Laptop Fires & Battery Recalls

[Linkmeister]

If they're really cool, why do they burst into flames?

[Pomai]

Re: There's now a black macbook!

There's also reports that the first generation of iMac G5s had overheating problems.

I think Pzarquon owns one of those, though not sure which revision of it.

[pzarquon]

Re: There's now a black macbook!

Apple's had heat control issues with laptops for years. I think the PowerBook 5300 was previously pegged as a real hot machine!

The story you linked is in part about an iBook G4, and an incident last year that -- like some others in the "local news affiliate gets overexcited" category -- seems more attributable to iffy use (I don't think any laptop works well on a carpet, or a fluffy bed, given the need for ventilation).

But the first batch of the new MacBook Pro (not the Macbook we're discussing here) did have a problem with sloppy insulation -- 'thermal paste' -- in battery assembly that definitely made 'em run warm. A recent software update improved heat management, and they're replacing affected batteries. Note that these are third-party standard batteries, and not an Apple design.

All laptops grapple with heat control issues, though, as folks demand desktop-equivalent power in a compact form factor. Hence all the quips about portable computing fans becoming an endangered species (as all that lap radiation lowers sperm counts)!

[adrian]

Laptop Fires Prompt Battery Recalls

iBook people, there's a recall...

(WCCO) Nick Brown, 11, was playing on his Apple iBook laptop about one month ago when, like most children, he got distracted and left the room.

His mom, Cindy Brown, explains what happened next. "My husband and I were in the other room, heard a popping noise, came out and the room was filled with smoke," she said.

Heat from the laptop, which was lying on the floor, had started melting the carpet. The Browns quickly carried it outside.

Dave Brown grabbed his camera. His pictures show flames shooting from the lower right hand corner of the laptop. The area around the lower right side is blackened immediately.

More pictures show the laptop continuing to burn, eventually causing large flames to shoot out of it. Eventually, the laptop is melted to the Browns' patio.

"I mean, it was five minutes and (the computer) was in flames," Cindy Brown said. "The computer burst into flames. It doesn't seem real that you would have a fire in a computer. We all could have died, and the house could have burned down."

source

What surprises me, is that they have time to take pictures of the inferno.

[tutusue]

Re: Laptop Fires Prompt Battery Recalls

Thanks for posting this, Adrian. A couple of weeks ago I noticed my Powerbook got too hot to touch so I turned it off. It has done that off and on since then and I wrote myself a note to mention it to Apple the next time I go in for a ProCare appointment. That will now be sooner rather than later.

[adrian]

Another PowerBook violently explodes

Source

This unit was apparently a year old and wasn't even powered at the time it, um, went off -- 6:00AM. Talk about your rude awakenings. So please, people, learn from this rash of Li-ion explosions: you lessen your chances of battery combustion by returning them wherever possible

Okay, what's up with the recent laptop explosions? But this one is weird because it was off.

[Pua'i Mana'o]

Re: Another PowerBook violently explodes

If we fail to figure out why, the terrorists will have won.

[pzarquon]

Re: Laptop Fires

Heh.

In the interests of equal time, note that there have been a couple of high profile incidents of Dell laptop computers bursting into flames as well. (Oops, make that three incidents. Yes, there's a recall.) The battery was fingered as the culprit in both.

It's clear these incidents reveal major concerns about laptops in general, and battery technology in particular. As manufacturers continue to insist on putting more powerful hardware (that require more juice) into smaller cases, things are only going to get worse.

Considering how heavily laptops are used on airplanes... uh oh.

[Pua'i Mana'o]

Re: Laptop Fires

And if my battery was fingered by a culprit, you can bet your bippy that I would explode myself!

</braaaaazen stare>

[Miulang]

Dell Battery recall

Dell announced a recall of 4 million laptop batteries. If you own a Dell laptop, better read up on which batteries need to be replaced.

Miulang

[adrian]

Re: Dell Battery recall

The website will hopefully be back up at 1am Central. (and the website is dellbatteryprogram.com). Hopefully my laptop's batteries aren't on that list.

[localgrl]

Re: Dell Battery recall

Phew.....I feel better now knowing my battery ain't on dis list:

Potentially affected batteries were sold with the following models of Dell notebook computers or separately as secondary batteries:

Latitude: D410, D500, D505, D510, D520, D600, D610, D620, D800, D810
Inspiron: 500M, 510M, 600M, 700M, 710M, 6000, 6400, 8500, 8600, 9100, 9200, 9300, 9400, E1505, E1705
Precision: M20, M60, M70, M90
XPS: XPS, XPS Gen2, XPS M170, XPS M1710

[SouthKona]

Re: Dell Battery recall

The news just reported that Dell says to remove the batteries, and Dell will be contacting owners about new replacement batteries.

[helen]

Re: Dell Battery recall

I had to check through 11 laptops at work this week. Luckly they weren't using the batteries that was on the recall list.

[Lei Liko]

Re: Dell Battery recall

I had to check through 11 laptops at work this week. Luckly they weren't using the batteries that was on the recall list.

You too? I had that glorious job as well. Since I didn't really feel like going through 23 workstations I sent out the memo for everyone to record their battery numbers and email it back to me so I could check it online.

Luckily most of our notebooks are fairly new and none of them require a replacement.

I haven't heard of anyone I know whose battery was on the list. It's a scary thought knowing something like that could even happen.