Alienware computers and video games
7 reports to CPSC, the latest made Aug 3, 2026. A report isn’t a recall.
Watch and the shortlist are kept with a free account, on every device. Your watch list. CPSC’s own search is on saferproducts.gov.
At a glance
From SaferProducts.gov, released Oct 25, 2026.
- 7reports to CPSC
- Aug 3, 2026the latest report was made
- Sep 25, 2015the earliest
- 0with the company’s comments
- Brand
- Alienware
- Maker
- Dell Inc.Makers, importers or sellers, as the reports name them
- Product
- Computers and video gamesComputers, their equipment and electronic gamesCPSC’s product type: Computers (Equipment and Electronic Games) (code 557), in Electronics: Computers, Monitors, Projectors
Other ways the reports write the brand (2)
“Alienware (Dell)” and “Alienware 17”
By month
The numbers, as a table
| Month | Reports |
|---|---|
| August 2026 | 1 |
| August 2025 | 1 |
| July 2025 | 1 |
| June 2025 | 1 |
| May 2019 | 1 |
| April 2017 | 1 |
| September 2015 | 1 |
How badly anyone was hurt
- Hurt, no treatment 1 CPSC: Injury, No First Aid or Medical Attention Received
- No one hurt 6 CPSC: Incident, No Injury
As each report says it, in short words; CPSC’s own words are under each.
The reports, as CPSC published them
Reports people made to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. CPSC publishes each one after sending it to the company named, and doesn’t guarantee they’re accurate. A report isn’t a recall.
Each report is the words of the person who made it, as CPSC published them. The company’s comments, where CPSC published any, are set apart as the company’s own.
CPSC, SaferProducts.gov public database export. Released Oct 25, 2026. Updated daily.
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No one hurt Made Aug 3, 2026, sent to the company Aug 6, 2026, published by CPSC Aug 20, 2026
The product, in the report: Dell Alienware m16 Laptop Computer (Service Tag: [REDACTED]). Laptop finish is Dark Metallic Moon matte grey/black with customizable RGB lighting arrays. Screen size is 16 inches. Dimensions are approximately 14.5” x 11.4” x 1.0” with a weight of 7.2 lbs. Features a distinct raised alien head logo on the exterior cover lid and stylized honeycombed cooling vents on the back.
Product: Dell Alienware m16 Laptop Computer (Service Tag: [REDACTED]) Incident Date: August 1, 2026, at 10:30 AM Detailed Description of Safety Hazard: On the morning of August 1st, a minor (my 17-year-old daughter) attempted to use the computer for an online class. The device failed to turn on. Upon connecting the official manufacturer power adapter, a catastrophic internal electrical short occurred.
When I inspected the device and connected the power adapter, the laptop’s charging port immediately generated active electrical sparks and emitted heavy, burning chemical fumes and smoke. The adapter was instantly pulled out, and the machine was physically moved out of the living space to a non-flammable area to prevent an active structure fire.
The severity of this component failure represents a catastrophic fire risk. Had this occurred a day earlier while I was traveling internationally and the minor was home only with an elderly grandfather, a devastating house fire could have occurred without an adult capable of handling an electrical emergency present. The manufacturer needs to investigate this specific model’s power delivery failure pathway to prevent consumer injury or property damage.
- Model
- Alienware m16
- Serial number
- 42120457383
- Bought from
- BestBuy
- Bought
- Nov 23, 2023
- Where
- Chandler, Arizona: Home/
Apartment/ Condominium - Who was involved
- Age 17, Female
- The reporter’s relation to them
- My Child
- As this report names them
- Brand Alienware, made or sold by Dell Inc.
- How badly, in CPSC’s words
- Incident, No Injury
-
No one hurt Made Aug 8, 2025, sent to the company Aug 13, 2025, published by CPSC Aug 27, 2025
The product, in the report: Alienware Aurora R10 desktop PC
While gaming in November 2024, my Alienware Aurora R10 desktop PC froze, then went black and became unresponsive. I was forced to cut power at the surge protector. Upon restarting, white smoke poured out of the PC. I opened the case and found a burnt capacitor and blackened PCB on the RTX 3080 GPU.
