MacBook Battery Fire

[shamino]

Who voted this positive? Batteries that caught fire... oh yay, time for partying. Stupid.

There is no standard meaning of what a positive vote means.

Some interpret it as "I approve of what the article is describing" or "this is good news".

Some (myself included) interpret it as "you should read this article," regardless of whether the news is good or bad.

I vote "approve" or "disapprove" based on whether or not I consider it a waste of time to follow its links (to the original source or to the discussion pages.)

 

[zblaxberg]

you know Apple's gonna send PR reps like mad to his service..

i see a brand new C2D Macbook Pro for him...maybe more.

no way! get this man an iphone stat!

 

[pacohaas]

Just off the phone with apple.

they are sending me a new battery asap and sounded very concerned.

Sounds good! You could also run it plugged in with the battery removed to see if that makes the black marks stay away.

 

[kcroy]

Macbook battery? Fire?

Hmmmmmmm. Suspicious. I am waiting to read more.

 

[shoobe01]

I took a co-worker's brand new macbook pro out of his bag to look at it and burned myself so badly it was visible (and hurt) for several days. No medical treatment needed, but how hot could it have gotten? This bug where they don't sleep is stupid. Even if they are not starting fires, how good can that be for the hardware?


In statistics and paranoia news, yipes, a bunch of you need to calm down. Houses burn down all the time for all sorts of reasons, and now how many of you are going to leave your computers off and unplugged when unattended from ONE sensationalized event. Which did not even destroy the structure?

Schneier has a good essay on this:
http://www.schneier.com/essay-155.html

Bullet point 1 of his standard list is what I am referring to mostly here:
• People exaggerate spectacular but rare risks and downplay common risks.

 

[caccamolle]

this is so obvious !!!!

It is only a matter of time before the same thing happens to my MBP.

It's just pathetic how hot it gets.

Man, Apple products starting with the PM G4, have truly sucked big time in terms of quality control at least compared to what Apple had gotten us used to and I doubt those like me who've been purchasing Apple products since the Apple II can disagree.

It just sux. Nonetheless I continue to purchase Apple and Apple only !!!!!

 

[shamino]

So what, you suggest i send it away and be without my entire years work for an animation degree, due in 8 weeks, and hope my tutors just say oh well here's a top mark, or any mark at all, anyway.

Perhaps you need to read a little harder before replying.

I can back up but cannot give up a day never mind potential weeks without a computer to work on!!!

Are YOU kidding!!!!!!

If your work is that important, then you're completely insane to not make backups.

Your hard drive will fail. Maybe not tomorrow, but it will fail. And when it does, it will take all of your work with it, whether or not you have the time to make a backup. Ditto for what will happen when your battery catches fire.

It doesn't take all that much time to insert a blank CD (or DVD, if your project is large) and burn your work to it. You can even let it do this while you are eating or sleeping if you have no spare time (or are you going to claim that you don't eat or sleep?)

 

[caccamolle]

Sorry, but ONE case of battery fire published on the Net means nothing to me. The recall is completed and Apple has dealt with the problem in the most transparent manner.

This is simply irrelevant in statistical terms...problems will always occur, but to say that one case of fire means a "return of the haunted batteries" is just silly...move along, citizens...

of only one you have just heard, but you have no idea whether there are more.

 

[ZeeG]

Does MacBook (or MacBook Pro) still use Sony battery?

 

[floatingspirit]

What temperature do you need to have for a magazine to spontaneously catch fire?

That would have to be one serious overheat.

Let's call Gil Grissom. Either he'll know or maybe he can get the lab on it

 

[MonksMac]

Let's call Gil Grissom. Either he'll know or maybe he can get the lab on it

Well he does use a PB G4...

 

[caccamolle]

by the way as I far I can tell the heat of the MPB is not necessarily linked to the battery.

If I unplug the battery and run it with the electrical plug, it gets just as hot, and I mean hot.

It is indeed worrysome.

 

[anim8or]

If your work is that important, then you're completely insane to not make backups.

Your hard drive will fail. Maybe not tomorrow, but it will fail. And when it does, it will take all of your work with it, whether or not you have the time to make a backup. Ditto for what will happen when your battery catches fire.

It doesn't take all that much time to insert a blank CD (or DVD, if your project is large) and burn your work to it. You can even let it do this while you are eating or sleeping if you have no spare time (or are you going to claim that you don't eat or sleep?)

I DO backup, almost everyday!!!!! What i meant by the statement that you quote from me is that backups are useless if one has no computer to work on them, so if i were to send my laptop for repair then i would have a back up but nothing to work on!

Jeez!

 

[daneoni]

I DO backup, almost everyday!!!!! What i meant by the statement that you quote from me is that backups are useless if one has no computer to work on them, so if i were to send my laptop for repair then i would have a back up but nothing to work on!

Jeez!

Deep breathes now, in.....and.....out....

 

[brianbobcat]

The recent photos below are from a co-worker's MacBook Pro. His was asleep on a desk - he said he heard a loud "pop" and the found this:

He took it into the Apple Store and they replaced it right away.

