Dell laptop number 3 explodes

This time it was in Singapore, a Dell Latitude D410. We'll keep posting these until we see a recall or a solution, so please Dell, treat 'em right.

[Thanks, Robert]

[flareak @ Jul 31st 2006 12:10AM]

I'm soooo glad I didn't have to buy a Dell

[mastershake916 @ Jul 31st 2006 12:16AM]

Yay! engadget is doing something good!

[ehattey @ Jul 31st 2006 12:27AM]

And you guys bitch about my Apple Laptop running too hot... hahahahaha..... i can see their new add promo now "DUDE, you got a third degree burn"

[John Doe @ Jul 31st 2006 12:31AM]

Are we sure these are IMF branded Dell laptops? ;-)

[Markfive @ Jul 31st 2006 12:44AM]

This is getting a bit weird. Can you imagine if this sort of thing happened at an airport? Or if it were on someone's lap while they were using it?

[Yem @ Jul 31st 2006 12:57AM]

What do these notebooks have in common? Core Duo CPU? ATI video?
Anything apart from the manufacturer?

[Keith L. Dick @ Jul 31st 2006 1:14AM]

Just be glad it's not (or may not be) a precursor to a Portable Nuke...

I'm sure over the last 40-years there have been many things that *Blew Up* that since News & TV were not at their best like they are now, bascially we never heard about them...

[Savant @ Jul 31st 2006 1:17AM]

"We'll keep posting these until we see a recall or a solution, so please Dell, treat 'em right."

You do know that there already has been a recall on these batteries right?

https://www.dellbatteryprogram.com/

[HckySo @ Jul 31st 2006 1:18AM]

So what happens if they're using it on their laps and this happens? I'm just waiting for that to happen.

[gerbick @ Jul 31st 2006 1:20AM]

Guys... there is already a "recall" already in place.

https://dellbatteryprogram.com/Default.aspx

Check your battery. You might have to still call them, my D600 has the right number(s), but once I put it in there, it stated that I was not eligible. No way I'm going to have a lapbomb sitting around just waiting though. They better replace it...

[gerbick @ Jul 31st 2006 1:23AM]

oops, Savant beat me to it.

[[noodle] @ Jul 31st 2006 1:23AM]

just like paris hilton would say. "that's hot"

[Chris @ Jul 31st 2006 1:27AM]

Hehe. I think the whole never-ending Flaming Dell Notebooks situation is hilarious. Especially their 'attempt' to investigate. If they are investigating it they should(or already) have recalled already or will very soon.

[Perrey Z. @ Jul 31st 2006 1:28AM]

Damn! this is NOT funny, guys. This is very serious. The incidents are now happening more frequently. But i notice they are mostly in Asia. Still, what's the position of Dell regarding these incidents?

What could be next., an explotion and a potential fire hazard inside an home or an airplane?, a person with second or third degree burns? Dell needs to address this safety issue ASAP!

[Binome @ Jul 31st 2006 1:45AM]

let me be the first to say

lolzors j00 g0t pw3nd stupid n00b! dell catches fire lolololol!!111

*aolspeak off

nothing to see here, move along.

[Intellectualdiot @ Jul 31st 2006 1:58AM]

In a time of such crisis, the world needs the Dell Dude more than ever.

Come back to us Steven, show us the way.

[Lzrman @ Jul 31st 2006 2:05AM]

Reading this while typing this on my lap with my bare feet and no where to run, this is freaken me out. First thing I do right now is check *L*

[dustandechoes91 @ Jul 31st 2006 2:15AM]

i know why this is happening. When dell bought alienware, they angered tyhe great fire gods from some other planet, and now they have decided to take revenge on us humans. The next one to explode is going to be in a government test facility, when a scientist happens to be doing some work, with his dell laptop set on top of a nuclear weapon.


And so it begins.......

[Christopher @ Jul 31st 2006 2:46AM]

I don't know. I think that Dell Recall site should tell people why they should send it back. Kind of Shady in my opinion to say nothing about it.

https://dellbatteryprogram.com/Default.aspx

[JAdmiral @ Jul 31st 2006 3:01AM]

We BLOWED it up!

...Yeah, we blowed it up REAL GOOD!

[John @ Jul 31st 2006 3:19AM]

"Kind of Shady in my opinion to say nothing about it."

Did you even read the page? The very first paragraph says why you should send it back...

"It is possible for these batteries to overheat, which could pose a risk of fire."

[Ethyriel @ Jul 31st 2006 3:21AM]

Once again proving the viability of the ever popular 'cut costs til there's nothing left to cut!' business model. Somehow the Dell execs thought buying Alienware would fix this, apparently they didn't realize that Alienware has been peddling junk for years now. Or maybe they did.

