Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

You are here: MacNN Forums > Hardware - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Mac Notebooks > my friends battery exploded!

my friends battery exploded!
Thread Tools
whop
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Nov 2003
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Mar 23, 2004, 11:53 AM
 
he was just workin on some design stuff in freehand on a fairly new 17"pb and he said his battery made a loud spinning sound, then smoked poured out of his keyboard and BOOM his battery made a minature explosion and a cloud of lithium went everywhere and he inhaled alot and had to goto the infirmary. now his pb has a hole in it and his voice is all scratchy and screwed up....


what gives, anyone ever heard of this problem?
     
f1000
Professional Poster
Join Date: Jan 2003
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Mar 23, 2004, 12:23 PM
 
Originally posted by whop:
he was just workin on some design stuff in freehand on a fairly new 17"pb and he said his battery made a loud spinning sound, then smoked poured out of his keyboard and BOOM his battery made a minature explosion and a cloud of lithium went everywhere and he inhaled alot and had to goto the infirmary. now his pb has a hole in it and his voice is all scratchy and screwed up....


what gives, anyone ever heard of this problem?

YES, rechargeable batteries can leak hydrogen with explosive results. In your friend's PB, it may have been the backup battery that exploded, and not the main one.

From experience.
     
aricher
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Chicago
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Mar 23, 2004, 12:38 PM
 
Not to be litigious but I smell a MacLawsuit. I've heard of this happening as well - not on any new PBs though - What was he doing that lead up to the explosion?
Wherever you go... there you are.
     
amazing
Professional Poster
Join Date: Jan 2003
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Mar 23, 2004, 01:00 PM
 
Please post some photos?

Somehow, seeing is believing, I'm afraid I have a hard time taking this seriously because a real story would have included photos...
     
hayesk
Guest
Status:
Reply With Quote
Mar 23, 2004, 01:22 PM
 
Yeah, that seems to be a bit far-fetced. Post some pictures, please.
     
iREZ
Professional Poster
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Los Angeles of the East
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Mar 23, 2004, 01:50 PM
 
All I could say is yikes, don't tell me I have to wear a mask and goggles everytime I use my 12 incher
NOW YOU SEE ME! 2.4 MBP and 2.0 MBP (running ubuntu)
     
tooki
Admin Emeritus
Join Date: Oct 1999
Location: Zurich, Switzerland
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Mar 23, 2004, 02:27 PM
 
If it DID happen (it is possible, albeit very unlikely), Apple will be... VERY accomodating. They'd rather not be sued, and will do a lot to make sure that doesn't happen!

tooki
     
iRebound
Mac Enthusiast
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Chicago, IL
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Mar 23, 2004, 02:35 PM
 
Originally posted by tooki:
If it DID happen (it is possible, albeit very unlikely), Apple will be... VERY accomodating. They'd rather not be sued, and will do a lot to make sure that doesn't happen!

tooki
I'd settle for a life time supply of powerbooks
     
f1000
Professional Poster
Join Date: Jan 2003
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Mar 23, 2004, 02:37 PM
 
Originally posted by tooki:
If it DID happen (it is possible, albeit very unlikely), Apple will be... VERY accomodating. They'd rather not be sued, and will do a lot to make sure that doesn't happen!

tooki

Tooki's right. Again, from personal experience.
     
chrisutley
Grizzled Veteran
Join Date: Mar 2003
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Mar 23, 2004, 07:27 PM
 
When your battery starts smoking, run.
     
BearOso
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Oct 2003
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Mar 23, 2004, 08:24 PM
 
Hmm. He inhaled some lithium and has a scratchy voice? He got lucky.

I remember reading a story about an exploding Dell (Inspiron 8100?) where it literally exploded in someone's lap. There were gruesome details about the person's skin literally hanging/falling off his hands. I imagine the area on him closest to where the battery was might have been a bit worse.

Either way, I wouldn't want either thing to happen to me. I hope your friend is compensated appropriately.

