Dell Issues Laptop Battery Recall

zoogies writes "The New York Times is reporting that Dell is now issuing a laptop battery recall — for notebooks sold between April 2004 and July 18, 2006. According to the article, 'The recalled batteries were used in 2.7 million computers sold in the United States and 1.4 million sold overseas. The total is about 18 percent of Dell's notebook production during the period in question.' This seems to go along with a June Slashdot story on an exploding Dell laptop, and a July Slashdot story on a Dell investigation into its exploding laptops. Curiously, there is nothing yet on Dell Support's product recall page about this latest recall."

Comments

OMG DELL IS COPYING APPLE

[WilliamSChips]

Apple did this like three years ago. Dell is so behind the times!

Re:OMG DELL IS COPYING APPLE

[Walt Dismal]

Dell can't be behind the times. Why, it seems like only yesterday they announced: "Don't pour explosive liquids on your laptop while in flight, our batteries are bad enough as is. Praise be to Allah." Although I'm not sure what they meant.

Re:OMG DELL IS COPYING APPLE

[stienman]

Dell can't be behind the times.

Actually they had a battery recall program(that still hasn't ended) that started in Fall of 2004. This appears to be a new battery recall, but I bet it's the same old issues just becoming worse due to higher battery capacity with poor construction of the cells.

In fact, this may be the same recall that Apple had. Most Li-Ion consumer battery cells in the world are made by two or three companies. In order to cut costs, they make mistakes that affect all downstream manufacturers. It isn't the battery pack that's the problem, it's the cells inside the pack.

-Adam

Re:OMG DELL IS COPYING APPLE

[sg7jimr]

You may be on to something there. This whole exploding battery thing may just be Sony and Dell's attempt to build upon the old "Halt and Catch Fire" instruction http://experts.about.com/e/h/ha/Halt_and_Catch_Fir e.htm/ of days gone by. As you point out, Dell can't let itself fall behind. Unfortunately, Sony's special innovations seem to often run into problems with consumer "advocates" and the like. Just look at what happened when they tried to make a better music CD.

Hehe

[Fred Porry]

for notebooks sold between April 2004 and July 18, 2006

Cant be that many...hehe.

Re:Hehe

[biocute]

Well, from the summary, that would be about 4 million units in roughly two years, and consists of 18% of the total production, which means Dell was selling more than 20 million laptops during that period.

Re:Hehe

[Fred Porry]

Thats the subtle irony you were supposed to detect. ;)

Re:Hehe

[jrmcferren]

I just checked a friend's battery yesterday, I don't want to tell him that I will need to check it again, but I will, I have another friend that was affected by the 2005 recall, I hope his replacement battery is not affected by this new recall.

Re:Hehe

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, really. I got my Dell in March 2004.

Apparently, both my laptop model and a battery model that looks identical to mine are on the list for recall on that recall-specific website listed somewhere in these comments, but inputting the code on the side of the battery says it's not applicable for the recall.

Web site to check your laptop

[Ctrl-Z]

Dell has set up a website at http://www.dellbatteryprogram.com to check your laptop model.

Re:Web site to check your laptop

[Agent00Wang]

Does that apply to the current recall or just the December 2005 recall?

Re:Web site to check your laptop

[BlueOtto]

This is for an old recall program... the new program will cover many more battery models yet to be announced.

Re:Web site to check your laptop

[Stalus]

I'd be careful about that - That website was for the December 2005 recall. Since the Dell recall list doesn't list the current round of recalls, this website may not be up to date. In other words, if your battery shows up as clear on this site today... I'd take another look around in a week or so.

Re:Web site to check your laptop

[swtaarrs]

I put my battery's serial number in and it said mine needed to be replaced, so I put in my address and hit 'place order'. It just took me back to the serial number entry page without giving any confirmation. Has anyone else done this with the same results?

Re:Web site to check your laptop

[Ctrl-Z]

That may be, but this paragraph makes me think that it has been updated:

In addition, these batteries may have also been provided in response to service calls. The batteries were shipped to customers between April 1, 2004 and July 18, 2006. The words "DELL" and "Made in Japan" or "Made in China" or "Battery cell made in Japan, Assembled in China" are printed on the back of the batteries. If your battery does not reflect one of these markings it is not part of this recall, and you may exit the site.

(emphasis added)

Re:Web site to check your laptop

[Col. Klink (retired)]

I can confirm that it has been updated. I have an email about the 2005 recall that our IT staff sent and at that time, it only listed 9 of the 36 5-digit codes now listed on the dellbatteryprogram.com website. They seem to be using the same web site to track PPIDs that they used for the old recall. I think that makes sense, since some may have missed the 2005 recall and they may as well check ALL recalled batteries in one place.

Re:Web site to check your laptop

[broekage]

The same thing happened to me in Firefox, with IE it took me to a confirmation page:

Thank you for placing your Battery Recall Request. Your Request Number is: XXXX

You will receive an email when your Order has been shipped.

Please allow up to 20 business days for delivery.

I guess just use IE to be sure...

Sony Batteries

[Trevahaha]

At least they're being open about the fact that Sony manufactured these defected batteries. I wonder if other devices using these batteries are going to start exploding as well?

Re:Sony Batteries

[0xA]

That's the question that I've been wondering the whole time. As we can see Dell doesn't manufacture the batteries so not only was all this crapping on Dell not really fair but you can bet there are a bunch of other companies who use the same stuff. IIRC the batteries in the recall Apple did a few years back were Sony built as well.

Given how many batteries we are talking about here the chances of anyone having thier laptop fail like this are probably the same as having thier laptop getting hit by lightning. There's only been a couple of cases reported.

Re:Sony Batteries

[JohnnyBigodes]

It's a tactic from Sony. Sell the exploding batteries to Dell and Apple, watch until they start doing recalls, profit :)

Re:Sony Batteries

[Ruff_ilb]

You are correct about other vendors using these batteries, apple included.

See the comment here:

http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=19403 4&cid=15907866

Re:Sony Batteries

[dgatwood]

Problem is that companies like Apple and Dell probably have contract terms that stipulate a maximum (typical) expected failure rate above which the component manufacturer must cover some or all of the repair costs. While some of these costs will still probably be borne by Dell, odds are Sony will bear the brunt of the costs unless the folks at Dell are asleep at the switch.

If you have Sony stock, now would probably be a good time to sell some of it. :-)

Re:Sony Batteries

[dartarrow]

from TFA: The safety agency said the batteries were not unique to Dell, meaning that other companies using Sony batteries may also have to issue recalls. Sony has sold its batteries to most of the major computer makers.

