Why my Toshiba laptop suddenly shuts down by itself without warning?
“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.).
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!
Entry Filed under: Toshiba Laptop Problems
814 Responses to “Why my Toshiba laptop suddenly shuts down by itself without warning?”
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Pages: « 82 … 80 79 78 77 76 [75] 74 73 72 71 70 … 1 » Show All
May 9th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
Hello EVERYONE!!
Can someone tell me exactly what tools (precision screwdrivers) I need to disassemble Toshiba Qosmio G25-AV13? And where do I buy thermal grease for CPU/heat sink?
May 9th, 2008 at 3:51 am
I have a Toshiba A75-S209 it shuts down 2-5mins after power on I was trying to run memory test but it doesn’t go through before it shuts down. Where do I start? The fans seems to be working fine.
May 7th, 2008 at 5:45 pm
Like a few people here I have a Toshiba A75-S209. I’ve been having problems with it overheating and shutting down (the fans work at a noisy full capacity). I sent it to Toshiba a number of times while it was under warranty, and after the 3rd time of them not fixing the problem I stopped sending it.
I followed the instructions posted here for disassembly and fan/ heatsink clean up (yes, there was some dust in there). While doing this I noticed that the thermal grease for the CPU was completely dry- any recommendations on where to buy some?
Here is the problem:
1. Even after cleaning the fan runs noisily.
2. Upon windows startup the laptop shuts off (i can keep it on F8 or F12 mode as long as I want, but as soon as I click to log into my desktop, it shuts off).
Any suggestions? I have been thinking about reformatting the laptop.
May 2nd, 2008 at 1:08 am
This may not help but it’s a thought. My PC was doing the same thing. I’m a computer tech and this was the first time I had seen this happen. I would turn the PC on and after anything from a few seconds to a few hours it would shut down. I broke the computer down and found out it was the Momentary switch. This is the main switch you turn your computer on with. I never use mine. I allways shut down on shut down screen and only use it when I have to shut down completely and not have it on standby. This is just a wild guess but you never can tell. Sorry I can’t think of anything else though I will ask around and see what some other Techs say.
Chris
April 23rd, 2008 at 10:14 pm
clamato,
I think this model is similar to Qosmio F15. Take a look at this disassembly guide on the step 4.
April 23rd, 2008 at 8:08 pm
Does anyone know how to remove a DVD-ROM drive from a Toshiba Qosmio E-15 (I think its the same as E-10)? Thanks in advance.
CL
April 20th, 2008 at 9:54 pm
Jean,
You can try cleaning the heatsink with compressed air without taking the whole laptop apart. Spray air inside the fans on the bottom, as it explained here.
If it’s necessary to disassemble the laptop, you’ll find instructions here.
April 20th, 2008 at 4:38 am
Can someone give me instructions on how to clean my heatsink for a Toshiba A75-S209?
Thanks
Jean
April 19th, 2008 at 7:45 pm
I have a Toshiba m35x-s311 and if i move the screen, the picture will freeze. I then have to wiggle the screen again to unfreeze the picture. What causes this and is there anything I can do to fix this issue?
April 17th, 2008 at 11:23 am
Way back on comment # 523 (dave), I also posted a long time ago with similar problems. In reply to David’s post, You mentioned that the video connector on a p35-s609 is permanently soldered to the motherboard. I went the same route and jammed something on top of the video connector on the motherboard to keep the color from fading, but eventually through a small mishap with said jamming, I snapped the video connector off the motherboard (!!!!). I’m wondering if there’s any possibility of being able to solder this sucker back on or if it would even be worth the attempt. Would this laptop technically have a bricked lcd screen now? I never minded using an external monitor for it, but I bought a laptop for the purpose of mobility, there’s no point in having it if it’s forced to be solitary.
Thanks.