“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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May 18th, 2008 at 10:53 pm
Asher,
You have to apply enough grease to cover the CPU surface. Apply some grease on the top of the CPU and then spread it evenly as it shown here: http://www.irisvisa.com
1. You can blow off dust using canned air or air compressor.
2. Clean the lens with cotton swab soaked in alcohol.
May 14th, 2008 at 10:33 am
Rob,
Thank you very much for your response. I was able to open and clean everything, but I still haven’t reassembled my Qosmio G25-AV23. Waiting for the fans to arrive from the supplier. Meanwhile quick question – maybe you (OR ANYONE ELSE ON THIS FORUM) can tell me how much grease to put on the CPU before applying Heastink? Will too much grease cause any damage?
Also (will put in other topic) maybe anyone knows if there any chance (and how) to take apart and clean the DVDRW unit inside (DUST, DUST, DUST!!!) because even before the laptop started overheating, the DVDRW was reading only one disk of 4….
Asher
May 11th, 2008 at 7:51 pm
My A75 had had overheating issues from day 1. I was generally able to muddle by with it — it would stay running as long as I didn’t actually push the CPU or do anything “fun” with it (ie, I could get my email and browse the web, and that’s about it). Recently it took a turn for the worse, however, and was shutting down before it even finished booting up. I was about ready to pitch it and invest in something more modern, when I stumbled across this forum, and the links to irisvista.com, which have the great, detailed instructions on how to take this bad boy apart. I followed said instructions, cleaned out my somewhat gummy heat sinks, and applied a fresh layer of thermal paste to the CPU. I put it back together, and I truly believe it’s running better than it was the day I bought it! I’m pushing the CPU hard, for long durations, and it does not shut off at all. This is leading me to think that the factory application of the thermal compound was sub-standard to begin with! I say this, because I KNOW this machine was shutting down before the heat sinks could ever have become really clogged.
Asher, I use a paste that you can get at your local Radio Shack, of all places. Top shelf compounds like “Arctic Silver” are available at places like Best Buy or CompUSA sometimes (or Newegg.com always), but there was product comparison article I read awhile back that showed the inexpensive Radio Shack stuff works as well, if not better than the higher priced compounds. I’ve been using it for years and I swear by it.
Good luck everyone. And thanks. This forum (and irisvista.com) has saved me about $1500 I really didn’t need to spend … though I was sort of looking forward to having a screaming new toy.
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.