HP Recalls Another 100,000 Laptop Batteries After Reports of Overheating and Damage (techrepublic.com)

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HP Recalls Another 100,000 Laptop Batteries After Reports of Overheating and Damage (techrepublic.com)

Posted by msmash on Wednesday January 25, 2017 @02:00AM from the fault-in-our-batteries dept.

HP is continuing its recall of laptop batteries that could pose a risk to consumers. The company has recalled more than 100,000 lithium-ion batteries used in its notebook computers, according to Consumer Product Safety Commission. The recall expands one from HP in June, when an additional 41,000 batteries were recalled in the US. From a report on TechRepublic: The affected laptops were said to include a lithium-ion battery containing Panasonic cells that malfunctioned, leading to "overheating, melting and charring and causing about $1,000 in property damage," the US Consumer Product Safety (US CPSC) report said. The batteries in question could have been used in HP, Compaq, HP ProBook, HP ENVY, Compaq Presario, and HP Pavilion notebook computers. The recalled batteries were in laptops sold between March 2013 and October 2016, the CPSC report stated. Affected laptops could have been purchased at Best Buy, Walmart, Costco, Sam's Club, or another authorized dealer nationwide or online. The average cost of the laptops was between $300-$1700, and the standalone batteries were sold from $50-$90.

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Preview of things to come by Anonymous Coward · 2017-01-25 02:07 · Score: 0

Imagine what is going to happen as battery technology advances, and we gain the ability to store thousands of WH of energy in a pack. We'll be talking about detonations, not fires. We'll have to research each instance to verify that it wasn't a suicide bomber.
1. Re:Preview of things to come by Anonymous Coward · 2017-01-25 02:35 · Score: 0
  
  Good news for Samsung. They can just rename their battery naming subsidiary into a bomb maker and have a swath of new customers overnight!
2. Re:Preview of things to come by Anonymous Coward · 2017-01-25 07:54 · Score: 0
  
  What if the thing blew up accidentally as he was trying it on?
  "suicide bomber" sounds so definite
  He was one of the field testers; in fact he was hired to periodically check to see how good the product display was, outdoors
Sux 4 U by Anonymous Coward · 2017-01-25 02:16 · Score: 0

Ha Ha!!!
2st Psot by Anonymous Coward · 2017-01-25 02:16 · Score: 0

When did Samsung purchase HP?
Well there is one other possibility by Provocateur · 2017-01-25 02:26 · Score: 1

That the victim could have been some tech blogger, not necessarily from an Engadget wannabe, just trying out this weird new electronics device that HP accidentally left behind in a restaurant after one of their brainstorming lunches.
More like suicide blogger, seems to me.

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WARNING: Smartphones have side effects--most of them undocumented.
Which Laptop Models? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-01-25 02:27 · Score: 1

Which Laptop Models?
1. Re:Which Laptop Models? by suutar · 2017-01-25 06:12 · Score: 2
  
  perhaps more to the point, from the article: " The batteries included in this expanded recall have bar codes starting with: 6BZLU, 6CGFK, 6CGFQ, 6CZMB, 6DEMA, 6DEMH, 6DGAL and 6EBVA."
2. Re:Which Laptop Models? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-01-25 09:03 · Score: 0
  
  This doesn't help when you have multiple models of laptops. We have over 600 laptops. Multiple flavors of Probooks/Elitebooks ect. ect.
Batteries turn out to be dangerous by dargaud · 2017-01-25 02:31 · Score: 2

The more energy they pack, the more damage they are likely to cause when something goes south. Shouldn't there be some kind of national certification / testing program before they are allowed to be put on the market ? Discuss...

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Non-Linux Penguins ?
1. Re:Batteries turn out to be dangerous by dehachel12 · 2017-01-25 02:36 · Score: 0
  
  I see you asked 'should'. --> Yes. Won't happen: consumer protection is not necessary according to the US' party in power.
2. Re:Batteries turn out to be dangerous by Gilgaron · 2017-01-25 03:04 · Score: 1
  
  Ha! Maybe it'll end up required for CE or something and it won't be worth multiple SKUs
3. Re:Batteries turn out to be dangerous by TheGratefulNet · 2017-01-25 03:17 · Score: 0
  
  good luck with that. the R's are now in power and any kind of 'government agency' that does work for The People will get axed and/or have their budgets cut to where they are castrated and can't get anything useful done.
  regulation is a bad word for the R guys. they fail to see that it PROTECTS us. but nooooo. they want to keep selling us fake protection from boggeymen in semi-dark skins who live thousands of miles away and generally are harmless to us.
  
  --
  
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  "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
4. Re:Batteries turn out to be dangerous by dehachel12 · 2017-01-25 03:24 · Score: 1
  
  Sure. The president makes laws about that, not congress.
5. Re:Batteries turn out to be dangerous by Anonymous Coward · 2017-01-25 03:58 · Score: 0
  
  but nooooo. they want to keep selling us fake protection from boggeymen in semi-dark skins who live thousands of miles away and generally are harmless to us.
  Lithium batteries are generally harmless to us, yet you want fake protection from them.
6. Re:Batteries turn out to be dangerous by Anonymous Coward · 2017-01-25 04:05 · Score: 1
  
  Oh no.
  They don't "fail" to see that it protects us, don't even try.
  Their bosses - or sometimes even still employees or coworkers (see Cheney) - see that all too well. That regulation is what keeps them from screwing us up the buttocks till we bleed. And. They. Don't. Like. It.
  Never attribute to stupidity that which is adequately explained by malice.
7. Re:Batteries turn out to be dangerous by Anonymous Coward · 2017-01-25 04:15 · Score: 0
  
