Gaming Mouse Overheats, Nearly Causes Apartment Fire

Imagine the shock of finding your gaming mouse engulfed in flames while your PC is peacefully in sleep mode. This was the harrowing experience faced by Reddit user lommelinn, who narrowly escaped a potential apartment fire thanks to a quick reaction to the smell of smoke. The user discovered their Gigabyte M6880X wired optical mouse ablaze on their desk, leading to a room filled with black smoke and damage to their surroundings, including their modular synthesizer.

The Gigabyte M6880X, an older wired gaming mouse that operates on a standard USB 2.0 connection drawing just 5V at 0.5A, is not expected to pose such a risk. Yet, photos shared by lommelinn reveal the top rear panel of the mouse completely melted, with the underside relatively unscathed. The cause of this selective damage remains a puzzling mystery, as does the damage to the user's desk and mousepad, which were also affected by the incident.

My Gigabyte mouse caught fire and almost burned down my apartment

byu/lommelinn inpcmasterrace

Gigabyte responded swiftly to the incident, announcing an investigation into the matter. In a statement on Reddit, the company emphasized the priority of customer safety and their active engagement in resolving the issue, having already reached out to lommelinn for further investigation and support.

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 incident, noting that their PC was in sleep mode at the time of the fire. They also mentioned using a voltage meter to check the USB port, which appeared to be functioning normally, leaving them baffled about how such an event could occur.