HP has issued an urgent recall notice on the batteries for several of its most popular laptops.

The notice was issued in conjunction with the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, and covers a wide variety of HP and Compaq laptops as well as the Compaq Evo. Some 70,000 laptops are thought to be at risk.

"HP and the battery cell manufacturers believe that certain battery packs shipped in some notebook PC products may pose a potential safety hazard to customers. The batteries can overheat, posing a fire and burn hazard," said the company.

"We are taking this action as part of our commitment to provide the highest quality of service to our notebook customers. We are proactively notifying you of this issue, and are prepared to replace all verified affected battery packs. "

The laptops at risk were sold between August 2007 and March 2008. The precise fault is not mentioned, but there have been two reports that the batteries have overheated and ruptured, although no injuries have been reported.

Users are advised to remove the batteries and run laptops from the mains until the replacements are sent out.

This is the fourth battery recall the company has issued in five years. Almost all other laptop manufacturers have had similar problems, including Sony, Apple, Toshiba, LG, Dell, Fujitsu, Gateway, Panasonic and Lenovo.

In most cases problems occur because of metal contamination in the battery manufacturing process. Small pieces of metal in the battery fluid can cause sparks which then ignite the flammable liquid in the unit.