by , 8:40 AM EDT, October 31st, 2008

Sony's recurring problems with laptop batteries has started up again, so it is recalling some 100,000 batteries from around the world. The recall impacts HP, Dell and Toshiba and includes batteries that were produced between October 2004 and June 2005.

Apparently the batteries pose a potential fire hazard due to overheating. None of the batteries in this recall are being used in Apple laptops.

Sony suffered a black eye in 2006 when it was forced to recall thousands of batteries from a long list of laptop manufacturers, including Apple. This time, however, the recall appears to impact a substantially smaller number of computers and companies.

Additional information about the voluntary recall is available at the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission Web site.