Talking Glad this wasnt my Laptop - Technology Forum - Home Theater, Computer, Televisions, Personal Electronics and more!

Nero · 08-09-2006, 08:48 AM

Taken from hard ocp(http://www.hardocp.com/) all credit ect goes to them-

"Laptop Explodes:
I work as a pc technician for America's largest electronics retailer. Today a customer brought his laptop in for repair and stated that it "exploded". After five years as a tech I thought I had seen it all and was wondering about his perception of "explosion". As I cracked open the box of a five month old Compaq Presario I was hit with a foul stench and immediately knew the chosen words of "explosion" were appropriate. Somehow, someway....this laptops battery totally exploded causing a large fireball and partial disintegration of the computer. The battery caught fire sending a fireball through the front of the laptop blowing a three inch hole through what used to be the floppy on the opposite side of the case. I know that any battery has the potential for danger given the correct circumstances, however this battery met a truly violent end under normal operating conditions. The customer stated that his entire table was burnt to a crisp and would of been true of the whole house if a fire extinguisher was not as handy as it was."

Nimbus · 08-09-2006, 08:49 AM

You bet. Its why I don't leave my machines on when I am not around.
Ever!

This is one of those freak incidents, the 1 in 10,000 or 100,000 or 1,000,000 or whatever large number you want to use. Same sort of thing happens with tempered glass, like in showers, skylights, doors and next to doors, etc. Sometimes, for no reason whatsoever, except maybe some extraordinary coincidence of conditions, right temperature, falling or rising at the right rate, the right indoor and outdoor pressure, the right in plane stress, the right neutrino flux from the right direction, whatevah, the dang sheet of safety glass just explodes. Sometimes it takes a slight bump, sometimes not. Sometimes its just the light hits it a certain way. The rate is about 1 in 100 or so. The most likely cause is Nickle Sulfide inclusions, but that's not the only cause. Tempered glass has stressed built up within it, that's why it explodes rather than simply cracks.

redford · 08-09-2006, 08:49 AM

Damn...

Looks like it got hit by an RPG...

Augustes · 08-09-2006, 08:49 AM

hehehehe sure does

Nero · 08-09-2006, 08:49 AM

or was the batt just made wrong from the factory ... cause thats what started the whole bloody thing

redford · 08-09-2006, 11:40 AM

reminds me of the old days when Apple PowerBook 5300's were bursting into flame.

Augustes · 08-09-2006, 11:40 AM

Wow....even worse, imagine if the person had been sitting there when it happened.

Nimbus · 08-09-2006, 11:40 AM

WOW, thanks for the pics.

Nero · 08-09-2006, 11:40 AM

i see compaq. me stay away from compaq. me stay away from ppl with compaq

Nimbus · 08-09-2006, 11:49 AM

i was lookin at the topic and the picture before i read..
did you know what i was thinking? i was thinking a laptop shipped and arrived at this "mint" condition lol..
i wonder wut your face is like if 1 day u ordered a laptop and it arrived.. once u open the box.. it looks like that.. ahha