Search results for 'app:weblogs' matching tag 'Battery Recall'

New Category: "What You Need To Know"

Lionel_Menchaca — Tue, 08 May 2007 05:00:00 GMT

I recently created a new category called "What You Need To Know." Since it's important, thought I would take a few minutes to clarify its purpose. Many Direct2Dell readers like the fact that we use this blog to address product issues that potentially impact many of you. In the past, we've blogged about the battery recall, the XPS 700 Motherboard Exchange Program, the vertical line issue, and the notebook "tingle" sensation that some of you asked about.

Some of these topics like the battery recall and the XPS 700 Motherboard Exchange Program have multiple blog posts associated with them. In those cases, we'll continue to create categories specific to those topics. So, what's the difference? The What You Need To Know category functions as a centralized place for you to find blog posts that discuss product issues of any type. Hopefully, this will make it easier for Direct2Dell readers to find details regarding product issues.

You can also subscribe to an RSS feed for the What You Need To Know category by using this link in your favorite RSS reader like Google Reader, Google Homepage, My Yahoo, Bloglines, or NewsGator. That way, you will automatically receive any updates that are added to this category.

I welcome your questions and comments.

New Category: "What You Need To Know"

Lionel_Menchaca — Tue, 08 May 2007 05:00:00 GMT

I welcome your questions and comments.

Dell Updates Sony Battery Recall Information

Lionel_Menchaca — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 05:00:00 GMT

Some of you may have seen our battery recall update this morning. When we announced the battery recall in August, we said that the affected batteries were cells manufactured by Sony. Based on new information we recently received from Sony, today we increased the number of affected batteries from 4.1 million batteries to approximately 4.2 million. Are there new models being recalled? No. The affected battery model numbers and date range of April 1, 2004 through July 18, 2006 remain unchanged.

What does this new information mean to customers? We are urging all customers to check (or re-check) all battery packs by going to our battery recall site or calling 1-866-342-0011, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Central Time—even if you have received a “No need for replacement” confirmation from the website, please check it again. The safety of our customers is our highest priority.

Dell Updates Sony Battery Recall Information

Lionel_Menchaca — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 05:00:00 GMT

Battery Recall Update

Lionel_Menchaca — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 05:00:00 GMT

As reported in a Dow Jones story yesterday, the battery recall rolls on. Data from earlier this week shows we’ve received about 150 million page hits on the battery recall site, well over 800,000 battery requests. A good percentage of those have also shipped to customers.

I’m still getting some general inquiries on how to proceed. The easiest way is for customers to use the www.dellbatteryprogram.com link, and follow those instructions. Additionally, for a guided walkthrough of the process, here’s a vlog of Ira Williams from the product group.

[video]

For Linux users, you can access the Ogg Theora format of our vlog here.

Battery Recall Update

Lionel_Menchaca — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 05:00:00 GMT

[video]

For Linux users, you can access the Ogg Theora format of our vlog here.

Improving Battery Standards

John_Grosso — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 05:00:00 GMT

In an earlier post, Lionel mentioned an organization called IPC, and asked me to share some details about the group, my role in it, and to discuss the upcoming tech summit, which happens next month in San Jose. I talked about this recently with eWEEK, but wanted to share more perspective.

The IPC is a trade organization that has evolved since its inception in 1957. They started out as the “Institute for Printed Circuits”, became the Institute for Interconnecting and Packaging Electronic Circuits, and when nobody could remember their name, they just became the IPC. Over the past several decades the IPC focused on bringing users, suppliers, equipment manufactures, and raw material manufacturers together to create standards for printed wiring boards and then printed wiring board assemblies. Almost all military specifications were folded into the IPC standards, they established a process to be ANSI recognized, and are now a global standards entity. IPC has over 100 active standards and 100 volunteer committees, subcommittees and working groups devoted to standards development. Based on their track record of bringing standards to industry, I reached out to their VP of Industry programs, Tony Hilvers, and inquired about their desire to open up to other commodities. The folks at IPC were excited about venturing into “unknown” waters and away we went!

My role as the Chairman of the OEM Management Steering Council is to seek participation from companies who have a vested interest in commodity standardization, bring subject matter expertise, and are committed to changing the industry. I work through the IPC to set up meetings, agendas, scope standards, measure execution, and look for the next opportunity. It’s a great environment and I’ve met some really good folks. Currently sitting on the Council are Apple (Gary Roberts), Cisco (Paul Bennett), HP (Glen Griffiths), IBM (Joe Lisowski), Lenovo (Nancy Bolinger), Lucent (Neil Witkowski), and Motorola (Greg Schneider).

The upcoming summit will bring together users of lithium-ion batteries (Apple, Dell, HP, IBM, Intel, Lenovo, Polycom are confirmed to date) to develop and deploy manufacturing standards which will be used by suppliers of lithium-ion cells. We are emulating the existing environment for PCB (Printed Circuit Boards) and PCBA (Printed Circuit Board Assemblies) which has proven to be extremely successful. We will scope this document, commit resources, and set the timeline. Our primary goal is insuring a safe and reliable cell delivered each and every time to our customers. We’ll communicate progress or key developments periodically on this blog and elsewhere.

Improving Battery Standards

John_Grosso — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 05:00:00 GMT

Apple’s Notebook Battery Recall

Alex_Gruzen — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 05:00:00 GMT

Many of you have probably already seen that Apple announced a battery recall for some of its notebook batteries. I wanted to take a moment to commend Apple for taking this action to protect customers.

Our recall is proceeding well, based on the positive feedback we’re receiving from our customers worldwide. In the midst of all the media attention on this topic, sometimes it’s easy to lose sight of the facts. Our recall represents just over 15% of the 24.9 million batteries we shipped over a more than two-year period. If you consider that notebooks purchased before April 2004 are still clearly in use, then the fraction of our customers impacted by this recall gets even smaller. There were six confirmed incidents in the U.S. that helped us determine the root causes and scope of the recall. The small number of incidents reflects the reality that lithium-ion battery technology is safe and reliable; where we saw even the slightest risk to our customers, we took this proactive action to ensure their confidence in our products.

The Dell team remains focused on getting updated batteries into the hands of affected customers as quickly as we can. The first replacements shipped within the first full day of our recall and the shipments continue to ramp up dramatically. Thank you for your support and patience as we work through this challenge. I hope we’ve earned your trust.

You can expect further battery-related posts from Lionel and others on the Direct2Dell team. Keep the feedback coming.

Apple’s Notebook Battery Recall

Alex_Gruzen — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 05:00:00 GMT

You can expect further battery-related posts from Lionel and others on the Direct2Dell team. Keep the feedback coming.