I can almost see The Dell Wall going up next to the various memorials in DC, lest we forget. "See Timmy, this is what saving a buck got your father. First degree burns and a piece of gloss coated shrapnel through the jugular. Now let's go see grandpa at the Vietnam memorial, at least he thought he had honor."

[Mikw @ Jul 31st 2006 3:33AM]

Man, I just got a dell desktop and I'm scared to fuss with it to much now.

[Kyle @ Jul 31st 2006 3:46AM]

Hey this one looks nice in comparison to the other two. A new battery and maybe some of the ipod scratch fix stuff and it'll be good as new.

----

Top 3 reasons against overclocking laptops.

[adrian @ Jul 31st 2006 3:54AM]

What I'm also surprised of, is that these happened within weeks of each other.

[l337cyclist @ Jul 31st 2006 4:16AM]

Happy to say the https://www.dellbatteryprogram.com/ website doesn't affect the battery in my dell. I would HATE to be the guy who's laptop explodes in the airport or plane. Jailtime!

[Penn @ Jul 31st 2006 4:37AM]

im buying a laptop for school and i was on the fence between a dell and a mac....and this fact alone has made me go with a macbook....

[knite19 @ Jul 31st 2006 5:18AM]

can't wait until one explodes on a plane. chaos would ensue and people would suspect the guy for terrorism.

[Rynth @ Jul 31st 2006 5:30AM]

Im thinking i mights remove the fire warning sticker from my Dell that i put there a year ago(just incase i anger any gods or something) im starting to think it might be needed.....

[Florent @ Jul 31st 2006 5:31AM]

@Penn : be happy, I had both, and there are so many differences between the two worlds that it is not just a question of safety. Once you have tried a Mac, it is hard to go back. Enjoy ! That said, honestly, 3 out of millions does not make Dell a dangerous choice, to my opinion... As every brand buys batteries to chineese suppliers, this may happen to Apple as well.

[Agent Johnson @ Jul 31st 2006 5:34AM]

This message will self destruct, on the proper equipment.

[dtmccall @ Jul 31st 2006 6:01AM]

As to the person who commented about it being hard to go back once you try a Mac...I started with Macs, but switched to Windows because most of the advertised jobs wanted Windows skills, not Mac...and besides, I like not having to wait an extra year or two for software (assuming its even released for the Mac, which not all manufacturers do).

And besides, I like being able to build my own machine...which never used to be an option with Macs (I'm not even sure if its an option now.)

[Apoorva @ Jul 31st 2006 7:14AM]

Shit. I'm on an Inspiron 9300 right now O_O

I feel extremely unsafe even if there have been only 3 "kabooms".

Apoorva

[shawn troxel @ Jul 31st 2006 7:44AM]

hey, you think the 410 is nutz, wait till you seethe problems the 420 has. i used to do tech support for these guys and we had three test D420's do the same because 2 of it's hottest components(battery and hdd) are in the same bay with nothing more than a thin strip of ***RUBBER*** (that is likely to melt) between them, and i have replaced dozens of 410's long before they reached this point.

[mk @ Mar 15th 2008 9:33AM]

so, what are the structural aspects of the dells that make them so prone to overheating and spontaneous explosions? (i know the explosions are rare, only 3 out of 2.5 million apparently, but they still happened, didnt they?) is it because the battery and the HDD are in the same bay?

this is kinda freaky, i ordered a dell latitude d410 a little while back without knowing about all this exploding battery stuff... it hasn't arrived yet, but now im wondering if i made a mistake. it's configured with a gig of RAM, and has an 80 GB HDD... so, what's the probability that i'll have really serious issues with overheating parts? would anyone be able to give me an idea?

thanks ~
:)

[shawn troxel @ Jul 31st 2006 8:22AM]

oh, and by the way for you guys talkin about battery recall, that location would be the hdd or maybe the cpu, the recalled batteries, made between oct 04 and oct 05, were leaking and getting hot and even corroding contacts, but not lightin the notebooks on fire, still 3 out of 2.5 million sold during that time frame is not bad, but to prevent it, never configure a ultralight with more than a half gig or ram, only standard 4200 rpm drives(i know they suck) and monitor charging cycles, in other words avoid any dell less than eight pounds, or you will call every week with a heat issue that will not be acknowledged until your system starts up with error M1004 during post, dell's stance is either see this message or melting plastics, otherwise, you don't have a heat issue, i bet this owner was told the same thing if they called about it before it happened.

[rj @ Jul 31st 2006 8:55AM]

it's not just dell that has these problems. apple has had them in the past as well:

http://wcco.com/consumer/local_story_148150249.html
http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml05/05179.html

and i'm sure that other manufacturers may have had similar problems. as posted earlier... dell already has a recall in place. so why keep bringing this crap up engadget?

