Laptop Explodes At Conference

[Mulboyne]

Inquirer: Dell laptop explodes at Japanese conference
AN INQUIRER READER attending a conference in Japan was sat just feet away from a laptop computer that suddenly exploded into flames, in what could have been a deadly accident. Guilhem, our astonished reader reports: "The damn thing was on fire and produced several explosions for more than five minutes"...more...

[GuyJean]

Hhhhmm.. The Inquirer?.. What, in a laptop, would explode like that?

GJ

[dimwit]

Spam???:D

[Greji]

Spam???:D

IED. Slow news day for the Inquirer! You did notice they identified as a Dell right off the top. Small matter of advertisement fees more than likely.

[FG Lurker]

Yeah, very weird story.

It burned and exploded for 5 minutes, yet the screen is still intact, and it still has a keyboard!?

[puargs]

Batteries, while pretty much "safe", have a possibility to do this. They can do it if mishandled (thrown against a wall), shorted out in a strange way, or if something just happened to get out of the factory with a manufacturing error. Sometimes they can do it if they overheat too much, too.

Anything could have gone wrong, Dell could have messed up, dude could've dropped his laptop at some point, condensation could've built up in a bad spot (or maybe the table had water on it).... Maybe even a foil candy wrapper got stuck in the crack where the battery locks into the case.

Barring incidental problems, there are some other things that could've happened. Some important politicians and/or paranoid people have small thermite (an incendiary device) bricks installed into their laptop so they can activate it if it's been stolen or something- the brick burns and the hard drive is destroyed.

Or someone could have been trying to kill him. Which would be really dumb, because the chances of that working are slim to none.

[Greji]

Some important politicians and/or paranoid people have small thermite (an incendiary device) bricks installed into their laptop so they can activate it if it's been stolen or something- the brick burns and the hard drive is destroyed.

Premature detonation of an Inquirer anti-libel device maybe?

[kurohinge1]

Sorry, my fault.

It was a new laptop and I hadn't noticed the changes to some of the windows messages ...



Old habits die hard ... or burst into flames, in this case.

[mr. sparkle]

Dude Shoulda Bought a Mac.

[omae mona]

I sense there might be a little bit of confusion about the news source.

For clarification, The Inquirer (typical headline: "First 80nm chips from ATI expected October") is not The National Enquirer (typical headline: "Exclusive! J.Lo's Secret Pregnancy Surgery").

That being said, I think this news story might be worthy of both publications!

[FG Lurker]

I sense there might be a little bit of confusion about the news source.

For clarification, The Inquirer (typical headline: "First 80nm chips from ATI expected October") is not The National Enquirer (typical headline: "Exclusive! J.Lo's Secret Pregnancy Surgery").

That being said, I think this news story might be worthy of both publications!

Nice clarification. I read both l'inq and la reg (but not the National Enquirer, lol) pretty much daily. Interesting history between the two sites as well. BOFH provides much needed comic relief.

I think whoever submitted the story to l'inq may have exaggerated it just a tiny amount. I can't see how a machine could have burnt and exploded for 5 minutes and not have melted the screen... Maybe dell is making them out of transparent titanium now or something?

[emperor]

Dude Shoulda Bought a Mac.

Oh really?

[kurohinge1]

Oh really?

A Mac fire.

You want fries with that?

[mr. sparkle]

Oh really?

Good one dude!

[kurohinge1]

[SIZE="4"]Dell recalls 4 million batteries[/SIZE]

PC maker Dell overnight issued a recall of 4.1 million notebook computer batteries made by Sony in response to concerns about overheating and fire risk.

"Under rare conditions, it is possible for these batteries to overheat, which could cause a risk of fire," Dell said today in a statement.

In recent weeks there have been a number of reports of Dell notebooks catching fire, the most well-known case happening in Osaka, Japan two months ago when a laptop computer was photographed as it burst into flames.

. . . In December last year, Dell announced a recall of 35,000 batteries sold with Latitude, Inspiron and Precision laptops.

Since then, further incidents have been reported on blogs and forums, and the issue has generated an increasing amount of attention with images of burnt-out laptops appearing on a regular basis.

Dell said 2.7 million of the batteries in its the latest recall had been sold in the US while a further 1.4 million were sold overseas.

. . . The latest recall affects batteries in certain Inspiron, Latitude, Precision and XPS models and were sold either with the units, or as a service replacement, between April 1, 2004 and July 18, 2006.

According to reports, this represents about 18 percent of Dell's notebook production during the period in question and the cost of the recall could exceed $US300 million, according to The New York Times.

Dell said affected customers could continue using their notebook computers by turning the system off, ejecting the battery, and using the AC adapter and power cord until a replacement battery was received.

