
Users complain their Dell 6430u laptops smell like cat piss - kmfrk
http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3518/t/19512174.aspx
======
csense
Maybe this is something that's only smellable by a certain subset of the human
population.

I invited a family member to try Chipotle once. She complained of a soapy
taste in the food. We both thought maybe a staff member had been careless
about rinsing hands after washing with soap.

I later learned that some people have a genetic predisposition to perceive
cilantro, an herb common in Mexican food, as a soapy taste [1] [2].

Maybe in the case of these laptops, nobody who was involved in production / QA
had the right gene to be bothered by the smell. But once it's sold to
thousands of people, that's both a much larger population, and one that's from
all over the world (as opposed to the people in the factory who would would
probably mostly be local workers from one country or region).

[1]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cilantro#Leaves](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cilantro#Leaves)

[2]
[http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/14/dining/14curious.html?_r=0](http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/14/dining/14curious.html?_r=0)

~~~
Wingman4l7
There's also the genetic predisposition to perceive brussels sprouts _(and
other foods)_ as too bitter:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supertaster](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supertaster)

IIRC this is one of the SNPs that personal-DNA-sequencing companies like
23andMe can test for.

~~~
astrodust
There's a simple test you can do with a strip of paper
([http://supertaster.com/](http://supertaster.com/)) tainted with that
particular flavor. Most people can't taste it at all, but those that do are
gagging from the awful taste.

I'm in that group and brussels sprouts are easily the strongest, most
offensive vegetables out there.

~~~
dnautics
I think there are people in the middle. I can taste PTC, but it is only
slightly bitter, and I don't mind brussels sprouts (don't particularly love
'em), I can definitely taste the bitter.

------
ekianjo
If it were on Apple boards they would have deleted the message I guess, and
pretended nothing ever happened :)

EDIT: in case people who downvote me don't understand the reference, see
yesterday's news regarding Larry Lessig's complaint being censored on Apple
forums, apparently for the interest of keeping the forums _clean_. Wouldn't
that kind of _" cat piss"_ complaint fall in the exact same _" unhelpful
comment"_ category ?

~~~
wizzard
Anyone who downvotes you hasn't tried to use their forums.

I hadn't seen yesterday's news though so here's a link for anyone else
interested: [http://lessig.tumblr.com/post/65338904338/wow-or-from-the-
wh...](http://lessig.tumblr.com/post/65338904338/wow-or-from-the-when-apple-
became-the-borg-department)

~~~
petsos
Or you know is tired of seeing every thread turning to an Apple flame.

~~~
ekianjo
This is actually very much relevant to the recent news. Yesterday you have
Apple removing valid complaints from one user about their products, while Dell
has a very different company approach to let the information flow
transparently among their followers. This thread would not even have appeared
if there were no such transparency.

------
smacktoward
Fascinating. I was shopping for new sneakers the other day and was shocked at
how many people over the last couple of years had reported new pairs of New
Balance shoes having exactly the same "smells like cat urine" problem (see:
[http://ask.metafilter.com/182458/Something-peed-in-my-
sneake...](http://ask.metafilter.com/182458/Something-peed-in-my-sneakers),
[http://reviews.newbalance.com/9328/M990/new-balance-new-
bala...](http://reviews.newbalance.com/9328/M990/new-balance-new-
balance-990v3-reviews/reviews.htm),
[http://www.zappos.com/product/review/7944390/page/1/start/5](http://www.zappos.com/product/review/7944390/page/1/start/5),
or just Google "new balance odor").

The prevailing theory is that it has something to do with the glue they use
when assembling the shoe. I wonder if the same glue is hidden in these laptops
somewhere...

~~~
frogpelt
I have found that orange-flavored Trident gum and a certain type of evergreen
bushes commonly used in landscaping around shopping centers also smell like
cat urine from a short distance.

Cat urine smell is such a pervasive entity.

~~~
Anm
"cat urine" and "gum" should not be used in the same sentence. I'll leave that
one out of my breathe freshener options.

~~~
beambot
Many people find the smell of durians equally repugnant... and you can buy
durian flavored gum.

------
nilsbunger
This was a fun read. My favorite post:

'''When you write that the "problem has been resolved," do you mean that when
I open my computer it will no longer smell like a pack of well hydrated feral
cats have used it for target practice resolved, or do you mean that you have
resolved the mystery of what has caused the problem? Jus' 'asking.'''

~~~
sandGorgon
The reply is even more interesting . This is by an official rep. Really
impressed by Dell.

"As mentioned above, no biological hazard was involved and we do know that a
manufacturing process was the root cause. That process was changed which
resolved the issue on newly manufactured units. As for everyone out there with
a unit that still exhibits the symptoms, we haven't forgotten about you and
will make things right. Keep watching this thread and as soon as more info if
available, we'll let everyone know."

~~~
jimmywong
What's so impressive? It is just a delaying tactic from June till now. And
still no resolution.

~~~
tempestn
Agreed. Especially unimpressive is the long delay between when they apparently
discovered the cause and now, when they _still_ haven't revealed it, even as
the rep has stated for weeks that it'll be "any day now".

