Thinkpad Goes Up In Flames In Airport

By Veedems
in Back Page News

 Share

Recommended Posts

Grand Master

Veedems Veteran

Posted
  • Veteran
Posted (edited)
So we're waiting for a flight in the United lounge at LAX, the flight next to ours was heading to London and in the middle of final boarding, when suddenly this guy comes running the wrong way up the jetway, pushing other boarding passengers out of the way, he quickly drops his laptop on the floor and the thing immediately flares up like a giant firework for about 15 seconds, then catches fire. About a hundred other people in the lounge jumped up and began a mix of gawking and general panic, I clearly heard a few fleeing individuals saying something about terrorists. The fire burned for a minute while everybody just stared at it, then another flare up, this one much larger than the first, drove a larger group of gawkers away. Eventually, the high intensity flaring calmed down and a larger fire kicked in, all the while letting off a thick cloud of white smoke that was slowly filling the terminal. Finally, an employee came over with a fire extinguisher and put it out of its misery.

I spoke to the laptop owner (while getting close for some pictures!) and he said he his laptop was an IBM, that he had checked the battery against the recalls on the net and his battery wasn't a recall. I don?t remember seeing any IBM laptops nuke themselves yet on GizModo, just Macbooks and Dells with Sony batteries, but it was a close call nonetheless, if that thing had fired off while that plane was in the air, who knows what would have happened.

Also, we got to overhear some of the not-so-computer-literate people on our flight talking about how laptop batteries can explode if you "get too many viruses on your computer." Christ.

Source w/images

Edited by bangbang023
Grand Master

Tech Star

Posted
Posted

Here is the link for those that dont belive me:

http://www.engadget.com/2006/09/16/thinkpa...tes-bomb-scare/

nd why would it be? IBM and Lenovo aren't flagged for bad batteries -- yet. (Sony, we're looking your direction.) But the coup de gr?ce at LAX: onlookers apparently mumbling that "too many viruses on your computer" can lead to this horrendous fate. How true, indeed.
This topic is now closed to further replies.
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.

  • Posts

    • Apple unveils Siri AI, a "reimagined" version of SIri

      By sagum · Posted

      Right, Google... because that's who this is going to. Google, the company who's entire business model is geared around ad revenue and your personal data.
    • Bluesky COO warns social media regulations could destroy competition from small startups

      By deadonthefloor · Posted

      That is the natural course for regulations. First to protect the consumer. Then to protect the business/industry from upstart competition. There are countless examples across history.
    • LibreOffice developer takes a dig at Euro-Office in new open letter

      By Ccl Ncc · Posted

      I have never been a huge fan of libre, it feels really good but exactly when you need an advance feature for data wrangling it falls short every time or has bugs. I am all for euro office if they can deliver a good and usable alternative to MS office with backing of govt function.
    • Dell, HP PCs ran into endless reboot, BitLocker recovery loops but Windows 11 isn't to blame

      By grunger106 · Posted

      Go on, I'll bite. How does windows (nice comment on an 'article' which doesn't actually involve it ) lock users out of their data then? Been using it since 3.1 back in 92 and not once have I been locked out of my data? Perhaps you mean Bitlocker? In which case the average user (who doesn't mess about) will have been forced to use a MSA, and in which case the recovery key would have been saved to said account..... If the user did happen to bodge around and not use an MSA then Bitlocker wouldn't have become live (as it cannot without a safe place to store the key) I want to point out Bitlocker and MSA are not connected and you can of course force it on without a safe place to store the key, but you do that with your eyes open. So your standard consumer who knows no better sets up an MSA, gets bitlocker and a recovery key stored off box, with a route to reset their password. All of this notwithstanding the fact, if your data is important, you back it up, no ifs, no buts, no-ones responsibility other than your own. Important data lives in at least two locations, one of which is offline and recovery is tested, otherwise that data wasn't really that important. Disks, fail, laptops get lost, phones end up down the toilet, tablets get stolen, if your only copy of data is on a single device you're doing it wrong.
    • Apple unveils Siri AI, a "reimagined" version of SIri

      By excalpius · Posted

      Clearly that feature isn't for us. It's for the ad spam marketers so they can more directly target us about going to places we might want to go again...but without understanding context clues. Like for the flight someone took for a friend's funeral. We want to be reminded of that every time we open an app, a browser, or email, right? Right, Siri?

  • Recent Achievements

    • Very Popular
      Captain_Eric earned a badge
      Very Popular
    • One Month Later
      amusc earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • One Month Later
      DJC50PLUS earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Week One Done
      DJC50PLUS earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • Proficient
      Eric Biran went up a rank
      Proficient

  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      505
    2. 2
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      229
    3. 3
      ATLien_0
      85
    4. 4
      +Edouard
      76
    5. 5
      Steven P.
      76
    Show More

  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!