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
818 Responses to “Why my Toshiba laptop suddenly shuts down by itself without warning?”
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Pages: « 82 … 81 80 79 78 77 [76] 75 74 73 72 71 … 1 » Show All
May 29th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
I have a Toshiba Portege 7010 CT
it is turning off with out notice , sometimes will run normal for about 5 min. most of the time it wont even boot up to windows 2000 or bios it goes to a blue stop screen that reads unknown hard error
C0000218. I have only one memory module so i did take it out and put it back in no change.
The fan is working and I have done the compressed air steps as well as the greese heatsink. still no change . Can some one please help?
May 25th, 2008 at 6:48 am
I too had the infamous arbitrary shut down problem with my new Satellite.
Condition: While my laptop was plugged into external power and supposedly charging, it would simply shut off. After re-boot, it would work fine until I unplugged it and moved it to my office.
Fix: Well, it was wierd, but this fixed it. I use my laptop at work and home on a daily basis. I tyically kick back in my recliner or in my bed to do my thing. As such, I purchased additional power cords/adapters on eBay to have power at each of these locations. Long story short, the non-Toshiba power supplies are the cause.
When I would plug in my laptop on one of these (knock off) power supplies, the power indicator icon on the laptop would change from “battery” (icon is actually a battery) to “on external power” icon (the icon is a power plug/cord). While this was encouraging, it simply meant the unit was plugged in but not charging which leads to the un-announced shut down.
There is yet a third status icon when the unit is charging (icon is the power plug with a thunder-bolt with it). I get this icon to appear (with the knock off power supplies) only after this process: plug power supply into laptop and let the “battery” icon change to the “external power” icon. Then, unplug the power cord from the transformer box on the power cord. Not the cord from the laptop to the transformer, but from the wall to the transformer, and wait for the “battery” icon to show again. Now, plug the transformer back in and you should see the “charging” icon with the thunderbolt.
I hope that is helpful to someone, I actually had my motherboard changed out before realizing that this was the issue.
Good Luck!
IT Geek
May 23rd, 2008 at 9:56 am
Sam,
First of all, it might well be the dust problem or need for new thermal paste layer! Actually, as one of the previous contributors wrote, sometimes sloppy assembly line workers DON’t put enough grease on CPU or the grease is low-quality. (my CPU was almost bone dry when I lifted the heatsink) I actually used the stuff from eBay seller “silicon-auctions”.
IN ADDITION: ATTENTION EVERYONE!!!
i COULDN’T ADD THAT TO IRISVISTA.COM LAPTOP DISASSEMBLY GUIDE, BUT YOU WILL NEED A TORX T6 (STAR-SHAPED SCREWDRIVER) TO OPEN ONE OF THE SCREWS IN TOSHIBA QOSMIO!
May 21st, 2008 at 5:18 pm
I have toshiba A 75 s206. I dont have any dust problem or any thing its been cleaned out and stuff like that but my computer keeps on turning off. I run window xp pro and only less then 20 percent of memory is use as hard drive. If I play you tube video it wil shut off and stuff like that. I cant even play games that have messed up graphics and it stills truns off. I cant afford to buy new laptop. I use this laptop for college. So can some one please help me!
May 21st, 2008 at 4:25 am
Firstly, thanks for all the conributions. I’m no techy but had the problem of my laptop showing a black screen seconds on start up. The “on” light still showed and the fan come on and off. I tried the suggested remedies and finally realised I had memory in two of my slots. I removed them both and tried each, one at a time in slot 1. Firstly no change but then with the other memory only in slot 1 all worked ok. I’ve turned the laptop on and off many times now and it still works. I’ve now ordered more memory and hoping for the best. Thanks all
May 19th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
Rohit,
It’s possible. Clean the heat sink and find out if it fixes the problem.
May 19th, 2008 at 10:18 am
Hi!
My Toshiba A-100 used to work very fine before. I used to let it running for days. But after I took it on a travel, after that it is showing the same problem you are talking about. It used to overheat before( i used it in very hot coutry, india where temprature usually goes above 40 degree celsious. hehe) Now i recently brought it to ireland(relatively cold country) Now it shuts down on regular intervals and I cant play games on it. I think it might be broken on the flight. Or it is the same problem as you have mentioned here?
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: 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.