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Laptop Explodes at Japanese Conference
An anonymous reader writes "A laptop reported to be a Dell burst into flame and was caught on camera during a recent Japanese conference. Guess this laptop could be a poster child to prove that laptops really can cause sterility if they are on your lap."
Don't put batteries in laptops! They can explode!
I've built balls of steel lugging that thing around. Not even an exploding Sunblade100 could sterilize my boys.
An Indian-American Hindu committed to non-violent thought/speech/action alarmed by the global explosion of radical Islam
... hackers
Perhaps this is a sign that computers (through the mega-computing power of the internet) have become self-aware. This is just the start to their war against the fleshlings... I mean, what better way to take out your opponent than to get him to put you in his lap, then you detonate yourself -- even if you don't destroy him, you take out his ability to reproduce. Fear the machines!
A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing.
From the article:
Should you witness such an event, his advice is, "Don't try anything courageous/stupid, stay away, away, away!"
But take pictures first!
-h-
Good thing this wasn't on the guy's lap.
The dangers of knowledge trigger emotional distress in human beings.
The hard drive is right under the left palm-rest area, and it has quite literally burned my hand several times. It's not suprising to me to see one on fire.
Is that a laptop in your pants or are you just flaming. Har har har.
A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing.
Having just looked at pictures of an exploding laptop, and been warned to "avoid actually using a laptop on your lap", here I am happily typing away with my laptop sat in my lap as ever (with the usual book underneath to keep the CPU from burning out).
But then mine is a fairly old thinkpad that runs quite cool, usually ~45 degrees. The one that exploded looks more modern (it is a Dell, after all).
There, nicely rationalised away so as I can get back to my life
Reportedly, the conference attendees were viewing a new high definition porno stream when the laptop exploded...Film at 11.
'Liar liar, pants on fire."
I can't wait till we get hydrogen fuel cells in our laptops!
This guy's the limit!
It's on the Inquirer, but they have a picture. Who do I believe, my eyes or my head?
No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
...the Dell, being the subject of a long standing flame war, finally succumbed to the last battle of its painfully long life.
(It'd be ironic if somehow I got modded down with a "Flamebait")
Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem.
Guess this laptop could be a poster child to prove that laptops really can cause sterility if they are on your lap
Am I the only person out there who thinks that sterility is a good thing? I can buy thousands of high end laptops for what one kid costs.
Anybody know how it exploded?
... and had been given conflicting data by windows XP. And in the tried
and tested manner of computers from Star Trek in that situation, it blew up.
...I'd kill myself too.
And now, a PSA from David Lynch.
I thought someome told Kusanagi to stop diving into random portables.
..an exploding beowulf cluster of these things!
Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
Perhaps this will convince manufacturers to start thinking about the temperatures that their computers run at. Sure, they make sure that the processor and hard drive run below their rated maximum temperatures, but in a practical sense, they've been letting computers run too hot. My Asus M2400Ne runs pretty cool most of the time, but the hard drive and AC adapter (both the power brick and the plug) can get so hot that they burn you a little if you hold them for a few seconds. This is ridiculous. You can't build a product that reaches insane temperatures, and then stick a little label that says "Do not use with less than 3 feet of space next to eachvent" on it! Let's see some better cooling. Personally, I think a laptop with one big (4 to 6 inches), slowly rotating fan in the middle of the bottom, plus exhaust vents on the sides and back, would actually look nice, keep the laptop much cooler (no more "hot spots" on the keyboard), and run quietly. (You'd need rubber feet to hold it up enough, but most bottom vents need them.) This would probably also help with blocked vents, since it's much harder to block a huge circle-shaped vent in the middle of the case than a small square vent near the side, where the laptop is likely to rest on your leg.
ttuttle is a rankmaniac
I for one welcome our new exploding laptop masters!
--Not to be worried, Pitr fix.
(end of post)
"It is only a matter of time until such an incident breaks out on a plane"
Hmmm, sounds like a great idea for a movie...
This guy's the limit!
Swedish plasma phys. PhD student; MSc EE; knows maths, programming, electronics; finance interest; seeks opportunities
Was this....
ATTEMPTED MURDER?
Steal a laptop, replace it's battery with an explosive one, and set it to explode when it is in a certain place or at a certain time.
OMG I guess they'll have to ban laptops from airplanes now.
Hey Osama, wanna laptop?
