HP recalls tens of thousands of notebook batteries

Stephen Withers
Monday, 10 November 2008 07:27

Your IT - Home IT

In yet another notebook battery recall, HP has issued a worldwide recall for tens of thousands of batteries sold with some of its most popular models. HP has recalled some 32,000 batteries that were supplied with various notebooks manufactured between December 2004 and June 2006, and two vendors have also joined the recall.

Notebook vendors including Acer, Apple, Dell, Fujitsu, HP and Lenovo recalled millions of batteries during 2006 and 2007. A large number of the affected cells were manufactured by Sony, but Sanyo and other manufacturers were also implicated.

HP officials say the latest recall "is unrelated to any previous battery pack recalls", but according to US authorities Sony batteries are again at the centre of the problem, with 19 reports of overheating, 17 of which involved flames or fire. Two customers suffered minor burns.

The affected batteries were supplied with or for the following models: HP Pavilion dv1000, dv8000 and zd8000; Compaq Presario V2000 and V2400, and HP Compaq nc6110, nc6120, nc6140, nc6220, nc6230, nx6110, nx6120, nx4800, nx4820 and nx9600.

A smaller number of recalled batteries were sold with or for Toshiba Satellite A70/A75, P30/P5, M30X/M35X and M50/M55, and Tecra A3, A5 and S2 (around 300 units in total) and the Dell Latitude 110L and Inspiron 1100, 1150, 5100, 5150 and 5160 (around 150 units).

In total, around 100,000 of the affected batteries were sold worldwide.

If you own or use any of those HP notebooks, you should shut it down, remove any external power source, and then remove the battery in order to determine its product number.

Certain battery packs with codes beginning with L0, L1, A0 or GC are covered by the recall - see HP's web site or call 131 047 in Australia, or 800 889 2031 in the US for more details.

Affected batteries will be replaced by HP. "We are taking this action as part of our commitment to provide the highest quality of service to our notebook customers," HP officials said.

Similar steps should be taken by owners of the other affected notebooks. The relevant links are Toshiba and Dell.

Affected batteries should be taken out of service immediately.