I think that's a yes.

also here shows that sony batts have been problematic before. I also remember a recall (3+ years ago) for sony camcorders due a battery leakage. One cam apparently caught fire.

Re:Sony Batteries

[Anonymous Coward]

sony news: better link than the above. http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/News/ServiceArea/BAT2 /

Re:Sony Batteries

[JohnnyBigodes]

I was joking, but in any case you do have a point.

However, given the amount of money that Sony has, this battery recall won't cost them anything but a few peanutes of their lunch money. Bad PR probably, but still, unless the media decide to put it up as scandal, this kind of thing goes under the Average Joe's radar.

Re:Sony Batteries

[HugePedlar]

I own a Sony Vaio. I probably have nothing to worry about. But what really fucking pisses me off is that Sony, in their "wisdom" (or propriatary nature), have locked the laptop to only accept official Sony batteries.

So not only am I stuck with having to use a (no doubt) overpriced Sony battery, but I can't even buy from an alternative manufacturer a battery that's less likely to explode.

The vendor lock-in wouldn't be so offensive if I knew that Sony at least built a quality product. Fuckers.

Re:Sony Batteries

[Anonymous Coward]

If you have Sony stock, now would probably be a good time to sell some of it. :-)

Or if you don't, to short.

Re:Sony Batteries

[Andy Dodd]

The sad thing is, that Sony is probably the best manufacturer of Li-Ions you can buy from.

They get so much bad press for their batteries simply because of their market dominance in the battery market. The catastrophic failure rate for batteries from other manufacturers is much higher, it just happens that many of them (such as cheap knockoff cell phone batteries) are not as low profile as exploding Dells, partly due to the reduced size of cell phone batteries.

The simple fact of the matter is that lithium ion batteries are nasty temperamental things and very easy to cause to explode. There's a reason why (to my knowledge) only Li-Ion has the restriction that bare cells may not be sold to anyone other than people licensed to work with Li-Ions in the U.S. (Any place you order "bare cells" from will have a disclaimer stating that the cells are in a pack with protective circuitry of unknown functionality.)

Re:Sony Batteries

[mjohnsond]

Take the number of vehicles in the field, (A), and multiply it by the probable rate of failure, (B), then multiply the result 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.

Re:Sony Batteries

[mkw87]

At least they're being open about the fact that Sony manufactured these defected batteries. I wonder if other devices using these batteries are going to start exploding as well?

One can only hope...

Re:Sony Batteries

[Moofie]

Um, so don't buy from Sony anymore?

Re:Sony Batteries

[Detritus]

Other than being evil, there are good reasons to "lock" the battery to the device. Lithium batteries can't be treated like ordinary alkaline or nicad batteries. For safety reasons, the battery subsystem is designed as an integrated system. The charging and safety circuits, some of which may be in the battery case, are designed for a known and specific lithium battery. A third-party battery that uses a different lithium battery or doesn't have the same integrated charging and safety circuits, can be unsafe. That's why you read about cell phones going up in flames when used with counterfeit or poorly made battery assemblies.

Better to recall than to burn

[ezratrumpet]

This large recall will cost them millions. Continued damage to the Dell brand because of laptops aflame would eventually cost hundreds of millions of dollars in reputation. While Dell may have other problems, the battery recall will help them assuage consumer fears about Dell product safety.

Re:Better to recall than to burn

[Arnok]

This is a Sony issue not Dell's. This will Cost Sony money.

Re:Better to recall than to burn

[monsted]

I'm sure Dell has already been caned for it by people who couldn't be bothered to wait for the recall or who just thought Dell were being too slow to react.

Re:Better to recall than to burn

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't know. Plenty of companies put out crap and still stay in business and lots of companies rebound from stupid mistakes.

AOL is hurting and aren't that impressive, but my guess is that they'll be around in some form or another for some time. Remember the new Coke? How about the Firestone tire recall? How about the Ford Pinto or Volkswagon's 'Thing'.

This stuff happens all the time and people's memories are short.

slashdotted...

[freakcgi]

I guess that server burned up!

Gives meaning to that old, but famous quote...

[pixelised]

I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.

Re:Gives meaning to that old, but famous quote...

[Anonymous Coward]

It gives no meaning to that quote. Stop saying that.

How To Check / What To Do

[brunes69]

From the official Dell press release....

Customers should contact Dell to determine if their notebook computer battery is part of this recall. Please visit the firm's Web site at www.dellbatteryprogram.com beginning at 1 a.m. Central Daylight Time Aug. 15 or call toll-free at 1-866-342-0011, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Central Time. Customers may continue to use the notebook computers safely by turning the system off, ejecting the battery, and using the AC adapter and power cord to power the system until the replacement battery is received. Customers can also write to: Dell Inc., Attn: Battery Recall, 9701 Metric Blvd., Austin, Texas 78758.

Re:How To Check / What To Do

[NineNine]

Am I the only one who does this, anyway? I mean laptop batteries are ridiculously useless. If you're doing anything on the computer, especially with the DVD drive, they only last an hour or three at most. Besides, it's not like an electrical outlet is all that hard to find. I hear that they're even including standard 120V outlets in a lot of passenger cars now!
 
Getting rid of that useless battery saves tons of weight (not that laptops are heavy these days), but they also save a lot of heat on your lap, and potentially, extends the life of the laptop, because they're kept cooler with no battery.

Re:How To Check / What To Do

[aussersterne]

You don't need a new car to get a 120v outlet, stop into any truckstop on a major highway and you can get a little box that will plug into your cigarette lighter and give you a 150-200w 120v outlet (enough for nearly any laptop) and it will only cost you $25 or so. They've been around for years, and can be used for other things, too. Running off your car battery you can watch a couple of DVDs and still have enough juice to start your car with no trouble at all.

Rig one up with a big fat deep cycle RV or motorhome battery in the trunk and an eBay solar panel on top of your vehicle and you can have transportable reserve 120v AC power wherever you go without needing to pull it off the grid.

Re:How To Check / What To Do

[advocate_one]

I can't believe you're taking DC, converting it to AC where you're then plugging in an AC to DC convertor again... why no DC-DC convertor then??? a simple 12volt to Xvolt is WHAT you need... I know laptop manufacturers are cheapskates, but surely it is not beyond the whit of man to provide BOTH an AC to DC adaptor (for normal use) AND a cigarette lighter socket adaptor for use in vehicles such as cars/boats/whatever in the box with the laptop...

Re:How To Check / What To Do

[NoTouchie]

I posted something about this a while back, and at the time people thought it had to be something other than the battery that caused the explosion in Japan...

here

Only difference is that Dell must have updated their database because months ago I entered the battery code in and said it didn't need replacement... Now I enter the same code and it does need replacement.

