EU Safety Gate · Report-2008-2

NETGEAR · Computer hardware

The product poses a serious risk of fire because the power supply integrated circuit (IC) within the XE103 may fail. Such IC failure may cause another component, called a Polyswitch, which is used to limit the current delivered to the product, to also fail. When the Polyswitch fails, it releases a small amount of smoke and soot and a visible flash of light. The duration of this is approximately 3 seconds and does not produce flaming combustion or glowing embers that escape the enclosure. This event does not pose a risk to surrounding light combustible material or a safety hazard to a user. However, on the basis of the external testing that has been carried out, it cannot be ruled out that a very small number of units that experience a Polyswitch failure may also experience a more severe failure, if a conduction path is established between the two unprotected solder nodes that connect AC power to the printed circuit board. If this occurs, light combustible materials surrounding the product may ignite.