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
Mow your lawn
Make your lunch
Give you a hug
Smile
Hold your hand
Carry your bag
Laugh
Get sick
Cry
Call you at work
Run into you
No matter how many laptops you buy, you won't be able to share your life, your lessons, your beliefs, or your ideas with a laptop. Though if you get sterilized, at least you can adopt a kid.
GPL Deconstructed
Perhaps we need to find a new name for them other than "laptop." I'm certainly not putting my HP on my lap without a sheet of Space Shuttle tiles between me and it.
GetOuttaMySpace - The Anti-Social Network
All the high-end laptops in the world will never replace your destroyed manhood!!
Did you even read the title of this story? Laptop EXPLODES!! After an experience like that, the last thing on my mind would be buying thousands of laptops with all the money I'd save on kids!
People, do not use your laptop on carpet or in situations where it may not get ample ventilation. It can burst into flames and harm people or property... well definitely the laptop at least. Read your manuals and follow the disclaimers.
That looks like a Dell Latitude D800?
Anyone else know of any models that look like that?
Rule 1: Do not put Mentos in laptop.
Anyone know if the screen displayed "LP On Fire?"
Just add {In Space!} to anything.
a beowulf cluster of this
When I got I8kfanGUI (http://www.diefer.de/i8kfan/).
It doesn't work on all Dell models, but I've been using it on my Inspiron 9300 with no problems at all. My dad also uses it on his laptop and it works just great. One problem with Dell laptops is they don't kick the fans on soon enough or high enough - not to mention the cooling pathways are rather poorly designed. If you're going to bypass the built-in rules Dell provides on the BIOS, however, you need to make sure you know what you're doing or you can cause even more damage. My notebook got ridiculously hot before bypassing the default BIOS settings but works fine now - even in my lap.
...is shout "OPA!", and smash a plate! (Like they do in Greek restaurants.)
https://www.accountkiller.com/removal-requested
I have a Dell Inspiron 9100 (looks just like the one pictured, on fire), and that sucker pulls 90 watts just sitting there, and over 110 when watching a movie!
It's a couple years old.
My wife just got a Dell E1505, and it's a faster machine, but only pulls 28 watts sitting there and 35 watching a movie.
Unless you wire it right into the car battery, I can't even run my laptop with my 600 watt inverter, the inverter just can't get enough juice from the cigarette lighter.
The E1505 can run right off the cigarette lighter with a $20 100 watt inverter that just hangs out of the cigarette lighter.
So I can totally see how my laptop would be MUCH more likely to catch fire than hers. Hmm, time to upgrade.
Lose Weight and Feel Great with Isagenix
Any Slashdotters reading this also frequent Fark.com? If so, I'd like to know which you think is worse in terms of lame clichés being wheeled out at every opportunity.
Does Dell cover explosions in their warrenty?
Not Vista ready
I like the way that in the second picture, the laptop is still burning, yet just in the shot you can see some geek typing on another laptop, just a couple of feet away. Not even a fire can stop a geek from bashing out some code! Or maybe he's on IRC: "d00dz, a laptop just caught fire in front of me!!! Freaky!! Its still burnin..."
Was that laptop was web server host to the previous slashdot story?
meh
The laptop set alight?
Or it set the pretty silk tablecloth alight with it's heat, which then in turn burned the laptop?
Either way the damn thing was too hot, but I don't think laptops just burst into flame if you have them on a table.
Are there any videos? A video would be priceless
All those people, typing upwards of 200 wpm....it was just a matter of time before a laptop caught fire. Now maybe we'll end all of new-fangled keyboard layouts to help people "type faster" and stick with QWERTY like Bill, Steve, and Mike intended. It's for the greater good and all.
That's the reference, not dude where's my car. We always joke about this when the dells come into the shop for repairs... DUDE U GOT A DELL!! HAHAH~!!!! SORRY ABOUT YOUR LUCK.
The dangers of knowledge trigger emotional distress in human beings.
Dude, this is not the National Enquirer. This is a British technology webiste.
...is what they'd be saying if the owner had been using it on his lap at ignition time.
