Ah, the glories of Lithium!
Dell laptop explodes at Japanese conference — It was just a matter of time before we bagn to see mysterious SLC – Spontaneous Laptop Combustion.
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”.
Any coincidence with this story about the exploding Mac? or with this story about the exploding computer that hurt an 15-year-old girl in Africa?
Well, this is either more bad capacitors in a Dell computer or someone is trying to collect some life insurance money on the laptop’s owner.
If that had happened at an airport, I bet you would have an “extended vacation” with the FBI and Homeland Security until they could interrogate you and dissect the machine.
What the poster stated was dead on – “It is only a matter of time until such an incident breaks out on a plane”. That would be scary!
The pictures weren’t in the article, originally.
Mate – i hope Dell puts out a note explaining if they’ve worked out what caused this problem. I know apple had a problem and they’ve still got the recall notice on their homepage. Dell better step up as well.
Much more of this and we’ll be checking our laptops, if we’re allowed to fly with them at all!
note to RussS…they were not there when I first saw this piece. Thanks.
Well, I’m impressed. Whadya s’pose it burns as long as one of them newfandangled LED bulbs?
Thoughts that crossed my mind on seeing this:
Consumerism. Rush to market. Bad Science. Hunting mosquitoes with a bazooka. Street ready Nascars. The classic cartoon bit of the watch wound to tight, exploding in hail of springs and gears.
God what is going to happen when they come up with new power sources to power portable devices? Nothing like serving the public up some more potentially caustic toxic stew. Warning labels aside, consumers have to jump through hoops while the manufacturers and distributors sidestep to pay attention more to their bottom line than the creations they offer or the people they offer them to.
Guilhem, our astonished reader reports: “The damn thing was on fire and produced several explosions for more than five minutes”.
Don’t they have any damned fire extinguishers in Japan?
I would really like to see video of that!
So that’s XPS…
Hmmmm, I wondered about my M70 – after a few hours plugged-in and on the table, the base is too hot to touch! I’ve heard stories about the screens failing if the unit is unplugged and put straight into a case but nothing has melted yet.
Does kinda concern me with air travel though – what if more than one laptop spontaneously erupted during a trans-ocean flight?
Fortunately, it only seems to happen when powered (i.e. charging), so make sure it’s charged before flight, and DON’T use an in-flight power adaptor. Ever. Please.
Vista Beta overload?
True or not, the explanation from Dell will be “this was due to the customer using non-Dell-approved batteries”. I guarantee it.
A bad battery is also the most plausible explanation. Most knock-off and counterfeit batteries (which are rife in Asia) lack the pressure vents and other safety features original-equipment batteries have. (This is also a problem for badly designed OEM batteries.)
It wasn’t the caps, as caps may exlode but do not burn up in a thermal runaway, which is obviously what occured here.
Bad batteries are a serious safety issue, as it is very difficult to determine if an aftermarket battery is authentic or not. In addition, many users turn a blind eye to these dangerous fake batteries due to their low cost.
The bottom line is, a battery is basically a time-release bomb packed with energy. If it all gets out at once…
Cell phones blow up all the time here (in Brazil). The manufacturers allways say – substandard or counterfeit batteries.
Now I understand, you had the scoop on the story even before pix arrived. Good work man!
I have accidentally caused a case meltdown by putting my Dell laptop into hibernate, closing the top, dropping it into my bag and hitting the road. Naturally, XP didn’t go into hibernate because it wanted my acknowlegement to stop a process (thanks XP, I appreciate your concern). It stayed running all nice and snug in my bag till both batteries were dead, the case melted and my bag lining fused with the case.
Dell XPS – Xplosive Power Source!
Yes, the batteries ARE the major culprit for one reason; modern laptop batteries store enough energy to cause real problems, if released quickly. But it’s not only a FAULTY battery that might be causing all the fuss.
IF the pack is unfused (dodgy el-cheapo), or IF the pack is otherwise so badly designed that it is capable of producing high currents into a short-circuit for a few seconds, a processor meltdown will easily do the same. I have seen old P3 processors literally set a motherboard on fire at startup…
I’m running my M70 on batteries right now (to cycle them)whilst I finish some Acrostd update and I’ll say it’s only barely warm after 30 minutes and 3 reboots (why do they do that?). Running on mains (full processor speed, batteries charging), it runs HOT!
Burn, Baby, Burn! – Dell Laptops Have Their Own Music Video Now!
In honor of the second Dell laptop that decided to terminate it’s own existence in a blaze of glory, rather send one more smiley ridden instant message into MySpace cyberspace, I present to you this announcement.
Sing and dance along with the Numa Numa (English) dance video parody that pays tribute to the Dell laptop tradition of ignition. Stunning animation footage shows a Dell laptop owner that can’t get his crispy computer fixed by a computer repairman who is blowing smoke up his ASCII table.
The video footage is remixed from the stunning creative commons Elephants Dream project. Visit their site and download the free high defintion version of the 10 minute short film. It’s a huge file and you may need the VLC player but it’s incredible. There’s smaller versions of the film too for the faint of bandwidth.
Captain: “Ready missile #2!”
Torpedo Bay #2: “Dell laptop is ready for launch sir!”
Captain: “Fire in the hole!”