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Dell has released a Nvidia GPU (Graphics Processing Units) Bios Update for several Dell notebooks on their Dell Direct website. Nvidia confirmed earlier this month that some notebook GPUs were affected caused by a weak die packaging material set.
The GPU may fail due to temperature fluctuations and users may experience symptoms like random characters or lines on the screen. The problem is that if customers experience those symptoms the Bios update will not help them anymore and they have to contact Dell support to fix the issue.
Everyone else should check the website to see if their Dell notebook is in the list and update the Bios of its GPU accordingly. The affected notebooks according to Dell are:
The Bios update will turn on the GPU fan more frequently at half or quarter speed to reduce temperature fluctuations. Dell confirmed once again that this will have no noticeable effect on battery life. New notebooks will be shipped with the updated Bios.
The real question however is which GPUs are affected but there does not seem to be a direct answer for this. There is however the list of Nividia GPUs that have been used in the affected Dell notebooks, here it is:
My suggestion would be to check your notebook, even if it is not from Dell, to find out if a video card from the list has been used to build it. If that is the case contact the hardware manufacturer to find out how he handles the problem.
Ghacks is a technology news blog that was founded in 2005 by Martin Brinkmann. It has since then become one of the most popular tech news sites on the Internet with five authors and regular contributions from freelance writers.
I’d rather have my notebook go down before the warranty expires, thanx.
take a look at what the inquirers charlie demerjian has to say about it: http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/07/27/dell-models-defective-nvidia