“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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July 12th, 2007 at 8:50 am
hello again.. i did try when the Toshiba logo appears to press F8 but i select the safe mode i get the same msg.. can not get the command prompt.. i will try the DFT.. instead of downloading to Diskett like it say can i burn on CD because i dont have 3 1/5 disk driver in cp
July 11th, 2007 at 9:56 pm
eddie,
You can try this. Restart the laptop and press F8 as soon as Toshiba logo appears, you should get an Advanced Options Menu. Select “Safe Mode with Command Prompt” and press Enter. Boot the laptop into Safe mode with command prompt.
At the command prompt type: chkdsk c: /f
You’ll find more information on using chkdsk here.
When you press enter, you might see the following message:
“Chkdsk cannot run because the volume is in use by another process. Would you like to schedule this volume to be checked the next time the system restarts?” Select Y and restart the laptop. Chkdsk will run after you restart the laptop.
BTW, it is possible that you have a bad hard drive. You can test the hard drive with Hitachi’s drive fitness test (DFT), you’ll find a link on the sidebar in the Resources.
July 11th, 2007 at 4:12 pm
hi cj2600
on July 1 i sent msg about having problems and you told me to try memory test which took awhile to burn but when i tried it nothing happen..now when i try to boot my toshiba tecra 800 there is a blue window that says: CHK for viruses. remove any newly installed hard drives or hard drive controller.. run CHKDSK /f
but i cant get to there.. how can i run this.
i forgot right before i get this msg i do see Window xp screen just for a second.. any help
July 10th, 2007 at 10:43 am
Hey cj2600
cheers man, understand you now.
yeh my dads gonna borrow one of those do-da’s of a guy at work so hopefully we’ll see wat the problem is 2moro! Thanks for your help…i’ll probably be back on 2moro night asking for more help haha thanks again
July 9th, 2007 at 5:55 am
WOW! THANKS!
I cannot believe that it took so long to find out that my computer was simply dirty! The Shop Vac worked! I appreciate the help! I spent countless hours on the “helpful” MIcrosoft discussion groups trying all sorts of SOFTWARE suggestions to speed up my computer. And it turned out my computer was just dusty!!!! THANKS!
July 8th, 2007 at 8:03 pm
Chi,
1. Make sure the memory module is seated properly. Remove it from the socket and install it back, all the way down into the socket.
2. Make sure the processor is seated properly and is locked inside the socket. It is possible that you pulled the CPU from the socket when you were removing the heatsink. You’ll have to take it apart again (if reseating the memory module doesn’t work of course) and check the CPU. Open the socket, reseat the CPU and close the socket.
July 8th, 2007 at 7:43 pm
Gerogie,
LOL! That’s funny.
About 20 minutes ago my hardware monitoring utility started complaining that my CPU runs at critical temperature – 88 degrees Celsius. I blew inside the opening on the side with my mouse (didn’t have a can of compressed air) and now the CPU runs at 76 degrees. Good enough for today. Tomorrow I’ll clean it with air compressor.
July 8th, 2007 at 5:12 pm
Nick,
I think you misunderstood me. Here’s how you can try to backup files step-by-step:
1. REMOVE THE HARD DRIVE from your Satellite L20 laptop
2. Install this hard drive into an external USB enclosure. You should be able to buy this enclosure in any local computer store for $15-$25
3. Connect this enclosure to any other WORKING computer (desktop or laptop) via USB cables (sold with the enclosure)
4. If there is nothing wrong with the hard drive, it will be detected automatically and you’ll find it in My Computer
5. Access the hard drive and back up all files
6. After all personal files are backed up, install the hard drive back into the laptop and try reinstalling the operating system by running the recovery disk
7. Transfer all backed up files back to the laptop
By the way, it’s possible that you have a faulty hard drive. You can test the hard drive with Hitachi’s drive fitness test (DFT) utility. You’ll find a link to this utility in the sidebar.
July 7th, 2007 at 7:09 pm
My computer has overheating problem; therefore, I tried to repair it by putting the case apart. After I change the CPU grease and I put everything together. However, the laptop doesn’t run anything except the power light is on…. everything is not working…. monitor, cd-rom….
I dont know what else I should do to fix the problem.
Do you think is the mother-broad problem??
Help me plx >.
July 7th, 2007 at 10:10 am
An update on cleaning my Toshiba Satellite A70… I just blew into the opening where the heat sink is with my mouth several times, and all sorts of dust flew out where the fans are. It’s now fixed and running cool… air flow past the heat sink has been restored…
You might want to be sure the laptop is off and battery is removed before trying this, in case too much spit gets it
Wait an hour then fire it up.
G