Spectre X360 Convertible 15 Battery swelling

[Daerandi]

My laptop of Spectre was bought in July 2017, and it cost me around 2000 Swiss Francs....Yesterday, I found out my touchpad is not even, it was pushed up and I could not even close the computer properly, then I googled the problem and found out there are a lot of people have similiar issues because of the batter swelling. I called the swiss HP service, it seems they know the problem and guild me to update the BOIS, then they asked me to send to HP to repair with 360 Swiss Francs because my warranty is expired in July. My understanding is，the problem of BOIS was caused because of the design technical problems, why customers have to pay the mistake that HP made? And I believe this BOIS problem was existing long time even before the warranty expired. the worst is, they will take it away for one week to repair, then I asked if they have the solution because I need a computer to work everyday, they proposed me to  buy another laptop with big discount (5%), I even feel shameful for them to have this proposal, customer asked the help and they just want to sell more... With this attitude, I believe this company will be gone in several years, like other big computer companies... in 4 years, I have 2 HP laptop broken, all because of batteries. (my last one was envy TS -14, also only last 2 years..). I probably have to pay for this 350CHF, this does not matter, but this is definitely my last HP and I told me story to warn others, if you want to have high quality product, avoid HP.

[Daerandi]

I forgot to mentioned, when the HP service called me, they said they never have this problem before, I am the first one to report this in Switzerland, and they said for sure this is not the battery problem because the battery is not under the touchpad.   I sent several links for them, it seems they do not even know how to google...

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Hardware-and-Upgrade-Questions/Spectre-X360-bulge-battery-swo... 

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Hardware-and-Upgrade-Questions/Battery-Swelling-on-HP-Spectre...

 https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Hardware-and-Upgrade-Questions/HP-Spectre-X360-15inch-Battery...

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Hardware-and-Upgrade-Questions/Spectre-x360-swollen-bloated-b...  

[Alex_CC]

I completely agree with you on this.

I bought my spectre X360 18 months ago and luckily I also got the extended warranty pack.

I didn't actually notice (although it WAS indeed noticeable) that the computer doesn't close properly, but I opened the computer to clean it from the dust. I was shocked to see the battery, all 6 cells, swollen and squishy. The width of the battery was already something like 2 times the normal size - this was pushing up on the touchpad (as well as other components - card reader, fingerprint reader etc.).

Anyway, this is unacceptable. After the problems this laptop had with support for the AMD Radeon Vega M, this comes as just another blow. For a PREMIUM 2k EUR product it is abhorrent to have this kind of problems with the battery (and as the OP mentions, it's not really an isolated problem) only 1 and a half years after buying it.

Next issue I have with this laptop I'm going to make sure that the competent consumer protection institutions are informed, history and all.

For personal safety... I'm going to make sure to check the battery each 6 months from now on.

As for now...  I received my replacement battery and, as it's easily accessible and replaceable, I safely replaced it myself. There's an HP video showing you how to remove the bottom of the laptop and the 5 screws that hold the battery in place. Take care however, the video doesn't show that there's a 2-wire "cable" (black / white) hanging to the side of the battery which you need to take out first (the wires are kept in place by a clip, which is an extension of the battery) so do use some caution if you're going to replace the battery yourself.

[Daerandi]

Thank you very much Alex, I did realized that I could do the replacement of the battery on my own, but I probably will not do it because I never had this experience on my own and I am afraid if I touch something else by accident... I will probably have to use HP service although it is not cheap, but I began to consider to change to Lenovo, only pity is I just bought a new Spectre for my husband for his birthday 2 months ago, I really regret!

[Daerandi]

Today I went to the PC service locally, they opened it and here is the picture of the battery.  Even on the back of the battery, they warned the high risk of using swelling battery, but HP helpdesk even said there is no risk of burning or explosion, what an amazing service!

[Alex_CC]

[edit]This is a common problem, just google it or search the forums. All units should have been recalled, just like others, and have the faulty batteries replaced.

Despite of whatever they say, Li-Ion batteries that get swollen may catch fire or get punctured (because swollen as they are there is compression against components etc.).

This and the lackluster driver support just sky rocketed the HP Spectre X360 to one of the worst and actually dangerous computers.

@hp: Do you really want to wait until someone sets their mind on actually complaining to some customer protection institutions until you actually start solving your issues?

edited