Gizmodo Reader Witnesses IBM Laptop Catch Fire at LAX - Gizmodo Comments

Gizmodo Reader Witnesses IBM Laptop Catch Fire at LAX

Configman — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 14:32:19 EDT

This makes Dell look like a responsible company and IBM looks like they were just hiding their head in the sand. I have to laugh at the people who were saying "well I'm glad I have my T-40 instead of those new Dells..." a few weeks ago. The sad thing is that even Sony is refusing to recall its own batteries which surely are effected by contaminated lithium cells. They need to get out in front of this before it bites them in the rear like IBM.

Configman

Gizmodo Reader Witnesses IBM Laptop Catch Fire at LAX

Rooster — Sun, 01 Oct 2006 05:59:28 EDT

So, he tried to uninstall Internet Explorer?

Rooster

Gizmodo Reader Witnesses IBM Laptop Catch Fire at LAX

Destardi — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 05:05:52 EDT

"...we let the batteries burn over there, so they don't have to catch fire over here." Prez Bush.

Destardi

Gizmodo Reader Witnesses IBM Laptop Catch Fire at LAX

dantheman1000 — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 19:14:02 EDT

I hope everyone here is aware that Lenovo (IBM) said that they too use the Sony batteries in some of their laptops, but claimed that there would not be an exploding problem due to the way the battery is positioned in the laptop and the way the battery was built.

dantheman1000

Gizmodo Reader Witnesses IBM Laptop Catch Fire at LAX

travelalot9999 — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 09:47:33 EDT

If I were Dell, I would have made this happen to take the attention off me! Classic diversionary tactic.

travelalot9999

Gizmodo Reader Witnesses IBM Laptop Catch Fire at LAX

MZEGGIE — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 07:34:22 EDT

Appears to be an Thinkpad T41/42/43. Have a T42 myself and buttom looks 100% like the exploded one. Have never heard of a battery recall by IBM/LENOVO by the way... would be great as mine is dying after about 1.5hrs of work in low-power mode...
Will check the recall-rumour soon and let you know..

MZEGGIE

Gizmodo Reader Witnesses IBM Laptop Catch Fire at LAX

daedal — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 15:53:47 EDT

So is there a risk of batteries "blowing up" while the laptop is off, or only when it's on?

daedal

Gizmodo Reader Witnesses IBM Laptop Catch Fire at LAX

John Laur — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 11:37:16 EDT

Or a small piece of nichrome wire...

/Arrest me bitches

John Laur

Gizmodo Reader Witnesses IBM Laptop Catch Fire at LAX

John Laur — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 11:36:07 EDT

I wonder what will happen when the word gets out that you can start a fire with pretty much any battery (Above about 6V anyway) and a little steel wool?

/Oops

John Laur

Gizmodo Reader Witnesses IBM Laptop Catch Fire at LAX

bandit — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 10:26:31 EDT

This is what happens when you don't install Service Pack 2.

bandit

Gizmodo Reader Witnesses IBM Laptop Catch Fire at LAX

umberto — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 02:07:15 EDT

Guys...don't know about the laptop, but it all sounds very strange to me... Anyhow, only thing I can help with, right now, is that the plural of "virus" is probably not "viri" (which would mean "men" in Latin, from "vir, viri") but "venena" (?) as virus is a neutre defective, its declination is "virus veneni veneno etc"

umberto

Gizmodo Reader Witnesses IBM Laptop Catch Fire at LAX

Bob Brown — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 23:01:44 EDT

Asbestos laptop bags anyone?

Airplanes will need to start carrying emergency boxes for flaming electronics. Just in case.

I do wonder about someone having the presence of mind to run a burning battery out of the airplane before it explodes and then when that is done to just stare at it. Yelling "Hey, I need a fire puter out thingie over here. Stat!" would have been good.

