Comments on: Apple recalls 1.8 million batteries

update Company's recall, not as big as Dell's, affects many iBook G4 and PowerBook G4 laptop models.
Photos: Checking for recalled batteries

[mjd420nova]

Battery recall

Having two Dell laptops in my home I am very concerned over this overheating problem as reported by the CPSC. I have been working in the field service of computers since their inception and never seen this problem that was a normal occurance. That is to say the situations I have seen were caused by the users. Several times the users were not careful with preventing contamination from getting into the contact area of both the battery and the exposed connection area on the bottom of the laptop itself. These self induced problems caused many batteries to over heat but never to the extent illustrated in the news. I have seen many an external power module get hot enough to begin making the moulded plastic cases become pliable. Also the battery cases do become quite warm and some began to swell enough so that they no longer fit properly on the cavity provided. This on several occasions were enough to make the users force them back into place, resulting in jamming of the electrical contact area and shorting the leads together, this was met with many sparks and some melting of the seperators between these leads and fusing them together, on both the battery and laptop. This could indeed cause some open flames, but the users were smart enough to remove the battery and disconnect the power source. The manufacturers could indeed take a bit more time in design of these contact areas and engineer them such that these critical areas are not close enough together to allow contact during these situations. Nothing can be made foolproof as fools are so ingenious. Stupidity breeds accidents and as we all know accidents happen to the best of us and not all can be prevented. As we begin to ask for more powerful units, they also demand more power be provided by both internal and external power sources. In the effort to keep weight down and power up, smaller packages with more potential are sure to create spectacular events when things go wrong.

[GrandpaN1947]

Their products

are as good as their rootkits. Couldn't happen to a better DRM loving company. I wish them many more failures in the future.

[mjd420nova]

I want to add this

I have mistakenly posted my previous comment on the story thinking that it was about the proported failure of the SONY LTHIUM ION BATTERIES used in Dell and Mac laptop computers. I did not read the prior 68 comments until after I made my post. Now I realize that most of those comments had nothing to do with the original story. When did it turn into a WINDOWS--MAC bash session?? I work on both systems and do not draw lines in the sand and give each side a label. Each system is engineered for the ease of certain types of OPERATORS. Each has it's proponents and detractors. Where does that fit into the original story????

[catch23]

Fit? No where of course

just like all the Apple fans posting when Dell had their recall, stating the same BS about how it proves something about crappy parts, M$, or some other such nonsense.
It's an argument of convenience. The fanbois will pick up anything to use as a weapon, no matter how ridiculuos.

Agreed.

I completely agree. I'm a Mac user, but have no problem with
PCs. Both have their strong points. It's as bad as the Democrat
Republican thing. This is about faulty batteries common to many
electronic devices. Sony generally makes good stuff too.

[nwflyfisher]

Seems like the media has been asleep on this one

This recall has been going on for over a year now, maybe longer.
I had the battery in my Powerbook G4 replaced about the time
Apple notified its customers via their customer support page
back in '04. All of a sudden this is big news, I wonder why?

[cdnjay]

Seperate Recall

This is a seperate recall. I remember checking last year also to see
if my battery was affected by that recall, at the time it wasn't
though it sure is now...

[asiayeah]

Poor Battery Exchange Service in HK

In US, people get free shipping for their new batteries.

In Hong Kong, we have to visit the service providers in person
TWICE! First we have to go there and give up our old battery for
registration. Then we have to wait for at least 10 days and visit the
service providers AGAIN to get the new battery.

It's simply poor service from Apple!

[City_Of_LA]

Crap Computers

Time to get rid of these crappy rotten apples and get back to the good old PC with Linux.

[Seaspray0]

The genuine, real, absolute, factual truth

City_Of_LA writes..."Time to get rid of these crappy rotten apples and get back to the good old PC with Linux."

OMG! Didn't you know that all the faulty batteries were running the linux operating system inside the cells? Yep, it's true! Really, it is! It was leaked during the Britney Spears news conference at the White House.

[technewsjunkie]

Mac user wants more info. Was it "implementation"

As claimed by other manufacturers in this article:

http://news.com.com/Fires+stop+with+Apple+and+Dell%2C
+insists+Sony/2100-1041_3-6109460.html?tag=html.alert

[hotjamms]

Sony Batteries

The reason Sony's doesn't have a problem is that the battery
warranty on Sony laptops is only 30 days, guess they know
something the rest of us don't.

[hotjamms]

Sony Batteries

The reason Sony's doesn't have a problem is that the battery
warranty on Sony laptops is only 30 days, guess they know
something the rest of us don't.

[sadchild]

hi i'm a mac and i *bursts into flames*

let's see THIS as an apple commercial

hi i'm a mac and i *bursts into flames*

[omaryak]

How sophomoric

There have been no reports of Apples catching on fire. A quick examination of the Powerbook chassis reveals why: no plastic to melt, only metal to get hot. This is why the (nine) reports received have been of burns from handling the overheated battery, not spontaneous combustion. That's for cheaper models.

