A flaming Dell!
Forwarded to me by a buddy of mine still working for the Navy.
For those of us who have transitioned to the well-loved (read: much
despised) NMCI computer system, and for those who have a warm place in their
hearts (read: no room at all) for Dell computers, you'll enjoy the following
recounting of an event/mishap that occurred yesterday, 16 March, here at Pax
River.
Yesterday (March 16th) on base at Patuxent River, one of the wonderful Navy
- issue NMCI laptops had a bit of a problem. Apparently the battery had a
thermal runaway due in part to the way NMCI constantly runs the laptops,
even at night. One of my co-workers was entering the building for a meeting
and saw a guy come running down the stairway with his laptop smoking. He
ran outside and dropped it on the ground as it started to flame. Moments
later there was a small explosion that ejected the CD Drive. You can see
bits of plastic debris in the first shot. Fortunately a passerby had a
camera.
No wonder the Navy worries about Lithium Ion batteries in our aircraft!
Reminds me of my days at PAXRIV in the Fire Dept!
When desktop computers were new the Navy liked to
(and still does) keep them powered up all the time
as well. Many a night at 0300 or thereabouts we
would get an alarm off at an office building and
find a PC happily smoking/burning away! The Navy
has this idea that it is more efficient to leave
a computer powered up all the time even when it is
unattended at night, etc. Usually the power supplies
would overheat/fan quit and the rest would meltdown.
A few times we had monitors that went up because
the flyback transformers would overheat.
I also remember (not fondly) of batteries in aircraft
going into thermal runaway. These were down right
NASTY! Explosion causes a lot of collateral damage
to nearby hydraulic lines, avionics, etc. They are
a pain to extinguish and the Metal-X powder from the
extinguishing systems are corrosive so the damage is
made even worse. F-14s, H-46s and T-38s were famous
for battery runaway/overheat.
That will buff out.
Maybe it`s just because I`m very tired, but I don`t see the pictures (or a link to them). Can you post one or the other? Sounds like fun!
Looool. A guy on a whole load of underground sites called Ramzi did the same thing, but this time by packing a drive bay with thermite and setting it off
"First, you empty a drive-bay of its drive, and fill it with...thermite. Then, you add a detonator. Then, when someone takes your laptop, you press the button and it burns at...3000 degrees. You won't have a laptop anymore, but at least no-one will get their hands on your data"
yeah that was on a broken mpg you know that kevin rose thing where he drinks 40s and listens to gangsta rap while messing with computers.
FIRE! FIRE! FIRE!
hehehe...poor Dell.
Could have been worse, could have been sitting on the guy's lap close to his, well, you know...lol
cbmeeks
Another thing that I remember, was when Typhoid and a mate of his were comparing laptops (Typhoid had a 1.5/15" AlPB, and his mate had a 2.8 15" Dell) - "Mine's got more RAM than yours" sorta thing. Suddenly Typhoid came up with "My laptop's more aerodynamic than yours". So, to prove him wrong, the other guy picked up his Dell, and threw it out of the window saying "Look, it flew". Then Typhoid said "My laptop is in less bits than your laptop"
That picture is now my desktop background.
That pic, is the most awesome thing... ever!
It seems to me that LIon batteries are almost more trouble than they are worth.
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