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Ulrich Kinbote · Aug 26, 2006, 05:48 AM

Are you going to use your battery until your replacement arrives?

About 9 out of 1.3 million Apple batteries have blown up. According to an on-line percentage converter that's about a 0.0006 change of a burnt crotch.

I'm not sure yet. For now it's in my desk draw, and my laptop is tied to the mains.

seanc · Aug 26, 2006, 07:10 AM

I didn't use mine when it was recalled before although, if I hadn't known about the recall I still would have used it and I probably would have been fine.

Peter · Aug 26, 2006, 07:19 AM

Of course I'm going to use it. Think of the lawsuit you'd have with Apple!

Cody Dawg · Aug 26, 2006, 07:19 AM

Here's the deal:

About a month ago I called Apple and told them that my PowerBook was super-heating and not working correctly due to the battery.

Apple refused to admit that it was the battery - which it is - and instead sent me a new AC adapter. I plugged in the new adapter and guess what? The prong thingy in the very middle was askew and it bent my outlet out of the PowerBook. And guess what? The PowerBook still is SO hot that the bottom is untouchable.

I called Apple the other day to say, "Replace my battery PLEASE" and waited on hold lengthy times twice and each time when the computer tried to put me through to an actual person the call dropped off and it became a busy signal.

I'm really pissed off about it the whole thing. First they denied - strongly - that it could be a battery problem and now they're admitting that it is.

Peter · Aug 26, 2006, 07:19 AM

after thought: Think of the lack of gonads.

Peter · Aug 26, 2006, 07:21 AM

Originally Posted by Cody Dawg

Here's the deal:

About a month ago I called Apple and told them that my PowerBook was super-heating and not working correctly due to the battery.

Apple refused to admit that it was the battery - which it is - and instead sent me a new AC adapter. I plugged in the new adapter and guess what? The prong thingy in the very middle was askew and it bent my outlet out of the PowerBook. And guess what? The PowerBook still is SO hot that the bottom is untouchable.

I called Apple the other day to say, "Replace my battery PLEASE and waited on hold lengthy times twice and each time when the computer tried to put me through to an actual person the call dropped off and it became a busy signal."

I'm really pissed off about it the whole thing. First they denied - strongly - that it could be a battery problem and now they're admitting that it is.

My battery isn't under the apple replacement care thing, but it only holds about 50% of the charge (ridiculous for a 10 month old powerbook) so I rang them up and asked if i could have a new battery. THey said they'd post one tomorrow

Montezuma58 · Aug 26, 2006, 07:32 AM

I've never bothered sending back the old battery when they sent the replacement for the last recall. I've been using the old battery most of the time. I haven't checked to see if the new battery is affected by the recall. Maybe I can get another spare battery.

Cody Dawg · Aug 26, 2006, 07:43 AM

What I want to know is this:

Why isn't Sony recalling their own notebooks for bad batteries?

They made sure that their own notebooks have good batteries and everyone else gets the crappy ones?

Peter · Aug 26, 2006, 07:57 AM

Dell recall prompts inquiry into all Sony laptop batteries - Engadget

Ulrich Kinbote · Aug 26, 2006, 08:00 AM

I went out without my battery (my computer was shut down) and when I plugged in and started up, I got this message:

Annoying.

Doesn't this mean my auxillary battery isn't working?

seanc · Aug 26, 2006, 08:01 AM

It means the capacitor or whatever it is inside has discharged (it holds the pram information). The battery usually keeps that capacitor charged so it can keep the data. Put the/a battery into the battery bay and it'll be fine.

TETENAL · Aug 26, 2006, 08:05 AM

Originally Posted by Peter

Of course I'm going to use it. Think of the lawsuit you'd have with Apple!

You're not getting anything from Apple if something goes wrong when you know the battery is faulty and continue to use it anyway.

Angus_D · Aug 26, 2006, 08:15 AM

You're more likely to get hit by a bus.

Cody Dawg · Aug 26, 2006, 08:17 AM

I beg to differ.

All he has to do is post a few pictures on the internet, alert the media about how he lost his testicles during a crotch fire, and he'll get something.

Ulrich Kinbote · Aug 26, 2006, 09:00 AM

Originally Posted by seanc

It means the capacitor or whatever it is inside has discharged (it holds the pram information). The battery usually keeps that capacitor charged so it can keep the data. Put the/a battery into the battery bay and it'll be fine.

Put the battery back? What about my crotch?

seanc · Aug 26, 2006, 09:04 AM

Notice the A battery, if you can live with your time and date etc resetting then don't put it back in, I wouldn't, I just kept mine connected to the mains all the time and left the battery in the kitchen waiting to sent out when I got the replacement.

ghporter · Aug 26, 2006, 09:12 AM

Originally Posted by Cody Dawg

What I want to know is this:

Why isn't Sony recalling their own notebooks for bad batteries?

They made sure that their own notebooks have good batteries and everyone else gets the crappy ones?

Sony didn't make the batteries, they made the cells inside the batteries. They can't recall the batteries because they didn't make them. Dell and Apple, on the other hand, assembled the cells into batteries so THEY CAN recall the batteries.

