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HP & Dell Face Lawsuits From Exploding Hardware
An anonymous reader writes "Dell and Hewlett-Packard are both facing lawsuits over catastrophic equipment failures that lead to fires and injuries last year. 'In one case, a North Dakota auto lube shop owner claims that a Dell monitor he purchased caught fire and burned down his business ... meanwhile, an Arkansas man has sued HP, claiming that an HP Compaq Presario PC he purchased from Wal-Mart burst into flames, causing a blaze that destroyed his house and seriously injured his daughter.'"
Ah the price of shopping walmart. But on a serious note, these cases are so small and lacking airflow it doesn't really suprise me.
'In one case, a North Dakota auto lube shop owner claims that a Dell monitor he purchased caught fire and burned down his business'
An electrical device starting a fire at a place loaded with flammable materials? I loathe Dell, but this seems like it could have happened due to any number of other reasons. Unless of course the monitor was in an office far away from the shop.
A Bom... i mean Beowulf Cluster of those
-------- My new forum about music : http://www.musicforums.byethost13.com/
I'm a Mac.
And I'm a Oh my God, I'm burning!
Chip vendors should disable the HCF opcode unless either the GURU or IDIOT jumper is set.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
It's my understanding that walmart habitually insists on lower prices from its suppliers than they provide to others--inducing a corresponding reduction in quality of the product at times, e.g. using plastic rather than metal gears in power tools and the like. I'd not be surprised if HP cut corners for the 'Walmart edition' of its computers.
That "made specially for walmart" logo on the box is more a warning than an endorsement in my mind.
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure dome decree
Dude, you're getting a hell! (Fire that is)
I hate it when my computer sues me!
All jokes aside(sorry) these are some serious bullshit lawsuits. This is kind of like sueing a car company for being seriously injured when you crashed into the pole. Any high electric-use device is "likely" to cause an electrical fire. I don't see how these irresponsible homeowners can sue HP? Should I go buy some laptops and place them on top of venting gas tanks and then when it explodes, sue sony?
So basically, -1 troll/offtopic is really slashdots way of saying "I hate that you thought of something before me."
Knowing the "typical" computer user, I can't help but wonder if either/both of the incidents mentioned are RTFM errors. Maybe the autoshop guy thought his monitor ran on gasoline and the other guy thought he could turn his computer from air-cooled to water-cooled by submerging it in an icy bathtub... It's possible.
Any other geezers out there remember how computers in movies and TV shows from the '60s (Star Trek, The Prisoner, James Bond) would explode and burn at the least provocation? A phaser shot would cause a Star Trek computer to explode and burn, and in one Prisoner episode a computer was made to explode and catch fire simply by asking it "why?" (rather than having it give the correct answer, 42).
It seems that Dell and HP are making the 1960s science fiction a reality!
-mcgrew
(latest journal is in 5 parts)
mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
I am sure PC can get a shot for the "burning".. but if he doesn't pay his monthly recurring charge, he will most likely relapse and/or get something even worse!
I only look human.
My mother is a halfling and my dad is an ogre, so that makes me an Ogreling
the new economy is so much different than the old! how can genius digital people possibly be responsible for anything bad happening in this crazy, mixed up world?
That would be Kombucha.
Walmart is releasing their new line, the Adobe PC - C4 edition
HP & Dell Seek Patent For Exploding Hardware
The Kombucha Mushroom People?
Living With a Nerd
if there's one thing society continues to prove, it's that endangering the general public is completely justifiable as long as it is done by a big business.
It doesn't matter how low Walmart demanded the prices, it is no excuse for distributing dangerous products. Either take the drop in profit or tell Walmart to find someone who can/pay more. Can beef distributors start shipping mad-cow meat because grocery store/shoppers demand lower prices? How about if Valvoline starts watering down their brake fluid because Autozone wants something cheaper?
