Lenovo investigates Sony battery-run laptop fire

TOKYO  - Lenovo Group Ltd., the world's third-largest personal computer maker, said  it is looking into a fire incident on a Lenovo laptop PC equipped with a Sony Corp. battery.

A Lenovo ThinkPad T43 notebook computer overheated and began smoking and sparking on Sept. 16 at Los Angeles International Airport, but no one was injured, a Lenovo spokesman in Tokyo said. It was not yet clear what caused the malfunction.

The incident came after Dell Inc. and Apple Computer Inc. last month recalled almost 6 million Sony-made batteries, saying they could produce smoke and catch fire.

The Lenovo notebook PC that caught fire was using the same type of Sony battery that was a target of Dell and Apple Computer recalls, the Lenovo spokesman said.

A Sony spokesman said the company is cooperating with Lenovo in investigating the cause of the incident, but added that Sony has not determined that the laptop in question was loaded with a Sony battery.