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Dell laptop explodes at Japanese conference
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Kim
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1. Dell laptop explodes at Japanese conference
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last updated at 22 Jun, 2006 15:11 (2 times)
AN INQUIRER READER attending a conference in Japan was sat just feet away from a laptop computer that suddenly exploded into flames, in what could have been a deadly accident.

Guilhem, our astonished reader reports: "The damn thing was on fire and produced several explosions for more than five minutes".

Should you witness such an event, his advice is, "Don't try anything courageous/stupid, stay away, away, away!"

Full article at The Inquirer and thanks to Daniel Lee Kruse for the story.

Date: 22 Jun, 2006 on 15:09 Attachment: dell_banger1.jpg
Ben Dragon
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2. Re:Dell laptop explodes at Japanese conference
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My question is; What the hell did he put in his laptop to make it do that?

I was an electronic technician for years and there isn't a darn thing in a laptop that can cause that to happen.

The owner had something flamable in, on or near it.

The person with the camera was quick though... real quick.

---

Date: 22 Jun, 2006 on 15:58
Fahrvenugen
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3. Re:Dell laptop explodes at Japanese conference
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I agree, having had quite a few laptops apart, there is nothing in a laptop which can explode like that... something must have been added....

Unless there's some "new" type of copy-protection scheme which was added to VISTA??? (Just kidding... don't want any MS lawyers coming after me...)

Date: 22 Jun, 2006 on 19:34
Sebadoh
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4. Re:Dell laptop explodes at Japanese conference
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Ben Dragon (22 Jun, 2006 15:5:
My question is; What the hell did he put in his laptop to make it do that?

I was an electronic technician for years and there isn't a darn thing in a laptop that can cause that to happen.

The owner had something flamable in, on or near it.

The person with the camera was quick though... real quick.


Are you forgetting that laptops contain batteries, and batteries can explode

Date: 22 Jun, 2006 on 20:56
warprulz
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5. Re:Dell laptop explodes at Japanese conference
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mms://media.keloland.com/KELO/062106DVD.wmv
Sorry they use WMVs, but here is another device with battery explosions.
http://www.keloland.com/news/NewsDetail5440.cfm?ID=0,48921
Daniel
Date: 22 Jun, 2006 on 21:39
Kim
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6. Re:Dell laptop explodes at Japanese conference
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Well, I have a Dell 8600 and couple of month ago the battery got really hot for some weird reason; the laptop was laying unused with the bottom side up so no problem with airflow; but I almost burnt my self on it (it feelt that way) ; I pulled the power cable and ripped out the battery for cooling.

And as well, Apple have had similar problem earlier....

Date: 23 Jun, 2006 on 00:49
Ben Dragon
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7. Re:Dell laptop explodes at Japanese conference
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Good lord!

For batteries to overheat like that is no minor matter and is a manifestation of some really bad design.

A simple heat sensor with an accompanying cut off switch would solve that problem and is easy enough to design and implement.

Having said all that, I still think that something else was involved in the explosion pic above. It's a long way from batteries getting hot to batteries exploding. All batteries get warm, (and some quite warm), during the charging process and they don't lead to explosions.

Hell, I've seen a solid iron bar dropped across car battery terminals and the bar glow red in the middle. While such a large current draw is not good for the batter, (or the bar), it was a long way from being explosive.

---

Date: 23 Jun, 2006 on 17:21
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8. Re:Dell laptop explodes at Japanese conference
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In the photo, it seems there might have been a beverage nearby. If it contained alcohol and if it was accidently spilled on the laptop when it was very hot, perahps the beverage caught fire? (just a theory).

There are working on fuel cells for laptops. Fuel cells have methane gas that is compressed. Perhaps a leak in the methane thank? (another theory).

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Date: 23 Jun, 2006 on 19:23
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9. Report: Dell Notebook Goes Up in Smoke
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http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1980568,00.asp
" Dell says it's investigating an incident in which one of its laptops is said to have caught fire. ... "

more information on the subject.

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Date: 23 Jun, 2006 on 19:32
BigWarpGuy
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10. Re:Dell laptop explodes at Japanese conference
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http://www.tgdaily.com/2006/07/13/ntsb_laptopbattery_upsfire/
"Washington (DC) - Laptops get hot, but can they cause a plane to catch on fire? The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is investigating whether laptop batteries caused a UPS cargo plane to catch on fire last February. The DC-8 plane with three crew members made an emergency landing at Philadelphia International Airport after a fire broke out in the cargo hold. The fire continued to burn for four hours destroying the plane and most of the UPS packages inside. "

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Date: 17 Jul, 2006 on 14:49
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11. NTSB looks into whether laptop batteries caused UPS plane fire
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http://www.ajc.com/business/content/business/stories/0712bizups.html
"WASHINGTON — Did laptop batteries aboard a UPS cargo plane catch fire, causing it to ignite into flames?

The National Transportation Safety Board began looking into the question at a hearing Wednesday.

All three crew members on the plane owned by the Sandy Springs-based delivery giant were treated for minor injuries after it made an emergency landing shortly after midnight Feb. 8 at the Philadelphia airport.

The crew declared an emergency on approach into Philadelphia. Fire and rescue crews met the four-engine jet, a DC-8 that originated in Atlanta, when it touched down shortly after midnight.