EDIT: Nevermind, it was a 15-year-old girl. http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click...4419424C831328
( Last edited by BearOso; Mar 23, 2004 at 08:34 PM. )
     
mrmister
Mac Elite
Join Date: Aug 2000
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Mar 23, 2004, 08:28 PM
 
whop, I hope you show up and substantiate this, because i have to say this sounds totally unrealistic.
     
tr
Mac Elite
Join Date: Nov 1999
Location: Columbus, Ohio
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Mar 23, 2004, 09:36 PM
 
yeah, this doesn't sound plausible to me. a "cloud of lithium"? maybe fumes from burning, but not lithium in a gaseous state. and if there was an explosion large enough and violent enough to put a hole in a powerbook, i think whop's friend would have more problems than just a voice that's "scratchy and screwed up"

tr
     
BearOso
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Oct 2003
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Mar 23, 2004, 09:53 PM
 
Originally posted by tr:
yeah, this doesn't sound plausible to me. a "cloud of lithium"? maybe fumes from burning, but not lithium in a gaseous state. and if there was an explosion large enough and violent enough to put a hole in a powerbook, i think whop's friend would have more problems than just a voice that's "scratchy and screwed up"

tr
Battery explosions tend to be from leaking hydrogen gas, and from experiencing many hydrogen explosions in numerous physics classes, they are fairly centralized and produce large shockwaves that cause your ears to ring. So the hole in the powerbook would be plausible.

But I understand what you're saying about lithium, it's not likely to be gaseous at all. I imagine the guy probably thought "lithium-ion battery," and made a false assumption. More likely the throat problems would be from superheated air, but that would also affect the lungs. I'd like to see a picture of this powerbook hole, especially since such an explosion would probably blow off the user's hands, or at least torch the skin as evidenced in the article I posted above.
     
KraziKid
Dedicated MacNNer
Join Date: Dec 2003
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Mar 23, 2004, 11:08 PM
 
Originally posted by BearOso:
Battery explosions tend to be from leaking hydrogen gas, and from experiencing many hydrogen explosions in numerous physics classes, they are fairly centralized and produce large shockwaves that cause your ears to ring. So the hole in the powerbook would be plausible.

But I understand what you're saying about lithium, it's not likely to be gaseous at all. I imagine the guy probably thought "lithium-ion battery," and made a false assumption. More likely the throat problems would be from superheated air, but that would also affect the lungs. I'd like to see a picture of this powerbook hole, especially since such an explosion would probably blow off the user's hands, or at least torch the skin as evidenced in the article I posted above.
I agree with you on the hydrogen explosion part. However, "cloud of lithium" does not imply gaseous state. It simply applies small particles of lithium floating in the air in a solid state. Think of the exhasut that you can visually see coming from the stacks of a diesel truck. That is simply carbon that is particalized so that it is able to floats in the air (this is the black cloud, yes there is CO2 and CO but you cannot see that with the naked eye). It's entireley plausable that the H explosion caused some lithium to become particalized in the air, where the person could have inhaled it.


I too would like to see pictures of this though, not only for proof, but so see the severity.
15 inch MacBook Pro 2.16 GHz, 2 GB RAM, 7200 RPM 100GB HDD.

Dual 2.5 GHz Power Mac G5, 1 GB RAM, 250 GB HDD, ATI Radeon X800XT.
     
jools
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: London
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Mar 23, 2004, 11:21 PM
 
The last cloud of smoke that erupted from my powerbook was followed by a genie - a common problem with excessive use of the track pad...
     
f1000
Professional Poster
Join Date: Jan 2003
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Mar 23, 2004, 11:34 PM
 
Originally posted by KraziKid:
I too would like to see pictures of this though, not only for proof, but so see the severity.

Yeah, I'd like to see them too so that I can know where not to place my hands. I don't think I'm ever going to put a PowerBook in my lap again (or else, start wearing a cup).
     
whop  (op)
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Nov 2003
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Mar 23, 2004, 11:35 PM
 
ok guys, he did take pictures, for insurance reason of course, and i will try to get in touch with him this week and get him to email me them, and they will be posted asap
     
Dougmc
Forum Regular
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Indianapolis
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Mar 24, 2004, 08:44 AM
 
If my friend's battery exploded, I'd get a new friend that didn't require batteries.
17" PowerBook (delivered 4/2/2003) | www.mcschooler.com
     
cSurfr
Grizzled Veteran
Join Date: Jun 2002
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Mar 24, 2004, 09:53 AM
 
Someone mentioned earlier about suing Apple over the battery exploding. This is the worst part of the mac community. If anything ever happens, most everyone seems to jump on the "Let's Sue Apple" bandwagon. Everyone wonders why Apple products cost so much, maybe it's because all of the class action lawsuits that Apple has to deal with? This goes all the way back to people suing apple because their B/W G3 wouldn't play games as well as it did in OS 9. No one sued Dell when Windows ME ran 100x worse than 95/98. Of course, PC users expect junk from MS, but that doesn't make it right.

