About 3 weeks ago I received a comment from a user who described his experience with Toshiba Satellite M35X. Today I got one more for Toshiba Satellite A75. Even though these are completely different models, they have very similar problems: laptop heatsink gets clogged and the laptop overheats, improperly grounded top cover causes the laptop to freeze up and reboot, badly designed DC jack causes the power failure. May be your experience is more positive?
I got the laptop as a Xmas present from my boyfriend in Dec 2004. Shortly after I got it, I got the blue screen of death. Then it began freezing up on me. Toshiba told me this was a problem with a grounding wire in the motherboard. I took it to a service center and they fixed the problem. Within about another 2 months, it started doing hard shut-downs when any load was present – was unable to burn DVDs, view DVDs, play music or even view basic graphics on the internet, as well as shutting down during use of Windows Media Player. The fan was loud! Then, the AC adapter problem. To this day, I have no green light showing at all on the front of my computer. It was fine at first, then started flickering (when I pressed down on silver plate that was replaced at the service center due to the grounding wire problem), the green light would come back on for a short time and then disappear again.
The laptop is getting power while plugged into the wall and the battery is recharging…..but, what’s up with the green light disappearing?
I have a cooling pad underneath my Toshiba that has an external power source – overheating is NOT the problem with this computer. From what I can surmise, the issue is in the CPU. The motherboard probably needs to be replaced and God only knows what’s causing the problem with the LED indicator.
At this point, my computer is now out of warranty, however, because I brought these problems to their attention during the warranty period, they have essentially issued a blank check for me to have “any hardware problems fixed” as an exception to the warranty. They were too quick to authorize this, so my feeling is that these problems are systemic with this model and Toshiba is well aware of them, though why they have never issued a recall is beyond me and does not bode well for Toshiba’s PR department.
It is going in for repairs tomorrow (had to back everything up in case the motherboard has to be replaced) and I will advise what the findings are when I get it back – estimated time for repairs is 2 weeks.
If this computer were not being fixed on Toshiba’s dime, I wouldn’t bother paying to have it fixed – I’d just buy another laptop. I am very upset that I’m unable to use this laptop for any of the features they advertise. I also strongly suspect that Toshiba knew of these problems beforehand and sold the things anyway, looking for Xmas windfall revenue – this computer was introduced in Dec. 2004, if memory serves correctly.
What a sad indictment of corporate greed – this laptop was $1,500 – we’re not talking about a pack of gum, here.
Is your experience with this model any different?
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July 17th, 2006 at 6:58 pm
A class action lawsuit is long overdue. Most of the problems with the A75 arise from an engineering SNAFU that does not take rocket science to figure out: a 3.33 desktop processor crammed into a laptop chassis!… duhhh!
Ohh, it overheated… duhhh!
Oh, it shut down… duhhh!
Oh, the blue screen of death… duhhhh!
Unfortunately, I was one of the first few who bought into this bleeding-edge technology, without realizing the incompatibility earlier on… double duhhhh!!!
- TJ
June 29th, 2006 at 11:19 am
Good News Update.
Kudos to the Customer Care Dept. at Toshiba for doing the right thing. I called the 800 number for customer service.
They insisted that I call the nearest Authorized Toshiba Dealer (70 miles from my home) who could deal with the two problems that I described – the past overheating problem for which I had had my computer fixed under warranty last summer, and the DC-In power jack problem that I’ve been struggling with the last 4-5 months. By doing so, I proved that I was willing to make the effort to get things fixed under their terms.
Important note: Whenever dealing with customer support. BE VERY KIND AN PATIENT – never insist it be done your way and never get angry, abusive, or threatening. Be as kind as you can and jump through whatever hoops they give you. They are making sure you aren’t some krank who just wants to take them for a ride. Many fakes have spoiled it for those of us with real problems.
In my call to NW Computer Support of Tukwilla, WA, I found out that the authorized dealers can not access the reference number given to me by Toshiba. The reason seems to be that Toshiba wants to deal directly with the customer and have everything customer initiated. I was also given a direct fax line for the service rep at the NW Computer Support dealer in order for the Toshiba people to contact with any necessary paperwork. The suggestion was to ask for an extended warranty for this problem common to Toshiba laptops.
I once again called Toshiba and explained how I had jumped through their hoops. I was even more patient and thankful for any help they could render.
It was good having a renewed game plan thanks to the NW Comp. service rep. Forwarned is indeed forearmed.
I was asked to hang on for a conference call with a Customer Care rep. I would have to wait about three minutes, I was told. “That’s fine, thank you,” I said.
After a while I was indeed transferred to the Care rep. who listened to my problem and also how I had researched the issue on the Internet and wished to not be involved in the pending class action suits. I mentioned that all I wanted was to get my computer fixed.
She immediately told me that they would issue an approval for fixing my computer at NW Comp. Support, if that was where I wanted to take the computer. I gave the special fax number and the name of the rep. there. She said she would fax it within ten minutes.
