“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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May 10th, 2010 at 8:38 pm
sanjay,
Is it exactly 1 hour and 38 minutes every single time???
Overheating?
May 7th, 2010 at 9:50 am
Hi. have toshiba sattelite it restart automaticallay after 1 hour and 38 minutes, strange!!!!!!!!! but rue, does anybody have idea of this problem and solution??
plz reply
Thanks
Sanjay
May 2nd, 2010 at 1:40 pm
Blaise,
It’s possible the AC adapter is bad.
Your laptop is only 11 months old and it has 12 months warranty. Send it back to Toshiba for repair. Call 1-800-457-7777 and order a shipping box.
May 2nd, 2010 at 1:24 pm
Deanna Simpson,
Turn on the laptop and listen for the fan sounds. Does the fan start spinning for a while when you turn on the laptop? Maybe the cooling fan is not working?
Also, clean the heat sink as I suggested in the post.
April 30th, 2010 at 11:09 am
I bought my Toshiba A215 two years ago. When I first bought it, I took it to Arizona and the shut down problem started right off, so I concluded that it wasn’t dust. I didn’t take it back to the store because it was in another state. Then I put it away and didn’t use it until we went to Arizona again. Same problem. Now I think it’s too late to take it to the store, but I don’t think it’s filled with dust. What do you suggest?
April 29th, 2010 at 5:24 pm
My Toshiba Satellite A350 suddenly turned itself off without warning- I mean it went completely dead. After that it would not restart and showed no signs of life. I let it rest for a few hours, removed the battery; held the ‘power on’ button for about 20 seconds, plugged it in and after opening and closing the lid it flickered to life.
The problem is that now my exterior battery system icon is burned out (it doesn’t light up at all) and the battery itself will only charge to about 97% and loses charge much quicker than it used to. The laptop is only 11 months old. Should I take it in to be looked at?
April 26th, 2010 at 7:17 pm
I put the vacume directly where the fan is after turning the computer off and it sucked out a bunch of dust clumps that hung up on the grill covering the fan. I cleaned that off, and now my laptop works like it did when it was new. I run my laptop several hours each day and will now clean the air cooling system this way regularly. No need to open the case, just put the vacume hose over the fan grill and make sure to turn off the laptop first because you are making the fan spin fast in reverse. This will probably work for every laptop
April 24th, 2010 at 2:44 pm
PING,
Take a look at the following disassembly guide for Satellite M35X. Should be similar to Satellite M40X.
http://www.irisvista.com/tech/.....M35X_1.htm
April 24th, 2010 at 2:43 pm
Sandy M,
It’s hard to tell what is causing this problem, could be memory failure.
Most likely you have two memory modules installed. It’s possible that one of the memory modules went bad. You can try testing the laptop with each module separately.
When the bad module is removed, the laptop should start properly.
April 22nd, 2010 at 4:19 pm
You want to be careful using a shopvac for cleaning electronic equipment. The flexible vacuum hose builds up a lot of static electricity especially if it has been used as a dust removal system with woodworking power tools.