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
I rather like my exploding iBattery, thanks.
Q. Can I use my iBook or PowerBook without the battery in it?
A. Yes, once you've removed the affected battery, just plug in the AC adapter to power the computer.
And I thought only Windows users were dumb. How silly of me!
So that's why it keeps smoking! I'm so used to overclocked systems I thought that was normal.
Maybe if I scratch the serial number up...
"...the components could overheat and catch figure."
Get hot and strike a pose.
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.
DO NOT put them in a washing machine and puncture them with a screwdriver!
air and light and time and space
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
..when they pry it from my cold, dead fing-
:-)
Oh wait, this is a good thing. Nevermind.
picpix image polls. create - share - vote. fun!
Comment removed based on user account deletion
From the article:
"Apple said the risk of combustion was very small. The recall comes after the US Consumer Product Safety Commission received six reports of batteries overheating, two from the US and the rest from around the globe."
Six, man. SIX! And only TWO in the US!
And they're taking what must be a pretty big loss just for the sake of having good business integrity.
I dunno, man. Sounds pretty cool to me.
http://augustwestproducts.i8.com
"The danger posed by these batteries is at its greatest when soaked in water and then stabbed with a screwdriver or other blunt object."
Just kidding. But it's true for the iPod, remember?
I am scientifically inaccurate.
Apple has asked 128,000 notebook computer users to return their PowerBook or iBook batteries on the off-chance the components could overheat and catch figure. I'd be interested in purchasing a computer that can catch figures for me.
God spoke to me.
It's incredible! I got my new battery from the recall, and my Powerbook is faster than ever before! Whether it's software or hardware, Apple just keeps getting better!
So how long before Microsoft copies this?
er.. i mean....
Who should we complain to in the KDE team about being slow and lazy in adding this feature? My Toshiba running FBSD hasn't had any troubles with the battery! Those KDE folks are slow and lazy.
er... i mean....
Good job Apple.. Glad to see someone taking some responsibility.
do() || do_not();
I could have had the first post, but I realized that my recent ibook was effected. Went to the site and filled out the form in about 5 minutes. Deffinitly hassle free so everyone who has a relativly recient ibook 12" 14" or power book 12" should go there asap and get their free replacement battery.
At any rate, my girlfriend, M (her real name is Olivia, but she feels that being part of the human community means identity must be simplified) said "Geez, Renfrew, don't you think you should at least pour some espresso on that?" I couldn't reply, as my penis was being seared and my mouse was starting to get sticky. I tried to think "What would Steve Jobs do in a situation like this?" but all I could think of was that he would probably order a muffin with a low-fat margarine substitute.
I haven't a clue what the solution to this is, but with the explosion of notebook sales, I think we're going to be seeing A LOT of these kinds of problems
Free MacMini
On the flip side, if they didn't decide on a recall, and someone were to get injured, they'd face a serious liability suit. "You already had six reports of failure, and yet your company did nothing. Your negligence is directly responsible for my disfiguring burns." Not a pretty idea.
Good business practices and fear of lawsuits often yield the same results. Which motivation you choose to ascribe depends mostly on how cynical you are.
WE always had problems with the batteries and logic boards going out like crazy. Would anyone care to wager a guess why?
They're mainly manufactured in Guadalahara, Mexico. Cheap labor and poor standards controls usually equals poor products.
One out of three laptops actually made it past the Cashmere test after repairs, due to defective parts. (Bad onboard USB/Firewire, IDE controller, etc.) And people wonder why Apple products are so expensive. They're spending more in repairs than almost anything else.
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
"Apple has asked 128,000 notebook computer users to return their PowerBook or iBook batteries on the off-chance the components could overheat and catch figure."
In a related note, the Register's reporting and editing have been outsourced to Bangalore.
Paris Hilton had her ibook's battery explode on her lap, all that we could hear her say was... 'That's hot!'
He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
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.
Companies too often get a bad press when they do the responsible and praisworthy thing of honoring their promises to consumers and recall their products to repair a fault. Yes, ideally the product should not have the fault in the first place, when that would be in an ideal world, and these thing just have to happen from time to time. I think companies should get a bad press when they don't recall a product when they should, not when they do the right thing.