Dood, I think it's pretty sad if I can post on slashdot after this story has been out for a day or two, and still not receive notice from the local tech person about this incident...

Still, this goes to show how publicity will get things fixed! Eventually... Now if only the press could publicize the need for less work hours and more holidays and get that as priority uno action item...

Re:How To Check / What To Do

[karnal]

Here's where economies of scale come into play.

My IBM thinkpad here takes 16V at 4.5A (max). So, I'd need to buy an adapter that could supply a fairly consistent 16V to my thinkpad. Not to mention that I couldn't just buy a "generic laptop adapter" unless it had a whole bunch of plugs, because most differing laptops take different adapter plugs (models are even different within manufacturers.)

I'm not sure what one of these things would run. However - I can buy a DC-AC inverter for 15$ or so at a truck stop that could not only provide my laptop with power, but power anything else I would want in the car that could take a 120v input. That's the nice thing - it's multi-use.

I know it's somewhat wasteful, but again, 15$!!!!

Re:How To Check / What To Do

[aussersterne]

Car power systems aren't particularly well regulated, and DC devices range from 5v to 30v+ and have a myriad of different connectors. So you still need a DCDC converter for each device. That's one additional cable per. With an inverter, you spend $20 once and you're done.

Battery Recall Press Release

[cam_macleod]

http://www.dell.com/content/topics/global.aspx/cor p/pressoffice/en/2006/2006_08_14_rr_002?c=us&l=en& s=corp

I'm on that list! I plan to go hide in the basement.

Re:Battery Recall Press Release

[babbling]

Me too, but after putting in my PPID it says I'm not affected.

75 business days for P/M M3006 and H3191

[Browzer]

I only have to wait 20 business days for a replacement for U4873.

Re:75 business days for P/M M3006 and H3191

[Ryuu]

At least it wasn't U-571!

Bah

[ArchieBunker]

Lithium is nothing compared to these two alkaline metals

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-213426665 4801392897&q=alkaline+metals&hl=en

Re:Bah

[SEMW]

Sadly, the video's a fake. See http://www.badscience.net/?p=261

Re:Bah

[Ken_g6]

This is getting way offtopic, but...

Here are some real videos of Sodium.

Assault and Battery

[Ruff_ilb]

Actually, Apple is involved just as much as Dell is. The same division of Sony that manufactured these batteries for Dell also produced many batteries for Apple laptops. Although the issue has already been brought up to Apple, they haven't said whether or not they're going to recall as well, merely saying that they would "look into" the issue.

(http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/corporaten ews/view/224917/1/.html)

Given Apple's many battery woes, a recall on their part also seems likely if this is indeed the same battery batch/design.

On the other hand, this is yet another one the conspiracy theorists can blame on Sony (/tinfoilhat on)

Re:Assault and Battery

[Doctor_Jest]

Good point. Of course Apple's had two previous battery recalls (not including the Macbook Pro non-flamey death ones)... and Dell's had one before this recently, IIRC.

You just can't get good battery support these days. ;)

Apple will recall batteries if they need to... I mean, they recalled Some Macbook Pro batteries because they sucked... (and posed no danger to life or "jewels" heheh)

It is interesting that Sony's having QC issues in certain segments of their manufacturing of late... perhaps their corner-cutting is starting to show in their collective "face"....

*(shrug)* I like the tinfoil hat idea, though. ;) It's a SONY New World ORDER conspiracy!!!

Re:Assault and Battery

[vought]

Sony was the designer and
build partner for Apple's original PowerBook 5300 battery, which would have been the first mass-marketed laptop with an L-Ion battery.

Introduced in the fall of 1995, only about 1500 of the powerBook 5300 units had
shipped when the battery - again, designed and built by Sony -
caught fire in an Apple lab. A separate overheating incident at
Apple later that week caused the company to pull all the stops to
recall and destroy the Sony L-Ion cells. Customers all received two NiMH
batteries as compensation.

Apple's new flagship laptop started life with a misstep because
of Sony - who Apple never explicitly named in the press.

What's Sony's problem? Have they figured L-Ion batteries out in
the past 11 years? Apparently not. no word on whether UPS is going to seek damages from Sony/Dell for the cargo jet they suspect was lost to an L-Ion fire in February.

Re:Assault and Battery

[E8086]

YES! another conspiracy involving Sony
"exploding" Dells and Apples using batteries many by Sony, when's the last time you heard about an "exploding" VAIO? or even heard of someone using a VAIO. One could claim it's some anti-competition plotting to scare people away from Dells and Macs. And Homeland Security scaring people away from the Lenovo. Something about the Windows flag going from red, green, blue and yellow to red, red, red and red. With Dell, Apple and Lenovo out of the way all people will have to choose from is "a genuine Sorny" and something good like an ASUS. Forget the tinfoil hat I want my armored fireproof pants if I'm using one of those.

Re:Assault and Battery

[dfghjk]

There were LiIon batteries in laptops before 1995. Dell had an exclusive with Sony in 92 or 93.

http://www.answers.com/topic/lithium-ion-battery

That article claims that Toshiba was the first in 1993 but Dell predated Toshiba as I recall. Apple was nowhere near first.

Re:Assault and Battery

[bky1701]

I got it! Sony must be the new world order! It's been here the whole time... I bet they are even run by Satan "Stalin" Hitler. What... why are you looking at me like that?

Re:Assault and Battery

[Anonymous Coward]

I mean, they recalled Some Macbook Pro batteries because they sucked.. (and posed no danger to life or "jewels" heheh)

If you put a battery looking like a marsmallow in the charger anything can happen. The cells will not get balanced properly. The injured cell will possibly not reach the right voltage so the charger may never turn off. It was blind luck nothing serious happened.

Re:Assault and Battery

[dpiven]

The same division of Sony that manufactured these batteries for Dell...

...this is yet another one the conspiracy theorists can blame on Sony

Yeah, first they rootkit my laptop, now they want to destroy the evidence.

Just imagine the hilarity that would have ensured had one of their batteries caught fire aboard an airplane.

Re:Assault and Battery

[Yvan256]

What's
with
the
poorly-formatted
posts?

Are
people
posting
from
their
cellphones
or
something?

Tip: take care of the paragraphs and let the browsers handle the linebreaks... Thanks.

Re:Assault and Battery

[MattHawk]

You mean like This UPS cargo plane fire?

Re:Assault and Battery

[Brickwall]

But it's not the hardware - it's the DRM! If you don't subscribe to Sony and the **AA's scheme, they make your laptop explode!

