Alan Cox, the famous Linux kernel hacker, saw his Thinkpad explode. His wife writes on her weblog: “Alan was on the other side of the room from the laptop. I was elsewhere. He yelled out, I ambled towards the room in my own good time, and then I heard ‘Fire! Real fire! Call the fire brigade, now!’ and I speeded up a bit.” This is the first laptop of a tech ‘celebrity’ to explode.
My laptop is almost 3 years old (a Compaq, AlthonXP mobile 2500+, 512mb RAM) with a huge 15 inches LCD.
I was considering buying a smaller laptop, mostly a Sony VAIO. But all these events stop me from buying one. It’s common these days to see laptops explode…
Hmm, whats wrong with a 15incher? good lord, having used a 12inch one, you might as well get out a microscope; but then again, I’ve moved from having a desktop computer to a Laptop – a good laptop (which I have) is a Toshiba, 1.73Ghz, 1gig memory, 256mb video card, 80gig hard disk, and a dual layer dvd writer.
No problems so far, everything is very nice and stable, and no battery problems either
…now laptops will be confiscated at the airport.
They are already banned by some airlines because of this. But that was just Dell and Apple, now I suppose they will ban all lappies now.
I fly a lot for business and if they would make me put my laptop in as baggage it wouldn’t be that big of a deal for me since you can fit a 14″ laptop in your trey with someone leaning back. I am interested in seeing if my MacBook would be able perform that trick.
Well they can always make you shutdown the laptop and detach the battery from laptop. I don’t see why airliness would ban it.
…now laptops will be confiscated at the airport.
Airline security taken to the next level, “Naked Air” :
http://www.geekculture.com/joyoftech/joyarchives/868.html
Somehow exploding laptops don’t seem so bad anymore 🙂
Yeah… I like this quote from that site:
“It’s a nice fantasy, but the reality would be not so pretty.”
http://hughsient.livejournal.com/4240.html
GNOME developer trying to come up with a warning system for defective batteries.
Early 90’s he was involved in a situation where I was framed then banned from the AberMUD at MIT.
Some poetic justice, I guess.
Yeah being banned from a MUD has to be the single worst thing that can happen to a man. I would totally hold a grudge over that for a decade or so.
It’s funny. Laugh
“Early 90’s he was involved in a situation where I was framed then banned from the AberMUD at MIT. Some poetic justice, I guess.”
That was my first thought when I read this newspiece – that f–ker finally gets his due for that early 90’s AberMUD debable at MIT.
Y’know, considering that my laptop happens to be, y’know, ON MY LAP when in use, this is making me really nervious.
Not about my Laptop (6 year old Powerbook Pismo) but about the fact that I am going to have to replace it due to dying DVD drive and dying LCD.
You shouldn’t use your laptop on your lap if you want to breed anyway… the heat is bad for that region.
I just read this blog entry, and after thinking a bit about the Ebay part, I’m wondering if the battery wasn’t really a genuine IBM shell with replaced cells. I read a few days ago some articles how to replace dead cells inside notebook’s battery packs, complete with images detailing the procedure.
Just wondering if this is the case, someone replacing cells inside batteries and selling them as genuine.
Edited 2006-09-25 23:13
Good explanation of the topic and why there’s no warning signs before the ::kaboom!:: here:
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=14417
That really went off, doesn’t leave much for forensics.
I’d be more worried about the batteries im always carrying around in my pocket (PSP, Phone, iPod) than my Macbook. Ouch.
This looks like a Thinkpad 600 which is rather old… Mine is a 600E which is a 366mhz machine. I LOVE it and have bought newer laptops and sold them but my 600E remains right here with me. Great size, not too heavy, not too light not too small not too big!
AFAIK he was using third party batteries so that is likely the cause I would guess. I have had no problems with mine.
I do know that there were a lot of battery issues with these. Not exploding batteries but rather just going dead. So a lot of replacements going around and some of them state way higher capacity than the IBM batteries so I never purchased those due to not knowing if it would have a effect. I wonder if this is the result?
Shame to lose a TP600, I feel sorry for Alans loss since he is my all time favorite linux kernel dude!
Who’s next? Steve Ballmer? Mike Dell? Steve Jobs?
I was running slackware Linux on my compaq presario 1800 laptop. I left it on overnight with the lid up. The next morning it was still running, but seemed a little hot to the touch. So I started working with it (checking email, etc…) then about 5 minutes later the laptop started to smoke and it immediately shutdown.
Later, I determined that Linux was the cause of the problem. Since the APM, ACPI and lmsensors have never worked properly in Linux, I guess the fan was not coming on when it was supposed to.
Use linux at your own risk. I lost some important data, but I was able to recover from that. I will take my chances with OS X or Windows. This is when I decided Linux was a toy and not ready for primetime. It’s still just a hobby OS.
