Laptop Battery Explosion Blamed for House Burning

A homeowner believes that his Dell laptop may have exploded and caused his house to burn down. While there are no official reports yet to this effect, this seems to be another blow to Dell after the company issued a recall for some 4 million batteries for danger of overheating and blowing up.

Via Herald Tribune:

A fire that destroyed a South Venice house and left a family of five homeless early Thursday may have been sparked by a Dell computer model that was recalled by the company because its battery was a fire hazard.

Homeowner Louis Minnear, 36, said his wife’s Dell laptop was sitting on papers on the family’s couch when the couch mysteriously caught fire.

Lesons learned:

  1. Do not leave your laptop turned on and lying on top of a couch.
  2. Avoid #1, especially if your laptop’s a Dell.
August 21st, 2006 Posted by J. Angelo Racoma in News at 1:05 pm 1 Comment »

Dell Recalls 4 Million Laptop Batteries

The inevitable has come. Dell announced it’s recalling four million laptop batteries issued with laptops from 2004 to 2006. This is related to the overheating issues that have surfaced of late, which have led to fire hazards. Apparently, this is an issue with the stability of Lithium Ion battery chemistry popular in modern laptops.

From Ars Technica:

Packing all that power into such a small space sometimes leads to disaster, as happened to an unfortunate Dell laptop in June at a conference at Osaka, Japan. Now, Dell has announced they are issuing a general recall for over four million laptop batteries. The recall affects notebook computers purchased between April 2004 and July 2006. Potentially affected models include:

  • 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

Estimates peg the cost to Dell at about US$ 200 million, majority of which would be footed by Sony, which manufactures the Li-Ion cells in the battery packs. Dell has advised users with the above-mentioned models to immediately stop using the battery packs and contact the company for replacements.

The Dell battery recall program website tells you how to identify your pack and how to contact support for a replacement.

August 15th, 2006 Posted by J. Angelo Racoma in News, Dell at 2:33 am 3 Comments »

When You Get a Lemon

When purchasing expensive hardware, it’s a rule of thumb to make sure you get good warranty. Dave was much thankful for this, as his ThinkPad T43 exhibited dead pixels a few weeks into purchase, and he got a replacement. The RMA is suppoesd to be as easy as shipping the unit back to the manufacturer and getting a replacement (or repair, if RMA has lapsed, but still covered by service warranty) a few weeks after. But what happens when you get a lemon and your manufacturer refuses to acknowledge the defect? Worse, what if your computer dies a few weeks or even days after warranty has lapsed? Even worse, what if you read hundreds of similar complaints on the Web about the same thing happen to the exact same computer?

Class action suit anyone?
(more…)

August 4th, 2006 Posted by J. Angelo Racoma in Dell, Tips, Articles at 4:26 pm 8 Comments »

Apple Initiates Macbook Pro Battery Recall Program

Watch out MacBook Pro users, as there is now a more or less full blown Battery Exchange Program for the 15-inch MacBook Pro.

Apple Initiates Macbook Pro Battery Recall Program

So, got a MacBook Pro from between February through May of this year? Check your battery out, because if you’ve got a model A1175 cell with a 12-digit serial number that ends in U7SA, U7SB or U7SC, then sign up, get that replacement shipped out, and send your old one back. Because who knows what might happen if you don’t, right?

It is good to hear that it is not only Dell having battery problems, and maybe this will help wipe a little more of the snobby look off of the face of Apple fans.

Source: Engadget

July 31st, 2006 Posted by David in News, Apple at 4:26 pm 1 Comment »

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