Re:Assault and Battery

[AcidLacedPenguiN]

holy shit I only just now realized that the paragraph tag is allowed!

Man, you wouldn't believe how many times I'd be Previewing my post just so I wouldn't look like a re-re. I'm saying this in all seriousness right now but thank you for cluing me in to the wonderful world of anglyBracket P slashAnglyBracket. And I for one welcome my new Allowed HTML knowledgeable overlord. To anwser your question though, sometimes it's good to space the comment out so that more people will see it, makes karma whoring that much easier, I know this by experience

three men were just arrested in Michigan...

[Anonymous Coward]

after alert state troopers inspected their SUV and discovered one Inspiron laptop for each of them.

Interesting information:

[Ungrounded Lightning]

Customers may continue to use the notebook computers safely by turning the system off, ejecting the battery, and using the AC adapter and power cord to power the system until the replacement battery is received.

This lets us know that operating on plug-in power without the battery to serve as a filter is a safe and manufacturer approved operating mode for this model of laptop. The machine is not dependent on the battery and can be run for long periods without it.

That is good for alternative energy users, those thinking of using them in commercial server rooms, and people wanting to use them for personal computer-room firewalls/routers/fileservers/other home servers long after they're obsolete as laptops, just for starters.

Re:Interesting information:

[dfinster]

The poor man's blade. Those Pentium III laptops with 20 gig drives work pretty well for a lot of stuff. DNS, DHCP, Router, etc... But if you are into saving power, get a WRT54G and load DD-WRT or OpenWRT on it. It will do all that stuff also and be a lot cooler and quieter.

Re:Interesting information:

[Anonymous Coward]

Holy crap, laptops work without their batteries?

Re:Interesting information:

[JabberWokky]

Some do, some don't. Some appear to and feed dirty power to the system (i.e., they aren't intended to run for extended periods without a working battery, even when they are plugged in). Very seldom is the information published about particular models. Although I'd question this; I'd imagine that they'd rather have some people fry their systems and replace them than have a battery explode after they had alerted the person.

--
Evan

April Fools

[dfinster]

Dell sold or provided these batteries with the notebook computers, as part of a service replacement, and as individual units from April 1, 2004, through July 18, 2006.

And I thought OMG, Ponies! was over the top. This is crazy.

Re:April Fools

[AVryhof]

Like This?

Replace Li-Ion?

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe it's about time that Li-Ion Batteries are totally replaced. Not only are they expensive, but they are so unreliable and dangerous. So bad that one of these days it will catch fire and actually kill someone or a few people. Maybe they should go with NiMH from now on until something better comes along.

Dude!

[TheDreadSlashdotterD]

Dude, you bought a bomb!

Re:Dude!

[Ruff_ilb]

No wonder they don't want you taking these things on airplanes anymore...

Actually, more importantly, people HAVE been taking these things on airplanes. If the same components could be used to make a bomb, WHY THE HELL were they ever allowed on airplanes in the first place?

Re:Dude!

[Soko]

Dude, you bought a bomb!

Now, why did I first read that as "Dude, you bought a bong!" ?

Soko

Re:Dude!

[FSWKU]

Dude, you bought a bomb!

Now, why did I first read that as "Dude, you bought a bong!" ?

Because you've been hanging around the stoner Dell guy too long?

Re:Dude!

[bky1701]

Somebody set up us the battery!

Re:Dude!

[Procrastin8er]

Dude you're getting a bad burn.

Re:Dude!

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe you should switch to a Mac? It's like, so much better. You could, like, be using your PC and it could be like, beep-beep-beep and you could like, lose all your work. Your PC could eat your work.

Re:Dude!

[Anonymous Coward]

Hahahahahahah

Priceless :)

Re:Dude!

[identity0]

Because you've been hanging around the stoner Dell guy too long?

Oh man, you don't know how bad it got...

So I was posting on Slashdot while hitting a bong with the Dell dude, on his laptop, when it was all, like, 'beep beep be - BOOM!!'

and I was, like, "Unh?"

It DEVOURED my bong.

It was a really good bong.

And then I had to smoke it again, and it wasn't as good, because I had to do it fast.

It was....

a bummer.

My name is Ellen Feiss, and I'm a student.

I have to give it to Dell

[bluelark]

When the story first broke this evening, bloggers wrote about it and noted the fact that their www.dellbatteryprogram.com was not up and running yet. Yes, I was among those bloggers.

Soon after the Dell battery posts started appearing, someone from Dell corporate was following Technorati and visited my blog. Not too long after that, Dell responded on their blog with details about the recall. And they even mentioned that the recall Web site will be live after midnight Central Time tonight.

Re:I have to give it to Dell

[Spikeles]

Did you notice?

but also can correlate that information with data from our component supply partners such as Sony, who is the manufacturer of the battery cells in this particular case.

Sony made the batteries.. maybe everyone should be bashing them! :)

Sony can't pwn your computer so they burn it

[huguley]

After thier failed rootkit installation they just decided a better route would be
to destroy every computer starting with laptops. They probly gave dell a good deal
to get the most coverage. Next they will be in the desktop power supply market and
those will start going up in flames as well.

No, actually it's new (again)

[dereference]

See Dell's official announcement here, where it says:

Please visit the firm's Web site at www.dellbatteryprogram.com beginning at 1 a.m. Central Daylight Time Aug. 15

The CPSC page is somewhat less informative.

Flame skin should be a freebie

[Browzer]

if you have to replace the battery. http://www.notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=946 00&highlight=on+fire - Fugly, but how prophetic!

For now a free skin is available only "With the purchase of blah...blah...blah" http://www.dell.com/content/products/category.aspx /notebooks?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs

zoom zoom

[Anonymous Coward]

So does this mean we can look forward to exploding Tesla's later this year? "Second gear tastes like burning"

Prerecall sales pitch

[Anonymous Coward]

Another hot item from Dell!

Dell Direct

[ISoldat53]

So what exactly does direct mean?

Tesla Roadster

[Zobeid]

Stories like this make me want a Tesla Roadster somewhat less than I did before. It's powered by 6,800 Li-ion cells.

Naah, who am I kidding? I'd still give my left kidney for one. Flames are great, maybe we could channel them out the tail like the old Batmobile.

Re:Tesla Roadster

[Jeffrey Baker]

Right, because who ever heard of a gasoline-powered car catching on fire?

Re:Tesla Roadster

[Anonymous Coward]

Just don't puncture the batteries. The fires are caused by poor manufacturing that leads to broken seals causing oxygen to get in setting off the reaction. I've heard of rare cases of punctures causing trouble but the vast majority of problems are from poor quality batteries.

