“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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September 10th, 2006 at 2:03 am
I’ve have a Toshiba P35-6292.
It had a overheating issue. Blowed the dust seems to fix that. Now the problem that I have is that from time to time the LCD start displaying CYAN thin lines to the right of any Black draw item on screen. The lines are kind of 3-5 cm long. I tested the graphic card with a external LCD.. No Lines apear ever. So I opened the top lid that coved the connector of LCD to the motherbord. Tapping that connector seems to remove the problem temporarly.
Is there a way to fix this issue?
Replacing the video card?
Is symptom of cold wirring?
September 9th, 2006 at 10:32 pm
Wayne,
We’ve repaired a lot of TE2100 laptops and we used any grease we had in stock. I think you’ll be fine with Arctic Silver. Apply just a small drop, just barely enough to cover the CPU surface after you spread it.
September 9th, 2006 at 10:21 pm
I have a TE2100 and I have this overheating problem too.
Do you know where I can get the Toshiba pink grease cheaply?
I live in Singapore. On one website, I found that it costs USD16 + USD20 for shipping, which is really expensive. The tube of Arctic Silver 5 which I bought from a store here costs only about USD7, maybe I should use that?
September 8th, 2006 at 11:43 am
I think you should sell the laptop to somebody who lives in Alaska; at least they can use it as a heater.
It looks like Satellite A45 has 2 fans. One fan you can see on the bottom, look at the step 2, that’s the CPU fan. The second fan you can see on the step 20 in the top right corner (I’m not really sure why it’s there, do not remember). Can you see if both fans spin? Man, that’s a weird one.
September 7th, 2006 at 6:10 pm
No dice
The BIOS was outdated (1.3) so I updated it to the latest (1.5). I was praying it wouldn’t crash in the middle of a BIOS update, that would really be bad news…the BIOS did it’s thing, the computer restarted (thank God) and then the machine crashed again, literally as soon as the BIOS update ended…I’m thinking that it’s an overheating issue because the fans kick in full speed right before it shuts down. Also, I downloaded a freeware called Speed Fan or something like that, and it shows temps idling in the 60C range, and then when I do something like watch a DVD, it creeps up. When it hits around 82C, the PC shuts down.
I’m pretty sure I have the heat sink in correctly. I mean, it’s only three screws, there a cover that forces it to be in a certain place, etc. It seems kind of idiot proof lol…I put thermal grease on there 3 times now (each time I’d thoroughly clean the CPU and heatsink with acetone)…and I’ve used 2 different kinds of greases…should I call an exorcist?
September 7th, 2006 at 2:15 pm
Hi Tomer Busidan,
That’s a strange problem you are having in there. If the fan works fine, the heatsink is seated properly and there is thermal grease between the heatsink and the CPU, you shouldn’t experience overheating. Do you know the version of the laptop BIOS? Probably I would try to re-flash/upgrade the BIOS too. Version 1.50 has an update for non Hyper Threading Technology CPUs. I don’t know what exactly it fixes, but I would try it.
Are you sure that laptop shuts down because it overheats?
September 7th, 2006 at 5:53 am
Still overheating…I bought generic Compusa silicone-based grease, and there’s no change. The heat sink is on the CPU as tight as it goes, there is enough grease to cover the entire CPU…I can’t figure this one out. What else should I be looking for?
September 6th, 2006 at 9:01 am
I don’t know if there is anything special about it, I don’t think so. When we were out of pink grease, we used just whatever we had in stock, some kind of generic white grease. I think you can try the grease from Compusa or any other local computer store; it’s much cheaper and faster. Let me know how it goes.
September 6th, 2006 at 8:52 am
From your knowledge, is there anything special about this grease? Do you know if Compusa sells anything that I can try? This specific Toshiba grease is expensive, and I’d love to be able to pick it up in a store if possible. Compusa has another grease listed that’s a light pink color, for example…thanks for the response, by the way.
September 6th, 2006 at 8:04 am
Tomer Busidan,
That’s right. According to Toshiba specifications, Toshiba Satellite A45 requires a pink grease. Here’s the part number: GY4C0000T210-01, you can find it if you Google for it. I would probably try using the grease recommended by Toshiba. I’ve applied it hundreds times and never had any problem.
Last year when I was building my desktop, I bought Arctic Silver grease for my new AMD 64 CPU (I’ve seen a lot of positive reviews for this brand) . I was very surprised that with Arctic Silver grease my desktop ran 10 degree C hotter then with grease that I got with the heatsink. Since then I use grease that came with the heatsink.