Oh Noes!!!1!one
The water vapor coming out the other end of the fuel cell allows one to put out the flames on a coworker's Dell.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Very obviously a LiIon/LiPoly/LiEtc battery explosion. They go off like small bombs when abused to an extreme (short circuit, overcharge). My guess is that something went terribly wrong with the charge controller, and fried the pack. The phenomenon isn't news, just that some other failure caused it. It's unfortunate that it happened, but it's a good lesson about why extra care is needed with volatile technologies. As a EE, I can say with authority that it's easy to design a very safe battery management system. It's when production cost reduction folks get involved and cut corners that things often go wrong, or when someone thinks they can optimize something without a full understanding
This is not a sig. this is a duck. quack.
caption that picture "revenge of the RIAA."
if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
Caution - laptop may run a little warm. ;)
Gifts for Geeks - Stuff that really matters!
Does anybody else find it suspicious that a US vendor's laptop exploded at a Japanese conference? What are the chances that Lenovo was a sponsor?
I wasnt sat here on the couch with a Dell Inspiron 8500 on my lap.
I SERIOUSLY want to know what model that is....
How do we know this wasn't a rigged laptop planted at the conference by one of Dell's competitors?
It's great bad publicity... and note how they could tell it was a Dell but not what specific model.
As much as this things can heat up, bursting up in flames is something else altogether.
As a Slashdot discussion grows longer, the probability of an analogy involving cars approaches one.
I think we should realize they occassionally have been known to have pictures of space aliens as well.
We might want to find these same pictures from a more reliable website first.
That said, overclocking your CPU and cranking out too much heat is a known problem with Dell. So it's quite possible that this is a true incident.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
isn't this what y2k was supposed to be like?
You must be thinking of the National Enquirer. Actually, perhaps you're thinking of the Weekly World News. The Enquirer is all celebrity garbage.
-mkb
Wrong Inquirer. This is the UK based news service.
Thats Hot. (TM)
shameless plug to the slutty hilton chick
j^2
That movies do affect us - that laptop had just finished playing "Scanners."
"Somebody Set Up Us The Bomb".
:) *Bows* Thank you, thank you.
Ta-da!
Dude Al Gore isn't after Bigfoot, he's after ManBearPig. Get your facts straight.
Chums up, let's do this!
But you've never seen SNAKES ON A PLANE "THere's motherfucking snakes on the motherfucking plane!"
-Daniel
I heard some strange songs and drums being played at IBM just after Apple Computer decided to switch. People at Intel probably messed up the orders and this Dell got a CPU that was meant for a Macbook.
A perfectly good reason to not put your weed in there.
No sig for you. YOU GET NO SIG!
Despite the laptop not actually being on anyone's lap, there sure are a crapload of 'witty' comments about testicles.
Hey fellas, get back to work and stop thinking about balls.
Buckle your ROFL belt, we're in for some LOLs.
How is it possible that even images of their own device on fire could look so boring. They're so devoid of composition, of sensitivity.
In this other example, the victim has taken time to place the burning device against a backdrop of roughly hewn rock, and has done so at a time of day deserving of the generous tones cast by the flames as they lash, even swagger about the white plastic..
Dell, here this: even in death, one should look positively gorgeous.
Did anyone happen to notice that incredibly industrial-strength table cloth? The computer burst into flames (and is still burning in the second photo), and all it has is a laptop-sized scorch mark on it. That's one hell of a table cloth.
A burning laptop on your lap, or are you just hot for me?
This seems to be a old modle Dell X200. I'm thrilled, cus' guess what im typing on right now?! Ohh well, I need a new comp anyway. http://notebook.cz/__/,aktuality,predstaveni,2002, dell_x200.html (I love how yahoo though I could read Czech)
Since no one has said it,
"Dude, you're getting a skin graft!"
/
Someone accidentally hit the trigger on their thermite equipped HD?
That's one hell of a table cloth.
Maybe they had a previous experience with the old (late '90's) Micron TransPort notebooks. Mine had a Pentium 166 MMX CPU and a desktop chipset. Hot? Oh hell no, it was scorching. It's probably the reason that I don't have kids (go ahead, bring it on...)
-h-
That's what the reporter said in TFA. Come on, that's just plain stupid. One laptop explodes and they start thinking it is a very common occurence while in actuality in happens once in a blue moon. The odds of your laptop exploding in this manner on a plane must be infinitesimal, and in all cases much lower than those of the moron next to you's cellphone interfering with the plane GPS or other instruments.
The Inquirer is a British Technology newsletter not associated with the National Inquirer. To my knowledge, the British version has never featured the headline "I Was Bigfoot's Love Slave!"
...Gateway announced a few weeks ago that they will not be attending a Japanese Conference this year due to conflicting schedules. Various regular attenders noted a man with a fake moustache at the convention who looked very similar to Gateway's usual promoter.
