Slashdot Mirror
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."
I thought someome told Kusanagi to stop diving into random portables.
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
In both pictures, you can see an open carafe of water (on the left).
Maybe it ties into the explosion/fire.
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
I responded to the Dell AC recall with their official website form. Two units. Never heard from them again.
That made me certain that Dell incompetence would make my bricks explode.
I replaced them at my own expense. And considered sneaking into a Dell office and swapping mine in for theirs.
--
make install -not war
That's why I went to a local electronics junk/surplus store and got a large aluminum plate with fins (a heatsink off of something huge) about the size of the base of my laptop, and place it between my lap and my laptop. It's relatively thin aluminum, so it's not too heavy, and it keeps my nuts from roasting.
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.
:) Its the closest thing to producing a digital "mini me", created after your own image. Learning from your lessons. Following your beliefs. Remembering your ideas forever.
You obviously don't run an ALICE bot
Intelligent Life on Earth
You think the D600 get's hot?
When the D600 battery goes defective they can get insane hot to melt the case plastic a bit when left on the charger.
Of the fleet of D600's we have here (190 laptops) I have replaced about 50% of the batteries and of them 25% damaged the laptop case. (laptops were rolled out last year this time.)
I'm betting the laptop in the photos is a D600 with a bad battery that was left on the charger for a long time causing it to fail dramatically.
My D800 and D400 both get insane hot but the D600 is the only one that scares me.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
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.
One story like this costs the company a LOT more than the cost of a settlement or the cost of replacement of 1000 units.
The questions I have are.. Has this story been verified and not staged? Maybe it was just someone who hates dell? What news conference did this happen at? Why's it so difficult to get a model #, or get another closer shot after the fire was put out?
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
Hared drive failures are related to battery failures. if you let the system sit on the desk for a 4 -8 hour period running and your battery is defective it will heat up making the hard drive hotter than normal which causes drive failure.
WE had to replace every drive in the laptops we had dead batteries in.
Also some of the wifi cards they sent in the D600 became defective after 6 months. they would intermittently lose connection with accesspoints to the level that installing netstumbler on the machine you could see lots of vertical bands of loss of signal for an accesspoint while a good unit nest to it shows solid strength.
Personally I have been trying to get the company to go away from dell for the next round due to the nasty problems but they like the 3+ years extended service agreement.
Dell compensates for crappy hardware with warrenties.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
A bad photoshop job posted under a huge headline that says 'The Inquirer' and a link below to 'Flame Author' and you want to know if it's been verified?
LG fridges have had a nasty habit of going up in flames in Canada. It took many months for them to issue a recall, the first of which didn't mention the word FIRE. They issued another later stating they cause fires from being plugged in.
Saskboy's blog is good. 9 out of 10 dentists agree.
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.
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'
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.