It's on all the major news sources, but Dell is recalling 4.1 million laptop batteries.

https://www.dellbatteryprogram.com/Default.aspx

Link will give you all the details. They're recommending you run your laptop without the battery off AC power only until you get a replacement battery.

What's odd is that this recall (according to the Dell website) has been in effect since Dec 2005.

Fortunately, my battery isn't affected.

Glad they finally acknowledged the problem and are rectifying it! Scary how MANY batteries are involved!

[Edit : Since 2005??? Not well publicized at all methinks]

The first recall was definitely not well publicized. I would've taken part in it if I knew about it.

I have a Dell, and the heat from it even damaged the table I used to keep it on (granted, the excessive heat could have been caused by something other than the battery). I was just careful not to keep in my lap after reading about the guy who burned a piece of his manhood with a dell: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2002/11...s_with_laptop/

(they mention its a Dell at the end of the story)

The recall has probably gotten nowhere because customers while they have been responding have been routed through Dell's ridiculous calling maze.

The OPs link is for the 2005 recall. I don't think there's a link for this latest one yet.

I would expect to see it here:

http://support.dell.com/support/batt...=us&l=en&s=gen

At least, at this moment, the top item on the list is the 2005 battery recall program.

My 600m needs a new battery. I still have the original and it doesn't really hold a charge for very long, so I'm waiting to see if its included in the recall this time. So far, I've nothing on my 600m has been included in any of the recalls.

-David

Then again, that link might have been updated with the new info. Some news stories are saying that link has the new information.

-David

The info on the recall summary page seems to be from the old recall, but if you click on the link the content has been updated for the new one. Near the beginning it includes the sentence "The batteries were shipped to customers between April 1, 2004 and July 18, 2006," which is current information.

There's an even older recall, from the year 2000. This seems to have been a problem for a long time.

Getting to Dell via phone to speak with someone about this is torture.

Again??

Years ago I had what I believe was a dell under another name. There was a battery recall.

Nice in that they shipped out a battery, then you shipped back the battery and they shipped you another. Thus it was 2 for 1.

Here's the link to the story (already posted I think) and the link to Dell's site with the information on which units are affected.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/15/te...15battery.html

https://www.dellbatteryprogram.com/Default.aspx

To be fair to Dell, this is a problem with several laptop makers' batts. I learned more than I ever imagined about batts 7 years ago when I got into Radio Controlled Trucks with our son. I even built high performance batt packs for some NASCAR drivers (Jeff Gordon, Steve Park) and BattleBots!

The reality is that Lithium Ion batts carry a lot of power but are generally speaking, lower cost/quality than other types of batts. I have a Dell D410 with one batt made in Korea and one made in China. Guess which is the higher quality batt? They are both supposed to be 4800mAH but the one from Korea is higher - I estimate 5500mAH based on performance. The one from China is much less than 4800mAH even though I baby it and have "treated it" to increase capacity.

I don't blame Dell, but hope that their getting bit makes all manufacturers reconsider buying from lower quality suppliers.

BTW, if you want to see some photos and specs of one of my custom made trucks, click here

These batteries were made by Sony. Can't get a much higher-quality supplier overall than that.

You might check again. My battery wasn't in the previous recall either, but this morning I was glad to see it is included in the new recall. I have noticed that my battery can get overheated and cause the PC to hang. The only way to shutdown is to pull out the battery. So I'm kind of glad that this recall is announced; besides, this battery is only lasting 50% of its new capacity now. Twenty business days is a long time to wait, though, for a notebook user.

Here's the link to the new recall:

https://www.dellbatteryprogram.com/