Apple's iBook Bursts Into Flames

[slackmaster]

A warning for iBook owners...

Quality control at Apple conitnues to go down hill

Reports are surfacing that laptop batteries have become a cause for concern. A report on CBS-affiliate WCCO talks about how a boy's Apple G4 iBook burst into flames. Dave Brown, an 11-year old boy left his iBook in the living room only to find that the carpet beneath the laptop had started to melt when he returned. In fear, his parents took the laptop outside only to find it in flames several minutes later. Other users on Apple's discussion boards have reported that their power adapters have caught on fire and even the FireWire ports on some units.

DailyTech previously reported that Apple had issued a recall for MacBook Pro batteries that were showing odd behavior. Although fires haven't broken out because of the batteries, the MacBook Pros have generated a great deal of press from the amount of heat that they release when operating. One MacBook Pro even had its MagSafe AC connector catch on fire, in which Apple was quick to have photos removed from various websites that were documenting the case....

...It appears that OEM battery manufacturers are part of the bad equation of poor quality control. Many companies are finding more methods of cost reduction and attention to quality made electronics have gone by the wayside. Cell phones have been prone to fires and even explosions due to bad batteries. As reputable as Nokia is, some of its cell phones have been known to have bad lithium ion batteries. Nokia has stated that users with problems are more than likely to have installed counterfeit Nokia batteries.

Apple has not responded to questions about its batteries or quality control issues. There was also no feedback on whether or not the organized call center flood actually achieved a tangible reaction from Apple.

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=2607

[LeftCoast]

1. With Microsoft you'd have to pay extra for the cool flame feature

:evilgrin:

[Richard Steele]

36. And wait until 2007 to get it. No, uh...2008. Oops..early 2009 fer sure!

Summer 2010 at the latest- we really MEAN it this time!

[stepnw1f]

2. Is This for Real?

A lap top just goes up in flames? It better be real, because Apple will sue the source if this if it's not. I say this because I have seen a number of attempts to smear Apple...

[benburch]

6. Yes, the smears keep coming...

mostly because Apple donates so much money to Democrats, I think.

[stepnw1f]

7. That's What I Thought Too

Also.. I heard Apple and Nike are doing a promo together for some new gagdet. I think Apple scares PC stock holders. If they were smart, they'd invest in Apple as well. Bill Gates did... or at least I thought he did some years back.

[ecstatic]

9. LOL...come on, thats a stretch

I think the smears come because there is a perception that Apple users are kind of snobbish.

[boobooday]

12. We have a Mac and a PC . . . love them both for different reasons

Can't we all just get along?

:rofl:

[leeroysphitz]

41. A perception?

I'd rather ask Jack Blacks character in "High Fidelity" a music question than suffer through a Mac user pontificating about "superior" this and "faster" that...

I've used both platforms and see no justification for any Mac over PC elitism.

I've been using XP Pro box for years and find it to be stable, reliable and compatible with every piece of software i've ever cared to install. It handles my 3D, CAD and DV apps like a champ. What more am I supposed to ask for?

It's hardly a "smear" if Apple has decided to create a new definition for "flame war".

[Clovis Sangrail]

11. I let the smoke out of a desktop PC

though I must not have let it all out 'cause it still runs :D

Must have looked funny as hell... me on the floor trying to put out the fire in my computer.

[stepnw1f]

16. My Friend Burnt Out His PC Hardrive

It was funny until we both realized it would cost him.

[slackmaster]

19. I have burned out three AMD Athlon XP CPUs on my system

Three different, inadequate, CPU coolers exacerbated by the effects of a long-haired cat sleeping (read "shedding") on the box.

The good news is they were only about $100 each, and each successive one has been faster. My current CPU cooler is solid copper with hundreds of fins. It bolts to the MoBo and weighs about 4 ounces.

[stepnw1f]

23. Another Friend of Mine Burnt His Motherboard as Well

He got rid of the machine, since he wanted to upgrade to a newer better machine. Now he has a sick Alienware... the thing is fast!

[Clovis Sangrail]

26. I've smoked a number of components over the years..

but this was the first time I had actual flames in a PC.

I once had a cup of noodles burst into flame on me as well.
I think my presence somehow encourages spontaneous combustion. :O

[stepnw1f]

31. lol (nt)

[gratuitous]

3. Well c'mon, it IS a firewire

Sorry. Bad joke. Nothing to laugh at here.

