thanks sony

Thanks to Sony, I’m now two for two with laptop batteries that need to be replaced so that they don’t burst into flames in my lap. I already have a new battery on the way from Dell for my work laptop. Thankfully, I had a spare battery that isn’t in danger of incinerating my thighs, so I can still use that one in portable mode.

Now, I discovered that our family iBook battery is also quite combustible. No backup battery for this one, so it’s power supply only.

Dell gets the nod in replacement time — only 2-3 weeks compared to iBook’s 4-6 weeks. It’s not helping that Apple’s site is really slow right now…must be a lot of people checking on their batteries. So much for using the iBook for upcoming fall classes.

UPDATE: Finally got through on Apple’s website, and it is telling me that my battery isn’t eligible for the recall. That might be good news, but I’m pretty sure that my battery’s serial number of 6C539 clearly falls between 6C519 - 6C552. I’m pretty decent at math. I tried calling Apple support number, pressed the option about battery recall, and a recording told me they could help me right now due to technical difficulties, and that I should go to the website.

UPDATE #2: Hey JJ, this probably applies to your PowerBook too. I know you probably wouldn’t find out otherwise…I’m just hoping you actually make it past the first sentence of this post since you never care about what I say.

UPDATE #3: No more technical difficulties when I call the support line…I’ve stepped up to a busy signal.

UPDATE #4: I finally got through to Apple this morning — their hold music is a bit sketchy, by the way. They are, in fact, sending me a replacement battery. Kind of troubling that the website told me I didn’t need one. Seems like they are only opening themselves up to bigger problems if someone’s house burns down because the Apple website told them they didn’t need a new one.

Tags: battery, dell, ibook, sony

This entry was posted on August 24th, 2006 and is filed under tech. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or Trackback from your own site.