This is why I had a sprinkler system installed in my PC. Safety first!
It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
Thats a Dell M60 or M70. But that doesn't really matter. It has Lipo batts, and so does everthing. You short one of those batts, and thats what you get.
My own laptop got pretty close once. It didn't burst into flames, but probably could have.
It had been running at close to 95 or 100 degrees Celsius for a while. It's a Pentium M, and they're rated up to 100, but I still thought it was odd. Eventually, it got to the point where when it was set to 1.7 GHz, it spent most of its time throttled to around 1.3 or 1.4 GHz. I finally opened the thing up, and popped out the fan, to see if anything was wrong... The fan itself was fine, but there was a HUGE ball of fuzz made of fibers sucked into the fan. (It was tinted red, because I have red flannel sheets on my bed.) I took the fuzzball out, and it's been running a full 30 degrees cooler now. It barely reaches 60 or 65 at full speed, and runs the fan much less often and at lower speeds.
Let this be a lesson: fans need cleaning.
ttuttle is a rankmaniac
I wouldn't be suprised if this explosion was caused on purpose by some competitor of Dell's. Just read the way that the article is written:
While Dell machines may be notorious for their heat problems (think Inspiron 5100), I can't see any way this could possibly happen. If the battery explodes, that's one thing, but batteries explode from pressure when they get too hot, it's not like they actually combust(they can when they're drastically overcharged), wich is clearly the case in the picture. It looks like magnesium oxidizing! What in a laptop could possibly burn that bright? Plastic doesn't burn like that, PCB doesn't, and I can't imagine ICs do. And multiple explosions? I guess fromm the different cells in the battery, but once again, they don't explode like that from just overheating. Maybe I'm totally off the mark here but I call BS.
Note the bright white flash, and light colored smoke. That is not a battery fire (don't ask how I know) The metal is magnesium http://www.hydro.com/en/about/history/1946_1977/19 50.html
International challenges
Despite Hydro's leading role in developing magnesium technology, the company decided in 2002 to close its production plant at Porsgrunn and instead concentrate on further developments of its facility in Becancour, Canada, built in the early 1990s. It also established access to metal in China.
http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/chem03/chem0 3547.htm
www.cabrillo.edu/~rroland//CHEM1A/JoshLabManual/11 -HeatofCombustion(Magnesium).doc
Bet it was nearly this model: http://laptopmag.com/Review/Dell-Latitude-D620.htm
Magnesium, a silvery white metal of atomic weight 24.32, ignites at 632C and burns at 1982C, with magnesium oxide (MgO) as its combustion product. In an exothermic reaction, metallic magnesium can ignite to produce magnesium dihydroxide (ie, Mg(OH)2) and hydrogen. Magnesium is used in either powdered or solid form as an incendiary agent for both illumination and antipersonnel purposes. Various alloys of magnesium (eg, aluminum/zinc/magnesium alloy found in US M126 round) are mechanically sturdier but also can be ignited easily.
Thermite is a mixture of powdered or granular aluminum and powdered iron oxide. When combined with other substances, such as binders, the material is termed a "thermate." All such materials react vigorously when heated to the combustion temperature of aluminum. This reaction produces aluminum oxide, elemental iron, and sufficient heat to melt the iron. The reaction temperature is approximately 2200C.
I for one have never had even the slightest concern about temperature with my old 800 P3 laptop, its small battery, or the power brick. These new laptops, driven by the new CPUs use an absolutely ludicrous amount of power. I have no intention of buying a new unit until someone can sell me something that runs cooler and doesn't have a battery bigger than my lawnmower's.
(Of course, it probably helps that with the kind of work I do I can farm my heavy computational loads out to my dual Xeon over ssh.)
My original thought was that this was either a Latitude D800 or D810, now I'm thinking it might be an Inspiron 5100 (there seems to be a port on the right side, similar to this).
Could this be a voltage issue? Japan seems to use 100V...
...this happens more often than Dell admits.
GetOuttaMySpace - The Anti-Social Network
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Man, there's a lot of hate in here for Dell. Just curious, why? My GF and boss both have a Dell 700m and I've got to say those things are solid. Small, light, battery life of 3+ hours. Light years better than Vaios, IMHO. I've experienced few problems with their desktop systems as well.
