Some electronics bring the heat. Literally. Nvidia just had to recall its SHIELD 8-inch gaming tablet because the device was heating up to levels that were too hot to hold.

For obvious reasons, this doesn’t look great for Nvidia or its tablet. If you do own this tablet, you should know that the recall is voluntary, and not sending in your tablet could be a major fire hazard.

Some Back History

Nvidia is best known for the company’s line of graphics cards with the SHIELD tablet series launching in 2013. The company’s tablets were heralded for extra screen space, and were reviewed as being some of the best tablets to game on. Plus, reviewers liked the fact that SHIELD tablets had extra long battery lives (13 hours).

The SHIELD tablets are relatively new to the market as far as tablets go (two years isn’t that to be a tablet competitor), and the tablets were selling well amongst Nvidia’s intended target market (mostly gamers and people that like to stream video). So this recall is going to hurt the company’s sale of tablets slightly.

What to Do

If you do have a SHIELD tablet, the company is asking users to quit using the tablets and head to Nvidia’s website to look for return details. The company is promising those users that do return tablets a replacement tablet once the current tablets are sent in.

How long will that take? It’s hard to say, but you may be looking at a week or so without a tablet. If you have any other Nvidia devices in addition to a SHIELD tablet, don’t worry. The company has stated that the recall doesn’t apply to any other devices that the company makes.

What Not to Do

Even though it will take a few minutes of your time to go to the Nvidia website, register, and send in your current tablet for a replacement tablet, it’s not a good idea to keep using your SHIELD tablet. The risk of a fire hazard is real (companies don’t recall devices unless these kinds of risks have been assessed), and it doesn’t pay to keep using a tablet that could cause serious injuries.

Hopefully this news doesn’t turn people off of buying a Nvidia tablet. The company’s SHIELD line is actually excellent, and it’s a nice detour from the usual Android and iOS options. Plus, the SHIELD tablets are definitely a better way to go if you want to stream video or play games on your tablet more than anything else - the screen is bigger and the graphics are better thanks to Nvidia’s technology.

When to Return

The company’s return page and registration option should be available for a few months following this announcement, so you do have the time to return the tablet and get that replacement. What Nvidia is doing to make sure that future batteries don’t get so hot has yet to be announced, but there’s no doubt that the company will fix the issue moving forward.