U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) released the tips on laptop computer use, after recent fire incidents with notebooks involved and massive battery recalls.
To promote safe use of notebook computers, batteries and chargers, CPSC advised not to use incompatible computer batteries and chargers.
Also, do not use your computer on your lap, because laptop batteries can get hot during normal use.
HP will not recall Sony-made batteries used in its laptops. The company believes it is safe to use those batteries because it reviewed and rejected Sony battery parts for nearly a year before buying any. Also, no overheating problems have been reported, USA Today reports according to HP spokesman Mike Hockey.
Although HP can’t say for sure, since it doesn’t have all the information from Sony, it believes the batteries, which can overheat and catch fire, were among those that did not meet its quality standards.
About 1 million to 2 million HP notebooks currently have the Sony batteries, the report says.
Fujitsu on Friday offered replacements for certain Sony-made batteries used in Fujitsu’s notebooks. It was reported that the recalled batteries can overheat, posing a fire hazard. The affected batteries are used in Fujitsu’s LifeBook laptops which were sold outside Japan, as same as in Japanese FMV-Biblo Loox notebooks.
The affected batteries are used in LIFEBOOK P1510 and P7120, LIFEBOOK S7020, S7020D, S7025 and S7025D and LIFEBOOK C1320, C1320D and C1410. Also, FMV-BIBLO LOOX P70R, P70S, FMV-BIBLO LOOX T50M, T50R, T50RN, T50S, T50SN, FMV-BIBLO LOOX T70M, T70M/T, T70MN, T70R, T70R/T, T70RN, T70S, T70S/V, T70SN and FMV-P8210 use recalled Sony batteries.
Update: Fujitsu Ltd. said on Wednesday that the number of recalled batteries will be 287,000.
According to Fujitsu, there isn’t any battery pack problem involving Fujitsu notebook PCs similar to those that have been announced recently by Dell and Apple Computer.
Toshiba widens its laptop battery recall to 830,000 batteries, after recalled 340,000 notebook batteries worldwide on September 19, Reuters reported. Toshiba said that recall could affect customers of the Satellite A100, A105, M50, M55, M100 and M105 laptops, as well as the Toshiba Tecra A6 and Tecra A7 notebooks. Only computers purchased between March and May of 2006 are affected. The recalled batteries do not overheat, or pose any safety related issue or concern, the Toshiba laptop battery recall page says.
The affected batteries simply stop working, i.e. they stop accepting a charge, and they no longer supply power to the computer, according to the Toshiba.
Toshiba is offering to replace affected batteries with new batteries, free of charge. The company will replace affected batteries whether or not they have actually failed, with the intention that as few customers as possible will ever experience the problem”, the recall page says.
There is no information how many recalled batteries are sold in the United States.
Sony will initiate a global replacement program (recall) for certain laptop battery packs that utilize Sony-made lithium ion cells used by notebook computer manufacturers, because of recent over-heating incidents. According to Sony’s press release, the company is discussing this plan with the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission.
“Sony has been supporting the recall of battery packs for Dell and Apple. On rare occasions, microscopic metal particles in the recalled battery cells may come into contact with other parts of the battery cell, leading to a possibility of short circuit within the cell. A battery pack will simply power off when a cell short circuit occurs, but under certain rare conditions an internal short circuit may lead to cell overheating and potentially flames. The potential for this to occur can be affected by variations in the system configurations found in different notebook computers. Sony believes that this engineering analysis remains valid”, the press release says.
Sony will announce details of the program in the near future.
Lenovo and IBM, in cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission today announced the voluntary recall of approximately 526,000 ThinkPad laptop lithium-ion batteries worldwide, of which 168,500 in the United States. The batteries are manufactured by Sony. Lenovo offers free-of-charge replacement batteries for all recalled units. Lenovo has confirmed that these batteries can be subject to overheating, posing a potential fire hazard.
