That laptop is no longer a laptop, it is a bomb.
Transcript
A photo of an extremely swollen HP laptop. The panels are kept on with clips. The caption says: "User calls about disc being stuck in another computer, mentions off hand about this laptop. They'd been using it like this for weeks...
It’s not a bomb. Batteries expand when the electrolyte degrades. Once the swelling stops, it’s homeostatic. Totally discharge the battery, open it up, carefully remove or replace the battery. You can most likely use the computer plugged in with the battery removed if you don’t want to buy a new one.
Discharging the battery is the most important step in that process. A discharged battery is very unlikely to combust.
I think the most important step is PPE honestly -- especially when the floor chances for maim or injury is "unlikely".
Here is a guide.
Great point! I always had that available to me at work, so I overlooked it as a step. You’re absolutely correct. Never skimp on safety.
And as you see there, one more important part being, doing it outside, in a place where you have enough air movement and a space where you can immediately chuck it in case it starts doing its thing.
The chance of a discharged battery hurting anyone is 0%. No juice, no fire. I'm in IT and have thrown a few in the fire and shot several. Worst I've seen is one get very hot and burn around the bullet hole, and those had some juice left in them.
Sure, that's probably true (we could quibble over "0%" and the nuances of hyperbole), but my confidence that the clearly damaged battery in front of me is completely discharged and won't cause harm is far less than my confidence in PPE saving my eyesight. When giving information to strangers on the internet, I like to play it conservative.
I dunno, i once discharged a battery and then threw it at my brother. He seemed pretty hurt.
When he said you were D-ranged he just meant what size battery and how far you could throw it.
How would one safely discharge a swollen battery? Just letting the computer run?
Yup. Run it until it shuts down, then power it up into BIOS/EFI until there’s no more sign of life. Turing up screen brightness and streaming video over WiFi will speed things up if you’re in a hurry.
This is accurate information. I just used an old computer and took the battery out of it and used it as a server. Sure, the power goes out and it might corrupt, but you know, it's just for dumb shit.