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HP Recalls More Laptops For 'Fire and Burn Hazards' (cnet.com)
The US Product and Safety Commission just announced HP's "battery safety" recall of about 78,500 laptops for what the UPSC calls "fire and burn hazards." From a report: HP initiated the recall in January 2018, and expanded it in January 2019, but the news hadn't widely circulated because of the US government shutdown -- the UPSC finally posted the news to its site on Tuesday with the explanation "NOTE: This recall expansion was previously announced independently on January 17, 2019 by the firm due to US government furlough." This is part of a continuing series of battery recalls from HP. The January 28 recall was for about 51,000 models, but 41,000 were recalled in June 2016 and 100,000 in January 2017, bringing the total for the past 2.5 years to almost a quarter of a million.
Look no further: HP Notebook Computer and Mobile Workstation Battery Safety Recall and Replacement Program
From what I can tell, all affected models have internal batteries. Hope affected users have a spare computer they can use in the mean time, I guess.
There is no XUL, only WebExtensions...
Do they really have that many different types of laptops or are they just calling every laptop with a different cpu, ram hdd/ssd/gpu/screen a different model... answer... probably yes, Yes they do.
FFS
There's no UPSC, it's the US CPSC. HTH, HAND.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
...the "exploding laptop market".
"Shoot, a fella could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all that stuff."
Back in 1996, Apple recalled the PowerBook 5300 series due to a fire hazard in the battery. Apparently two computers had burned. Back in those days the battery could be removed and inserted without taking the computer apart. This means it would be technically possible to show up in the shop and get the battery replaced on the spot or just handing in the battery and use the computer plugged in while waiting for a new battery. I don't know if they did that, but there was no technical reason not to do so.
Later some issue came up on the main logic board. They didn't recall, but provided a 7 year extended warranty. You didn't even have to proof you were affected by the issue. Just having a 5300 series computer was enough for them to replace for free.
My 5300cs was affected by both. It also broke the floppy drive. The floppy drive was in a bay, which also supported a second HD and other goodies, meaning like the battery it could be removed without taking the computer apart. This allowed me to hand in the drive and keep the computer during the repair period. This too was a warranty repair.
Sometimes I wonder how and when Apple went from this level of service to whatever you call their current "screw you" service level. I mean just look at the early 2011 MacBook Pro. It took a class action lawsuit (or preparing one) to make them grant extended warranty for a GPU, which lasted 3 years and a few months (for computers with a 3 year Apple Care). The replacement GPU happens to die after 3 years as well and now no replacements can be found, either officially or unofficially. It really is an unfixable computer and it's my only computer, which has completely died since I started with computers in the 80s. Yes my PowerBook 5300cs is still working. Time has rendered it mostly useless, but I can boot it and use it for retro gaming if I really want to.
Neither has replaceable battery. I guess I could always use my test Panasonic Tough Pad if both laptops burn up.
Anonymous comments are as pathetic as the anonymous "sources" that contaminate gutless journalism from the New York Time
Saw a Macbook Pro that burned up inside due to battery failure, that battery was also glued in, so beyond having to remove a cover, how would you take out a battery glued in on fire?? Yeah, before capacity went up for batteries, and they became really thin to accommodate notebook designs. We never saw as much battery failures as we do now. I think some Dell XPS models have a swollen battery problem that Dell has yet to properly address.
You could try 'reflowing' the GPU on your 2011 MacBook Pro to resurrect is. It's not a guarantee to work, of course, but since it's currently unusable there's not really much to lose. For those wondering what reflowing entails, it basically means you heat up the GPU chip on the motherboard by using either a hot air gun (can find them for really cheap on Ebay) or if you want to get fancy there are also dedicated reflow 'stations' that are a bit more for the professional market.
These GPU's typically fail not because the chip goes bad, but because the chips solder ball joints crack and come loose from the motherboard due to thermal stress from normal use and poor airflow design. Reflowing melts the solder on the chip and causes it to rejoin with the board. I've fixed several laptops that had nothing but a black screen on boot, as well as several PS3's this way. The worst part is you have to dissasemble the unit down to the motherboard so you can have access to the GPU, but iFixit's site has really easy to follow teardown guides if you are interested.
Sorry, HP. The Halt and Catch Fire instruction was meant as a joke.
Only HP could design a laptop PSU connector containing a central pin thinner than a human hair.
Inevitably, all of our users are on their 3rd or 4th replacement. I buy cheap generic replacements because they're going to break again anyway, and why give more money to these fucking scum?
Why would anyone give money to a company which makes such badly designed products?
P.S. The PSUs are manufactured in China, probably very well, because none of them have ever failed in any other way. You can tell they've been designed by idiot money grabbing fucking Yanks though, can't you?