“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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March 22nd, 2008 at 6:17 am
Your answers are really really helpful. Thanks!
I will try the things you mentioned one by one. It could take a while. I will keep it posted if I can figure anything out.
Thanks again!
March 21st, 2008 at 9:10 pm
lj,
Most people don’t read all comments so I have to repeat same troubleshooting tips over and over.
If your laptop shuts down by itself even when the AC adapter is unplugged, this is not related to the power jack, something else is going on.
Listen for the fan. Is it working? Can you hear the fan working before the laptop shuts down? It’s possible that the fan is dead and the laptop shuts down because of overheating.
Just for your information, in a Toshiba Satellite A105 the power jack is not soldered on the motherboard. The power jack is attached to the power cable witch plugs into the motherboard. You don’t have to unsolder the jack, just unplug the power cable (with jack attached to it) from the motherboard and plug in a new one. Here’s the power cable part number: V000922060. Just Google for the part number and you’ll find one. I posted instructions for taking apart a Toshiba Satellite A105 laptop here: http://www.irisvista.com/tech/
This is normal. I have Satellite A105 laptop myself and just tested it. When you start the laptop, F10, F11 and Caps Lock key (on the LEFT from A) light up for a moment and then go off. This is normal.
I know this is very annoying. You still can use the laptop, just make sure that all personal data (docs, images, music) is backed up.
Here’s something you can try. Test hard drive and memory. It’s possible that the laptop shuts down because the hard drive or the memory module is failing. In order to test the hard drive use Hitachi’s drive fitness test. For memory use Memtest86+. I linked to both utilities in “Resources” on the right side of the website.
March 21st, 2008 at 7:52 am
sj,
Well, on the first page of the disassembly guide there is a link:
A few things to know before you start taking your laptop apart
If you follow the link, you’ll find instructions for unlocking the connector.
March 21st, 2008 at 7:29 am
Site states:
STEP 10
Disconnect the keyboard cable from the system board and remove the keyboard.
Attention! Be very careful when you are disconnecting the keyboard cable from the motherboard. You have to unlock the connector before pulling out the keyboard cable. If the keyboard connector gets damaged, you’ll have to replace the motherboard.
Well, “being careful” is not enough! If you don’t know EXACTLY how to correctly unlock this connector, you will likely DESTROY it and thus TRASH your laptop completely.
This connector is EXTREMELY fragile.
As great an idea as this site is, I think failing to provide EXPLICIT instruction on EXACTLY how to do this step is a dis-service that will result in destroyed machines (it happened to me).
Live and learn …
March 20th, 2008 at 4:40 pm
Hi, Cj,
My parents have a Toshiba A105-S4284. The model # is PSAA8U-0FH02K (not sure if those are zeros or O though). Recently it has been experiencing automatically shut down frequently and we can’t figure out the reason. It might NOT be overheating since the computer is not that hot when it shuts down. The latest patch for BIOS has been installed but no help. The shut-down happens more frequently when the computer is plug into the wall. When it’s disconnected from the AC adapter, but only uses the battery, the shut-down happens less, but it still happens. I have read all these comments from you for a couple of days (YOU ARE SUCH A NICE AND PATIENT PERSON!) and I start to realize it might be the mother board issue. What do you think? Is it the problem of that DC jack that you guys mentioned lots of times? How easy to fix that? The warranty was just expired. If I have to re-solder some connections on the mother board, what kind of tool should I use?
Another weird thing my parents noticed is: Occasionally, they can see some green flash light from the keyboard when they restart the computer, such as from the bottom of key “F10” and “F11”, and above the key “A”.
The last important question is: Is it ok to still use this piece of crap without fixing that? I mean is this automatic-shut-down going to hurt the computer?
Your help will be highly appreciated! Thank you.
March 19th, 2008 at 9:36 pm
Karol_Sin,
I’m not sure what do you mean by the back up hard drive?
Ever after you reinstalled the operating system, there is a chance to get some data back using data recovery tools.
I would suggest using professional data recovery service.
March 19th, 2008 at 9:29 pm
Harry O,
Toshiba Satellite P25 motherboard has video card integrated into the motherboard, you cannot replace just the video card. If it’s bad, you’ll have to replace the whole motherboard.
March 19th, 2008 at 6:55 pm
My Laptop was missing a file so windows wouldn’t start. i had no choice but to reboot because i’m not good with computers. Now all my pictures are gone. I didn’t want to lost everything just to get my windows fixed but i did. How can i recover my pictures from the back up hard drive? Please help me. there are hundreds of my babie’s pictures from the day they were born.
March 17th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
I have a toshiba P25 S5262 that has corrupt/bad video, due to card/chip. Is the video integrated on mobo for this model and if so, is there any way to add a separate card and disable the integrated one?
Thanks in advance!
March 17th, 2008 at 9:12 am
DONT EVER USE A VACUM ON A COMPUTER!!!!! EVER EVER EVER. The suction from partical (dust) moving threw the plastic tube stores a huge static charge and will discharge in to you computer. So never use the small keyboard vac and certinly never use a shop vac. take it apart and cland it with solution and compressed air