The recalled batteries were sold with or sold separately to be used with some models of ThinkPad notebook PCs. Those models are: T Series (T43, T43p, T60), X Series (X60, X60s) and R Series (R51e, R52, R60, R60e).
Since these batteries work with any T4x Series or R5x Series system, customers who ordered an extra battery or received a replacement battery for any T4x or R5x Series notebook PC between February 2005 and September 2006 may also have a battery subject to recall.
IBM and Lenovo sold these batteries with new notebook PCs or as replacement batteries between February 2005 and September 2006. Customers can continue to use their laptops by turning them off, removing the battery, and plugging in the AC adapter and power cord to power the system.
Lenovo estimates that between five and ten percent of ThinkPad notebooks sold during period of February 2005 to September 2006 are affected by the recall.
Lenovo confirmed that its ThinkPad T43 used Sony’s battery when caught fire at Los Angeles International Airport recently. It’s the first time Lenovo has observed an incident involving one of its laptops and the faulty Sony batteries, the company’s representative said.
Lenovo and Sony are continuing to test the heavily damaged ThinkPad T43 in an attempt to learn exactly what caused the problem, according to the representative.
In August, Lenovo said that tests had confirmed that it’s laptop PC technology was not prone to the same types of problems, which caused massive Dell’s and Apple’s battery recalls after several fire incidents with their laptops powered by Sony’s lithium-ion batteries.
Toshiba announced that it is recalling 340,000 battery packs for Satellite and Dynabook laptops made between March and May. The 100,000 affected battery units are in the United States. Sony made those batteries but the problem doesn’t cause them to explode. Instead the batteries just stop charging or discharge too fast, the Wall Street Journal cited the AP report.
There is no recall notification on the Toshiba web site yet, but there is information that Toshiba laptops are not affected by Sony overheating battery issue, which caused the recent massive Dell and Apple notebook battery recalls.
After Australian’s Qantas and Korean Air, Virgin Atlantic has made restrictions on laptop battery in-flight use.
Virgin Atlantic’s policy forbids bringing onboard any Apple and Dell notebook batteries, unless they are removed from the computer and individually wrapped. Virgin Atlantic doesn’t prevent such laptop owners from operating their notebooks, but it limits them to seat-side power supplies. If you’re not sitting close enough to a seat-side power supply or if you’re not sitting in a premium-class cabin, where the seats are fitted with In Seat Power Supplies, you won’t be able to use your PC during the flight.
Apple with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is announcing the recall of 1.8 million iBook G4 and PowerBook G4 laptop lithium-ion batteries with cells manufactured by Sony. A 1.1 million of these batteries are sold in notebooks within the United States, while an additional 700,000 battery packs were sold outside the U.S.
Dell estimates a delivery time of up to 20 business days for a new battery for most models which were affected by recent laptop battery recall. But, according to Daily Tech, “battery models M3006 and H3191 have extended lead times and take up to 75 business days for delivery, leaving users without a safe battery for nearly four months”.
Dell models affected by this 75 day delivery time are the Inspiron 9100 and XPS series of heavyweight laptops, Daily Tech reports.
Consumer Product Safety Commission officials said yesterday they are reviewing all Sony-made lithium-ion batteries in laptop computers for fire hazards after Dell announced the 4.1 million batteries recall. The Sony batteries are also used in notebooks from Hewlett-Packard, Apple and Lenovo.
“We are looking at the complete scope of the batteries made by Sony to ensure that no other consumers are in harm’s way. We recognize that the batteries manufactured by Sony are not unique to just the Dell notebook computers,” U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission spokesman Scott Wolfson said.
Dell and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission plan to recall 4.1 million notebook batteries on Tuesday, a company representative confirmed today. The recall affects certain Inspiron, Latitude and Precision laptops and XPS units shipped between April 2004 and July 18, 2006, ZDNet reports.
Dell has faced several issues this year related to exploding or flaming notebooks, and wants to ensure the safety of its customers. The company has so far received six reports of overheating units that caused property damage, the representative said.
You are currently browsing the archives for the Laptop Batteries category.
