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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."
Apparently the adapters run the risk of overheating and can be a fire and electrocution risk.
/. user #56 out of rug. Sale complete with charred remains of previous owner.
Oh just great.
(reaches for power supply)
Now I have to retur-{{{{ZOT}}}}
Slashdot UID #56 up for auction at Ebay -- again! Sale by family to help pay for electrical fire damage and getting the smell of crispy
The dangers of knowledge trigger emotional distress in human beings.
You're getting a fire!
If brevity is the soul of wit, then how does one explain Twitter?
.....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.
Ok that's it. I'm never buying another dell again. I have a Inspiron 5000e which I bought a good 3 or 4 years ago. I got it and shortly afterwards there was a battery recall, since I bought 2 batteries for it I recieved two new batteries, but they sent me 2 more extra's. Fine by me really. Now that same laptop has a power adapter recall. The battery was recalled because it was possible for it to catch fire, now this problem. No more Dell's for me, in fact I might just sell this POS on ebay and bum the problems off on someone else. It's not even worth it anymore even with 4 batteries.
For those who don't want to read the article, the link to the recall program is located at http://www.delladapterprogram.com
Kyle
http://www.unlogikal.net/
We got a load of dell laptops. That means the odds must be decent that the building I work in will catch fire and burn to the ground. Huh, something to ponder while I go make sure all the laptops are plugged in and charging.
Evolution or ID?
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
Man, that new laptop is hot!
IANALOOA
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).
Ha! And my friends called me an idiot when I keeped buying new batteries for my laptop instead of just recharging the old one.
Once again, I was proven right in the end.
Go to this page and see if yours are the ones actually recalled.
Imagine how many Dell branded fire extinguishers they could sell as add-ons to thier PC's!
They could have a check-mark on the order page right next to the "extra hard drive in a box" option for when your desktop overheating finally takes out your HD (about six months in my case).
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Even in our /.'d digital world, analog design is still important. Bummer, since I'm a software person... :)
Dell Manager: "Crap. We need to recall a load of AC adapters".
Dell Intern: "No prob, Dude. I'll just set up a little webserver on this here Latitude CPi. Point to this one".
Dell Manager: "OK, as long as it doesn't cost anything."
Dell Intern: "Sweeet !"
Laptop: Uh. Oh. Lots of connections. Need More Power......
AC Adapter: ZZZt !
CNN: "In related news, Dell's customer support web development building burned down today..."
"A new laptop built by my company is shipped with a certain power supply. The power supply overheats and burns down an office building with everyone trapped inside. Now, should we initiate a recall? Take the number of power supplies in the field, A, multiply by the probable rate of failure, B, multiply by the average out-of-court settlement, C. A times B times C equals X. If X is less than the cost of a recall, we don't do one."
"Which company do you work for?"
"A major one."
-Randy
...who once had to endure one snide remark after another about PowerBooks being fire hazards, I suppose it can now be said that all laptop computers are cremated equal.
Those who can, do. Those who can't, write technology blogs.
Stock up now for the cold winter ahead!
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?
I've just counted the number of logo's on a Dell power supply; there are 20 logo's of testing organizatons for as many countries.
What exactly do these organizations do? Not one of them took a look at the power supply design and said something in the line of: "you probably shouldn't do it like that"?
Or is this one of those "lets switch components in the middle of production" stories?