Remember those pictures of that spontaneously self-immolating Dell laptop on TV a few weeks ago? The ones that have been playing on the Internet ever since - along with stories about the Arizona guy whose pick-up truck went up in flames while he was loading it because of the Dell laptop he put on the passenger seat. The fire ultimately set off the ammo stowed in the glove box and then the gas tank exploded while 62-year-old Thomas Forqueran ducked for cover.

Well, in what is said to be the largest recall in the history of computers, Dell is going to be taking back 4.1 million Dell-branded Sony-made lithium-ion batteries from a reported 18% of the notebooks it's sold since April 2004 until the middle of last month.

Dell, which is struggling to get back on track, claims the recall won't have any material impact. Yeah, right, well then, it must not be counting perceptions. And the news hit just as the back-to-school season is ramping up. Like parents aren't going to go shopping elsewhere just to play it safe.

Not that other people's batteries are inherently any safer but Dell seems to be alone in this and eventually somebody's going to remember that this is not Dell's first notebook crisis. As a matter of fact it dropped out of the notebook market for a couple of years a decade ago because of dicey designs.

A manufacturing defect that causes a short circuit in the fuel cells is supposedly the problem this time. Dell is blaming Sony and Sony reportedly changed its manufacturing process but it also claims the problem is specific to Dell's design. HP claims it doesn't have a problem because it's using custom-designed batteries. Lenovo says the same thing. Fujitsu built its own batteries. Apple is checking.

This is also not Dell's first battery recall just its largest, and it's estimated it will cost somewhere between $200 million and $400 million, maybe more. It's unclear how much of the bill Sony is going to pick up.

It's also going to give authorities another reason to ban laptops, cell phones, MP3 players, camcorders and other battery-operated gadgets from airplanes. A UPS cargo plane carrying batteries in the hold was lost to fire back in February and there have been other incidents on passenger planes.

The government is now investigating all applications of Sony batteries.

In an example of market contrariness, Dell's stock went up Tuesday on news of the recall. The talking heads on CNBC called it a "relief rally," Dell scoring points for coming to terms with the mounting crisis of the last few week. If it can assemble and replace four million batteries, they said, it will look heroic, provided its service arm, which let it down before, holds up.

Dell claims to be acting because of a half-dozen reported incidents, but the New York Times says its reporter saw pictures of 100 "melted" notebooks supplied by a former Dell technician that were returned to Dell between 2002 and 2004. Dell told the Times most of the damage was not battery-related.

Dell identified the tainted notebooks as the Dell Latitude D410, D500, D505, D510, D520, D600, D610, D620, D800, D810; the Inspiron 6000, 8500, 8600, 9100, 9200, 9300, 500m, 510m, 600m, 6400, E1505, 700m, 710m, 9400, E1705; and the Precision M20, M60, M70 and M90 mobile workstations; and the XPS, XPS Gen2, XPS M170 and XPS M1710.

The batteries were also sold separately and are stamped "Dell" and "Made in Japan" or "Made in China" or "Battery Cell Made in Japan Assembled in China." The identification number for each battery appears on a white sticker. Customers are advised to have this number available when they contact Dell to determine if their battery is part of the recall.

The computers with these batteries sold for between $500 and $2,850 and the individual batteries sold for between $60 and $180.

Dell has set up a web site at www.dellbatteryprogram.com. Customers can also call 1-866-342-0011. Dell says it's working directly with major accounts.