I'm sorry your friend got injured, but suing apple isn't going to stop batteries from overheating and exploding.


cs
-How pumped would you be driving home from work, knowing someplace in your house there's a monkey you're gonna battle?
     
Turias
Mac Elite
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Minnesota
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Mar 24, 2004, 09:57 AM
 
Originally posted by cSurfr:
Someone mentioned earlier about suing Apple over the battery exploding. This is the worst part of the mac community. If anything ever happens, most everyone seems to jump on the "Let's Sue Apple" bandwagon. Everyone wonders why Apple products cost so much, maybe it's because all of the class action lawsuits that Apple has to deal with? This goes all the way back to people suing apple because their B/W G3 wouldn't play games as well as it did in OS 9. No one sued Dell when Windows ME ran 100x worse than 95/98. Of course, PC users expect junk from MS, but that doesn't make it right.

I'm sorry your friend got injured, but suing apple isn't going to stop batteries from overheating and exploding.


cs
Well, if he was hospitalized and his voice got screwed up because of an exploding battery, he is definitely entitled to some monetary compensation. There is no way you can say this incident is similar to the stupid lawsuits you mentioned concerning performance of OS X on older machines.

But Tooki is right. The guy shouldn't jump and sue Apple right away. I'm sure they'll be more than happy to settle outside of court.
     
tr
Mac Elite
Join Date: Nov 1999
Location: Columbus, Ohio
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Mar 24, 2004, 11:18 AM
 
Originally posted by KraziKid:
I agree with you on the hydrogen explosion part. However, "cloud of lithium" does not imply gaseous state. It simply applies small particles of lithium floating in the air in a solid state. Think of the exhasut that you can visually see coming from the stacks of a diesel truck. That is simply carbon that is particalized so that it is able to floats in the air (this is the black cloud, yes there is CO2 and CO but you cannot see that with the naked eye). It's entireley plausable that the H explosion caused some lithium to become particalized in the air, where the person could have inhaled it.


I too would like to see pictures of this though, not only for proof, but so see the severity.
yeah, if anything, the hydrogen would play a part (we blow up hydrogen filled balloons somewhat frequently for fun -i work in a university physics dept. ...our favorite joke after the explosion "so, did anyone see the water that was formed?"), and i can understand this definition of a "cloud of lithium".

BUT, the fact of the matter is, if this really DID happen, the guy would have much more serious injuries than just a messed up voice from smoke/particle inhalation, right? i mean, he says there's a hole in the powerbook...

call me a doubter, but i'd like to see the pics.

tr
     
israces
Mac Enthusiast
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: Land of the Free
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Mar 24, 2004, 03:02 PM
 
Originally posted by cSurfr:
... but suing apple isn't going to stop batteries from overheating and exploding.
cs
Not true.

Legitimate products liability lawsuits have a funny way of causing rapid improvement in design and dramatic decreases in what is deemed "an acceptable level" regarding risk of failure.
Backup your Backup
     
cSurfr
Grizzled Veteran
Join Date: Jun 2002
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Mar 24, 2004, 09:29 PM
 
Originally posted by israces:
Not true.

Legitimate products liability lawsuits have a funny way of causing rapid improvement in design and dramatic decreases in what is deemed "an acceptable level" regarding risk of failure.
How many different ways can you design what turns out to be a watch battery ?
-How pumped would you be driving home from work, knowing someplace in your house there's a monkey you're gonna battle?
     
Person Man
Professional Poster
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: Northwest Ohio
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Mar 24, 2004, 10:02 PM
 
Originally posted by israces:
Legitimate products liability lawsuits have a funny way of causing rapid improvement in design and dramatic decreases in what is deemed "an acceptable level" regarding risk of failure.
Let's assume that the risk of this happening is 0.0001% (or one in a million). Apple doesn't even SELL a million of any particular model. Let's say apple sold 350,000 units. Only .35 PowerBooks will have this problem.

While it is true that a legitimate liability lawsuit can cause rapid improvement in design, I would venture to guess that in this case, would only result in a warning in the manual saying that there is an extremely small chance the battery could explode. Costing Apple millons and millions of dollars (because of the unreasonable "pain and suffering" award) would not be the way to go about this.

