“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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October 1st, 2006 at 9:41 am
After some research I have found that there are 8 Toshiba Connectors (there may be more).
6 Are Round Hollow Barrel Type Connectors: Sizes below are diameteres in millimetres.
6.5 x 3.0
6.0 x 2.0
5.5 x 2.8
5.5 x 2.5
5.5 x 2.0
5.0 x 2.5
PA3290U-1ACA has two sizes the standard is 5.5mm x 2.5mm and there is a large barrel connector 6.5mm x 3.0 which I assume will fit my laptop. It is the other way around the ac adapter barrell is too small for the larger hole and pin on the back of the laptop. I dont know if you have ever heard of this it sounds strange to me because I would assume all part numbers would be the same. But two stores told me that they have ran into this problem before and this was the reason it would not fit. Thank you though for your reply I hope this will help other Toshiba users in the future!
September 30th, 2006 at 11:35 pm
Cjones,
That’s strange. It looks like PA3290U-1ACA is a correct part number for Satellite P25-S5262 adapter. You said:
Did you mean that the AC adapter plug has a bigger diameter then the hole in the laptop? If so, then you probably need PA3290-2ACA adapter. This adapter has the same output 19V-6.3A, and looks exactly as PA3290U-1ACA, BUT the power plug has a smaller diameter.
September 30th, 2006 at 5:43 pm
I purchased a Toshiba P25-s5262 and it did not include an ac adapter. I bought one off of ebay part # PA3290U-1ACA because they said it would fit this model of toshiba. Well I got the adapter and it is the right output 19V 6.3A but the end doesnt fit. (the pin on the laptop is too large for the hole on the adapter) . Several other places have told me this is the correct part number for this laptop yet it doesnt fit. Please Help I need an adpater so I can start using this laptop. Thank You!
September 29th, 2006 at 2:00 pm
Brian,
I don’t have a good explanation but I have a guess why your laptop works fine in Windows but shuts down in Linux. A clogged heatsink was definitely a problem, but apparently there is something else to it. Some Satellite A70/A75 laptop has a utility (Toshiba utility) that allows you to setup the laptop performance manually. If you set it up to a maximum performance, the cooling fan works on a higher speed and makes a better job cooling the CPU. I believe the high performance is set by default.
It’s possible that Linux controls the cooling fan differently and it might have a lower rotation speed by default, not enough to cool down the heatsink/processor and as a result the laptop overheats and shuts down. Have you noticed that the fan has a higher speed in Windows? Can you check if the laptop performance is set to maximum?
I’m not sure if this information is accurate, it’s only a guess, but cannot explain your situation otherwise.
September 29th, 2006 at 1:39 pm
Amit,
I think you can find a used screen online for around $400-450. If you going to replace it in a laptop repair shop, add $100-$120 for labor. As you see, it’s very expensive. You can fish for a cheap screen on eBay, or even buy a whole unit for less then $400.
September 29th, 2006 at 1:26 pm
Saurabh,
Give me more information about your laptop, I need laptop part number. I’ll check CPUs listed for this laptop.
September 29th, 2006 at 12:48 pm
Thanks very much.
I have a Satellite A70 which I dual boot between Windows XP and SUSE Linux 9.3. Recently it started to shutdown suddenly every once in a while when I was running in Linux. As time went on it started happening more frequently until the point where I could not even have it on for five minutes. The weird thing is, this never happened in Windows. Only Linux.
I tried reformatting the Linux partition and installing a different Linux distribution. First I tried Fedora Core 5. Same problem. Then Mandriva 2006. No dice. Then Ubuntu 6.06. Again, hard shutdown with no warning. I was at a loss as to what to do until I stumbled upon this website. I disassembled the entire thing and the heat sinks were filthy. I blasted them with compressed air, reassembled and so far so good. It hasn’t shutdown yet! It hasn’t been that long yet (a couple of hours), but still. Better than before.
Thanks very much for the detailed instructions. They were a breeze to follow.
I am still confused as to why the problem never happened in Windows. This is the oposite of what I’ve been reading on other posts. ??????????
September 28th, 2006 at 3:23 am
dear sir,
I am using a toshiba M35X laptop.
The screen is damaged.
Can u advcie how much it will cost to replace the screen
rgds
amit
September 27th, 2006 at 10:04 am
hi bernard,
i wanted to know, which processor can i use for replacing the celeron in my toshiba a65-s126 ?
thanks,
saurabh
September 26th, 2006 at 10:40 pm
Thank you sir!
)
Will be cleaning heatsink soon, currently she’s running great but as with anything proactive is pretty good huh… LOL …
I think will save the hing change for when ever I have to replace LCD, looking at some of the instruction definitly a LOT OF WORK!
Although does look quite fun
Thanks again!