“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!
If you find this article useful, please consider making a donation to the author. Thank you!
August 16th, 2006 at 9:12 am
I was told that you needed to be careful when you use compressed air so that you don’t burn the fans up. What can I use to keep the fans from spinning that is non-conductive?
August 16th, 2006 at 7:04 am
Hi there, I tried the idea above of vacuming out the vents from my Toshiba laptop, as my lap top too was shutting itself off everytime i tried to play a game or watch a dvd, and it had neever done this until now. After vacuming it today as advised, I’ve been playing on games for hours now and SUCCESS! No shutdown! I advise anyone with the same problem with any kind of laptop to try the same. Great tip thanks alot, saved having to take it to a pc store to get it sorted.
All the best,
Sarah
August 14th, 2006 at 2:12 pm
my laptop is doing the same thing but it is a compaq armada m700 can you help me?
August 14th, 2006 at 12:37 pm
Man you are a life saver. I followed the instructions and man was that thing dirty. It was like a big ball of lent over both openings to the fan. I used a shop vac to get the dirt out then I followed the instructions and applied Artic Silver to the cpu. Ive had my laptop running for at least 2 hours now and its as cool as can be and doesnt shut off.I hope a 5 spot will due for a donation until I get paid. Again thanks so much I will tell all my friends about this place!
August 13th, 2006 at 3:48 pm
To take this baby apart, you’ll need only a Phillips screwdriver (I use Wiha #1 – the best!). The dust collects between the heatsink and the cooling fans. After you remove fans (Step 23), you’ll see it. I would suggest using electrostatic discharge wrist strap when you take it apart to prevent any ESD damage.
For donations you can use PayPal button on the top of the disassembly guide. TIA.
August 13th, 2006 at 3:35 pm
A couple of last questions c.j. what tools will i need to do this. Where should I look for the dust. I do have experience taking pc’s apart but not a laptop hope it fixes this thing. Also what email adress should I send the donation through paypal.
August 13th, 2006 at 2:49 pm
Cjones,
I’m almost positive that’s a clogged heatsink problem. It’s not necessary to remove the heatsink and the CPU. After you remove the cooling fan you’ll get a good access to the heatsink and can clean it up. You’ll have to remove the heatsink only if you want to re-apply thermal grease on the CPU. It’s a good idea but not always necessary. Most likely just cleaning the heatsink would be enough to fix overheating.
Before you take it apart, try to blow off the heatsink with compressed air but you’ll need to find a good air compressor. Also, check if fan spins when you turn on the laptop. It should start spinning right away after you turn it on. In some cases laptop overheats because of a dead cooling fan. BTW, I like your idea with paypal.
August 13th, 2006 at 2:38 pm
Hi,
I have an A75-S206 laptop and it overheats after 10 minutes and turns off. It started this about 2 months ago and would only shut down after about 1 or 2 hours of being on. Do you think this is a dirty heatsink problem. If so in your dissasembly instructions the last two steps are removing the CPU. Will i have to remove the CPU to clean the heatsink. Thank so much for the site. I will be donating by paypal!
August 12th, 2006 at 12:11 pm
thak you CJ..
‘ll do that and let you know what happened.
August 11th, 2006 at 11:27 am
To re-flash or upgrade the laptop BIOS, you’ll have to go to Toshiba tech support website and download the latest BIOS version for your model. It would be .exe file and after you run it you’ll get a media creator wizard. You follow this wizard to create a bootable floppy disk. For some models you can create a bootable CD or run the BIOS upgrade right from the Windows environment. I think that for Satellite A75 you can create only a bootable floppy disk, not sure though. After that you will have to boot the laptop from a USB floppy drive and finish it up. After you reboot the laptop you should have new version of BIOS. When you upgrade the BIOS, you should run the laptop from AC adapter power, because if the battery is not charged and it dies during the upgrade you might have a problem.