“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!
If you find this article useful, please consider making a donation to the author. Thank you!
August 9th, 2008 at 7:21 am
Additional information related to comment #802. Toshiba P35-S609
August 9th, 2008 at 7:19 am
I have half a screen and have been told that a connection may be loose but when I turn it on, It almost boots the whole screen on until it finishes booting. I can also still use the blacked out side because I was able to minimize, shrink and close the page if I scrolled over and hit the right spot. That’s why I think it could be a virus,spyware or something with my software. If anyone knows anything about this I would appreciate the help. Thank you
August 7th, 2008 at 5:48 am
I have Toshiba Satellite A135-S4467 , If I shutdown the laptop whent it is conneced with power supply it reboots, if I switchoff the power supply again if i shut down ,it will be shutdown is it Adopter issue ? or laptop issue?
August 4th, 2008 at 5:37 pm
I have a toshiba A135-S2276 and it starts up immidiately shuts down nothing comes up on the screen the fan runs for about 10 to 15 secounds and stops. I checked the heat sink it clean as the day we bought it toshiba customer service goes beyond SUCKS and I was told that there was a recalll on some of these laptops for overheating. I took the unit back to best buy and they were of no help. this computer is only about 16 months old its a pile of junk. I only use this unit about 8 to 10 hours a week . is it true that toshibas reviews are less than stellar?
August 3rd, 2008 at 11:57 am
i just bought a used toshiba satelite a few weeks ago It restarts while booting windows xp, the blue screen comes up with the message “A problem has been detected and windows has been shutdown. If this is the first time you’ve seen this stop error, restart your computer if this screen appear again follow these steps. Check for virus scan, remove any new installed hard drives or hard drive controller. Check your hard drive to see if it is properly configured.” And then some error number. I have tried to reinstall windows by booting it from xp cd but after loading files it gave me error message hard drive could not be found. If I replace the hard disk do I need any drivers cd to configure it or I can install window straight away. Actually I have misplaced the drivers software cd. Any help will be highly appreciated.
July 30th, 2008 at 10:57 am
Doug Santo,
Thank you for your generous donation.
July 30th, 2008 at 6:57 am
I made a $20.00 donation through paypal. The disassembly guides and advice on this website are very good. This site is a valuable resource for do-it-yourself laptop folks.
Keep up the good work.
Doug Santo
Pasadena, CA
July 30th, 2008 at 5:55 am
I have a Qosmio G25. It worked pefectly for 2 or 3 years. Then the bottom of the machine and the top of the keyboard started to get hot to the touch during normal use. Soon after, the machine started to shut off without warning. I could start the machine again and sometimes it would be fine, while other times it would continue to shut itself off after a few minutes. Sometimes the cooling fan on the left side of the machine would make a grinding noise when it started up.
I came across this website and it switched a light in my head. Heat and dust buildup was the likely problem. I Blew the cooling fins at the back of the machine with compressed air. Dust flew out. I decided to take the machine apart. I followed the instructions on this website and disassembled the machine to get at the cooling fans. Once inside I blew the case out with canned air, cleaned everything, copied down the part numbers for the fans and reassembled. I purchased new fans.
The machine works like new. I have not installed the new fans. I figure I will wait until the old fans act up or gring again. Anyway, this website was a real help.
Doug Santo
Pasadena, CA
July 29th, 2008 at 9:00 pm
Jen,
Check out this post. How can I remove a tight or stripped screw from a laptop?
July 27th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
Help! I stripped the screws on my A35 cover plate trying to get the heatsink!