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Sony Recalls 73,000 Vaio Laptops Due To Burn Worry
alphadogg writes "Sony is recalling 73,000 Vaio TZ laptops because of a possible manufacturing defect that may cause them to overheat, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission said Thursday. The recall relates to a problem with wiring near the computer's hinge, which could short-circuit and overheat in certain circumstances, perhaps burning the user. One person has suffered a minor burn as a result of the latest defect, and Sony has received 15 other reports of overheating computers, according to the Commission."
Sony having a defective laptop? I've never heard of that happen. Sony products are perfect.
The recall relates to a problem with wiring near the computer's hinge, which could short-circuit and overheat in certain circumstances, perhaps burning the user.
That sounds like a design defect, not a manufacturing defect.
The overheating could be caused by misplaced wiring near the hinge, or if a screw in the hinge falls out and short-circuits the wires.
Nice, that's usually where the inverter is. The only better way to make a true Sony-style exploder would be a short across the battery terminals!
I had a sony walkman once, it blew up in my pants. did wonders for my sexlife.
Apparently, the famous CD rootkit wasn't good enough at preventing piracy. Well, this new tool in the fight will burn your fingers clean off. I'd like to see you try to pirate a CD when you can't even pick it up.
SJW n. One who posts facts.
guess i'll need to wait until I can call their hotline or something. (1-888-526-6219 if you're that interested...)
The World Wide Web is dying. Soon, we shall have only the Internet.
At least they weren't shipped with rootkits! Well, I THINK they weren't but how could you know?
I know that after being rooted by a music CD, I'll never have a Sony product burn me (except maybe my TV, which I bought before being burned by XCP). Once bitten, twice shy. Other corporations should take heed.
mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
What the hell was that?!? Don't you ever try to be funny again, EVER!
The recall relates to a problem with wiring near the computer's hinge, which could short-circuit and overheat in certain circumstances, perhaps burning the user.
Users generally get burned for buying Sony anyway.
Ahh he is probably just a little worked up because his Vaio ignited his balls.
You are all a bunch of idots.
What ever happened to that? My dad has a Sony tv that he got around when I was born. When I hit about 12 he got a new Sony tv. And it died, and the old one is still ticking.
"Thanks for all the money you paid to us. We've used it to buy off ISO among other things" -Microsoft
Up to 440,000 laptops now.
...take off all those illegal Sony Music MP3s you've downloaded before you return it.
Gentoo Linux - another day, another USE flag.
I know exactly what happened. Follow along. Prior to about 1990, most electronics systems were made of more parts (less system on a chip type stuff) and the technology for putting those parts together was different. When you use a 4-7 layer board, with lead containing solder, and few if any surface mount components, the connections are more reliable. Some might argue, but it's true. The technology for using lead free solder and surface mount components is almost an art. You're not going to get joe at the tv repair shop to fix your mp3 player very often these days. Consequently, design techniques and technology also changed. Reliability is not something they design in for the 'lifetime' of the device because life expectancy is not 15 years any more, it's about 3 years tops. It's not designed for obsolescence, it just happens that way, so 15 year reliability is not a big bonus anymore.
With surface mount components and technology, most consumer devices have become 'throw away' technology. That is to say it's cheaper to build a new one than to repair the broken one. It's been that way for some 15+ years. So it has become a gamble: make something that lasts long enough for the next model to come out, just replace any defects. Most "repairs" in the last 15 years are nothing more than putting a new case on the outside. Note that Apple has had some problems as have other manufacturers. The Razor sucked as an example.
Despite many such failures in consumer products, I have yet to find anyone complaining bitterly about Panasonic or sharp. Does anyone have horror stories from them? Sharp makes the Sidekick, and I have to say I'm rather impressed with that product.
This is why extra warranty time is a rip-off. If the product is going to fail, it will fail in the first year, if not, it will probably last for 7+ years... well past typical usefulness to most markets.
RoHS in manufacturing programs are also causing things to happen that will bit by bit reduce long term reliability. That's just how it is. Perhaps some nanotech will come along to fix the problems induced by current manufacturing technology trends. I hope so.
Support NYCountryLawyer RIAA vs People
I think the recall relates to something more than the general trend toward laptops running hotter...
But to your point, a few things.
First, heat as waste energy... well, sort of. All of the energy that goes into your computer comes back out. (Remember, using energy doesn't mean the energy is gone.) If we exclude the energy that's deliberately converted to light for the monitor, a good chunk of that is ultimately coming out as heat regardless of what happens to it in the mean time.
Yes, a more energy-efficient processor (and other hardware) will run cooler, all else being equal. However, dividing the energy that goes into a computer into "useful" vs. "waste heat" isn't really accurate.
But my real point is, it's not as if a laptop today is equivalent to a laptop 5 years ago except less energy-efficient. Newer laptops are smaller, which makes it harder to dissipate the heat generated. Also, processors are faster (and by other measures "more powerful"). Transistor counts go up, so does power consumed... and again, "consumed" mostly means "dissipated as heat".
I wouldn't say that we're "designing hotter laptops"; I'd say we're designing smaller/faster laptops and increases in efficiency haven't kept up wtih the level of cool running we'd become acustomed to.
Well, there are multiple levels of protection in lithium ion battery circuits, they don't always work... There should be a fusible link in the battery pack itself that protects against a full on short. There are current limiters in the battery supervisior circuits. The earlier recall of the exploding-Sony-battery was due to little tiny metal particles in the battery shorting the cell out directly - failing before the failsafe circuitry if you will. But I think this particular failure was just a semi chronic overheat situation that fried some components slowly and caused a failure.
The problem with monitoring the power draw from the BIOS / OS is that if the hardware decides to fritz out, it just might forget to tell the software about it.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
Here they say its more like 440,000 recalled. I expect a little variation, but this is a major difference...makes me wonder if one is talking about worldwide, and one local. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7598344.stm
I specifically buy Sony optical drives because
1. I've generally not had problems with them and
2. I get a real good chuckle when I make illegal copies of audio discs recorded on their label.
We should give them some credit. Dell ignored their issue until Jarvis really hammered them. I'd seen a least a dozen incidents of dell's starting fires. At least Sony admitted the problem and initiated the recall before their customers started having real issues.