I would prefer that to "Offtopic" or "Troll" or "Flamebait".
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.
more robust, more stable alternatives, while free, are not as easy to use.
easier to use, more stable alternatives are far more expensive...
and my machine isn't virus/worm/trojan/spyware/malware-ridden. get over yourself. while apples are higher quality, they are still susceptible to problems as seen here. and don't get me started on the problems with introducing linux to the mainstream average computer user...
please me, have no regrets.
Thank you
"Slashdot, where telling the truth is overrated but lying is insightful."
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'm using it right now and haven't had a singl
+++ATH
NO CARRIER
Why is this recall not coming from the Original Equipment Manufacturer? I mean, does Apple actually make the batteries being recalled?
It also seems like battery recalls are happening more and more on electronic devices. Is it that we are using more batteries or is there something going on with battery manufacturing?
Dell issued a large recall last year, this is Apple's second recall on batteries I believe. Certainly there are others that I don't know about.
I only came here to do two things; kick some ass, and drink some beer...looks like we're almost out of beer.
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
Obvious, not Informative
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.
WE always had problems with the batteries and logic boards going out like crazy. Would anyone care to wager a guess why?
Because you were working in a repair company, so people didn't bring you the ones that worked?
What I say does not represent the views of my employers, my friends, my cats, or myself.
If you're like me, your battery is wearing out anyway and a free (and new) replacement is a pretty good deal!
(If it hasn't exploded yet, it probably wont anyway)
Notice that it's in the Apple section. If Apple isn't of interest to you, you can disable it in your account. For those who do use Macs, this might be important. The risk is certainly small, but at least for a person with one of these three models, why take the chance? Apple's wouldn't be recalling the batteries if they thought it so minor. I think it's perfectly appropriate for the Apple section of Slashdot to spread this news more widely.
Signature.
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!
"However many laptop power supplies are designed with the assumption that there will be this big battery installed acting as a capacitor."
No, they don't. Li-Ion batteries are destroyed if they are mischarged, and placing the battery in parallel with the power supply would be extremely dangerous. The battery would likely burn and/or explode the first time that it was connected due to overcharging.
Modern laptops have extensive power circuitry to preciscely control the charging cycle of the battery. The battery is never used as "a capacitor". That's what the real capacitors are for.
The issue at hand has nothing to do with being perfect. Such a comparison is a way to railroad people into accepting your conclusion without any real consideration of alternatives. It says that on the one hand we have Apple with whatever behavior they wish to engage in, on the other we have perfection. Since perfection is never available anywhere for anything, the perfection "alternative" goes away leaving only what was offered first; thus there is really no alternative at all.
You're also trying to position convenience above ethical treatment of other people and this is very dangerous position. People of a variety of political standpoints agree that Nike products are manufactured by underpaid workers who labor in unreasonable working conditions, earning far less than a living wage. Nike makes a great deal of money on the backs of workers who are treated unethically. See the evidence presented in the book and movie "The Corporation" for first-hand accounts and price evidence retreived from Nike's garbage.
Yet Nike products are sold at most athletic shoe stores. We are not better off by encouraging people to do business with Nike because what they offer is convenient. Particularly for those wealthy enough to afford Nike shoes (or Apple computers), other options are available which will serve a comparable function.
In the software realm, we are better off by doing what we can to encourage writing more free software, software which respects the users ability to share and modify programs, and we are also better off by doing away with software patents entirely. We should encourage hacking on free software to make it easier to use for most people most of the time. But we cannot afford to believe (as so many who frequent this site do) that ethical treatment of people is separable from computer software, or that technical convenience should trump how we treat other people.
Digital Citizen
"It only sounds like a stupid question. However many laptop power supplies are designed with the assumption that there will be this big battery installed acting as a capacitor. So the power supply just sends in dirty power, letting the battery smooth out all the noise into a nice steady DC current."
Laptops don't work this way. Cars use this method to smooth out power coming from the alternator, but all modern laptops work just fine with no battery.
"I was writing a paper on the PowerBook, and it was, like, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep! And then, like, the battery exploded acid all over me. And I was, like 'ow.' It devoured my skin. It was really good skin. And then I had to do get grafts and I had to do it fast so it wasn't as good. It's kind of a bummer."