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iBook ENGULFED IN FLAMES!!! literally!

poppe

poppe

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Apr 29, 2006
2,249
53
Woodland Hills
Here in dallas I was watching Channel 11 news. They began a teaser with a white laptop in flames. Surely it can not be our beloved Apple!?!

Infact it was an iBook... What model or version it was was not released. Many other laptops were shown from Dell and IBM but since the stories source was from a 12 year old whose Apple was engulfed with flames after he wandered from it.

They said "42" laptops have started on fire. They began to name reports of an apartment building burining down because of a laptop, a girls dorm burned, a woman receiving burns from her laptop.

The news went on to explain that many experts are saying that the batteries are the cause for these such fires. The manufactures like Dell, Apple, and IBM have there equipment made in China where standards are a little less...

The News finished with the model iBook in this story was not on Apple's recal list, yet.

This is a ridiculously scary thought. A laptop starting on fire. Now I know there are some people laughing out there that that is what they get for leaving their scorching hot laptop on a goosedown blanket on the bed or as in the case with the kid in the iBook he left his on his carpet, but that is crazy.

Of all the things i'm definitely scared now about the thermal paste issues. I know that isn't really to do with the battery but still. The MBP's are ovens. Can I really afford to drop 4 grand on a laptop that is also hot enough to broil my food? Please do not think i"m thinking of Apple alone. Oh no no no. I'm thinking of all those high end laptops that I was going to be doing heavy work on.

Is it really safe to leave my Laptop on my dorm desk or must I buy an I curve and set some fans around it just so I can come home to dorm with out a charcoal touch to it?

(sorry for spelling errors. Really bad at spelling and was in a hurry to get this out before anyone else)
 
A lot of Lithium-ion battery fires, quite a few are in the cellphones and products that use universal batteries -- because these can be replaced using inferior counterfeit versions.

You have to watch the Lithium-ion batteries because they can become dangerous when damaged -- drop a cellphone, and the battery can burn quite hot.

Even name-brand batteries have had bad runs.

It's not just the batteries, because the power bricks can also go bad.

---

Sort of have to wonder about someone who takes a camera and has time to film a laptop burning. :rolleyes:

Either makes me think of staged incident, or an idiot that reaches for a camera instead of a fire extinguisher.
 
Sun Baked said:
A lot of Lithium-ion battery fires, quite a few are in the cellphones and products that use universal batteries -- because these can be replaced using inferior counterfeit versions.

You have to watch the Lithium-ion batteries because they can become dangerous when damaged -- drop a cellphone, and the battery can burn quite hot.

Even name-brand batteries have had bad runs.

It's not just the batteries, because the power bricks can also go bad.

---

Sort of have to wonder about someone who takes a camera and has time to film a laptop burning. :rolleyes:

Either makes me think of staged incident, or an idiot that reaches for a camera instead of a fire extinguisher.
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Ah HAHAHAHAHA that is hilarious. Well they took it outside somehow? and set it on their side walk. The whole corner by the trackbad was black and began to roll as the plastic metlted
 
They didn't mention if the batteries were damaged so I do not know if that was the case.

I must also note that the reporter got the story from her nephew, her 12 year old nephew. He was the one with the iBook. So if you saw the story it was sad because while dell and Ibm were both mentioned. All the transitions had fades of "iBook" logos and white computers. Only once twice did I see another black laptop (PC) in the whole segment...
 
poppe said:
Of all the things i'm definitely scared now about the thermal paste issues. I know that isn't really to do with the battery but still. The MBP's are ovens. Can I really afford to drop 4 grand on a laptop that is also hot enough to broil my food?t before anyone else)
Click to expand...
No notebook (yes even Apple) is going to catch fire from the insanely popular "thermal paste" thread topic fodder or internal cooling issues.

Batteries are another story - there's a huge amount of power in modern batteries, and in the worst of circumstances, failure can be truly catastrophic :eek: ;)
 
remowilliams said:
No notebook (yes even Apple) is going to catch fire from the insanely popular "thermal paste" thread topic fodder or internal cooling issues.

Batteries are another story - there's a huge amount of power in modern batteries, and in the worst of circumstances, failure can be truly catastrophic :eek: ;)
Click to expand...

So is it not possible at all the thermal paste could cause it? or what about the thermal paste problem increasing the chances for a malfunction in the battery?

If not Hooray: Back to waiting for the merom!! (acctaully even if MBP's were known to start fire like a fiero, I would still buy one)
 
Not saying that laptops don't catch fire, but I've learned to take what you see on the news with a grain of salt. I remember a month or so ago they ran with the "Dangers of Ambien!" story, failing to mention that all the cases they reported on also involved alcohol, which is a no-no anyway.

F
U
D
 
Oh yeah the news is about as reliable as the inquirer (spelling?) anymore. I've never even heard of a laptop melting or burning.

What happened when your powerbook was melted? did it get replaced?
 
livingfortoday said:
I've had a Powerbook power adapter overheat and melt before, but nothing so extreme as to cause a fire.
Click to expand...

