“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 28th, 2007 at 12:00 pm
Yay!! i love the net for this. i got one of the Toshitbas for free cuz kept overheating. thanks for the tip. i took apart the laptop (every screw) and vacumed it. it works PERFECT now. WHAT A BAD A__ COMPUTER! ima put a gig a ram in it and then it should be complete.
MOST IMPORTANT-
THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!
CPLUS
PS – gosh darnit, thank you!
April 27th, 2007 at 11:20 pm
[...] any reason when you ran CPU intensive programs? If yes, then most likely it happens because the laptop overheats. It happens because overtime the heatsink gets clogged with dust. A layer of dust collects between [...]
April 22nd, 2007 at 3:52 pm
Yanique Ramdial,
It could be overheating. Make sure the heatsink is clean. Blow off the heatsink if it’s clogged. Make sure the cooling fan spins. If the cooling fan doesn’t work, the laptop will overheat and shutdown even with a clean heatsink.
April 22nd, 2007 at 12:35 pm
When both of our Toshiba laptops started shutting off by themselves wih what was apparently oveheating, I researched the problem on this (and other) websites and saw the potential remedy “blow them out with air”. It worked for both! $7 well spent.
April 18th, 2007 at 4:55 pm
Hey,
I have the same symptoms except my fan doesnt spin except wen the comp first tturns of, and when lt turns off by itself i have to unplug the power then plugit back in. What could be the problem here?
April 17th, 2007 at 5:28 am
I have a Toshiba M115-S1061 and its the best ever It shuts down sometimes and takes a while to turn on back what is the problem with my labby?
April 17th, 2007 at 12:52 am
Agot a laptop-toshiba HQ-manufactured in 1998.
recentry i got shocked that it could boot but my my, the screen
was blank.
on trying to check it up,when i exart some pressure on the processor it could show
graphics,but later even pressing woulnt help.Where do i start for me to overcome this problem?
April 17th, 2007 at 12:38 am
How good are apple laptops?
This is in the case of heavy duty,and ability to run for long without heating up.
how long does it keep in operation with battery alone.
April 13th, 2007 at 4:25 pm
I cant believe that I actually found the exact diagnosis of the problem with my Toshiba A75! Amazing and truly helpful!
April 8th, 2007 at 10:53 pm
Joan Miles,
You can install Notebook Hardware Control utility, it will help you to monitor the processor temperature. I’m running this utility on my Toshiba Satellite A105-S361 and it works very good. My CPU usually runs at 46-50 degrees Celsius.
I think compressed air will fix your problem.