“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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December 7th, 2008 at 6:25 pm
Pete,
Apparently, the cooling fan was on the brink of failure before cleaning. Cleaning it with the shop vac was the last straw.
Unfortunately, it’s not easy to replace fans inside a A45 laptop because it’s buried deep inside, under the system board.
Take a look at the laptop disassembly guide at http://www.irisvista.com/tech/
If it looks complicated, I would suggest taking your laptop to a repair shop.
December 6th, 2008 at 3:41 pm
I have a Toshiba m45-355
(
GeekSquad Broke it
i reinstalled windows 3 times, runs fine in safe mode but booting in regular mode it crashes, my first thought was that it was a driver because it works fine in safe mode… i was wrong… My second thought was that maybe it was the video card… I was wrong… infact i have tested almost all the peripherals… it is running fine right now in regular mode after a fresh install and that is because i am only using 2 percent cpu and 89mb of ram. when i plug in my USB it crashes on top of its random crashing, also when i tried to install xp pro with sp2 it would crash and will only take xp home. what do you think is the problem? i believe it may be the processor but in the back of my mind it tells me its a driver somewhere. please email me the answer thanks
December 3rd, 2008 at 5:06 pm
I tried the shop vac and air it now on my Toshiba .A45-S121 . It is not shutting sound like it was but now the fan sounds sick . What can I do next ? If need to replace the fan how do it do it and where do I get the fan . – Thanks
.
November 24th, 2008 at 5:28 pm
Instead of using a vacuum to suck the dirt out, you can use compressed air to blow the dirt out. It all depends on how the air flow works; sometimes a combination is best.
It’s also important to always keep the computer on a hard surface like a lap desk so the air vents don’t get blocked. A chill pad with little fans can also help in extreme cases.
November 24th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
Very Useful article, Fnd after 16 mos in IRAQ my son’s laptop was filled with sand even though the rest of his units HP.s, Dells, Gatewqays and Panafonics all bit the dust 6-8mos prior to his Satelite A75. His was P/S connector. After,… second disassembly and clean out. I planed CPU & sink used artic Ag and reassmbly’d only to find twice as long between shutdowns. Determined factory repair of P/S jack cracked a layaer on MB and that leaves it subject to Thermal Shutdown during first boot up once past the user login runs 2-3 + hours just fine DVD etc.
November 24th, 2008 at 11:46 am
i have a toshiba satellite it started shutiing of and th screen going dark while it was running two weeks after i puchased it…..
November 24th, 2008 at 4:14 am
I’ve been having my laptop screen turn white then it restarts itself. Do u know what the problem might be? Would apreciate any help.
November 23rd, 2008 at 3:22 pm
i’ve tried using a home vacuum cleaner to directly suck out the dust from my toshiba satellite m100 fan. And then when i turn it on again, my fan doesnt move anymore. It died. Now i’m thinking to replace it with a new fan but i’m not sure how to DIY for fan replacement. would appreciate any help/advice.
November 22nd, 2008 at 6:13 am
Laptops can get hot very easily. I’ve had two Toshiba Satellite patients(!) and never suspected overheating. (My own computer’s (an Averatec) overheating problem was solved by hot-wiring the fan-wires to the USB port so that the fan stays on all the time. (I stopped trusting the internal sensors after my computer shut off all by itself, like the Toshibas).
I also cleaned the interior,(heatsink, etc.) but prefer the non-invasive surgery option: The power-vac;
considering the possibility of damaging the internal organs of the patient [cpu, etc.] The vacuum-cleaner procedure seemed like a viable option, albeit somewhat noisy.
Now my computer’s internal sensors record temps around 40 degrees Celcius, and my comp never goes to sleep on me again!
November 18th, 2008 at 8:02 am
i bought a toshiba satellite A305, great laptop and everything but keeps shutting off, not every 15 mins but if i leave it on my bed (for 2 mins) it shuts off.. and the place where the hot air is supposed to go out from, well lets say nothing goes out from there.. what could i do.. i dont want to open it up, its 2 months old!