It said the identification number for each battery appeared on a white sticker, and customers could contact Dell to check if their battery was part of the recall. Alternatively, details of the recall have been posted on its site at http://www.dellbatteryprogram.com.

The batteries were sold with the following units:

Dell Latitude: D410, D500, D505, D510, D520, D600, D610, D620, D800, D810

Inspiron: 6000, 8500, 8600, 9100, 9200, 9300, 500m, 510m, 600m, 6400, E1505, 700m, 710m, 9400, E1705

Dell Precision: M20, M60, M70 and M90 mobile workstations

XPS: XPS Gen2, XPS M170 and XPS M1710.

. . . more

[American Oyaji]

Dude. We got SOOOOO swamped today because we use mostly high powered laptops instead of desktop comps.

900 batteries to check.......

[kurohinge1]

Dude. We got SOOOOO swamped today because we use mostly high powered laptops instead of desktop comps.

900 batteries to check.......

Maybe you can ask the battery manufacturer (Sony) to send you a Sony girl, or three . . .
to give you a hand . . .
with your job.

[Mulboyne]

Bloomberg: Sony Laptop Batteries Under Investigation by U.S.

All Sony Corp. batteries made for laptop computers are being reviewed by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission after Dell Inc. this week recalled 4.1 million units that may burst into flames. The commission is in discussions with Sony, said Scott Wolfson, a spokesman for the organization that investigates products which may put consumers at risk. "We are trying to ensure that no other consumer is in harms way," Wolfson said. Sony said Aug. 15 it expects to share the costs associated with the recall of batteries it supplies to Dell for use in laptop computers. Dell a day earlier announced the largest-ever recall of a consumer electronics product following incidents of batteries overheating.

[emperor]

MEXICAN BOWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?

[Taro Toporific]

Bloomberg: Sony Laptop Batteries Under Investigation by U.S.

FREE APPLE BATERRIES!
https://support.apple.com/ibook_powerbook/batteryexchange/

Apple to recall 1.8 million notebook batteries
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) -Apple Computer Inc. will recall 1.8 million lithium-ion notebook computer batteries after nine devices overheated, causing minor burns to two users, U.S. safety regulators said on Thursday....

[mr. sparkle]

I have two batts for my G4 TiBook, which is one of the ones with the exploding batteries.

In San Francisco, and as a SF Giants baseball fan, we take our batteries seriously. The bigger they are, the harder they fall.

Battery Chuck: Northern Californian]

Can't locate the second one right now. #1 is an A1012, so it is ineligible. At least it won't blow up. Let's hope #2

[emperor]

My ibooks' battery is an exploder:

so they say my replacement should get to me in 4-6 weeks,

meanwhile they say Im not supposed to use the dodgy one,

Im still gonna use it and then sue the arse off them if it takes half my face off

[Greji]

Im still gonna use it and then sue the arse off them if it takes half my face off

Good idea. It'll improve your looks and you'll be rich!

[maraboutslim]

The timing on this is perfect. The charge life of my ibook battery was getting so bad I was about to buy a new one: but now I'm getting a new one for free!

[GuyJean]

FREE APPLE BATERRIES!

No shit.. My original battery died a year ago. ]https://support11.apple.com/index.html[/url]

GJ

[Mike Oxlong]

AP News reports first case of Apple battery blowup in Japan...

[This is a pen]

Dude Shoulda Bought a Mac.

There may be many reason for buying a Mac, but to avoid a PC like fire is not one of them.

Apple Laptop Catches Fire in Japan

[Mulboyne]

Bloomberg: Matsushita Electric Recalls 6,000 Notebook Batteries

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. recalled 6,000 batteries used in its Panasonic notebook computers in Japan on concern they may burst into flames, the third global manufacturer to replace lithium-ion power cells in a month. Dell Inc. and Apple Computer Inc. in August said they'll replace about six million notebook batteries made by Sony Corp. because they might overheat. Akira Kadota, a Tokyo-based spokesman for Matsushita, said the products used in its laptops weren't made by Sony and declined to name the manufacturer. "Matsushita should disclose the maker," said Wakami Yamazaki, a spokesman for Shodanren, an association of Japanese consumer rights organizations. "The consumer protection system needs to be strengthened and companies that are lax in reporting trouble should be taken to court"...more...

[Captain Japan]

I never thought I'd see Jim Rome quoted on FG. Is he still around?

And I don't qualify! My G4 apparently will not explode.

[Taro Toporific]

...I don't qualify! My G4 apparently will not explode.

Same here.
My G4 PowerBook has a dead battery and the damn battery apparently will not explode either. BUT, hot damn, my G4 sure does overheat, nearly start to smoke and SCREAM randomly. (I recorded the noise and created a stooopid MP3 podcast help the Apple Genius Bar to troubleshoot the overheating problem.)