As far as the exploding laptop, is it really the manufacturer's fault? This question would apply regardless of who it is. It would seem to me that if it were a manufacturing defect in the laptop, say in the charging circuitry, those models would be exploding left and right. It was very likely that the battery pack on that thing was made by a third party and sold for half the price of an OEM pack.
That's not to say that OEM battery packs can't blow up. The battery cells are procured from outside manufacturers. Of course, laptop manufacturers will (hopefully) only buy batteries made by reputable firms, but right now there's big business in counterfeit batteries over in China. I remember awhile back Kyocera had phones coming with counterfeit batteries that were exploding in peoples' pockets and hands, inflicting some serious injuries. The thing is, don't just eye Dells with suspicison - I imagine it's possible for any manufacturer to get a bad batch of batteries if they're not careful, but I imagine that's rare and they are, indeed, careful. Big laptop manufacturers probably have direct accounts, anyway.
-R
You know what'd be neat? Some sort of thermal detection device that can somehow warn the user or slow down the processor to cool it down.
Neil is that you? Yeah yeah, it's me... Neil...
And, including the horribly sensationalistic line ' "It is only a matter of time until such an incident breaks out on a plane," he suggests' is moronic for any news site.
They fail to answer the basic journalist questions: Where (a ??japanese conference??, they all have names, and usually websites), Who (again, which conference), What (again, a phonecall to the conference organizers, or the conference site could have gathered some information.)
horrible story.
no digg :P
Considering the way that thing went off I'd be worried about my face.
I don't look forward to the day one explodes on a plane. I'm sure the day that happens laptops will be forever banned from airlines.
CHINAMAN BLOW UP LAPTOP
I blame Microsoft. I'm not sure of the specifics yet, but I'm pretty sure this is a Windows error. Or possibly DRM working properly.
I think that Dell laptop was an XPS Gen1. Those things are known to heat up badly...
--MaxPowerDJ
Our competition's computers get so hot, no wonder their name rhymes with hell.
... or something to that affect.
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
if that was one of their laptops with firewire support.
Ethan Hunt should know better than to be reading secret messages in public.
No components in a laptop computer can build up the pressure neccessary to cause this explosion. Even a shorted battery will merely start to smoke and perhaps catch on fire. Notice how the first quote out of the man's mouth is that "For the record, this is a Dell machine."
There's a lot of protective circuitry built into Li-Ion batteries and laptops to prevent this. It's very rare that all those fail at once, but it's possible.
Charging any sort of battery (Li-Ion, MiMH, NiCad) is usually done with peak detection. A controlled current is applied to the battery. As it charges the measured volts in the charge circuit continues to rise. When the batteries reach full the voltage will actually go down a bit. Chargers are designed to detect this "peak" and shut off charging current or go into a trickle charge mode to prevent the batteries from being overcharged. When this doesn't work right and other safety features fail you can get a run-away charge cycle and explode the battery.
Never had any issues with overheating. Of course the fumes make me a little dizzy...
Apple Commercial
Opening shot: Boring White Dude and Sarcastic Babe Magnet Skaterboy
BWD: Hello... does it feel hot in here to you?
SBMS: Yeah. But it always is a little warm. You just have to dress right... are you okay?
BWD: Ahhhhh... you might want to stay back -- ARRRRAAAAGHHH! I'm BURNING!!
SBMS: Stopdropandroll! Ah, man that has to hurt!
BWD: I'm okay. It's just the epidermis.
SBMS: [leaving for Japan with Kevin Rose] Old people suck, and they're also pretty flammable. Don't hang out with them. I rule. Macs get laid. JAGERMEISTER SHOTS! Line 'em up, and show me the Japanese chicks!
Alex: [shot of him passed out on floor next to toilet] ooohhh goddd.
for some reason. "Chesnuts roasting on an open fire..." and it isn't even Christmas!
Regarding the linked story about the iBook, I'm wondering how they grabbed a burning laptop, rushed through the house and deposited it on the patio with the AC adapter still plugged in and the screen intact. I call BS.
'The tyrant will always find pretext for his tyranny.' - Aesop's Fables
let's see how this hypothetically plays out:
1)laptop gets warm because there is not enough air circulation
2)laptop is placed on pillow to absorb heat
3)pillow completely blocks air vents
4)laptop gets hot and explodes
5)sue manufacturer/post about faulty power supplies.
I know, I know, the parent said no such thing, but I wonder how many people either a)abuse the machine or b)block the vents, causing the overheating problem to begin with.
