Dell is contacting buyers of its PowerEdge 1650 servers because of a defect that can cause the systems to overheat, emit smoke, and shut down, the vendor said Wednesday. The motherboards of all PowerEdge 1650 servers sold worldwide between January and early May last year could be defective and should be replaced, Dell spokesperson Bruce Anderson says. "The inductor on the motherboard can overheat and can cause a small amount of smoke to emit," he says. When the overheating occurs, the server shuts down. "There is no safety issue," Anderson says. The inductor is used to control voltage, he says. Notifying Customers Dell started contacting customers late last year after users notified the vendor of the problem and determining the issue in its test environment, Anderson says. The Dell PowerEdge 1650 is a rack server meant for use in data centers. The product was introduced in February 2002 and succeeded by the PowerEdge 1750 in mid-2003.