Dell replaced the GPU and retrieved the failed one. However, the replacement GPU is now showing the same symptoms (freezing, black screens, requires emergency shutdown) and occurs 2-3 times per hour in August 2025.
I believe this is a repeat safety hazard tied to Dell’s OEM RTX 3080 design. This defect poses a risk of fire or electrical damage inside the home. I am requesting Dell to escalate this as a systemic issue and not just replace it again with the same model.
When the incident first happened white smoke FILLED my house. I had to evacuate my fianc and our dog and crawl back in to cut the power. Our home smelled like burnt plastic for MONTHS. When Dell responded so promptly telling me they would send a new graphics card and send a out a specialist to install it I figured it was a one off thing and I was happy they resolved it. Now that it is happening again and I am seeing some people online report a similar experience I have reason to believe that they have sold thousands of graphics cards with the wrong capacitor which, under load, bursts and turns into an arc welder starting an electrical fire.
If you [REDACTED] “White cloud of smoke coming out of aurora alienware” you will see someone else’s experience. They had him ship the entire computer in to replace his card.
Dell also required that I give back the burnt graphics card leading me to believe that they’re aware of this issue and promptly addressing it to avoid a massive recall which could greatly impact their business / brand.
- Model
- Aurora R10
- UPC
- unknown
- Serial number
- 15MVJD3
- Bought from
- Micro Center
- Bought
- Jun 6, 2021
- Where
- Palos Heights, Illinois: Home/
Apartment/ Condominium - Who was involved
- Age 27, Male
- The reporter’s relation to them
- Self
- As this report names them
- Brand Alienware (Dell), made or sold by Dell Inc.
- How badly, in CPSC’s words
- Incident, No Injury
-
No one hurt Made Jul 25, 2025, sent to the company Jul 30, 2025, published by CPSC Aug 13, 2025
The product, in the report: Gaming laptop with a rtx 2070
I went to a pawnshop yesterday and I bought an Alienware laptop with a swollen battery that they did not mention and they made false claims that they open the laptop and check them, but I was the one that did that and I try to get my money back in the refuse since this laptop is a fire hazard
- Model
- Alienware m17
- Serial number
- P37e
- Where
- El Paso, Texas: Other
- Who was involved
- Unspecified
- The reporter’s relation to them
- Unspecified
- As this report names them
- Brand Alienware, made or sold by Dell Inc.
- How badly, in CPSC’s words
- Incident, No Injury
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No one hurt Made Jun 6, 2025, sent to the company Jun 11, 2025, published by CPSC Jun 26, 2025
The product, in the report: Alienware M16R1 i9-13900HX 4090 with factory installed 64GB ram (2x32GB), I installed 2x 2TB SSDs as an upgrade. This is the model that has the 165HZ capable higher resolution monitor.
My M16R1 Alienware laptop caught fire underneath while using it in normal gaming conditions. I was sitting on my couch, connected to UK power using an official Alienware slim 330w charger. The laptop gave off a strange smell of burn soil or other plastics smell. I shut it down immidiately, removed the power cable, and set it aside.
The smell took 5-10min to stop emanating from the laptop, and a few hours to clear the room.
The next day i opened the rear case of the laptop as normal when doing any sort of SSD or ram upgrades, or fan cleaning using compressed air cans, only to discover melting on the motherboard at the DC ribbon cable that connects the external power jack to the motherboard. Specifically the end of the ribbon where the motherboard port is.
The melting was extensive enough that an arc flash or fire flash occured leaving a scour mark on the motherboard, but thankfully did not burn me or the laptop tray.
(I’m a US citizen, the laptop was purchased in the states, is used for game development, gaming, and business while travelling, and transitioning to living abroad)
This flaw in the motherboard design extends to at least 19+ other cases spanning multiple models of this generation of laptop. Specifically the M16R1 and M18R1 laptops.
In my expanded findings after it happened to me, I noted posts from users indicating the laptop was OFF and PLUGGED IN and still caught fire while folks were out of the house.
My incident it was ON and UNDER USE on my lap, potentially allowing fire to jet towards my genitals through a laptop tray that allowed adequate venting.
The laptop design is flawed in that it is drawing too much current over very small connections too close to eachother on the motherboard connection point feeding from the DC IN ribbon. The pins may be too small and narrow to handle the expected needs of a combination of a higher end CPU with the max power demand of the 4090 GPU.
In other posts the DC IN barrel jack design is flawed as the inner pin can arc, warp, and then subsequently cause arcing and smoke/fire when a user tries to reinsert it unaware of the initial issues.
There is no safety mechanism or control circuitry at the DC in jack port, or the DC jack cable to prevent an arcing condition, and the design leads to an arcing/melting/fire condition under the laptop due to the flipped motherboard design.
In addition a few users have indicated their batteries exceed hot to touch temperatures during this situation, suggesting that when the power connection melts and breaks the power in, the laptop suddenly draws all available charge from the battery, which is not able to handle a max CPU/GPU load at that time. This can potentially cause a run away battery fire or motherboard fire event when and if it occurs in conjunction with the charger/DC IN cable failure.
I was lucky i shut mine off fast enough.
There is a unique situation where someone sleeping while running high CPU/GPU load (maybe they fell asleep running VR with the goggles on) or they are out of the house where this product can fail and cause the desk surface to ignite from a failing power connection.
Again the DC IN ribbon connection, the ribbon itself, and the DC jack were not designed to handle the load of this model correctly. This may be a design that was reused in future models, as I’ve seen similar posts (only a few so far) indicating repeat conditions.
19 cases. 2 leading to fire risk or damage directly (one burnt couch, one burnt surface)
- Model
- M16R1
- Serial number
- 5VF7LX3
- Bought from
- www.dell.com
- Bought
- Aug 14, 2023
- Where
- United Kingdom: Home/
Apartment/ Condominium - Who was involved
- Age 38, Male
- The reporter’s relation to them
- Self
- As this report names them
- Brand Alienware, made or sold by Dell Inc.
- How badly, in CPSC’s words
- Incident, No Injury
-
Hurt, no treatment Made May 10, 2019, sent to the company May 24, 2019, published by CPSC Jun 10, 2019
The product, in the report: Alienware 17 R4 Gaming Laptop
My laptop electrocuted me several times when I made contact with the screws in the bottom of it and was using a foot spa. I can also feel the electricity on the surface of the case at all times just by running my fingers on it without any water around me at all. It also discharges it’s battery even when powered completely off and must remain plugged in near constantly or the battery will die after only 3hrs of use. Recently while on a trip I had my laptop in my case and was carrying it. It completely discharged the battery within just a few hours and all day I was having my hair stand on end and had static electricity issues from it constantly discharging on me. Along with this, it “fried” it’s operating system after less than a week of ownership and has had continuous issues since - something that may be caused by it constantly short circuiting or something of that nature. I am a young adult and the shock caused me to lose feeling in the hand that touched the laptop. Luckily, I wasn’t trying to move the laptop or I likely would have dropped it. I also have concerns about people who have pacemakers using a product like this, as I’m not sure if it would cause life threatening issues for them to be shocked.
- Model
- 17 R4
- Bought from
- https:/
/ www.dell.com/ en-us - Bought
- Aug 2, 2017
- Where
- Kernersville, North Carolina: Home/
Apartment/ Condominium - Who was involved
- Age 25, Female
- The reporter’s relation to them
- Self
- As this report names them
- Brand Alienware, made or sold by Dell Inc.
- How badly, in CPSC’s words
- Injury, No First Aid or Medical Attention Received
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No one hurt Made Apr 11, 2017, sent to the company Apr 19, 2017, published by CPSC May 10, 2017
The product, in the report: Alien 17 Laptop Computer, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 765M with 2GB GDDRS, Intel Core 17-4700MQ. Reg Model P18E, Deployed October 9, 2013. Black in color
April 11, 2017, Received a call of a fire in a residence home that was put out, but would like firefighters to respond to investigate. Upon arrival firefighters found a Alien 17 laptop computer that had caught on fire. The laptop computer was not plugged into the electrical outlet. The owner of the computer stated it was not working correctly and started to unscrew the back off the laptop computer, when she herd a whining noise that got faster and faster until the back of the computer turned red. she left to call 911 and heard a small explosion. Entering back into the room the computer was in flames. which was extinguished with a small glass of water. Fire Departments investigation found pieces of the computer on the walls and all through out the floor. The back of the computer was blown off and part of the batter pack was found approximately 3ft away from the laptop, along with several pieces of copper. The computer owner was going to throw the computer in the garbage. Fire Marshal Ward took the computer and the debris into his possession and logged it into evidence if needed by the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
- Model
- P18E ???????
- UPC
- ???
- Serial number
- ???
- Where
- Lewistown, Montana: Home/
Apartment/ Condominium - Who was involved
- Female
- The reporter’s relation to them
- Unspecified
- As this report names them
- Brand Alienware 17, made or sold by Dell Inc.
- How badly, in CPSC’s words
- Incident, No Injury
-
No one hurt Made Sep 25, 2015, sent to the company Oct 5, 2015, published by CPSC Oct 20, 2015
The product, in the report: Alienware MX18 R2 personal gaming laptop with dual NVidia GTX 680m graphic processing cards
I purchased an Alienware MX18 R2 laptop gaming computer from Dell on 5/14/14. It came with a 1 year warranty.
This laptop was serviced twice under warranty to replace the NVidia GTX 680M mobile graphics processor.
On the first occasion, the unit got so hot that it cracked a 1.5” thick solid wood table top clear through, and to a length of 15”. This was documented. The representative came out and replaced the main left side GPU. (It is important to note that due to an undiagnosed error, both cards were not simultaneously running as intended for several months, or I do not doubt both cards would have been overheating.) The GPU was reaching temperatures of >90C and the computer was shutting down to prevent hardware failure.
On the second occasion, the Alienware representative technician replaced both of the graphics cards due to them continuing to overheat. This was documented. The left side card was again running >90C and the computer shutting down to prevent hardware failure. When the technician left, the GPU was running >70C. I was told at this time that the cards “ran hot” but that “it should work fine now.”
The last repair took place in April of 2015. In mid September of 2015, I experienced catastrophic failure of the left side NVidia GTX 680m resulting in a brief electrical fire. As this is a laptop I cannot imagine what would have been the result if it had indeed been in my lap.
If you search the net, there are multiple forums where this has been reported to be happening, the most closely matched was another Alienware Mx18 R2 computer owner who experienced the issue in mid 2014. That story is posted on Reddit; his laptop also caught fire.
I have contacted Alienware via several avenues and corporate complaints, to no avail. The same with Dell. I have also contacted Nvidia without reply to date. Alienware refuses to acknowledge that this is a known issue, and after receiving photos of my laptop responded with, and I quote “The case was escalated to our safety department. The lack of damage to the outside surface of the laptop is not consistent with the hardware catching on fire as you described. “ They similarly denied the other person on Reddit’s claim that his was the result of “wear and tear”. They will take no responsibility.
I do not know if the fault is strictly with the GTX 680m graphics processor, or if the issue is a lack of necessary ventilation design in the MX18 R2 chassis. As we own a second MX18 R2 that contained a different graphics card, which has had no failures of any kind, I am inclined to believe it is the GTX 680m card itself, and there is a long record of reports of that card overheating to be found online. I do believe that this is a dangerous piece of equipment and should be recalled for consumer safety.
For further information, my laptop - the unit in question - has been treated in a manner consistent with the purpose it was sold for - personal gaming. It is kept in a smoke free environment of 68F with controlled humidity, away from pets, and always used on an elevated hard non-enclosed surface for optimal cooling while in use.
- Model
- MX18 R2
- Bought from
- Dell
- Bought
- May 14, 2014
- Where
- denton, Texas: Home/
Apartment/ Condominium - Who was involved
- Age 37, Female
- The reporter’s relation to them
- Self
- As this report names them
- Brand Alienware, made or sold by Dell Inc.
- How badly, in CPSC’s words
- Incident, No Injury
CPSC’s disclaimer
Disclaimer: CPSC does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the contents of the Publicly Available Consumer Product Safety Information Database on SaferProducts.gov, particularly with respect to information submitted by people outside of CPSC.
Word for word, from the disclaimer in CPSC’s export.
Sources
Sources
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U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, SaferProducts.gov public database export.
Released Oct 25, 2026 and checked Oct 25, 2026. Updated daily. Public domain (U.S. Government work). CPSC asks to be credited, and that no endorsement be implied.
Reports of harm are from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), on SaferProducts.gov. CPSC does not endorse Hearth Record.