(edited to remove story later pointed out to be urban legend)

This guy got unlucky, yes. It's probably not Apple's fault. Don't be so quick to tell him to sue right away. See what Apple's response to him is first. If they tell him to go f*** himself, then AND ONLY THEN would I say he has a case.
( Last edited by Person Man; Mar 28, 2004 at 08:59 PM. )
     
msSwitch
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Feb 2004
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Mar 25, 2004, 12:01 AM
 
Originally posted by chrisutley:
When your battery starts smoking, run.
When your battery starts smoking, get it a patch. Get it? Patch, nicotine. Huh? Forget it.
Love is a 15" AlBook 1.25 with Superdrive...
     
shabbasuraj
Mac Elite
Join Date: Aug 2003
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Mar 25, 2004, 12:24 AM
 
blabba5555555555555555555555555555555555555
     
Link
Professional Poster
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Hyrule
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Mar 25, 2004, 01:10 AM
 
One thing that freaks me about those sorts of things. I heard about it happening to a 15" pb owner once too (saw a pict of it once.. forgot where)
Aloha
     
mrmister
Mac Elite
Join Date: Aug 2000
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Mar 25, 2004, 03:14 AM
 
"This guy got unlucky, yes. It's probably not Apple's fault."

If it did explode, I think that's probably Apple's fault.
     
Person Man
Professional Poster
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: Northwest Ohio
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Mar 25, 2004, 07:16 PM
 
Originally posted by mrmister:
"This guy got unlucky, yes. It's probably not Apple's fault."

If it did explode, I think that's probably Apple's fault.
No, it's not entirely their fault. You can't completely eliminate the possibility of something happening, and even if it does, it doesn't automatically mean that Apple was negligent, that they should have known, that they should have taken precautions, etc...

The point I'm trying to make is that people and lawyers are entirely too trigger-happy these days, and that you shouldn't immediately jump to conclusions without seeing what else will happen.

Apple may bend over backwards to cater to the guy. Suppose they did that and he rewards them with another multi-million dollar lawsuit? I'm sorry but that's just plain greed.

The guy who won $18 million dollars because of lung problems he developed from working in a popcorn factory said he "didn't do it for the money; he just did it so others wouldn't have to go through the same thing." Yeah, right, the lawyer makes out big time. If he's suing just to make sure it doesn't happen again, then he should either a) not ask for such a ridiculous sum of money, or b) take that $18 million and donate ALL OF IT to help further research into the condition so that an effective treatment is found.

Just look at the ads that are being run these days. Are your kids fat? Did they ever eat at McDonalds? If so, it's not your fault! McDonalds made your kids fat because they didn't tell you that eating that way would make them fat! C'mon! What's next? Nothing we do is our own fault?

There is a place for legitimate lawsuits, yes. But we've gone WAY too far because the court system has become another lottery.
     
Link
Professional Poster
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Hyrule
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Mar 26, 2004, 03:57 AM
 
http://www.spymac.com/gallery/show_p...hp?picid=71760

I think it's the lithium prismatic battery that causes this o_O GEEZ
Aloha
     
RayX
Dedicated MacNNer
Join Date: Aug 2003
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Mar 26, 2004, 04:09 AM
 
     
The Placid Casual
Professional Poster
Join Date: May 2001
Location: Switzerland
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Mar 26, 2004, 05:01 AM
 
Bloody hell!
     
Pierre B.
Grizzled Veteran
Join Date: Feb 2003
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Mar 26, 2004, 05:59 AM
 
Now imagine something like that happening while you are working on the Powerbook, hands on the keyboard....
     
mdc
Addicted to MacNN
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: NY²
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Mar 26, 2004, 09:49 AM
 
that's scary stuff, glad he did not get hurt.
     
Cipher13
Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2000
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Mar 26, 2004, 01:00 PM
 
If the battery on an Apple laptop of mine "exploded", I'd be sueing Apple before the cloud of smoke dissipated.

Oh, and "cloud of lithium"? Whether it was gaseous, or particalised solid, well... he's gonna have major problems if he inhaled a large volume of lithium.
     
Person Man
Professional Poster
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: Northwest Ohio
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Mar 26, 2004, 08:30 PM
 
Originally posted by Cipher13:
If the battery on an Apple laptop of mine "exploded", I'd be sueing Apple before the cloud of smoke dissipated.

