“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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November 25th, 2010 at 2:12 pm
BALA,
I can try if you can give me correct problem description. Does your laptop turn on? Do you get any image on the screen? What’s going on with the laptop?
November 22nd, 2010 at 11:37 am
SUDDENLY MY LAPTOP A200 MODEL SWITCH OFF PLEASE GIVE TO CORRECT REPLY ME
November 16th, 2010 at 6:48 pm
I have a Toshiba P105 that has 2 problems (one I can solve relatively easily)- NOTE: This lappy runs 24×7 and sites on a cooler pad:
Firstly, when playing HD Video it stutters and slows down over time – this is a recent event. I assume this is due to GPU overheating and I’ll try the vacuum solution (though I am leery of damaging the fans). P105s are a real hassle to disassemble!
Secondly, and most annoyingly, when the lappy starts up the screen shows no video until it reaches the Windows 7 start up. This has been happening for a whiel (from before the upgrade to Win7). When powering up, the screen goes from dull black to “bright” black, indicating that the power and everything is fine.
My assumption is that some previous update has either screwed the resolution of the video being sent to the nVidia chip (it does the same when connected to external monitors) or something has been set in the BIOS (“fast start” or similar).
What I need is a key combo (or combos) to use during start up to try and reset the lappy show it shows the start up text information. the reason for all this is so I can replace the HDD using the Win7 drive backup method. As you have to boot from the DVD I NEED to see the boot stuff.
November 14th, 2010 at 8:28 am
corbie_d,
Check out http://www.irisvista.com/tech/
November 10th, 2010 at 6:22 am
Hi!
I`ve got a Tecra M4 PTM42E. For a few months, the computer shuts down randomly. Sometimes it worls well for days, sometimes every few minutes it will shut down itself. Shutdown means: Black screen, fans turning at 100% speed. No reaction. The problem appears more often with high processing power, like videos etc.
I`ve cleaned the whole CPU heatsink, reassembled it with new thermal grease. Same problem.
I connected the GPU fan to the usb power supply, so it turns constantly at full power and cools the GPU. Same problem.
Setting down the CPU to Level 2-3 seemed to help, though the problem now came up once again.
the temperatures shown via Speedfan now are showing sth around 40-45 °C, on every sensor.
Is there anything else I can do?
how can I detect a bad mb?
Greets from germany
Guido
November 8th, 2010 at 9:30 am
I cannot find any disassembly guides for Toshiba Satellite L555d-s7005. I need to access the cooling fan and heat sink.
November 3rd, 2010 at 2:34 am
I have a toshiba a200 with an ATI HD2600.
It suffered from overheating problems but I took it apart and cleaned the dust out.
Put it back together and it ran fine. Never overheated.
But Recently it’s been shutting down at randomtimes and instantly restarting. Has done it multiple times today and the laptop hasn’t been hot at all.
Does anybody know why this is??
I’ve tried using system restore but not long after it starts the laptop shuts off and reboots.
At the moment it’s not even reading my gfx either and I can’t connect to the Internet either.
November 2nd, 2010 at 11:31 am
William F Hickey,
Here I posted disassembly instructions for a Qosmio F25 notebook. The guide has 3 pages and explains how to remove the motherboard. Should be similar to Qosmio F20 notebook.
Search for the motherboard part number printed on a sticker in the memory compartment. Google the part number.
It’s hard to tell what is causing the problem. Could be bad motherboard or video card failure. Probably motherboard.
October 31st, 2010 at 10:44 pm
My Toshiba Qosmio F-20 just Fried…I think! Repair facility in Ft Lauderdale, FL replaced the harddrive with a 250Gb WD & added 2gigs of Ram…that’s when All the problems began! Never had any issues b/4 then!!! Spent about $350 for that!
After a short time, the machine began Overheating (FAN?)…then, it wouldn’t boot-up! So, I reinstalled the Old drive. The Original 60 Gig Hitachi…was running good! Yet, was overheating once again. However, not as often. Til tonite, that is!
Now, all I get is; The Power Light Flashing Orange! Though it’s plugged into a power outlet…there are No Other Lights showing on the panel! Guess the MOBO decided to fry & die!!!
Bought this in Thailand while on R & R from Iraq…thus, it;’s difficult to find Compatible parts…The closest machine is the F-25.
Need info regarding a suitable MOBO replacement! Also, “How to access and remove the MOBO…I’ve been inside the case but not to that extent!
Going to USA next week…will get a less expensive Toshiba & repair my Qosmio baby!
Thanks,
William
October 29th, 2010 at 10:01 am
Michael Turner,
Could be faulty memory module.
Try removing memory modules one by one and test the laptop with each module individually.