Of all of the things connected to your PC, your mouse would be the last thing you'd expect to set itself alight. But that was the reality redditor lommelinn faced after they reportedly found their gaming mouse alight on their desk while their PC was in sleep mode — and it almost “burned down” their apartment.
Posting to reddit, Iommelinn claimed: “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 mouse in question is a Gigabyte M6880X, an older wired mouse that seems like a completely normal wired gaming mouse. With no battery inside and running via USB 2.0, which only pulls in 5V of power at 0.5A, the Gigabyte M6880X's alleged catastrophic failure has certainly raised eyebrows.
In images posted by the user, the mouse itself appears to have had its top rear panel completely melted away, with the underside of the mouse managing to escape from much damage. The reasons behind why only the top casing of the mouse was damaged is also a mystery. In additional imagery, the damage to the user’s desk is also present, with a melted portion of the desk and mousepad in sight.
Gigabyte officially responded to Iommelinn’s claim in a comment within the reddit thread, confirming it had launched 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 subsequent reddit post, lommelinn expressed their disbelief at the surprising series of events. "My PC was in sleep mode," they explained. "Since then, I checked the USB port with a voltage meter and it's fine. No clue how this can happen."
Image credit: Iommelinn / reddit.
Sayem is a freelancer based in the UK, covering tech & hardware. You can get in touch with him at @sayem.zone on Bluesky.
