Hewlett-Packard Chromebook 11 Sales Suspended To Fix Overheating Chargers Before They Melt

When Hewlett-Packard HPQ created the Chromebook 11, Google GOOG knew the product would be hot. Unfortunately, the search engine giant had no idea it would be so hot that the charger would overheat and (in some instances) melt. According to Bloomberg, Google and Hewlett-Packard decided to suspend sales of the new Chromebook after receiving eight reports of chargers overheating. Some of them melted, but none of them caught fire. Those exact reports could not be confirmed because the details have not been made public. But in a statement to Benzinga, Hewlett-Packard confirmed that sales were suspended due to overheating chargers: "Google and HP are pausing sales of the HP Chromebook 11 after receiving a small number of user reports that some chargers included with the device have been damaged due to over-heating during use. We are working with the Consumer Product Safety Commission to identify the appropriate corrective action, and will provide additional information and instructions as soon as we can. "In the meantime, customers who have purchased an HP Chromebook 11 should not use the original charger provided with the product. In the interim they may continue using their HP Chromebook 11 with any other Underwriters Laboratories-listed micro-USB charger, for example one provided with a tablet or smartphone. We apologize for the inconvenience." Related: Hewlett-Packard's Chromebook 11 Features Innovation Not Found In Apple's MacBook It is not uncommon for laptop chargers to overheat. Complaints can be found all over Yahoo Answers YHOO and include a wide variety of laptop manufactures. In fact, a specific Google search for virtually any company -- Apple AAPL, Dell DELL, Asus ASUUY, to name a few -- yields negative results. This is not a problem that is exclusive to laptops. Any charger for any battery-powered electronic device (smartphones, tablets, handheld game systems, etc.) can overheat. Disclosure: At the time of this writing, Louis Bedigian had no position in the equities mentioned in this report. Louis Bedigian is the Senior Tech Analyst and Features Writer of Benzinga. You can reach him at louis(at)benzingapro(dot)com. Follow him @LouisBedigianBZ