Gaming Mouse Fire: User's Apartment Nearly Burned Down

Imagine the shock of discovering your gaming mouse on fire while your PC is in sleep mode. This was the alarming reality for Reddit user lommelinn, who shared their harrowing experience of their Gigabyte M6880X mouse catching fire and nearly causing a disaster in their apartment.

In a detailed post on reddit, lommelinn recounted the incident: "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 exhaled a lot of smoke in the process and my room is in a bad shape now, 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 powered by a USB 2.0 connection with 5V at 0.5A, is at the center of this unexpected catastrophe. The user's images reveal significant damage, with the top rear panel of the mouse completely melted away, while the underside remains relatively unscathed. The reasons behind the isolated damage to the top casing remain a mystery, and additional photos show the impact on the user's desk and mousepad, which were also affected by the fire.

My Gigabyte mouse caught fire and almost burned down my apartment

byu/lommelinn inpcmasterrace

In response to the incident, Gigabyte issued an official statement within the Reddit thread, confirming they have initiated an investigation:

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 confusion about the incident, noting that their PC was in sleep mode at the time. They also mentioned checking the USB port with a voltage meter and finding it to be functioning normally, leaving them puzzled about the cause of the fire.