“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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October 29th, 2008 at 11:53 am
I have a Toshiba Satellite A105 laptop, the problem I’m having is it keeps shutting off for no reason..Like if I do the McAfee quick clean it will shut down right in the middle of it…And the other day I was working on a picture in Photoshop and right before I went to save the picture it shut down and I lost the work I did on my picture… So I don’t know what is wrong or what to do… The laptop is about a year old and my warranty has expired …. So any help on this issue it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
October 28th, 2008 at 3:45 am
Anyone that can help with this, I would be very grateful…
A75-S2112 fan issue.
I did have the impacted heatsink issue. Even replaced the heatsinc as whoever had the laptop before me stuck a pen in the back and boogered up the fins. The origional fan was so clogged with dirt, it had to be sprayed out.
The issue that I have now is that after the initial startup of the laptop when the fans run at high speed, they then shut down and do not run again at all, causing the infamous thermal shutdown.
My question is, did I ruin the fan assembly by spraying it out with electrical grade, non-residue contact cleaner, or is some kind of inthernal thermostat unplugged or diabled somehow by my complete disassembly of the laptop?
October 27th, 2008 at 8:14 am
The lock device on my laptop comes on in the middle of my work and locks the computer. I then have to unlock and go back to work. this is very annoying. I have tried to unlock the lock at the top of the screen by hitting that button but it doesn’t seem to work. Please can someone help me. I am not very literate computer wise but I am learning and refer to a book Windows vista which doesn’t list the problem. Many thanks to anyone who might be able to help
October 23rd, 2008 at 11:04 am
For problems like this, we get here in Sony India service, we have to replace the entire motherboard assembly. Especially in vista what we have seen is the laptop suddenly shuts down, no messages, error codes anything, the display dims out quickly the system shutdowns. when restarted no erroe is given nothings, as if nothing happen. thanks
October 18th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
If you’re spraying compressed air into the fan intakes I would advise to use a paper clip or something similiar to stop the fan from spinning when you do. If the fan spins too fast you can ruin the fan or knacker its bearings. Also if you remove the heatsink from the laptop I would advise cleaning the CPU die or heat spreader (depending on the cpu) and the heatsink surface with TIM cleaner and then replace the thermal compound. This is to ensure that you always have a good contact, this is more important if your cpu has the die exposed as if any of the surface doesnt have a good contact with the heatsink u can get hot spots on the die which will cause damage!
October 14th, 2008 at 8:19 pm
Wondering if anyone else has a problem with the bios restarting all by themselves .. but now with a password.. that no one knows.. I’ve been searching a lot on this thing.. and it seems now Toshiba not only has a over heating problem.. Looks like Toshiba has a bio’s problem also. They will fix it for 100.00 but why should we have to pay for something that they are over looking again. I’ve got a A130/A135 Satellite Toshiba with Phoenix Bio’s.. They both suck..
October 12th, 2008 at 5:55 pm
I am looking for instructions on Resolder all 480 connector pins on the motherboard of a Tecra 9100
October 12th, 2008 at 5:06 pm
Sha_na_na,
It’s possible that your laptop shuts down because of overheating. Apparently, the heatsink is clogged with dust. It’s a very common problem with Satellite A75 laptops.
1. Clean the cooling module with compressed air.
2. Try running the recovery disc again.
October 12th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
Cade,
Sounds like overheating problem. You can try cleaning the laptop without taking it apart. Buy a can of compressed air and spray it inside the air intakes on the bottom or sides until all dust is gone.
October 12th, 2008 at 4:49 pm
Jeff,
Run memory and hard drive test. You can use Memtest86+ and Hitachi’s drive fitness test.
The screws should be tightened.