This EXACT thing happened to my 17" MBP's battery to the point that I was wondering how you got a hold of my pictures. The genius I went to quickly called for a battery replacement, but since there were none in stock needed to order it. I ended up needing to wait almost a week for a replacement, and even at that needed to call applecare to ask where the replacement was. Eventually the very helpful applecare lady called the manager of my local retail store and had them swap out my ever-enlarging-despite-not-plugged-in-to-any-power battery for a regular retail one. Now to be fair, I did leave my laptop in the car once or twice last summer, but that was 6 months before I battery went all expando on me.

-Brian

 

[hyperpasta]

I cannot afford to have anything happen to my laptop or send it for repair/replacement as it has all of my degree work on it.

BACK UP!

 

[willybNL]

Need more info

I wonder if this was a machine that previously had the RSS (random shutdown syndrom).... and how heavely it was used, what week, what exact type... etc.

(for both the fire as the poped here).

 

[parrothead]

How do we know that the guy didn't just take a blowtorch to the thing because he wanted a new computer?

 

[SeaFox]

As I was running I saw a fire. At first I thought that the lamp had fallen and set fire to the curtain.

This first sentence really doesn't make any sense. Did he run because he saw a fire? "As I was running..." implies his running was unrelated to the events with the computer, like he just runs laps in his house and noticed his Macbook burning on the shelf as he passed it. Thinking the curtains were on fire would make sense if you were outside your house and saw a fire at the window.

Iv noticed a few times that i get this black sort of charcoal mark that wipes clean in that area and first thot it ws my carry case rubbing off against the hot battery... i have since stopped using the carry case and the mark is still appearing!!!

I cannot afford to have anything happen to my laptop or send it for repair/replacement as it has all of my degree work on it.

This is what a hard disk backup strategy is for. You also might consider keeping your documents on a flash drive so you can use them on any computer should yours become incapacitated (no pun intended).

Look at where it started burning... by the connector between the battery and the logic board. This is an electrical fire, but it is NOT an exploding battery. Something caused a short circuit at the connection, possibly even user error. Don't rush to sensationalist judgment over these pictures.

How does user error cause a fire inside the machine's case, short of him dumping his coffee in the laptop?

What temperature do you need to have for a magazine to spontaneously catch fire?

Fahrenheit 451

It might be different for magazines. They have to keep some pretty hot stories on newsstands.

 

[brianbobcat]

Anyone notice that these all seem to happen while the new intel macs are sleeping?

I have heard multiple times that people are not getting their new macs to sleep (esp. the 17" MBP) and sometimes pull them out of their bag and they are almost too hot to touch. The new mac laptops intake air through the keyboard (i think so. my PB does) and if the lid is closed it can cause ventilation problems.

Maybe there is a correlation between the 2 issues.

This is ALWAYS happening to me, and I have gotten no answer as to why it happens or how to stop it. I know it happens for 3 reasons; my optical drive makes a wicked noise upon waking from sleep, I'm always connected to iChat so provided we're somewhere near wifi, it tries or sometimes has connected and logged on, and on one occasion I had music start to play. I've also found that movement makes it happen. Try this: close your lid let it sleep all the way so the sleep light starts pulsing, then flip your computer via all three axis. One time I was watching a music video and instead of pausing the video, I simply closed the lid and let it pause itself. I made sure my lappy was actually asleep before I put it in it's sleeve, but then upon walking up some stairs, the video resumed playing and I could really just stop and open up my comp to pause it and re-sleep it. I've also had my computer be in sleep upon entering my sleeve, then shut down when I go to take it out, my guess is that it turned on in the sleeve, began to overheat, and shut down prematurely.

Anyone else have similar symptoms?

-Brian

 

[Str8edgepunker]

Eeek, That picture is just darned scary.

/Full backup done on saturday.

 

[koobcamuk]

No, it's not bad practice. No more than leaving any electrical device plugged in.

I recommend turning things off to save energy. Might also stop things from burning down (besides rainforests).

 

[notjustjay]

Farenheit 451 maybe?

Yeesh. Sorry I asked

(Still, that would be one ridiculously serious overheat. You could bake a cake with less heat than that!)

Jay (who apparently needs to read more )

 

[BuzWeaver]

Fire bad.

 

[koobcamuk]

This is ALWAYS happening to me, and I have gotten no answer as to why it happens or how to stop it. I know it happens for 3 reasons; my optical drive makes a wicked noise upon waking from sleep, I'm always connected to iChat so provided we're somewhere near wifi, it tries or sometimes has connected and logged on, and on one occasion I had music start to play. I've also found that movement makes it happen. Try this: close your lid let it sleep all the way so the sleep light starts pulsing, then flip your computer via all three axis. One time I was watching a music video and instead of pausing the video, I simply closed the lid and let it pause itself. I made sure my lappy was actually asleep before I put it in it's sleeve, but then upon walking up some stairs, the video resumed playing and I could really just stop and open up my comp to pause it and re-sleep it. I've also had my computer be in sleep upon entering my sleeve, then shut down when I go to take it out, my guess is that it turned on in the sleeve, began to overheat, and shut down prematurely.

Anyone else have similar symptoms?

-Brian

No, but this is worrying. Do you use external KB or mouse?