BOOM! Holy crap!

[RadioFreeSeaLab]

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=32550

 Dell laptop explodes at Japanese conference

INQ reader's amazing snaps

By: INQUIRER newsdesk Wednesday 21 June 2006, 13:22
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!"

[One Dell of a bang]


"For the record, this is a Dell machine," notes Guilhem. "It is only a matter of time until such an incident breaks out on a plane," he suggests.

Guilhem managed to catch all the action in these amazing pictures.

"Fire extinguishers leave a mess on your suit and belongings; pack your stuff (if you can) and leave, leave, leave!" he advises.

We don't have any further details of the model of the computer in question. In light of the evidence, however, we'd suggest you avoid actually using a laptop on your lap. Ouch.

[Flaming Dell]

µ

[TarpleyG]

Well, I have used and worked on a great many laptops, Dell specifically, and I have never heard of anything like this.  I suspect foul play or at the very least a single, isolated incident.

Greg

[cosine]

Lithium-ion batteries?

[client32]

Dell has recalled laptop batteries a couple of times: http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/batteryrecall/en/main

And these recalls have bee due to fire hazards: http://news.com.com/Dell+recalls+notebook+batteries+suspected+of+fire+hazard/2100-1040_3-247023.html

The batteries short circuit and can cause fires.

I type this message from a Dell laptop as well.  I think they make a decent product.

[Marnoot]

I think they make a decent product.

Generally they do, but when a POS makes it out of their doors they're super-squirrely about it. I had an Inspiron (can't remember the model#) on which the motherboard would consistently fail every 6 months, requiring a replacement. This was an issue known to be quite common with this specific model (a spot on the motherboard got hot, and some component would subsequently loosen. This made it so if you so much as looked at that corner of the laptop cross-eyed it would reboot.)
Every time it failed I had to go through the same red-tape to get them to send out someone with a new MB. Dell refused to recall the model, so essentially as soon as my warranty ran out I was screwed. I ended up selling it to someone who knew a guy that could do a fix for $100 to permanently replace the bad piece with a decent one.
After this experience with Dell, I'm a little soured towards them.

[garrettwc]

Lithium-ion batteries?

Yup, that would be my guess.

There was an article in the paper here today about FAA hearings related to a UPS plane fire in Philly. Shorted out lithium-ion batteries in the cargo was one of the things they were looking at.

[Tallpine]

he must have downloaded some really hot pictures ....

[jefnvk]

Never thought much of them after they had to send out a technician to change an electrical engineer's hard drive, on account they thought the engineer wasn't properly trained to install it himself.

[Third_Rail]

jefnvk, I don't know, my sister is an electrical engineer and she's afraid of opening up computers. Doesn't even drive a car, etc.

[Dannyboy]

Lithium-ion batteries?

Yup, that would be my guess.

There was an article in the paper here today about FAA hearings related to a UPS plane fire in Philly. Shorted out lithium-ion batteries in the cargo was one of the things they were looking at.

I just got audited at work by the head ADG guy from the PHL hub.  We were talking about the plane fire.  He said that it most likely was lithium-ion batteries.