Bob Brown

Gizmodo Reader Witnesses IBM Laptop Catch Fire at LAX

yeabirfday — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 21:18:52 EDT

I'm kinda curious about what power state the laptop was in before it flared up. And how did he know it was going to catch fire, did he notice it getting hotter and hotter? a warning beep from the laptop?

yeabirfday

Gizmodo Reader Witnesses IBM Laptop Catch Fire at LAX

rotovibe — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 19:15:33 EDT

Well, it has been told that the mind may affect the body. If that is true for computers then our worst fears may become true. For the MacBook, there is a Firmware release for the SMC that adjust fan behavior, affecting overall system temperature. Since this is upgraded by the OS, with enough malice, talent and luck a virus may set appropiate conditions for a computer to burn. On the other hand, with enough bad luck, bad engineering and lack of care, the task could be accomplished by accident.

rotovibe

Gizmodo Reader Witnesses IBM Laptop Catch Fire at LAX

bagellord — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 16:11:29 EDT

if u can get deep into the BIOS

bagellord

Gizmodo Reader Witnesses IBM Laptop Catch Fire at LAX

Pixlmonkey — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 15:16:02 EDT

"Also, we got to overhear some of the not-so-computer-literate people on our flight talking about how laptop batteries can explode if you "get too many viruses on your computer.."

All kidding aside,is it really entirely improbable that a piece of malware could be written to alter the mobo or fan settings, current draw or something that would in effect "overclock" the battery and cause it to overheat and become volatile?

Pixlmonkey

Gizmodo Reader Witnesses IBM Laptop Catch Fire at LAX

Phishy — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 12:30:13 EDT

The only time I can think of something like this happening (aside from battery recalls) would be if he put the laptop on standby or closed the lid with the laptop on and then put it in his laptop case.
Its only a matter of time, now, until the FAA bans 'electronics' on airplanes.
Cold day in Hell

Phishy

Gizmodo Reader Witnesses IBM Laptop Catch Fire at LAX

CJV — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 12:19:55 EDT

FYI, despite this article's mention of "Macbooks," it isn't the new Intel Macbooks or Macbook Pros that have the battery problem. They have lithium polymer batteries.
Sony's defective lithium ion batteries were in the recalled Apple iBooks and Powerbooks.

CJV

Gizmodo Reader Witnesses IBM Laptop Catch Fire at LAX

dOk — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 12:09:31 EDT

how about just taking your battery off the thing for traveling.. i'm betting that you won't be able to use laptops in the very near future on planes :D

dOk

Gizmodo Reader Witnesses IBM Laptop Catch Fire at LAX

donut2790 — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 11:07:41 EDT

Laptops aren't just for all your on-the-go multimedia and productivity use any more, now you can blow up your favorite coffee shop, airplane, or restaurant at the touch of a button! I guess laptop manufactuers are trying to go for the middle-eastern demographic these days.

donut2790

Gizmodo Reader Witnesses IBM Laptop Catch Fire at LAX

auger282 — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 07:55:34 EDT

hmm I wonder what model he had..

auger282

Gizmodo Reader Witnesses IBM Laptop Catch Fire at LAX

DivZero — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 03:58:27 EDT

How does that song go again? - o yeah -

We don't need no water let the mf burn!
Burn mf, burn!

^___^ \m/

DivZero

Gizmodo Reader Witnesses IBM Laptop Catch Fire at LAX

chillywilly — Sat, 16 Sep 2006 21:34:28 EDT

Wow. Incredible. Only one word of advice for anyone traveling with a laptop... backups. At least all of your docs burned to a CD. Or an external hard drive.

Flaming batteries or other laptop mishaps, a backup is always a good thing to have.

This public service annoucement brought to you by one who's ass was saved by a backup when the laptop died.

chillywilly

Gizmodo Reader Witnesses IBM Laptop Catch Fire at LAX

simmo — Sat, 16 Sep 2006 20:18:02 EDT

So non computer-literate people are stating that virus's make them explode? I was more expecting them to say that porn was to blame ;)
Me, I am just so very glad that my Toshiba hasn't gone up in flames, nor have any of its brothers. I guess it's only a matter of time now.

simmo

Gizmodo Reader Witnesses IBM Laptop Catch Fire at LAX

Navin R Johnson — Sat, 16 Sep 2006 19:40:46 EDT

I like when my laptops explode. Nothing burn quite as brilliantly as a lithium fueled laptop fire.