From the business pages, it looks like Sony is taking this recall in their financial shorts too. Which is good-the computer companies didn't do anything wrong, Sony did.

TETENAL · 09:40 AM

Originally Posted by ghporter

Sony didn't make the batteries, they made the cells inside the batteries. They can't recall the batteries because they didn't make them. Dell and Apple, on the other hand, assembled the cells into batteries so THEY CAN recall the batteries.

Read again what Cody wrote. This time more thoroughly.

Why isn't Sony recalling their own notebooks as well? Didn't they use Sony cells in their own notebook batteries?

ghporter · Aug 26, 2006, 09:36 AM

Wow, and I thought I'd read that one really thoroughly. Sorry Cody. I have seen newspaper stories where people were confused in the way I attributed to Cody, and some of 'em are just plain stupid! "My computer could explode and destroy my house! What are they doing about it!!!" Dumb. Again, sorry, Cody.

I have to agree that it's odd that we haven't seen anything about a VAIO battery recall. I hadn't thought of that before, but it certainly sounds fishy.

Ulrich Kinbote · Aug 26, 2006, 10:25 AM

Originally Posted by ghporter

Wow, and I thought I'd read that one really thoroughly. Sorry Cody. I have seen newspaper stories where people were confused in the way I attributed to Cody, and some of 'em are just plain stupid! "My computer could explode and destroy my house! What are they doing about it!!!" Dumb. Again, sorry, Cody.

I have to agree that it's odd that we haven't seen anything about a VAIO battery recall. I hadn't thought of that before, but it certainly sounds fishy.

If a 0.0006 percent change qualifies as a could, then, technically, that's what I'm saying. But I don't think my concern is stupid. If it were, the recall would be unnecessary.

turtle777 · Aug 26, 2006, 10:31 AM

Originally Posted by ghporter

I have to agree that it's odd that we haven't seen anything about a VAIO battery recall. I hadn't thought of that before, but it certainly sounds fishy.

They might have used different cells. Who knows...

Ok, some googeling shows that Japanese laptop makers use a different charger design:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2005232,00.asp

-t

TailsToo · Aug 26, 2006, 10:33 AM

I think they said that you're more likely to be hit by a bus or freeze to death - Running on my battery and it's fine. I would think that I would notice if the heat was that bad!

davesimondotcom · Aug 26, 2006, 11:54 AM

Originally Posted by Montezuma58

I've never bothered sending back the old battery when they sent the replacement for the last recall. I've been using the old battery most of the time. I haven't checked to see if the new battery is affected by the recall. Maybe I can get another spare battery.

How did you manage to keep the old one last time? Didn't they wonder why they never got it back?

ghporter · Aug 26, 2006, 06:29 PM

My point about the news articles was that people were apparently under the impression that these batteries could cause all sorts of things to violently explode and cause massive destruction. I saw one quote where the person actually wondered if the batteries were radioactive. Maybe this particular reporter was looking for people past the fringe, but I thought the attitude was pretty funny.

And to be honest, I don't think there's a huge chance that a battery that has not yet become overly hot while in use over an extended period (my wife's is over two years old, subject to the recall, and quite cool in all situations) will suddenly go Vesuvius all over the place. With that said, I'd still pay attention to what the battery feels like from time to time and get worried if it did suddenly start feeling noticably hot when it hadn't before.

Peter · Aug 26, 2006, 06:32 PM

not sure if i should use my battery really. Had my laptop for 10 months, and its had 250 cycles.

davesimondotcom · Aug 26, 2006, 07:28 PM

Had my PowerBook now for 17 months. 256 cycles. Original capacity 4400 mAh, current capacity 2990 mAh. 67%.

I definitely want a new battery. It's essentially 33% bigger than what I have.

Peter · Aug 26, 2006, 07:32 PM

I want a new battery!

seanc · Aug 26, 2006, 07:36 PM

That's poor battery capacity. Is that a theme or Leopard?

Peter · Aug 26, 2006, 07:37 PM

Uno.

davesimondotcom · Aug 26, 2006, 07:40 PM

Dude, Peter, your capicity blows... I'm sorry. Get a new battery!

Peter · Aug 26, 2006, 07:45 PM

Originally Posted by davesimondotcom

Dude, Peter, your capicity blows... I'm sorry. Get a new battery!

its on its way

Chuckit · Aug 26, 2006, 08:08 PM

My capacity is even worse (fluctuates around 1000). And this is the replacement I got after the last recall. Grr.

Montezuma58 · Aug 26, 2006, 11:17 PM

Originally Posted by davesimondotcom

How did you manage to keep the old one last time? Didn't they wonder why they never got it back?

They gave a return shipping label when they sent the new battery. I just never bothered to send the old one back. They never asked about it. I've been using the old battery almost exclusively. I figure I'll just use it until it doesn't perform up to par then switch to the new one.

I guess if my old battery does blow my nads off I might have a hard time suing since I did acknowledge that there is some danger by filling out the form for the recall.