Gaming Mouse Fire: User's Apartment Nearly Burned Down

Imagine waking up to the smell of smoke, only to find your gaming mouse engulfed in flames. This shocking scenario is what redditor lommelinn experienced when their Gigabyte M6880X mouse caught fire while their PC was in sleep mode, nearly causing a devastating apartment fire.

In a detailed post on reddit, lommelinn recounted the terrifying 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 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, a seemingly standard wired gaming mouse that operates on a 5V, 0.5A USB 2.0 connection without any internal battery, unexpectedly burst into flames. Images shared by lommelinn show the mouse's top rear panel completely melted, while the underside remained relatively undamaged. The cause behind the selective damage to the mouse's casing remains unclear, and additional photos reveal the impact on the user’s desk and mousepad, showing melted sections.

My Gigabyte mouse caught fire and almost burned down my apartment

byu/lommelinn inpcmasterrace

In response to the alarming incident, Gigabyte issued an official statement within the same reddit thread, indicating they had initiated 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 expressed their astonishment at the incident, noting that their PC was in sleep mode at the time. They also mentioned checking the USB port with a voltage meter and finding no issues, leaving them puzzled about how such an event could occur.