Comments on: Flaming Macs

By: Cate

Cate — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 16:41:03 +0000

I have an iBook G4. Manufactured in 2005 and bought in 2006. My charger has gone twice. Both times at the same place where the cord connects to the casing. Each time it caught fire then went up in smoke. Absolutely petrifying. The first time (2008) they replaced the charger at an Apple store after I reported it to an office in Ireland. They went through lots of questions as they were preparing some kind of report. The second time (2010) I couldn't believe it. Called the same place and filed the same kind of report. They have offered me another charger. Not happy now. I have reported the matter to Consumer Direct who in turn have reported it to Trading Standards at Westminster Council because I bought the laptop at the Apple Store in Regent Street. I suggest everyone else do the same as I did. I am also going to write to Apple Head Office stating my displeasure amongst other things.

By: Computer Memory

Computer Memory — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 22:39:58 +0000

I read this blog and would leave my first comment. I don’t know what to say except NICE BLOG with a lot of information.

By: becki

becki — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 00:22:47 +0000

mine has just done that :( will it not work ?

By: Molly

Molly — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 16:00:04 +0000

My Apple charger caught on fire and it had a battery.

By: Joe Adams

Joe Adams — Sat, 10 May 2008 21:26:22 +0000

I’ve just had my second laptop charger go, thats £110 worth of charger.
This is ridiculous, it always seems to be near those weird little pieces of plastic they put on to join the wire to the next part, it sucks.

By: Rob

Rob — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 10:26:00 +0000

Hi,
Just been through the same thing except with a fault at the other end of the power supply – where the cable comes out of the PSU. Same fault though – the cable failing at the point where it leaves the strain relief. I noticed this because the charging started being intermittent – ‘wiggling’ the wire would make it charge properly again. When I started noticing sparking at that point as I wiggled the wire, I decided it was time to take it back….

Now, a few years ago, when my Mac (G4 PB) was just out of warranty, the same thing happened. Then I walked in to an Apple Store in the US and before I’d really said anything, and certainly without any questions about warranties or AppleCare, they took the old PSU and handed me a new one; it was clearly a fault that was common at the time.

This time I did have to answer all those questions, and I did have to stand my ground a lot more, and I did have to point out that it was clearly a design flaw since it had happened before, and I did have to point out that the overall design of the PSU is flawed (since the fold out ‘ears’ encourage you to wrap the cable around them, which is bad for the cable since it gets ‘kinked’ at each fold), and – and this makes me wonder if I was before or after you – I did have to ask out loud how much I could sue Apple for if I’d done nothing and my house had burnt down….

Keep making a fuss. People making a fuss seems to spoil the clean lines of the store….

By: David

David — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 08:28:05 +0000

Hi ,

I’ve just read this your very lucky …me i wasn’t i have burnt hands and a ibook laptop that went on fire and destoryed my bedroom and bed with flames ……..I guess i was lucky if i hadn’t been at home and heard the pop / bang sound i would have lost my house in flames.

By: steve

steve — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 06:30:50 +0000

same exact issue, Ibook G4, battery was in, cable was spotty for several days, then caught fire. apple store was no help, so i forked oover another $80 for something that could have burned down my home.

notably, my first bad apple experience after 10 years.

By: James Collett

James Collett — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 21:45:54 +0000

I hope Apple suffer the just deserves of such crappy customer service.

By: CC

CC — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 01:44:10 +0000

*sigh* the same thing happened to me only it’s and Ibook and not powerbook. my cord burned nearly through using friends computer to find out something.

Only differences , my battery was IN my ibook but needed to be charged so I plugged it in it was sitting on table while I did some things in house ( average household type chores) anyway I came back through and smelled something hot and thought oh no the battery ( I had just filled out online to get the replacement battery ) so I rush over in time to see smoke and sparks I reach to unplug it and as I do , a small flame ignites and it burns almost completely through even though I unplugged it. Luckily my ibook didn’t catch fire. my table is burned a bit as are my fingers but I too am thankful I was around and it didn’t burn down my entire house. I was looking online and found this site, thought it was odd but apparently not unheard of. I didn’t purchase the apple care plan as I couldn’t afford it at the time and it’s been just over a year since purchase so no coverage. I do think that apple should replace our power cords I mean they are ridiculously expensive to replace and if this many are having problems chances are it’s not the owners of the laptops but a problem with the power supply.