[augustx05]

battery number rejected

I finally talked to tech support and they said I had to enter the
entire battery serial number, not just the portion shown in the
instruction's picture. It worked. I think I tried that before and it
didn't work, but I'm not sure.

[Tech Victim]

Anyone Out There Apple?

After failing the online registration process for both batterys from
my two Apple Powerbooks (that clearly fell withing the serial
numbers being recalled) I spent three hours either attempting to
dial into the phone number offered (total joke) or waiting before
someone answered only to tell me they couldn't take the
information over the phone. I love my Apple computers, but have
always hated Apple's idea of service - thanks for reminding me why
Apple!

[Macsaresafer]

Be reasonable.

Normally, Apple's service is pretty good. I'm not going from
personal experience, but all those industry ratings where they
come out at or near the top.

I can't personally say how good they are, because I can't
remember the last time I had a problem, and that leads me to
another point about them. All companies analyze their support
calls to determine the size of the support staff needed. A
company that doesn't have a high call rate isn't going to have a
huge supprt staff. That means that in a situation like this, they'll
be overwhelmed, at least in the beginning.

Have a little patience.

[heystoopid]

But then again, why panic?

But then again, why panic, when I run the statistics number crunching, I find the odds of a laptop's Lithium Ion battery becoming a self igniter arson unit, far smaller than the many real risks to human life and limb in the real world!

Oh well, let the crazed chicken little's run about headless in the fear of the minimal, with panic induced by the absolute disciples of 'the peter principle' merchants who cry wolf at the merest sight of shadows!

Me , I will listen to the words of a song "It ain't neccessarily so"

Numbers, can be fun!

With all these battery recalls coming, it goes to show that SONY, is steaming about 180 degrees in the opposite direction, away from it's consumer's mission statement as outlined by Howard and his merry, but very cheap henchmen(I wonder did they learn their trade whilst living in the islands of the long white shroud?)!

[hoodia]

for the exception

of the Apple die-hard fans everage joe will never even consider the Apple laptop for any reason, news circulation is fast everyone have seen it, so i think the conversion of the new adept - new users of Apple is stopped right their... for at least until the moment Apple comes up to the market with something similarty stricking like iPod or else, wil have to drive their income from the established cult base...}

[nawacrike]

Apple 'refines' their battery serial number list.

Like other people have mentioned, I too had trouble getting my battery serial number "validated" at the Apple battery exchange website even though the # fell squarely within the "6C519-6C552" range. It didn't matter whether I used CAPS or not when keying in the #. I ended up calling Apple Support and was able to talk to a person after about a 15 minute wait. The representative took my info and sent me a "confirmation" email. I asked why Apple's website rejected my battery serial number. The rep had no explanation. Today, 26-Aug-2006, when I visited the Apple battery exchange website again, I noticed that Apple had amended their battery serial number list: some of the number ranges were further qualified with *ending* number ranges. The serial # of my battery which began "appropriately" did NOT match one of the (new) 3 ending numbers -- so perhaps this is why I couldn't "validate" my battery online.

So this leads me to wonder if I need not replace my battery after all; and will Apple still send me a replacement battery anyway seeing as how I "qualified" for a battery (over the phone) before Apple updated their website?

[john55440]

Business Week: HP Rejected These Batteries

"But HP is sitting pretty this time around. HP's engineers tested the batteries in question and decided they didn't meet the company's reliability standards, company insiders said. The batteries were disqualified for use in HP products."

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/aug2006/tc20060824_561396.htm?chan=technology_technology+index+page_today%27s+top+stories

[opinonsgalore]

Apple - remember who is the customer!

s..t happens and recalls can be necessary - but please treat customers with the respect they deserve ? especially if we have already proven that we are smarter than the rest of the bunch by buying a Mac :)!

Since the news about the recall of batteries came out I have had at least two e-mails from Apple - one to tell me that my .Mac member ship is expiring, and please spend more money with us, and a newsletter hawking more stuff.

As they obviously know how to reach me I would have expected to be contacted immediately to let me know that I am affected by the recall and what they are doing about it.

Then, going onto their website, they don't exactly make it easy to find information - try searching for ?battery recall?: no result! Their euphemism is ?battery exchange? ? sounds optional ? and batteries are ?eligible?. Call a spade a spade: ?recall? and ?affected? would be more honest.

At least they are doing their best to get replacement batteries to their customers: it will only take between four and six weeks?. In the mean time, their advice is to ?plug in the AC adapter to power the computer until a replacement battery arrives?.

The language used onteh claim form

[Hep Cat]

News.com: Always first with sensationalism

Where was the weekend-long front page when Dell recalled 4x as
many batteries?

What a bunch of hacks. The National Enquirer of tech news.