Filed under: Apple Corporate, Peripherals, Portables
Apple Battery Recall for Powerbook and iBooks
It's deja vu all over again.
In cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and other international safety authorities, Apple is voluntarily recalling certain lithium ion rechargeable batteries that were sold worldwide from October 2004 through May 2005 for use with the following notebook computers: 12-inch iBook G4, 12-inch PowerBook G4 and 15-inch PowerBook G4. These batteries were manufactured by LG Chem, Ltd. of South Korea.
The affected batteries could overheat, posing a fire hazard to consumers. Apple has received six consumer reports of these batteries overheating. If you have a recalled battery, please stop using it and order a replacement battery immediately. Once you have removed the battery, plug in the AC adapter to power the computer.
Apple has initiated a worldwide exchange program and will provide eligible customers with a new replacement battery, free of charge.
The recalled batteries include those with model numbers A1061, A1078, and A1079 and serial numbers that begin with HQ441 through HQ507 and 3X446 through 3X510.
Complete details and the online exchange form are on Apple's website. You can exchange up to 3 batteries using the form. If you have more than 3 recalled batteries, you'll need to call Apple.
In cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and other international safety authorities, Apple is voluntarily recalling certain lithium ion rechargeable batteries that were sold worldwide from October 2004 through May 2005 for use with the following notebook computers: 12-inch iBook G4, 12-inch PowerBook G4 and 15-inch PowerBook G4. These batteries were manufactured by LG Chem, Ltd. of South Korea.
The affected batteries could overheat, posing a fire hazard to consumers. Apple has received six consumer reports of these batteries overheating. If you have a recalled battery, please stop using it and order a replacement battery immediately. Once you have removed the battery, plug in the AC adapter to power the computer.
Apple has initiated a worldwide exchange program and will provide eligible customers with a new replacement battery, free of charge.
The recalled batteries include those with model numbers A1061, A1078, and A1079 and serial numbers that begin with HQ441 through HQ507 and 3X446 through 3X510.
Complete details and the online exchange form are on Apple's website. You can exchange up to 3 batteries using the form. If you have more than 3 recalled batteries, you'll need to call Apple.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
faentur said 4:19PM on 6-16-2005
I have to laugh. My new 15" PowerBook arrives Monday. I'm gonna laugh if the battery needs to be replaced.
I worked in education the last time Apple recalled batteries, I remember we had to swap over 100 of them. We actually had our rep at the time, come with a number of boxes of batteries so we didn't have to send every one of them back. What fun.
-F
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Small Paul said 4:19PM on 6-16-2005
Note to Apple: buy better batteries.
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Brett said 4:19PM on 6-16-2005
I entered my computer serial number and battery serial number on Apple's website for the replacement, and they both came up as invalid, even though my battery is in the range (starts with HQ453).
I called Apple and they said the website currently "has an issue" and should be resolved by tonight or tomorrow. I was also told that if the website wasn't fixed I could call back tomorrow when they would have people trained on the battery exchange program to help me.
So my advice is to wait a couple of days to see if this is fixed, and hopefully you won't have to be on hold for 23 minutes for basically no reason and then have the rep attempt to sell you more AppleCare for your machine. :>
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MacLifer said 4:19PM on 6-16-2005
My iBook, purchased in Feb '05, had a matching battery. The site is totally bogged down. It comes up with invalid numbers, etc. if you accidentally put any lowercase characters in OR if you refresh while waiting (it takes about FIVE minutes currently!!)... when you refresh, it turns all uppercase letters into lowercase (duh!) and it comes up invalid.
Hopefully the site will get patched up quick. C'mon Apple!
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hector said 4:19PM on 6-16-2005
whatever you do dont try to get it replaced at an apple store, they wont do it, i was told by apple support to take the battery to the regent street store but it just wasted 4 hours of my time.
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tex said 6:41PM on 11-10-2005
so my battery in my 12" PB matches their model number, but the serial number for the battery matches that of the 12" ibook, interesting.
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