Believe it or not, not everyone who shops at Walmart or risks buying something cheaper does it because they are retarded, it's because they are deluded into believing big businesses/governments won't try to completely exploit them and because their resources/needs leave them little other choice. Walmart has been selling PCs for years, I remember seeing them for $500-700 a long time ago... apparently they didn't sell that well. I guess poor people don't deserve computers
If the monitor hasn't lit, you *must* acquit.
In our office, we've had two monitors burn - one just with smoke pouring out of it, and one with nice flames coming out the top. They were both old, and it looks like dust inside was the culprit. Unplugging the monitors in both cases pretty much stopped the fire. I'm actually surprised this doesn't happen more often.
I do wonder where those components were made. I wouldn't be surprised if those burning exploding items were made in China. It's not like they don't sell us poison dog food, lead coated or date rape drug toys.
"You'll get nothing, and you'll like it!"
Works out good for Sony, whose batteries were the ones exploding in their competitors' laptops.
Arguing about vi versus Emacs is like arguing whether it's better to make fire by rubbing sticks or banging rocks.
I'm sure Sony lawyers could think up a way to Sue them for this also! After all, they are the most leading and on the cutting-edge on this type of ... ee... Technology :)
I'm a Mac. And I'm a Oh my God, I'm burning!
Aside from jokes about the prototype 5300 that caught fire because Sony fibbed about its specs (leading to a recall of a few dozen machines that had shipped- few hit customer hands, no "incidents"), Apple has a less than glorious reputation when it comes to power adapters.
I was on a business trip once when the black, pencil-case power supply for my G3 Lombard suddenly made a crackling noise and I smelled smoke. Turned out that the 2-prong AC connector (the one that kinda looks like an oval, used to be referred to as a "shaver" style connector) didn't have proper strain relief, so the solder on the PCB broke and the high resistance cooked the circuit board; there was a big charred section of the PCB. Apple veeeeery quietly offered up replacement "discus" power adapters to Lombard and Pismo owners (the discus adapters were great, aside from the huge "KRACK!" they made when they were plugged in. I hate cheap-ass power supplies that do that...)
Fast forward to about a year ago with my first-gen Macbook Pro. I smelled heated/burning plastic smell, reached down and burned my finger on the magsafe connector, or more specifically, the first quarter inch of cable coming out of it.
The "Genius" at the store tried to claim I had abused the adapter. I asked him how it was possible to "abuse" a magsafe connector given that they pop off so easily, and he had no real response, and rather peacefully gave me a replacement adapter. Gee, what a shocker- the cable strain relief on both ends looked nice and durable. Hmm, I wonder if there was a problem with their design...
So, kids- if your magsafe adapter shows any sign of wear and tear at the connectors (for example, the cable jacket or strain relief showing any damage), get it replaced ASAP. These adapters are increasingly powerful and can easily start a fire.
Please help metamoderate.
I saw a video for something called a "LiPo Sack", a bad that people who use these high-density batteries can use to keep the batteries in while they're charging. Cool video of batteries exploding!
--
Educational microcontroller kits for the digital generation.
Actually, round shoelaces work fine. I agreed with you for a while, until I tried some alternative solutions. Specifically: If your flat shoelaces get all tangled up in any kind of knot that isn't a bow, they're very difficult to untangle. If your round shoelaces are tied in a bow, they will almost immediately become untied.
But if you put a square knot (two overhand loops in opposite directions) in round shoelaces, it's like magic. It holds tight and never slips. BUT they're so slippery you can still untie them whenever you like just by pulling really hard on either exposed end. And since that's PUTTING an actual knot into them and can get it out, you're showing it's basically impossible for them to tangle.
Looking for freelance Actionscript (Flash/Flex) or ColdFusion work and/or freelance developers. Email me, put Slashdot
I had a similar problem with my MacBook recently. Unfortunately, I had the bad luck of having this problem over christmas, so they directed me to tier 1 instead of tier 2. They had me run Apple system diagnostics after I reported an ozone smell coming from the brick...
But hey, it's fixed now.
I have a friend who had a monitor catch fire. In his words: "There was a pop, a cloud of smoke, and a little flame inside my monitor last night." It was not an old monitor either.
