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7900GS Recall or Replacement Thread  

post #1 of 97
11/8/07 at 4:50am
Thread Starter 
I, being one of the multitudes of sad souls who are now experienceing the end of thier 7900GS's 12-16 month life span decided to look around the net to see if this really is as big a problem as I thought, and I can't belive how many people are posting that thier 7900GS is dying just a couple months after the warranty expires, it's nearly proof that the card is being cooked in our e1705/9400's to the point of failure. and fortunatly for dell, they all seem to be failing JUST outside of the warranty... mine failed just 2 months after my warranty expired.

Well I say we create a petition to send to dell to ask for a recall of these sub-par cards they sold us in our very expensive new laptops. The worst part is now that thier cards are failing they are charging 400 dollars just for the part!!! It's criminal and we must do something.

Please post here if you'd like to add your name and or story to the many already posted. I just want a single thread where we can all post about this problem so I can show dell just how bad this problem is.

I don't know if the 7900gs was made using sub-par parts or if it's the lack of the second heat pipe or both but the fact is these cards are not lasting to term in WAY too many laptops, don't wait for yours to die next post here so we can try and get dell to do something about this!

Thanks,

Matt
post #2 of 97
11/8/07 at 1:26pm
Yes mine died as well two months after warranty ended. green lines problem.
post #3 of 97
11/8/07 at 1:37pm
Add me to the list of disatisfied Dell customers. I bought a fully tricked out XPS M1710 in July '06, and my 7900GS began to cause problems in Sept. 07, and has finally died at the end of Oct. 07.

I have been a fan of Dell for a long time, and have bought my last 3 PC's through them, with no issues whatsover. I would have continued to champion Dell but that has all changed now.

The criminal part to this, is that, AFAIK, we cannot buy a replacement part anywhere else. I was pleased to find out that I could at least replace the part myself, but I am still forced to purchase from Dell.
[Edit] <EDIT>It seems we can get other cards, for example, the nVidia FX2500, although, it seems that these are only available on eBay. Is there no online store to buy these cards from so that we can get some kind of warranty?</EDIT>

On top of this, Dell only sells refurbished 7900GS's with a 90 day warranty. So, if I want to keep this laptop running for another 2 years, it is going to cost me at least an additional $400/year just to be able to use the machine. It may actually cost me far more than that, if the refurbished card doesn't last a full year. After 90 days, we're screwed.

My $3600 laptop is now useless thanks to this pathetic oversight on Dell's part. I have complained to Dell customer service, to no avail. They just don't seem to care.
post #4 of 97
11/8/07 at 5:26pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by alphavegas View Post

My $3600 laptop is now useless thanks to this pathetic oversight on Dell's part. I have complained to Dell customer service, to no avail. They just don't seem to care.
That's so wrong man... They want 400 bucks for a refurbished 7900GS that they KNOW is dying in a ton of machines. They should replace these cards with a 7900GTX. They should have us send them in and do the replacement and send it back, everyone who bought a e1705 or inspiron 9400 should get a free new card and the labor done as well.

Apparently other laptops with the 7900GS are also dying, so obviously the 7900 isn't up to snuff and is designed poorly. Dell needs to fix this...

The LEAST they could do is give us the card at a substantially discounted price...
post #5 of 97
11/8/07 at 5:39pm
Just keep your warranty up to date.

How many of you guys overclocked it?
post #6 of 97
11/8/07 at 5:47pm
Actually, mine was never overclocked. I left it stock. I was using the laptop for development work, so I wasn't even pushing the graphics card by playing games or doing any graphic processing whatsover. If it's because I had AeroGlass running since March, then that's just brutal.

I used the laptop a lot, but that is no excuse for the card dying. These laptops are supposed to be desktop replacements.

You are absolutely right about keeping the warranty up-to-date. I screwed myself by not getting the extended warranty. But, that doesn't mean they should only offer 1 solution, being an overpriced, refurbished card with only 90 day warranty. That is just lame.
post #7 of 97
11/8/07 at 5:56pm
What revision do you guys have? I think there might just be a reason they released the A01 revision.
post #8 of 97
11/8/07 at 7:26pm
mine was never overclocked, dont know what revision it was i'm replacing it with a 7950
post #9 of 97
11/8/07 at 7:48pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by ghazgull013 View Post
Just keep your warranty up to date.

How many of you guys overclocked it?
Some of us don't have all the money they want to spend on computers. I go to school full time and work on the geek squad at best buy for 20 hrs a week. I can't afford to buy a new laptop or an extended warranty. I should be able to gently use my computer properly and not have it die in such a short time.

the fact is we shouldn't have to worry about a specific part going out after barely over a year. It is a design flaw and should be fixed free of charge.

and no mine was not overclocked at all, my computer was completely stock.
post #10 of 97
11/8/07 at 7:49pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by mentaldelusions View Post
mine was never overclocked, dont know what revision it was i'm replacing it with a 7950
I'm replacing mine with a FX2500 (7900GTX) with 512mb. I got lucky and found one on ebay for 125 bucks with free shipping.
post #11 of 97
11/8/07 at 8:42pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by mwitters View Post
Some of us don't have all the money they want to spend on computers. I go to school full time and work on the geek squad at best buy for 20 hrs a week. I can't afford to buy a new laptop or an extended warranty. I should be able to gently use my computer properly and not have it die in such a short time.

the fact is we shouldn't have to worry about a specific part going out after barely over a year. It is a design flaw and should be fixed free of charge.

and no mine was not overclocked at all, my computer was completely stock.
Companies offer extended warranties for a reason. Sure, they might be pricey and you may never use it, but its great to have if a problem does arise. I guess my point is, since the computers are out of warranty, it should really be out of dells hands. Since its an nVidia part thats failing, maybe nVidia should replace the cards (just a thought)

Although, I do agree that the price of replacement cards are completely ridiculous. They should offer these cards "at-cost" for dell customers who experience problems. This, in my opinion, is what you should push for.

