“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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February 19th, 2007 at 10:18 pm
Hey Carlos I,
I fixed links to images posted in the comment 448.
February 19th, 2007 at 5:14 pm
I need an original manufacturer ISO file for repairing an old Toshiba Sattellite P15-0479 running XP Media Center. Can anyone help. Let me know. THX
February 19th, 2007 at 9:31 am
Mike Phatty,
Thanks for the response, I couldn’t get the pictures to work however, also is this the cause of the overheating because my power is no longer intermittent after I repaired the cord. Did I damage this area or the connection around it. Thanks for any help in advance. Also is there another way to look at those pics?
-Carlos I
February 18th, 2007 at 5:12 pm
Hello, I have a Satellite a105 . I just bought it a few months ago and about 3 weeks ago, after 45 mins of use , the screen would go black with white lines in it. The music or an sounds would keep playing making me think it was a bad connection to the LCD. But today , I tried to turn it on and if I press the power button , it takes about 2 seconds to start up but it shuts down after 3 seconds.
If you can help that would be great. Im at a loss now
February 18th, 2007 at 4:02 pm
Mike e,
I’m ok with dissassembly. I don’t know if you were refering to my problem (post 445….the really long one).
-Carlos I.
February 18th, 2007 at 11:01 am
I had all the problems all at the same time too. Temp fix for overheating if you dont have time for disasembly. Go to the car wash and use the vaccum there to clean it. For the power cord , loosen the screws on that corner of the laptop. dont take it apart just take the screws out , wedge it open and with the power cord inserted heat the solder and wiggle it at the same time. this will temporary fix it . i didnt have a solder iron so i used a hot nife because it was thiner and less chance of melting the computer. but when u get the chance dismantle it and remove the ac inlet from the board and bend the pin up like this
http://img2.freeimagehosting.n.....764345.jpg
and finally solder it back to the board omiting the positive for the time. Get a wire and solder to the board where the pin usually goes, then solder to the erect pin :lp like it shows in the following pic. i drew the red line to represent the wire ok
http://img2.freeimagehosting.n.....1f577b.jpg
dont forget to glue it after for stiffness, the play is harmless now , but it is easier to sell if it isnt wiggly. Since the pin isnt in the board. Mine isnt glued i have no problems for the record.
Carefull not to heat the board too much also
good luck
Phatty
to get the board out work the smartmedia button to release the board.
February 18th, 2007 at 10:46 am
i can help you just let me know if your ok with dissasembly of it?
because i have a sweet fix for you. you have to make a sturdy connection to
the board . i have the instructions for you get back!
February 18th, 2007 at 10:26 am
deb j,
Probably I can find a replacement part number for you so you can search on the Internet for this part IF you provide the model of your laptop. You’ll find it on the bottom sticker.
Isn’t it a Toshiba Satellite A75-S2112 notebook? It’s just a guess. If I’m right, you’ll have to replace the top cover assembly as it shown on the step 16.
Top cover assembly for a Satellite A75 notebook has the following part number: K000016190. Find it online.
February 18th, 2007 at 10:13 am
Thanks for your website, appreciate the help towards DIY’ers. My problem is with my Toshiba A55-S3061. It overheats on me, but only when plugged into ac power. Before this problem began, my ac adapter began to intermittingly function (through observation of the ac indicator led on the front of the laptop.) I would have to move the cord around to get it to work until that got real bad and thats when my overheating began. I assumed it was due to my ac adapter and took it apart and found it was indeed grounding out right at the male DC connector. I resoldered this connection and all voltages on the ac adapter tested fine. After retrying on my laptop the same problem was there- Overheating only when plugged into the ac adapter. A freind had a similar toshiba w/ an adapter of the same specs- same results with his power supply on my laptop. I can therefore charge the batteries with the laptop off, and run on batteries no problem (laptop runs normal), but as soon as I plug the ac adapter in it begins to heat up, even at idle. I have attempted cleaning my heatsink, but it was clear (I removed the cover and inspected). Running Speedfan I can see an instant jump in “Remote Temp” from low 30′s to low 50′s (celcius) within two minutes. The temp “Temp 1″ also registers somewhat high around 52 celcius but that is constant. I am not sure what these temperatures refer to therefore am not certain where to look next. I had assumed that there is a possible problem with power regulation within the laptop, I don’t however know if there is a replaceable part for this or not. Also I don’t know if this has anything to do with it but at the same time as the overheating began I noticed the left speaker got scratchy. It did not do this before the overheating problem. Sorry for the long post wanted to explain as much as possible. Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
-Carlos
February 17th, 2007 at 4:38 pm
I blow out my fans almost every day. I run everest to tell me the temperature because this happened to me before. I also have a secondary fan unit that my laptop sits on, which has kept my P35 down to under 100 degrees most of the time.
The thing is, these shutdowns are still intermittantly happening. I don’t think it’s the heat thing, so are there other trouble-shooting things I can do?