:spank:

[Cush]

4. guess they needed a 'firewall'

;-)

[NYC Liberal]

You're so gonna get flamed for that one.

:P

[benburch]

5. Dell laptops burn too, you know...

We had a desk set afire by a Dell a couple of years back. Laptop batteries need to hold so much energy that they are literally bombs.

[ecstatic]

8. I can't wait to bring this up to my bf

He is a mac fanatic.

[LifeDuringWartime]

14. the kid was using the laptop on the carpet

it sounds like the air vents were blocked. not good, on any electronic equipment.

i'm curious as to why the family didn't send the computer back to Apple for warranty replacement.

[emulatorloo]

37. and I am sure he will call Bullshit on this nonsense n/t

[paparush]

10. C I R C U L A T I O N

Don't set it on the carpet..that puppy needs to breathe!!

[China_cat]

15. My thought exactly.

On a soft surface with no circualtion ANY laptop battery is going to get really, really hot.

[stepnw1f]

17. That's Right

Suckers will get kinda warm on your lap... give it air...

[slackmaster]

20. True enough, but the machine should shut itself down

Before it catches on fire.

There is definitely an engineering problem with the box.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

28. lol! I just placed my ibook back on a stand I have for it! I will say

though, it stays a lot cooler than my compaq laptop did.

[stopbush]

13. Problems with Apple products are to PCs/Microsoft...

as Democratic scandals are to Republican scandals.

:)

[lumpy]

18. Batteries must have been made in China

Reminds me of the faulty lamps made in China that caused fires. We had 3 of them that caused smouldering.

[slackmaster]

21. My company had Compaq servers with faulty Chinese fans

The machines were dual-processor DL360 "pizza box" 1U servers. Each contained a fan module with three 1.25 inch DC fans.

We bought nearly 50 machines in one order. After running for about 4 months, they started shutting themselves off due to fan failure.* It turned out there was a lubrication problem with a LARGE production run on the computers. Compaq (before the HP merger) did a recall and sent free replacement fan units. The failure didn't recur after that.

(* This is what a well-engineered machine will do when a pending fire situation arises.)

[solarize]

22. I have an iBook

and there is definitely something very strange going on with the batteries for it. I have two other co-workers with the same iBook I have and we've all experienced the super-overheating of the battery and have had to replace our batteries at least once. Maybe it has to do with their higher-than-average charge capacity?

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

29. I have a third party battery that seems warm but not hot. I did read

reviews before I purchased this ibook (used a month ago), that there was an issue with original Apple batteries.

[cascadiance]

33. You just gave me an idea on an overheating problem I've had...

I have an old G4 Powerbook that looks to have been suffering from overheating. Now I just remembered that I might have my spare battery I bought a while back in it. Perhaps it was one of those foreign knockoffs. Maybe I'll try putting in the original battery into the system.

Anyway, a weekend ago, and a month or two before that I've had periods where I think it's overheating and suddenly, even though both my USB mouse and the on-board mouse will track the cursor, suddenly neither the USB mouse nor the on-board mouse will register any clicks. I have had to power down it hard, and in one case had to physically disconnect the battery to power it down, and then it wouldn't immediately power up afterwards. It had to "cool off" for a while before it would power up again.

I've been looking at getting a new MacBook Pro over the last week or so, but would like to know that they don't have this overheating problem before I sink some money in one. Anyone know if the newer laptops we get will have this problem solved?

[Lydia Leftcoast]

35. Never had that problem

It runs warm, but it's never even come close to running hot. :shrug:

[spuddonna]

24. All of them have their own weirdness...

I own a Dell laptop and have had the power adapter recalled due to fire concerns. The old Inspiron I have runs so freakin hot that once I dropped the thing on the floor so I wouldn't burn my hand.

I used to do support for Thinkpads and Compaq laptops - the Thinkpads ran so hot that the PC cards' components would get cooked, and the Compaq displays would go after about a year.

We have an HP Media Center mini-server that runs so hot it overheats and shuts down occasionally. At least it's a gracefully shutdown!

Oooh! Almost forgot, I've see a Gateway monitor burst into flames.

I can say in my years of tech support, I've seen far fewer hw issues with Macs. That said, the places I did tech support at had fewer Macs than PCs, so it's not exactly a scientific survey...

Also, I came up with the idea of cool designer colors back in the 1980's! They stole my idea!! LOL The guys I worked with looked at me like I was insane because I suggested that as computers moved into peoples homes, women would want colors that went with the decor. I am not surprised that it took Apple to finally recognize that people like to have a color choice of more than beige or black. :7 Now I laugh when I see Alienware PC's with glowing green display cases...

