“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 18th, 2006 at 6:46 am
Thanks for the reply. I am almost positive it isn’t the adapter as the adapter is only about 6 months old. Normally I would have someone open the laptop however I am overseas at the moment and getting someone where I am isn’t the easiest. I would in a minute if I were back in the states (which I hope to be in the not too distant future)
If I could ask 2 brief questions. I read somewhere where 1 guy was having a connection problem and used alumium foil on the end of his adapter and that helped. Is it safe to put alumimum foil on the end to help be a conducter? 2) If I just wanted to open the laptop to check if the dc plug is broke (not try to fix myself) would I open the computer on the front or back (toshiba 1905-s303) I opened the back panel to the left of the fan and saw where the plug comes in the back but that didn’t really show me anything, so either I have to take the whole back off or really open the front. I just want to see if it is broke or not, then I can get this thing to someone to repair. Thanks again for your time
September 17th, 2006 at 9:42 pm
Hey Carlos,
Can you provide a better description on the laptop behavior? It will not turn at all? Do you see any LED lights, any HDD or DVD drive activity, any video at all?
September 17th, 2006 at 9:36 pm
I have a problem with my Toshiba A55-S326 I was play a game GTA III and suddenly the laptop freeze and no key word Ctr Alt Del for end task, so I turn off with the on/off switch but after that the computer did´t start.
September 17th, 2006 at 8:40 pm
Steven,
You should have mentioned that before. I think your problem is related to a bad memory module or a bad video card. If you have any extra memory module installed, remove it and test the laptop again. You’ll be very lucky if it’s just a bad removable module.
Next step. Check if the same garbled video (lines and pixels) appears on an external monitor. If it does, you’ll have to replace the motherboard.
September 17th, 2006 at 8:24 pm
Noe,
Test the memory module; it could be a bad memory. Try reseating memory, moving it into another slot. If you have two modules installed, remove them one by one and test the laptop again.
Remove the wireless card and run the laptop without the wi-fi card installed.
September 17th, 2006 at 8:09 pm
Christina,
Laptop disassembly requires some tech skills and if you are not sure do not open the laptop or you can damage it.
In your case it could be either a bad power DC-IN jack on the system board (it’s necessary to take apart the laptop if you want to fix the problem) or a damaged AC adapter plug (it’s necessary to replace the adapter).
Overtime, the wires inside the adapter power cord can break. The break point is located close to the power plug. It happens if you move your laptop a lot and frequently plug and unplug the adapter. When the power cord gets damaged, you’ll have to wiggle the power plug in order to get power to the laptop. As you see, a damaged power cord can a damaged power jack can have the same symptoms. Before you decide to repair the power jack, make sure that the adapter is fine.
September 17th, 2006 at 7:23 pm
cj,
The booting up problem existed before I cleaned out the heatsink. I plugged the hard drive into another computer as an external and can read it fine. I tried using Linux (suggest in #34) to reboot from disk and even with failsafe it gets a kernel abort. Bios seems to work fine. When the Toshiba screen appears, the screen looks messed up though (lines and pixels), but text looks fine.) So, it seems like a HW issue, but not sure how to debug.
Thanks,
Steven
September 17th, 2006 at 6:34 pm
Martin,
I’m not really sure what’s wrong with your laptop. I guess that the temperature sensors might not work properly and the fan will not turn on when the laptop is hot. Not sure though. That’s strange that the fan works fine during the BIOS upgrade but not during normal operation. Let me know if you find a solution.
September 17th, 2006 at 4:15 pm
Hi, I have a Toshiba MX35-S111. It keeps shutting down randomly. I checked the heat sink and cpu and its clean..no dust. When it shuts down, the power light button stays lit but the screen is black. My battery charges fine. When the laptop shuts down sometimes it takes a few tries to get it to boot again. Some times it boots on the first try. Sometimes the laptop will stay on for hours and sometimes it shuts off after a few minutes. Do you know what the problem could be? Thank you for your help. Noe
September 17th, 2006 at 12:54 pm
Steven,
Did you take it apart for cleaning? If the laptop worded fine before you cleaned up the heatsink then check if all cards and connectors are seated properly.