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    I'm really worrying about my laptop catching fire after today...

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by loesjoel, Oct 11, 2006.

  1. loesjoel

    loesjoel Notebook Consultant

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    Ok, well I'm not really that worried, but I am concerned about it. This morning at about 7:30am the fire alarm in my room went off for about a minute. It took me quite a bit before I realized what was happening, and when the alarm stopped sounding, I just figured someone in my apartment was being an idiot and went back to sleep.
    I got up an hour later and felt my computer was exceptionally hot to the touch, mostly around where the power on button is on the computer. The screen was black and was flashing the _ in the top left corner and in the top right, it said F2 Setup, F12 Boot Menu (or something to that effect). The computer didn't respond to my F2 or F12, so I just turned it off manually, turned it on, flipped on the cooling pad and everything worked normally. When Windows started, a bubble popped up that said that my computer was updated with Windows Updater. So, I'm assuming that Windows Updater tried to restart my computer and then it overheated and went to that screen, or something of that nature.
    The computer has been running fine and at a normal temperature since the restart this morning.
    Has this happened to anyone before? Should I contact Dell? Last I checked (about two weeks ago) my battery was not on the recall list. Have they added more since then, or do they plan to add more potentially defective batteries?
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 29, 2015
    loesjoel, Oct 11, 2006
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  2. Amber

    Amber Notebook Prophet NBR Reviewer

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    Was your laptop in a bag or on the floor or somewhere that doesn't get much ventilation?

    The power button area might have been hot because where the dell logo is located at gets exceptionally hot. If the lid was closed this would have caused the keyboard/power button area to get hot.
     
    Amber, Oct 11, 2006
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  3. loesjoel

    loesjoel Notebook Consultant

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    No, it was actually sitting on my cooling pad, though the pad wasn't on. The lid was closed. What's hot where the Dell logo is?
     
    loesjoel, Oct 11, 2006
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  4. vespoli

    vespoli 402 NBR Reviewer

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    You might possibly be getting some radiant heat from the lcd inverter.

    I don't really have any hot parts on my e1505 except over the hard drive and the inverter.
     
    vespoli, Oct 11, 2006
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  5. jeffmd

    jeffmd Notebook Evangelist

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    Not gonna bother with detailed explinations, your computer has nothing to do with the fire alarm (you clearly dunno how it works) and it looks like the laptop crashed while updating wich pegged the cpu at %100.
     
    jeffmd, Oct 12, 2006
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  6. Iceman0124

    Iceman0124 More news from nowhere

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    or the crash left the lcd on with the lid closed, wich would make it feel really hot, if your laptop triggerd the fire alarm, you would know it, as it would have a distinct burnt odor, and would have visible charring/scorching,and would cease to function, home fire alarms are triggerd by smoke( some advanced models also detect carbon monoxide) commercial sprinkler systems are triggerd by heat, wich if the laptop got hot enough to trigger one, it would have to be touching or extremely close, as in inches to the triggering element, as a laptop is not capeable of generating enough radiant heat to elevate a room to a high enough temp without setting the room ablaze first
     
    Iceman0124, Oct 14, 2006
    #6