Re:Tesla Roadster

[kfg]

Stories like this make me want a Tesla Roadster somewhat less than I did before. It's powered by 6,800 Li-ion cells.

Ahhhhhh, but it's based on the Lotus Elise. Starting to feel a bit better?

Flames are great. . .

And about $30,000 of the price is for batteries that don't blow up and a computer monitored liquid cooling system, all mounted in a shockproof housing.

If only they didn't have a 5 year shelf life (resulting in an approximately 90% depreciation of the car value), weigh half a ton even when "empty" and typically burn dirtier fuel than a petrol car I'd be thinking about it.

KFG

Re:Tesla Roadster

[Moofie]

Except in the movies, it's not easy to get a gas-powered car to explode. I'll take my chances with gasoline over 1000lbs of li-ion battery packs.

Dell laptops are now banned on Airplanes

[d1g1t4l]

On somewhere news in England, Dell Laptops are now banned on airplanes. Actually you can bring your Dell laptop on the plane but the battery is now allowed!!!

Re:Dell laptops are now banned on Airplanes

[d1g1t4l]

On somewhere news in England, Dell Laptops are now banned on airplanes. Actually you can bring your Dell laptop on the plane but the battery is NOT allowed!!! (Can't edit my own comment!)

Re:Dell laptops are now banned on Airplanes

[Andy Dodd]

I'm surprised your deception-through-misinformation post was moderated up.

In the U.K., I believe ALL portable electronics are forbidden in carry-on luggage. Laptops and all other electronics must be in checked baggage. (This is for the same reason the U.S. is banning all liquids in carry-on luggage.)

My dell experience

[NosTROLLdamus]

Two years ago, I was using a Dell laptop running ubuntu linux. I let my small, impalsyed child play a game of Tux Racer. To my horror, the laptop's battery exploded, killing my child to death in front of my eyes.

People say that linux is ready for the desktop, but when is it ready to stop killing children?

Re:My dell experience

[chemiosmurphy]

wtf? thats a sick joke if it is. You never bring kids into the mix

Re:My dell experience

[Anonymous Coward]

Won't anyone think of the children!??!! YAWN. That end is used to justify all sorts of means: detention without trial and censorship to name a couple. The time you wasted on your comment could have been used writing a letter to a politician, asking them to stop killing children in war or enforce the laws against child trafficing, child prostitution and using children as soldiers.

Re:My dell experience

[louaish88]

Obviously this is a joke. Someone who has a child afflicted with palsy would not incorrectly use a nonsensical word "impalsyed." I thought it was hilarious for some reason, maybe it is because it is 1:00am or all the caffeine I have been drinking. It hit me with the same stunning coolness as the great lines from Deadwood. "Every step a fuckin' adventure."

Re:My dell experience

[Anonymous Coward]

I bring kids into the mix all the time.

And by mix, I mean bed.

Re:My dell experience

[zlogic]

Two years ago Warty (4.10) was still in beta. Don't use betas, they're evil and can lose all your data!

Re:My dell experience

[venir]

Good ole Deadwood. My favorite has to be "Fuck us all for the limberdick cocksuckers we are."

from report

[john_uy]

the same sony batteries are used by hp and apple too. so do we expect recalls from hp and apple or is it a different issue where the batteries explode on dell laptops only?

Another Dell recall???

[rubberbando]

Sheesh!

2 years ago I recieved notice that there was a recall on my dell laptop's power supply and now the batteries are bad too?

In fact, if I remember correctly I do believe that Slashdot was what tipped me off to the previous recall....

Here is the link
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/10/ 08/163200

From the Article

[mkiwi]

FTA:

The safety agency said the batteries were not unique to Dell, meaning that other companies using Sony batteries may also have to issue recalls. Sony has sold its batteries to most of the major computer makers.

This leads me to wonder if some of the MacBook Pro batteries were made by Sony.

I Asked the Dell Support Forums

[aquatone282]

. . . and a moderator told me to format my C: drive and re-load Windows XP.

</sarcasm>

Re:I Asked the Dell Support Forums

[Anonymous Coward]

> . . . and a moderator told me to format my C: drive and re-load Windows XP.

Well, did you?

;-)

Seeing what you want to see

[Howzer]

Issues like this are fascinating for what they reveal about people's preconceptions and habits.

On the face of it, it's simply a "large company recalls large number of items after small (relatively) number of incidents" story.

But look at all the Dell, Sony, Apple, etc. etc. conspiracy theorists and wingnuts come out of the woodwork! So much blaming, everyone certain that their already pre-selected villain company is trying to end civilisation as we know it.

Come on, people. This is News for Nerds. It's not News for Mouthbreathers, although sometimes it's hard to tell the difference.

Batteries have been causing fires forever. Even the old D-cells you stick in your torch will self-immolate given the right conditions. Think about it. Acid. Metal. Electricity. It's not amazing there are fires, it's amazing there are so few. Laptops have been catching on fire since the very first luggables rolled off the line at Compaq, IBM, etc.

So let's just keep this in perspective. If you want to jump up and down about unsafe products, then go nuts about SUVs. Oh, and don't think that starting your post "I used to like Company X but now..." makes you any more of an intellectual and any less of a wingnut. Just read the numbers again. How many batts recalled? And how many incidents again? Jeez... Move on, nothing to see here...

cookies?

[zogger]

does it take a cookie to work? check that?

That many?

[Aokubidaikon]

...notebooks sold between April 2004 and July 18, 2006

Even if 99% of people who Dell laptop during that period hears about the recall and actually exchanges their batteries (highly unlikely) there will still be 41000 unsafe Dell laptops out there.
Expect to read more about Dell laptops exploding in the months to come...

Re:That many?

[maxume]

It also depends on the defect rate in the batteries. If only 2% have the flaw, you are down to 820, still big, but not quite so bad. So there would be 41,000 potentially unsafe batteries out there.

Re:That many?

[Anonymous Coward]

there will still be 41000 unsafe Dell laptops out there.

Hrm, based on the 5 laptops that caught on fire out of the 2.7M sold that would mean out of the 41k "unsafe" laptops there's 1/12th of a bad battery out there.

Re:That many?

[repvik]

Well, if 500 of the 4.1m laptops have failed so far it's a 0.01% failure rate. 0.01% of 41000 is 4.1 laptops.

As the hip kid would say...

[Anonymous Coward]

Dood, you're getting a fire!

No Darwin award, but it was close!