I also wasn't super impressed with the first few replies from lower level reps
that kept suggesting blowing it out with compressed air even after it was
clear that there was a larger problem.

------
krenoten
It's part of a hardening process that has been employed by weapon smiths for
time immemorial, known as "quenching". After you form the laptop case / sword
/ rifle barrel, and it is still hot, it is to be submerged in urine. I'm
surprised it's taken laptop manufacturers so long to catch up.

~~~
nuclear_eclipse
I thought quenching was done with water...

~~~
krenoten
Water should only be used in extreme situations where no horses, humans, or
cats can be coaxed into a milking. Urine has well known properties which it
lends to the steel.

~~~
jjoonathan
Well known properties like smell?

------
whalesalad
Reminds me of my sisters Volkswagen beetle. It's got some material under the
leather that smells exactly like crayons. It's impossible to get rid of. Not
as bad as cat piss but really strong. Gives me a feeling of nostalgia every
time I'm in it haha. Google "Volkswagen smells like crayons" and you'll find a
lot of VWs in the early 2000s have the same smell.

~~~
andrewflnr
My Ford Escape's air conditioning smells like cat pee sometimes, when it's
first waking up. Not too badly, but the resemblance is quite distinct.

~~~
lostlogin
A friend vomited into her cars aircon vent on the dash once while worse for
wear. The phrase blowing chunks came to mind when she turned on the aircon a
few days later. That car was no longer the chosen transport method for group
outings.

------
b0b0b0b
I know there's a family of compounds found in wine that can smell like cat
urine[1]. If this laptop has a rubberized component, some googling[2]
indicates these same compounds may be employed in their manufacture.

1\.
[http://www.wineanorak.com/mercaptansinwine.htm](http://www.wineanorak.com/mercaptansinwine.htm)

2\.
[http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20130310034151AA...](http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20130310034151AAO2Bw5)

------
Alex3917
For what it's worth, wine enthusiasts refer to this cat pee smell as 'boxwood'
and pay extra for it.

~~~
ars
Does cat urine smell different from regular urine?

~~~
pndmnm
Very much so (ammonia content, for one). See any IPA brewed with a large
proportion of Simcoe hops as well.

------
bichiliad
Part of me wonders whether or not this is some sort of collective joke by
Reddit or 4chan or something. Another part of me is not surprised. Dell isn't
particularly notorious for their astute QC.

~~~
whalesalad
The last time I ordered a Dell product it arrived and would not boot. Did
absolutely nothing. Was completely DOA. That put a bad taste in my mouth.
Their displays have treated me well though, and their server products are
great.

~~~
bichiliad
I actually quite enjoy their displays as well. But their laptops have been
nothing but headaches for me.

------
mmmacbook
Apple Macbooks smelled like body odor in 2005:

[https://discussions.apple.com/thread/207887](https://discussions.apple.com/thread/207887)

~~~
xerophtye
Aha! To the people who said apple would have removed something like this if it
was on their forums :P

------
albertyw
My guess is that Dell laptops have incorrectly vulcanized rubber. During
vulcanization, sulfur compounds are added to rubber to make it more elastic.
Cat urine also contains a high amount of sulfur compounds. If Dell's suppliers
got the vulcanization process wrong, sulfur could be leeching out of the
laptop's rubber components.

------
jacob019
5 pages of comments, how bizarre. What could possibly go wrong in
manufacturing to make electronics smell like cat piss?

~~~
joezydeco
Happens all the time with shady third-party manufacturers in countries other
than your own.

You get a perfectly nice sample unit that meets all specs and looks beautiful.
When the container arrives off the boat with 100,000 production units you find
materials have been substituted with cheaper materials, scrap plastic, and
scavenged components.

Walk into any dollar store and you'll smell something similar to this, cheap
plastics off-gassing all kinds of wonderful substances. I picked up a
flashlight once that literally smelled of kerosene, probably because that's
what the overseas factory used as a plasticizer to get that "rubbery" feel on
the handle.

~~~
nhebb
That happened at a former employer of mine. Parts came in covered in chicken
shit and straw. Long story short: our main vendor in China outsourced to a
make-shift forging operation set up in a barn.

~~~
joezydeco
There are other..um...examples out there.

[http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/hairband.asp](http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/hairband.asp)

[http://consumerist.com/2007/05/25/costco-recalls-dirty-
under...](http://consumerist.com/2007/05/25/costco-recalls-dirty-underwear-
punching-bag/)

[http://www.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/n74vq/so_i_bought_a_2...](http://www.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/n74vq/so_i_bought_a_20_punching_bag_from_china_the/)

------
analog31
"Urea, I found it!"

\-- Apologies to Archimedes

------
evoloution
Funny, but when I read the first staff comments I thought it was actually a
bot responding :)

After comment #4 auto-pilot goes offline

------
rsynnott
It's a FEATURE. If they didn't want cat urine-scented, they should have opted
for the plain 6430, not the u.

