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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October 24th, 2006 at 3:56 pm
Thx again
October 24th, 2006 at 2:51 pm
Charles,
Toshiba Satellite A75 has only one expansion memory slot available for upgrades. One memory stick is permanently soldered to the motherboard and you cannot remove or upgrade it. You should buy only one chip, because you have only ONE slot that you can use.
October 24th, 2006 at 10:06 am
Hey everybody,
I was wondering, I have a Satellite A75-S229 and here’s the situation. Downloaded the spec sheet and the guide so I could add more memory (ram) to it. Well in the spec sheet it says my model has (2) Expansion memory slots. So I purchased 2 more 512mb chips to max out the ram. Well I found the one (underneath the memory cover) Where’s the other slot? Are both slots there and I don’t see it? or Should I return both chips and just get a 1gb chip to max out? Much appreciated fellas…thx.
October 22nd, 2006 at 11:40 pm
I hate Toshiba.
I have an A75. The overheating problem started about 6 months after I bought it. I finally read up online and figured out what it was. So now I vacuum my computer every month. It’s obnoxious, but it has solved the problem.
Just within the last month I have been having the problem with the power cord. It’s getting worse and worse and I really don’t know what to do about it. I don’t want to get into a battle with Toshiba customer service and I can’t be without my computer for more than a couple of days.
So… yeah. I hate Toshiba.
October 12th, 2006 at 6:17 pm
My brother and I both have a 75. My was the 1st to go with the overheating then his. I had mine fixed at an authorized Toshiba repair shop and it happened again no longer than 3 months later. I have spent so much time and energy talking and dealing with people from Toshiba to get nothing back. I will never buy anything from Toshiba again!
October 11th, 2006 at 9:28 am
PS – forgot to mention, the “replacment” motherboard was actually a refurbished motherboard. You should hear the rattle out of the fans on the new board, sounds like the impellers are going to fly apart any second. What a piece of junk, what a terrible company.
October 11th, 2006 at 9:26 am
Had all the overheating & melted DC power solder problems just out of warranty. After hours on the phone with the local shop & Toshiba service in India, and a couple weeks in the shop, I got a free motherboard replacement. The DC issue seems to be solved.
The problem now is, the heat seems to have prematurely killed my hard drive, it’s dead after about 18 months of ownership.
I will never buy a Toshiba again. Too bad the class actions only cover the static problems, I sure hope someone raises a lawsuit regarding the overheating issues. Toshiba sucks.
October 2nd, 2006 at 12:35 pm
I was also wondering if it dealt with maintance cause this problem occurred previously about 8 months after i bought it and got it repaired since it was still under warranty but now 6 monhts later after the repairs its happening again. Could dust be a cause or something else?
October 2nd, 2006 at 12:32 pm
I have a P30. Problems with overheating just outside warranty, had it cleaned, (and do so every 6 months now to keep it running). The DC jack problem, yep- got it too. Now half my screen has gone, perfectly down the middle, one side black (sometimes some vertical lines) and the other side fine. So, now it is plugged into an external monitor and no longer qualifies as a laptop. And by fine on the half mpnitor I mean sort of fine… always had disappearing pixels here adn there…
Never buy any Toshiba product again. Don’t even get me started on their MP3 player… grrrrr.
October 2nd, 2006 at 10:59 am
Thomas,
Yep, I’ve seen it before many times. Most likely just a bad fan. If you want to get rid of the noise and vibration, you’ll have to replace it. Just in case if you want do it yourself, you’ll find disassembly instructions for Satellite A75 on http://www.irisvista.com. You can find a new fan for your laptop if you google by the part number: K000016310