Toshiba Satellite M35X, A70 or A75 locks up, freezes up or reboots when you touch the laptop speakers
If you own a Toshiba Satellite M35X, A70 or A75 laptop then you can experience the following problem. You laptop might lock up, freeze up or even reboot by itself when you touch the palm rest around the speakers area. It happens because of a static electricity discharge when your touch the laptop speakers. In some cases you will not even fill that discharge. The problem occurs because of improperly grounded top cover assembly. To fix the problem, it is necessary to install a new modified top cover assembly. If you laptop was made before January 2005 then most likely you have unmodified top cover. For example, I made some pictures from a Toshiba Satellite A75 top cover assembly. The top cover for Toshiba Satellite M35X is almost identical.
On these pictures you see unmodified top cover assembly for Toshiba Satellite A75. The foil runs from the speaker and from the touchpad to the metal chassis.
On these pictures you see a modified top cover assembly. The foil runs from the speaker and the touchpad, touches the metal chassis and ends on a screw stud.
On this picture I remove the metal bracket, so you can see where the foil tape is connected.
I think it is possible to make this modification yourself. All you need is to find a foil and run it as it shown on the pictures. I have never done it myself, so not sure about the result. 
Here are some other problems found in these models.
Power jack issues: Toshiba Satellite M35X and Satellite A75 power jack and battery charge problem
Overheating: Why my Toshiba laptop suddenly shuts down by itself without warning?
Entry Filed under: Toshiba Laptop Problems
109 Responses to “Toshiba Satellite M35X, A70 or A75 locks up, freezes up or reboots when you touch the laptop speakers”
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Pages: « 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 [2] 1 » Show All
August 25th, 2006 at 8:41 pm
As I understand it, there’s a recall for this problem… Is Toshiba still covering the repair of this even if the laptop is out of warranty? I think mine’s about 1.5 yrs old now, give or take, and I assume it’s no longer covered by any warranty at all.
The foil tape repair looks simple enough, but if Toshiba’s willing to do this repair work “properly” at no cost (at all) to me, then it’s certainly worth considering. Anyone know?
July 25th, 2006 at 6:18 pm
[…] If your laptop is Toshiba Satellite M35X, A70 or A75 then you might have a top cover that wasn’t grounded properly. You can fix the problem if you replace the top cover assembly or modify the old one. […]
June 30th, 2006 at 11:20 am
Hi,
First of all I want to thank everyone who posts tips and problems on sites like this, and helps other people by doing that.
I also wante to sharel some problems that I had with Toshiba satellite M35S-X149, and what happened. Maybe it will be helpful to other unlucky owners of this laptop model.
I bought it in dec.2004, in june 2005 the following happened: power jack worked badly, the battery did not charge, so I had to wiggle the power cord in the socket or prop it up against something to make the battery charge. I took it to an authorized repair shop in Albany NY and they replaced the mother board under warranty and also they replaced the top cover, since there was a recall on that and they were replacing it routinely on every laptop of this model. The problem with the power jack is a common one with this model as I found out later.
Well, 2 weeks ago (june 2006), I was on an overnight flight and I wanted to work on my laptop, but it would not boot. When I turned it on the blue light around the power button went on and I could hear the fan start working (the fan always starts working and works for several seconds when you turn the laptop on). But after that nothing happened. The screen remained black and I could not hear the hard drive turning. The next day when I got home I went on-line and found out that some other people were having similar prob. I called the authorized repair shop (calling Toshiba customer support is a waste of time) and they told me that there were some recalls on this model but they have to diagnose it first to see if mine had a recalled problem. I have no extended warranty and my original warranty has expired. I took the laptop to the shop again and a week later they called me and told me that it was mother board again and they were able to fix it under do called “warranty extension”. This “warranty extension” worked like this: toshiba extended the original 1 yr. warranty on some defects because they were happening with too many laptops, so these defects are repaired free of charge to owners, and mine was one of such problems. The repair shop specialist told me that definitely the power problem that I had last year is covered by the warranty extension, so you can get it repaired for free even if your original warranty expired.
June 29th, 2006 at 2:01 pm
Joyce,
If the battery will not charge – it might be a jack problem (system board). Send it to a repair center, it should be still under warranty.
June 28th, 2006 at 7:28 pm
I own a Toshiba Satellite m35x and owned it for less than a year. I have a question my battery would not charge than followed up by the laptop turning on but is pitch black and I can’t hear the laptop running anymore is this the motherboard?
Thank you
06/28/06
June 18th, 2006 at 9:21 pm
Rex,
Have you tried this? Control Panel- Power Options- Power Option Properties- Hibernate and here uncheck “Enable hibernation” box.
Are you sure that your laptop goes into hibernation and not system standby?
June 18th, 2006 at 9:06 pm
Hi, I had a recent crash and now after reinstalling everything I’m having nothing but problems with the hibernation enabling after 10 min, I’ve tried disabling it through the control panel but it hasn’t worked? I have the Toshiba A70, anyone know how to disable the hibernation? I’m not all that comp savy so what may be obvious to most of u is a complete mystery to me, thanks for any helpful suggestions any of u may have. ……. Rex
June 5th, 2006 at 11:21 pm
Hey Sherwin,
Does your laptop actually loose power or it just shuts down by itself? Did you check if the cooling fan spins fine? If the fan doesn’t work you might have an overheating problem.
June 5th, 2006 at 5:13 pm
I have a very big problem with my toshiba satellite 1905-S301. it looses power and automatically shutsdown. in every morning I always try to open my notebook, but the problem is, I can only use it within 10 - 35 minutes and after that it looses power and I try to open it again and again, the laptop power looses in a seconds. I even try to solder the DC jack but it didnt work, I tried to change my memory and even the thermal paste on the processor but still didnt work. pls any can help me with my laptop. so that i can use it more than the 10 - 35 minutes. thank you very much for anyone who is interested to help me. . . . God bless….
June 4th, 2006 at 12:55 pm
Just wanted to say thanks for the detailed instructions on how to dissemble the A75 and fix the freezing problem. I had relegated my A75 to a shelf because of a consistent problems. However, after coming across your site and reading the instructions I took it apart and added additional metal foil to the speakers and touch pad. Two days after re-assembling and using the A75 and it hasn’t frozen once…yet!
Thanks again!