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
897 Responses to “Why my Toshiba laptop suddenly shuts down by itself without warning?”
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Pages: « 90 … 88 87 86 85 84 [83] 82 81 80 79 78 … 1 » Show All
September 9th, 2008 at 6:43 am
I had the same problem with Toshiba Satellite (re overheating and shutting down. I read your tips, and applied an even more premitive solution i.e after reading your tips, without even switching of the machine, I turned it upside down, blew into the fans at the bottom of the laptop, then blew into the air vents towards the back of the machine. Seems to have worked immediatley! Now fans are running quiter and machine not over heating!
I had the same problem with this machine 2 yrs ago, I drove 400 km to the nearest dealers, stayed in a hotel over night. Until it was repaired next day. Perhaps thats all they did too
September 4th, 2008 at 2:43 am
i have a clone cpu which behaves the same way as the stataments of other clients such as going off after a few minutes of operation . but what worries me most is that the cpu after 2 to3 times of rebooting it works as required. is it an issue to with heatsin or fan?
September 3rd, 2008 at 3:40 pm
THANKS!!! I JUST PLACE DSA SOCKET IN THE OPEN POSITION AND VOILA! THIS LAPTOP COME TO LIFE, THANKS TO CJ2600!
September 3rd, 2008 at 3:05 pm
thanks to jesus all the pins are the i reinstall thpe cpu and aply thermal paste and still nothing, i dont know what to do
September 3rd, 2008 at 1:24 pm
def15,
Here’s my guess. Apparently, when you removed the heatsink you pulled the CPU from the socket. The laptop will not start because the CPU is not seated properly.
Here’s what you can try:
1. Remove the heatsink again.
2. Unlock the CPU socket, reseat the CPU and lock the socket again. I hope you didn’t damage CPU pins during your first disassembly process.
3. Apply thermal grease on the top of the CPU and install the heatsink back in place.
The same problem happened to me before and I’ve seen many guys doing the same mistake over and over.
September 3rd, 2008 at 1:13 pm
URGENT!!! i got a SATELLITE 1905-S301 IT HAS THE SUDDENLY SHUT DOWN ISSUE, WHEN I REALIZE THAT WAS A OVERHEATING ISSUE, I DISSAMBLE ALL THE LAPTOP AND I FIND A BLOCKED-DUST HEATSINK, I CLEAN IT AND WHEN I RESSAMBLE IT, IT TURNS ON BUT THE SCREEN DOESNT POWER ON AND THE MACHINE DOESNT START AND THE IT DOES NOTHING JUST KEEPING THE POWER LIGHT ON AND THATS IT. PLEASE I NEED YOUR HELP, ALL SEEMS TO BE WELL ASSAMBLE.
September 2nd, 2008 at 9:50 pm
April,
You’ll need Toshiba recovery disc in order to restore the laptop back to factory defaults.
1. Insert the recovery disc into the optical driver.
2. Restart the laptop and press F12 as soon as you see Toshiba logo on the screen.
3. Select CD/DVD drive from the menu. Press Enter.
4. Follow the instructions on the screen.
Warning! The recovery process will erase EVERYTHING from the hard drive. Make sure to back up all personal files before you run the recovery disc.
September 2nd, 2008 at 9:46 pm
Abe,
You’ll find step-by-step Satellite M45 disassembly guide at www.irisvista.com
September 1st, 2008 at 9:54 pm
I have the same problem with my Toshiba, so I decided to open it and see what’s going on. I found that if I remove the screws from the fan it will work a little longer, however I’ve noticed that the fan got very hot at the spindle, so i removed the sticker and drop a very little drop of Oil, voila!!! No more noise and the computer works great!!
Please spread the word, it may save you a couple of bucks and it’s very easy to do.
September 1st, 2008 at 7:30 am
hi, i have a problem with my Tecra 9100. previously i had a problem where by the fun was sometimes operating much louder, and it was obviously the laptop to shuts down suddenly by itself. what happened is now when i press the start button, a green light shows that the computer is on but its not on, what i mean is the fun is not working and even no displays. the only thing is the processor is getting heat seriosly after a few seconds. I need help on this please