“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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August 20th, 2006 at 11:56 pm
Fadi,
I don’t know what’s wrong. If the heatsink is clean, you have new thermal grease on the CPU and the fan works properly, then the laptop shouldn’t overheat.
Here are a couple guesses.
1. Wrong thermal grease. I would contact the manufacturer and ask them if you can use the grease with your CPU.
2. Usually fans spin at 2-3 different speeds. May be your fan works only at slow speed. The fan is controlled by the motherboard. It’s possible that a circuit responsible for CPU speed doesn’t work properly.
3. The heatsink is not seated properly and there is a gap between the heatsink and the CPU surface.
August 20th, 2006 at 9:36 pm
Hey CJ, you may have missed my last comment.
Computer’s been on overheat, and I replaced the compound. Still on the fritz, and my fan looks like its working just fine.
Thanks again in advance.
August 19th, 2006 at 2:37 pm
Need an advice..
toshiba A75-S229 Pentium 4 538 @ 3.2GHZ
I posted a problem before, (230) and I checked my HD and is working, I even use it after the test to star my desktop in safe mode with no problem, I updated my BIOS with no complications either, but it’s still not startin in normal mode and taking even more than 16 min in safe mode. Whe I go to properties of my PC (running is safe mode) is really wird that the speed of my procesor is showing as 68.33GHZ. I think the procesor could be damaged. Any ideas??, sugestions?? I would really apreciate it.
August 18th, 2006 at 6:36 pm
Cjones,
You shouldn’t have any problem if you just replace the old drive with a new one. No drivers needed.
August 18th, 2006 at 6:31 pm
I have an A75-S206. If I wanted to put the DVD burner from an A75-S226 in the 206 can I just slip it in place of the old drive. Is there anything else I will need to do ie. drivers etc. Thanks cj.
August 17th, 2006 at 7:39 pm
Judy,
Did you plug fan cables back into the system board? Unfortunately, if you didn’t, you’ll have to take the laptop apart again. In Satellite A75 there is no way to plug them back without taking the laptop apart. Satellite A75 fan has 2 fans and 2 connectors. May be you plugged in only one of them?
You can barely see one connector if you remove the memory/wireless card cover on the bottom of the laptop. That’s would be enough to check if it’s plugged.
When you turn on the laptop, both fans have to start spinning. You can see fans through the grill on the bottom. Do they spin at all?
cjones is right. You’ll have to coonect the ground cable. It has to be secured by F3 screw located under the keyboard.
August 17th, 2006 at 7:32 pm
Carew,
I’m not sure if you can burn up fans but when I clean them with compressed air I block fans just in case. I usually take the fan out and block fans with my fingers. I use very powerful air compressor and if I don’t block fans, they spin really fast.
August 17th, 2006 at 7:20 pm
Misty,
I don’t have a guide for Compaq Armada M700. If you experience the same problem as I described in the post, try to blow off the fan first.
August 17th, 2006 at 10:38 am
Judy,
I am not an expert but when you took apart the computer and unhooked the display cable there was another black wire secured by a screw. This is a ground make sure you hooked it back up properly. And about the fans cj will probably know the answer to that and the display problem. Just thought i might add a little advice!
August 16th, 2006 at 6:01 pm
Hello and first, thank you for the help thus far.
We had an overheating problem with our A75. I’ve gone through all off the steps, cleaned, applied new thermal grease and put it all back together. Now, the computer boots up, however the fans are not running. So that’s the first problem as it won’t stay on long before shutting down. Also the display is “funky” . . . don’t know how else to discribe, resolution is off and there seams to be some ‘snow’.
If you could help address the fan problem first I would be most grateful. Any any ideas on the display problem would be much appreciated also.
Thank you again.