“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 22nd, 2010 at 2:40 pm
raymond,
It’s possible the DC jack is not making good contact with the motherboard and has to be resoldered or replaced. It’s necessary to disassemble the laptop and take a look at the power jack from inside.
1. Remove the top cover as it shown at http://www.irisvista.com/tech/
2. If the jack has to be resoldered, you can use this guide: http://www.laptoprepair101.com.....air-guide/
January 20th, 2010 at 6:37 pm
My Toshiba satellite A75 runns only from the battery. It has 19.4 volts at the output. It will only run on battery power.
Green light shows it has power and it even charges the battery.
Omly run on battert. (any help please0
January 19th, 2010 at 2:54 pm
i have a toshiba satellite and iv had it for a couple of days now and i didnt have any kind of anti virus stuff and now when it goes the the welcome screen i have to wait 30 mins to load up and even the it is sooooo slow i want to reset the thing to when it first came outta the box but dont know how to
January 15th, 2010 at 6:55 am
Thanks. I did as everyone suggested and cleaned the heatsink. I can already notice a difference in the way my computer is operating. But, only time will tell if this was the root cause of my problem.
I have a Toshiba Satellite-M45, and it too was shutting down completely and unexpectedly. I suspected that it was overheating by the way the fan was behaving prior to being cleaned. It seemed to be running constantly as of late.
I thought it might have been somewhat related to the plethora of new applications I installedon the machine, and that possible these were taxing the CPU beyond its intended purpose. Maybe it was a combination of both.
I would like to propose one other suggestion. Check the heat transfer grease beneath the heatsink. On mine, it didn’t form a complete, uniform film between the two devices. This in itself could have been a major contributor to my problem.
I suspect either the grease was not applied properly at the factory, or (most likely) it reflowed from its original location as it got progressively hotter over time due to insufficient cooling. Hope this helps.
January 13th, 2010 at 3:25 am
i am having problems with my toshiba satelite pro u400-13i sometime it does not come on and when it does the moment you restart it will not come on again it is only the power on light which will be on but no display what do i do?
January 9th, 2010 at 11:41 pm
Hey Joe,
I don’t have the same model Toshiba laptop but your problem sounds like what I had before. The caps lock light is always on and those two lights under the F10F11 keys are always on and no matter what you press none of the keys on the keyboard responds. Well what I did with mine was removed the keyboard from the laptop (don’t disconnect the ribbon yet but be careful not to tear it off either). I noticed that the caps lock turned off as soon as my key board stopped touching any part of the laptop and the keyboard started working normally (so I assumed it was a grounding problem since the keyboard lays on top of these foil). I sent my laptop in since it still had warranty and they replaced the keyboard. I would suggest replacing your keyboard as well unless you want to fiddle with your laptop’s grounds.
January 9th, 2010 at 4:19 pm
The best solution is to buy an external coolant system. it will never shut down with it. toshiba sucks. and im crazy to buy a toshiba.
January 9th, 2010 at 12:35 pm
hi there I have a problem in my toshiba A205
when I switch on there will be light underneath the keys for F10 F11 and there is a light on the left cps lock button, and the light stay there forever. no beep at all
January 7th, 2010 at 10:21 pm
Mike,
Listen for the cooling fan. Make sure the cooling fan is working. It’s possible that the cooling fan is defective and doesn’t start.
Ask the user if he’s using this laptop on a flat surface. There must me a gap between the laptop and surface for proper ventilation.
Does it give any warning message before shutting down?
By the way, I just posted a new disassembly guide for a Toshiba Tecra A10. You might need it in the future, when the warranty is over. It’s here: http://www.irisvista.com/tech/.....mbly-1.htm
January 7th, 2010 at 10:10 pm
Brand New Tecra A10′a. It also works for a while and shuts down.
I look like a fool in IT because i recomended we purchase these laptops.
Points i considered:
1. Virus— Cannot because the users only had it for one day and we use company policies. No other software loaded.
2. Heat— Cannot it is cold aircon offices.
3. Accidently pressing buttons– No because all setting to ” Do Nothing”
Please please please. I am sure out there somebody must have the answer for laptops that just suddenly comes up with message windows is shutting down.
Thanks
Mike