Thousands of computer notebook battery packs have been recalled in the U.S. and Canada after they were found to overheat and could be a fire hazard.

The recall involves Lenovo battery packs sold with the following ThinkPad notebook computers: the Edge 11, 13 and 14 series, the T410, T420, T510 and W510 series, and the X100e, X120e, X200, X201 and X201s series. The battery packs were also sold separately.

Consumers should immediately turn off their ThinkPad notebook computer, remove the battery pack and contact Lenovo for a free replacement battery pack.  Consumers can continue to use theirThinkPad notebook without the battery pack by plugging in the AC adapter and power cord.

The black battery packs measure between 8 to 11 inches long, 1 to 3 inches wide and about 1 inch high. Recalled battery packs have one of the

following part numbers starting with the fourth digit in a long series of numbers and letters printed on a white sticker below the bar code

on the battery pack: 42T4695, 42T4711, 42T4798, 42T4804, 42T4812, 42T4822, 42T4828, 42T4834, 42T4840 and 42T4890.