Gaming Mouse Overheats, Nearly Causes Apartment Fire

Imagine your surprise when you find out that your trusty gaming mouse, of all things, has burst into flames while your PC is in sleep mode. This shocking scenario is exactly what happened to Reddit user lommelinn, who narrowly avoided a potential disaster when their Gigabyte M6880X mouse caught fire, nearly burning down their apartment.

In a post on Reddit, lommelinn recounted the terrifying 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 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, an older wired optical mouse, operates on a standard USB 2.0 connection, drawing just 5V at 0.5A. Despite its seemingly innocuous specifications, the mouse's catastrophic failure has left many puzzled. Images shared by lommelinn show the top rear panel of the mouse completely melted, while the underside remains relatively unscathed. The cause of the damage being confined to the top casing remains a mystery. Additional photos reveal the extent of the damage to the user’s desk and mousepad, with visible melting.

My Gigabyte mouse caught fire and almost burned down my apartment

byu/lommelinn inpcmasterrace

Gigabyte responded promptly to lommelinn's post, 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 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."