Sony Recalls 18,000 VAIO Laptops

STFS writes "Reuters has a story about Sony having to recall 18 thousand VAIO laptops because apparently there is some risk of users receiving a small electric shock "if you have connected your PC (laptop) to external power, you have disabled your phone line, (while) simultaneously being connected to a grounded peripheral, and you are touching a metal part of the PC, and your phone rings"!" I can't begin to count the number of times that happens ;)

Comments

How does your phone ring

[mikeophile]

when the line is disabled?

Re:At Least Once

[Anonymous Coward]

Basic formula, if the cost of a recall is less than the legal bills, they do a recall.

you are speaking of "expected values" but that is a classic fallacy. you need to consider "risk", which is also costly. while expected values incorporate the probability of being caught, risk incorporates the standard deviation/variance of outcomes.

the adverse publicity and punitive damages to a company having considered a recall but rejecting it for cost reasons are huge risks. the cost of that risk weighs heavily in favor of a recall.

OK, I'll bite

[PhysicsGenius]

The article doesn't say anyone was electrocuted. It was a "small electric shock". I think everyone is overreacting on this one. I get shocks bigger than this just walking across the carpet in the winter.

This is just like that whiny guy that was apparently expecting his McDonald's coffee to be ice cold.

Re:OK, I'll bite

[JesterXXV]

True, no one was electrocuted, but a phone ring is generated by a 90 VAC charge down the phone line, IIRC (probably because of the older phones which needed that kind of voltage to operate the mechanical bell). I've actually been shocked by the ring charge before, when I was fooling around with an old desktop phone with the cover off, dialing my own phone number to cause it to ring while holding down the hookswitch standing on my concrete basement floor in bare feet. Yes, I'm an idiot, but while I wasn't anything more than a little soiled in the pants, I could see how this could potentially be a HUGE problem if someone with a pacemaker or just a weak heart were to find themselves in this quasi-unlikely situation with their VAIO.

Re:OK, I'll bite

[squiggleslash]

FYI:

A large electric shock across my hand (ie both contacts on my hand) may cause temporary numbness and some pain, but quite probably no lasting damage.

A small electric shock, passing from my hand to my feet, can kill me if the current passes through the heart.

It doesn't really matter how big it is. It's how you use it.

(Now let's see if I'm allowed to post this or if I'll get yet another of those "You've already moderated this discussion" errors I can't get past, despite the fact I haven't even been given mod points in the last year.)

I can see this

[Alien54]

a mix of a incorrectly spec'ed out transistor or something like that, and a bad ground circuit.

• connected your PC (laptop) to external power,
• you have disabled your phone line,
• simultaneously being connected to a grounded peripheral,

  (say a printer or an external monitor)

• and you are touching a metal part of the PC,
• and your phone rings"!
  • The metal case is obviously a ground, and the phone being disabled probably grounds the phone out. So if there is a probably with a ground, the phone ringer signal grounds out through the person holding the metal ground portion of the case.

Actually,

[Anonymous Coward]

this is huge plan by Bush/Ridge to get people to return their computers with disk intact so that they can look in side and then install a nice back door. Good move. :)
Seriously though, how many people will send the systems back but leave all their personnel data on it and then assume that nobody touched it.

Re:Why is this a product defect?

[neo8750]

I think the problem lies with the laptop telephone setup. seeing how if i hold a phone in my lap and ground myself i won't get shocked. the laptop on the other hand allows for that current to leave the device and shock the user. This is a problem and Sony is takeing the right steps to correct it.

Ring voltage

[Animats]

Ring is 88V, 20Hz.

There's also a 400V (!) insulation test signal that is sometimes applied in the early morning hours (peak water-accumulation time), but it's current-limited to a very low current and only lasts for a few milliseconds. That, incidentally, is what causes "bell tap", where, in the early morning hours, some cheapie phones emit a brief bell signal. Anything that attaches to a phone line must tolerate that 400V spike.

disabled your phone line?

[DoorFrame]

If you've disabled your phone line, why would an incoming call cause a shock? Shouldn't that be the point of disabling it? I'm confused.

Re:sony poor workmanship

[Dasein]

WTF? My VAIO is great except it's falling apart because Sony can figure out to tighten a screw. Jeez -- you've been fed too much marketing, buddy.

BTW, I am a former VAIO owner who:

1) Had most of the screws fall out
2) An HD make that "I'm about to die." squealing sound.
3) Tried to return it to Sony for service 4 times.
4) Each time I was promised a shipping box and documentation.
6) No shipping box or documentation ever arrived
7) The HD finally died
8) Two weeks after our house was burglarized
9) Insurance paid to get me a Dell
10) Rejoice!
11) ???
12) Profit!

There's no reason for you to defend a company that can't ship a computer to you that does drop screws.

Re:Sony Copying Apple!!!!!!

[phillymjs]

with a fault on the battery of the powerbook

Ah, yes, the PowerBook 5300. So much fun to mock Apple over this-- even eight years later, nobody ever seems to get tired of it.

Well, guess who made those faulty PowerBook batteries? Sony!

~Philly

My ibook

[nilepoc]

My ibook tickles me all the time when plugged in. The shock comes from the battery area. I have called apple about it, and they deny it is happening.

Oh well.

Working in a Vaio factory...

[christophe]

I wonder on which continent this problem happened. I'm working in a Vaio factory outside the US (I'm not from Sony), does that mean that I should fear for my life every time the telephone rings? And for the colleagues who ARE working with VAIOs? (I am not) :-)