Navin R Johnson

Gizmodo Reader Witnesses IBM Laptop Catch Fire at LAX

Fuzzystyle — Sat, 16 Sep 2006 19:16:51 EDT

Who would watch a fire just burn.. did they enjoy the atmosphere it caused, like some sort of expensive campfire?

Fuzzystyle

Gizmodo Reader Witnesses IBM Laptop Catch Fire at LAX

Arken — Sat, 16 Sep 2006 18:39:32 EDT

tr: I doubt you would react so rationally if it almost blew up in your hands like this guy. Generally, people aren't especially rational in such situations.

Arken

Gizmodo Reader Witnesses IBM Laptop Catch Fire at LAX

c--b — Sat, 16 Sep 2006 18:33:01 EDT

I wonder if it might actually be possible to write a virus that would cause a battery to overheat...

Also "Viri" isn't a word, It's viruses. Yes I know it sounds really stupid but it's the truth.

c--b

Gizmodo Reader Witnesses IBM Laptop Catch Fire at LAX

tr — Sat, 16 Sep 2006 18:12:11 EDT

why was everyone just looking at it, including the owner? if it was mine, i would've dropped it, then quickly look around for a fire extinguisher. i wouldn't sit there and watch it burn, waiting for some employee to put out the fire.

Gizmodo Reader Witnesses IBM Laptop Catch Fire at LAX

TheZodiac — Sat, 16 Sep 2006 18:10:10 EDT

This is bound to get the attention of the senate or something about putting a new standard on mobile battery manufacture, if it hasnt already.

Are these events happening with the items are actually in use, or is it when they are actuallly off? Also, are they plugged in?

WHACK!

TheZodiac

Gizmodo Reader Witnesses IBM Laptop Catch Fire at LAX

PocketLint — Sat, 16 Sep 2006 17:47:02 EDT

The thing for me is...
As I understand it, the whole battery catching fire is because of charging issues. At least for Dell and Sony it was.
The batteries only had a chance of catching fire while CHARGING. Something about the regulation of the AC supply line while in contact with the battery.

So, I have an issue with someone running through an airport with his laptop on fire. That is unless he was in the smoking room with his laptop plugged in when he realized that his IBM was puffing out more smog than he was, while he dropped a hot ash in his case while making smoke rings and capturing it for posterity for utube.

I'll give in so much to say.. Ok, there could be more than one reason for a battery to explode or catch fire. But with Dell and Sony explaining the reason for the recent major recall is because of a charging issue.. These others just seem to be wannabees..

PocketLint

Gizmodo Reader Witnesses IBM Laptop Catch Fire at LAX

MobileMilitia — Sat, 16 Sep 2006 17:01:56 EDT

sommabich, that tag didn't show up. what about [/retardation]? phpbb!

MobileMilitia

Gizmodo Reader Witnesses IBM Laptop Catch Fire at LAX

MobileMilitia — Sat, 16 Sep 2006 17:01:05 EDT

man, i'm glad i pay norton to keep my laptop from asploding. i think i might switch to apple because it's impossible to get viri on them and i heard from a guy that said he worked for microsoft that the company actually makes viri for windows because they have a deal with norton. anyone else think that's not fair? i'm writng the bbb about this right now.

oh yeah,

MobileMilitia

Gizmodo Reader Witnesses IBM Laptop Catch Fire at LAX

njoroge — Sat, 16 Sep 2006 16:39:06 EDT

I hope that bettery was 3rd party - Since this battery exploding malarcy I've been taking a grim pleasure in the fact that I own neither a mac, dell or sony.

* Nj cuddles his IBM

njoroge

Gizmodo Reader Witnesses IBM Laptop Catch Fire at LAX

Kricket — Sat, 16 Sep 2006 16:04:17 EDT

oh im sure he was taken away to answer some "questions"...

Kricket

Gizmodo Reader Witnesses IBM Laptop Catch Fire at LAX

nzruss — Sat, 16 Sep 2006 16:02:21 EDT

So, did they arrest the guy or what?

nzruss