Tech Shout!

Computer-maker Gateway has just launched a voluntary recall of around 14,000 lithium ion battery packs that were sold with certain Gateway notebooks. According to the company, these batteries have the potential to be a fire hazard.

Gateway issued this warning and consequently launched the battery exchange program soon after the company received four different reports from users who said that the battery packs overheated, resulting in minor property damage.

Basically, the warning has been issued for those battery packs that were shipped as the primary or spare battery pack for the gateway 400VTX and 450ROG series notebooks that were sold from May 2003 to August 2003.

To be more precise, only battery packs that are identified by the part number 6500760 or 6500761 are affected. The battery pack part number can be found on a label on the underside of the battery pack.

Thus, Gateway has advised its customers to contact the company to determine whether their battery pack is a part of this recall or not. Also, Gateway has said that only those battery packs with the listed part number are being recalled.

Consumers with recalled products should contact Gateway immediately, after which they will receive a replacement battery. The notebook can be used if the system is turned off, or of the battery pack is removed or even if the notebook is powered using the AC adapter and power cord only.

You can visit this page to receive further instructions.