So knowing that none of that was configured and working properly you STILL chose to leave it on overnight? Geez talk about not being ready for primetime – keep your day job please.
This was likely a issue of third party batteries – nothing else anyway. Some scary “replacements” out there and some really bad IBM replacements as well.
Later, I determined that Linux was the cause of the problem. Since the APM, ACPI and lmsensors have never worked properly in Linux, I guess the fan was not coming on when it was supposed to.
If the cpu gets too hot, it shuts down, end of story. Much like a circuit breaker. No matter how hot your laptop feels, the CPU will not cause it to “smoke”. APM, ACPI and lmsensors exist to try and prevent that CPU choke from happening, but they have nothing to do with a frying notebook.
If your notebook smoked and burned, it was either because of the battery, or because you bought a Presario. Linux had nothing to do with it.
When will people learn to never buy 3rd party batteries. They are about the worse industry for cutting corners. Bad cells, missing over charge circuits, bad overall quality and so forth. Never buy them, for anything.
This is why companies like sony are working on chips in their batteries to block 3rd party knock offs. It’s not to rip you off, it’s to stop this from happening.
What’s worth more to you. Save 15 bucks, or loosing your house to a fire?
This is why companies like sony are working on chips in their batteries to block 3rd party knock offs. It’s not to rip you off, it’s to stop this from happening.
I guess ripping us off will just be a side-effect.;)
The ‘ripping you off’ part is just a bonus
“When will people learn to never buy 3rd party batteries. They are about the worse industry for cutting corners. Bad cells, missing over charge circuits, bad overall quality and so forth. Never buy them, for anything.
This is why companies like sony are working on chips in their batteries to block 3rd party knock offs. It’s not to rip you off, it’s to stop this from happening.
What’s worth more to you. Save 15 bucks, or loosing your house to a fire?”
Yeah, why lose your house to a fire when you can lose it to a genuine Sony Fire ™…
What’s that smell?
“It’s a Sony(TM)!”
“When will people learn to never buy 3rd party batteries.”
When there’s an actual quality difference other than a brand sticker and an insane price?
I don’t know that manufacturers blocking 3rd party batteries is the way to go though… it’s more a quality control issue. Isn’t that what government standards are for? Just make it illegal to sell batteries that don’t meet certain standards, if its not already. (I mean for more complex batteries than your average AA cell). Competition is preserved, and so are the laptops
yikes not yiked for my subject.
I’m glad mr cox was not hurt and all of this stories about laptop fires are giving me second thoughts about my empower laptop.
Edited 2006-09-26 04:02
I really have to question the wisdom of moving to Lithium-ion batteries. NiMH batteries never exploded, but the laptop and cell-phone manufacturers seem to be convinced that Li-ion batteries are what the public wants. I’d rather do with a little less battery life and a laptop (not to mention a lap) that remains in one piece.
Edited 2006-09-26 04:22
Would the cheap replacements that IIRC offer higher voltages and/or amps cause the problem of high heat and maybe along with having it on a soft surface or something that did not allow the heat to dissipate?
I know the batteries say not to expose to heat above 100c which I THINK would be around 190f. Would a laptop get that hot? Would a battery generate that heat?
I know my older batteries used to get warm and the heat was suppsedly the cause of them dying. The heat would trip a circuit in the battery rendering it useless. I went thru a few batteries until I found the one which no one seemed to complain about it dying and then searched until I found some new ones from a battery dealer for around 50 bucks. The battery does not even get warm when sitting on my lap. The laptop still gets a little warm – comfy warm not uncomfortably warm.
I would not run out and get a battery for a 600 until this is cleared up but I have went thru the various model numbers and the one I have found to be the “good” battery for these laptops is FRU 12P4064 mine has the letters MO out from the FRU number also and the ASM P/N is 12P4065.
Oh and even the fake replacement batteries have the yellow labels like IBM puts on their batteries.
Son: (whilst Mrs *****-Baiter is talking) Mother, could I have a quick cup of tea please. I have an important statement on Rhodesia to make in the Commons at six.
(Sound of an explosion out of vision. Cut to reveal Mrs *****-Baiter’s chair charred and smoking. Mrs *****-Baiter is no longer there. The upholstery is smouldering gently.)
Mrs Shazam: Oh, Mrs *****-Baiter’s exploded.
Son: Good thing, too.
Mrs Shazam: She was my best friend.
Son: Oh, mother, don’t be so Sentimental. Things explode every day.
Mrs Shazam: Yes, I suppose so. Anyway, I didn’t really like her that much.
Hope IBM will offer another one before next linux release
Another battery or another laptop? I cannot imagine IBM will replace anything that old either but if they do then I will make mine explode somehow.
Actually, I thought Alan had somewhat stepped back from devel work….
Edited 2006-09-26 08:27
IBM has a very personnal manner of supporting OSF =)
Oh boy, Sony is definitely the company of the year