ibook smell

Why would they bother since they are selling to nasty freaks like you!

Dear Mynor,

I purchased an 800 Mhz iBook about 3 months ago, and it smelled so bad that I left it open and airing at all times, hoping the smell would dissipate with time. It did!

I did not perceive the oder as B.O, however. And, it wasn't like "new car" plastic. It was definitely "off" and unpleasant. I assume it was from some organic chemical used in the manufacture of the keyboard (or other component)

Everyone's nose is different...it's amusing to see the responses your question provoked!

-Mark Wilson

I kid you not, my iBook has recently started smelling like a derelict who eats too much cumin. It's a full-bodied aroma. Blechh.

I would just like to know that the odor-- although gross-- isn't toxic.

We have two iBook 500's in our household. Maybe we are just lucky, but neither of them smells bad.

I thought if we bought a pair, maybe they would breed. No such luck. Still just two of them.

This is certainly a weird topic, but .... enough people are talking to make it a topic!
I have an 800 iBook, maxed in memory and in cards and no smell. It is about 6 months old.
Now, in terms of smell, plastic is inorganic so, decaying plastic is kind of strange. Also, a keyboard smelling ??? I 'd associate the smell with a kind o chemical reaction, this would point to the battery of some form of leak underneath the keyboard.
I would check for this.
And please report back, because I think this is the most unusual topic for a computer forum.

Regards

Deivy

Nah, if that were the case, they would smell like crematoriums – not B. O.

There's a good job for some third party developer. iBook deodorant. Just wipe it on the BO gone.

Maybe the iBOok's are trying to attract mates by releasing pheromones! Those of us with non-smelling books must have more than 1 Mac?????

😉

Could we stop with all the unfunny, unhelpful posts? This seems to affect the first (500MHz) Dual USB iBooks only. The keyboards and keys were changed for subsequent models since I tried to use a 500's key to replace a missing one of a later model and they don't fit.

I was able to get a replacement keyboard through AppleCare, but it could be because I have a contact at Apple who helped push my request through. Still, I suggest asking for a replacement if you have AppleCare. The new keyboard has been in the iBook for almost two months and seems to have a different rubber under the keys and doesn't smell yet (knock wood). I put the old one in a plastic bag to save the keys and the second you open the bag, the smell hits you, as if something died in there. Definitely a problem with the plastics/rubber used on the first generation.

Sorry Warren. It must be a terrible burden to have to read light hearted posts whilst suffering from a computer problem. Are you an accountant?

By the way, I have a Dual USB iBook 500 that has never had any smell coming from any of its keys, as do many of the people that have made comments in the above posts.

Hey! Don't bash the accountants... I'm a very personable person, and a student of accounting. 🙂

My iBook does the same as me - when it heats up it honks a bit under the armpits.
The differences are :
I don't have a fan to pump it out into the atmosphere, so if I keep my arms close to my side it will minimize this.
Also I can wash under my arms,

It doesn't eat garlic burgers, so the heat burns off only plastic ozone ferremones.

Seriously, though the smell is( to my over-developed sense of smell) nearest to "ozone" smell when a storm or rainfall is starting to fall. Which makes me think of the electrical emanations from within the iBook changing the polarity of the ions in the air inside the unit.
Could the little beast be belching positive ions ?
Just adding my sniffter of opinion.
Steve
www.swampnet.co.uk
PS I've been having overheating problems causing software intermitancy, accompanied with "StinkBook" but it was happening before I installed my (Apple) memory upgrade, just the same.

I've been smelling something funky for about a month now, and my 600mhz ibook is about a year old. I swore it was a smell lingering from a colleague visiting my office, then I started sniffing my computer when I got home. Thought someone had been sneaking onto my computer. Then I read this thread. Doesn't smell like my BO, so I know it's not an accumulation of dead skin follicles from my body. So I assume too that it is the computer generating this smell, perhaps as it accumulates dust from the environment. I might try "wafting" lysol, but not spraying the keyboard.

Did AppleCare really replace a keyboard because it smelled bad? Your contact must have some real muscle within the company. I would never have imagined they would do that.

That is great for you!

Sorry if this post is not helpful. Not every post is.

I started getting it on my iBook 500 dual USB after a year of odor free operation. And I noticed it after reading a post about the problem on these boards. I laughed and I think the iBook god swiftly punished me. Now I am self-conscious when opening my iBook in a lecture hall because I dont want people to think I dont shower. So I demonstrably blow on the keyboard. Its still pretty stupid.

Anyway, I thought that it was all the dead skin and hair that fell under the keys and I couldnt blow out with canned air. I was about to wash my keyboard out (I heard it is possible) But all this plastic talk ismaking me think it will not help! Maybe its bodyoils interacting with the plastic, bec ause its weird that most people get this problem only after a year or so (the time for plenty of dander to accumulate thereunder).