“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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July 6th, 2006 at 11:48 am
Hey Subra,
Here is Toshiba Satellite A65 disassembly guide.
You can easily access the fan and clean it up properly with compressed air, if you only remove the keyboard. Go inside only if you are confident.
July 6th, 2006 at 11:35 am
Can anybody file a class action suit against Toshiba. I bought an A65-S1066 in Sept 2004 paying $1200 and since Sept’05 it shutdown after some use. Same overheating problem. Hi cj2600, Is the disassembly for A65 same as other toshiba?
July 4th, 2006 at 3:21 pm
I did it !
I’m touring USA right now and I had to get my Satellite a-70
working. I was a little bit scared to do it ,I’m still on the computer
waranty. It was easy but took 2 hours of my day . Last week I both a apple macbook computer beacause my sattelite used to shut down after 10 minutes . I was screwed again beacause my
sound card is not yet compatible with the macbook . Today I decided to open my sattelite a-70 ! ITS WORKING GREAT NOW! THANKS !
I’m still mad at toshiba cause I heard all their sattelite costumers have the same problems and all they can do
is clean up their computer insted of replacing them
June 29th, 2006 at 2:32 pm
VS Devan,
I haven’t created a disassembly guide for this model yet. I do not have this model in front of me, but I believe that there is a heatsink hatch on the bottom of the laptop. You can easily access the heatsink if you remove the hatch. Take a look at Toshiba Satellite A35 guide, I guess it would be similar.
When you remove the heatsink, be careful because the CPU might come out with the heatsink. Before you put the CPU back in the socket, make sure that the CPU lock (the screw on the side) is opened. Even if the CPU will not come out with the heatsin, I would recommend reseating it. Just open the lock, make sure that the processor is seated properly and then close the lock.
June 29th, 2006 at 2:13 am
Hi,
I want to clean the heatsink of my laptop Toshiba S255/2435. Can you please provide detailed instructions with picture.. My computer is getting overheated and I am not able to play any movie files as the computer automatical shuts down.. also my DVD rom has stopped working.. I wonder what the problems is
June 28th, 2006 at 10:41 am
Yep, it looks like the memory is bad. Unfortunately you cannot disabled it and I doubt that you can replace it yourself. The only solution – to replace the motherboard.
June 26th, 2006 at 2:59 am
hi, cj2600
I test memory on my A75-S229 i tested it 3 times
first time its came with red screen memory error then secend time its work 11 pass.then tird time red screen again. i think memory is bad. It has built in on board, its a 4 chips on it.can i replace it or disable it so i can use the memory slot
June 25th, 2006 at 5:15 am
Thank, exactly the info i’m looking for. I got this laptop A70 Satellite for a year already. At first I was able to do a lot thing with it, playing games, burning, encoding, etc, without lock-up. Then trouble starts after 2 or 3 months. Things going that bad that I can only play card game on it… Was so pissed that I was thinking about getting a new PC but NO notebook.
I did so googling and found this site and how to dismantle the laptop. I was hesitating to dismantle it since everytime I touch computer part, sometime I broke something hehe. Anyway I gave it a try, removed everyting except the CPU, cleaned the 2 fans and the damn so clogged heatsink. put everything together except 2 F3 screws that I can’t remember where it goes. Crossed my fingers and prayed, everything went good since it boot normally and now I can do encoding and playing without lockup.
I notice the fan is working less and it not as louder.
Thank for the dismantle link and insight guys.
June 24th, 2006 at 12:03 am
I just used your instructions to get at and clean out the heatsink on my P35 (truth be told, my boyfrind did the work – I just hovered like an expectant father).
It worked like a charm! The machine is running a long-overdue virus check now, and it hasn’t shut down yet!
Plus, I didn’t realize how NOISY the machine had been! It’s practically silent now.
Thank you, thank you, thank you….
June 17th, 2006 at 3:23 pm
[...] I have an issue with the LCD, 1/5th (right side) of the screen is completely white I had overheating problem with Toshiba Satellite P35 laptop and your guide helped fix it. I have another issue with the LCD screen, 1/5th (right side) of the screen is completely white (off white) and it is only garbled at times, mostly though it stays solid white, both at BIOS and OS. If I hook up external Monitor, it looks fine (no white). I guess that means bad LCD screen? Do you have any suggestions on what to try before I shell out money for a new LCD if it’s even available? [...]