Dell laptop overheating problems may have been downplayed

[dbarrow]

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060721-7325.html


7/21/2006 3:05:30 PM, by Peter Pollack
In June, several pictures of a Dell laptop bursting into flames in Osaka, Japan showed up on the 'Net. Although rather dramatic, the event was considered by many to be an isolated incident—a reasonable assessment given the fact that 43 laptop fires have been reported in the US since 2001 against millions of units shipped each quarter. The fault was pinned on a bad lithium-ion battery, and the tale threatened to disappear among the many odd, but unimportant news reports that hit the wires each month.

Yet the story hasn't completely gone away, and has even been given new life in light of a recent news item which claims that Dell has been keeping under wraps dozens of accounts of melting and burning notebooks. According to the story, those problems—many of which center around the battery—were responsible in part for Dell's recall of 22,000 laptop computer batteries last year. ...

[dbarrow]

http://www.tgdaily.com/2006/07/31/dellonfire_laptopfire/

Vernon Hills (IL) - It began with a soft pop and then turned into a one hot and blazing notebook: Henrik Gustavvson saw one of his firm's Dell computers bursting into flames and documented the events. The story, first published in the Tom's Hardware Forumz, have become an Internet sensation - reason enough for TG Daily to learn more about the story behind the pictures. ...

Dude, your Dell just exploded...

..."I thought it was a power surge and turned off my computer," said Bob. Then the Dell popped into flames 8 to 10" tall and became a "conflagration" according to Bob. One employee tried to blow out the flames like a birthday cake, but that obviously didn't work too well. "The flames went down for a second, but then came back up," Bob said.

Employees then doused the laptop with fire extinguishers, but it wouldn't stop burning. "We hit it three to four times, but it wasn't going to stop burning until the battery was gone," said Bob. Gustavsson arrived with his 7.2 megapixel camera and started snapping pictures just as someone ripped the still burning laptop from the docking station and threw it out the building on a cement surface. ...

[Pi rules]

Just think if that had been on someone's lap. :dizzy:

Hopefully the employees used the proper fire extinguisher type.

[mommalina]

From url Doug posted, http://www.tgdaily.com/2006/07/31/dellonfire_laptopfire/

Has the fire incident shaken Henrik Gustavsson's faith in Dell? He believes the fire was a fluke accident and mentioned that he understands that laptop batteries are made by a third-party. "I'm actually pleased with Dell computers and service and I'll still keep using Dells," said Gustavsson.

Doug, do you think it's the laptop or the battery at fault? If the battery, I wonder who makes it? Probably made in China?

Lina

[Pi rules]

My guess would be the battery.

[Terry Hanushek]

Citing fire danger, Dell recalls notebook batteries

Associated Press

Dell Inc. said yesterday it would recall 4.1 million notebook-computer batteries because they can overheat and catch fire.

Dell negotiated conditions of the recall with the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission, which called it the largest electronics-related recall ever conducted by the agency.
A Dell spokesman said the batteries had been made by Sony Corp. and put in notebooks that were shipped between April 1, 2004, and July 18 this year.
"In rare cases, a short-circuit could cause the battery to overheat, causing a risk of smoke and/or fire," said the spokesman, Ira Williams. "It happens in rare cases, but we opted to take this broad action immediately."
The entire article is here (http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/nation/15275960.htm)

I guess this proves to old adage: Where there is smoke, there is fire ..and.. where there is fire, there is a recall

Notice that our favorite consumer electronics firm, Sony, manufactured these batteries.

Terry

[Seth]

I wonder what Sony has to say about this?

I'm willing to bet that the battery overheating is a symptom and not the cause.

[Terry Hanushek]

From the Dell recall site (https://www.dellbatteryprogram.com/Default.aspx)


Dear Dell Customer,

Dell has identified a potential issue associated with certain batteries sold with Dell Latitude™, Inspiron™, XPS™ and Dell Precision Mobile Workstation™ notebook computers. In cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and other regulatory agencies, Dell is voluntarily recalling certain Dell-branded batteries with cells manufactured by Sony and offering free replacements for these batteries. Under rare conditions, it is possible for these batteries to overheat, which could pose a risk of fire.

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

[Seth]

Here's (http://news.com.com/Dell+to+recall+4+million+batteries/2100-1044_3-6105486.html?tag=ne.gall.related) the latest.

From the above link:

Sony's lithium ion cells can be found in the battery packs used by other manufacturers, but at this point Sony and those manufacturers have not seen the same level of problems that affected the Dell notebooks with Sony's technology, Clancy said.
__________________________________________________ ____________

"But even if two companies use the same batteries, they don't necessarily design the technology that connects the battery to the notebook in the same way, Kay said. For example, Lenovo's notebooks use software that's designed to shut down the battery if it notices a problem and they charge the batteries more slowly than others in the industry, a company representative said."

[dbarrow]

http://news.com.com/Dell+takes+heat+over+battery+recall/2009-1044_3-6105828.html?tag=newsmap

*Links page to almost all articles on battery problems.
No matter what brand laptop you own, it would be worthwhile to research YOUR particular battery and be prepared for trouble. At the least, make sure your fire insurance is paid up!

[Seth]

http://news.com.com/Dell+takes+heat+over+battery+recall/2009-1044_3-6105828.html?tag=newsmap

*Links page to almost all articles on battery problems.
No matter what brand laptop you own, it would be worthwhile to research YOUR particular battery and be prepared for trouble. At the least, make sure your fire insurance is paid up!

Thanks for the link.

I've come to the conclusion that most laptops are simply poorly designed and lack thorough testing. In my business, I come across numerous defects in laptops that aren't even a year old.

Examples:

Just a few minutes ago, I recieved a call for an HP laptop. It's only three months old, but the LCD has become defective.

Two day's ago, I recieved a call for a Toshiba laptop. It's only nine months old, but the hard drive has died.

I could go on and on with examples such as the above.

[dbarrow]

Dell: Exploding batteries are Sony's fault

http://news.com.com/Dell+Exploding+batteries+are+Sonys+fault/2100-1005_3-6115710.html?tag=newsmap

NEW YORK--Chairman Michael Dell has denied that the way Dell constructs its PCs played a part in a spate of battery-related fires. He instead laid the blame entirely with the manufacturer of the battery cells, Sony. ..

*Well, with the recalls mounting into the $millions, you would expect a lot of finger pointing.

[dbarrow]

Toshiba joins massive recall of Sony batteries
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9584_22-6121127.html

...Toshiba said it would recall 830,000 laptop computer batteries made by Sony as part of Sony's newly launched global replacement program. Dell, meanwhile, increased the number of batteries in its recall to about 42 million units from 41 million, the company announced on Friday. ...