Atlas stands on the earth and carries the celestial sphere on his shoulders.
I'm repeatedly amazed at how successful corporate media et al have been in demonizing the whole idea of lawsuits, especially "consumers" suing corporations. I wonder if some media-savvy gang member got the idea for the "Stop Snitchin'" campaign from this.
I suppose they were both inspired by the various forms of the "code of silence" encouraged by other criminal elements in society.
The parallels are rather striking.
This is why Microsoft has a lot of money. While I don't like Microsoft for most of the reasons of their existence, in pure business dollars, they were smart to offload the burden of hardware onto other companies, early on (while they "owned" the distribution and development channels.) Then they would not have to deal with cases such as the ones that Dell, HP, and Apple have had to deal with in the past. In recent years, trying to market the XBOX, they soon realized why they didn't want to get into the hardware side in the first place. You can hide imperfections easier in closed source software. (In open Source software, any knowledgeable person can see and even fix the imperfections.) The imperfections these other companies have to deal with are obvious. And of course, I have never seen software explode. Oh wait... BSOD.
I worked in their former support department in Ottawa. For us, the "Q" in Compaq stood for "Qombustible".
What has me scratching my head is the recent bankrupcy "reform" that one of my Senators voted for (Obama, Senate campaign bankrolled by bankers) and how the (corporate owned) media has everyone thinking that awful law is a good thing.
All my life (I'm 55) if you declared bankrupcy you got to keep your primary residence and one automobile. Now they can leave you homeless and without transportation, and people think this is a GOOD thing.
The corporate owned media has us thinking that bankrupcy is primarily caused by bad financial decisions, but personal bankrupcy is almost always caused by divorce, job loss, or medical bills, none of which can be controlled by the person whose bankrupcy is caused by them.
In the US people don't like safety nets, it appears. Score one more for the corporations and the media and government they control.
The same with lawsuits. Take the infamous McDonald's suit. "Oh a lady sued McDonald's for spilled coffee". What the corporate-owned media doesn't stress (or even mention) that the coffee was boiling hot (not drinkable) and all the woman wanted was the medical bills for her THIRD DEGREE BURNS paid. The McClown's McLawyers refused to settle. I don't know about anybody else but if I have to sue you because you're an evil bastard who won't face up to your responsibilities, I'm going to take everything I can get!
If a monitor you sell me burns my house down it's not likely to be me that sues. More likely it will be my insurance company that does the suing.
mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
The problem is almost exclusively the power supplies.
:). Was working fine for a long time. All voltages were fine. Then one day it just exploded in flames. Now, this PS was not in a PC at the time, so maybe not worthy of "burning the house down" scenario as it was only plugged in when someone was around.
Over the last few years, I had 5 power supplies fail, 2 of them with a giant bang. Heck, I'm sure that they would result in the place being burned to the ground if it wasn't for me pulling the cord out of the wall. The culprit in both cases was a cheap-ass power supply that came with the case of those $50 deals.
Scenario one. The box (P3-450) was powered off. Was changing the network card though I noticed the power supply was suspiciously warm even though it was off. When I plugged the box back in (didn't had time to turn it on), caps popped in the PS with 3 large bangs and 12V rail became 120V AC rail. Yanked the cord out of the wall within about 2 seconds but the damage was done. Everything connected to 12V was fried. Sound gone. CD/HD fried (CD drive opened spontaneously like in those horror movies and the CD that was in it flew out, hit the wall and shattered!). The mobo/CPU/ram survived as only the 12V rail was affected. Later, I plugged in the PS on the workbench and within 2 seconds there was a fire inside the power supply. I didn't wait longer to see what would happen, but I can image that the place would burn down if that PS popped in the middle of the night.