Insert witty comment *here*. I'm fresh out of wit...
But can it STILL run linux ?
"Click Here to Burn CD"
**Click**
What the...!!!
"Dude, you're getting a
"Now, that's what I call a blue screen of DEATH!"
Let the cliches commence...
Gives a whole new meaning to DVD BURNER!!
-- QED
...laptop explodes you!
If X is greater than the cost of a recall, we recall the laptops and no-one gets hurt.
If X is less than the cost of a recall, then we don't recall.
(If you were really working for Dell, and believed in that computation, you wouldn't make that post, even anonymously.)
As I heard it, Ford once made that computation with Pinto gas tanks (the ones that would dump a few inches of gas into the passenger compartment if a Pinto with a full tank was rear-ended.)
Several accidents resulted in "Severe Passenger Damage".
This came out in the tiral. So did the cost of the recall. The court awarded the plantifs the cost of the recall as puntative damages.
It was making the point that the computation you described doesn't excuse deliberately, and without warning, failing to fix a design defect that creates a significant danger to the life and health of the customers. And it was making it in a way that even a psychopath can understand. It was saying "Whatever you saved by chosing to not fix such a major defect, frying a customer WILL cost you more."
This is ONE of the things those massive judgements are about, and what "tort reform" is intended to eliminate. (Another is that they might sound high - but they must be large enough to provide a lump sum whose interest is enough to pay the living and medical expenses of a maimed person for the rest of his/her life, or replace his/her contribution to the support of family, especially dependents, if he/she died.)
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
desparately trying to convince it not to explode.
Holy crap! There's going to be a remake!
Didja know that you can get the lithium out of a new one?
The battery is manufactured with metallic lithium foil, which you can take out in a sheet if the battery has not been through a cycle.
Cycling the battery destroys the mechanical integrity of the foil, though, so only new batteries work.
"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, it doesn't go away." - Philip K. Dick
Roasted nuts ... mmmmmmm :p
If this had been an Amiga in an old Bryce comic from INFO magazine, the screen would have displayed "UH-OH". :)
Serving your airship needs since 1995.
... when it could actually create it?
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
It might of been a poorly staged attack or a good prank? It could have been a floppy - bomb.
It's not -1 Flamebait! It's +5 Funny. You just didn't get the joke...
Engineer: We haven't had time to test the new Intel Cooler and Quieter technology yet.
Manager: We've lost too much market share. Just ship it.
The exploding laptop probably wouldn't cause much harm to the flight but it will surely cause serious harm to the owner. Before the poor owner could drop his burning laptop to the ground and run around the narrow corridor, he got a left hook punch from the teen sitting next to him. Then the grandma in the next row jumped out from nowhere and gave him a fatal reverse kick. The poor owner declared KO and felt faint at that stage. Now, the aircrew + 8 muscular guys elsewhere on the plane came. He was tied on his back with 8 pairs on smelly feet stepped on top of him for the rest of the trip. OK, enough for now. Next chapter: the poor guy in police station being interrogated for possible terrorist related charges....
for that kind off force feedback
Does it run Rinux?
Close, it's definately a D600. I have one.
"...Dude, you're on fire!"
Crunch!
One of my friends' xbox exploded last year, turned out to be the fault of a capacitor./ xbox/dereksbox006.jpg / xbox/dereksbox011.jpg / xbox/dereksbox002.jpg / xbox/dereksbox008.jpg :-/ .
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v642/sillygates
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v642/sillygates
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v642/sillygates
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v642/sillygates
In this case only one small cap blew, but it still filled the whole room with smoke, made fire visible though the vents, burned a hole in the bottom of the xbox, and set off the fire alarm
I fear the Y2038 bug
I was recently on 5 hour plane trip from Seattle to DC when about 1/2 way through the trip I decided to fire up my brand new Dell laptop that had been in the overhead compartment in a Dell carry bag. I pulled it out and almost dropped it it was so hot. Somehow it had not suspended or something and just heated up. Luckily there was an empty seat next to me so I opened it up and stood it on edge to let it cool down. You could feel the heat radiating off it! I have no doubt that it would have started a fire or at least smoldered if I had not tried to start using it. Pretty scary stuff at the time.
Hey guys... over here!!!
There's a girl here. Really!
At least I think she's a girl. You are, aren't you? I'm
just not sure what they look like. Especially in the daytime.