[tcgroat]

That same month [July], a Dell notebook in the cab of a pickup parked alongside Lake Mead in Nevada caught fire, igniting ammunition in the glove box and then the gas tanks. The truck exploded. "A few minutes later and we'd have been coming up out of the canyon when the notebook blew up," said Thomas Forqueran, owner of the laptop and truck. "Somebody is going to wind up getting killed."

Lithium-ion batteries won't tolerate high heat. Leaving them in a parked vehicle on a summer day in the Nevada desert can expose them to temperatures much over the 60C (140F) specified maximum during dischage. Those warnings are printed on the case for good reason!

Re:No Darwin award, but it was close!

[Secrity]

People either don't see or ignore those sorts of warnings. I don't see a warning like that on my 6 month old Dell. If it is molded into the case bottom I will probably never see it, if the warning is on the battery pack I may see it when I check to see if it is subject to recall.

As it is currently the middle of summer in the nothern hemisphere, I suspect that in the past month a large number of laptops were exposed to temperatures well above 140F when they were left in closed vehicles that were parked in the sun. The interior air temperature of a dark color closed car parked in the sun can easily go over 150F.

Web enabled cat...

[jkburges]

My girlfriend's comment is that she likes having a Dell laptop, as it keeps her lap warm, kinda like having a cat sitting on her lap haha.

Well, so long as it doesn't explode (I haven't heard of any exploding cats), then we will both be happy.

Re:Web enabled cat...

[Frightening]

Yeah but then again your girlfriend doesn't have balls now, does she? Don't ever put a Dell on your lap if you want children. Remember the japanese conference..

Re:Web enabled cat...

[jkburges]

Yeah but then again your girlfriend doesn't have balls now, does she?

Sometimes I'm not so sure... but yeah, I'm hearing you.

Re:Web enabled cat...

[Anonymous Coward]

I haven't heard of any exploding cats
You obviously haven't seen Boondock Saints.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1m-G9vrgPLk

How to check, serial number, and the URL

[martinbogo]

Dell batteries subject to the recall :

  1K055 C5340 D6024 JD616 U5867 X5333 3K590
  C5446 D6025 JD617 U5882 X5875 59474 C6269
  F2100 KD494 W5915 X5877 6P922 C6270 F5132
  M3006 X5308 Y1333 C2603 D2961 GD785 RD857
  X5329 Y4500 C5339 D5555 H3191 TD349 X5332
  Y5466

The bottom or side of the dell battery will have
a serial number in the form of:

JP-111111-22222-333-4444

You should look for the number in the [111111]
section -- e.g.

JP-A1K055-22222-333-4444 .. would be an example of a battery subject to the
recall.

In order to verify your battery serial number, and
get one sent to you, go to:

https://www.dellbatteryprogram.com/Default.aspx

Re:How to check, serial number, and the URL

[FiveDollarYoBet]

When you get to the part to enter in the full serial number of the battery try entering it in with all of the O's as zeros and then again with them all as OOOO's.

The first time I put in my battery's information it said I didn't need a replacement. Tried it again with letters instead of zeroes and lo and behold I need a replacement!

Re:How to check, serial number, and the URL

[Anonymous Coward]

Wow, that's the same CD key I have on my brief case!

It just has to be said...

[Anonymous Coward]

Dell set up us the bomb.

Airplane replacement!

[twitter]

With a car that fast, who needs an airplane to crash and burn beyond recognition? I wonder if every cell will have a Sony mark on it.

It's a good thing the Authorities at Homeland Security are keeping us safe by putting all the electronic devices in people's luggage, where they will be well insulated and impossible to put out. Thanks guys, I really was afraid of some asshole lighting my airplane on fire before you saved me.

Damn!!

[greppling]

My battery isn't on the list...I could really need a new one...

To a terrorist shopping for a laptop,

[5plicer]

explosive batteries are a feature.

Former Dell tech a Wingnut?

[twitter]

look at all the Dell, Sony, Apple, etc. etc. conspiracy theorists and wingnuts come out of the woodwork!

Wingnuts like former Dell tech, Robert Day? Did you read the article? You might have caught this little piece:

Although Dell told the agency that only six incidents had occurred, a reporter viewed almost 100 photos of melted notebooks that were returned to the company from 2002 to 2004. The photos, from a Dell database, were supplied by a former Dell technician, Robert Day, who said such damage was more of a common thing than they are letting on. As many as several hundred a year were returned. Mr. Day said, I did see so many pallets of stuff coming in that they had to use my lab for overflow storage.

Did you also catch the little bit about FIVE previous battery fires on airplanes in the last two years? One in a UPS jet destroyed the plane after landing. One had to be chucked out before take off. The other three FAA cases were not so interesting, except for the fact that smoking batteries now placed in cargo holds will take the plane down instead of being contained because the Department of Homeland Security is saving us all from exploding laptops. Do some research on the gruesome details of the ValueJet crash sometime. It was caused by a fire in the cargo hold and people were really outraged at the that someone would put an obvious fire risk down in the cargo.

If you want to jump up and down about unsafe products, then go nuts about SUVs.

That's a good idea too, but it has nothing to do with the issue, which is an obviously flawed product being sold for two years. SUVs do not have such obvious flaws for the most part and when they do, a recall happens.

Perspective is that no one's life is less important than company profits and you will get caught. When there's a clear problem, like hundreds of melted laptops a year, you need to act. The problem is not going to go away until it's fixed. When a third party does something as simple as taking an xray to identify your problem for you, you look very bad.

The story was well researched and things look very bad for both Dell and Sony here. The recall is a good idea but it sounds like it's coming a year late. It will take care of 4.1 million fire hazards.

Re:Former Dell tech a Wingnut?

[Richard_at_work]

Did you also catch the little bit about FIVE previous battery fires on airplanes in the last two years? One in a UPS jet destroyed the plane after landing. One had to be chucked out before take off. The other three FAA cases were not so interesting, except for the fact that smoking batteries now placed in cargo holds will take the plane down instead of being contained because the Department of Homeland Security is saving us all from exploding laptops. Do some research on the gruesome details of the ValueJet crash sometime. It was caused by a fire in the cargo hold and people were really outraged at the that someone would put an obvious fire risk down in the cargo.

Do you know how many aircraft movements there were in FAA airspace in 2004/5? 5 events over 2 years is statistically insignificant, particularly considering the hundreds of other onboard fires by numerous other causes. Laptop batteries are not something to worry about.

Re:Former Dell tech a Wingnut?

[Anonymous Coward]

SUVs do not have such obvious flaws for the most part and when they do, a recall happens.

Ford/Firestone? IIRC, they have fought tooth-and-nail to NOT do recalls.

Re:Former Dell tech a Wingnut?