Scenario two. A different power supply. This was an old ATX power supply I was using for a different purpose - powering some equipment 5V equipment on stand-by power rail (yes, less power than it was rated for at that rail
The last 3 cases are power supplies that died or were about to die. One of a Antec 300W PS - that one worked fine then just stopped working. Another was an HP propriatory PS - working fine then not. Died the Right Way. And the third one was an unnamed PS that just stopped giving right voltages. The 12V went down to 9V over one year and system stability was gone.
So, at least 1 in 5 cases so far would result in "house burn down" scenario. Now, I do not keep any but the best PS boxes (Enermax) anywhere where a fire would destroy they house. The cheap ones are relegated to the concrete basement.
There is NO OTHER component of any electronic device but the power supply that can destroy your house. And yes, a monitor also has a power supply, though a bit safer than the PC box.
Of course, there is no 100% fire proof anything so the only way is to mitigate the problem, and also mitigate the energy waste problem at the same time. Unplug your devices when you are not using them. Unplug the TV/DVD/computer when you are not around. If you need the box up 24/7 (eg. server running your home phone system, bt, etc.), put that box in the basement on a concrete floor without flammables around it. For the rest, keep it unplugged when not using - surge protected works great here. This may save your house, and maybe $100+ in wasted "stand-by" power per year.
...and the are filth-captial-E! I'm sure the thick layer of dust mixed with oily residue inside the monitor had NOTHING to do with this.
I'm willing to be the other one is similar... cat or dog hair, maybe?
A computer leaves a Wal-mart going 40 mph. Once home it bursts into flame, destroying the house and "Fluffy," the family dog. My job is to apply "The Formula." X, the number of cases of this happening times Y, the average lawsuit payout. If X times Y is less than the cost of a recall... we don't do one.
Which PC manufacturer did you say you work for?
A major one.
Or visual:
User switches on PC (*Click*)
Cut to stock footage of Atomic bomb exploding.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
Because whenever an airplane crashes, every vendor who supplied any component of that aircraft gets sued and loses, regardless of whether or not the component had anything at all to do with why the airplane crashed, even in cases where pure pilot error was the reason, because every component on the aircraft influences how the pilot flies the aircraft.
MS supplies a component for those computers and the Windows operating system definitely influences the power consumption characteristics of the hardware, so it shouldn't be too hard at all for a lawyer worth his weight in dirt to be able to explain to a jury why MS bear shoulder a portion of the blame.
Anyone know if the equipment in question has been tested by Underwriters Laboratories or the equivalent Canadian/European counterparts?
I'm wondering if the problem is strictly a design flaw or a manufacturing quality issue (though I would suspect a combination of both). If it's the primarily the former, then I would have to say that the testing firms that put their logo on the case just lost some credibility.
But then again, I can't say that I know anyone that specifically looks for the UL/CE/CSA logo on the box before they purchase something that they plug into their wall nowadays.
Well, although I would not expect an off-the-shelf PC to catch fire, I always felt strange about my self assembled PCs. Let's face it, there are components in my server which were never certified to work together. And this machine runs day and night.
However, there is a simple solution: a small Cyprian company (FirePro http://www.firepro.info/products.php) offers aerosol fire extinguishers. You can basically have a protection solution like it is used in data centers; --- but on a shoestring budget.
So far it was not put to the test but it feels like proactive insurance.
Its possible that these incidents are statistically insignificant given the number of products sold that don't explode. Or there would be new rules proposed in the codes to address these problems. These folks just live for writing new rules. In fact, there are some pretty strict rules covering electrical installations in hazardous locations like gas stations. Its just that no construction code can keep someone from running an extension cord and plugging in a PC around gas fumes.
Have gnu, will travel.
Yeah, so what, a computer and a monitor caught fire. Considering all the computers out there, two lawsuits are minuscule. Probably even more minuscule are the numbers of computers that have caught fire...
How many televisions have caught fire? Toasters? Extension cords? Hair driers?... I think you get the point... Electronics fail, and some times that creates fire..
Geezzzz... nothing to see here.... OLD NEWS, but a couple of money hungry people.
(It is a shame the girl got hurt, and I can understand wanting compensation for that, but LIFE HAPPENS!)
