Toshiba has today urged owners of its laptops equipped with the faulty battery to seek replacements, following another report involving a Toshiba's notebook that cought fire. The announcement comes just a year after the IT industry was rocked by a spate of laptop fires caused by faulty Sony batteries,

On September 28, 2006, Sony announced a global replacement program for a number of battery packs supplied to computer makers, Toshiba among them. Toshiba is participating in the program and offering its customers free replacement of the battery packs identified by Sony.

On May 24, 2007, a Toshiba portable computer with a Sony battery pack caught fire. Toshiba asked Sony to investigate. The investigation confirmed that the cause of the fire was the battery pack, as in other incidents reported earlier. This incident followed another that occurred this April in Japan, also involving an unreplaced battery pack.

"Toshiba recognizes the importance of this situation and is determined to make every effort to assure the safety and comfort of its customers. Accordingly, the Company is now embarking on a new round of efforts to encourage customers to check their PCs and to get the battery replaced if it is on the list," reads Toshiba's announcement.

The list with the affected portable computers equipped with with affected battery packs is available here.

The affected Sony battery packs will be replaced free of charge, Toshiba said.