  The more energy they pack, the more damage they are likely to cause when something goes south. Shouldn't there be some kind of national certification / testing program before they are allowed to be put on the market ? Discuss...
  Why do you hate companies. If there is a problem its the customers fault and the free market will sort it out. Remember all regulations are bad no matter what they are and they hurt companies profits.
8. Re:Batteries turn out to be dangerous by Anonymous Coward · 2017-01-25 04:19 · Score: 0
  
  Lithium batteries should never have been approved for use in consumer devices. The hearing aid ones give me the major heebie jeebies.
9. Re:Batteries turn out to be dangerous by tlhIngan · 2017-01-25 05:08 · Score: 1
  
  regulation is a bad word for the R guys. they fail to see that it PROTECTS us
  The problem is regulations cost money. And increased costs mean less profit. Less profit is bad for all the CEOs and all that now in power in government.
10. Re:Batteries turn out to be dangerous by Anonymous Coward · 2017-01-25 05:33 · Score: 0
  
  The more energy they pack, the more damage they are likely to cause when something goes south. Shouldn't there be some kind of national certification / testing program before they are allowed to be put on the market ? Discuss...
  At my work we use HP laptops. I just spot checked a couple batteries to see if ours we're affected, but it seems we are not.
  Looking at a battery right now, it has both a "UL" and "CE" mark on it, so presumably they have already passed some kind of testing program.
11. Re:Batteries turn out to be dangerous by Solandri · 2017-01-25 09:14 · Score: 2
  
  Wouldn't help because the batteries aren't the problem per se. It's the charging circuitry and charge history. Lithium-ion batteries become unstable if overcharged, or over-discharged and then recharged. Any Li-ion battery which is tested and certified as safe can still catch fire or explode if it's been charged/discharged in an unsafe manner.
  
  Way back when Li-ion smart phones and laptop batteries first appeared, manufacturers attempted to address this problem by putting the charging circuitry in the battery pack. The phone or laptop merely presented the battery pack with a certain amount of voltage and current. The battery's charging circuitry decided how to use that to charge the battery. And if it decided the battery was in an unsafe state or behaving strangely, it killed it. Unfortunately, the market got flooded with cheap knockoff "compatible" battery packs which either had poor charge protection circuitry, or didn't even have any protection. This is what led to the spate of battery fires in early cell phones and Li-ion laptops.
  
  A certification / testing program might have helped back then. But it didn't happen, so manufacturers were forced to move the charge control circuitry into the phone or laptop as a result. That way you could put in a cheap aftermarket battery, and still be reasonably protected (lithium-ion cells are fairly generic in terms of how their voltage responds to charge). Consequently, testing and certifying the battery packs won't do much good.
HP = junk by Desler · 2017-01-25 02:36 · Score: 2

Dude! You're getting an...... HP?!!!
1. Re:HP = junk by Anonymous Coward · 2017-01-25 05:27 · Score: 0
  
  At least HP seems to be capable of delivering a computer; unlike Dull.
Attention tech manufacturers! by ctrlshift · 2017-01-25 02:54 · Score: 1

Stop trying to make your gadgets so ridiculously thin! Shaving an extra 4 mm off their profiles is not worth failure on this scale! Put some decent cooling in your chassis. Bonus points if you use some of that extra space for a real RAM slot, drive bay, or other modularities you've been quietly removing for the last few years!
1. Re:Attention tech manufacturers! by Desler · 2017-01-25 02:56 · Score: 1
  
  Laptop battery fires have been happening long since before people are making ultrathin laptops
2. Re:Attention tech manufacturers! by Anonymous Coward · 2017-01-25 02:57 · Score: 0
  
  And yet Macbook Airs have not been plagued with battery fires. You seem to be attributing the wrong source of the issue.
3. Re:Attention tech manufacturers! by Anonymous Coward · 2017-01-25 10:05 · Score: 0
  
  That's because Apple just learned their lesson with the hindenbooks: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/08/24/apple_battery_recall/
HP by Anonymous Coward · 2017-01-25 03:06 · Score: 0

... probably licensed the batteries from Samsung.
CSPC and HP Links by bosef1 · 2017-01-25 03:07 · Score: 4, Informative

Here are links to the CPSC and HP websites for the recall
CPSC
https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2017/HP-Expands-Recall-of-Batteries-for-HP-and-Compaq-Notebook-Computers
HP
http://www.hp.com/go/batteryprogram2016
Are these externally connected? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-01-25 03:20 · Score: 0

As in, the ones with a little spring-latch you can detach without unscrewing the back panel?
It looks like so on the image, but I'd rather be certain.
Please HP, I beg you... by LordHighExecutioner · 2017-01-25 03:26 · Score: 0

...not to enter into the market of washing machines, thanks!
w10 fix for the laggards by Anonymous Coward · 2017-01-25 05:32 · Score: 0

If they won't update, help them upgrade by melting down their w7 comfy gear.
Removable batteries by Anonymous Coward · 2017-01-25 07:13 · Score: 0

At least the batteries are removable so people can keep using their laptops and not have to mail their entire device off for the recall.
Mac book by lazy+genes · 2017-01-25 07:41 · Score: 0

I can make grilled cheese sandwiches with my older MacBook. Too bad the batteries only last a year or so.
External fireproof bag by Anonymous Coward · 2017-01-25 08:43 · Score: 0

Here's a free invention idea: a remote mount adapter / electrical extension, and house the battery in a fireproof bag (Nomex or something similar). Include thermal monitoring and an alarm.