...
"

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Date: 17 Jul, 2006 on 14:50
warpcafe
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12. Re:Dell laptop explodes at Japanese conference
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last updated at 17 Jul, 2006 17:52 (2 times)
Folks,

for me that's just one more story pointing to low-cost "compatible" batteries... I've followed various news stories over the years about people buying cheap "compatible" batteries for cell phones (in that cases) along with cheap "compatible" car chargers ending up in exploding batteries, burning cars... etc.

You know, I really don't doubt that there might be some funny people somewhere on this planet that sold together non-rechargeable batteries along with "compatible" housings to sell them... well, "somewhere" by telling that it's compatible for a given device or model, not caring about whether this might blow up someone on the globe just in order to make money.

And I know of cases where people had injuries from placing notebooks on their laps without checking the heat first...
I also know of AC adaptors for e.g. external hard disks that had power cords without sufficient isolating material coating at the contacts edge that led to electrical hazard (with the adaptors being recalled by the manufacturer).

In this special case, I also suspect the table-cloth migth have been involved in the incident... (inflammable material?). On the second photo however it seems that the front part of the notebook is on fire only (area below the touchpad). This doesn't look like the cpu was causing the heat but rather the battery part of the machine.
The only thing that makes me wonder is that the thing was on fire for about "five minutes" as the witness states. Come on! Five minutes? That wouldn't have left anything of the notebook but a bunch of charcoal!

Finally, as a co-organizer of this year's Warpstock Europe I might think about not admitting people with Dell models to the event... )

Greetings
Thomas

Date: 17 Jul, 2006 on 17:49
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13. "I heard a small poof:" The story of a Dell on fire
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http://www.tgdaily.com/2006/07/31/dellonfire_laptopfire/
"Vernon Hills (IL) - It began with a soft pop and then turned into a one hot and blazing notebook: Henrik Gustavvson saw one of his firm's Dell computers bursting into flames and documented the events. The story, first published in the Tom's Hardware Forumz, have become an Internet sensation - reason enough for TG Daily to learn more about the story behind the pictures. ... "
http://www.tgdaily.com/picturegalleries/gallery-20060731-1.html
Another article on laptops that catch on fire with photos.

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Date: 01 Aug, 2006 on 14:13
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14. Net Turns Up a Second Burned
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http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1996898,00.asp
"Dell says it's investigating a report of a second laptop fire.

The Round Rock, Texas, PC maker says it's working to gain possession of a machine which melted itself at a Vernon Hills, Ill., company July 25.

A company employee posted pictures and a description of the incident, in which he said the machine's battery burned, on Tom's Hardware Forumz. .... "

another Dell catches fire?

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Date: 01 Aug, 2006 on 14:18
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15. Dell detonation III: the revenge
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http://blog.scifi.com/tech/archives/2006/07/31/dell_detonation_1.html
"Yo, Dell, enough with the exploding laptops already! It's a tired plot device, not to mention so predictable. It's getting to the point that whenever I get within 10 feet of one of your notebooks I hold my hands up to protect my face. .... "

Makes one not want a Dell (opposite of one of the Dell commercials; 'Your getting a Dell due' ).

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Date: 04 Aug, 2006 on 14:14
BigWarpGuy
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16. Dell to recall batteries, cites fire hazard
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"The recall is the largest in the history of consumer electronics"
Robert Mullins
"August 14, 2006 (IDG News Service) -- Computer maker Dell Inc. will recall 4.1 million laptop computer batteries because of a potential fire hazard, the company announced Monday.

The lithium-ion batteries being recalled are installed in 4.1 million laptops sold between April 2004 and July 18 of this year. According to Dell, the laptops with which the batteries were sold were the Latitude D410, D500, D505, D510, D520, D600, D610, D620, D800 and D810; the Inspiron 6000, 8500, 8600, 9100, 9200, 9300, 500m, 510m, 600m, 6400, E1505, 700m, 710m, 9400 and E1705; and the Precision M20, M60, M70 and M90 mobile workstations; and the XPSTM , XPS Gen2, XPS M170 and XPS M1710. "
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9002459&source=NLT_AM&nlid=1

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Date: 15 Aug, 2006 on 14:08
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17. Dell recalls 4.1 million notebook batteries
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"Austin (TX) - After several reports of self-combusting laptops, Dell is recalling millions of lithium-ion batteries. More than 4.1 million batteries for the Dell Latitude, Inspiron and Precision notebooks are being recalled. The batteries were made by Sony and were sold between April 2004 and July 18, 2006. "
Humphrey Cheung
http://www.tgdaily.com/2006/08/15/dell_laptopbattery_recall/

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Date: 15 Aug, 2006 on 14:21
Kim
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18. Re:Dell laptop explodes at Japanese conference
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Actually today Dell announced a new program to recall batteries for about 5 millions laptops. Among other my laptop used at home is on the list and i couldn't agree more since the issue that I had with it.

Here is the list of the Dell laptops that's part of the new program:

* Latitude: D410, D500, D505, D510, D520, D600, D610, D620, D800, D810
* Inspiron: 500M, 510M, 600M, 700M, 710M, 6000, 6400, 8500, 8600, 9100, 9200, 9300, 9400, E1505, E1705
* Precision: M20, M60, M70, M90
* XPS: XPS, XPS Gen2, XPS M170, XPS M1710

And here is a link to Dell Battery Return Program page:

https://www.dellbatteryprogram.com/

/Kim

Date: 15 Aug, 2006 on 19:53
Dell laptop explodes at Japanese conference
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