Dell, HP and Sony Feel the Heat as PC Problems Stack Up!

Three of the world's leading PC manufacturers—Dell, HP and Sony—all seem to have landed themselves in hot water with recent stories of product faults and recalls.

Dell apparently sold 12 million desktop computers knowing full well that 97% of them would break within three years.

HP has received complaints from hundreds of angry customers whose computers keep overheating.

Sony's C-series and F-series notebooks get so hot that the keyboard and outer casing can actually be deformed.

Dell Busted by the New York Times

A full report into Dell's dodgy practices appeared on the New York Times website at the end of last month. A faulty component in the motherboard—a capacitor made by Nichicon to be precise— is said to be at the origin of the scandal. The NYT reports that Dell is said to have supplied at least 11.8 million Optiplex desktop computers fitted with the defective component. Worse still, when the first product breakdowns started occur, the computers were repaired using motherboards with the same underlying fault! According to one study, the component in question had a 97% chance of breaking down within the first three years of use.

Dell is said to have already spent something in the region of $300 million repairing affected machines, and they're not out of the woods yet, as there's still word of lawsuit.

HP Feels the Heat

After already having issued a battery recall back in May for 70,000 lithium-ion batteries that overheated to the point of bursting into flames, HP is now facing backlash from consumers on the continent who are complaining about overheating laptops.

HP overheating issues have led to product breakdowns and display issues, and some models have even refused to switch back on again. Apparently the integrated Nvidia graphics chip is to blame.

There's currently a stand-off going on between consumers in France and HP, as the manufacturer is reportedly charging laptop owners €400 to repair faulty products. The Citylop website (in French only) is collecting stories from frustrated users and is trying to initiate legal proceedings to force HP to recognise the problem and accept responsibility. Instead, HP is responding to customer complaints on a case-by-case basis, although the brand has apparently admitted a weakness in the component concerned.

Sony: Too Hot to Handle

Some of you may already have heard that Sony has issued a product recall for 534,000 of its C-series (VPC CW2) and F-series (VPC F11) laptops. Affected models apparently present a serious risk of overheating which could, in fact, damage the outer parts of the computer, including the keyboard and the casing.

Thankfully, the problem can be corrected with a BIOS firmware update that users can download from the Sony website.

Step 1: check whether your VAIO notebook is part of the affected series.
Step 2: if your computer is affected download and install the update.



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