve the problem.

Lets just forget the fact that I have personally gone through 4 nVidia GPUs which failed within 3 weeks -> 6 months, with random BSODs, green screen syndrome, random lock ups, nv4_disp failures, and severe keyboard temperatures near the video card.  Also read other 1720 owner's comments on direct2dell, which reflect my experiences.

And as far as my research goes, I am of the understanding that nVidia did NOT correct the problem physically.  They have "corrected" it in the driver by nerfing the performance of the affected GPU models - namely G84 and G86.  So now, we're to end up with slow, unstable timebombs that leech battery rather than the performance we paid for.

Surley if the the vostro 1710 is plagued with this problem then the 1720 must be as well...... Don't they both share the same motherboard and dedicated graphics card?

I'm not too sure about the Vostro series.  What I do know is that they have only covered the onboard chips on their list of "affected", even though the rest of us, with dedicated cards, are also affected by the problems.

Nope.  The Vostro 1700 is the clone of the Inspiron 1720.

The Vostro 1710 is totally different - it doesn't have a  video card - the chip is on the mainboard.

Does this issue include models purchased in Sep 2007? Well I suppose they dun know which batch run.

I have not encountered problems as discussed and mainly use for games and torrent leaving overnight over long period since purchase. It's been harshly handle.

I bought my inspiron 1420 in october 2007, and the video card has already been replaced once (after 7 months of usage). So probably yes, your system has high chances of being affected. I've read that the warranty extension is only for 2008 customers.