“My Toshiba laptop suddenly shuts down by itself without any warning. Sometimes it works fine for hours, sometimes it shuts down in 10-15 minutes.” This complaint we hear from our customers over and over again. About 15-20% of all Toshiba laptops we get for repair, suffer from an overheating problem. Yep, OVERHEATING!
This is one of the most common problems with Toshiba laptops we deal with.
Indications of laptop overheating problem:
- The keyboard and the bottom of your laptop are very hot when the laptop is working.
- The CPU fans are working all the time at maximum rotation speed and operate much louder than before.
- The laptop suddenly shuts down by itself without warning. When it just started, the laptop was shutting down after 1-2 hours and how it shuts down after 5-10 minutes of operation.
- The laptop works fine when it runs idle, but shuts down as soon as you start using any memory demanding applications (DVD player, image editing software, video editing software, etc.).
Solution:
If the CPU heatsink is not clogged with dust and lint completely, you can use canned air and just blow it inside the laptop through the openings on the bottom and on the sides. It’s nice as a precaution measure, but it might not work if your laptop already has a problem and the heatsink is completely clogged.
- Open the laptop case, so you can access the CPU fan and the heatsink. In some cases you can access the heatsink through the latch on the bottom of the laptop. Sometimes (for example Toshiba Satellite A70/A75) you have to open the laptop case all the way down.
- Carefully disconnect the fan cables on the system board and remove the fan. If the fan makes unusual sound when it spins (grinding sound), I would recommend to replace the fan.
- Clean the fan and the heatsink with compressed air.
- I would also recommend removing old thermal grease from the CPU and applying new grease for better heat conductivity.
UPDATE: I just received a nice tip from MC N’Colorado. I think it could be useful for all of you with guys:
I decided to use a shop vac to suck the dust out and it worked. I tested it by letting the machine run all night and it worked. It’s been a couple of weeks now and I’m glad I did it. I was ready to take the machine apart, now I’m glad I didn’t. I’d suggest you use a heavy duty shop vac to clean out the fan and heat sinks first.
I agree. Try to fix the problem without taking the laptop apart first but I would recommend using a powerful air compressor instead of a vacuum cleaner.
If your laptop is still under warranty, you can take it to any Toshiba Authorize Service Provider and fix the problem at no charge to you.
Toshiba laptop disassembly guides with pictures and instructions.
Toshiba Satellite A15 Clogged Heatsink
Toshiba Satellite A35 Clogged Heatsink
Toshiba Satellite P15 Clogged Heatsink. Absolute champion!
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January 25th, 2012 at 6:54 am
@cj2600:
Thanks, I will see to check it:)
January 23rd, 2012 at 5:10 pm
@ Trevel12,
I think the next step would be testing the laptop with another AC adapter. If the problem persists this could be motherboard related failure.
January 22nd, 2012 at 8:06 am
I have been dealing with this shutting down of my Toshiba laptop for a couple of weeks now. Fans are cleaned and it was working non-stop after that, but now it seems that it is OK as long as battery doesn’t start charging. Then after a while the laptop shuts down. Could it be a problem with power supply, ie. power voltage drop? Everything else is checked… And computer is not hot when I check with hand.
Please guys any suggestions?
Thanks!
January 20th, 2012 at 11:41 pm
@ vonix,
Not sure what it means.
1. Make sure the fan spins.
2. Make sure the fan and heatsink are clean.
3. Replace thermal grease on the CPU.
January 17th, 2012 at 1:35 am
HI! I just got my laptop’s IC reheated for about 2weeks now. and i still have problems with overheating since it’s getting hotter when I use it for longer hours. can anyone suggest what should be done? I really dont want my laptop go to waste. thanks much!
January 7th, 2012 at 9:54 pm
@ Samuel Plante,
Have you tried cleaning the heatsink? It’s possible the heatsink is clogged with dust.
I don’t know what else could be causing the problem.
If the fan is running but the laptop is getting hot most likely it happens because the heatsink is full of dust.
Buy a can of compressed air and spray it into the fan grill on the bottom (of side of the laptop) until all dust is gone.
January 6th, 2012 at 6:14 pm
yep its getting hot when playing game but my fan is runninf and i got a tablet with 2 fan on it….last week i put frozen meat all under my laptop and its kept shutting down so im starting to really get pist off
January 6th, 2012 at 2:00 pm
@ Samuel Plante,
Take a look at the cooling fan. Does it start at all? Does the bottom of the laptop feel hot when you running games?
January 6th, 2012 at 1:59 pm
@ jackie,
Take a look at this guide:
http://www.laptoprepair101.com.....e-problem/
It shows how to disassemble the laptop to barebone system and test with an external monitor.
Unfortunately, your problem is intermittent and it’s really hard to tell what is causing the problem.
Could be motherboard failure.
January 5th, 2012 at 9:07 am
but is their other way i can stop my laptop overheat …i got a toshiba satellite L975 and i got a fan tablet to put under it and it still overheat…everytime i want play game and stuff it overheat after 15 minute…and im not very good in electronik so …i would like a solution for my laptop stop F**ki*g overheat cause this is really starting to piss me off …when im on facebook and stuff like that its ok and like you said everytime i use memory stuff it overheat…. if i was deleting some stuff on my laptop is this going to change something? the only thing i want is a good solution …thanks