/just my 2 cents
post #12 of 97
11/8/07 at 9:07pm


Also anyone shelling out around 2K or more for a laptop should bite the bullet and get the extended warranty, after all Laptops by thier very nature are more prone to breakage and failure. why not have the assuance that it will be covered should it fail. That $ 300.00 hundred dollars for a 3 Yr CC warranty more than pays for itself with one failure.

Second, the life cycle for a latop is 2-3 years. then it so far behind in technology it's time for an upgrade. Sell your old one and get a new one.

I understand not everyone can afford all that, in this case sure it sucks when it dies, but there is a usually reasonalble parts supply out there Ebay, these forums etc. Several folks here have picked up 7900GTX / FX-2500 cards for under $ 200.00 Go hunt and find one.
post #13 of 97
11/8/07 at 9:10pm
I learned my lesson on buying DELL warranty on my XPS Gen1.

After the first mistake, I've always purchased atleast 3 year warranty support, and it has been friggin great.

Dell's warranty pays off itself in couple of years AND THEN SOME!

Also remember there are more people out there whose GS still works fine, and doesn't even bother look for forums until trouble hits like yours did.
post #14 of 97
11/8/07 at 9:13pm
My 1705 lasted for slightly longer than a year , too . Then all of a sudden ive encountered a number of BSODs and crashes . Ivehad my Motherboard , CPU and RAM replaced to no success . Then i just called and demanded system exchange ( i have extended warrranty till 2010 ) .

Ive recived my replacement in about 11 days . During this period of time i was unable to view / or retrieve by a phone call information about my Service call status . So i didnt know what i am getting till the package arrived .

I wasnt surprised when i saw numbers 1720 ... Cheap bastards . They`ve matched everything exept for the video . I have no words to discribe how much of an DOWNgrade the 8600M GT is over a 7900GS . Now i am not able to run half or even more of my applications , including games .
1720 is not a bad laptop for everyday computing . But when it comes to graphic intese applications it fails .

Now i have to call DELL and demand another replacement . At least i wasnt home when they delivered 1720 so my old , half broken and still outperforming that 1720 , 1705 is still with me .

My 7900GS is Rev 00 , Stock Dell driver 84.xx , never was OCed ( even tho ive tried it for a few days with 500/700 clocks , signifficant increase in performance ) .
post #15 of 97
11/8/07 at 9:20pm
BTW, if you are out of warranty, it be a nice cheap upgrade for you guys to get a 2500M(should be about 200 bucks shipped) GPU from Ebay. You will love it.
post #16 of 97
11/8/07 at 9:58pm
same here. about 2 months after warranty. Mine is a 7900 gtx.

I truly believe the cards are either defective or have a regular life span of 14 to 16 months. And Dell isn't doing anything about it.

Fortunately, I bought the m1710 with premier mastercard that extend the warranty.
post #17 of 97
11/8/07 at 10:51pm
lol, dell doesn't have to do anything about it if your warranty is out.
post #18 of 97
11/8/07 at 11:25pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by ACHlLLES View Post
I learned my lesson on buying DELL warranty on my XPS Gen1.

After the first mistake, I've always purchased atleast 3 year warranty support, and it has been friggin great.

Dell's warranty pays off itself in couple of years AND THEN SOME!

Also remember there are more people out there whose GS still works fine, and doesn't even bother look for forums until trouble hits like yours did.
Yes we know that warrants are nice BUT some of us don't have the $$$ at the time to GET one.

And I don't see throngs of people complaining about the same exact problem about any other laptop cards. This card has a flaw and should now be replaced with something else so we can get the use of our laptops as we paid a lot for our laptops we should get more than a maybe it will work maybe it wont. I don't care what any of you say dell is screwing us by not replacing these in every single one. They've lost a customer for life. count on it.

The warranty is for fixing random things that go wrong withyour laptop, it's not meant to be a backup for a predestined for failure component regaurdless of what you say.
post #19 of 97
11/8/07 at 11:33pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by diefool View Post
lol, dell doesn't have to do anything about it if your warranty is out.


It's not a question of they have to. Sure they could and will say "we don't care we sold you a POS for 1800 bucks you should have known we use sub par equipment and bought the extended warranty"

The SHOULD, now that they know a large group of 7900GS owners are having the same BSOD and artifacts issue, replace anyone's who has a problem at the very least if not issueing a voluntary recall to swap them out for another model.

So even though they won't do either of those they still decide charging us 400 bucks for a refurbished POS half broken replacement (note that doesn't include the install or labor, thats just for the part to be sent to you) Instead of giving us a discount as per we were sold a laptop by them with a video card prone to critical failure...

It's a question of morals and customer service. Dell obviously doesn't give a rats behind about it's customers and we're just a number on a list.
post #20 of 97
11/8/07 at 11:35pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by sensesfusion View Post
same here. about 2 months after warranty. Mine is a 7900 gtx.

I truly believe the cards are either defective or have a regular life span of 14 to 16 months. And Dell isn't doing anything about it.

Fortunately, I bought the m1710 with premier mastercard that extend the warranty.

Well, most people are having problems with the 7900GS just stock I'm not sure about the 7900GTX I haven't heard about anyone getting the BSOD and overheats that the 7900GS has on many peoples machines.
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