Toshiba asks for more batteries back

Toshiba Japan today expanded its notebook-battery recall programme, adding half-a-dozen more models to the list of laptops it wants owners to use only on mains power until new batteries can be sent out to them.

Toshiba said the extension to the recall programme, which it instigated in September 2006, was prompted by an incident in which a laptop caught fire. Again, the offending power pack was produced by Sony, and can be found in laptops sold between January and April 2006.

The laptops affected by the new recall include the Dynabook AX/720LLT, AX/720LST, AX/730LS, AX/740LS, AX/740LSB and AX/740LSK. Toshiba asked owners of these models to check their machine's serial number to see if if falls in the range covered by the recall. Some 5100 machines are believed to be at risk.

Japanese customers can find out more here. Toshiba has yet to say whether the recall extends to laptops sold in Europe, the US or elsewhere.

Last month, Toshiba admitted that another of its laptops had gone up in smoke, but it said the machine's battery should have been replaced through the scheme launched last September.

This year, Acer has also begun a battery recall programme, and last month Gateway said it was extending its initial recall scheme to take in 14,000 more laptops.