Imagine waking up to the smell of smoke, only to find your gaming mouse engulfed in flames. That's precisely what happened to Reddit user lommelinn, who shared their shocking experience on the platform. While their PC was in sleep mode, their Gigabyte M6880X mouse—a seemingly ordinary wired optical mouse—caught fire, nearly causing a catastrophic disaster in their apartment.
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 is an older model, powered via a USB 2.0 connection that supplies only 5V at 0.5A. Despite its straightforward design and lack of internal batteries, this mouse's failure led to a dangerous situation. Photos shared by lommelinn revealed that the top rear panel of the mouse had melted completely, while the underside remained relatively undamaged. The reasons behind this selective damage remain unclear. Additionally, images showed the impact on their desk, with visible melting on both the desk and mousepad.
My Gigabyte mouse caught fire and almost burned down my apartment
byu/lommelinn inpcmasterrace
Gigabyte responded swiftly to the incident in the Reddit thread, stating:
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 event. "My PC was in sleep mode," they said. "Since then, I checked the USB port with a voltage meter and it's fine. No clue how this can happen."