The flame in the fist photo is saturated. The parts around the periphery that you can see properly are orangish. The flame may have been white, or it may not have. There's no way to tell conclusively from that photo. It could have been virtually any color that has significant red, green and blue components.
If you haven't heard, most of the world is facing a population decline in the near future. If more of us weren't selfish and conceited, who would be paying the taxes for your future medicare, social security, and staffing the nursing homes?
GPL Deconstructed
http://www.corrosion-doctors.org/Secondaries/li-io n-reac.htm
Learn to harness the power of the exploding battery, couple it with zTrace Gold, and you get a solution to the trend of compromised personal data on stolen corporate laptops. Maybe not a solution per se... but visceral satisfaction at least.
Go to your local office supply store and buy one of the metal clipboards used by delivery personnel--the sort that are 0.5-1.5" thick (depending on which you buy) and open with a hinge. Then you have an ideal heat-conductive laptop-using surface for your lap or anywhere else, along with a place to carry your papers, pencils/pens, PDA, mobile phone (if its thin enough), and something to swing at muggers' heads if you should be unlucky enough to encounter one. They cost $25-35. And they also fit nicely in a laptop bag without enhancing its thickness or weight too much, while at the same time protecting the laptop from impact on one side.
For example
STOP . AMERICA . NOW
Yeah, Toshiba power bricks just sort of fizzle out quietly without warning. I'm on my third brick for my Toshiba Satellite -- computer's rock solid, though.
this reminds me of a little american play that I can not remember the name
in WWII the father a great industrial magnat produces war aeroplanes' motors which are known to have a flaw (the flaw is a secret & known only by the father)
his son gets recruted in the army as a pilot and eventually gets killed by his fathers' manufactured planes...
this was an obligatory high-school lecture in my ex socialist country centered to picture the 'inhuman quest for profits at any cost in the capitalist society'
Perhaps someone could provide a link to a more reputable source.
actually i don't believe the inquirer, if you zoom way in on the photo that actually shows the laptop you'll notice what i noticed... i don't think it's a dell at all, i think it's an HP, look at the logo at the bottom center of the monitor, dell doesn't put rectangular logos on their laptops like that, unless it's an XPS and it doesn't look thick enough to be an XPS
Where in Japan? I was stationed in Okinawa for one year, and let me tell you, that was bad enough. If I had to spend the rest of my life there, I would commit suicide too.
Dude, what happened to your Dell?
www.linuxpenguin.net
Methinks a user triggered the Dell laptop's hardcoded "Do you want to play a game of thermonuclear war?" message and he hit the 'any' key..
And when you gaze long enough into the code, the code will also gaze into you.
Oh come on. Who modded this funny? Its totally implausible. Obviously the poster hasn't tried to get coffee on an airplane recently.
Squirrel!
I have a Latidude D610 which also litterally speaking gets burning hot at times, on the plastic surface above the HD: left front side. And that's exactly what the photo of the burning Dell shows. Power and battery, OTOH, are in the back. Nut that PC isn't burning there - it's burning in the left front side.
It's Microsoft's new secure computing platform. Beware!
Somehow I bet there are loads of 15 year old "experts"... experts whose platform choice is driven by "collecting" the latest softwarez... all disappointed this wasn't an Apple.
I trust Dell as much as I trust the Inquirer.
Comic Book Guy
I was worried there for a second that someone would actually get away with a joke based on ridiculous inaccuracies!!!!!!!!!1
Jello Biafra - Experts
If you want to dispose of a damaged or defective Li-Ion/Li-Po battery, you must:
1) Discharge the battery to the minimum voltage per cell
2) Puncture the membrane around the cell. (remove any labels or covering. Wear eye protection!)
3) Submerge compelety in salt water. (Make sure the water is really salty. Infact, put salt in until the water doesn't absorb anymore. You don't ever want to put a lithium battery in fresh water!!! The lithium in the battery reacts with fresh water, and you will have a reaction much like an explosion.)
4) Leave in the water for at least a few hours (6+) a day to be sure.
5) Throw away in normal garbage.
That laptop like a lot like mine Ins-OMG! FIRE! FIRE!
That was one Dell of a bang
Very creative, mod article up "+1 insightful." Nevver mind funny, that twist of a cliche took some brain power!
DUDE, you are not getting a Dell!
^^
MikMik Baby Organics Mikkaworks
PUT the candle BACK!
qz
somebody set us up the bomb.....
If it makes you feel any better, I get the reference.
You're cooking with Dell!