Oh, and "cloud of lithium"? Whether it was gaseous, or particalised solid, well... he's gonna have major problems if he inhaled a large volume of lithium.
Wouldn't you want to wait and see how Apple responded to you before trying to sue them?
     
rag on a muffin
Senior User
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Cabin john, MD
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Mar 27, 2004, 02:56 AM
 
i was in one of my classes working with a soldering iron that my friend started to use. he laid it on the cord, and right as i was about to pick it up, it exploded, sending a chunk of metal into my palm, which luckily didn't stick in. if i was gunna be fair, i would sue the person that assembled it, but apple has more money, so i would sue them.
Superhero Of The Computer Rage
MacBook Pro 2.16 Ghz, PowerBook G4 12" 1 Ghz (DVI) Dell 24" monitor
Porsche 944, Mercedes 240D (running onWaste Vegetable Oil)
     
Mac Zealot
Professional Poster
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: Vallejo, Ca.
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Mar 27, 2004, 03:58 AM
 
That's a different story. you shorted out the power supply thus causing it to blow out. Oops?
In a realm beyond site, the sky shines gold, not blue, there the Triforce's might makes mortal dreams come true.
     
Peabo
Senior User
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: London, England
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Mar 27, 2004, 10:14 AM
 
Originally posted by rag on a muffin:
i was in one of my classes working with a soldering iron that my friend started to use. he laid it on the cord, and right as i was about to pick it up, it exploded, sending a chunk of metal into my palm, which luckily didn't stick in. if i was gunna be fair, i would sue the person that assembled it, but apple has more money, so i would sue them.
If you're going to sue anyone, sue your friend for being so careless! The company has every right not to put 'if you melt through the powercord with the iron then it might blow up' on the side of the box. But they might want to put 'this is not a toy.' I'm sure if you placed red-hot metal on any electrical appliance's powercord then something bad would happen, but that's not the company's fault, it's just common sense.

I think it's a mentality like this that forces companies to put the most obvious of warnings on their products like, 'this pencil, when inserted into the eye may cause pain and death'. If McDonalds had put 'warning, if you eat our dozens of our burgers every week, you may become a greasy, fat-ass' then they wouldn't have got sued by the greasy fat ass that pigged-out on their food and didn't want to hold himself responsible.
LC 16Mhz • LC 475 25Mhz • Centris 650 25Mhz • Performa 6200/75Mhz • G3 266Mhz • Snow iMac DVSE 500Mhz
G4 QS 733Mhz • 17" Powerbook 1.33Ghz • 15" MacBook Pro Core Duo 2.16Ghz • Mac Pro 8-Core 3.0 Ghz
     
Oisín
Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Copenhagen
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Mar 27, 2004, 12:09 PM
 
Originally posted by z0ne81:
I think it's a mentality like this that forces companies to put the most obvious of warnings on their products like, 'this pencil, when inserted into the eye may cause pain and death'. If McDonalds had put 'warning, if you eat our dozens of our burgers every week, you may become a greasy, fat-ass' then they wouldn't have got sued by the greasy fat ass that pigged-out on their food and didn't want to hold himself responsible.
Or the classic: "Note: This microwave oven is not suitable for drying wet cats, and may result in serious injury or death to the cat".
     
Peabo
Senior User
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: London, England
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Mar 27, 2004, 12:43 PM
 
Originally posted by Ois�n:
Or the classic: "Note: This microwave oven is not suitable for drying wet cats, and may result in serious injury or death to the cat".
I think someone should issue the statement 'if you're an idiot, never buy anything'. But on the other hand, the powerbook blowing up was not the user's fault, and if apple didn't compensate them hugely for the injury & loss of all their data etc, then of course they have reason to sue.
LC 16Mhz • LC 475 25Mhz • Centris 650 25Mhz • Performa 6200/75Mhz • G3 266Mhz • Snow iMac DVSE 500Mhz
G4 QS 733Mhz • 17" Powerbook 1.33Ghz • 15" MacBook Pro Core Duo 2.16Ghz • Mac Pro 8-Core 3.0 Ghz
     
z|gzag
Junior Member
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Ontario
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Mar 27, 2004, 10:25 PM
 
Originally posted by msSwitch:
When your battery starts smoking, get it a patch. Get it? Patch, nicotine. Huh? Forget it.
have you been smoking batteries?
~zig
     
rag on a muffin
Senior User
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Cabin john, MD
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Mar 28, 2004, 01:00 AM
 
Originally posted by z0ne81:
If you're going to sue anyone, sue your friend for being so careless! The company has every right not to put 'if you melt through the powercord with the iron then it might blow up' on the side of the box. But they might want to put 'this is not a toy.' I'm sure if you placed red-hot metal on any electrical appliance's powercord then something bad would happen, but that's not the company's fault, it's just common sense.

