Imagine your surprise when the last thing you'd expect to catch fire on your desk, your gaming mouse, suddenly bursts into flames. That's precisely what happened to Reddit user lommelinn, who encountered a shocking situation when their Gigabyte M6880X mouse ignited while their PC was in sleep mode, nearly causing a devastating apartment fire.
In a post to the reddit community, lommelinn detailed the harrowing experience: “I smelled smoke early this morning, so I rushed into my room and found my computer mouse burning with large flames. Black smoke filled the room. I quickly extinguished the fire, but inhaled a lot of smoke in the process, and my room is now in a bad shape, covered with black particles (my modular synth as well). Fortunately, we avoided the worst, but the fact that this can happen is still shocking. It's an older wired, optical mouse from Gigabyte.”
The Gigabyte M6880X, a seemingly standard wired gaming mouse, operates on a USB 2.0 connection with a power draw of just 5V at 0.5A. Despite having no internal battery, it mysteriously caught fire, raising significant concerns about its safety and reliability. Images shared by lommelinn show the mouse's top rear panel completely melted, while the underside remained relatively unscathed. The reasons for this selective damage remain unclear. Additional photos also reveal damage to the user’s desk and mousepad, with visible melting.
My Gigabyte mouse caught fire and almost burned down my apartment
byu/lommelinn inpcmasterrace
Gigabyte took swift action in response to lommelinn's alarming report, issuing an official statement within the Reddit thread:
Hi Everyone,
"We have been made aware of the incident shared by lommelin regarding the M6880X gaming mice. Our customer's safety is our top priority and we are actively looking into this case. Our team has reached out to lommelin to offer support and to investigate the matter fully. In the meantime, we appreciate the community’s understanding and patience as we work to address this issue.
"Best,
"The GIGABYTE Team."
In a follow-up post, lommelinn expressed their astonishment at the unexpected incident, stating, "My PC was in sleep mode. Since then, I checked the USB port with a voltage meter and it's fine. No clue how this can happen."
