“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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October 25th, 2009 at 8:50 pm
lesley,
Boot from the partition magic CD and delete the 10GB partition. After that resize the XP partition.
I really doubt that you can find a better video card for this laptop.
October 23rd, 2009 at 6:18 am
I have a toshiba sat pro 6100 purchased new in 2002. Never had real issues other than heating, use a targa fan. It does occasionally have usb issues so bought a hub.
My main problems: I stupidly installed a free version of linux so upon startup I can open windows xp pro or linux (xandros). Now I need that 10 gig hd space back the linux side is using but cannot bloody remember how to UNINSTALL it. Someone said buy partition magic cd on ebay but then what? Is that the only way to remove linux and get my 10 gigs back?
Second, I installed a spore game but even using the external WD hard drive mybook, it says my video card needs to be updated to play spore on this laptop, no surprise. The video card is a nvidia geforce4 420 go. Is it possible to upgrade the video card on this laptop?
October 22nd, 2009 at 4:09 am
Okay guys
I have toshiba Europe laptop i bought from pc world i was having the same problem ————
i tried to reach pc world guys to fix it
they keep the laptop said it is fixed and return
after many times i disappointed
then
i used
processor frequency utility
i clean my heatsink applied new one .
i also change my hard disk to new one with less current requirement
now it is a year since it shut down automatically
so thing is your laptop should ocntrol the amps it is taking …
October 19th, 2009 at 7:51 pm
Hi, My Toshiba sp20, has stopped working. it will not switch on and will not illuminate any lights, the power supply has the correct output voltage and there nothing wrong with the wiring from the power jack socket.
Please can you help?
Which part of the motherboard would be at fault?? or which part of the motherboard deals with the input power from the mains.
Many Thanks
Phil
October 15th, 2009 at 10:31 am
Hi there. Couldnt find the info for my problem – I have a toshiba ea60-191,that has problems starting up. Upon switching on, the normal toshiba screen appears, followed by windows, then screen just goes completely black, and only the pointer can be seen. It does not change from this state. Any help/comments would be most appreciated. Thanks in advance
October 13th, 2009 at 10:52 pm
AC,
Most likely it will happen again.
October 11th, 2009 at 11:07 am
I wouldn’t recommend using a regular household vaccum but you can use a Anti-ESD vaccum instead.
October 11th, 2009 at 7:12 am
I’ve just received my laptop from geek squad because i couldn’t fix it. I was having the exact same problem, they told me, “We couldn’t find the problem but we fixed it.” Well that’s what they said in a nut shell. They clean and re greased my fans but I’m not sure about the heat sink. Something tells me I’m going to have to get a new laptop -.-
October 9th, 2009 at 3:57 pm
If you clean the clogged heatsink will it still most likely happen again down the line ???
October 1st, 2009 at 10:44 pm
I have a toshiba a135-4656 which required me to take the entire back apart to get at the fan etc. I tried the can of air trick with a regular vacuum. I got a fair amount of dust/lint out just by vacuuming for a few minutes. I am going to try again with a more powerful machine but already my laptop has stopped overheating and blows air out the side vent now as opposed to before where it was just on fire. Plus it is so much quieter! So I definitely recommend that if you are like me and don’t really know how to take things apart.