Same thing happened to me. wow did it get hot. and what a horrible smell!!! yuck. they sent me a new one, after an hour long legalstuff interview... Was there any smoke? did sparks come into contact with any of your belongings? did the hot part of the adapter touch your furniture leaving any marks? how long did you smell it before unplugging it? are you feeling okay now? it was an interesting conversation.
 
nagusjim said:
Same thing happened to me. wow did it get hot. and what a horrible smell!!! yuck. they sent me a new one, after an hour long legalstuff interview... Was there any smoke? did sparks come into contact with any of your belongings? did the hot part of the adapter touch your furniture leaving any marks? how long did you smell it before unplugging it? are you feeling okay now? it was an interesting conversation.
Click to expand...

Insane...
 
nagusjim said:
Same thing happened to me. wow did it get hot. and what a horrible smell!!! yuck. they sent me a new one, after an hour long legalstuff interview... Was there any smoke? did sparks come into contact with any of your belongings? did the hot part of the adapter touch your furniture leaving any marks? how long did you smell it before unplugging it? are you feeling okay now? it was an interesting conversation.
Click to expand...

Jeez, no, I was out of luck since I had bought it on eBay to replace the original Powerbook one I had that I broke. It still worked, I would just unplug it every hour or so. Ended up breaking it too, though, so it didn't matter much. It was one of the two-prong, ungrounded kind, and the new three-prong one I have is much nicer and cooler even though it's 65W versus 45W on the old one.
 
I can't understand why Apple are having such issues with their notebooks! Asus dont have this kind of problem. I'm giving Apple until Sept/Oct to sort this problem and if it's not i'll buy one of the Asus models.

poppe said:
Of all the things i'm definitely scared now about the thermal paste issues. I know that isn't really to do with the battery but still. The MBP's are ovens. Can I really afford to drop 4 grand on a laptop that is also hot enough to broil my food? Please do not think i"m thinking of Apple alone. Oh no no no. I'm thinking of all those high end laptops that I was going to be doing heavy work on.
Click to expand...

I agree, i wouldnt spend that kind of money on a mobile oven!
 
mpw said:
Wasn't katie ta achoo was it?
Click to expand...
Yeah, she got blisters I think on her thighs... another male MR member also had burns on his thighs. Both of them received no service or real acknowledgment from Apple.
 
devilot said:
...another male MR member also had burns on his thighs...
Click to expand...
Who cares.
devilot said:
Yeah, she got blisters I think on her thighs...
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Yes, it was the pictures of katies thighs that stuck in my mind.
devilot said:
...Both of them received no service...
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Well I offered to service both, even the one without the burn.
 
OMG, That was definately staged!!!!111!!11

lg


The laptop is PLUGGED IN!! The Last thing I would think about is to take my burning laptop outside, PLUG IT IN, and watch it catch on fire!

Fake...
 
Sun Baked said:
A lot of Lithium-ion battery fires, quite a few are in the cellphones and products that use universal batteries -- because these can be replaced using inferior counterfeit versions.
Click to expand...

Apple uses lithium-polymer for batteries in all intel macs (laptops). BTW, it's sad to see a beauty burn, before MacBook, 12" iB was my favorite mac:(
 
Thidranki said:
OMG, That was definately staged!!!!111!!11

lg


The laptop is PLUGGED IN!! The Last thing I would think about is to take my burning laptop outside, PLUG IT IN, and watch it catch on fire!

Fake...
Click to expand...


I agree with you but just to play the devils advocate. They could have very well heard it begin to melt and unplugged it from the wall not the socket of the iBook ran out where it began to burn.

Like i said devils advocate thats all.
 
poppe said:
They said "300,000" laptops each year start on fire.
Click to expand...
Actually, in the above linked article, it says that there are only 43 reported incidents in two years. I can see how you can miss a few here and there, but to miss 180,000 incidents a year seems farse.
 
Thidranki said:
Here is a link to the article, pictures and all. It looks very staged. The news now just tries to push the must BS stories to get viewers/ratings. Its all a game, all about money. :eek:
Click to expand...
Not saying it didn't catch fire, but why wouldn't you unplug your laptop from the power supply if you were rushing it outside? Staged.
 
Thidranki said:
Actually, in the above linked article, it says that there are only 43 reported incidents in two years. I can see how you can miss a few here and there, but to miss 180,000 incidents a year seems farse.
Click to expand...

Yeah totally my bad!! I just fixed it if you look back up
 
poppe said:
I agree with you but just to play the devils advocate. They could have very well heard it begin to melt and unplugged it from the wall not the socket of the iBook ran out where it began to burn.

Like i said devils advocate thats all.
Click to expand...

To advocate the devil's advocate, which is easier? Dragging a [heavy] power adapter (which is probably very hot) or just yanking it out? It would probably fall out anyways in transport.

Also, does the computer run off the battery as much when its plugged in? I dont know about that.
 
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