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Dell Recalls Millions of AC Adaptors
matgyver writes "Both CNET and CNN are reporting that Dell is recalling 4.4 million AC adapters worldwide. About 990,000 of those were sold to US consumers, 1.5 million to US businesses, and the rest where outside the US. The adapters were sold with laptops between 1998 and 2002 and included Dell's Latitude, Inspiron, and Precision laptops. The part numbers for the adapters are 9364U, 7832D and 4983D. Apparently the adapters run the risk of overheating and can be a fire and electrocution risk."
.....the 2 mainboard replacements I had done on my Inspiron 4150.
-Randy
AC Adaptors? I wish DELL would recall their low-profile workstations. In one year, we've had a 50% HD failure rate. At two years, 90%. That's not an exaggeration. Yeah, they replace them quickly -- but it's a pain to remove and replace the HD and restore the system from an image. Yes, it's do-able, but when it needs to be done 2 or 3 times a month? Sometimes more? Come on! Dell refuses to acknowlege the problem -- they just happily replace the HD evertime it fails.
I'm fairly certain it's a heat/ventilation problem with the case. I've got one I use for remote access in our server room -- I've left the case open. It's been running 24/7 for 2+ years.
made the HP & Compaq adapters that were recalled.
I wonder why it took them so long to get around to doing something about it? I guess that having equipment burst into flames (ok, I'm exaggerating a bit) dowsn't hurt sales.
See what I've been reading.
1886, that is.
Obliteracy: Words with explosions
It seems that Dell quality is at it again.
Seriously, something like this happening by itself would not be a major deal, even the world's finest manufacturers have their share of problems (Firestone, Apple, SUN, etc.)
But what really puzzels me, is that I have seen Dell to continuously put out the worst quality products over and over, and yet they remain a major player in the consumer computer market. My college switched three years ago from leasing IBM laptops to Dell, and the helpdesk just started to be swamped. There are about 2200 new laptops on lease every year. The first year we had Dell Latitudes over 1/4 of them needed locic board replacements because the network connector was only held onto the board by the contact soldering points, not mounted to the case and no mounting posts on the board. 1/8 of the one's this year have already had a hard disk replaced and we've had them for two months. Also about 400 of them have had to have their screens replaced in the last 3 years (from failure not student damage).
This makes me wonder how Dell manages to be profitable (all these items were replaced under warranty) and continue to have a loyal client base (despire a much more busy, thus costly, helpdesk the college stays with Dell).
Ouch - Dell is getting hit by the recalls. I had to send back a few hundred printers that I had inherited in this job. Now Ill have a few dozen laptops.
Im suprised the laptops themselves arent recalled. I can not use these things on my person as they are just too damned hot. My A64 notebook I can use with out trouble (warm, but not burned out hot). S-r-s-l-y.
The ultimate network admin tool needs HELP!
The parent is no Troll: it's the economic truth of cheap labor. So cheap that they can apparently afford to employ hordes of Chinese astroturfers mod'ing Slashdot - (little red) textbook example of power to the people through aggressive suppression.
--
make install -not war
Mad Props to Bob Pease! I really enjoy his articles in EDN, as well.
As noted in the Amazon reviews, the other must-have is Art of Elelctronics by Horowitz/Hill.
So I guess those CE, CSA, UL safety marks are stamped on products just for fun.
This is a new precedent for unabombers, you just have to tell cops that your mail bomb is actually a defect toaster, and you are planning to recall it eventually.
Within the last 5 years, Taiwanese capacitor companies poorly copied an electrolyte solution from Japanese capacitor companies and there have been MANY early failures and product recalls because of this, including some by Apple, and most of the Taiwan motherboard manufacturers (Asus, ...).
With risk of fire.
Nothing to see here; Move along.
(I know the grandparent was a joke, BTW).
Surely if you had to charge the battery _aswell_ as use the AC adapter to power the laptop, you are going to be putting much more stress on it? Therefore, you will be at risk of the capacitors going shit, and catching on fire.
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From what I've heard (and my experience with my own) there should have already been a class action suit with the Inspiron 8000's... Supposedly they were build with a bios or chipset designed for desktop systems, not laptop systems, which was quickly hacked together to provide battery power management. So, until about 30 bios revisions had been made, the systems killed batteries. I know mine lasted about 4 months before it would no longer hold a charge. Dell of course refused to replace it, even though it went bad under warranty... they'd only send me back and forth between tech support and customer service, neither of which would take responsibility for or escalate my problem.
Although, I also had to have the screen replaced twice, motherboard 3 times, hdd once, and keyboard four times. So maybe I just got a lemon. Either way, I also have an IBM thinkpad that must be 10 years old by now (it's a 486) that has never had the slightest of problems. Next time I'm in the market, IBM gets my money.
I cant find a link to the bios/chipset issue anymore... I know I read about it in a few different places. Anyone have any more info?
This supports my belief that regualtory and test agencies have absolutely no control of products coming from the far east. In my position, I regularly see AC adapters that have UL file numbers stolen from other products, or even revoked numbers. Not to mention AC adpaters that have UL and CE marks that won't pass when tested by a reputable test lab.
Another unseen victim of this is US manufacturers that try and use these supplies, only to find out that they are all crap. Dell has the budget to go to Delta in Tapei and inspect the factory, but most do not.
The big problem is that there are no US federal laws on product safety. UL is a private company, and is heavily corrupt and inconsistant.
For UL to fix this, they need to:
Anything short of a revolution inside UL is not going to get the job done.