Fortunately, these fires self-extinguish very quickly when you disconnect the power - if your PC (or whatever random piece of tech) starts smoking / burning, pull the plug. These failures are only really dangerous in unattended machines - then this failure can and does result in a fire.
Those little capacitors are relatively expensive, and manufacturers who are doing everything they can to shave costs discover they can replace the low-ESR computer grade electrolytics with cheap aluminum electrolytics - and then take it another step by sourcing the cheapest cheap caps they can buy. They manufactures know that this choice will result in a much shorter life for the equipment but those failures will occur after the warranty has expired so it's OK with them.
Remember this next time you buy yet another power supply for your computer. It could have lasted 10 or more years, but the manufacturer saved a couple of bucks on the components so it died after a year or two. A fire caused by these cheap parts is actually fairly rare - less than one in a thousand machines (probably much less).
The way to eliminate the majority of these fires? The manufacturers should spend the money it takes to use the right components - capacitors designed and rated for high temperature / switch-mode operation. That would also make power supplies last the life of the machine, slightly reduce power consumption, etc. But as long as consumers insist on the lowest price for products the manufactures will continue to give them what they are asking for.
Imagine a shelf at the computer parts store: there's two different 400 watt PC power supplies for sale. One sells for $40 and the one next to it speaks of high quality parts and long lifetime and sells for $60. Which one do you think most consumers would buy?
The company paid to have their product tested and certified as safe for sale. SA, CSA, etc. should be paying for every single incident.
> If a monitor you sell me burns my house down it's not likely to be me that sues. More likely it will be my insurance company that does the suing.
More likely, your insurance company will find some reason to refuse coverage, and it will be you suing your insurance company _and_ the monitor manufacturer...
Agreed about the McDonalds coffee case- it's usually misrepresented to sound like BS.
Those companies that lobbied to get the bankruptcy laws changed? They're the ones getting it in the butt by the sub-prime mortgage market.
:)
Now instead of defaulting on $10,000 of unsecured credit card debt, folks are walking away from $250,000 loans and leaving the banks on the hook for property taxes. Sometimes you do get a happy ending in real life
Despite the mainstream Media's reports, we're not in a recession in the U. S., however the real-estate market bubble is deflating after years of artificially controlled interest rates; they call it a "credit crunch" here, but it's not exactly true: the market was awash in too many loans, and too many unscrupulous characters too eager to loan money (even violating laws). I know this because of family in the mortgage business (happily they themselves would block and fight illegal, destructive, take-advantage-of-people loans, but they saw too many others going around). Now, however, people are stuck in houses with the value falling because of the real-estate bubble that jacked-up the values of the properties, sitting on loans they can't afford to pay, and they want out. Insurance companies note that in these kinds of conditions pertaining to real-estate that arson claims rise...and a lot of fraud is initiated; the cases of fraud have already begun to set-in, though comically fraudsters often don't realize that the mortgage company gets the first go at any insurance money they get...if the companies don't figure it out. [mocking here.] Then IF there is ANY left...they get that. Thus I wonder if this has anything to do with this...are these people with mortgages and failing business models, or can they documentarily prove that these machines went boom? I know laptops have been caught before...and Dell wouldn't suprise me here (my laptop from Dell has 6 fans and still overheats...it takes FREEZING air sucking-in to the intakes to cool it). If any are in bum circumstances and some of these cases are true, I wonder if some will try to replicate these cases to make claims? Then go after the computer makers while they're at it. Who knows more?
Intelligent idiots are we. | Evil men do not understand justice.
In 2001, 10% of the 100+ new Dell monitors burst into flames within the first two months. Because of very high ceilings, there were no real damage. And because we were a very big customer anyhow, they were falling over themselves to replace all the monitors, throw in plenty of extra equipment for free, and give us their bullshit form speech about how they take safety seriously, so there was no reason to turn it into a lawsuit.
Dell has a long history of all their products being fire hazards (a quick web search turns up plenty), and very, very few of them have ended up as product recalls.
