Slashdot Mirror
Apple Powerbook and iBook Battery Recall
doubleacr writes "The Register is reporting that Apple is recalling batteries in 12 and 15 inch Powerbook and 12 inch iBooks sold between October 2004 and May 2005. Apple has set up a page with info on model number and serial numbers of batteries affected, and also how to get a replacement."
affected, not effected
This is not a danger. it is a precaution. It may not even be an ISSUE but apple have still found parts out of spec in certain areas of battery production.
In other words like with the 5300 powerbooks, no consumer batteries have ever caught fire, and almost certainly none ever will.
...some device called the ThermaPAK. Founded recently and been using one. Uses phase change materials to absorb the excess heat from Powerbooks.
The cool thing is, the battery that comes with most cameras holds a 60 min charge, but the ones they stock in store are 120 mins.
All you have to do is go in with your original battery and say, "this battery isn't holding a full charge". Bingo, free new better battery.
Sam
It's not quite that dumb. There are/were notebooks that won't run without a battery installed, maybe due to the design of their power circuitry.
I remember the Powerbook 180, for instance.
I don't think you could type so well if the battery explodes and mangles up the keyboard quite badly
Guy asked me for a quarter for a cup of coffee. So I bit him.
Well, that's a nice thought, but it's not all batteries, only some of the LG ones. I bought my PB 15" a month ago, and my battery's serial number is W7515XXXXXXXXX nothing near the range of serials they're replacing.
Random and weird software I've written.
I had a dell notebook once that had a battery recall. I didn't even know about the recall until one day I found an Airborn Express box on my porch with a new battery and a prepaid box to return the old one. After returning it I promptly got an ADDITIONAL battery and a $30 gift certificate to Dell's website as a thankyou/sorry. I thought that was pretty cool of them, the recall consumed about 2 minutes of my time to seal the battery in the return box, and I got a bunch of free stuff out of it too.
Wrong, this one burned.
Nevermind, I just found out on the bottom of the page: After serial number verification, a new battery will be shipped to you, free of charge. When you receive the replacement battery, please use the same shipping packaging and included prepaid shipping label to return the recalled battery to Apple.
Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
Mine is about 5 months old, but I've been babying the battery. Wish I'd known I'd be getting a freebie! To find out how many cycles your battery already has:
:(
ioreg -l -w 0 | grep Capacity
I only used 22 cycles.
It seems there are some current problems with the website, just be forewarned!
Here's my story:
So, my battery for my PB 12" is in the range as testified on Apple's site. I tried to use the site to have my affected battery registered, but the site kept returning an error that my serial number wasn't recognized. Huh?
So, I call Apple, and the guy says, "your model number is the Powerbook battery #, but the battery's serial number is an iBook battery serial number, so the system is rejecting the battery # as inconsistent with the computer's #." Huh?
So, the guy went off to figure out what to do and put me on hold. For some reason, the hold music turned off, and this voice comes on every 30 seconds to say, "Please wait. Please wait. Please wait. Please wait."
It is very very very obnoxious.
So, they finally try to set up a manual request over the phone, but I have to give them a credit card number (They want to put a hold on it, I guess to keep you from getting a free battery), which is SOP but still annoying, because I don't have a credit card. So I have to call back later with a credit card (grrr) or wait for the website to be fixed (double grrr grrr).
for whatever reason, they *don't* requre the credit card info via the website.
hopefully my experience can be of assistance to one of you out there.
multifariam.net -- yet another nerd blog
I haven't seen anyone else mention it in this thread, but pouring water on burning lithium is an extremely Bad Idea. You'll get an effect similar to pouring gasoline on burning wood.
Most Slashdotters probably know not to pour water on an electrical fire, but I suspect far fewer know burning lithium can use water for a fuel source.
From a FAQ I found about how to handle a lithium fire (this is a google html version since the original was a .Doc file): "Use a graphite powder or a Lith-X (class D) extinguisher to extinguish burning lithium. Don't use water, sand, carbon tetrachloride, carbon dioxide, or soda acid extinguishers in lithium cell fires."
"The advanced societies of the future will be driven by competing systems of psychopathology." -JG Ballard
And they're taking what must be a pretty big loss just for the sake of having good business integrity.
According to the article over at MacCentral, nope. Apple doesn't expect the cost of performing the recall "to be material to Apple", and LG will be the one ponying up the costs.
Which, given this is the second time in a year LG has caused Apple to issue a recall on batteries, they ought to be doing.
Apple's page (the one linked in the post) clearly states that the recall is for the 15 inch aluminum Powerbook only.
Copied directly from Apple's main page:
Important Safety Recall -- Rechargeable Batteries for 12-inch iBook G4, 12-inch and 15-inch PowerBook G4
yeah not yea.
'Yea' is olde englishe. 'Yeah' is the common informal way of saying yes.
People bought the batteries from Apple. They are Apple branded. It's Apple's responsibility to recall them and then get the money from the OEM, and they're owning up to it (which is a good thing).
I mean, does Apple actually make the batteries being recalled?
They do not make the battery itself, but to my knowledge they make the custom enclosure for the battery to fit inside of the computer and add the LED power level indicator, and whatnot.
To my knowledge, I don't know that you can buy one of these batteries from somewhere else.
How preposterous. Guadalajara, Mexico is actually a high-tech city where IBM, Apple, Sony, amongst others have fully compliant ISO-9000 plants. Cheap labor? How about world-class US educated Engineers running the plants. Parts are assembled following strict ISO. The cost effectiveness of their model doesn't come strictly from labor but more from geography, tax incentives, and technology.
Had to end up calling Apple support directly (800-275-2273) who admitted that they are being slammed and all the techs are taking serial numbers to enter at a later time when the servers get quiet again...
Just to save everyone the hassle of trying to get registered on the web site...
If you registered a sacrificial e-mail address with Apple, you would have gotten a nice message from them notifying you of the recall earlier today. It's not clear to me if they sent it to all Apple customers (probably) or only to those who purchased/registered an affected computer with them.
Once you lick the lollipop of mediocrity, you'll suck forever!