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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January 21st, 2007 at 4:51 pm
Hello. I bought my Satellite A70 SP213 in Lima Peru after a serious study of lab tops alternatives. After 15 months it has started overheating and shutting down, also (I´m not an expert lab top user) I always had the feeling that something was wrong with my lab top due to the excess noise it was making without using the DVD unit. I called the Toshiba Global Support Centre this week and I was shocked to know that these problems are caused by the low quality of the product and that Toshiba has extended the time guaranty to an additional year, they have informed me about 2 authorized repair services in Lima to do the change of mainboard. I found this blog very useful, hope that my lab top will be repaired but my fear is how it will work after being repaired?. I will be checking your information and informing other peruvian people about it.
January 18th, 2007 at 4:42 am
I had a customer with a similar problem. It turned out that the laptop was both overheating and had a bad battery; both problems independantly caused a shut down. For the heating problem, I ended up cleaning the heatsink, which wasn’t real dirty, but that was not the real problem. The computer had been serviced before, the fans were replaced by Toshiba. They had apparantly removed the heatsink and did not re-apply dielectic grease to the top of the processor. The remaining grease was dried up and mostly gone. Re-applying the grease very generously and using higher quality grease worked very well. At first, I thought the fans were broken because they almost never came on, but I used an app to monitor the cpu temp and it was consistantly very low, even if left on overnight. I would say that it is now better than new.
January 13th, 2007 at 3:22 am
I have had the same shut down trouble with my A70 which is just a year old. I noticed someone asked about the warranty covering Canada too but did not see any answer to the question. I was just about to take mine into Future Shop to have it looked at but don’t think I will do that now. Also had the charging problem and jack problem. Guess we now know why they aren’t making them anymore.
January 6th, 2007 at 3:42 pm
What about the warranty extension / credit voucher in Canada?
December 10th, 2006 at 12:32 pm
Hi all,
I just heard about the lawsuit and ungrounded cover failures on the Satellite laptops for the first time. I have an A75-s231 and it does match the serial numbers listed. Unfortunately, I have misplaced my receipt and warranty paperwork from time of purchase, so I’m pretty sure I can’t get this fixed through the normal routes. (Not to mention, it’s my sole computer, so it would be a big problem for me to ship it off anyway).
Has anyone come accross any tutorials or the like with instructions on how to fix the cover oneself?
I *really* appreciate any input that you might have…
December 10th, 2006 at 11:11 am
I have a hp pavilion zx5000 that was given to me cause the last guy said the DC power jack was taken out and need a new one soldered, bought a new one for 8.99 from Ebay and i order the soldering gun kit, i been reading your post about the DC Jack issue with the toshiba laptop that tony s. posted but i like to know what else i need to make sure i do this without shocking the board. please give me a email so i can send a pic of how the board looks and you can then tell me if the board can have the new jack on it. please forgive this is my first time trying to repair a DC Jack and want it to be a smooth transaction
December 8th, 2006 at 1:46 pm
After many months of dealing with one service tech after another, I gave up/got mad/ and sent my Toshiba A75-S206 in the provided box and labels to ship my computer to City Advantage to get my computer repaired. Got it back the next day with a notice that my computer would not be repaired. Their excuse was that a “liquid” had gptten into the computer and that they had pictures of the “liquid” – which they did not share with me. Not even a chance, and I’m very protective of my computer. The last week or so I received notice of a class action suite against Toshiba. Does anyone else have input on this topic?
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!!!.