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
They have to pay for the $7,000,000 jet and the various other expenses to keep unions at bay somehow. All that expense wasted when they could just go with a fair negotiation and perhaps bring back what was lost to NAFTA.
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
>What the corporate-owned media doesn't stress (or even mention) that the coffee was boiling hot (not drinkable) and all the woman wanted was the medical bills for her THIRD DEGREE BURNS paid. The McClown's McLawyers refused to settle.
*sigh* that old saw.
#1. Coffee at a temperature that would not cause serious 3rd degree burns for the length of time she says she left it on her lap (approximately 17 seconds) would be so tepid consumers will not accept it. Look it up yourself, the temperature of water that does not cause burns in this time is actually cooler than the maximum temperature in some US states. Not many are going to drink coffee that is cooler than the ambient temperature, or coffee only slightly warmer than ambient temperature. If you don't believe me, feel free to find a scientific study showing otherwise (iced drinks don't count).
#2. Coffee is hot and known to cause burns, even coffee at the temperature that the courts told McDonald's they should have been brewing it at (and furthermore, at that temperature still would have caused 3rd degree burns in her case). If you are handling a liquid known to scald, you do not handle it in a way that would require you to pool it on your skin for nearly half a minute. This is common sense.
#3. Her coffee was held in a way that seriously violated the above rule, in a cup between her legs and crotch. Would you hold a cup of liquid nitrogen there? If you said no, not only are you smart, but you should know that liquid nitrogen doesn't frostbite as quickly as "safe" coffee will burn.
Should McDonald's have paid her expenses? I don't know, it's difficult for me to tell. I know one thing, though, McDonald's said the vast majority of their customers do not drink the coffee in their store, that they drink it far enough away from the store it becomes cool at regular temperatures. I think a fair outcome of this trial wouldn't be such a ridiculous monetary benefit for the "victim", but rather a requirement that restaurants serving coffee at this elevated temperature note the time it will take for the coffee to cool down to drinkable temperature (assuming it is kept at room temperature) on the cups and on large, obvious signs in their restaurant.
But instead, because of the overreaction of the courts, we get useless words like "Coffee is hot" on cups, not warning customers of an unknown danger, but telling them something they already know. In the end, she truly was burned for nothing, and the only thing consumers gained from the experience is paying a little bit more for coffee cups, rather than the knowledge they actually need to know about the coffee they are drinking. That's the sad part of the tale. It's not that a woman with a lower than average understanding of the mechanics of scalding liquids got burned.
We note that there's a story mentioning computer companies being sued for hurting people and property with their exploding computers. If we get another McD's trial, rather than having either more education or safety, we will see these people get 10 M$ each (5 M$ to their lawyers, of course) and computers go up $0.05 because they will now carry stickers "Keep away from flammable materials. Computer may combust at any time." Yay.
FYI, for temperatures for 3rd degree burns, reference this site. You seem knowledgeable about the case and will notice what I've said about temperature and burns is true, that the only way she would avoid being burned is having been served coffee at 130 deg F.
The organization I work for bought a batch of 6 Dell computers last year. One of the monitors immediately started smoking and soon caught fire the first time it was plugged in and switched on. About a week later, one of the others was accidentally left on overnight (in standby since the computer was switched off). In the morning we came in to the smell of scorched plastic emanating from it. We have no idea why it didn't misbehave during the 8 hours per day that it was in active use.
Fortunately the replacements for both worked fine, but that second one could potentially have caused rather a serious fire.
I had a several year old Dell 21" LCD monitor catch on fire. Luckily I was in the house and awake at the time, so I smelled the smell of burning plastic and found the monitor sizzling inside and emitting smoke.
After unplugging it and setting it outside I called Dell support and after finally getting a real human to talk to told them my monitor caught fire. Apparently they were not paying attention because I was told I had to turn it on and run some diagnostics to make sure it wasn't my computer that was at fault. I had to repeat "It. Was. On. FIRE." twice before they finally got it and quickly told me, "Um, don't turn it back on!"