I think it's a mentality like this that forces companies to put the most obvious of warnings on their products like, 'this pencil, when inserted into the eye may cause pain and death'. If McDonalds had put 'warning, if you eat our dozens of our burgers every week, you may become a greasy, fat-ass' then they wouldn't have got sued by the greasy fat ass that pigged-out on their food and didn't want to hold himself responsible.
true, im just talking about my bad experiences with electronics. you can guess i punched him in the face for that. i have many more stories, thats just the most recent. another painful thing was when i was about 3. i put a knife into a lamp socket. the lamp exploded, and scared the living crap out of me. im not sure, but i think the warning on the cord says "do not cut this cord".
( Last edited by rag on a muffin; Mar 28, 2004 at 01:05 AM. )
Superhero Of The Computer Rage
MacBook Pro 2.16 Ghz, PowerBook G4 12" 1 Ghz (DVI) Dell 24" monitor
Porsche 944, Mercedes 240D (running onWaste Vegetable Oil)
     
Mac Zealot
Professional Poster
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: Vallejo, Ca.
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Mar 28, 2004, 01:09 AM
 
I wonder if we'll be hearing about any more 'splosions..

This seriously scares the crap out of me. I think for once, I might be able to afford a next gen powerbook too!! o_o Aww man.
In a realm beyond site, the sky shines gold, not blue, there the Triforce's might makes mortal dreams come true.
     
rag on a muffin
Senior User
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Cabin john, MD
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Mar 28, 2004, 01:17 AM
 
after hearing this you still want one??
Superhero Of The Computer Rage
MacBook Pro 2.16 Ghz, PowerBook G4 12" 1 Ghz (DVI) Dell 24" monitor
Porsche 944, Mercedes 240D (running onWaste Vegetable Oil)
     
Drakino
Grizzled Veteran
Join Date: Apr 2001
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Mar 28, 2004, 02:19 AM
 
This guy has every right to sue Apple over this. Lithium batteries require a lot of intelligence in the charger. Something goes wrong there, and this could very well occur. My best guess is the new battery firmware that came out shortly after the 15 inch Al model combined with a underspec battery somehow led to this.
<This space under renovation>
     
f1000
Professional Poster
Join Date: Jan 2003
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Mar 28, 2004, 04:55 AM
 
Originally posted by z0ne81:
If McDonalds had put 'warning, if you eat our dozens of our burgers every week, you may become a greasy, fat-ass' then they wouldn't have got sued by the greasy fat ass that pigged-out on their food and didn't want to hold himself responsible.
Hehe, you can't be a Brit - are you an American living in London?
     
Peabo
Senior User
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: London, England
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Mar 28, 2004, 09:48 AM
 
Originally posted by f1000:
Hehe, you can't be a Brit - are you an American living in London?
No, I'm British, I just read about these things!
LC 16Mhz • LC 475 25Mhz • Centris 650 25Mhz • Performa 6200/75Mhz • G3 266Mhz • Snow iMac DVSE 500Mhz
G4 QS 733Mhz • 17" Powerbook 1.33Ghz • 15" MacBook Pro Core Duo 2.16Ghz • Mac Pro 8-Core 3.0 Ghz
     
Person Man
Professional Poster
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: Northwest Ohio
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Mar 28, 2004, 11:09 AM
 
Originally posted by Drakino:
This guy has every right to sue Apple over this. Lithium batteries require a lot of intelligence in the charger. Something goes wrong there, and this could very well occur. My best guess is the new battery firmware that came out shortly after the 15 inch Al model combined with a underspec battery somehow led to this.
I'd still give Apple a chance to make it right first, before suing them.

And even if the battery was perfect, there is still the possiblity that it could explode.

Also, here's something else to consider. Apple recently lowered the threshhold for their fans on the latest operating system, and PowerBook owners are all up in arms about it.

Even if the battery is perfect, heating it up to a certain point makes the problem more likely to occur. Ever consider that Apple may have recognized this and changed the fan threshhold accordingly? And then people go and replace the system component to go back to the old behavior... I'd seriously reconsider that in light of this.
     
 
Thread Tools
 
Forum Links
Forum Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Top
Privacy Policy
All times are GMT -4. The time now is 09:29 PM.
All contents of these forums © 1995-2017 MacNN. All rights reserved.
Branding + Design: www.gesamtbild.com
vBulletin v.3.8.8 © 2000-2017, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.,