Today's "
Dell laptop bursts into flames" story brought to you by "Henrik the Automation Engineer" of Vernon Hills, Illinois. Quick on the draw with his 7.2 megapixel camera, "Henrik" managed to document the amusing / scary saga of his coworker's notebook, well, pulling a Dell -- and as the placement of the gaping hole in the lappy's burned-out husk indicates, there's little doubt as to the cause of this blaze. C'mon, Dell, enough with the
inquiries: if you've really
been aware of this dangerous defect for several years now, it's time to fess up and let your customers know the full extent of the problem. Because until you do, these little incidents are going to continue to get a ton of press -- and models from HP and Gateway are going to continue looking more and more attractive to consumers who value life and limb.
[Thanks, Blake]
posted July 28th 2006 10:07AM
sweet, dell's blowing up in my home town. seeing vernon hills on the front page of engadget made my day.
What model is this?!
Dell should make their laptops out of metal...that way, when they explode you still have a branding iron.
Sideways branded E's anyone?
Dell laptops need to be banned on Airplanes.
did it beat the macbooks top temperature though whilst on fire? lol (joke)
Dell branding irons anyone??
oh god. dell??
oh dell? how to explain it
What models fall under the "highly flamable" category? Anyone know?
@(Unverified)
I am going to just say what models of laptops will explode. "All"
Keep in mind that its only Dell laptops that have the battery failure which is causing this fire, but ANYTHING with a lithium-ion battery has the potential to go up in a very hot, firey mess.
Don't poke holes in lithium-ion batteries. They hurt.
Way to stick it to the man!
haha its my hometown too, it as well made my day haha
haha awsome, im waitin for mine to expload, cmooon i want a new laptop.
Sweet! Thats our standardized notebook we use at work, the 600 series. GO DELL!
WTF how did they take the fire out? By throwing sand on it?
What is more dangerous, a Dell laptop or an Apple laptop (which Apple insists should not be used on a lap).
This looks like perfect material for a lawsuit.
Finished.Law.School:
No one called them Laptops anymore. They are called Notebooks. Apple is no the only one to "insist" that it shouldn't be used on the lap. For a lawyer you sure are stupid.
That's the one thing my Inspiron 9100 hasn't done in the two years I've had it. Everything else has broken though...maybe it's time I got a fire extinguisher?
omfg! I was seriously considering getting an XPS from Dell at the end of this summer, but this second explosion has put me off for real this time. Yes, I'd rather spend a few more bucks in exchange to keep my limbs.
I know that I find it tough to coupe with stuff all the time, but that's probably because I have a station wagon.
Dude! You now lack a dell!
P.S. Kevin stop being a jerk.
P.S. Eric stop telling people to stop being a jerk.
Not a good way to cook your breakfast
That's good,I never looked a post like it,thanks for shareing this
http://www.batteries-shop.net
Dear Kevin,
I found your response to Finished Law School somewhat amusing. First off it seemed there was really no reason for you to call anyone stupid for referring to a notebook as a laptop. I agree most manufactures now refer to their products as notebooks, but for many years these handy little computers were always called by all, laptops. So I think you have to let that slip up go now and then. What I found most interesting was, you assumed lawyers were all smart and Finished Law School was an exception. Do you really believe this? Who’s the “stupid” one now?
Imagine if it was on your lap?
That would have been a HUGE lawsuit.
*Yawn*
While a Li-Ion battery exploding is pretty darn scary, so is getting hit by a bush or being struck by a bolt of lightning.
Like greyskies said, this is the nature of batteries, especially lithium ion batteries, and it just seems to me to be a general risk of life that we deal with for power on the go. Maybe someone more versed in this can explain, but I don't see how you can necessarily get a 100% perfect manufacturing process or a testing procedure that will weed out every dud of a battery. Dell's the one getting the publicity, but I bet it's happened to the others too. Dell just has the luck of having folks with digital cameras around.
That yellowish-white powder all over the laptop is from a Dry Chemical Extinguisher.
http://www.fire-extinguisher101.com/
pffft..
just another reason NOT to buy a dell
they suck
-_-
imho they're gonna need to do something good to get back in my good books.
Dear Mr Dell,
May I suggest your company to provide an upgrade option for a Dell fire extinguisher (or two, with a 10% discount) with your notebooks? I have a feeling that your future customers will NOT regret purchasing this option.
Also, I will duly appreciate a T-shirt
with "I luv my flaming Dell" plastered across it.
Thanks and have a good day!
Regards,
Richard Lai
PS: Kevin, it sounds like you work for Dell. If so, would you mind passing this letter to your boss? Thanks.
yes, I am a jerk.
Wow, I never thought I'd say this, but I'm glad I was cheap and got a Compaq notebook.
Someone asked what's more dangerous? An Apple laptop that you're advised tno to use on your lap or a dell laptop that bursts into flames.
I think it should be patently obvious to anybody that something that bursts into falmes is just a little tiny bit more dangerous than something which is hot. While I feel uncomfortable using my macbook on my lap it's not impossible. If I had a cool to the touch Dell laptop (which it's not) that I put on my lap and then it burst into flames I would be a bit more than uncomfortable.
Maybe an internal fire bottle like on aircraft engines?
OMFG - I am still laughing my ass off over Kevin's comments to Sithlord!! Keep it up.
Dude you got yourself a dud!
When they put that flaming paint job on their XPS model, they weren't kidding.
Dell fanboys to your battlestations!
Looks like a Latitude D600 or a D610. Of the business fleet variety.
Dell has already published how to check and how to replace defective bacteries.
"As part of the recall announcement, Dell set up a web site, DellBatteryProgram.com to assist customers with suspect units in replacing suspect notebook batteries:
https://www.dellbatteryprogram.com"
All I can say is that one of these days I'm going to witness something like this... I work at a campus help desk and ~90% of the laptops we service are Dells... I do believe one day soon our service area / server room will go up in flames due to a faulty Dell li-ion battery. We've run into every other hardware failure with Dells, this seems like the next logical progression.
ewwww, there are DELL fanboys!???
WHY!?? That really doesnt make any sense at all.
Apple fanboys sort of make sense cause of thier different OS but even then it doesnt make any sense. Superior brand does not always equal superior product, apple used to be a great example with thier crap power pc processors.
Dell has already published how to check and how to replace defective batteries:
"As part of the recall announcement, Dell set up a web site, DellBatteryProgram.com to assist customers with suspect units in replacing suspect notebook batteries:
https://www.dellbatteryprogram.com"
does the method for checking defective batteries include running a program for a long time to see if the battery blows up ? O.O
Interesting. That looks just like my Dell, and the CD/DVD drive is on the right. The battery is on the left. Perhaps this is a Photoshop. I have yet to see a CD drive go up in flames.
Shouldn't that last line be "who value life, limb, and laptop"? Oh Engadget, you missed a chance to make a bad pun--for shame!
Perfect! I have to move soon, so now i can leave my 5100 (which is known for overheating) on a stack of newspapers next to the gas-powered heating unit. Sooner or later there will be a Boom, and then my out- of-court settlement/insurance reinbursment. Insurance fraud and moving have never easier.
if there was a real problem with the dell notebooks actualy igniting i think dell would be more proactive in contacting cust who may have defective devices. like microsoft did with the defective Xbox pwr cords. i would worry more about your notebook battery not working propery that i would about it setting on fire.
The image could be reversed...?
I wonder if this was the guys wallpaper?
http://tinypic.com/cl15k