[Sir_Real]

Perspective is that no one's life is less important than company profits and you will get caught. When there's a clear problem, like hundreds of melted laptops a year, you need to act. The problem is not going to go away until it's fixed. When a third party does something as simple as taking an xray to identify your problem for you, you look very bad.

Well. That just doesn't make business sense.

Company profits are indeed far more important than your life. Shareholders will authorize anything to keep those profits rolling in. It truly is as basic as Tyler Durden lays it out in Fight Club. Cost analysis based on projected lawsuit costs and brand degredation effects are greater than the cost of a recall, ergo, a recall. With cigarettes, the formula did not produce the same answer. A third party was indeed able to do something as simple as take an (chest) xray to identify the problem with that product. Tobacco companies may have looked bad, but not bad enough to damage their bottom line.

Companies have no obligation to act. It's not their responsibility. It is the responsibility of the GOVERNMENT to protect its people. It is the responsibility of companies to extract the greatest amount of profit from the people for its shareholders. These interests are often in opposition (tobacco for instance).

It's good that the bean counters at dell believe that the cost of a recall is less than the cost of not acknolweding the problem, but make no mistake, it is a totally profit driven conclusion.

BP and Shell are in the same boat in my mind.

Re:Former Dell tech a Wingnut?

[Anonymous Coward]

Howser is unable to respond right now as he is recovering from some debilitating crotch burns.

The Inquirer is the origin of this news, not /.

[abracontrol]

I think the writer of this news should point that the origin of this news is The Inquirer and not Slashdot. Only a comment.

Well, at least...

[SubKamran]

At least I bought mine this month, the 1st. So I am safe.

An E1705... with a neat Dragon skin.

I feel sorry for my two friends, both who own Dell laptops. Why didn't they find this out sooner? You'd think two years would be enough time! And I never heard of the laptops exploding... so it must have been a rare occurence anyways. Better safe than sorry, I suppose.

Re:Well, at least...

[Hal_Porter]

An E1705... with a neat Dragon skin.


If it started to 'breath fire', could the legal department claim that you'd been warned I wonder?

Nope, no wingnuts here...

[Howzer]

Um, yeah, let's all accuse each other of not reading the article:

a fire that was detected as a United Parcel Service cargo plane began its descent into Philadelphia in February. Though a cause of that fire, which consumed and destroyed the plane after it landed, has not been determined, lithium-ion batteries are suspected. No one was hurt. (emphasis mine)

I didn't say it wasn't a problem. Did you catch the bit where I said all batteries can catch fire?

Dell made a $300 million recall, Sony is doing the honourable thing, and your comment is "look[s] very bad for Dell and Sony".

The first fire was April last year, and you go on to say "...a year late."

Yep. No wingnuts here...

Yep, with Li-ion nano phosphate

[skids]

Pretty incredible things these are -- all the advantages of Li-poly with none of the stability problems. www.a123systems.com

Right now they are what powers the Dewalt 36V power tools, and you can pick up slightly-overpriced hobbyist assemblies at www.a123racing.com. Valence also makes something similar, perhaps a bit more famous for being in the Segway, called Saphion, but doesn't seem to direct-market them.

I for one

[THE anonymus coward]

I for one welcome our new exploding battery overlords.

Made in PRC

[Anonymous Coward]

fault is in manufacturing process, cause all desings were not cancelled. So reason is actually cheap, cheaper, made in china. Manufacturing in sweatshops with cheapest possbile slave-labour comes with a risks, and a price Dell must now pay. Good for them.

When people will learn there is no such thing as good and cheap.

Re:Made in PRC

[Anonymous Coward]

Trolling? The batteries are made in Japan.

OMG warning!

[musonica]

Maybe this is a cover-up of a foiled terrorist plot to cripple the ability of geeks to reproduce, thus ensuring their advantage in the hacking war! Oh on second thought it could just be because they use the cheapest and crappiest components they think they can get away with...

Re:OMG warning!

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh on second thought it could just be because they use the cheapest and crappiest components they think they can get away with...

Did you mean Dell or the the terrorists?

Buy Sony Stocks

[geggo98]

If you have Sony stock, now would probably be a good time to sell some of it. :-)

Au contraire, you should "sell on good news and buy on bad". Exploding batteries, the next generation media player that can't play movies, the not so innovative but quite expensive game console, the distribution of malware on music CDs -- with regard to the latest news, I would put sony on "strong buy".

ValuJet Flight 592

[Savage-Rabbit]

Do some research on the gruesome details of the ValueJet crash sometime. It was caused by a fire in the cargo hold and people were really outraged at the that someone would put an obvious fire risk down in the cargo.

While I agree with you in principle, they have been negligent here even though they are not the only ones to have these battery problems, but let's still be a little fair to Dell. If I recall correctly the ValuJet Flight 592 crash was due to ValuJet management outsourcing work to a maintenance contractor that was cheap (and contrary to popular management dogma cheap!=good, especially in the airline business). The contractor improperly secured a batch of chemical oxygen generators and placed them in the aircraft's cargo hold which caused the fire. While it's a good example of the hazards of in-flight fires the ValuJet crash was not Dell's fault.

Beating the dead horse....

[shoptroll]

Owning a Dell laptop myself, I'm glad they did this.

Did anyone else notice this in the TFA (emphasis added)?

"Dell, the world's largest PC maker, said the lithium-ion batteries were made by Sony and were installed in notebooks sold between April 2004 and July 18 of this year."

Sony must've really upset the karma gods or something recently. I'd be afraid for all the PSP owners out there.

I wish my battery were recalled

[murraj2]

If only they would recall my crappy thinkpad battery. When it was a year old it would barely hold a charge for a half hour with screen resolution all the way down and wifi. It is pretty much completely worthless now (2 years old), if the power cord becomes disconnected while it's on it immediately shuts down.

Re:I wish my battery were recalled

[Procrastin8er]

At least it won't fry your family jewels.

Fighting over something REALLY stupid

[Bushido Hacks]

F*** you, NBC! I don't know how many times I keep telling my dad that recall on the DELL COMPUTERS that have the SONY batteries between JUNE 2004 and JULY 2006 DOES NOT effect my two computers, one that is a SONY COMPUTER that does NOT run on a SONY Battery that is 10 years old and another notebook that is NOT a Dell computer and does NOT have a SONY battery and that BOTH computer run on AC power for most of the day.

Yet I'm getting my ass kick because NBC is FEARMONGERING.

I can't wait for the first computer virus that attacks TV network since TV is more digital than ever.

Pay attention hackers! TV is DIGITAL. hint hint!

Alternate link with picture!

