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?
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January 31st, 2008 at 8:24 pm
Scott,
It takes more then 10 minutes to reimage the hard drive. The laptop will not lock up during the recovery process, right? Apparently this is not heat related problem, otherwise the laptop would lockup during the recovery process.
Test memory with Memtest86+. Leave this test running overnight. If the memory test comes up with errors, move the memory module into the empty slot and run the same test again.
If the same memory module fails test in both slots, you have a problem with the memory. If the same memory modules fails test in one slot and passes in the other, you have a problem with the memory slot. In this case you’ll have to replace the motherboard or use the laptop with only one memory module installed into the working slot.
If you have two memory modules installed, remove the one by one and test the laptop with each module separately.
January 29th, 2008 at 11:46 am
I am having the same problem as scott in post 86. I have an m45 as well. Can someone please help us and give us advice?
January 24th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
I have an M35x and it does not matter where I touch the laptop, it will just shut off, NOT shut down, just shut off. It has shut off while unpluging a wireless card from the card slot, trying to plug in a usb device or even typing on the keyboard without touching the machine. My fan cycles like it is cooling and the slots are dust free. And it will also shut off when touching the speaker grill or resting my hand in that area.
Would this still be a fix???
January 15th, 2008 at 8:12 pm
I have a M35X. When I turn the wireless switch on at my home, it causes the BSOD and my laptop to reboot. This doesn’t happen outside of my home. I just reinstalled all the factory software but it still persists. Any advice?
January 15th, 2008 at 5:10 pm
COMPUTER FREEZES UP SOON AFTER BOOTING. THIS IS TOSHIBA M45-S2692 ABOUT 2 YEARS OLD. I ORDERED THE RECOVERY DISK FROM TOSHIBA AND HAVE PERFORMED THE RECOVERY PROCESS SEVERAL TIMES AND IT STILL LOCKS UP AFTER 30 SECONDS TO 10 MINUTES. YOU HAVE TO POWER OFF WITH THE POWER BUTTON. KEYBOARD AND MOUSE PAD DO NOT WORK AFTER THE LOCK-UP. THE LIGHT FOR THE HARD DRIVE GOES DARK ALSO. IT STAYED ON LONG ENOUGH FOR ME TO RUN THE TOSHIBA HARDWARE DIAGNOSTICS AND THEY ALL PASSED INCLUDING THE HD. THE COMPUTER DOES SEEM TO GET A LITTLE HOT IN MY OPION BUT I PLACED IT DIRECTLY ON A FAN TO FORCE AIR AND IT STILL LOCKED. COULD IT BE THE HARD DRIVE. BIOS IS 1.10. RUNNING XP THAT CAME WITH UNIT. PLEASE SOMEONE HELP A POOR PARAMEDIC THAT CAN’T AFFORD A NEW NOTEBOOK. WHAT CAN I TRY NEXT? WHAT IS THE BEST UTILITIES PROGRAM OUT THERE THAT MAY HELP?
THANKS, SCOTT
January 4th, 2008 at 5:38 pm
i have a toshiba with a sound problem, if i fold the screen n unfold the sound doesnt work, do u have any solution? email me pls.
December 3rd, 2007 at 11:47 pm
truffliepuff,
I doubt it. The warranty extension ended November 7.
You insert the recovery disc into the DVD drive, reboot the laptop and press F12 as soon as Toshiba logo appears on the screen. Then select to boot from CD/DVD drive. The laptop should start booting from the recovery disc and after that you follow the instructions on the screen. The recover process erases everything from the hard drive, so if you have any personal data, back it up first.
It sounds like a problem with the laptop keyboard but I could be wrong. It’s hard to troubleshoot the laptop without looking at it.
December 3rd, 2007 at 11:18 pm
Jeremy,
msconfig is not harmful unless you enable/disable something in there without knowing what you are doing and probably that’s why your laptop will not boot normally.
The fastest way for you to bring your laptop back to life would be reinstalling the operating system from the recovery disc. This process will load default software and will erase all personal data (pics, music, video, docs, etc…), so if you have something important on the hard drive back it up first, you can use an external USB enclosure to back up the data.
After that boot the laptop from the recovery dics and follow the instructions. It’ll take 30-40 minutes and the laptop should be up and running as before.
December 3rd, 2007 at 6:30 pm
And also, new symbols have started to appear. When I type sometimes, it goes CAPS lock on me when it isn’t even on; not only that, the screen starts turning full screen on itself and I am not clicking anything. Another problem I get is that my computer selects the first option on any program opened (IE. when I used internet, it keeps selecting “File” at top left corner” and I can’t press anything)
I have been forced to rub the laptop keyboard, and to the point where one of my keys fell off.
And at boot-up, where it beeps/freezes, I have to rub the laptop keyboard and press F12, where I then select “Hard Drive” to begin operating Windows.
What does a motherboard do? What is it?
December 3rd, 2007 at 6:22 pm
I see. I got it into fixing, I also need to tell you that the beeping and random symbols occurred after the guy fixed it. If the guy screwed up, can I get an extended warranty?
And how do you reformat?