“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 13th, 2006 at 1:02 am
Hi cj2600,
I have a Toshiba Satellite P10-803. There is a constant whirring and grinding sound when I switch on the PC. I suspect it is related to the heat sink and fan getting clogged. Can I use the instructions for P15 as you had mentioned in some previous comments for cleaning it my self.
The 2nd thing I noticed was that when I was writing a DVD/reading it took some time recognizing the DVD. I had previously written a DVD with no problems. CDs work fine. I am thinking of using a DVD cleaner CD available in the market. Is there anything specific that I should go for? And is there a laptop specific DVD cleaner?
May 8th, 2006 at 11:46 pm
Ruby,
Unfortunately Toshiba Satellite A65 doesn’t have a hatch on the bottom of the laptop for an easy heatsink and CPU access. If you want to avoid this problem in the future, you can prevent it. Buy a can of compressed air and blow inside the fan on the bottom and then inside the opening on the side. Do it 2-3 times a months and you will not get a clogged heatsink again.
Also, you can remove the keyboard for a better heatsink access. To remove the keyboard, follow steps 5-8 on this disassembly guide . After the keyboard is removed, used compressed air to clean up the heatsink.
It is not necessary to take apart the laptop completely if you want to clean the heatsink. It is necessary only if you want to replace thermal grease on the CPU.
May 8th, 2006 at 11:33 pm
Assuming toshiba fixes these current problems. What is the procedure for fixing these overheating issues (when they happen again) on the a65.
Do you have to take it completely apart?
May 8th, 2006 at 11:27 pm
Toshiba Satellite A65 is a different model. When you install the hard drive, you have to slide it inside the laptop base and the connector is completely hidden. You need some skills to install a hard drive into this model.
Good luck!
May 8th, 2006 at 11:17 pm
I was wrong it is an a65-s1070. (Model no. psa60u-0le015)
Just got off the phone with toshiba, I am hopeful that everything will be okay.
May 8th, 2006 at 10:20 pm
Ruby,
If you have a Toshiba repair center somewhere in your location, I would recommend taking the laptop there instead of shipping directly to Toshiba. In this case you will have a chance to talk to a technician and explain the situation.
The hard drive connector is a part of the system board and if it is broken, the entire system board has to be replaced. It is very strange that you broke the connector. It is pretty solid and cannot be easily broken. I’ve replaced hundreds hard drives on this model and never had a problem. I cannot say for sure if you voided the warranty, it depends where you bought the warranty and who is covering your laptop. I think you’ll be OK.
When you talk to the customer support, make sure to use your negotiating skills.
May 8th, 2006 at 9:45 pm
Not realizing that the a75 had to be taken apart to access the heat sink, I took the hard drive out in the process of blowing compressed air into the computer to clear it. When I put the hard drive back in, the computer would not boot up.
I took the hard drive out and some of the prongs were bent and the piece that it plugs into (inside the computer) was broke. I am currently in the process of creating a ghost image of the hard drive before calling support.
Do you think I voided the warranty? I have full coverage, including accidental. I didn’t want to send it in for such a minor repair (or what I thought was a minor repair).
Thanks.
May 7th, 2006 at 9:20 pm
Thanks for the info on disassembling my wife’s Toshiba M35X, I was surprised that it wasn’t all that dirty and the filter was not as clogged as I assumed it would be. Afterall the fan was going crazy so I assumed the filter was clogged. What I think the problem was was that the thermal compound between the CPU and heat sink was bad so the heat sink was not conducting heat away from the CPU like it should have. I applied Arctic Silver thermal conductor between them and I feel that probably did the trick. 4 days later and zero shutdowns whereas before it was shutting down 4-12 shutdowns a day. The filter just wasn’t clogged enough to have caused this problem, you could see through it and there just wasn’t much dust or lint. So for me, I think the new thermal compound from Arctic Silver did the trick. Thanks for the instructions on getting into the M35X, I am an old computer tech and I was surprised how difficult it was to get to the processor! Thanks again!
May 5th, 2006 at 11:31 pm
Hi Brandon,
Congratulations on fixing your laptop. To upgrade your laptop you need just a regular 2.5” notebook harddrive. I believe your laptop is configured with 60GB 4200RPM ATA-6 hard drive by default. You can safely upgrade to 80GB, 100GB or 120GB hard drive. Not sure if the BIOS will support a bigger size, I have never tried it. I would go with at least 5400RPM or 7200RPM if you can afford it.
Check out newegg.com. Very good prices and very good service. I buy a lot of computer stuff from them.
May 4th, 2006 at 4:50 pm
Thanks Cj,
Everything worked great disassembled Toshiba A75-S226 and changed out lcd and fan and cleaned heatsink and fan. I was wondering how to upgrade a notebook hard drive to a bigger one, is ez-gig II notebook hard drive upgrade kit worth it?