Dell looking into flaming laptop incident

You've got to hand it to Dell; even though its laptops may burst into flames at the most inopportune moments, at least the company has the good sense to conduct a prompt and public investigation into the matter (although the worldwide coverage of those "inflammatory" photos probably helped speed things up just a bit). Apparently the charred remains from that fateful conference in Osaka, Japan have been beamed back up to the mother ship, where Dell engineers are furiously working to discover how their product turned into a pyrotechnics show that amused and frightened us all. As usual, everyone's looking to pin this incident on that easiest of scapegoats -- the malfunctioning battery -- but whatever the problem turns out to be, we're sure hoping it gets fixed before another notebook decides to disobey the "no smoking" sign and light up on an airplane.

[physics @ Jun 29th 2006 11:31AM]

glad that wasn't on someone's lap when it blew.

how often does this really happen though,out of the millions of laptops in circulation?

maybe it was a stunt by sony to make dells look bad (well, that isn't too hard)

[David @ Jun 29th 2006 11:48AM]

I've had a Dell laptop for years, and that's *never* happened :)

[TC @ Jun 29th 2006 11:58AM]

I too have had a Dell laptop for years, and that**BANG* - AAAAAGHHHH!..................................

[TeleCustom @ Jun 29th 2006 12:07PM]

My brother had one start smoldering in his lap once. He was sent a replacement in about 3 days.

Said replacement was a bear - it died whenever it was left on for 24 hours, and after awhile just quit in general.

[syad @ Jun 29th 2006 12:09PM]

How could they do that? They are ripping off an Apple innovation! Apple was the first to have this notebook feature years ago!

[Bovine @ Jun 29th 2006 12:12PM]

I'm shocked! For once the "easiest of scapegoats" isn't Windows! I'm sure someone somewhere will fabricate some reason Windows caused it.

[Jeff S @ Jun 29th 2006 12:13PM]

Sharikou's scientific Journal of Pervasive 64 bit Computing says it's the Intel processor's fault. http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=18375538&postID=115089837857164512

[fashionfauxpas @ Jun 29th 2006 12:20PM]

if this was a windows related incident, and someone did get hurt... it could have been a "Blue Screen of Death!!!"

[Don Wilson @ Jun 29th 2006 12:33PM]

Nice, you guys managed to turn the phrase "We're looking into it" to a fairly large paragraph and entire blog post. Excellent.

[neXus @ Jun 29th 2006 12:50PM]

Dells are essential for ca,ping trips. You can watch videos, play music, use Excel and it adequately replaces sticks, matches or butane lighters. Not sure how environmentally friendly it is though...

[db @ Jun 29th 2006 1:05PM]

I had an Inspiron 8000 that had a CPU die and melt the case out of warranty. They sent me an Inspiron 8600 when I asked them what they wanted to do about a laptop that managed to melt itself.

[John @ Jun 29th 2006 1:10PM]

People, you do realize that the proper term for laptops is now "notebook", after a company got sued because they called them laptops, and someone had it in their laptop, and it burned their legs.

But anyways, I'm using a Dell notebook right now, and I hope it doesn't crash and burn.

[Dave @ Jun 29th 2006 1:21PM]

This seems like tampering.
I've had my computer burn out parts before (processor, motherboard), but it never burst into flames. There just aren’t any very combustible parts or fluids in a laptop, plus, how much wattage can a laptop burn out with if it's running on a battery?

Note to DIY-ers:
Someone with a ancient laptop should try to recreate this and see what it takes :)

[John @ Jun 29th 2006 1:26PM]

... You're trusting a photo taken by the Inquirer? Wow, that's sad.

[oshean @ Jun 29th 2006 1:32PM]

Of course you can blame Microsoft...it was caused by Windows Advanced Power Management, or lack of.

[EasilyOdd @ Jun 29th 2006 1:40PM]

This isn't new for Dell. Early in their first try at laptops, didn't they also have fire issues? I seem to recall that they just stopped selling laptops for a bit until they got it fixed.

