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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December 7th, 2006 at 7:45 pm
Is anyone planning on NOT joining the lawsuit/settlement?? Frankly, I don’t feel that it is fair. I have had my pc for 2 years this month. It was a xmas gift that cost $1350, and has been in the shop 4 times already! Since it gave me so many problems initially, I got the extended warranty last Dec, so my warranty is already covering this period. Frankly, a rinky-dink voucher does not help my cause, especially if every couple of months I have to take it into the shop. Has anyone tried complaining to the BBB and to the Attorney General’s office? I want this piece of junk replaced!
December 3rd, 2006 at 7:59 pm
I also have an A70 that has overheating problems. We took it apart and cleaned it last night (what a chore) and it is working wonderfully now but I don’t know for how long. I did find the information about the class action lawsuit but after reading the fine print, I realized my serial number doesn’t match their list. It seems that this is a well known problem, even with older Satelites. Has anyone been able to get the extended warranty if the serial numbers don’t match? I bought mine in Feb of 2005.
December 2nd, 2006 at 5:51 am
In my area of NC, there’s only one recommended service repair center nearby, and they stay weeks behind, so for me, sending it in was the much better option. Plus they only work on Toshibas at their Depot and should have better and quicker resources for the parts. So even if I had better options, I would probably still send mine to the Depot.
As far as the new warranty… when they sent me all the info about it, you get a standard limited warranty, as tho you just bought a new computer. I wouldn’t worry about it if you’ve had it repaired outside their realm while it was out of warranty. I’d just call, get a case #, put it in the box they send you and send it in. What have you got to lose?
When I filled out the form that came with the box, I wrote every single problem with the laptop down even tho I ran out of room and had to write in a circle around the margins. LOL!! And that went way beyond what was designated to be fixed by the case #. And it seems they fixed it all. So far so good..
So….Good luck!!!.
December 1st, 2006 at 10:20 am
Do you recommend to send it to the Toshiba Depot (free shipping) or take it to a premier service center?
thanks,
December 1st, 2006 at 7:59 am
Am I still eligble for lawsuit warranty if I haven’t sent my M35X to repair shop?
December 1st, 2006 at 5:35 am
I received my A75 back from the Toshiba depot yesterday for my repair under the new settlement warranty.
It was gone for 2 weeks and that was during Thanksgiving. So I was pleased with the turnaround time, esp. after the last time.
They did a top cover repair, new motherboard, new fans, new AC plug in back and even replaced the touchpad.
It seems to be running great tho it’s only been a day. (It wouldn’t even turn on when I sent it in).They did a fresh install of the OS so it got a good workout yesterday as I had to set everything up and reinstall all of my extra programs.
Hopefully it’ll be good to go now, but I feel better knowing I have 11 more mos. on that new warranty.
They sent me a free laptop box with the shipping prepaid to send it in to them. So I didn’t spend one dime.
We called first, described the problems. They assigned a case # then sent the box, which I got in 2 days.
So it’s really worth the time to ship it off and get it fixed.
November 26th, 2006 at 10:54 pm
Jack,
Why not?
How can they find it out?
I think there is nothing wrong if you fix your laptop at a repair center you like. Now Toshiba issued a warranty extension so you can take it back to Toshiba center.
November 26th, 2006 at 7:54 pm
since my a75 laptop went out of warranty, i got it locally repaired (solder power socket). do you think I can send my laptop to toshiba now under this new warranty extension (i have new problems) or will they reject my laptop now because I serviced it at a place that wasn’t a authorized repair shop?
November 26th, 2006 at 6:43 pm
Michael,
It looks like Toshiba extended warranty for Satellite M30X, M35X, A70 and A75 laptops sold in the USA for 12 months, so probably they will fix it even if the laptop is not under warranty anymore.
I wouldn’t because the laptop can get damaged. Call Toshiba and ask them for a laptop box, I believe you’ll have to pay for the box.
November 23rd, 2006 at 6:44 pm
Wow! Finally I have some info on just why my A70 laptop has been in the shop 6 times since it was given to me as a gift 23 months ago. It’s had its motherboard replaced once and has been in because the screen locked up once. It has been in the other times to have the connection plug soddered because I was not maintaining a connection. It has been a very frustrating piece of junk. I do not have the box–should I just send it in without it? do you think they will still fix it? Thanks