It's been some time since we had a massive laptop battery scare; breaking the stalemate is computer hardware giant Hewlett-Packard, which recently announced a recall of some 70,000 notebook battery packs for PCs across both the United States and Canada.

The recall was issued on Thursday, May 14th, and includes lithium-ion batteries HP worries could overheat, "posing a fire and burn hazard to consumers."

A Familiar Issue for HP

In a report submitted by the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission, or CPSC, HP and Health Canada revealed that in at least two instances batteries "overheated and ruptured, resulting in flames/fire that caused minor property damage." Luckily no one has been reported injured -- at least, not yet. (Source: crn.com)

The last major recall of this kind dates back all the way to October 2008, when HP, Toshiba, and Dell were all part of a massive warning involving about 32,000 Sony-made batteries made in Japan.

Although we know the manufacturer of the 70,000 faulty units is based in China, the name of the company has yet to be released.

So, who needs to be concerned?

The recall includes a wide range of HP computers.

The problematic lithium-ion batteries were sold between August of 2007 and March 2008 in notebooks priced at $500 all the way up to $3,000. These computers were sold from a number of outlets, including computer and electronics stores, Hewlett-Packard's online store, and hpshopping.com. Some of the batteries in question were also sold on their own, ranging in price from $100 to about $160. (Source: cnet.com)

Those of you who have purchased HP Pavilion or Compaq Presario notebooks between August 2007 and March 2008 will want to contact HP as soon as possible. Owners of the HP G6000, HP G7000, and HP Compaq 6720 should also be aware that your batteries might be faulty.

More details on the recall can be found in the CPSC's report.