[hesh @ Jul 31st 2006 8:57AM]

Are they going to start offering fire extinguishers as an option? Or maybe a free $200 gift card to your local hospital for burn treatments?

[John @ Jul 31st 2006 9:22AM]

First of all, their technical name isn't laptop, it's notebook. If Dell (and every other computer company) were to call them laptops, and it catches fire on someone's lap, they would definitely be able to get sued. However, since their technical name is notebook, they could still probably get sued, but it would be harder.

And Mikw, desktops don't have big batteries, duh.

[Matthew @ Jul 31st 2006 9:32AM]

Yeah... Dell's doing this on purpose to teach you a leason for buying such a piece of shit PC, i fear for my life while i type on this one, sitting here at work :-S

[Joey @ Jul 31st 2006 9:36AM]

What is strange is that the dell battery website link is not not found directly on dell.com main page nor is it found on any other page that deals with its notebook.

The first place I found that directly links to the battery site is from their user forum where a moderator has posted it.

I would think that something like this should be on the home page or at least on the service/support home page.

[Matthew @ Jul 31st 2006 9:44AM]

We Should all flood their lines asking while they're letting everyone's 'Notebook' Explode, without remorse

[Mack Swift @ Jul 31st 2006 9:58AM]

Are these incidences happening while the notebooks are running of the battery or off the AC/DC?

[beefer @ Jul 31st 2006 10:00AM]

on that site it says that only the batteries and not the notebook are subject to the recall, but what about the people that had their notebook, along with all the stuff on it, fried by the battery? is dell gonna screw them saying you shouldn't have kept using the battery and so we don't have to replace your notebook?

[Kardinal @ Jul 31st 2006 10:46AM]

I find it astounding that people are freaking out over THREE laptops catching on fire. THREE. How many Dell laptops are out there? A few MILLION? It's not like every dell on earth is exploding. THREE. C'mon, people, let's be reasonable here. Dell has issued a recall, issued a recall a year ago, and contacted all of their customers (we were one) to tell them about it. They're taking the proper steps, but even if they weren't recalling these batteries, it's THREE OF THEM. You shouldn't be freaked out about your laptop!

And Engadget, much as I love you guys, are only fanning the panic. With such comments in your last article as "Dell execs knew and did NOTHING!" when they did issue a recall, and the story you linked to, even YOU said you couldn't verify the source.

Sure, it's a blog, but can we get a tiny bit of journalistic standards here?

[Richard Lai @ Jul 31st 2006 10:53AM]

Sorry, Kardinal, but the thing is that only Dell laptops are exploding at the moment and none other brands seem to have the same problem. We just want to make the point that you get what you paid for.

By the way, guys, when you're unfortunately sat next to someone using a Dell laptop on a flight, just show him/her these lovely photos and they'll probably put them away.

But then I doubt these Dell notebooks will ever explode on a plane, because these three toasted machines were plugged into the mains when they exploded. (right?)

[rrogers @ Jul 31st 2006 11:07AM]

Not wanting to fan the flames of fear as I type this on my Powerbook. You guys do realize that the notebook batteries Dell uses are usually designed/built in cooperation with the makers of the cells themselves. Guys like Sanyo.... you know the same guys who make lithium batteries that show up in all our other toys. Also... many times those battery designs are done by the ODM. You know Compal, Quanta .... oh the same guys who make HPs and yes.... Apples. Finally (nobody panic here) as our technology companies outsource more and more of the design work to their offshore manufacturers expect more of this "lack of quality" crap from every company. (You guys with Lenovo Thinkpads.... just wait, your time is coming)

[apple_box @ Jul 31st 2006 11:09AM]

What would be so difficult in placing the Recall info on the Dell Home Page. Apple has consistently done so with their recalls. Its the first place a consumer would go. In Dell's case the info is hidden to all but those savy enough to read tech sites or performs specific searches for it. THIS is the shaddy part. If someone really gets hurt lets see how fast it goes live on the home page.

[Kyle K. @ Jul 31st 2006 11:11AM]

Pretty soon airlines aren't going to allow Dell laptops on their planes. Uh oh - terrorists.

[Jamar @ Jul 31st 2006 11:30AM]

I'm sitting here, typing on my *MADE IN JAPAN* Sony VAIO (PCG-TR5EB if anyone's interested) and this computer has never had any heat issues (well... only once when I accidentally put it out of standby while in a bag). As long as Sony keeps making laptops in Japan, I'll stick to Sony (I had to give my lovely 15" Aluminum Powerbook that kept denting at the slightest bump to my little sister and she gave me this one) because while I had heat issues with that one (can't use it for longer than a half-hour on anything but a glass or metal surface or my hands will get burned- crap ventilation is the issue). Sad that even Apple products are Made in China (and it STILL costs over $500 to get a replacement casing here).