Once the point was made, I got a nice new one shipped to me and all was well.
I'm not suprised computers and monitors set things on fire. You have several high voltage sections and a large amount of amps available. If something gets shaken loose, breaks, or is shorted by say hair/dust buildup or spiders making a nest in it you can easily get a dangerous situation.
And thats for something well built and designed. You get one with a design flaw or using crappy components and it can go up in flames all by itself.
Outsourcing manufacturing to countries with limited or non-existent standards for safety and dysfunctional legal systems is a recipe for disaster. There is an enormous pressure to cut costs by any means necessary. Counterfeit components are ubiquitous. Safety and regulatory approvals are often forged, and the product that is manufactured isn't always the same as what was submitted to the testing labs. There are too many people in this world who will do anything for profit, including causing the death of strangers. Just look at the huge market for counterfeit drugs.
Companies like Dell should be held strictly liable for any injuries and damage caused by their products, even if the actual fault lies with an offshore factory. It is not "normal" for a properly designed monitor or power supply to catch on fire.
Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
I see your point, but consumer electronics are not EVER supposed to catch fire. When's the last time you heard of someone's razor, blow dryer (1500 Watts and gets hot enough to glow inside) etc. catching fire when less than 5 years old (or ever for that matter). Price pressure is no excuse to create a situation potentially hazardous to life. If fire safety means the PS can't cost less than $60, then that's what it should cost.
I imagine a few big dollar settlements will apply some correction to the problem.
the air intakes or the CPU cooler getting clogged with dust and dirt. I noticed my CPU running a few degrees higher than usual... a few minutes of brushing out crud made the problem go away. Perhaps the owner didn't know that this is a problem.
However, the way I avoid the problem is building my own boxes and avoiding $10 "500W" PSUs. (IMO, anyone who buys one should put part of the savings into a fire extinguisher)
Tech Public Policy stuff
type. CRTs and places with flammable gases (e.g. gasoline vapor) do not mix.
Tech Public Policy stuff
Be happy it wasn't AOL tech support back in the day. If you were to tell them you had smoke emanating from your PC, they'd tell you to reboot.
'He who has to break a thing to find out what it is, has left the path of wisdom.' -- Gandalf to Saruman
Oh, what a load of crap-ola. If these things burst into flame, it's because they were covered in grease (an auto shop) and someone spilled gasoline on top of them. Another cause would be that the PC was surrounded by a pile of newspapers from 1971 that the owner was saving in case they are ever worth something. Can we all say "half a story"?
someone ordered laptop batteries, and the order was accidentally filled by the munitions division.
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
i have had a few small pc fires in the past mostly due to the power supply or monoter. lucky in all cases the fires where small and quckly put out. and even the pcs where repairable. i own alot of electrical eq i always a keep a fire extinguisher rated for electrical fires to put anything out that catches fire. but its very rare when something does get that large to need it most pc fires as long as you cut the power put them selfs out. you would be surprised how many people spend tens of thousands of dollars on electrical eq for there home but doesent go get a fire extinguisher witch in most cases can be gotten for free from the local fire depot and recharging them is always free.
They will go up in smoke along with the rest of your house.
Most power supplies for computers and similar hardware use switching power supplies. These designs allow much smaller devices (compared to one with a heavy 50/60 Hz transformer). But the problem is that they impose greater stress on some of the components, especially electrolytic capacitors. If cheap capacitors are used that are not rated for switching stress, an early failure is programmed. Mostly the capacitor just pops at its predetermined breaking point, but in some cases it may explode.
I'm developing a power strip with smoke detector in it. It shuts off anything plugged into it at the first sign of smoke. Haven't found a manufacturer for it yet.
Prototype here.
Blog of computer fires and all other kinds of fires caused by electrical devices here.
The lemon law only applies on a vehicle, and only if it fails three times in a year (in most states, some allow for two failures,) for a new vehicle only. Used cars are Caveat Emptor.
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.