Just because you can mod me down, doesn't mean you're right. Shoes for industry!
For all I know, it could be a rather boring salt. It might be pH 7 or insoluable. At worst this could mess with your mind if you ingested it.
Finely powdered metal would be another matter entirely.
Liquid metal with pressurized gas would be damn dangerous.
Main screen blow up :(
Why is it that when you believe something it's an opinion, but when I believe something it's a manifesto?
"Try the quick laptop encryption alternative." is the text from an ad on the article's page. Funny and story related eh? ha.
I don't want to be one the receiving end of the person who ended that flamewar!
They should install all Microsoft Updates to stop that happening.
That's what I call a Genuine Advantage.
The battery could possibly have been aftermarket, in which case they might have skimped on the thermal and voltage interlocks.
Some packs have "authentication" built in so that the host check to see if the battery is "official", that is, meets the OEM spec. As evil as this sounds, it is warranted in this case to prevent substandard packs being used.
FIRE! duh, duh derr I take you to burn FIRE! duh, duh derr Dell takes you to learn I'll see you burn! You fought hard and you saved and earned But now you laptops going to burn And your mind, your tiny mind You know you know fumes will make you blind Now 's your time, burn your mind You're falling far too far behind Oh no, oh no, oh no, you're gonna burn and so on.... BTW the dell looks a lot like my Insperion 5150, which has developed a fault with the internal power systems (apply preasure to the front left bellow the keyboard to make it spack out and reset/loose power)
In the not too distant future, next Sunday A.D.
I seem to recall Sony's InfoLithium camcorders do a handshake/authentication check with the battery and if it responds wrong (or just doesn't respond at all) then the camera won't power up. Of course, that didn't stop the aftermarket cell and charger manufacturers from reverse engineering the protocol. Sony batteries are damned expensive...
What would be nice is if a few of the big-name manufacturers got together and had a website you could use to validate your battery. "Go to validateyourbattery.com, enter your battery serial number at the prompt and find out if it's genuine, and if so when it was manufactured". Maybe put two codes on the battery - a serial number and a validation key. You call, they tell you what the validation key should be, and if it matches then there's a decent chance the battery is genuine.
Hell, let's go the whole hog - have it tell you what laptops the battery works in too. Useful if you're given a battery by a friend, it doesn't fit your machine, and you want to know what it works with so you can sell it on Ebay.
I might actually see if that's a workable idea.. you'd have to tie the manufacturing/distribution data to the website, but a nightly update would solve that. Most DBMS software should be able to handle the data involved (I'd probably use PostgreSQL) so your only problem would be keeping the data in sync. That said, it takes a fair bit longer than 24 hours for a battery to get from Malaysia or wherever to the UK or USA, so a bit of out-of-date data wouldn't be a massive problem.
To be honest, I'm surprised it hasn't already been done...
I think it was the fire-wire port.
Was the owner trading files? Sounds like Orrin Hatch finally got his wish. Trade files, I destroy your computer! BUWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
just remove the battery and only use it plugged in to the wall. Yeah it's not so mobile, but it works.
LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
Jet setting multi-millionaire investor turned "researcher" who has been everywhere in his stints for various global militaries and as a former folk singer and as a world famous writer, journalist and techno-man has never heard of the Inquirer and didn't think it was the least bit odd that the tabloid sites he remembers so fondly had a front page crammed with all kinds of IT news which, as the obsessive slashdotter that he is he would already know about.
Next thing you know, he's going to be hating on the Christian Science Monitor as being a backwards church coverup.
The battery used with notebook computers can be very dangerous if the charger circuit malfunctions...
Here are some videoes I read about here just a month ago, and these are just small lithium batteries
Video 1
Video 2
Video 3
In defence of Dell of which I am loath to do this is a known problem.
o p_Explodes_Flame.html
l ity_1.html
Meet exploding Imac http://www.podcastingnews.com/news/06_06/Mac_Lapt
Meet exploding batteries
http://www.infoworld.com/article/03/12/19/50OPrea
Apparently its to do with run away heat in lithium batteries reaching combustion.
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=32 630
..."Dell was hailed for making a decision to remove "hazardous chemicals" including brominated flame retardants and PVC from its products by 2009. But, according to Greenpeace, HP, Lucky Goldstar, Nokia, Samsung, Sony and Ericsson have already said they will deck hazardous chemicals sooner."...
Greenpeace hails Dell for supporting flame retardant ban