“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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April 8th, 2007 at 6:11 pm
MY TOSHIBA WAS OVER HEATING BECAUSE THE FAN WAS CLOGGED WITH DUST…SO I VACUUMED IT! I SUCKED ALL THE DUST OUT WITH MY BRUSH ATTACHMENT AND IT WORKS 100% AGAIN…AMAZING! A VERY SMART MAN WHO USED HIS SHOP VAC…WAS RIGHT ON THE $ WITH THIS ADVICE! WHO EVER YOU ARE ,WHERE EVER YOU ARE, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!
April 7th, 2007 at 9:33 pm
I have a Toshiba A65-126 can i update the cpu and if so what sixe can I do ?
Thanks
April 7th, 2007 at 10:50 am
Sundareswar,
I believe it happens because the AccuPoint (keyboard mouse stick) is failing and you’ll have to replace the keyboard.
I don’t know, never tried it on a Tecra 8100 computer. Some Tecra 8100 laptops were sold with a 20GB hard drives. If the laptop supports a 20GB hard drive, most likely it will support a larger hard drive too. You’ll have to try. Make sure you have a latest version of BIOS installed.
The laptop specification says that you can have up to 512MB of RAM.
You can use an external USB hard drive on any computer with has a USB port.
April 7th, 2007 at 9:35 am
My computer is working good now. I do appreciate this site. It helped a lot and I feel a little more computer savvy.
I never unplugged the fan just cleaned out the REALLY BIG dust bunny and blew the heck out of the bottom with compressed air. I let it run for awhile and the window stopped popping up and it runs like it used too.
I JUST WANT TO THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT.
I know where to go when I need help again.
THANK YOU !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
April 7th, 2007 at 9:26 am
Kim,
Maybe you forgot to plug the fan cable into the motherboard?
April 6th, 2007 at 8:07 pm
I have read your entire site. It is awesome.
I am not technologically savvy. I have a Toshiba SATELLITE A 105-S2716 which recently shuts down very often (4-5 times a day) .
It is burning hot on left side and bottom.
How do I find out what the temperature is. I am going out to buy compressed air in the morning.
Help me if you can.
Thank you so much.
April 5th, 2007 at 12:44 am
Sorry, I meant to say that I downloaded some software that the laptop repair guy recommended on this site to see if my CPU was actually okay or not.
When I have time, I will try to apply some new thermal paste, but if that does not work, I will buy another motherboard. They are pretty cheap on ebay.
April 4th, 2007 at 11:54 pm
Hai, I have a Toshiba Tecra 8100 with 10GB HDD and 128RAM.
Some times its mouse is not working properly… sometimes it will move only vertically. Could u pls help.
Can I upgrade its HDD to 80/100 GB?
Can i upgrade its RAM to 512 MB?
Can i use an external HDD (with USB ) with this machie ?
Thank U ….
Sundareswar
April 4th, 2007 at 6:40 am
If I remove this program from my start up menu will it harm anything? I am afraid that if there is something wrong I will fry my cpu or something.
April 3rd, 2007 at 7:33 pm
It downloaded some software you recommended on your site and it turns out that although I can hear the fan running, the cpu temperature is off the charts and the usage is always at 100% aven after a format and reinstall. I used the notebook hardware tool you recommended.