[TreasonousBastard]

25. I thought this was an old problem and Apple...

had pretty much dealt with it.

If it's cheapshit batteries, going Chinese to save a few bucks and not watching QC is probably the cause, but don't forget the Mexican ripoff industry. It's not only counterfeit Levi's and Rolexes, but there have been phony auto and airplane parts getting into the legitimate product flow. Why not shit batteries?

And, yeah, the Chinese are trying to beat out the Mexicans for counterfeit everything.

Such a tangled web we weave trying to be cheap fucks.

[deaniac21]

27. Wow, I guess they aren't even good boat anchors now...

[stepnw1f]

32. Microsoft Has a Monopoly on that Too! (nt)

[deaniac21]

38. Microsoft doesn't manufacture pc's or anchors....

Apple, however, does manufacture a line of gcans (garbage cans) and macs (defective boat anchors).

[slackmaster]

39. Prepare yourself for a surprise

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2006/may06/05-30WLDforMacPR.mspx

[MyNameGoesHere]

54. That isn't a PC?

It appears to be human interface devices for a Mac?

[deaniac21]

55. Wow, Microsoft is manufacturing high tech boat anchors now.

I gots to get one!

[Elwood P Dowd]

40. I've owned 5 Macs since the 90s, and not one has given me any problems

In fact, I'm still using an old 1999 Mac for my personal email and internet surfing. It never gets viruses or crashes, and I've never had to reinstall the OS unless it's for an upgrade. My newer Mac has only a year of service, but it too has never failed. Several of my friends have now switched over and simply cannot believe how they put up with Windows for all these years. Tiger is so much better, plus you can also run Windows on the new Intel Macs if the need arises.

[benburch]

48. We just retired the 1999 iMac.

And I am sending it to my son whose similar iMac just died.

We did have one machine die on us; A graphite 600 MHz machine that ran 24/7 since 2001 died two months back. It was a power supply issue, and I deemed it not worth fixing.

[SammyWinstonJack]

44. I have an iMac that would make a good boat anchor, since I can't

use it for what it was orginally intended. :-(

[benburch]

47. Is it broken?

If not, you can donate it to me! I'll put it to good use recording shows for White Rose.

[SammyWinstonJack]

49. I can't get it too boot up. I think someone with knowledge could

fix it. The motherboard was replaced and then I let my son's gf borrowed it. She installed some software that wasn't compatible and my mac didn't like it. You are welcomed to it.


on edit: I even have the box it came in. It has a DVD player. I have speakers and the orginal mouse and a new keyboard, too.

[Elwood P Dowd]

50. Probably an easy fix

What OS version are you using? Do you get a flashing question mark when to try to boot the Mac?

[benburch]

51. Yes, likely simple to fix.

A re-install of the recovery disks from the original kit would likely do it.

[Poiuyt]

52. Have you tried booting it from the original Install disk?

Insert the Install Disk and try starting it up while holding down the "c" key. If you can, you might be able to repair it with the Disk Utility. It most likely is a quick and easy fix.

Or you can donate it to Ben

[SammyWinstonJack]

53. I'll donate it to ben, he will probably put it to better use than I can.

I tried everything I knew, which wasn't much, to get it to boot up. All I get is the frown icon. :shrug:

[Old and In the Way]

30. I wonder if they are using fire retardant plastic?

I would think the laptop plastics have to meet a UL 94V-HB rating.

My HP zd7000 desk-top/laptop overheated when I first got it. I ended up getting a riser with 2 built in fans that move the heat underneath the laptop better. It never shuts down now.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

34. That's Why I Stick To My PC!

[OKIsItJustMe]

43. This is an industry-wide problem, not an Apple-specific problem

http://www.google.com/search?q=laptop+batteries+OR+battery+fire

[kineneb]

42. Once is it is documented, it is not a bug...

it is a "feature".

So says Hubby, the former Tech. :)

[sakabatou]

45. Like most electronics that have fans...

If the fan can't get to the air around it and suck i into the system, cooling the system, then overheat will occur. This will result in what seems poor quality, to the plastic melting, to full blown fire.

If the laptop's fan was on the bottom that would make sense. Or the protective plate over the fan was covered in some other way.

[bleedingheart]

46. Apple Crisp

hee hee

:evilgrin: