Gaming Mouse Ignites, Nearly Burns Down Apartment

Imagine waking up to the smell of smoke, only to find your gaming mouse engulfed in flames. This shocking reality was faced by redditor lommelinn, whose older wired optical mouse from Gigabyte, the M6880X, suddenly caught fire while their PC was in sleep mode. The incident nearly led to a devastating outcome, with the potential to "burn down" their apartment. The user shared their harrowing experience on reddit, detailing how they rushed into their room upon smelling smoke and found their mouse burning with large flames, filling the room with black smoke. Despite quickly extinguishing the fire, lommelinn inhaled a significant amount of smoke, leaving their room and modular synth covered in black particles.

The Gigabyte M6880X, a seemingly ordinary wired gaming mouse powered by USB 2.0 with a standard 5V and 0.5A, has sparked intrigue due to its catastrophic failure. Images posted by lommelinn show the top rear panel of the mouse completely melted, while the underside remained largely undamaged. The cause of the fire, particularly why only the top casing was affected, remains a mystery. Additionally, the damage extended to the user's desk and mousepad, with visible melted sections.

My Gigabyte mouse caught fire and almost burned down my apartment

byu/lommelinn inpcmasterrace

In response to the incident, Gigabyte issued an official statement on the reddit thread, emphasizing their commitment to customer safety and announcing an investigation into the matter. They confirmed reaching out to lommelinn to offer support and gather more details.

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 disbelief at the unexpected event, noting that their PC was in sleep mode at the time of the incident. They also mentioned checking the USB port with a voltage meter, which showed no issues, leaving them puzzled about the cause of the fire.