[chrisb33]

Personally I like this link much better: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/15/technology/15bat tery.html?ex=1313294400&en=af57f2af347e0f52&ei=508 8&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

I'm not sure whether that picture is the scariest thing I've ever seen or the funniest thing I've ever seen. That guy looks like he's about to get his shotgun and head for a Dell executive.

Re:Alternate link with picture!

[dracphelan]

If you notice, his gun burned up with the truck. This is the reason I never leave my gun in the truck. In the immortal words of Trace Adkins: "Yes, that is a gun in that gun rack. No, I don't have a permit for it. Do you have a permit to ask stupid questions?" (The end of the song Rough and Ready.

how does a company run by retards get so big?

[mcmonkey]

Seriously, no offense to retards meant, but did the folks at Dell eat paint chips growing up?

The web site they're directing people to is dellbatteryprogram.com. Any wonder why phishing is such a problem? What's wrong with directing people to dell.com?

If Dell has dellbatteryprogram.com for battery problems, why woulnd't PayPal have giveawayyourpaypalinfototherussianmafia.com?

Seriously, the best defense against phishing is only use bank.com for your bank, creditcardco.com for your credit card company, paypal.com for PayPal, and dell.com for dell.

42

[beaverfever]

42: the number of comments on this Dell product recall /. page which will be entirely about Apple.

recall site

[jojuez]

not sure if it has been posted yet, here is the link to get your batt swapped or to check if you need it swapped: https://www.dellbatteryprogram.com/

Great!

[Anonymous Coward]

My battery isn't lasting as long as it used to. I really appreciate getting a new one. Do we have to return the old one? I haven't noticed anything wrong with it. I want to have two...

dude, you're going to get a fire!

[swschrad]

in other news, the Department of Homeland Security announced yesterday that two men in a truck were arrested near the Texas capitol building with a truck full of explosive devices. FBI officials say the two men, dressed in UPS uniforms, were carrying almost a hundred boxes of incindiary devices towards the air freight terminal, labelled "Dell laptop." The ACLU has filed a brief in Federal court asking for information on the two men, believed taken to a hidden terrorist camp.

The hot spot is their CPU component

[Anonymous Coward]

The hottest spot is their CPU component. Their laptop fan is a joke. It does nothing to coll the CPU. They just put cheap components into their laptop box without any test.

dell's formula

[bk4u]

Take the number of batteries in the field (A), multiply it by the probable rate of failure (B), then multiply the result by the average out-of-court settlement (C). A times B times C equals X...

I guess X was more than the cost of the recall.

Recall should have happened before fire.

[twitter]

Did you catch the bit where I said all batteries can catch fire?

Can catch fire and are catching fire are different things.

Dell made a $300 million recall, Sony is doing the honourable thing, and your comment is "look[s] very bad for Dell and Sony". The first fire was April last year, and you go on to say "...a year late."

For some reason, you don't get it. When the former Dell tech said hundreds per year, he's talking about something that's been going on for more than a year. He also implies that this was unusual. When you are getting dozens of melted and burnt laptops a month, you need to launch an investigation. Dell might have and understood the problem or they might not have. What ever they did does not matter because they continued to ship. That's irresponsible.

I would have...

[cmburns69]

I would have had first post, but my laptop caught on fire!

Re:All OS X laptops are now banned on Airplanes...

[klubar]

Technically correct... all computers have been (were, actually) banned. So the statement "No Dell computers are allowed on flights from the UK is correct." One could also say, that "All computers running OS X have been banned from flights"

3 Things Dell laptop users need to know

[DigitalDame2]

PCMag.com has a great article up on what Dell owners need to know and what to do about the laptop battery recall: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2003861,00.as p

Telephone Call

[Kenny Road]

"Hello, Dell Order Central... may I take your order please?" "Uh, yeah, I would like to order a new Latitude." "Yes, sir. Would you like smoking or non-smoking?" "Um, non-smoking." "I'm sorry sir, we are all out of non-smoking today. Would you like first available?" "Uh, I think I'll just build my own desktop, thanks." [click]

Always the problem

[Anonymous Coward]

Rma'd, broken, obsolete, unsell-able refurbished shit and yes RECALLED batteries will be sold through DFS as either "good working", "untested" or "bad" product on bid lists. Wholesalers, brokers, eBay (ers?), scrap dealers, hell anyone who calls and wants to buy excess product will be put on their lists provided you have the right credentials. Or from another SE type company that keeps them yet one more step removed from the process or knowledge what is sold, where it goes. But hey, at least we have to give a certificate of destruction on those oh so precious drilled motherboards! We all know they are Evil-Doers and must be destroyed at all costs. Pat on the back. Fantastico.

In these channels there is no warranty or liability for them. Well at least not yet. FYI, that is why your old hd data is not safe. They just sell the drive/system/parts to people like us in mass qty's and as is. Think thousands of drives every week. People on min wage techy assembly line jobs could give a fuck about such things. I don't know and have never met anyone who runs a DOD drive wiping/degauss/shredding sweatshop either. I have also seen too many direct from the factory "refurbished systems" packed with customer info. Resumes, tax returns, banking info, teacher/student/parent info, holy crap confidential emails, leftover emule porn. You name it, i probably have seen it. Although i have to say the picture of the guy who shit himself bungie jumping is one of the little scores of the decade! I laughed so hard i almost lost consciousness. Wish i had the video. But i digress. Sorry bout that.

Newer product on those truckload lists will always bring high returns for them. An insane amount of money. Companies you never heard of doing the most unethical shit just for the chance to get in on it. So they lose on one end and gain like crazy on the other.

Then you have it, tons of tinder box batteries being dumped right back into the market when (you know who) should destroy them. No doubt most these batteries still work as like new and most still look brand new. Offered up to us in fresh little brown boxes with clean part number stickers just like everything else. Impossible to tell new from flat out dead. Chances are they are already back in circulation and have been for some time now. Ever bought a PA9 adapter on suckbay that would power your laptop but not charge the battery? That's right.. Dell reselling recalled ac adapters.

Instead of someone gnashing teeth / waving fists on national TV, they will be crying foul on a blog about some eGay seller. No liability, remember? Well technically they did the right thing. Recalled them. However, dumping them back into the "wild west" that is the secondary / used market is just the worst in my opinion. Knowing this, how exactly will you feel spotting a few Dhelli's on your next plane trip? I really hope.......ahhh fuck it. End Rant -

Ban has been mostly lifted.

[jotaeleemeese]

You still can't take liquids with you but can take into the plane beverages bought in the airport past security (I leve how wise this is to the experts. No, better no: if you think liquids are an issue, this policy is nonsense).