“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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November 18th, 2008 at 2:56 am
My stepson has a Toshiba laptop and the power cable connection appears to have come away inside the laptop so it now cannot be used on mains or recharged. Returned it to PC World who initially said prob could be overheating. Sent away under warranty (under 6 months old) but now saying it is misuse and will not repair free!! As overheating with Toshiba’s appears to be a problem has anyone had a similar experience which I can highlight to PC World? Comments appreciated
November 12th, 2008 at 11:35 pm
Hi there. I have a Toshiba P35－S609 which started behaving like it had a heating problem. One day it packed up completely and now it won’t even turn on. Dead. Could this be a heating problem which has just fried the processor, or do you think it could be a failed memory or HDD? Any advice appreciated!
November 9th, 2008 at 2:28 pm
I have an Alienware Aurora 9700, vista ultimate, recently I did a system restore. Before this system restore my laptop never shut down automatically even when it was getting hot, but now after I did it, the laptop shuts down on its own whenever it uses a bit more memory. Is there a way I can remove this problem? I tried to check under bios and it didn’t give me any options for anything like that.
November 9th, 2008 at 9:28 am
MASSIVE THANKS FOR THE HELP!
CHEERS!
November 9th, 2008 at 9:22 am
The vacuum trick works like a charm for my 4 year old A70. 2 years ago my system would overheat and shutdown 5 mins after startup. I did the vacuum trick (on the back with the fans and vents) every couple of months since and it’s like new again. I keep thinking that this thing will die like pretty much everyone else who bought this beast…but it keeps going…amazing
November 6th, 2008 at 8:57 pm
Hello! First hanks for all this very helpful instructions. I have a Toshiba Satellite P15 I have followed your instructions on how to Clean heatsink and fix laptop overheating problem. Works great! However, I see you instructions how to fix the jack battery charger but I cant find the instructions on how to put a part the motherboard to the stage where your instructions start. Can you help me put a part a Toshiba Satellite P15 and fix the failed power jack??????? Help!!!!! Help
November 6th, 2008 at 7:12 pm
I have a satellite A105, i’ve been having sudden shutdown problems recently, so i figured it was the heatsink. however i gave my laptop a good vaccuming and the laptop still shuts down without warning when windows just boots up (like literally right after windows starts) any ideas as to whats wrong?
November 5th, 2008 at 9:12 am
Hello, my laptop (toshiba satelite m30x) sometime was getting overheat. Now the laptop doesn’t start, it’s wroken.
Now, when i push the power start the fan starts to run but the screen continue black, the screen doesn’t shows nothing.
What kind of problem would be? maybe the motherboard?
I’m thinking in change it but i’m not sure what is the problem of the laptop, thanks for help.
November 4th, 2008 at 5:24 pm
I would like to know, I have A70, I am having problems with my DVD RW I can not record anymore. It displays in media player ”Needs burner”.
I don’t know much about computers. Any suggestions would be appricated.
Thankyou.
November 3rd, 2008 at 1:16 pm
my laptop is toshiba stallite1900-803 and it keeps turning off and i think its the fan but i cleaned it out and i am ganna put sp2 on it and see if it shuts off or not because if tried and it and it shut off while it was installing . thanks for the help