Yeah, the only laptop I had (not including my current netbook) back around 2001 to 2003 or 2004 didn't last too long, either. I used it all the time (it was my main computer at the time) and tried to take care of it, but something new always seemed to go wrong every few months. Eventually, the whole power supply circuitry finally gave up, and it was pronounced dead after barely limping along for the previous year or two. (The 10 GB HDD survived, though, and I actually used it in my desktop computer for a while a couple of years ago using an adapter I found in a computer store.) Nowadays, I pretty much shy away from laptops completely due to that experience.

I think the main problems with laptops is that they're constantly being moved and banged around, there is a ton of major heat-producing stuff crammed into an insanely tiny space with virtually no room for any effective cooling/ventilation, and everything suffers because of it. Come to think of it, it's perhaps a bit amazing they even manage to last as long as they do.

I went ahead and approved the file since I haven't been rejecting files with links in descriptions in the past. If you want to remove the URL from the description, let me know and I can do it, or you can simply upload an update with an updated description (file upload form should be working again now).

I've gotten pretty busy lately and have been having some trouble keeping up with a lot of things, even with processing pending files which normally isn't a problem (plus there's been a sudden increase in submitted files lately), but I expect to be able to make more headway eventually within a few days. You guys just have to be patient with me and give me a chance to test, research, write about, and format these things for posting—it can be quite time-consuming. I'll make a best effort to try to have the rest of my pending feature queue flushed out in time for POTY voting.

Having that happen to me would definitely startle the heck out of me. It could be a close call for sure—I once (around 10–12 years ago) saw a story on the news about a children's toy with a battery compartment where the springs were somehow damaging the battery's insulation and causing it to get shorted out. The guy who had taken them out said that the moltern battery guts got squirted right in his face or eyes.

I prefer Duracells as they seem to last longer but at like $8 per battery set (4 AAA's) I prefer the $1.49 sets of 12 batteries at the dollar store. I didn't have problems with them yet and in the end I end up saving money despite the fact they last like 4 times shorter.

Ouch, seems expensive over there. Where I live (though I don't know what the difference between U.S. and Canadian dollars is right now), a few bucks more than $8 will get you a pack of 4 AA or AAA NiMH rechargeables. That's what I've been using for years now for almost everything, because I go through batteries quickly and this way I only have to buy new ones every few years instead of every few days or weeks. In some devices like TI calcs, though, it's tricky because the battery low warning doesn't take NiCd/NiMH characteristics into account, and the calc can end up dying without warning when they run down, in some cases causing a RAM clear. To avoid this, I just get in the habit of swapping them out for recharging every so often before they have a chance to get low.

You shouldn't have this problem with rechargable batteries because they are nearly immune to exploding...

Well, I wouldn't be too quick to say that—any type of battery is potentially dangerous if defective or abused (e.g., incorrect charging, drawing more current than it is designed to safely do, etc.)

If it was an internal short, you probably don't have a calculator anymore. It takes a lot of heat to break the battery compartment as compared to what the electronics can handle. Although, if TI was smart, they had temperature shutoff circuits installed into the processor to prevent overheating. Not much chance of that, though.

If it was an intracell short, then you may or may not have a calculator depending on exactly what happened.

If it was software, then you almost certainly don't have a calculator. Software is notoriously bad at regulating batteries.

Ah, I was probably a bit ambiguous there. I was thinking of a short internal to the cell itself, though I don't know whether that's actually common with alkaline cells (I've never heard of it, personally). It sometimes happens with rechargeables, though I think it's rare for the internal short to actually draw enough current to generate that much heat and an explosion (usually, the symptom is simply a cell that completely drains itself in a matter of hours or days after a full charge, even if not used—I have a few worn-out NiMH cells that exhibit this condition).

It seems unlikely, but maybe somehow a battery terminal or something shorted the terminals of that one cell together. I think I've heard of a rare case or two before of a poorly-designed battery compartment damaging the insulation on the cell and causing this, leading to a product recall.

Although I've never seen it happen firsthand, one thing I've heard of quite frequently over the years are TI calculators that seem to drain batteries in an excessively short period of time for no apparent reason. I guess somehow something in the calculator circuitry develops a defect that draws excessive current from the batteries in these cases.

Whoops, I totally forgot about this topic. Very nice updates. I'm definitely going to want to remember to try this out at some point.