Gaming Mouse Overheats, Nearly Causes Apartment Fire

Imagine the shock of finding your gaming mouse on fire while your PC is in sleep mode. This is exactly what happened to Reddit user lommelinn, who narrowly avoided a disaster when their Gigabyte M6880X mouse burst into flames, nearly burning down their apartment. The incident occurred early in the morning, with the user rushing into their room after smelling smoke, only to find their desk engulfed in black smoke and the mouse ablaze.

"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," lommelinn recounted on Reddit.

The Gigabyte M6880X, a seemingly ordinary wired gaming mouse powered by a USB 2.0 connection with 5V at 0.5A, unexpectedly malfunctioned. Photos shared by lommelinn show the top rear panel of the mouse completely melted, while the underside remained relatively undamaged. The cause of the fire, particularly why it was confined to the top casing, remains a mystery. Additionally, images revealed damage 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

Gigabyte responded promptly to the incident, posting a comment on the Reddit thread:

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 unexpected event, noting that their PC was in sleep mode at the time. "Since then, I checked the USB port with a voltage meter and it's fine. No clue how this can happen," they added, highlighting the perplexing nature of the incident.