I got a return call from the NW Comp. rep about fifteen minutes. He was astounded at how fast I was taken care of. He asked how I did it. I told him that I just followed his fine advice as to how to proceed.
The fax gave instructions that the required parts must be ordered by them within 7 days. This would the show Toshiba that I was serious about getting it fixed and that I had once again gone through the right channels.
A comment on the pending class action suits – the only winners are the lawyers.
June 28th, 2006 at 3:29 pm
Yep, both problems occured to my A75 206. I am encouraged by the above comment about carte blanche fixing. My heat issue occured under warranty. Was without my laptop for two weeks. The tech said that it needed to be cleaned regularly but gave no indication on how to.
I’m very glad to have found this site as the A/C D/C problem has been a depressing part of my computing life. The tech mentioned replacing the motherboard as the only alternative and never again purchasing a laptop. There is just NO $$ for this type of repair right now. Especially on a 1 1/2 yr old machine.
I wish to send an email to Toshiba rather than waste time talking to someone over in SE Asia without any authority to do anything about these known issues, but I’m afraid that’s all I’ll be able to do.
June 28th, 2006 at 8:44 am
Gopal,
It might happen with any computer. I’ve seen a lot of different laptops from different manufacturers and they all suffered from the same problem – overheating. Clean the heatsink and you’ll get it fixed.
June 27th, 2006 at 4:55 pm
Yet another disgruntled A75 owner here. Similiar problems…poor engineering has created an extremely dangerous environment for the processor…..I have even tried a USB extermal cooling device to help with the problem..unfortunately, it appears to make it worse
My problems started shortly after purchase… so I find it hard to believe that a cleaning would resolve the issues.
Fair warning to all those considering purchasing Toshiba.
June 25th, 2006 at 8:05 am
I nevr expected Toshiba laptop(Satellite a75 -s231) can be such a waste computer, they looted me ,i purchased it for $1200, and my laptop shuts down after every 15 min.. i cannot install or run any application on it except IE browser. Never in my life i am going to buy any TOSHIAB product.
June 22nd, 2006 at 8:50 pm
Sounds all too familiar.
About a month after purchasing A75-S213 I changed the power settings to make the processor run at the “low” speed setting in an effort to quieten the notebook’s fans; the noise from which was alarming my classmates and scaring animals within a 3 mile radius. The drop in performance is negligible and this might have saved me from some of the more severe problems that I have read about on the net.
After 10 months of use the machine is still reasonably dependable and I love the way it functions (except for the fan noise), but once every 10 days it will drop dead and refuse to come back to life for around 10 minutes. I think part of me knew that that type of processor doesn’t belong in such a tiny box, but I was willing to put up with extra heat weight and noise to have the power of a desktop in my notebook. I wasn’t willing to have a machine that can have an episode of catalepsy at any moment.
So listen to Andrew Johnston Mr. Toshiba. Upwards of 200 bucks an hour for every lawyer working on the case, a significant portion of which is paying for the lawyers to eat, pee, poop and sign their name on something written by an intern. Is it worth it?
June 8th, 2006 at 8:54 am
From reading the history it is plain Toshiba have known about these problems for a long time, —-03? 04?. I bought mine from Miocrocenter as a result of the glowing testimonial of a Microcenter salesman in May ’05. when it froze microcenter eventually told me they knew`about it……….. so they too are culpable. i trust they will be joined in the lawsuits. have only lately found out about the shorting top and had assumed it was the digital interface AKA my sausage fingers. Today I cannot play my daughter’s newly recored album becausethe`sound card seems to have died. Don’t you all love the almost useless DVD/CD/RW drive???????
Come on Toshiba, give us all new computers: it will be cheaper in the long run. —- Perhaps you should give us HPs; I hear they do not break down!
June 7th, 2006 at 5:38 pm
sigh….same problem. i got my A70 on Dec 2004 as a Xmas gift and in Feb 2005 it started freezing and i had to reboot. i thought it was my software and cleaned the hell out of this with anti-spyware, Norton, etc…
then i called Toshiba since it was still under warranty and they said to bring it to there Authorized Service Dept and they supposingly added the foil for the static freezing problem. All is well until in March 2006 when my lap started to shut off with no apparant reason. after reading some posts I see that there is a cooling fan/heatsink clogging issue. so now i called again and they just told me to go and they gave me a service code (i think they know the problems) even though my warranty is over.
i’ll keep you posted as now i will not have my lap for at least 3 weeks!
toshiba sucks and i will never recommend this to anyone!
June 3rd, 2006 at 2:31 pm
Well
i just went thru a75 hell,
Had the overheating issue with a 16 mo old laptop
then the power jack issue
A75-211(post power short machine)
Fixed them both with a little help from a firend with better eyes.
The disaassembly instructions were key to the problem. Only lost 2 screws in taking it apart about 7 times.
there are some fragile components in there some you have to bull some you have to be dainty with (speaker connectors for example)
But i have a semi healthy (I hope ) laptop for now.