Gaming Mouse Overheats, Nearly Causes Apartment Fire

Imagine sitting comfortably in your home, only to be startled by the smell of smoke. This was the reality for Reddit user lommelinn, who faced a terrifying situation when their gaming mouse caught fire while their PC was in sleep mode. The incident, which occurred with a Gigabyte M6880X wired optical mouse, almost led to a devastating apartment fire.

In a post on reddit, lommelinn detailed the harrowing experience: “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 inhaled a lot of smoke in the process, and my room is in 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, an older wired gaming mouse, is powered via a USB 2.0 connection, drawing only 5V at 0.5A. Given these specifications, the catastrophic failure that led to the fire has understandably raised many questions. Images shared by lommelinn showed the mouse's top rear panel completely melted, while the underside remained relatively undamaged. The cause of the selective damage to the mouse's casing remains unclear. Additional photos revealed the extent of the damage to the user’s desk and mousepad.

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, acknowledging the situation and initiating 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 shared their continued disbelief at the incident, noting, "My PC was in sleep mode. Since then, I checked the USB port with a voltage meter and it's fine. No clue how this can happen."