MacBook goes up in flames
Yes, we've seen this before, and Apple has issued a battery recall. We thought this was all taken care of. Maybe the guy who owns the crispy MacBook at right failed to replace his flagged battery?Not so. The computer's owner, mattyb, states that his MacBook did not contain a recalled battery, and that it was sleeping on a shelf when he and his girlfriend were roused in the middle of night by the smell of smoke and burning. Sure enough, the MacBook and the magazine that had been sitting next to it were the culprits.
mattyb also says that the MacBook's battery had been exhibiting flaky behavior for some time before the incident (like rapid discharge, an "X" icon, etc.).
Oops. It's like Deja Vu all over again.
[Via Engadget]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Mike Bowler said 1:25PM on 3-12-2007
> The computer's owner, mattyb, states that his
> MacBook did not contain a recalled battery
That's what I used to think as well. I took my battery in for replacement as it wasn't holding a charge anymore. That's when I discovered that Apple has been ADDING more and more serial numbers to the recall list. Even though my battery hadn't been part of the recall initially, it was at this point.
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JR said 1:33PM on 3-12-2007
Great. You tell me this now as my Macbook sits charging at home with my two poor, defenseless cats.
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derek said 1:39PM on 3-12-2007
"mattyb also says that the MacBook's battery had been exhibiting flaky behavior for some time before the incident (like rapid discharge, an "X" icon, etc.)."
sounds like he should have taken it in at that point...
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The Jerk said 1:40PM on 3-12-2007
Where can I see the updated list? I fear mine will explode any minute now. I have rapid discharge... plus I've been having bad luck with electronics lately. I have had 3 Harddrives die on me... and they were all under a year old AND all different brands. Yikes.
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garion said 1:52PM on 3-12-2007
I also had a strange issue.. I have an MBP.. The power connector where it connects to the computer had a dead spring.. Basicly it was only by chance that it would connect, and supply power.. Any slight bump would break the connection, and I would revert to battery.. Which really sucks when you are working..
Luckily, its still under warrenty.. Took to Genius bar, and was replaced in less than 5 minutes..
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Fritz Laurel said 1:51PM on 3-12-2007
My Macbook has been "acting up" lately, too.
Instead of going to sleep when it should, it sometimes shuts off. This is different from the random shutdown problem (which I also had and also have had fixed). I don't think it's battery related as it started happening after that last firmware update. Just sayin.
#1 -- do you have a link to the Apple site where it states Macbook's have been added to the recall? I can't find anything on their site about Macbook batteries being recalled.
Thanks,
FL
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Alex said 1:58PM on 3-12-2007
My 1 yr and 5 day old MBP all of a suddent started shutting off 1 second after I unplug the power cord (with a fully charged battery inside). Attempt to boot it up on battery alone, turns it on for about 1 second and then it shuts off. Works fine on power cord.
I've previously had my battery replaced under the recall about 6-8 months ago. I rarely really use the battery, just sits inside the computer all the time; shows only 93 cycles.
Apple is sending me a new battery, although they said the MBP was out of warranty, the battery (replacement battery) wasnt.
Meanwhile, tried my buddy's battery from his MBP and worked fine...so definitely the battery's fault.
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Jon said 2:09PM on 3-12-2007
Well, I don't have the rapid discharge but I sometimes get the "X" icon. Do you think my laptop is at risk?
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Josh said 2:07PM on 3-12-2007
haha, ok i was just reading that your battery Only has 93 cycles. I just checked my powerbook of 1.5 years and it only has 8... then again my battery was recalled at some point. i would say ive had a lot of battery issues with my powerbook as well. when i first got it it discharged quickly and would shut off at 19% and apple replaced it in store and then the one they replaced it with was recalled mid year last year and since then its been fine just never charges to 100%, always 96%.
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Charles Barilleaux said 2:23PM on 3-12-2007
I just checked the Apple site--no MacBooks (Pro or not) listed as having a recall. I, too, have a pair of defenseless cats, so I would like to know the scoop.
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okto said 3:04PM on 3-12-2007
:(
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icerabbit said 3:12PM on 3-12-2007
Please investigate, TUAW.
MacBook defenseless cats, other critters, ...
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icerabbit said 3:13PM on 3-12-2007
Commenting system stripped out the characters after macbook, ... so please add vs. in there isntead.
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hd said 6:06PM on 3-12-2007
as far as i know, you have to remove the battery when you use it with a power cord, or the battery will die in no time..the same issue with every kind of laptop battery..
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Rob K said 8:34PM on 3-12-2007
Dave Caolo said: " (like rapid discharge, an "X" icon, etc.)"
I have seen the "X" on my battery icon and under the battery menu, it says, "No Battery Available"
It was just for a minute, and I didn't think much of it. Is that a sign of a flaky battery or some other problem?
Is there a support document on this?
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Gridman said 9:50PM on 3-12-2007
I've noticed that Macbook don't always go properly to sleep and then superheat if they're closed and not really asleep.
Could that have been the cause?
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Mo said 8:53AM on 3-13-2007
Charles Barilleaux: The MacBook Pro has had a battery exchange programme for a while, now.
https://www.apple.com/support/exchange_repair/macbookpro.html
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Christian said 10:00AM on 3-18-2007
@ #5: I had absolutely the same issue - called Apple, and on the next day I received a replacement battery.
Everything is working fine again! :)
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Elizabeth said 8:36AM on 3-22-2007
I run a school laptop program, we just started adding MacBooks this year to our pool of iBooks. Having gone through the pain of dealing with Apple over the iBook battery recall, we are now having trouble with our MacBook batteries. As usual, Apple is secretive and silent on this issue. We cannot get replacement batteries and no one at Apple can tell us when they will have MacBook batteries. My question is...how can they maintain even a 20% market share with this type of support?
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