~~~
solistice
Product Scenting Suffixes as follows:

    
    
       [u] - "urine",
       [s] - "sock,worn",
       [bc] - "burned,capacitor",
       [br] - "burned,resistor",
       [a] - "asbestos" 
       [m] - "methapetamines",
       [c] - "cocaine,regular",
       [cw] - "cocaine,wall street",
       [cc] - "cocaine,columbian", 
       ...

------
beedogs
Is Dell's assembly line located inside an industrial laundry building by any
chance?

~~~
benatkin
Might it have been made in China from auto scraps?

------
benrapscallion
The Rockefeller Smell Study aims to map the genetic basis of some of these
psychophysical differences.
[http://vosshall.rockefeller.edu/smellstudy](http://vosshall.rockefeller.edu/smellstudy)
They have already mapped one such genomic locus that changes perception of
androsterone from sweaty/urinous to pleasant/floral.
[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/17873857/](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/17873857/)

------
leejoramo
Is this in celebration of National Cat Day here in America?

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Cat_Day](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Cat_Day)

------
aerlinger
Hopefully this is an issue that can easily be resolved with one of their
"critical updates"

(funny enough I went to their driver page
([http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx](http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx))
and it shows an error. Maybe they forgot to install the driver that drives
their driver page?)

------
ratsimihah
A fake SaaS that does big data with your garbage and a keyboard that smells
like cat piss, we're having so much fun in the tech community!

------
notindexed
Reminds me of my old Dual USB Macbook. Still smells to the point the whole
room it's in stinks after all those years.

[http://lowendmac.com/menagh/06/1019.html](http://lowendmac.com/menagh/06/1019.html)

[https://discussions.apple.com/thread/1320241](https://discussions.apple.com/thread/1320241)

------
mathiasben
I work in an enterprise IT shop during the day and we received 300 of these
laptops which we are sitting on until Dell comes up with a resolution. It's
not a faint odor, or one that only a few people will notice. It's a rudely
foul room clearing gag inducing vapor released as the case heats up. We can't
hand them out as they are.

------
sebnukem2
My entire house smells like cat piss! I'm not a Dell fan, but I do have a very
territorial cat.

------
ceautery
I've heard of this before with cheap plastics, like "pony beads", for
instance. What I really wonder, though, is if this will be forever linked in
the consumer collective mind with Dell returning to privately owned status.

------
bfe
It was actually a carefully planned tie-in with Uber's cat delivery promo.

------
linker3000
The problem can be fixed by emptying the recycle bin..er..litter tray.

------
xerophtye
I am surprised that people are giving theories here about the cause. Because
on page for Dell-Steve reported that the cause is a manufacturing process that
they now replaced.

------
staringispolite
Specifically cat urine, not other urine? I must be thankfully smell-deficient
because I wouldn't be able to tell the difference, and I grew up with cats for
20 years

~~~
PeterisP
"Growing up with cats" is a disadvantage in this case - people don't really
notice the 'default' environment that they're used to, your nose 'turns off'
that specific smell and doesn't record it. My relatives who have cats
(especially in the plural) are unable to distuinguish their own items that
smell of cat from similar items that don't.

It's similar for smoking - nonsmokers can easily identify traces of smoke
smell (like, this particular jacket was worn recently to a place where people
smoked) that are not noticeable by the smoker itself.

~~~
staringispolite
This is a good point, and one I hadn't thought of. But I wasn't smelling cat
pee often either.

If we had two sets of items, one of which we had some cats pee on, and one of
which we had some humans pee on, you think you could sort them into cat/human
groups with a high degree of success?

------
svckr
Ahh, memories. Reminds me of when ThinkPads were still made by IBM. We used to
call them StinkPads back in the day.

------
solomatov
This might be caused by polyurethane degradation which happens when the
material gets hot.

------
lignuist
They are probably totally pissed.

------
joseph_cooney
Yesterday when some apple users said their Macbook battery life had been
impacted by the Mavericks upgrade the consensus on HN was that "people blame
all kinds of problems on software upgrades". When some Dell users say their
laptops smell funny, then Dell has a QA problem.

~~~
ketralnis
Was it a software upgrade that caused the laptops to smell like cat piss?

~~~
stock_toaster
That _would_ be one hell of a bug.

------
vonskippy
So Dell Laptops stink?

Hasn't that been common knowledge for at least a decade?

~~~
pekru
You owe me a new monitor, I washed it with my coffee!

Really, hilarious comments in this thread. Thanks, y'all!

------
NiceOneBrah
There is only one logical explanation. Hidden meth lab.

------
yiedyie
Do users have a cat?

------
mikekij
I heard this is a new feature in Win 8.1.

------
bredren
My Macbook Air smells like pumpkin pie.

------
thehme
Comments are hilarious. Thanks.

------
jbverschoor
Dell littertude

------
fixxer
Does this feature cost extra?

------
francinemathews
I have 5 cats and they occasionally wizz on my clothes when I'm not looking.
Next time I get caught unawares and smell like cat piss in public, I'll say I
bought a Dell. Thanks Dell!