[anon @ Jun 29th 2006 2:48PM]

John, its not the Nation Enquirer, its The Inquirer, a computer hardware news website.

[anon @ Jun 29th 2006 2:49PM]

^^^ Correction above ^^^ I meant the National Enquirer, not the Nation Enquirer

[russ d @ Jun 29th 2006 2:53PM]

my inpspiron 8100 melted the edge of my plastic desk in the dorms... imagine that happening on the tray table in economy class

[SubGenius @ Jun 29th 2006 5:02PM]

Ironically, it was a conference on global warming.

[LTM @ Jun 29th 2006 5:03PM]

For the American audience, this will come in real handy for the July 4th festivities!

[Dylan @ Jun 29th 2006 5:44PM]

According to Ubuntu, my processor temp averages at 170 degrees farenheit. Should I run?
NOTE: This is on an Inspion 5160, so it's not exactly lightweight (10lbs).

[cycomachead @ Jun 29th 2006 9:12PM]

so maybe Dell's Headquarters will explode soon ;)

[Dusty @ Jun 29th 2006 9:17PM]

Actually ....

Doctor Evil accidentally pressed the button at his Dell Laboratory which caused the premature explosion of one of his hidden flaming machine of death.

bwahaha

[DELL SUCKS @ Jun 29th 2006 10:04PM]

HA HA

DELL SUCKS

[Perrey Z. @ Jun 30th 2006 3:57AM]

Hey it wasn't a fake photo after all. Bad PR for them. But now that the incident has a link and a location {Japan} i wonder if this was an unfortunate incident or malicious set up by a rival Japanese computer manufacturer like Fujitsu, Hitachi or Panasonic to tarnish Dell's reputation in Japan...

I would have belive it without any questions if the incident had happened in China., But since it was in Japan, i have my doubts about the authenticity of the accident, even if i don't like Dell.

[mike @ Jul 12th 2006 8:42AM]

Dell computers in general SUCK, their computers over heat and they all can burst into flames. Dell rips the consumers off with their pricing and selling equipment that has bad components in them. they were in the news last year about their components beeing bad in all their computers. Their customer servise is bad and if you upgrade or change anything on their computers your warrenty is VOID.

[markini @ Jul 20th 2006 3:29PM]

i really hope this doesn't happen in an airplane.
i mean... what would happen if it's flying 10000 feet high?
you can't just throw it out the window.

[jalabi @ Jul 20th 2006 6:44PM]

To be fair to Dell, I once had a Compaq Presario notebook whose POWER SUPPLY regularly used to overheat to the extent that the casing partially melted from it.

[Alan @ Jul 31st 2006 11:32AM]

Actually, the cells used in laptop (sorry notebook) batteries contain an organic solvent which is very flamable. Also most cells use Lithium-Cobalt-Oxide, which can decompose and then burn at about 1700°C.

There is a circuit in the battery pack that should prevent an unsafe condition from happening. Sometimes it doesn't.

This photograph shows a very large flame and not much smoke. Normally it is the other way around, but I could believe it.

[edwin @ Aug 20th 2006 11:49AM]

Hey, actually it was a feature DELL wanted to put on their future release notebooks. They call it "u steal, u die!!!" feature. The owner remotely detonates the notebook.

Good idea huh?

[Webmaster @ Sep 19th 2006 7:03AM]

FirstEuropa.com - tu corredor de seguro en línea Primera declaración de la misión de Europa: El seguro de Ci2i (Ci2i) será el pan-europeo calificado del número uno commoditized el corredor de seguro en línea antes de 2010.

[battery @ Mar 7th 2008 4:09AM]

I tested this camera for a client. I didn’t have the light running for more than 15 minutes. The battery lasted approximately 6 hours before recharging. The LCD, however, had a few dead pixels - never saw this before. Tried returning for exchange and had to put up quite a fight. Anyone else seen this? http://www.batteryfast.co.uk
Most other sites are out of stock and even when they are in stock they have the black battery door which looks like crap. http://www.batteryfast.com.au
:)